The people of Dim Ubulu Ihejiofor Autonomus Community in Oru West Local Government of Imo State, have presented Prince Goodluck Obi, a civil society activist and philanthropist, to Ogbuehi Paulinus Udemba Obi, Chairman of the Local Government, as their first Eze-elect.
The epoch-making event, attracted members of the Eze-in-Council, the Community Development Association, the youths, the women and the elderly, who stormed the local government secretariat at Mgbidi with traditional dancers and other traditional materials. It was indeed colourful.
The occasion climaxed when Chief Eugene Enwerem, the President General of the autonomous community, in joy and amidst applause, told Udemba Obi that his people had agreed that Prince Obi would be their monarch.
He said the community chose Prince Obi based on his track record as a humanitarian worker and expertise in his areas of calling. The community, he stressed, believed that as their Eze, Prince Obi, would bring the area to limelight for more progress and development, even more than other communities in Imo State.
“I hereby present Prince Goodluck Obi, our Eze-elect, to you for your blessing,” Chief Enwerem told Hon. Obi, the LG boss.
Responding, the council boss, congratulated the autonomous community and the Eze-elect, and promised to always keep in touch with the community through Prince Obi any time there would be need to do so. He extended his hand of fellowship to the Eze-elect and encouraged him not to hesitate to contact him should there be any reason to do so.
The Dim Ubulu Ihejiofor Autonomus Community was carved out from Etiti Ubulu Autonomous Community in Oru West in 2017. Since then, the community had been pushing the process and procedure to have a monarch.
The process included a visitation of the Chairman, House Committee on Autonomous Communities and Chieftaincy Affairs of the Imo State House of Assembly, Arthur Egwim and his members to the community on October 6, 2017, followed with the appearance of the community leaders and the Eze-elect before the House of Assembly on January 18, 2018.
This was preceded by a long process of choosing the Eze-elect, during which Prince Obi emerged unopposed after several other nominees withdrew in his favour.
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It was gathered that during the visitation of the committee members to the new autonomous community, they ascertained the peoples claims and confirmed the geography and topography of the place, the presence of primary and secondary schools, football fields, markets, churches, post office, pipe borne water and boreholes, among other prerequisites for the recognising an autonomous community and the emergence of an Eze.
During the presentation of the Eze-elect, Ogbuehi Malachy Obi, a member of the Eze-in Council, in his remark, thanked the local government chairman for his support and warm reception.
He also thanked him for the good relationship, which had been existing between the chairman and the community since the quest for autonomy started, which culminated in the presentation of the Eze-elect.
Ogbuefi Damian Ezengu, the oldest member of the Eze-in-Council, thanked the Almighty God for giving the community such a selfless man like Prince Obi as their Eze-elect. He stressed that Prince Obi had been making a lot of sacrifices for the development of their autonomous community.
Speaking with newsmen, Prince Obi, the Eze-elect, said that his motto in life since his days in the University of Ibadan had been ‘Selfless Service to Humanity’, adding, “I believe my autonomous community will benefit enormously in social, infrastructure, youth empowerment and employment.
“I have been supporting people from far and near. This is the time for me to support the development of my autonomous community even more than I have been doing before. Through my contacts, I will bring the community closer to international community, especially the United Nations agencies, for faster development of the area.”
