Michael Onwuka, Enugu
The President General, Imilike-Agu Town Union (IATU) worldwide, Mr Paulinus Nnadi, has called on members of the community to embrace peace and unity in order to usher in the needed development in the area.
Nnadi made the call in an interview with Ikengaonline shortly after his emergence as the duly elected president general of IATU.
Imilike-Agu is an autonomous community with about 22 villages in Udenu Local Government Area of Enugu State.
The president general said that the community had since the death of their traditional ruler been torn apart by factions due to lack of a structured leadership.
He said that prior to the election, there was no constitutionally recognised body to administer the community, adding that the Council of Elders was divided.
“There was a problem and division in the Council of Elder because some of them invoked a deity on the land which did not go down well with the Christian community,” he said.
According to him, the Imilike-Agu stakeholders sued for peace among the elders and decided to conduct the town union election.
Nnadi said that the community would breath fresh air under his leadership, adding that his desire to unite the youths and introduce a central security system led to his tripod agenda of peace, security and development.
“There was a lacuna in structured leadership of the community. So, whenever issues around peace, security and development come up, there was no recognised body to resort to,” he said.
He said that the prevailing circumstance had led to the decay of infrastructure in the area.
“For instance, the Community Secondary School, Imilike-Agu is in a deplorable state. This school has produced many intellectuals who are doing well in their respective fields.
“We intend to use community development minded people to reconstruct the community secondary school,” he said.
Nnadi said that though the community had lesser security challenges “but a situation where you have opposing neighborhood watch groups is not healthy. We intend to unify them into one central security system,” Nnadi said.
Ikengaonline further reports that the election which held during the extra-ordinary General Assembly of the town union was supervised by officials of Enugu State Ministry of Rural Development.
The exercise was attended by the various branches of IATU including Lagos, Abuja, Benin, Lafia, Onitsha and Enugu.
Others are Nsukka, Orba, Obollo-Afor as well as various home-based community groups such as Ndi Oha, Ndi Ozioko, women group and the youths.
