ORLUZURUMEE: The Untold Story pt 2 ||| NEWS CORNER

Article By Collins Opurozor

The first part of this series has raised three fundamental questions about the leadership imbroglio in Orluzurumee. Those tripartite undebatable and incontrovertible issues, as a matter of necessity, should also be summarized here.

First, on November 5, 2015, the General Assembly of suspended Chief Reuben Okoro from Orluzurumee on on allegations of seizure of the group’s property and conversion of same to personal use, extortion and purported collapse of Orluzurumee into a political party. This was published on page 11 of Nigeria Newspoint newspaper of November 6, 2015. Chief Okoro has never put up a single line of defense till date.

Second, in 2012, Chief Okoro along with Prof. David Akubukwe on behalf of Orluzurumee Cultural Union had instituted a court action against Chris Esiobu and Emmanuel Amafili vide suit No. HOR/26/2012 at the high court in Orlu over issues of substitution of names of BoT and executive members. On Tuesday, July 9, 2013, the court, presided over by Hon. Justice C.A. Ononeze-Madu, ordered as follows, “It is the further order of this court restraining both parties from acting in any way or parading in any form as executive members of Orluzurumee Cultural Union pending the determination of the substantive suit.” That court order which has proscribed Chief Okoro from parading himself in whatever form as Orluzurumee has not been vacated.

Third, in furtherance of his morbid and covetous drive to keep enriching himself with a common patrimony, Chief Okoro in 2018 instituted a fresh court action at the Orlu judicial division of the Imo State High Court against the valid leadership of Orluzurumee headed by Chief Emeka Diwe vide suit No. HOR/40/2018. He was seeking the court to order Diwe to hand over the assets of the group to him. On April 8, 2019, Hon. Justice LC Azuama delivered judgment. The court struck out his case on the grounds that having been duly expelled from the group and his hands tied by an extant court order “Chief Okoro is not competent to appear before the court” and has no right over the property of the defendants. This judgment has dumped Chief Okoro into the dustbin of history as long as Orluzurumee is concerned.

What followed after all these could best be described as the most cruel thing in the history of mankind after Cain murdered Abel.

In 2018, Chief Emeka Diwe as President of Orluzurumee came up with a laudable youth engagement scheme by registering the Orluzurumee Mass Transit Company, which assembled unemployed youths in the Zone and gave them vehicles at zero cost to alleviate their plight and cushion the social consequences of youth unemployment. This initiative of the socio-cultural group was the first of its kind in Nigeria. In this way, Chief Diwe opened a new vista of discussion on the social responsibility and commitment of cultural groups, and Orluzurumee became a flagship platform for channeling the energies of Orlu youths into creative ventures.

In other climes, to be clear, this passion, dedication and compassion of Chief Diwe is often rewarded with a laurel. But the reverse is the case here. Determined to hold Orlu youths down forever, Chief Okoro reared up his head again, colluded with the Police and got the youth beneficiaries of the mass transit scheme arrested and their vehicles confiscated. Those youths paid not less than N40, 000 for bail at the Orlu Area Command of the Nigeria Police, and till date some of the vehicles are still parked there, rotting away. This is inhumanity of gargantuan proportion!

It is instructive to note that Chief Okoro’s vision for Orluzurumee is lucidly seen only in the oppression of the people, extortion of the wealthy and politicization of the cultural group. On Saturday, August 5, 2017 Chief Okoro perpetrated the biggest racket of his lifetime in the name of Orluzurumee. He had been expelled, recall. He had also been barred by subsisting court orders from identifying as Orluzurumee Cultural Union.

But on that day, Chief Okoro connived with one Chidi Agbarakwe to cook up a fairy tale about an Orlu Polytechnic Project for which launch they invited unsuspecting members of the public to the Sam Okwaraji Stadium in Orlu and realized tens of millions of Naira. Where is the Polytechnic today? Where is the money? Where is Agbarakwe? What about the millions of Naira collected from the awardees on that day? This is terrible.

It should be the patriotic duty of all Orlu sons and daughters to get rid of this cancer which has eaten deep into Orlu Zone. Apart from presenting Orlu people as beggarly, hungry and mischievous Chief Okoro has so willfully desecrated Orluzurumee by creating and sustaining the erroneous impression that Orluzurumee is a ready appendage of any politician or political clique that is willing to drop some cash! Between the period he was expelled from Orluzurumee and today, he has used over four persons as fronts in this heinous scheme against Orlu people.

As at the time he came up with the phantom polytechnic project, he recruited Chidi Steve Agbarakwe as President-General and fronted for that purpose. Before the 2019 elections, he saw Emeka Okeke is more suitable for his business, and presented him politicians as President-General of Orluzurumee. Now that he is so furiously plotting his way into the government of Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, he has recruited Sam Ukonu as President-General of Orluzurumee. This is really pathetic.

Recall that before his misadventure with Agbarakwe, Chief Okoro had also presented Chime Nzeribe as his President-General. That is how confused he is. But the Nzeribe debacle and the fuss about the registration of Orluzurumee Igwebuike Cultural Association will constitute the substance of the next piece in this series.

…©️News Corner.