Awka is the capital of Anambra State of Nigeria. It’s a name of a community and local government area as well. There’s the Awka North, and there’s Awka South local government areas, but it’s only in Awka South can Awka people be found. Some of the communities under Awka South include: Nise, Nibo, Amawbia, Mbaukwu, Ezinato, Umuawulu, Isiagu, Okpuno and Awka itself, while Awka North has Ebenebe, Amansea, Isuanaocha, Mgbakwu, Achalla, Ugbenu, Amanuke, Urum, Awba Ofemmili and Ugbene all with their distinct Igbo dialects, culture and traditional institutions independent from one another.
Awka as a community has over the years experienced continuous lethal controversies that take a natural process to contain. What this implies is that each time the crisis rages, conventional security operatives don’t put off the attendant flames. Sometimes, mercenaries are deployed to the community to quell the crisis. Many have wondered what could be the cause of the constant unrest. Could it be because of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University that is sited in the community? Could it be because it’s a state capital attracting people from different backgrounds and cultures? It’s none of these reasons, and the next paragraphs shall explain why.
The causes of the bloodbath that is now characteristic of Awka are factional kingship and land sales. What do I mean when I say that land is one of the causes of the civil unrest in Awka? As a state capital and federal university host community, people come to buy pieces of land to build on. It has been proven beyond any doubt that some families sell a piece of land to multiple developers with each of them laying claim to legitimate ownership of it. In the process of asserting ownership right, shootings ensue. It usually takes the form of a buyer fighting another buyer and at the same time fighting the family that sold it to him. This results in mindless killings and burning down of property. Another face to it is the probability that it could be the ancestral ownership of the land in question is being contested by a different unit of the family or kindred or even village, making it susceptible to arguments and civil clashes. Some will sell to multiple buyers and travel out of Nigeria with the money and leaving the controversial buyers to argue out themselves the rightful buyer. In this case, the controversy lingers a very long while. Only court rulings and judgements can put it to rest, somehow. Those that later lose out in court the ownership right now resort to crude means of communicating vengeance. This degenerates towards anarchy and cult killings and other forms of criminality. The spillover now affects the neighboring communities, making it a more difficult task to contain.
Another cause of the regular unrest in Awka is the parallel kingship course that has ravaged the community for a long time now. While the Anambra State Government recognized and gave staff of office to His Royal Highness, Obi Gibson Nwosu as the traditional ruler of Awka, Ozo Austin Ndigwe is laying a counter-claim to the throne. These two are the most pronounced figures in the controversy trailing the traditional stool of the ancient blacksmithing town of Awka. This means that there are pockets of such figures dragging the stool against Obi Nwosu and Ozo Ndigwe. All these efforts are punctuated with hazardous machinations resulting in exchange of bullets and machetes. Each of the different administrations of the Anambra State Government over the years has been making it crystal clear that Obi Gibson Nwosu, a seemingly nonagenarian gentleman is the duly crowned Obi of Awka, casting to the trash bin the claim of Ozo Austin Ndigwe who goes about carrying himself as the proper traditional ruler of Awka, hosting traditional and customary events that only the legitimate traditional ruler should host.
Sometime in 2021, civil security mercenaries from the Niger Delta were hired and deployed to Awka to help engage the touts going about killing people since the situation had grown so wild beyond the control of police. The mercenaries true to their claim of having the wherewithal to quell the situation arrived and deleted eighteen of such homegrown criminals with the remaining taking to their heels. The mercenaries use cutlasses in engaging aggressors, dismembering and decapitating their arms and setting their bodies on fire at open spaces. The town after one week of the sanitation exercise became cool as the criminals encountered what was beyond their might. Seeing that the decapitated criminals were all from the community, against the thinking that they may have come from somewhere else, the leaders immediately withdrew the security mercenaries from operation. But has the trend of shootings and murder ceased in Awka? Of course not, but has only reduced. Just today, 20th of October, 2024, eight persons were reported killed in Nibo, a neighboring community that used to be conducive. As at now, information has it that the murder was spearheaded by rival cult groups, but as time progresses, consequent upon conclusion of investigation, it might not be far from being the latter day spillover of the Awka killing festival.
•Nwoba Chika Nwoba writes from Awka.
