By Emmanuel Chukwu.
On the 22nd day of December 2025 the people of Ikembara Autonomous Community in Ikeduru Local Government Area of Imo state presented Mr Cornelius Nnamdi Okpoebo as the Eze Elect of the community to the Chairman of Ikeduru Local Government Council in accordance with Ezeship presentation guidelines.
The presentation involved a wide spectrum of the population of the community with visible support of key stakeholders and the generality of the citizens, contrary to the anger and resistance that accompanied the purported presentation of an Ezeship aspirant by a group without the involvement of the whole community in line with the tradition and constitution of the community. The said earlier presentation of an aspirant nearly put the community in total jeopardy and anarchy due to the alleged under standard methods adopted in selecting or electing the said candidate.
Media reports and oral submissions indicated that those who selected or elected the earlier aspirant did not duly inform the people through due process in line with the known tradition of informing the community during Ezeship election.
The community rejected the earlier selection on the grounds that the self-styled organizers only used town criers to inform the community by 11 pm when the community was deep asleep for a purported election scheduled to take place in the morning but,insteadr of publicising it early enough for every member of the community to be prepared and aware on time before the selection or election, they went ahead manipulatively to abort the will of the community.
The community argued that the impromptu announcement of the date was made to ensure that majority of the people did not participate in the process. It was also cited by the aggrieved community that the key officers approved by the Constitution for the conduct of Ezeship election were excluded and not notified. This gave the community cause to suspect that the organizers were determined to impose an Ezeship candidate on the community to satisfy ulterior motives and external influence without the collective will of the community in order to cause confusion in an otherwise peaceful community. All these prompted them to reject the product of the said selection or election and demanded a new selection/ election in line with their laid down rules. They made appeal to the state governor and related agencies of government to take note of the painful aberrations to avoid break down of law and order.
They argued that there was no way the rightful Eze will emerge without informing the people early enough for thorough assessment of the contestants before deciding on which of them to vote for.
It was also allged that the said aspirant was presented to the Ikeduru council Chairman on a Sunday to evade public notice of the exercise and considered the whole exercise as show of desperation and conspiracy against the entire community’ and the most popular candidate, Mr Okpoebo who has finally been presented to Ikeduru Local government council.
The recent presentation of Eze Elect Cornelius Nnamdi Okpoebo, a former Seminarian, former Personal Assistant to late Elder statesman and former President General, OhanEze NdIgbo, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu generated a cheerful feeling of acceptance by majority of the people of Ikembara who see him as the man of their choice with sound cultural and spiritual exposure to be their traditional ruler.
The new Eze Elect of Ikembara attended primary school in Ikembara and also attended St. Peter Claver Seminary Okpala. He also attended Bigard Memorial Seminary, Ikot Ekpene and Bigard Memorial Seminary Enugu respectively, bagging Degrees in Philosophy and Theology respectively. He obtained a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka as well as another Master’s Degree in Philosophy from University of Port Harcourt before traveling to the United States of America where he worked and show cased the heritage of his people and his professional competence.
The excitement that trailed his presentation as the Eze Elect has confirmed one thing: that it is the exclusive right of a community’ to choose the right candidate to be the traditional ruler of a community’. It also shows that involving the whole community in a transparent way gladdens a greater percentage of the community with only minority noise.
Greater implications of his emergence are that the community will attain high level of development with his character. working experience and global contacts.
The unanimous acceptance of his position by majority of the community, including youths who see him as a motivator of their great personal and collective dreams makes his leadership very accessible and progress oriented.
Again, his resolve to work in line with the state government is going to facilitate easy mobilization of the community to key into the state government’s programmes.
More than anything, there is sure guarantee of peace having been identified as a man who treasures peace and progress.His experience and exposures will help the harnessing of the potentials of the youths who already see him a bearer and supporter of development vision in Ikembara Autonomous Community going by his recorded contributions.
The Ikembara Autonomous Community has shown faith in the ability, character and credentials of their Eze Elect, Mr Cornelius Nnamdi Okpoebo for good reasons. It is their belief that the Mbarama 2 of Ikembara is the man with vision to drive the community to progress as a man who has invested in the development of the community. He is a crowd puller and a respected man who has high sense of humility and concern for the well being of Ikembara Autonomous Community.
His emergence has generated applause beyond measures and happiness without bounds. The Ikembara Autonomous Community’ is really set for a new era of progress and cultural renewal!
Chukwu is a writer and public issues analyst.
