Although Chukumela Nnam Obi II (Eze Ogba), Oba of Ogbaland, died at the Nizamlye Hospital Life Camp, Abuja on the 20th day of March, 2021, his passage was made a top secret, and was only disclosed to the public through an announcement by Eze Iyasara and Traditional Prime Minister of Ogbaland, His Royal Highness, Eze Louis Chukwudi Ajie JP, on Friday, April 30, 2021. This is understandable given that according to the customs and traditions of Ogba people, the Oba does not ‘die’ but merely embarks on a ‘journey’.
“Although nobody knows when he (Oba) will come back, but he travelled at the age of 80 years, having ruled Ogba Kingdom for 50 years and four months”, the traditional Prime Minister had revealed, while adding that the Eze Ogba had just travelled ‘just as lion leaves the zoo’.
However, it has now been formally confirmed that Oba Chukumela Nnam Obi II would certainly not return from that journey. Consequently, a successor has emerged in the person of a legal practitioner, Crown Prince (Okpraeze Ogba), Barr. Nwachuku Nnam Obi. The new Eze Ogba, until his ascension to the revered stool of his late father, was said to be a principal staff with the Italian oil giants, Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC).
In a recently visit to the Government House, Port Harcourt, His Eminence, Oba (Barr) Nwachuku Nnam Obi III led the family of the late Ogba monarch and opinion leaders from Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area(ONELGA) to visit Governor Nyesom Ezenwo Wike where he formally informed the governor of the passage of the late Oba.
The governor while commiserating with people of Ogba ethnic nationality and the immediate family of the deceased monarch, described his demise as a huge loss to the entire State and nation. Governor Wike went on to announce that the state government would appoint people to laisse with the late Oba’s family for a hitch free state burial.
Consequent upon that solemn promise by Governor Wike to give the late Oba who reigned for 50 years, becoming one of the nation’s longest reigning monarch, a state burial, a Local Organizing Committee (LOC) for the Oba’s burial was constituted in Omoku, headquarters of ONELGA on Sunday, July 6, 2021.
With His Eminence, Oba (Barr) Nwachuku Nnam Obi III as Chairman and the Sole Administrator of the Rivers State Waste Management Agency (RIWAMA), Bro. Felix Obuah as Alternate Chairman, the Committee was tasked to plan and thinker out arrangement for a befitting state burial for the late Ogba king.
To serve as Secretary of the LOC is veteran journalist and media consultant, Emmanuel Nwabrije while the Committee also had 13 Sub-Committees with 16 days’ burial plans underway.
The Oba (Eze Ogba) of Ogbaland was a legendary royal father who etched his name in gold due to his leadership ingenuity.On Friday, December 19, 2020 the monarch took the world by storm with a double celebration of 80th birthday and 50 years on the throne, an event held in his Palace in Omoku that drew the high and mighty from Nigeria and beyond.
The man who was destined to shape and influence the Ogba kingdom was presented to mankind on 20th November, 1940 through the Royal Family of Umueze-Ogba, Umu-Okoya-Umuebe kindred of Ogba.
The father of His Eminence, Obuoha Obi of Umu Eze-Ogba (Umuebe) kindred in Omoku, was a Crown Prince of Ogbaland. His mother hailed from Umunkaru Kindred. The late Eminence was happily married to three wives (and blessed with thirty (30) lovely children.
Late Oba of Ogbaland had a royal birth and a royal spoon in his hand which he did not use until he adequately discovered himself via the instrumentality of education.
Hear his account in his autography: “In spite of his royal birth, the young Chukumela had a rather poor and humble background. Things were extremely austere and difficult for him. His Eminence waded through the muddy waters of life and at youth, faced the vicissitudes of life alone, abandoned to the buffeting winds of fate”.
The following observation clearly depicts the challenges faced by the young Chukumela Obi. His ‘destiny’, to use the veritable words of H.C. Dietrich, ‘was decided by cosmic roll of the dice, the whims of the stars, the vagrant breezes of fortune that blow from the windmills of the gods’.
Despite these fundamental challenges he went through sedentary education in 1952 at the Methodist School, Sabongari, Kano State where his exceptional brilliance made him to skip two classes. He continued his primary education outside Kano and finished with distinction in 1959.
The challenges of life became excruciating for the young Chukumela in the early 1960 shortly after independence but he found solace in farming and fishing with which he sustained himself.
