Tension is mounting in Ingle Edumoga Community of Ingle/Okpale Ward, Okpokwu Local Government Area of Benue State, following a dispute over the appointment of the new District Head of Edumoga.
Elders, youths and other stakeholders from the community have petitioned Governor Hyacinth Iormem Alia, urging him to halt what they described as an attempt to undermine the traditional rotational arrangement governing succession to the stool.
In the petition, also copied to traditional and political leaders in the area, the community accused its monarch, who also chairs the Okpokwu Council of Chiefs, of allegedly orchestrating moves to bypass Ingle Edumoga and install a candidate from another ward that had already occupied the position.
The three-page petition was signed by the Chairman of Ingle Community, Mr Gabriel Ugboyi Ogwuchea; National Matron/Women Leader, Mrs Elizabeth Ochada; and National Youth Leader, Engr Joseph Otobo.
The petitioners described the alleged move as “a gross injustice, abuse of traditional authority and a deliberate attempt to subvert the long-standing rotational system of leadership” in the Edumoga Chiefdom.
“We, on behalf of the peace-loving people, elders, youths and stakeholders of Ingle Edumoga in Ingle/Okpale Ward, wish to draw Your Excellency’s urgent attention to the ongoing manipulation by Chief James Okefe to arbitrarily bypass our ward and hand the stool to an individual from another ward that has already taken its turn,” the petition read.
According to the community, the position of District Head has, for decades, been filled through an agreed zoning and rotational arrangement designed to guarantee
