Enugu community crisis: Why traditional ruler was shot dead, by ex-chairman

A petitioner, Mr Ikenna Nwatu from Oruku Community in Nkanu East Local Government Area of Enugu State, on Thursday, disclosed why the traditional ruler, Igwe Emmanuel Mbah, was murdered.
Nwatu told the Enugu State Judicial Commission of Inquiry investigating Mba’s killing in Enugu that it was because the royal father planned to review land transactions from previous administrations in the community.
According to him, Mba’s murder on December 26, 2020, occurred on the same day Mba planned to inaugurate a seven-man Oruku Land Review and Reform Committee to address reported cases of irregularities in land transactions in the community.
Nwatu, former Chairman of the Oruku Town Union Caretaker Committee, explained that the committee was charged with the responsibility of reviewing all land sales to meet the current needs, interests and aspirations of the present day Oruku community.
Also appearing before the Commission as a petitioner, the incumbent chairman of the town union caretaker committee, Mr Linus Nwatu, alleged that 23 collaborators and sponsors were fueling cultist activities in the town to destroy it.
Nwatu, therefore, urged the panel to look into the names listed in his memorandum as the sponsors and bring them to book.
He said that the union had written in the past to Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, the Commissioner of Police in the state as well as the Inspector General of Police on nefarious activities going on in the community.
On his part, a counsel to the petitioners, Mr Benjamin Nwobodo, informed the commission that evidence contained in the third memorandum submitted by Mr Okey Ukeh had been admitted by the commission through the previous petitioners.
The commission headed by Justice Harold Eya, subsequently adjourned hearing of other memoranda to March 1, 2021.
Another indigene of Oruku Community and Town Union Vice Chairman, Mr Samuel Ani, was allegedly murdered in the early hours of Wednesday, Feb. 24.
Ani’s memorandum on the murder case of the traditional ruler had been scheduled to be heard before the Commission on February 25.