It was gathered that the destruction on Aug. 3, 2020 was in a bid to execute an Idemili High court order sitting in Ogidi, in favour of Umuezegbute village against the later.
The Umuezegbute village was said to have sued Ezele Mbana village, for stopping payment of royalty as their tenants.
On several occasions when the case came up for hearing, the respondents (Ezele Mbana village) would be absent and the efforts by the President General of Oba community, Chief Clifford Maduwa Enendu, pleading to them to be present proved abortive.
The Ezeke Mbana village took the case as mere waste of time, null and void and of no effect.
They were said to have even accused the President General who incidently is also from the same village. He is bias and have taken N100, 000 bribe from the opponent.
The court it was alleged had no other option than to give its judgment in favour of Umuezegbute to recover their land.
The President General, it was further learnt, urged Ezele Mbana village to proceed to the Appeal court to possibly quash the judgment, but to no avail as his plea fell on deaf ears until the bubble burst.
On the fateful day of the destruction, cries and wailings resulted from heavy shootings in both sides when the Umuezegbute villagers stormed Ezele Mbana village with caterpillars and other destructive machinery.
The plaintiffs came with government executors and merchinaries and over powered the respondents, demolishing houses and destroying everything withinreach, including property allegedly owned by the Anglican church.
Reacting to the incident, when contacted, the President General of Oba community regretted that instead of his people listening to the voice of reason, they accused him of bias and taking bribe adding, “they have now realised their mistake but the damage has been done”.
In his contribution, the President General of Aboji Akanano Union, Chief Dozie Nweke, pleaded for peace to reign, stating that both warring factions are brothers and as such should seek peace.
“In those good days, Oba man can dash out plots of land to his brothers and strangers, but today it is gold because of the quest for quick money to live luxurious life and by so doing we commit abomination (nsoana)” he stated.
“There was a time our women don’t even marry outsiders except you are from Oba, but today they marry strangers resulting in mixed blood and that is what we are suffering today”
“The war we have now is war of document, paper obtained from one who is not even a member or indigene of Oba.
“We want the warring factions to know that they are brothers and it is time for the wisemen in our community to come out and sit in a round table to settle this issue and tell those instigating the crisis that God is watching them. The state government should also come to the rescue.
“We should be our brothers’ keeper wherever we may find ourselves, we should be advocates of peace, it was not Boko Haram that came and did these destructions in Oba, it was our brothers”, he lamented.
When contacted the Oba Divisional Police Officer, DPO, Mr Uche, confirmed the incident and declined further comments as he referred this reporter to Awka for details.