Umueriland Today interview with Barr Aghaebe

UMUERILAND TODAY: Good day Sir, Please can you introduce yourself to our  reading public?

Barr.  Aghaebe : My name is Barr Eugene Ben Aghaebe am from Nneyi quarter's in Umueri, Anambra East local government Area of Anambra State.

UMUERILAND TODAY: Thank you Barr. We have heard much about you and your exploit in the legal field, could you please let us know your major interest in the fourth coming UGA election?

Barr. Aghaebe : My major interest is to contest for the post of the President General of Umueri General Assembly, the post is given(zoned)to Nneyi people according to the constitution of the town and am one of the contestant.

UMUERILAND TODAY: Can you tell us more about the Origin of this all Important  Institution(UGA) in Umueri.

Barr Aghaebe: The origin of UGA date's back to time immemorial but let start with the mention of people like John Metchie, Bennet Nwabia, Sam Umeadi(lawyer), Basil Iwuoba, Gabriel Anikpe of blessed memory, anyway most of them are late.  Recently Henry Jideani, and most recently the outgoing  president general Pius Okonkwo.  This post is constituted,  and the names I mentioned in the past were the President General of Umueri General Assembly. The president general is the political head of administrative duties in Umueri. In the time past during the time of Okebo the first. There use to be the umu-otu who use to be at the helm of administrative duty and that is what UGA is representing today.

UMUERILAND TODAY: Barr Sir, Most of our audience would like to know if your quarter will come up with a consensus candidate prior to this election?

Barr Aghaebe: Laughs... There is a controversy right now in my quarter Nneyi, that Nneyi people has produced a consensus candidate, a meeting was held by some good people of Nneyi, to select  the supposedly consensus candidate,  but before that meeting.  There was a meeting before meeting at which they agreed and endorsed one Chuma Nweke as their consensus candidate. We were invited,  I was there of course during the meeting I asked them many questions that were not answered to my satisfaction. Before they take their decision we the aspirants were asked several questions and we answered them the committee. Then we were asked to excuse them so that they will deliberate and take Decision, they ended up endorsing Chuma Nweke as their candidate, their reasons being that he has actions.

The Goverment of Nneyi did not recognize the committee that produce Chuma Nweke as it consensus candidate, the committee was nullified therefore  that exercise was not only a nullity but exercise in futility, a wasted effort. The Goverment of Nneyi asked us to go on and purchase forms, hence I did as am required to do because partially and basically I came to purchase my form so i went on to pick the form after the meeting for the post of President General.

UMUERILAND: So Sir in your own words, What would you say are the factors militating against having a consensus candidate?

Barr Aghaebe: Factor's? Militating against having a consensus candidate!  In the recent past there is crisis in Nneyi, there are external factors that have vested interest in Nneyi natural endowment and this Factor's have interest in Nneyi affairs,  I don't want to mention anybody's name in this but are internal factors from Umueri, factors from Onitsha,  factors from Nsugbe people and so many others, this and many more are the element of distraction Nneyi people have not overcome for the time being.

UMUERILAND TODAY: As an Insider in Umueri leadership circut, We would want to have a glimpse on how you intend to run the town Union if elected as the new PG?

Barr Aghaebe: Thank you.  This is where I was expecting a question?  Umueri before now have been together,  we were surrounded with lot of friends, lot of enemies and foes.  If Umueri is divided or dividing there is no way we can face our common enemies,  we have had series of war's, we have had series of propaganda, from our neighbouring towns, but still within us and among us,  if I become the president general or elected president general tomorrow.  My priority! Is to see how to organize Umueri and  bring Umueri together in peace.

We are better off in peace than in war's.  I was telling a friend of mine that if any of our neighbors decide to invade us today that Umueri that will be the end of Umueri. From all angles we are porous, if Anam decides to invade us that will be our end!  If Aguleri decides to invade us that will be our end and if Nsugbe decides to invade us that will be our end. And what does it benefits us if we can not come together? 

My priority is peace.  My priority is a round table negotiations, I am ready to work with anybody,  yes anybody that knows me will tell you that I can that. I am a peace loving human being,  my friends knows,  my family knows so the first thing I will do is to call people of umueri together,  the people that if they come in they will say this is onye Umueri, the people that it concerns what is happening in Umueri,  the people that will not sleep because of happening in their own town Umueri.the people that brings in their money, time, and influence to salvage Umueri. This are the people I will call together and I want to tell you that there is nobody in Umueri that I call on that will not come. There is nobody! before now I don't have any enemy in Umueri.

You won't mention Eugene in any quarter and they will ask you who is he?  It is recently and most of those is not even my own making,  it is either by em relationships, it is either by friend's, it is either by people thinking what it is not,  so it is not basically many people will tell you who is Eugene. He is not this,  he is not that! Is either what they hear which they refuse or do not want to verify, that will make them say I am what they say I'm not.  So my priority is to bring all people of Umueri together and we will reconcile,  it is better for us to live in peace than to scatter. Than

to see ways of of bringing down people or ways of destroying people integrity and what people have built over the year's,  influence people have and trying to destroy it this that etc. This is one of my priority another of my priority is to seek for what ever that belong to Umueri that has been refused them.  I am a lawyer by profession,  I practice it,  I know it more as I can.  Lord Denis says woes unto him that claims to know all the law!  I don't know all.  And no lawyer can claim of knowing all the law and I know that there are some good lawyer's in Umueri too.  We can come together and work out ways of developing Umueri.

If there is anything good it is not criticizing everything,  if there is anything good that is coming to our town we will join hand's to embrace it,  if I become the president general it is not me, it is not about me but about us,  all the Umuerians! and who are the Umuerians?  It is you and I,  the son's and daughters of Umueri. God blessed us with some good one's around, I will bring all of them together and we will talk about development,  our town is one of the oldest division in the State,  there are local government that were not created year's before this our local government,  but today go to those local government and see development,  and because of the nature brought our town together with our neighbors every thing is hindered but we will do our best,  I know that we can!  Our children are abroad,  our children are within,  we have educated folds,  we have medical doctor's  I taught somebody in Anam high school year's back as a boy that boy is now a professor in Nnamdi Azikiwe university Awka.  Prof Alex Asiegbu I taught him in class 2&3 but look at me the boy I taught in secondary school is no a renown Professor, how many do we have here? How many doctors do we have?  If Oroma-etiti can produce a Professor, not just a Professor but making waves , you can imagine if I was to privilege as him. How old a professor I would be by now.  

But this is what happens to us,  we like to destroy, we like to castigate. I will make sure that it is stopped. If you look around you will agree with me that people that went to school are being looked down on and that is why in Nneyi Umueri somebody like me with many certificates as possible is vying for same post with somebody with primary school certificate,  he attended primary school and bought secondary school certificate.  He purchased it and then it's because we don't have values for education that we are saying it.  If you go to other towns that there president generals are professors,  Rtd Army Generals, perm sec,  lawyer's.  The PG of Aguleri is a lawyer,  Anam also,  so why should we contest our own because someone is who he is.  For me am even thinking that am not too sound.  But in the land of the blind one eye man becomes the king and I know am not just a lawyer,  I know the stuff am with and people's that knows me knows that among the PG of Anambra State I can not be downtrodden it is not possible the PG stuff is not about Umueri alone, is all about the hundred and seventy seven communities in the state, so we go there and speak English and people will look around.  Umueri is bigger than that.  So I will gather people around and look for ways to develop Umueri.our land's are lying fallows our land has not been touched  there are so many thing's we will do in Umueri and development will come, I am not a party to selling of all our land, it happens to Onitsha people, and we know what they are suffering,  we know what happened to Nkwelle and we are doing same mistake.  If Umueri decide to bring in people to develop umueri, we will give them the conditions, why is it that England is not suffering what Onitsha people suffered? Why is it that America is not doing same?  We shall seat down and learn from this one's and how they did it.  Is it by selling off your land? And you have not stop bearing children,  in hundred years time to come the children of that time will be calling us ancient people that sold off their land,  so I will look around bring Umueri together and plan how to develop Umueri, my regime will be transparent,  I will not do anything secret because I have learnt some lessons from Nneyi when I was the chairman of it union,  I had lot of issue's I made my mistakes appreciate that and from the experience of those things am going to use as PG of Umueri if am elected, some of this thing's I can't exhaust what I will do but as day breaks issue's will come.  But the Goverment if we succeed in having it is going to be all inclusive. More especially it is going to be a Goverment of the youth's, if the is satisfied with governance, if the youth agree and see you do good things that they have agreed to do the town will grow.

Our youth's are up,  very up.  They go out they see what happens everywhere. Nigeria and outside Nigeria and they are interested,  they are eager to to bring them back home, but the ground is not too favourable, yes this one we will agree and this one will disagree and I think it's because we don't have openness if am elected am going to run an open government,  everybody is allowed to come in,  everybody. I know that there are going to be distraction,  but I have been there I know what it is,  so in the face of the distraction we will have a group that will handle distraction.  The issue of gun shooting,  the issue of kidnapping will stop in our town.  Because I keep telling people that gun does not do two things,  it does one thing and the only thing gun does is to destroy,  to kill. It doesn't do anything then to kill,  destroy and that is not what we yearn for.

So we play down on gun.  Nigeria have gun they don't shoot gun anyhow,  when the reason for shooting gun come we will shoot gun,  not unnecessarily, we should develop love for ourselves,  we should look at our people and know that this one is my brother, you don't kill your brother.  In those day's an Umueri man will tell you I will kill you"na mma Egbu'gi"is only in the mouth!  Nobody Kill's anybody,  the worst thing an Umueri man will do is to wait for you at the road to stream or farm and slug it out there and separate each other.  But this day's gun is everywhere and people boast of gun,  I will stop it.

If you are a brave man come, if you are a warrior do something that your town will value,  not to carry gun and be shooting people everywhere,  in the wildest of my imagination I can not accept it.  That is why they said because am not forceful,  I don't have force.  I don't have action when I was the chairman of Nneyi Umueri a lot of thing's happened, we didn't discuss it they came in by force with thugs,  buy guns I went around arrested some of them, the police took them and we had a peaceful settlement, if I had taken gun because they have taken gun,  it is not difficult to take gun, if I had taken gun the people that would have been killed then will not be alive today. But I went to court,  went to police,  went to prison, went to all over to say this is my point and reasons I did this and did that and if you set free you are set free,  but if you are penalise you go for it,  but at this end of it you come out and you are alive. I don't believe in shooting,  I don't believe in killing because if you die no more,  but if then Eugene took me to court eehe you went to court na but you are still alive maybe while you are there you will know why you are you are wrong.  Just like I was privilege I did somethings right and I did somethings wrong. But to take away life No-No I don't agree,  some of this thing's I know I will do,  I know I will do more.  As thing's unfold.  Thing's we will do will come.

UMUERILAND TODAY: What will your leadership offer Umueri as a community towards the encroachment of it lands by our neighbors from all front?

Barr Aghaebe : like I said as an Umueri man I don't want to be biased, I don't want to tell yUmueri now that tomorrow I will wage war with Aguleri or tomorrow that I will go and wage war with Obiano or that tomorrow I will go and wage war with Nsugbe. I don't believe in war's. An adage of my town says whatever dialogue could not solve, fighting can never solve it.
Though it is true that the governor is from Aguleri,  it is also true  that by land act decree that the land of the state belong to the Goverment,  so the governor holds it on trust, it is not his own own but because he is the governor he is holding the lands for the people,  that is what the constitution says, the law of the land is that he who owns the Land owns everything therein,  so if the governor owns the lands of Anambra State,  whatever he wants to do with the landland he can,  that is what the law says.  Especially for public interest,  so what I will do is that bed bug advice his children to be patience that what is hot will get cold.  So many things that Obasanjo and Jonathan did and the rest of them today Buhari is there now and he is reversing some of them,  if for instance because the governor is from Aguleri and maybe they are taking things for granted, taking the land of Umueri, we can sue I always believe in the law,  maybe because am a lawyer,  I can never subscribe to going to war,  in war,  you kill, you destroy,  you destroy buildings, they can't come back and rebuild it.  If you kill anybody, the person is gone and gone forever,  so if to go to war with our neighbors is the best solution,  it is not the best for me. I always believe in dialogue I have been in the government of umueri before I know there was an arrangement, over boundary adjustment, and now that thing's was broken and in my tenure I will revisit it,  if it is not too late.  I always believe in the court,  I always believe in the law because it's better for me than force and use of arms. Thank you.

UMUERILAND TODAY: How do you intend to relate with Umueri Monarch and other relevant authorities in Umueri?

Barr Aghaebe: How I will relate with the monarch and other authorities? One thing is that there is no two igwe‹s in a town,  although our constitution did not say that, now how I will relate with the Igwe if I am elected is going to be very cordial,  we have an adage that says "na onye Fe eze, eze elutu ya" the monarch is for a life time, while the PG position is just for four years,  if the Igwe and the PG are fighting, I don't want to use negative word's but that is the worst thing that can happen, that was why when there was crisis between Igwe and the present PG , I called him and advise him and said you people started this thing together,  you have been the best of friends, if two of you can not settle it will be very difficult for external body to intervene because I have interest in the PG stuff,  if you don't do this thing and hand over to me properly it will be difficult for me to hand over to somebody too,  two of you have been the best of friends all this while,  so you must finish what you started, I went to Igwe and told him same thing,  that the two of you have been the best of friends, so you must finish what you started.  So my relationship with the Igwe will be very cordial.  I will give him every respect,  every honor, every attention, I believe he will also give me,  because the post of Igwe is different from of PG,  they are two different posts. I don't even know,
You know the two of them will run in a pararel line, the PG is the administrative head of political office in the town. While the Igwe is the custodian of the culture of the town.but though they may run at pararel line but must work in cordiality,  they must be one if they are not one there won't be development, there won't be peace,  all this factions here and there,  I am not interested in it.  What am interested is about the town so my relationship with him will be cordial,  and once we have one agreement,  we can move to the government if we don't have good relationship ,you will



UMUERILANDTODAY: 

Still in progress!! !