How Traditional Ruling Council Flogged Social Media Critic Openly

For some time to come, Oko Chukwu Obeni, a social media critic would thread softly when it comes to making comments after traditional ruling councils.

He is still nursing the pains of the trashing and fine meted out to him by the one in his home place of Essa, in the Amasiri community of Afikpo North local government area of Ebonyi State.

He was given a public thrashing in a manner that he would not forget in a hurry.

In fact, midway into the flogging, his elder brother had to intervene, and had to buy the balance of 18 strokes with N9, 500.

By that time, he had already taken 13 strokes.

Obeni’s offence was that he dared to publish materials which the council considered denigrating, and capable of fanning embers of disrespect and disunity in the community. So, after deliberating his case and finding him guilty, they decided to mete out the punishment in line with their tradition.

Report said after the social media critic was found guilty of disrespecting the community and tarnishing its image, he was allegedly handed over to the forth tier and traditional security outfit of the community known as Isioru.

It was such that he had to be hospitalised at Alex Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Hospital(AE-FUTHA), and notwithstanding, later made to apologise to the community over his action.

 “I was called by one Julius Nyerere that I was invited to Essa Chairman’s House. I got to the place and saw Essa Executive seated and all the members of Isioru. They were treating a matter of somebody who fought them, so I waited till they finished the matter.

“They called me out when they finished. They forced me to lie down and face the ground. After, the Essa chairman Omezue Godwin Elekwa asked me to sit up and come closer.

“He asked Amadi Julius Nyerere to brief them about me and he briefed them, telling them that I am posting something against leaders of our community on facebook,” he said.

-Social Media Critic –

But the community justified their action against the social media critics, saying he  desecrated its authority, by insulting leaders and defaming them in his facebook posts, thereby creating insecurity in the community and portraying it in bad light.

Vice Chairman of the Essa ruling Council in the community, Chief Godffery Oko, said the posts by Obeni were false and threatened the peace of the community.

 “The security outfit of this community the Isi-oru handled that situation. The boy was found guilty of defaming people’s character, he was publishing in the internet falsehood against individuals and also try to portray the Essa ruling council in bad light. He was not so maltreated and asked to eat feaces in the way the enemies of the community are portraying it.

“All we are after is the good governance of our community, how to bring back peace; the elusive peace in Amasiri. Before now, the state has known that Amasiri has been a very volatile area in terms of violence, cultism, robbery and all have you.

“And so Amasiri people have been desirous on how to go about peace. So, the community had to introduce the Isi-Oru as the vanguards and security outfit in this community to checkmate this type of mess in the community.

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“We are not partisan and anybody who tries to whip in politics in what we are doing here in Amasiri is making a very big mistake because we have our traditional ways of handling issues and we do not do it arbitrarily; somebody must be given chance to defend himself when he is being accused of committing an offence in the community and that is democratic enough. We always discuss an offence one commits in this community within ourselves and if you are found guilty, we will dish out punishment accordingly. We do not do jungle justice accordingly.

“Anybody who commits an offence must have to face the consequences according to the rules or laws of this community. What we are doing is according to our tradition; the way we handle things to bring about peace not minding whose ox is gored”,

The Nation also quotes the Chairman of Isioru, Julius Amadi Nyerere, as saying:  “Some of these punishments are being removed. For example, if it was in the old, the authority of the community in Amasiri which the Essa like this is representing, sometimes it is usually.

“But because of modernisation, these things are changed and you are just giving strokes of canes to reform you to desist from behaving the way you did. The Essa invited the guy to defend himself and he was found guilty and he was punished accordingly”.