MASSOB Rejects Ikemba Title On Ojukwu’s Son

Igbo leaders have rejected the installation of the second son of the late Odimegwu Chukwuemeka Ojukwu, Emeka Jnr as Ikemba II.

He was conferred with the title by the traditional ruler of Nawfia community in Anambra State, Igwe Chijioke Nwankwo.

They said it amounted to bastardisation of Igbo traditional and cultural norms.

The Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) leader Ralph Uwazuruike, said Ojukwu Jnr had no locus standi to answer Ikemba II because there is no portfolio which warrants such title.

Represented by his second-in-command, Rommy Ezeonwuka, Uwazuruike said:” The title of Ikemba was given to the late Ojukwu at Nkwo-Nnewi Triangle by the traditional ruler of Nnewi, Igwe Kenneth Orizu III.

“So, for Emeka to go to Nawfia his maternal home town to be installed as Ikemba II is not something that is realistic in Igbo customs and norms.”

He said Igwe Nwankwo could not install Emeka as Ikemba II because he was not the one who installed his father as the Ikemba I of Nnewi.

The development, the MASSOB leader said, could be ill-conceived and instigate internal wrangling among the children of the late Biafan warlord.

Uwazuruike decried the purported installation at a time when Ndigbo and the world are mourning the demise of his father and opined that it must have been selfishly motivated.

“Ikemba was a title given to Odimegwu Ojukwu by Nnewi clan and if Ojukwu Jnr has received same from Nnewi clan just as Uwazuruike was crowned Ezeigbo at Nri where Ojukwu was previously crowned, it would have been a welcome development,” he said.