The question is now ringing louder and louder with the passing of each week. Was His Royal Majesty, Obi Albert Nwoko lll murdered? What actually happened the day he died? Was he sick? Did anyone see him just before his death was suddenly announced?
For the wives of the king, the answer to these questions is not anecdotal. Their husband was murdered in cold blood. And they want to unravel the mystery behind this cruel barbarity.
But how did this rustic village arrive at this tragic point where a king well over 90 years of age could be allegedly murdered?
Before August, 2015, Idumuje-Ugboko, a village in Aniocha North Local Government Area, LGA, was a serene forestry settlement. It was indeed in an unusually gay mood in 2015. This was because a distinguished scion of the village was going to build a university and a golf course at the village. The king, His Royal Majesty, Obi Albert Nwoko lll, JP, MON, and his Obi-in-Council had given their approval. A meeting of the four federating villages known as Izu-Ani also attended by the community’s development union had also been held on Saturday, April 4, 2015 and endorsed this project.
Still, on Saturday, July 11, 2015, the Idumuje-Ugboko Development Union under the leadership of its President-General, Mr Bennet Odor plus former Presidents-General in attendance gave their nod to the University and golf course establishment in Idumuje-Ugboko after a presentation by Prince Ned as he is fondly called. These full approvals by all the important organs of the kingdom inspired HRM Obi Albert Nwoko lll to write Prince Ned Nwoko through his company, Linas International Ltd on Friday, April 10, 2015, to communicate the kingdom’s approval.
But on Wednesday, August 12, 2015, Idumuje-Ugboko rumbled. A strange letter had been circulated all over the village and even read in church. The letter claimed HRM Obi Nwoko lll had repudiated the approval given for the establishment of the proposed university to be called Star University and the golf course. The whole village was jolted by this volte-face.
It soon came to the knowledge of everyone that the letter emanated from the son of the king, Prince Justin Chukwunonso Nwoko often referred to as Prince Nonso. The village suspected foul play and demanded to see the Obi to authenticate the letter as even the signature on the letter looked suspicious. However, Prince Nonso backed by Princes Ejimofor Fredrick Nwoko , Richard Obiajulu Nwoko and Dennis Uwadiegwu Nwoko among others had already fortified the palace with some youths and suspected thugs and blocked every attempt of the leading traditional figures to see the king. They allegedly went as far as seizing the Obi’s phone so that Prince Ned or any other person against their self-centred mission might not be able to speak to him.
Unable to continue tolerating this impunity, Prince Walters Eziashi who was the community’s President-General,2008-2012, petitioned the Commissioner of Police , Delta state Command on September 14, 2015 to investigate the veracity of the letter that purportedly came from the king.
The police swung into action, investigated the case and came out with an indictment of Princes Nonso, Richard Obiajulu and Ejimofor for forgery. And with the approval of Delta state Director of Public Prosecution, DPP, Nonso and his co-travellers were subsequently charged before the Chief Magistrate Court 1, Asaba in a Suit No. SMC/420C/2016.
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Although they were granted bail, it was revoked later as Prince Nonso Nwoko and his indicted gang failed to appear in court. They have since then remained fugitives from justice .
But they had also ruptured the peace of the Kingdom because the indictment did not make them sober. Instead they seemed determined to permanently fracture the unity of the hilly kingdom as desperation set in. Fast forward to 2017.
AND THE KING SUDDENLY DIES
On the morning of Monday, February 6, 2017, Idumuje-Ugboko kingdom froze in shock . The news filtered into homes and spread fast. Their king , Obi Albert Nwoko III had gone to join his forebears. The news came as a bruising bump. Many had seen the king the previous night. Though old and weak, he came out to greet his guests. And this morning, less than two hours before his death was announced, one of his aides had seen him. Said the Assistant who didn’t want to be named, ” I saw him around 7am before I left for my farm. He sat up , answered my greeting and wished me well before I left. So , you can imagine my shock when they called me to tell me he was dead. How ? How, I screamed. I rushed to the palace and went straight into his room as I was one of the very few people that could enter there”, the Assistant narrated. ” When I saw his body, he was looking very fresh. To tell you the truth I immediately suspected foul play. Because there had been tension. Prince Nonso was already acting like king in the palace and he was somebody the father did not approve his ways at all . And in fact, the way some of the people in the palace were making the so called death of the king a secret affair increased my suspicion “, he said.
A young Princess Chidinma Nwoko threw more light into the tragic scenario. ” My dad came out to eat that morning. Then he went back to the room. About 30 minutes later, my uncles, uncle Ejimofor and uncle Obiajulu Nwoko came into the palace “. According to Princess Chidinma, these two gentlemen who were close allies of her elder half-brother, Prince Nonso, went straight to see the king in his room. She continued, “about 45 minutes later, they came out and told me casually that my dad was dead. Even though I was young then, I felt so pained, I was like how, how possible, my dad, just like that? No, it can’t be true. My world collapsed. I became hopeless. Honestly, I felt like killing myself or killing those my uncles that minute because they just broke the news like one animal just died. It was painful”, she groaned. They had forced my mum out of the palace and they had also chased out my dad’s second wife. It was like I was now left alone in the midst of sharks. I cried till I broke down completely because I was hopeless. My senior brother, Nonso didn’t even look at me. I was like where do I go from here.
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But thank God, I thank God because he sent us a helper, he sent me, my mum and my siblings a messiah during the worst crisis of our life. God sent us uncle Ned Nwoko. He had actually been doing everything for my dad including paying for his medical checkup and all that. But this time, he changed our lives forever “, she narrated now smiling as tears blurred her eyes during our video call interview.
Now, nobody seems to have a factual evidence about what killed a prominent king like Obi Nwoko III. Everything remains a conjecture. This naturally should have compelled the family to carry out an autopsy. But this was not done. This stark omission in addition to series of abhorrent acts that culminated in the internment of the king’s body the very day he died and the obnoxious news of Nonso installing himself king, barely an hour after his own father was buried made the wives of the Obi, Queen Faith Okwikwe Nwoko and Queen Ifeoma Nwoko to petition the Assistant Inspector General of Police, AIG Zone 5, Benin, Abubakar Mohammed, now Nigeria’s Inspector General of Police, to investigate the mysterious death of their husband.
Even some innocent villagers were now querying why Prince Nonso should be so desperate to crown himself king if indeed he was the rightful heir to the throne . Why would he brazenly violate the kingdom’s rites and rituals before burying a king.
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More importantly, why would Prince Nonso go to court to stop to a laudable quest to get the police to unravel what killed his own father ? Shouldn’t he in good conscience join forces with his father’s wives to resolve the suspicious death of an eminent dad , they asked. Indeed , Nonso’s alleged many conflicts with his father from very early in his life and the detestable and alarming role he played immediately after the king’s death compelled the king’s queens, eminent Chiefs and people of the kingdom to start the current increasing cry and agitation for the body of the late king to be exhumed for an autopsy to be done.
ARE PRINCE NONSO’s HANDS CLEAN ?
Prince Nonso made himself a prime suspect in the alleged mysterious death of his father, the king ,when he buried the man the very day he died contrary to the dictates of their tradition which stipulates that the death of a king should be kept secret for three months before it is announced, with certain critical rituals performed. And if he could not be put in a mortuary then he should be buried after 24 hours.
As Prince Walters Eziashi, an Idumuje-Ugboko elite based in the village captured it, ” Prince Chukwunonso buried our king without recourse to the customs, tradition and culture of the Idumuje-Ugboko clan as embedded in the 1937 Intelligence Report of Idumuje Clan by R.B Karr”. But Nonso did not stop there. He buried the Obi accompanied only by Prince Fred Ejimofor Nwoko and Prince Richard Obiajulu Nwoko, two major suspects who visited the reportedly healthy king that morning only to come out to announce his death . A third person was Prince Mbanefo Nwoko, his brother. Nonso’s alleged despicable acts stretched further. He did not allow most of the brothers of the Obi like Princes Martin, Akaba and Somayina Nwoko to see the Obi’s prompting suspicion that the king’s body was tempered with. And Prince Walters threw more light into these brazen acts of abomination , this time in an alarming tone ” He did not only bury his father the same day he died, he did so accompanied by only his collaborators without the king’s five principal chiefs. He also appointed himself king within an hour of the purported burial forcing a 90 year old man from Atuma , another village entirely, one Mr Odinfono , to sit him on a chair he claimed was his traditional stool as king. This action is not only a taboo but an abomination not only in Idumuje clan but in the entire Anioma land “, he stressed.
The custom and tradition of the people according to Prince Walters is that ” when our king makes the ultimate transition, that is when he passes on, it is kept secret for three lunar months before it is announced and then the rituals for the burial would commence . But Prince Nonso didn’t care about this because of his personal ambition. He gave our king a secret burial the very day he died”. Said another man, ” Believe me my brother, that is the kind of act that brings unfathomable atrocities upon a people. Only God and our fore- fathers will judge Nonso and his cohorts for denigrating the throne of our Idumuje-Ugboko clan “, added the man who says he hails from the same village as the Odogwu of Idumuje-Ugboko. ” And if you know Nonso, if you engage him in a discussion for 15 minutes, just 15 minutes, you will know that something is already going wrong with him. But that is a matter for another day “, he enthused.
MORE CURIOUS REVELATIONS ABOUT NONSO’s ACTIONS
Another palace Assistant, a man of about 51 recalled what he described as one of the most evil acts of the night the king died. According to him, the late king had a written note he described as a Traditional Will. The king he said told palace insiders that this note must be read before his interment. Once the Obi’s death was muted, Onwudinjo Nwobi, the mouth-piece of the king called ‘ Onu Obi’ demanded that the note be read. As revealed by this Assistant, the king stated in the note in clear terms why Nonso was not qualified and not fit to be king of Idumuje-Ugboko.
But having glimpsed the content of the note, Prince Obiajulu requested that if the letter must be read, then it should be read jointly but silently by everyone. In their native language, Obiajulu said ” ka anyi gu akwukwo-a na obi anyi”.
After this silent perusal of the content of the note, Prince Nonso shut down any further discussion of the note. And the king was hurriedly buried.
What however heightened the people’s worry about their Prince was his reaction to the police investigation of the king’s demise. The king’s wives had petitioned the police to investigate the mysterious death of their husband. The whole people of Idumuje-Ugboko applauded this quest seeing it as an audacious move. But shockingly, Prince Nonso and his allies went to the High Court in August 2017 to apply for the order of mandamus to stop the police investigation of their king’s death. And even in court they did everything and applied every tactic to frustrate and delay the court process and by extension the police investigation. “Our people were dumbfounded by Nonso’s action. We felt ashamed of ourselves, we felt like outcasts when we visited neighbouring villages”, said Peter, a man from Ogbe-Ofu, one of the four federating villages.
It was not until June 3, 2019, two whole years later, that the application which ordinarily shouldn’t last for more than three months was stuck out by Justice C.N Ogadi of High Court, Agbor, Delta state who got fed up with their rascality and antics.
Now, the police has unfettered opportunity to continue their investigation, a popular mission to resolve all issues surrounding the death of HRM Obi Albert Nwoko III.
Last week, the Queens of the late king vowed to return to the police to urge them to re-open the investigation. There is now hope for the Idumuje clan. And there is anxiety and fear in some quarters . Importantly, there are nagging questions begging for answers .
Why did the king, Obi Nwoko III state that his own son is not qualified and not fit to be king ? Why does Nonso seem desperate to be king ? What is his grouse with his billionaire philanthropic cousin , Prince Ned Nwoko , a soft spoken lawyer celebrated not only in Idumuje-Ugboko but nationwide, across tribes and religions in Nigeria for his unquenchable thirst for charity and philanthropy ? These questions are begging for answers.
Culled from Vanguard Newspapers
