and HRM Ezeaja Lazarus Eze Kalu, Eze Ebu of Nde Ekpu recognized by the government in 1959 amidst the problem of legitimacy at home. The king who ruled but never reigned”. " Prof. Obasi Igwe. This is the story that led the late Mr. Agwu Oji Ude of Ndi Nko to write about the first book by onye Nkporo for nde Nkporo titled “The History of Nkporo” one of the most courageous writers in a time when Nkporo was boiling. This story is among the most controversial in Nkporo. Many writers in Nkporo avoided it but a few were bold enough to write about it.

Let us take you on a journey. From antiquity till date, we are aware that the Ezeaja of Nkporo often comes from a particular community which is Elughu but not just a specific community also from a particular ezi (native compound) which is ezi nde Okeewa in Elughu except on a rare occasion, when its sister ezi can represent them if nobody from that ezi is deemed fit or does not want to become an Ezeaja but often that person must come from ezi nde Okeewa.  HRM Iro Ogbu hails from Ezi Nde Okeewa in Elughu. His ancestors have all toll on the part of Kingship from the founder of Nkporo, HRM Ezeaja Iwoo Okwokwoghoro, to him, but something unexpected happened along the line; we will come to that. Just stay with us!

HRM Lazarus Eze Kalu hails from Amurie a descendant of Mpam Dike Esere (founder of Ezi nde Mpam in Amurie) or what many new generations of our people from Amurie refer to as Mpam Edike to corrupt the name “Dike” to have that Nkporo intonation. Although, he is from  Ezi Ndi Mgba. At one time one of his ancestors was a British Warrant Chief by the name HRH Eleanya Otusi Ude from Ezi Ndi Mpam. HRM Lazarus E. Kalu was rich, influential, and well-positioned in Nkporo and beyond due to many factors but HRM Iro Ogbu was not rich and his reach was basically in Nkporo. Eze Lazarus was the then President General of Nkporo Town Union. It was during his time that Nkporo bought a bus (Lorry) for transportation for the clan which generated money for the community as well while his secretary was the great KOK Onyioha from Ukwa (founder of Godian Religion Worldwide) and his official Financial Treasurer was Chief Peter Ochu Okoronkwo of Etitiama (founder of Amala Nkporo)

Things took on a different part when Eze Lazarus after some months frantically refused to acknowledge Peter Ochu as the Treasurer of Nkporo Town Union solely because Peter does not belong to their fraternity. They have pleaded with Ochu before now to join them but he refused and warned them never to disturb. Eze Lazarus chose his bosom friend the intellectual sagacious Chief Moses Agwu Onu of Okwoko who also came from a line of Ezeogo in Okwoko from the Amaekwu extraction. The lorry drivers began to remit money to Chief M. A. Onu instead of Chief Peter. Peter Ochu Okoronkwo complained to the Ezeaja then HRM Iro Ogbu that the money meant to develop Nkporo and take care of it has been diverted. Peter also took the matter to Etitiama at the same time and complained that he had been unofficially replaced and that Etitiama had lost a representation from the Town Union as at that time the Ezeogo of Etitiama was HRH Ude Akpala Ejiama son of the great Erua Akpala Ejiama.

Eze Lazarus turned a deaf ear to all the pleas and maintained that his friend would continue to become the Financial Treasurer since Chief Peter dared not join their fraternity. Peter being a man of influence and substance as well open a rival union which is known as Amala Progressive Union with late Teacher Okpan from Ukwa as his co-founder. Teacher Okpan was a kinsman to KOK Onyioha until Teacher Okpan pulled out from their fraternity when he noticed some ill-treatment meted out upon some nde Nkporo who did not belong to this fraternity. In less than 3 years Amala Progressive Union came to ruin because lots of infiltration happened and Nkporo Town Union waxed stronger.

After displacing Amala Nkporo Union the fraternity decided to take over the leadership of Nkporo with Eze Lazarus as its President. They have to revisit history that happened hundreds of years ago as men who understand time and season. There was a time in Nkporo when an Ezeaja who knew nothing was on the throne of his father. He was known as the stupid and ignorant Ezeaja, his name is Okoro Ezeaja according to history. His father gave birth to him and his younger sister was dear to the father. This Ezeaja from ezi nde Okeewa was lackadaisical, foolish, stupid, and was not close to his father because he cared not to know the importance of being an Ezeaja, his response was that his father hated him whereas he did not bother to know what it means to be an Ezeaja. His father then taught his daughter whose name was Mgbo all that pertained to Ezeaja, all the rituals, and how to handle matters. A few years down the line the daughter was married to a man from Amurie and his spouse was “Okwuh Ima a descendant of Otam who got married to Mgbo.  The Mgbo/Afo Ezeaja Marriage with Okwuh Imah, and Its Crown Transfer Claim” According to Mr. Devita Agwu Ejem, however the correct story was between Mgbo the daughter of Ezeaja with Okoro Ucheeja alias Okoro Ituruede the official founder of Ezi Nde Okoroikpo in Amurie.

In Nkporo, an Ezeaja is expected to perform some rituals which among which is “Ike nta rites” before the beginning of a particular ceremony. The then Ezeaja was to kill a different set of animals before he could perform these rituals (Ike nta rite). It was believed that there were certain things the Ezeaja must do behind closed doors before he could get things set for this ritual.  He will have to kill a set of animals in the bush (He was not meant to be the one to kill these animals himself but his servants can do that in his stead, he will have to perform some rituals behind closed doors before they can do so). He tried twice and failed and Nkporo were not pleased with him because they had not seen such before and it was strange to them that an Ezeaja could not get these animals for ritual. He hurriedly called for his sister’s help who told him what he must do to get these animals. The Ezeaja did the same and he got all these animals killed and the ike nta rites were performed out of excitement he then asked Mgbo to take the heads of these animals and Mgbo refused saying that the head of any animal killed for sharing must go to the head which is the Ezeaja. The Ezeaja agreed momentarily but when  Mgbo told her husband Okoro Ituruede about what had transpired. Okoro Ituruede commanded his wife to get those heads of animals which she did and Okoro Ituruede ate them which was meant for the Ezeaja traditionally. He told his people from Amurie what had happened and that he was the rightful owner of the Ezeaja stool. It was this same story that Eze Lazarus was capitalizing upon as the Ezeaja of Nkporo that his ancestors at one point had eaten the head of the animal out of the Ezeaja free volition, such that the Ezeaja throne has been transferred to him and Amurie at large.

Fortunately, for him, the Government of Nigeria recognized him as the Ezeaja of Nkporo in 1959 but our people in Nkporo do not recognize him as an Ezeaja but because of his strong support from his friends like the great KOK Onyioha who was known beyond the shores of Nigeria. KOK Onyioha was so influential that in 1978 he addressed the world leaders on “Religion and Tradition during a Special Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations on World Disarmament on June 12, 1978. He also attended UN meetings with his wife in 1978 which was held in Buenos Aires, Argentina from August 30 to September 12, 1978, and in 1980 in New York, USA. This rivalry divided Nkporo into many parts most of the new generation problems sprang up from this rivalry between Ezeaja Iro Ogbu and Eze Lazarus E. Kalu. The Nkporo people supported Ezeaja Iro Ogbu as the Ezeaja of Nkporo stating that when eating the head of animals translates to transfer of Ezeajaship but Eze Lazarus had support from men who preferred to be known as Ezi Nkporo (The true Nkporo). This was/is a deadly secret cult that undermined the development of Nkporo by unjustly killing anyone who was not a member or anyone who dared to oppose them. Many people were afraid to get involved in this rivalry but men like late Peter Ochu Okoronkwo, Teacher Okpan (who the men of Ufie Ufie dealt with mercilessly), Barr Uka Olu Agwu, Eze Ude Akpala Ejiama, etc made sure that their voices were loud and visible.

Nkporo was triumphant at the end. While he was there, there was a strong opposition from all quarters against him and it finally happened when Eze Lazarus E. Kalu died, the Ezeogoship of Amurie was stripped from his Ezi (native compound). That signals the end of Ezeogo of ezi nde Mpam, nde Mgba and it was transferred to its original owners in Amurie which is Ezi Nde Okouka according to Amurie historians that Ezi Nde Okouka are the people who have direct descendants of Ezeaja of Nkporo and as such they should be ezi mbu in Amurie not Ezi Nde Okoroikpo, Ezi Nde Mpam nor Ezi Nde Mgba but some people from Nkporo argued otherwise saying that since the inception of Amurie that the Ezeogo of Amurie have always between the three ezi mentioned above who have been denied right to the Ezeogoship. Not conceding that at some point in Nkporo history, Ezi Nde Okouka has equally produced more Chiefs in Amurie than Ezi Nde Mpam. Then there was an internal agreement between Nde Mpam and Nde Okoroikpo to rotate the stool between them which Chief Okoronkwo Ifegwu Okouka pointed out during the internal stool crisis. Nevertheless, some failed to understand that when you go to war and lose, your conqueror will take your spoil and do things that will favour them not you. Eze Lazarus E. Kalu went to war for the Ezeaja and lost. In war, the victor writes the rules the defeated bears the consequences. The End Picture Credit: From Prof Obasi Igwe’s book and Mr. Eze Igwe’s Project