Monarch, minister accuse Methodist bishop of harassment, seek intervention
The traditional ruler of Item in Abia North, the Ezeugo I of Okai Item, His Royal Highness, Eze Opara Ogbonnaya, and his traditional Prime Minister, Chief Igwe Kalu, have made a passionate appeal to the leadership of the Methodist Church Nigeria, the governor of Abia State, Alex Otti, and the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, to prevail on Bishop Sunday Ndukwo Onuoha of the MCN from harassing them.
Addressing the press in Umuahia on Tuesday, Eze Ogbonnaya accused Bishop Onuoha of “seeing himself as God in Okai Item” by infiltrating the community executives and using thugs to harass and intimidate him and Okai item citizens, stating, “He is planning to kill me.”.
The royal father said that since 2021, the Bishop has been terrorizing the community, including making several attempts to arrest him and the traditional prime minister, Kalu, among others.
Efforts by the entire Item President-Generals and other traditional rulers to intervene, the royal father said, proved abortive.
He said, “He (Bishop Onuoha) makes decisions on his own as if he is the traditional ruler. I am using this opportunity to call on the Methodist Church Nigeria, who ordained him as a Bishop, to caution him.
“If he is a man of God, he should face the church and not dabble in village politics. He has made himself Lord in Okai Item. He threatened that he would sell his biggest property to fight anybody who dares him in Okai Item.”
Also narrating his ordeal in the hands of Bishop Onuoha, the Okai Item traditional Prime Minister, Chief Kalu, said the Bishop had meddled in the community PG rotation system to install his cronies, stating, “Relevant security agencies should be aware that the live of Eze Opara of Okai Item, the youths, and the family of the community Prime Minister, Kalu are in danger.”
Kalu, who is also the Youth Leader of the African Democratic Congress said Bishop Onuoha’s hatred for him started in 2022, when he didn’t support the Action Peoples Party, where Bishop Onuoha was the governorship candidate in the 2023 governorship election in the state.
Kalu, who is a traditionalist, said Bishop Onuoha hired thugs who destroyed his over 3,000 blocks and windows, while he miraculously escaped. He accused him of levelling allegations of fetish practices on him (Kalu), which Onuoha was unable to prove. He also disclosed that Onuoha is meddling in community PG rotation between the two component villages of the community, just as the Bishop also accused the traditional ruler of homosexualism, as well as accusing Kalu of murder, among other allegations and misbehaviours, including trying to install another conventional ruler.
They therefore pleaded, “We have more than 20 church Bishops in Item. Let him allow our traditional ruler and citizens to rest. The MCN should call him to order. Let him face his spiritual work and leave tradition to our Eze. We have an election on the 2nd of January, 2025. He should allow the community to do their election according to our constitution.”
Reacting, Bishop Onuoha said all the allegations against him are lies, stating, “They are lies.”
Bishop Onuoha dismissed the allegations, describing them as “expired lies” and “laughable” claims. He added that anybody who knows him will understand that the allegations were all lies
