By Okey Alozie
The traditional rulers in Ahiazu Mbaise Local Government Area of Imo State have praised the Commissioner for Homeland Security and Vigilante Affairs. Dr Ugorji O. Ugorji, for living up to and going beyond the expectations of Mbaise people in the cabinet of Governor Hope Uzodimma. This is contained in a recent letter to the commissioner written by the Chairman of the Ahiazu Mbaise Council of Traditional Rulers, HRH Eze Sabinus Nwaneche.
In the said letter, the Ahiazu Council of Traditional Rulers invited Dr. Ugorji for a joint honour with a chieftaincy title on a date of his choice. The letter was made known to this reporter by Eze Nwaneche during a telephone interview, but the specific title to be conferred on the man from Lorji was not disclosed.
Dr. Ugorji is the pioneer chief executive officer of the strategic ministry of Homeland Security and Vigilante Affairs – a new ministry created with the mandate to harmonize the security architecture in the state and engender peace. According to remarks by Governor Uzodimma on several public occasions, security and peace are crucial and fundamental to the development of the state and its economy. The commissioner has set out to conceptualize and implement Uzodimma’s whole-of-government approach to security and safety in the state.
The royal fathers maintained that they are proud of the governor’s developmental strides in the state and commended Uzodimma for reappointing the Commissioner in the last cabinet reshuffle just before the end of 2022. However, Eze Nwaneche said the commissioner was invited to be honoured not just because he is a commissioner in Uzodimma’s administration. “We are honouring him for his dedication to his work and the way he has carried himself as a professional,” the royal father emphasized.
The traditional ruler also gushed about how Dr. Ugorji has related to the traditional institutions in Mbaise. “Ask any traditional ruler who has gone to see him at his office or has called him about security matters. He has a policy of not keeping traditional rulers waiting, with or without an appointment. I don’t know if this has something to do with the fact that his own father is the traditional ruler at Lorji, but we are highly impressed with his respect and regard for Ndi Eze,” the royal father added.”
ABOH MBAISE DID IT FIRST
It would be recalled that the Aboh Mbaise Council of Traditional Rulers also recently honoured Dr. Ugorji with the great title of “Nwajiamatu of Aboh Mbaise” on the commissioner’s birthday in October of 2022. HRH Eze Nwaturocha, at whose palace the Aboh Mbaise traditional rulers honoured the commissioner, said then that “we have seen commissioners come and go, but not one quite like this one.”
In the commissioner’s own community of Lorji, HRH Eze Stephen Nwabueze Ugorji, the Orji Ukwu 1 of Lorji Nwekeukwu, conferred on his son the chieftaincy title of “Ide Mmuta Lorji of Lorji Nwekeuwku.” This may explain why the commissioner’s country home is called “Casa La Ide” (the house of Ide).
However, the first traditional ruler to initiate Dr. Ugorji into the ranks of traditional chiefs was the late Eze Leo Nnaji, the Enyi 1 of Enyiogwugwu in Aboh Mbaise LGA. In 1996, the then traditional ruler conferred on the then US-based renowned community organizer, the title of “Odoziobodo Mbaise of Enyiogwugwu,” on the account of his pioneering leadership of the umbrella organization of Mbaise people in North America, known at the time as the American Federation of Mbaise Associations (AFOMA). AFOMA would later give birth to what is now known as Mbaise-USA.
A fourth degree Knight of Columbus in the Catholic Church, Dr. Ugorji’s sense of personal integrity and honour, and his desire to erect what he calls a “talented tent,” has also endeared him to many young and upcoming professionals in Mbaise. According to Barrister Iheukwumere Alaribe, the APC Campaign Council Chairman in Aboh Mbaise LGA, the commissioner (who he calls “Kingsy”) has liberalized politics as the youth in Mbaise had known it and introduced a more democratic and community-centered approach to even the activities of his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Aboh Mbaise. The “Kingsy” stems from Kingsley, a name the Commissioner had when he attend Ife Secondary School in Ezinihite Mbaise. He has since dropped the English name.
“Dr. Ugorji has invested heavily in the party and taken great personal risks for the party, especially in the just concluded elections,” Alaribe said. The APC has recently won elections for the first time in communities known to be PDP strongholds, from Aboh Mbaise to Ahiazu, as well as in Ezinihitte. Virtually every prominent person in Mbaise who spoke to this reporter commended Governor Hope Uzodimma for choosing such a First Class public administrator and gentleman as his Commissioner.
