By Austin Okoro
The retired Chief Judge of the High Court, Imo state, Prince Justice Ohiri Njemanze has emerged the Crowned Prince of Owerri ancient Kingdom to replace his late cousin, Eze Emmanuel Njemanze.
The ceremony which held last Sunday witnessed the presence of all the villages in Owerri and their unit heads to celebrate the emergence of Eze Ohiri Njemanze.
Speaking to newsmen in his palatial mansion in Owerri, Crowned Prince Ohiri Njemanze said, the last lap of the process before the final coronation ended on Sunday, noting that the process started by the Njemanzes selecting someone from their lineage as the Eze to be since the traditional stool is hereditary and as God will have it, he was selected.
According to him, the Njemanzes had a meeting and about twenty one(21) of the unit heads met as the custom demands to choose someone from among them as the Eze to be and they all chose him.
“So they went to Eken Okorie and told them, they have brought out someone and they held their meetings then the celebration which took place last Sunday.
Eze Ohiri Njemanze said he has come to unite Owerri people and bring them back to the old days where unity and cooperation reigned.
“Umu Ikenegbu has presented me to Owerri people on Sunday, that is the end of that process; they will now gather for a meeting in preparation for the coronation proper,” he noted.
Eze Ohiri stated that the Ezeship stool of Owerri is hereditary and rotates within the Njemanze dynasty. He also explained that the Owerri ancient Kingdom cannot be balcanized adding that Owerri paramouncy remains under one Paramount ruler as far as the law is concerned, stressing that balcanization must come from the children of Owerri, but not by an outsider due to hatred or malice..
He advised the small Ezes to embrace peace by joining the old order as laid down by their forefathers.
