• Warns against plan to confiscate property
The Edeaniagu clan in Ishi-Ozalla Community, Nkanu West Local Council of Enugu State, has decried an alleged move to rewrite its history by the author of a recently published compendium on Enugu State.

The community accused the author of ‘The Encyclopedia of The Coal City Enugu,100 Years (1909-2009): The Mother Capital of Eastern Nigeria’ of mischief, stressing that his work on the community contained information capable of misleading the public, especially the younger generations.

It claimed that the book should not be on any shelf as it misrepresents the people’s true history and uses words such as ‘slave’ that ought not to have been used in the book’s peculiar context.

The spokesperson for the community, Prof. Muna Nweke Okoye, told reporters in Enugu that contrary to the imputations in the book, Edeaniagu was not Onwude as stated by the author but rather the father of Onwude.

Okoye said: “Edeaniagu was the old man, the clan head who was in charge of our culture and tradition before the arrival of the colonial masters. When they came, Edeaniagu’s house was where they were directed to. He was far older than Ani Nwangwu. Even Onwude, the son of Edeaniagu, was older than Chukwuani, the son of Ani Nwangwu.

“How come you are the owner of the house, and when the colonial masters came, they didn’t go to your house? Edeaniagu was going to meetings called by the colonial masters in Udi before he handed over to his son Onwude when he noticed that his strength could no longer carry him as an old man.”

She added: “What they are writing about in the book is not true. How come Chukwuani has no landed property in Ishi-Ozalla? The compound where he lived was given to him by Edeaniagu, and Edeaniagu was the twelfth generation before the colonial masters came. How come your servant was living at the centre of the community and had landed property more than you?”

Okoye warned that the plan to unlawfully confiscate property belonging to the Edeaniagu clan would be resisted.