HRH Eze S.N Oketa, Onuoha III of Nkaleke Echera Autonomous Community and President General of Oha Izhi Nnodo Ekumaenyi clan in Ebonyi State.
The President General of Oha Izhi Nnodo Ekumaenyi clan and Traditional Ruler of Nkaleke Echara Unuphu Autonomous Community in Ebonyi, HRH Eze Sunday Oketa, has dismissed as false and malicious a recent online publication accusing him of land grabbing in Oroke-Onuoha village in Ebonyi Local Government Area of the state.
Speaking with journalists on Wednesday, the monarch said the allegation was the handiwork of disgruntled elements who, after failing in their push to compel village leaders to allocate more lands for resale, resorted to blackmail.
He named Ogobuchi Ibina, Ogbuogu Emmanuel and Mmaduabuchi Nwibo as those behind the purported protest, accusing them of selling virtually all the parcels of land inherited from their parents and mounting undue pressure on the community leadership to partition what was left.
Their demands, he noted, were rejected.
“When they couldn’t get their way, they resorted to propaganda. Some of them even sold their own residential plots and returned to their fathers’ compounds, which our Izhi customs regard as an abomination. I have never sold my own land, that of my parents or of the village,” Eze Oketa stated.
The monarch emphasized that he has consistently championed campaigns against indiscriminate land sales in Izhi land, stressing that the allegation ran contrary to his long-standing advocacy for land preservation.
“I challenge them to come forward with any evidence. My record is clear. The people of Izhi must understand that reckless sale of land endangers the very future of our children,” he warned.
Eze Oketa commended Governor Francis Ogbonna Nwifuru for his support to traditional institutions in Izhi land, especially in fostering peace and development in every part of the state.
On reports of his alleged obstruction of youth elections in Oroke-Onuoha, the traditional ruler dismissed the claims, clarifying that no delegation of youths had ever approached him with such a request.
He reaffirmed his readiness to defend his integrity at any forum, describing the allegations as a calculated attempt to tarnish his reputation and destabilize harmony in his community.
