After weeks of pro and anti verbal war, Chief of Staff, Government House, Owerri, Chief Uche Nwosu was today conferred with a chieftaincy title by Traditional Rulers in Mbaise. .
The Chieftaincy title coincided with the 2018 annual iri ji festival of Mbaise Nation.
Mbaise nation is the most dominant ethnic group in Imo State with a large population. They also exert huge influence in the politics of Imo State.
The chieftaincy title had generated tension and anxiety in Mbaise nation especially for those who gave it political colouration.
Nwosu is Governor Rochas Okorocha’s son in law and a contender for Imo governorship in 2019 on the platform of the All Progressive Congress, APC.
One of his rivals in the governorship race is a son of Mbaise Nation and a front line governorship aspirant in the PDP, Rt Hon.Emeka Ihedioha.
Ihedioha was a former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Despite the fireworks for and against the title, Nwosu was conferred with the Chieftaincy title of “Ugwumba Oha Nile of Mbaise land
The title though traditional and cultural is said to be a direct affront on Ihedioha who was Governor Rochas Okorocha’s major political opponent in the 2015 governorship election.The event which took place at Itu community, headquarters of Ezinihitte Mbaise LGA was witnessed by a mammoth crowd.
Stern looking security personnel had stormed the area to wade off any resistance and disruption of the event considering the altercations that had trailed the conferment.
Hon Uche Onyeagocha, a governorship aspirant on the platform of the All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA had in a statement accused Governor Okorocha of dispatching truck load of policemen to the venue of the ceremony.
Nwosu had early this year bagged a chieftaincy title in Umuoyima community in Owerri municipal conferred on him by Eze Theophilus Uba.