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| Ezeugo (aka Rev. King) |
Attempting to speak with members of the
community in Achina, Aguata Local Government Area of Anambra State,
where Chukwuemeka Ezeuko not Ezeugo hails from came with some
challenge.
Achina community shares boundary with
other rural communities such as Mkpologwu and Umuchu, all in Aguata
Local Government Area with a population of a little over 8, 000.
It is a remote area that is home to the
popular Oye Market, St Charles Borromeo Catholic Church and St. Peter’s
Secondary School where Rev. King schooled. The acclaimed ‘man of God’,
also known as Rev. King, is set for a date with the hangman based on the
recent verdict of the Supreme Court.
It was difficult to locate the
traditional ruler of the place, as there are two claimants to the
traditional stool of the community.
Of the duo, Godwin Nnaemeka Obiora (the
Ononenyi, Eze Idegwu III of Achina) is given recognition and staff of
office by the Anambra State Government, while the other, David Eze
Muokwe, is confined to an autonomous role that has not been recognised.
When The Nation got to Umulekwe village,
Isi Achina, where Rev King was born, the inhabitants appeared reluctant
to comment on his family. None of the residents was ready to also point
at his homestead.
The Nation discovered that the Reverend,
who is popular in Lagos, was hardly known in his village, let alone the
entire community. Rev. King was said to have left the place early in
life.
There were three Ezeukos in his paternal
lineage: Sebastine Ezeuko (the eldest), Edwin Ezeuko (Rev. King’s
father) and Aaron Ezeuko. All of them are deceased.
A branch of the Christian Praying
Assembly (CPA) is located inside the family house in a storey building
erected by his late father who died in 1998.
Another building on the premises was a
bungalow built by the sons of his uncle, Sebastine, who died in 2000.
But the CPA pastor in the compound, identified as Joseph, allegedly
demolished the third building put up by the uncle’s children.
It was said that the Ezeukos lived a
cat-and-mouse life in the compound, while officials overseeing the
affairs of the CPA assumed God-like superiority.
Enquiries about the mother and siblings
of Rev. King fetched the response that they live in Onitsha where his
father built a house. But no one seemed to know the address.
A resident of the village, Mr. Innocent
Eze Nwosu, yielded no information, as he claimed that he never knew Rev.
King. He did not grow up in Achina but his maternal home in Ogboji,
Orumba South Council Area of the state, he said, “so I cannot say
anything about the young man”.
But one of Rev. King’s cousins, Tochukwu
Ezeuko, did not deny his link with the controversial man of God, but
emphasised the notion that the name ‘Ezeugo’ was contrived in place of
the original Ezeuko.
Tochukwu, who resides in the village
with his mother, described himself as one struggling to make ends meet,
while describing Rev. King and his siblings as ‘townsmen’.
He said: “We do not know where the name
Ezeugo emanated from. The last time I saw him (Rev. King) was in 1998
when his father died.
“We are not regretting anything. One
person cannot claim to be the entire world. What is happening today, we
believe, is the will of God. Let God’s will be done.”
He, however, believed that other
acclaimed men of God could be doing worse than Rev. King and that the
worst atrocity Rev. King committed was proclaiming himself ‘God’.
For 56-year-old Margret Ezeuko, who
claimed she is an Anglican faithful, Rev. King was a gentle youth who
had no time for frivolities.
But she was quick to add that the family members seemed to be isolated as they were not on talking terms for some years.
Asked for the reason, Margret recalled a
‘fight’ that led to her children’s detention and demolition of their
building. She said: “My husband died in the year 2000 when my children
were so small. I have been taking care of them.
“My husband married two wives, and I’m
the second one. But the first one died in 2010. These people brought a
man called Pastor Joseph from Umuchu in this Aguata, who erected a
public address system around this upstairs and when my children came
home and saw the development, they asked the man why. He got angry.
“He started fighting Chibuike, and after
the fight, he called the police and detained my children. This thing
happened on December 31, 2010, and we dragged them to court. The matter
is still on.
“One good thing that nobody can take
away from Rev King during his growing days is that he was so religious
and the praying type, which he learnt from one Ufuma Praying House where
their mother was taking them to.
“However, members of this church (CPA)
see themselves as God, and if you came there anytime they are in
session, you will weep. What they do there is painful, and the kind of
things they say, claiming to be men of God.
“If he did those things the members and
those who that took him to court alleged he did, then one has no
regrets. The judgment is for God. There were no such traits in him when
he was growing up, unless those things manifested in Lagos.”
One of the businessmen in the village,
who did not want his name in print, told The Nation that Rev. King was
not known in the village.
He neither visited the village nor built
a house, said the businessman, adding that the subject was a ‘big man’
in Lagos but a ‘poor man’ at home.
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