CONTROVERSY has enveloped the Umuidigbe-Oji village in Obodogwugwu community of Okpanam in Oshimili North Local Government Area, Delta State, following the shocking revelation that the Diokpa of the village, John Sawyer, had been dead for nearly two years without the knowledge of community members.
The disclosure came after persistent demands by community leaders and youths to see the Diokpa, who had reportedly been “missing” since shortly after his installation three years ago.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with The Pointer, the second-in-command in Umuidigbe-Oji, Mr Polite Chidebe, narrated how the crisis began.
“It has been a cold war since the installation of the Diokpa three years ago. We only saw him in meetings once or twice. Whenever we went to his house, there would be armed men at the gate, journalists at the meeting, and people videotaping us.
‘’That was when we started protesting. A village meeting is not supposed to involve reporters, video recordings, or armed guards. That was where the crisis began,” he said.
Mr Chidebe alleged that because of the unusual presence of armed men and the conduct of the Diokpa’s household, many villagers became uneasy.
He explained that suspicion grew when Diokpa’s children claimed their father had been taken to the hospital, but consistently blocked all attempts by the community to visit him.
Efforts by various groups, including the Umuada and the Obodogwugwu elders, to intervene were rebuffed by the Diokpa’s children. Matters escalated when some community youths were accused of murder and gun violence, leading to arrests and petitions in Abuja.
According to Chidebe, it was only after repeated police interventions that the truth emerged. “Eventually, with the help of the police, we found out that the Diokpa had already died for a year and nine months, unknown to us. That very day, gunshots were heard. It was a day of both shock and jubilation, because at last, we knew the truth,” he said.
He accused the Diokpa’s children of deliberately concealing their father’s death to use his name for land transactions.
“Before then, they were using their father’s name to sell lands allocated to our brothers in the Diaspora. They forged signatures and claimed their father gave them authority. That was their motive; to use his name and the money, then later declare him dead,” Chidebe alleged.
The Youth Chairman of Umuidigbe-Oji, Comrade Ikezue Anthony, corroborated the claims, insisting the community had been kept in the dark.
“For over a year, almost two years, we kept asking the children to show us the Diokpa. They said he was fine and in the hospital. Unknown to us, the man had been dead all along. This is an abomination we have never witnessed in Okpanam or Umuidigbe-Oji,” he said.
Anthony alleged that the children not only forged their father’s signature but also obtained a false power of attorney to sell communal land.
He recalled that when the matter was taken to Abuja, one of the sons, Awele Sawyer, eventually confessed that his father had died nearly two years earlier and had been deposited at a specialist’s hospital mortuary.
“We then went with the police to the mortuary and saw the man’s body. Now that we know the truth, the situation is calm. What remains is for the government to decide on the matter and for us to begin the process of choosing a new Diokpa,” he noted.
For now, both elders and youths in Umuidigbe-Oji said they were leaving the matter in the hands of the police and government authorities.
