Despite an ongoing dispute over the throne, a crisis is developing in the Ihite Community in Orumba South Local Government Area, Anambra State, following the announcement of a date for the community’s new yam festival.
After receiving a certificate of recognition from Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, the governor of Anambra State, Chief Timothy Okwudiri Ifurunwa was installed as the community’s traditional ruler in January 2026.
Members of the Ihite Traditional Council, the entity tasked with choosing the monarch, had disapproved of the procedure prior to his installation, claiming that they were ignored and that a fictitious council was employed to carry out the task.
They filed a legal challenge to the selection and obtained a court order that annulled and set aside the coronation until all outstanding issues regarding the selection were resolved.
Timothy Ifurunwa revealed the date of the town’s upcoming yam festival last week. This infuriated members of the purportedly marginalised traditional council, who maintain that the disputed king had no authority to set a date for the celebration since the throne is still up for debate.
In order to prevent a breakdown of law and order, the council, speaking through their attorney, N.I. Onyeakpa (Esq), petitioned the Anambra State Governor through Vin Ezeaka, the commissioner for local government, town union, and chieftaincy affairs, and CP Nnanna Oji Ama, the commissioner of police, Anambra State.
The State High Court, Umunze, issued a court order nullifying Ifurunwa’s coronation and made the petition available to our reporter. The petition urged the state government and the police to protect the people from the approaching turmoil.
“It is our brief that our clients are members of Ihite Traditional Council, selected by various villages making up Ihite during the time of H.RH. Igwe B.O. Ofu Eze Amama I of Ihite,” stated Onyeakpa in the letter. Following his death in 2020, our clients have continued to carry out the town’s customs, such as publicising the dates of the upcoming yam festival, in accordance with the Ihite Chieftaincy Constitution.
“We are dissatisfied that Mr. George Madu, the community’s president general, and a few town cabals unilaterally changed the town’s chieftaincy constitution without following the proper procedures and declared Mr. Timothy Okwudiri Ifurunwa to be the town’s Igwe elect.
The main purpose of this petition is to draw your attention to the fact that, despite the fact that the status of the Igwe in the Council of Ihite is the subject of litigation in Suit No. HOS/47/2024, Okwudiri Ifurunwa is posing as members of the Ihite Traditional Council in order to fulfilll the obligations of our clients, who are the legitimate members of the town’s Ihite Traditional Council, until the opposite is demonstrated.