Igbodo Crisis: Obi Osadume Fnally Bows To Tradition •Takes New Wife From His Community

The drama surrounding the traditional ruler of Igbodo in Ika North East Local Government Area of Delta State, Obi Nkeobikwu Osadume, has finally been laid to rest.

The monarch has bowed to the wish of his people by taking a new wife in line with the primordial custom and tradition of the Igbodo people.

He was said to have officially presented the queen to the people last week.
This development was against his initial stance not to take a second wife being a born again Christian and a staunch member of Living Faith Church, a.k.a Winners Chapel.
The monarch did the presentation of the new queen at a colorful ceremony, held at the ancestral palace of Igbodo Kingdom.
He thanked God for the peaceful resolution of all the issues surrounding his marriage.

The monarch assured the people that he would continue to uphold the custom and tradition of the kingdom and appealed to his people to work towards the development of the community.
He also thanked the state government for intervening in the matter.

The royal father expressed happiness over the unity of purpose that exists among the Obi-in-Council and the Igbodo Development Union (IDU), urging his people not to compromise the peace and unity of the people.

he traditional Prime Minister of Igbodo Kingdom, Dr Ifeanyi Unomah, said the turbulent period was over and thanked the traditional ruler for listening to the wise counsels of those who intervened on the matter.
Dr Unomah said that the choice of a queen from the community was in line with the custom of Igbodo Kingdom.

The president general of IDU worldwide, Chief Peterson Ozili-Chiemeke, said Igbodo was an agrarian community yearning for development.

According to him, the controversies over the marriage of the Obi to a lady from Igbo land was a distraction, adding that the matter had been resolved amicably.
Chief Ozili-Chiemeke paid glowing tribute to the state Deputy Governor, Prof. Amos Otuamah; the Obi of Owa Kingdom, Emmanuel Efeizamor the second; Obi of Umunede Kingdom, Agadagidi Ezenwani the first and the transition committee chairman of Ika North East Local Government Area, Princess Ijenwa Okunoke, for their personal intervention and interest towards the peaceful resolution of the matter.

A member of the Obi-in-Council, Chief Gilbert Nwaije, maintained that now that the marriage issue was over, attention would be on the development of the community.
The ceremony featured the decoration of the queen with beads by the Obi who also led his wife to her seat in the palace as the queen of the community.
Several notable sons and daughters of Igbodo community who witnessed the ceremony also paid homage to the king and the wife.

It will be recalled that Obi Osadume, a Law graduate from Madonna University, after ascending the throne of his forefathers, took a wife from Igbo land against the tradition of his community which stipulates that a serving monarch can only raise a heir apparent from a woman married from the Igbodo kingdom.

The kingdom of Igbodo was thrown into turmoil late last year as the king, who stood against the request that he should divorce his ‘strange’ wife based on his Christian religious faith.
His wife was chased out of the palace by the people and his palace deserted, living him to live a life of seclusion.
He was said to have rented an apartment in Asaba where he kept the woman, while he paid nocturnal visit to her, said to be against the tradition of royal fathers.

Emotion rose high in the kingdom as the monarch was abandoned to his fate, given the options of abdicating the throne of his ancestors while he stuck to his foreign wife or take a second wife who would bear him a heir apparent as demanded by the tradition of the people.
The height of the imbroglio came when the monarch secretly invited his in-laws from Ebonyi State to help him secretly bury his late mother against the tradition of the people.