A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has granted bail to the President-General of Ogwashi-Uku Development Association (ODA), Mr. Izu Osamor and Mr. Nwafor Ashi.
Information from sources who were privy to the case disclosed that the duo were allowed to go home on the condition of producing a surety and N2,000,000, though it could not be verified whether the bail conditions as demanded by the court applied to the duo or to each of the accused standing separately.
The accused persons were initially arraigned at a Magistrate Court in Nassarawa State by the police from Force Headquarters after they were arrested in Ogwashi-Uku.
The Magistrate Court had remanded the duo at one of the correctional centres in the state for almost two months running for alleged cyber bullying, criminal defamation, incitement and publication of false information.
Findings revealed that the suit at the Magistrate Court in Keffi, Nassarawa State, was later withdrawn and refilled at the Federal High Court in the nation’s capital.
Their arrest followed a petition filed by the Palace of Ogwashi-Uku to the Force Headquarters over an alleged protest against the palace in Asaba. The protest was alleged to have been masterminded by the President General of the town’s union and some others.
The younger brother to the Obi of Ogwashi-Uku, Prince Onyema Okonjo, called for a truce to lingering disagreements. He had affirmed the readiness of the Obi of the community to chart a new course.
According to him, the traditional ruler of Ogwashi Uku Kingdom, His Royal Majesty, Obi Ifechukwude Okonjo II, remains a father to every indigene of the community and holds all persons in that manner.
He had, however, added that what the palace would not condone is any attempt to pull down the throne in whatever guise, adding that the people of Ogwashi-Uku remained the descendants of Adaigbo, their forebear and should therefore remain united.
But the ODA has, over time, laid complaints about the way the palace was allegedly laying claim to the community land; a position the palace has consistently debunked. They had hinted that the community land belonged to the entire Ogwashi-Uku and no single individual can lay claim or absolute authority over the communal land.
