CYRIACUS IZUEKWE
Peace has returned to the Igbo Speaking Community in Lagos State following the consent judgment obtained by the Board of Trustees of the group led their Chairman, Dr Jonathan Nnaji, as the factional leader, Chief Sunday Eze stepped down for Chief Sunday Udeh as the President General.
P.M.EXPRESS reports that it was the outcome of the stakeholders meeting held at the headquarters of the Igbo Speaking Community in Surulere, which was summoned on Friday by the BOT led by Dr Nnaji.
Based on Chief Eze’s declaration, the election of the President of Igbo Speaking Community has been concluded in line with the spirit of the consent judgment as Chief Udeh is now awaiting the inauguration of the new Executives by the BOT.
The meeting was attended by the legal adviser of the BOT, Prince I. Nwafuru, two factions of the Igbo Speaking Community led by Chief Udeh and Eze, members of Council of Ezendigbo led by Eze Chika Nwokedi, leaders from various Local Councils in the State and other stakeholders including women.
The Chairman of the BOT, Dr Nnaji told the stakeholders that the purpose of the meeting was to inform them that the BOT has finally gotten the consent judgment, which has ended the litigations that started four years ago between the Eze and Udeh group.
Dr Nnaji then directed the BOT’s legal adviser, Barrister Nwafuru to read the Court judgment before the stakeholders which parts stated the following:
“5.The position that is expected to be contested is only the position of the President-General and the eligible candidates are the two factional President-Generals and any other candidates that can be identified by the parties
6. Where the President emerges from one faction, the other faction shall produce the Vice President, the Secretary General and the Treasurer, provided that where the positions of the 1st Vice President, the Secretary General and the Treasurer, are unopposed, the contestants who purchased forms shall be declared irrespective of the factions they come from.
7. Other positions shall be shared equitably between the two factions while the elected and shared positions shall form the new Executive of the Community.
8. The Peace Committee Members shall sign this Terms of Settlement signifying their acceptance.
9. The cost of forms for the election to be determined by the Electoral Committee.
10. Each President General and the Executive of the two factions hereby confirm that they have had their first-term of four years.
11. The parties hereby agree that all actions, suits, claims and/or counter-claims, petitions, motions, injunctions and/or other liabilities sought or obtained by any of the parties and pending before this Honourable Court or any other Court or adjudicating body in respect of, relating to or arising from the subject matter of this Suit shall abate upon the entry of the Terms of Settlement herein as the Judgment of this Honourable Court.
12. Any other Suit filed by any of the Parties in Court or elsewhere shall be withdrawn and automatically abates upon entering of this Terms of Settlement as a judgment of a Court.
13. The Parties hereby undertake that none of them, their agents, privies, Directors or anyone claiming through or for them shall institute any other legal action, suits, claims and/or counter-claims against each other in respect of the subject matter of this Terms of Settlement.
14. That the terms should be the Consent Judgment of this Honourable Court.
15. All terms, provisions, conditions and covenants herein shall be binding and shall inure to the benefit of the respective successors and assigns of the parties in this Suit. The officers executing these Terms of Settlement do so as agents or attorneys of their respective factions and covenant and represent that they have complete authority to enter into and execute these Terms of Settlement.
16. These Terms of Settiement constitute the entire agreement between the Parties and supersede any prior oral and/or written agreements) between them in respect of this subject matter and there are no representations, understandings or agreements relating to the subject matter thereof that are not expressed herein.
17. The Parties shall bear their respective costs of this action.
18. This Terms of Settlement is made in good faith by both parties. “
Dr Nnaji stated that based on the consent judgment and for Chief Eze to have stepped down, the position of the President General has been concluded, which is Chief Udeh and other positions will be applied accordingly and will be made after the BOT meets with the Committee to harmonize the electroal process.
Nnaji noted that there are other issues yet to be resolved like profiling of Ndieze not yet recognized by the BOT and unification of Ndieze under the umbrella of Council of Ndieze created in 2003. He thanked the stakeholders and Chief Eze for stepping down, which has made the resolution easier for the BOT and promised that the new executives will be announced after the harmonization of other issues by the selected committee.
Chief Sunday Udeh commended Chief Eze for stepping down for him in order for peace to return to the Igbo Speaking Community and described him as the Jonathan of the Igbo Speaking Community. He also thanked the BOT especially Dr Nnaji for all his efforts to ensure that peace was restored in the Igbo Speaking Community.
Chief Udeh expressed his commitment to unite all the members of Igbo Speaking Community across the Local Government Areas in the State for a strong and vibrant community in the State.
Chief Eze explained that he took the decision to step down so that peace will return to the Community as a sacrifice and he did not inform his group before he took the decision in the interest of peace. Chief Eze’s group did not lose out completely because it is his group that will produce the Vice President, General Secretary and Treasury, while Chief Udeh will produce the rest to form the new Executives.
Eze Chika Nwokedi expressed happiness that peace has finally returned to the Igbo Speaking Community after several years of battle. He explained that he had made every efforts to resolve the matter to the extent that he offered both parties N2.5m but they refused.
He said that Chief Eze volunteered to step down without collecting any money, which was welcomed by the stakeholders including the BOT Chairman, Dr Nnaji, after he had fruitful discussions on how to bring lasting peace to Igbo Speaking Ccommunity in Lagos State.
