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Idumuje-Ugboko traditional stool.

The Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) in Delta State has slammed the programme that featured on the Sunrise Daily on Channels Television of August 8, 2020 in what it called a sponsored and well choreographed talk-show involving three guests from Idumuje-Ugboko Kingdom.

CUPP in a statement signed by Mr. Fred Akpewe, Leader, Prince Henry Eze (JP), Secretary and Comrade Emeka Bidokwu, publicity secretary, described the Channels Television event as a “rehearsed cocktail of lies, propaganda and calumny,” designed to denigrate the hard earned reputation of Prince Ned Nwoko, an international lawyer, and scion of the Idumuje-Ugboko royal family.

Denouncing the guests at the talk-show, Engr, Igwe Enueoyibo, Chuks Nwoko and Uche Aligbe, all indigenes of the sleepy town, the coalition said: “Although, CUPP is a purely political outfit that may not be interested in the domestic squabbles of Idumuje-Ugboko, the sheer and brazen falsehood that oozed out of the Sunrise Daily outing cannot be ignored by us. We have decided therefore to set records straight as we know it.”

Excerpts from the CUPP statement entitled “The Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) in Delta State Condemns in its Entirety the sponsored Sunrise Daily Programme of Channels Television on the 8th August, 2020” reads:

It is against this backdrop that we have chosen to respond to the Channels Sunrise Programme in which the aforementioned Indigenes of Idumuje-Ugboko referred to Prince Ned Nwoko as a “land grabber” who has been using the police to terrorize the indigenes of Idumuje-Ugboko in his bid to acquire more land for private use. The litany of lies also continued where the trio who are obviously hirelings of Prince Chukwunonso Nwoko and his backers claimed that Prince Nonso Nwoko, the self-acclaimed Monarch of Idumuje-Ugboko is in perpetual hiding as a result of threats from Prince Ned Nwoko.

Although, CUPP is a purely political outfit that may not be interested in the domestic squabbles of Idumuje-Ugboko, the sheer and brazen falsehood that oozed out of the Sunrise Daily outing cannot be ignored by us. We have decided therefore to set records straight as we know it.

Sometime in 2015, Prince Ned Nwoko requested for a 33 acres of land at Idumuje-Ugboko to establish a dairy farm, a fishing pond and other developmental projects that will benefit the Idumuje-Ugboko kingdom. The late king HRM Albert Nwoko referred the request to the land allocation committee which granted the request. Later on, Prince Ned Nwoko in a bid to establish an international Golf course and STARS University requested for an additional 90 hectares of land which also went through the Land’s allocation committee and after a careful appraisal of his feasibility studies also gave an approval but with a proviso that the Idumuje-Ugboko clan will have a 40% equity in the proposed STARS University which Prince Ned Nwoko accepted. Armed with the approved letter of allocation issued through Ned Nwoko’s company, LINAS International Company, Prince Ned Nwoko procured a Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) and the necessary building plans and started construction works on site. Then in the year 2017 a letter started circulating at Idumuje-Ugboko purported to have been written by the late Obi of Idumuje-Ugboko, HRM Albert Nwoko that he has repudiated the earlier approval for Prince Ned to build the STARS University and Golf Course. All efforts to have the late Obi to authenticate his signature proved abortive as the Palace was barricaded by Prince Chukwunonso Nwoko, Prince Ejimofor Nwoko, Richard Obiajulu Nwoko and Dennis Nwoko. This action was frighteningly suspicious especially as it became obvious that the late king Albert Nwoko had been held hostage. Shortly after that HRM Albert Nwoko died in a very suspicious manner on the 6th of February 2017 while his remains were hurriedly buried at midnight against all known Idumuje-Ugboko customs and traditions.

In the main time, Prince Nonso Nwoko without going through the traditional rites and procedures promptly proclaimed himself the new Obi of Idumuje-Ugboko. All attempts by some well-meaning Indigenes of the town to challenge his wrongful ascension to the throne was met with brute force as he clamped down on all opposing voices. Specifically on May 18, 2017 hell was let loose in Idumuje-Ugboko in a Palace mayhem which spread to all parts of the kingdom. At the end one Cyprian Kumiolu, an okada rider was murdered in cold blood allegedly on the orders of Prince Nonso Nwoko. On another occasion an Indigene of Idumuje-Ugboko Kennedy Iloh was also murdered in cold blood. It is also alleged that a teenage girl was brutally raped almost to death at the palace and this generated wild outrage which attracted the attention of Civil Rights Organizations including the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).

Today, Prince Nonso Nwoko is facing charges of murder, forgery and acts which breached the peace at Idumuje-Ugboko. Only recently Delta State Police Command after several invitations to Prince Nonso Nwoko to answer to charges of murder arrested him and after severe interrogations released him on administrative bail. The pendency of these murder charges against Prince Nonso Nwoko have made it difficult for the Delta State Government to issue a Staff of Office to him. Besides the murder charges, there is still the issue of kingship tussle at Idumuje-Ugboko. Although Prince Nonso Nwoko is the first son of the late Obi, the principle of primogeniture comes with a caveat. For a Prince of Idumuje-Ugboko to ascend the throne of his ancestors his mother must be from Idumuje-Ugboko. In the case of Prince Nonso Nwoko, his mother is from Ubulu-Uku in Aniocha North Local Government Area, a situation that precludes him from succeeding his father. Another Prince, Uche Nwoko is laying claim to the throne because his own mother comes from Idumuje-Ugboko and this has created a kingship tussle which Prince Nonso Nwoko has been resisting using several devious means. There have been more than eight attempts by several peace committees in and outside Idumuje-Ugboko to settle the crisis but all have proved abortive.

From the foregoing, it becomes crystal clear that Prince Ned Nwoko has no hand in the Idumuje-Ugboko crisis. There is basically no correlation between the attempt by Prince Ned Nwoko to establish his Golf Course and STARS University and the crisis which has engulfed the kingdom. The trio of Engr. Enueoyibo, Chuks Nwoko and Uche Aligbe are on a futile mission to drag Prince Ned Nwoko into Prince Nonso self-induced travails. Prince Nonso is a sinking self-proclaimed Monarch with series of murder cases hanging on his neck. These hirelings of Prince Nonso are out to distort history and to put the blames of the clashing throne of Idumuje-Ugboko on an innocent man whose major preoccupation is to build a world class STARS University and Golf course in the town with the aim of developing his native land. We believe that this blackmail of an illustrious son of Idumuje-Ugboko will not work as even a small child in Idumuje-Ugboko knows the truth. It seems to us very curious that the blackmailers in the Sunrise Daily programme tried to draw a parallel between Prince Ned Nwoko and Dr. Gabriel Ogbechie the owner of Rain Oil with claims that Ogbechie paid for his lands at Idumuje-Ugboko while Prince Ned Nwoko did not. This assertion tells us where to situate the television sponsored vendetta.

As the COALITION OF UNITED POLITICAL PARTIES IN DELTA STATE continues to watch the unfolding drama, we call on the Inspector General of Police and the Delta State Police Command not to relent on their efforts to bring all the culprits in the serial murder cases in the Idumuje-Ugboko to book in other to restore permanent peace to Idumuje-Ugboko. We also condemn in its entirety this hateful propaganda as was witnessed in the Channels Sunrise Daily programme of 8th August 2020 laced with envy, malice, lies, and peddled by some shameless indigenes of Idumuje-Ugboko who are obviously contractors of Prince Nonso-Nwoko and his sponsors and who in their desperation even accused the Governor of Delta State and the Police of being compromised.

For: COALITION OF UNITED POLITICAL PARTIES IN DELTA STATE.

PRINCE HENRY J.E. EZE (JP) COMR. EMEKA U. BIDOKWU
Secretary Publicity Secretary

MR. FRED AKPEWE
Leader