 - 1982, Sunday, May 09 - Nkporo Peace meeting convened by Hon. Barrister U.O. Agwu. - 1982, Sarraay, lune O5 - The author, Hon. Barrister U.O. Agwu and Chief KOK Onyioha, me privately at the Obioma Inn, Nsukka, discussing how Nkporo could be re-united under a cultural umbrella that would more effectively replace the failed and disreputable NIU. The Barrister had passed the night in the author's house, and the three, there for a send-off invitation for graduating Nkporo students, felt an opportunity to seek Nkporo unity and progress, had Fortuitously equally arrived by our meeting in Nsukka for a purpose that was originally actually mote social than political. Chief KOK had to promise to go on with his proposed peace meeting tomorrow, or a week later., Barrister U. O. Agwu promised his full support., and both appeared to be seeing greater prospects for peace and unity than antagonism and war. - 1982, Sunday, June 13 - An all-Nkporo Peace Meeting, with Chief KOK and Hon. Barrister U.O. Agwu and their supporters, in full attendance, apparently happy that Nkporo was once again on the rise. With the spirit and goodwill of the Nsukka accord at the back of the minds of everybody, the author was unanimously appointed the Convener of the series of meetings that would lead to the formation of the NDU in six months time: December, 1982. For the many ther people that contributed to the formation of the NDU, see page 384. - • 1982, Saturday, December 18 - The Nkporo Development linion, NDU, officially formed, with the first elections into its various offices: Chief O. E. Mang/President, Messts 0.0. Ude und A. A. Iro/1" and 2'' Vice-Presidents, Mr. U.O. Agbaeze/Secretary., cic. 6tc. - A 1983, MondariAra, September 05 - War between Elitiama NPN and Amurie NPP fanatics over jetto-be-confirmed results of the Imo State Assembly diections of Saturday, August 06, in which the two villages respectively officially supported Dr. Ukwu Agbai Ejionye and the victorious Hon. U. O. Agwu. Homes and property were destroyed., brothers ignored blood relationships., friend/s betrayed friends, with both (Peter Ude Ogboya, Anagha Arua) losing their lives, and in the end nothing was achieved, except to make some people rich who went up and down the Police Stations supposedly on behalf of their so-called villages. - 1984, July IS - The author's father, Nanyjukwu Ete Ojum James Arya Igwe, first popularly chosen President of the NIU, before its takeover and destruction by the Ufie-Ufie, philosopher-king, jurist, lover of peace and justice., the originator in Etitiama and inspirer in Nkporo, of the free education movement., AMALA activist, dies at 80, after a 7-year long illhealth. - D - 1985, Friday/Eke, March 08 - The remains of the non-Government recognized Ezeaja Iro - Ogbu brought back for interment. - -1985 - Nchara land settlement between Okwoke and Nde Nko, two great Iwo children that - B - 1985, Saturday/Eke December 21, and Sunday/Orie Desertesurgenceven up to 2004cted didn't need such a misunderstanding, especially its unnecessary resurgence even up to 2004. separate Chess demonstrations respectively at the Etitiama Community School (04.00pm) and the Nde-agbo Community School (04.00pm) for young enthusiasts, under the auspices of his Ntporo Sports Club, in the effort both to introduce the game to the community, and generate interest in its great potentials. Interest seemed to wane after a few years, with poverty being one of the prime suspects. - @ -1986a, September 28, Sunday - Nkporo Development Union delegation to the Chief of General Staff, the Ebiriba-born Commodore Ebitu Ukiwe. In the delegation were the Chairman O.E.
 - Mang, First Vice Chairman 0.0. Ude, Chief U.I. Mba, Messes N.K. Oji, and Emeghe Kalu, joined in Lagos by Messrs M.E. Akpala, Agwu Inem Kalu and others. The man, Nigeria's Second-in-Command under President/General Ibrahim Babangida was, at the time, very sympathetic to Nkporo people's cries for development and de-marginalisation. He feted the delegation sumptuously and made only one demand of them: that they should immediately produce a name whom he would send to then Igbere-born Imo State Governor, Amadi Ikwuechegh, for appointment as Commissioner. The man would, as part of the Government, directly influence development in Nkporo. The Imo State was then a bigger State, Commissioners very powerful, and their positions, almost like ministers, hotly contested. But, the Nkporo delegation, characteristically unmindful of the exceptional opportunity, were unable to mention a single candidate in front of the man - every other sensible community would have done so there and then, and get the appointment immediately. Then, much later, instead of one candidate, they managed to get 5 (why not 8, one from each village?), and before they could rigmarole to submit the 5, Ebitu Ukiwe had been removed from office. Having tried several other people, including those living in Lagos, to no avail, it was the author who made the visit to the Federal seat of power possible, within a few days of receiving a solemn appeal from the Nkporo people, through the Nkporo Development Union, NDU. The intention was to create a vital opening for our people, which they were expected to exploit for Nkporo's faster development. - - *-19866 - A terrible stroke hit Hon, Barrister UO. Agwu, to the fret new stemation of many Nkporo pro resile . Troke ould unfortunately die of it at the turn of the new millennium. It was also this progressives. le. dukse Imeri (Etttara), a tax paying, law-abiding citizen, became missing, allegedly lured by an Elughu "friend" unto a fatal end. - - 1987a, January 02, Friday - The NDU gets a new President, Chief U.I. Mba. - 4 - 19876, Moreanser. Ebiriba/Etitiama clash over land, an unfortunate incident between brothers, - -1987 Devember Christmas) January 1988 season - Uke Eto/Three Joint Age Grades (the Akajimba, Aikemba, and Ikemba Age Grades), confronted the leaders and elders of Etitiama de an Annual General Meeting, questioning them as follows: *What is the meaning, function of, and teasan lot ee Ulie-Ulie, if it serves a good purpose, we want to know that purpose., if not, and reason of toe why it should not be scrapped?" This question was asked under a very dangerously charged atmosphere in Etitiama, since the disappearance the previous year of y very well known man, Mr. Ndukwo Imeri, whom the villagers suspected had been a victim of an Ufic-Ufie-connected kidnapping, torture, and extra-judicial murder. By 2007, the man was yet to be found. The Joint Age Grades warned that any harm on any of those mandated to ask the question, would be regarded by them as an act of war and treated as such. Given the charged atmosphere, those at the Chair treated the question diplomatically, gradually persuading the audience away from it. If such questions are raised in other Nkporo villages, the Ufie-Ufie will, for a start, begin to find itself in its pre-1953 conditions, preparatory to a final collapse. - @ - 1988, July 07, Thursday - "National Concord" back-page headline: "Communities clash over land dispute in IMO: HOUSEWIFE KILLED: School Pupils taken hostage. That was the Ebiriba/Etitiama clash referred to above. - -1988, September 26, Monday/Afor - Imo State Governor, Commodore Amadi Ikwuechegh, visited Nkporo. - @ - 1990, March 02, Friday - Electricity comes to Nkporo, sponsored by the Umunna and Onyirimba Aga Grades, and commissioned by the Imo State Governor, Commodore Amadi kwuechegh, a great victory not only for the Etitiama village that sacrificed to bring it, but to all of Nkporo whose seven other villages gradually hooked up. to that National Grid (NEPA), facilitating education, commerce, communications, health, entertainment, etc. Telephones, computers, internet services, televisions, many hospital appliances, name them, are now all over Nkporo, thanks to the electricity. The rural-urban drift, although still going on, is gradually reducing, and rural life has improved. The Amurie village did not immediately join the other villages in hooking up to the programme., they later had theirs through Item, an action they saw as necessary to their political self esteem, the same reason why they separated from the Etitiama-based Eke Market in 1983. This author believed that Amurie was unjustly provoked in 1983 over an election that didn't involve any of their direct sons, but given that there is no dispute between brothers that wouldn't eventually die down, they seemed to have over-reacted, at least in the Market issue. On electricity, Amurie's action was a blessing in disguise for Nkporo for, as the community expands, it will offer an additional source of power to the burgeoning population. - -1991a, September - Prince Arya Arunsi (Amurie), NRC candidate, wins the Nkporo/Ebiriba Constituency of the Abia State House of Assembly, also becoming its Speaker and, as such, the (Ukwa) of the SDP. - Number Three man in the State protocols. He had contested against Mr. Obasi Okpan Agwy - -1991b, September 29, Sunday - Author's nephew, Ndukwe Okocha Ejionye, (M. Sc. Political Science), one of the most promising young men in the clan, the second surviving son of the one-time richest man in Nkporo and the owner of its first-story building, dies after some ill health. Ndukwe, under construction by 2007. - an official of the NIPOST, would best be remembered for inspiring the Nkporo Post Office, still - above Post Office - 1991c November 23, Saturday - Launching at the Nkporo Civic Centre to raise money for the - 1992a, June 26, Friday - Oji Kaly Akpala (B.So. Hons. Political Science, UNN), one of the most intelligent, patriotic and promising young men in Nkporo, dies. The story had it that he had, following a risky habit he had formed, against the advice of all his relations, including this author, of stopping almost everyday at a "friend's" house, to trustingly take some eatables offered him, after one of such occasions (this time, he was allegedly administered cooked maize) immediately developed an uncontrollable "diarrhoea" infection at Elughu, which led to his instant death a few hours or minutes later at a hospital. The young man, despite a pretended, so-called "friendship" with known enemies of progress, was very vocal in his condemnation of the Ufie-Ufie, especially the entry of young men into it. He had always been warned by several people either to choose his friends more correctly, or be more mindful of many of his other habits, all to no avail, because of unemployment. Oji, son of a well-known, then Owuwa Anyawu County Council road head worker, Zackeus/Kaly, was an offspring of Agwu I, founder of Amacke Compound in Etitiama, son of Ekenta, the Uturu Esim that destroyed Afachima Achi, making it possible for Nkporo to reach the Promised Land. Being unemployed, Oji had been volunteering his teaching skills to various Secondary Schools within Nkporo, which accounted for his regular presence at Elughu, including that fateful morning. With his death and that of Ndukwe Okocha Ejionye, Nkporo had lost two prominent young Political Scientists, both, from the same family. Indeed, a great achievement for the educated Ufie-Ufie. - -1992b, August 1 - The publication by - "Anonymous", possibly the illustrious Chief K.K. - Ogbaa, of the popular trail-blazing anti-Ufie-Ufie pamphlet, Nkporo Okwe Flash News: God First, Jesus Is The Answer. AWAKE Volume 92 - Part 1 Section 1. August 1" 1992. No one knew where the great young boy gathered the inspiration for such a marvelous work, but his fundamental thesis of the evilness of the Ufie-Ufie and the need for its destruction in Nkporo was unassailable. Therefore, even as some of his data were of doubtful accuracy, that was not a sufficient reason for anyone to condemn the great work. When it is said that children should be better than their parents, it is people like Chief K.K. Ogbaa that come to mind, such that if 1o of Nkporo youths can be or do like him, Nkporo might very speedily surpass other communities in peace, progress, and development. - -1993 January 02, Saturday - An NDU launching to raise money for the completion of the Nkporo Post Office. - A -1994 June 25, Saturday - Dr. Ukwu Agbai Ejionye, first Nkporo Ph.D. holder, former University Lecturer (at Benin, Uturu) and Special Adviser to Abia State Governor, Dr. - Ogbonnaya Onu, who died a few weeks earlier, was buried in a solemn ceremony attended by the ex-Governor and other dignitaries. - R - 1998a, early - So-called Autonomous Communities created in Abia State out of normally single/united clans. In Nkporo, as elsewhere, the exercise had no other effect than further dividing the people politically, creating some new unproductive royalties from nowhere, enabling the Government to divide-and-misrule the people, creating a semblance of progress when there is none, and manufacturing an alibi for abandoning Government responsibility to bring social amenities (hospitals, roads, industries, scholarships, etc.) to the people. The only - "utility" of the concept of Autonomous Communities is its tendency to temporarily consign the rivalry over clan headship into considerable inutility. - -19986, August or thereabouts - One of Nkporo's greatest educationists, the first Principal of a Secondary School, lover of peace and progress, 0.O. Ude, dies. 1999 - Nkporo for the first time produces the Chairman of the Ohafia Local Government in the person Sliporo for the first ins Utere lum Ime, sir. (GEt tianni. A lmost everyone was happy. and great expectations naturally surrounded his ascension to office. - 2000 October 01, Sunday - The author, although not very healthy for almost two years since Monday/Nkwo, December 28, 1998 at Nkporo, inaugurates the African Revolutionary Movement WRiDecended by Alhaji Yahaya Ezemuo Ndu, at the Abuja Cultural Centre. Many news media, including the "Tribune" reportedly covered the event amidst the "Independence celebrations elsewhere in the city. @ "chesations elsewhere! An Amurie-Etitiama "Congress", nicknamed "AE" formed in Lagos, mostly through the instrumentality of Mr. Ude Nwvoke Ibe (Etitiama) and a few others who were eager to bring to an end the years of unnecessary ill-feeling between the two villages, and restore the good relations that existed among them in ancient times. Most people in the two villages welcomed this development, although with the much earlier formation of an Nde-Agbo Eto Union (comprising Agbaja, Okwoke and Ukwa), and the State Government creation of so-called Autonomous Communities, there were fears that Nkporo might unintentionally be degenerating into unhealthy factions or splinter groups. An "Irony" faction, comprising the six other villages would in future vindicate this fear. - 20036 - Two commercial fixed telephone facilities came to Nkporo, another great leap forward for individual development efforts. Both of them, the first at Nde-agbo established by multimillionaire Ndukwe/"Ndyson", and the second at Nde-Elu established by Prince Arua Arunsi., were wireless/"Bordex". More individuals had expressed interest to satisfy the increasing demand, a need that the subsequent GSM revolution more than satisfied in the clan. - 2003c - Chief KOK Onyioha, veteran politician, philosopher, author, founder of the Godian Religion, international peace activist, and for more than 30 years, Nkporo's greatest export to the external world, dies. With the earlier transitions of Hon. Barrister U.O. Agwu and Mr. 0.0. Ude, Nkporo stars from the great Lever Age Grade, have almost totally gone. Teacher Okpan. N. Agwu, Chief L. E. Kalu, unrecognized Ezeaja Iro Ogbu, Nnanyiukwu Ete Ojum Arua Igwe, Mr. Peter Ochu Okoronkwo, ex-World War II veteran, Ogbaeja Egwu, and other historical figures, had earlier vanished. On November 12, the author's mother, Jane Ojum, one of the few remaining members of the great Lever Age Grade, equally died, at Eleme, Port Harcourt, at about 88, just as this history was being written. - 2004, April 14, Wednesday - His Excellency, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, Ezeigbo Gburugburu and former Presidential candidate of the All People’s Grand Alliance (APGA), and the party's National Chairman, Chief Chekwas Okorie, and many others, visited Nkporo at the Interment Ceremony of the remains of Madam Jane Ojum Arya Igwe, who had earlier died on November 12, 2003, probably symbolizing the interest of the political dignitaries in the development and progress of Nkporo. - 2005, March 11, Friday - The author was phoned to the effect that some outside youths had damaged homes (including the author's) at Etitiama, arising from a misunderstanding between two sides of an Inter-House Sports competition. One or two days later, the author would be phoned again to the effect that some other youths had carried out a revenge attack at Nde-Agbo, damaging many more homes. It Awas difficult to immediately establish the truth behind all this. especially why events had to degenerate to such extremes, with speculations that some self-seeking local politicians were behind the attacks, partly as a means of settling old scores.
Professor Obasi Igwe
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