Distance Me From Apologizing to Isiagu Community Leaders … Prof. Nwabueze 

FROM EMEKA NWABUEZE (AWKA)

The former Professor of Theater/Film Studies, University of Nigeria Nussuka, UNN, Prof. Emeka Nwabueze has said his attention has been drawn to a spurious publication, ‘Messy Land deal…’ in which the propagators stated that he was given seven days to retract what his Ishiagu Community, AWKA South Local Government Area of Anambra described as wild allegations. 

He said perception depends on the comprehension of the perceiver, not the object perceived, and may not be deliberately factual, as can be seen from the extant publication. According to Professor Nwabueze, one finds it outrageous and shocking when old men engage in outright distortion of facts or decide to deliberately tell bare-faced lies with reckless abandon.

Hear him; “One had hoped that they would see the truth and try to settle the matter amicably, but surprisingly they opted to dance naked in the marketplace.

“I initially decided to dump that material with its mendacious contents in the dustbin where it belongs, but on second thought, I decided to make some clarifications without descending to their level if only to expose the degree of their crass mendacity and deliberate distortion of facts.

“First, it is utterly shameful to lie that a call was put to me and I blamed my students. That is a lie from the pit of hell. If the writer calls himself a journalist, let him swear with his profession that he contacted me. Does he know me or my phone number? Or did he just write what he was asked to write? Please, let him speak out, in the name of God. This matter needs to be reported to the Nigeria Union of Journalists.

“Secondly, that Ozonnia asked me to exercise patience to be given an alternative land is false. Rather, I requested an alternative land when I discovered that they were not the owners of the land they sold to me, and Ozonnia was not forthcoming. Any interested person can inquire from his family, because a passionate representation was made to them, even by the land agent, Mrs. Beauty Dagga-Nweze, but Ozonnia bluntly refused, daring me to go to court. I am sure the old man in the family will not toe this line of falsehood. Even the outstanding two plots the committee directed him to give to me, did he do that? And has the committee done anything about it?

“That I refused to take back my money is a laughable lie. Why did I go to Zone 13 of the Nigeria Police to compel them to refund my money?

“Some lies are better not told at all in the interest of integrity. It took two weeks of detention with a court order for Ozonnia to come up with a three million refund to be granted bail to go and look for more. Even at that, he requested to be given till August to find the rest. And he reports to the police every week. That is the man who said that I refused to take my money. 

“I thought that they could have been ashamed of that development. That they have decided to make public that shameful transaction is a wonder to behold. The schedule of repayment was not worked out with me but with the Police. Let the police witness.

“Ozonnia was still under police detention when I talked to the press. I was distressed by his boast that we know how the Nigeria Police works, and that he is familiar with their handling, but apparently, he was confronted with the no-nonsense, honest, steadfast, and superlatively judicious officers of Zone 13.

“From the foregoing, one wonders what the propagators of the document described as malicious and misleading. Why this deliberate attempt to deceive the public? Why seek unnecessary sympathy by trying to involve everyone? We know the people culpable and the community knows them. I have a visual and audio record of what happened in Isiagu on January 5, 2024.
“I related the happenings faithfully without embroidery. 

Let Us Briefly Recap the Facts:
“Did I not report the matter on two occasions to the Land committee domiciled in Igwe’s palace? Was I not told that the land was authentic, and given a certificate of authentication to commence work?

“When I went to work we were harassed and assaulted and my working implements were seized. were What did the committee do?

“Didn’t I report to the committee a second time? This time you told me to go and work, that I had your support, and that I should arrest and deal with anybody that disturbed me. Remember?

“Didn’t Ozonnia ask me to arrest Akunedu and others, and use my influence to get the police to warn them to desist from stepping feet on the land? I complied and made the arrested discover the truth. 

“How can you make me arrestor own people and prosecute them when you knew that they were the real owners of the land?

“Taking your directive, I mobilize mobilized material labor in confrontation. Remember I came with four cars, two armed policemen, and a lorry loaded with men both for the work and to ward off interlopers as you directed. But something happened. When that ailing old man, Chukwuka, cried to the gods in supplication, my mind began to feel that there was more to the problem than meets the eye. 

“I looked across the road to the Catholic Church, and as a 4th Degrees Knight, I had the Divine instinct to discontinue a conflagration that could have led to a fatality. If someone had died that day, how would you have reacted? If I had detained the old man and he died in the cell, how would you have felt? Because of land that didn’t belong to Ozonnia and his family?

“Did you not go to the o DSS office ce in Awka and falsely testify that the land belongs to Ozonnia? Your t? testimony is there and should be made to surface at the appropriate time.

“When you finished the testimony did you not go celebrating with wine and food at a hotel? Did I not raise an alarm and as that the truth should be left to surface, that it was what I did and that it was my personal?

“Why did you instigate Opera News to be deleting the negative comments made on your post? Of course, those deleted comments will be caused to surface at the appropriate time.

“Please, let us not wash dirty linens in public. Let’s wait till we meet in court, as you proposed, to open the can of worms which is crying to be opened.

“For the nonce, I simply sympathize with His Royal Highness, Augustine Nwankwo, Onwa Isiagu. I was blaming him for feigning ignorance of the happenings in Isiagu. I now know that the people he trusts so much are taking advantage of his trust and absence to commit infractions behind his back and surreptitiously hide them from him. He may not be as detestable as he is perceived. 

“Could it be that some people are after his crown? Onwa is the closest person to a monarch that designs his downfall. Ask Julius Caesar or Thomas Sankara. I commend this thought to Onwa as I wish him a successful tenure”. Prof. Nwabueze concluded.