The traditional ruler of Mgbalukwu Autonomous Community in Izzi local government area of Ebonyi State, HRH Eze Stephen Akpaghara has conferred a Chieftaincy titles on the 7 illustrious sons of his community.
The traditional ruler flanked by his cabinets during the event held at Osebi Primary School in the Mgbalukwu community also conferred the Catholic Priest of Abakaliki Diocese, Rev Fr Godwin Uguru, as the Afunwa-Elota-Nna 1 of Mgbalukwu Kingdom.
Eze Akpaghara equally conferred the lawmaker representing Izzi East State Constituency, Goodluck Mbam as the Odozi-Obodo 1 of Mgbalukwu Kingdom but the Izzi local government Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Odilichukwu Okeye was conferred Agbarike Oha 1 of the community and a Mgbalukwu born businessman basing in Edo State - Chief Elijah Omininyi received an Omere 1 of Mgbalukwu as his Chieftaincy title from the community.
Also, former Izzi local government chairman, late Chief Godwin Onwe, was given a posthumous Chieftaincy title as Nnaji-Oha 1, and the deceased Ward Councilor from the community, late Moses Nwankpu, received a posthumous recognition as Dike-Eji-Eje-Mba 1 of Mgbalukwu Kingdom.
The sons of the duo received the Chieftaincy titles on their behalf from the community.
Speaking during the event, the Mgbalukwu monarch, Eze Stephen Akpaghara said the awardees were selected and conferred the Chieftaincy titles following their contributions to the community development projects and human empowerment.
He urged them to sustain such magnanimous lifestyles and advised those who had contributed meaningfully to the growth and development of their community to exercise patience as the award would be coming in batches.
He urged the community people to be law-abiding, ensuring the existing peace in the area grows higher instead of engaging themselves in any form of crisis and unnecessary court litigations or police arrest.
The Chairman of the occasion, Chief Dustan Nwogbaga congratulated the awardees and described them as the ambassadors of the Mgbalukwu community in terms of grassroots development and humanitarian services.
In his address, the Chairman of the Planning Committee for the occasion said the Chieftaincy titles were conferred on the 7 Mgbalukwu illustrious sons who have, in one way or the other, contributed to the development of the community.
He urged them to keep doing well by shining above the merit of their respective Chieftaincy titles, noting that the community is still facing some challenges on how to award scholarships to indigent children to further their education, moribund structures of their primary institutions, lack of standard hospital, electricity, portable water, good roads and bridges to easy movement and connect various villages and homes to their neighbourhoods in the area.
He, however, commended Governor Francis Nwifuru for appointing members of the community into positions of trust and bringing some development projects to the area but expressed worry that the community's traditional ruler's palace is yet to be built like his colleagues in the state.
The Public Relations Officer of the Mgbalukwu's traditional ruler cabinet members, Chief Jethro Onwe, said the community needs support from both government and private organizations.
"As a community, we have 33 villages without a sound hospital, no sound hospital belonging to the government except private clinics around this area. We appeal to our able governor to come to our aid because we supported him, and we are still supporting him.
"We are appealing to him to try as much as he can, even if he can attract the federal government to intervene to construct Omininyi Road at most within one year. The main support we need in Mgbalukwu is good roads and electricity because if we have roads, we can access hospitals, but now we are dying fowls because we have no roads. We can access water because we are living close to the river."
Emphasizing why the community gave 7 persons from the community Chieftaincy titles, Onwe said: "Each of them has a peculiar project or more he has done. For instance, somebody like Comrade Ekene Nwokoro has graded and laterited several roads the government was supposed to do during the regime of former Governor David Umahi. He graded and laterited more than 20 kilometres of road and other projects; in fact, his philosophy has no boundaries because both the rich and poor have been benefiting from Comrade Ekene Nwokoro.
"Somebody like Fr. Godwin Uguru, in our community precisely, has done more enough to touch humanity. The posthumous Chieftaincy awardees, two of them, I can vividly tell you that two of them have done what man can to fellow human beings during their lifetime to develop the Mgbalukwu community. Late Goodwin Onwe built the bridge and numerous projects in this community when he was Izzi's local government Chairman. Before he constructed the bridge, it used to be a great challenge to the community people when they were getting closer to the rainy season but now the experience has changed. The other one, the late Moses Nwankpu, the former Ward Councilor built the Nwenwu market,t which is one of the major markets in the Izhi clan, people from other states come for business transactions, and that's why we said whether they are alive or dead, they have to be rewarded."
Special guests at the event, including Engr Henry Awuregu - Federal Commissioner, Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission, Director General Ebonyi Broadcasting Corporation, and EBBC Comrade Tony Nwizi described the occasion as a practical reward for hard work and motivation to people to embark on humanitarian service,e,s especially in community development and human empowerment.
They congratulated the awardees and urged them to sustain their benevolent life, saying they could only get better, not the worse, while contributing towards societal development during their lifetime.
Appreciating his people, the Senior Special Assistant to the governor, Comrade Ekene Nwokoro dedicated the award to God and his principal, Governor Francis Nwifuru, alongside his parents.
He commended Governor Nwifuru whom he described as a guru in human and infrastructure development in Ebonyi State, saying he has assured urgent intervention for the deplorable road and lack of electricity, among other challenges facing the community.
Other awardees including Rev Fr Godwin Uguru, Hon Goodluck Mbam, and Chief Odilichukwu Okeye among others expressed gratitude over the royal recognition and pladeged to double their efforts towards transforming their community.
