Prince Kanu Okoro Kanu Oji, the esteemed Prince of Arochukwu kingdom, has minimized the controversy surrounding the accession of His Royal Majesty, Eze Eberechukwu Oji, to the Eze Aro throne.
According to reports, HRM Eberechukwu Oji recently emerged as Eze Aro through the traditional process laid down by the Arochukwu royal family of Okennachi, responsible for presenting a new Eze to Arochukwu. His formal coronation is scheduled for December this year.
There have been suggestions that he shouldn’t ascend the throne while his father is still alive. However, Prince Kanu, in a press statement shared, dismissed these insinuations that an Eze Aro’s father must be deceased before ascending to the throne as absurd.
Oji addressed journalists at the Palace of Eze Aro in Arochukwu, Abia State, debunking such notions and attributing them to a lack of understanding.
He recalled that “even the founder of Arochukwu allowed his own son to be the Eze in the ancient times.”
On the claims that Eze Eberechukwu Oji should not ascend the throne because his father is still alive, he queried: “What makes him disqualified? Is this the first time it is happening?
“Coming from this kingdom, our ancestral patriarch, Nnachi did not rule Arochukwu. But he was alive when his son, Oke Nnachi was ruling. He was the founder of Arochukwu. So it’s not the first time.
“Then in recent history, if you go to Amukwa, when it was the turn of a man, he gave it to his son. He was alive and his son was ruling.
“That was the person that ruled before the present Eze Ogo of Amukwa.
“Once the father approves of his son to go in his place, then he can go. This thing we are talking about is exclusively the rights of Mazi Oji Kanu as Okwara Ezi and Ochie Ochie Ime Ezi.
“Again, going to the bible, for those of us who are Christians, David was a king. He had elder siblings and the father Jesse. The Ooni of Ife, his father, is alive. The Olu of Warri, the father is alive.
“So, what are we talking about? Even Eze Ibom Isii that is trying to make a case here, his father is alive, because his elder brother acts as his father, and he is alive. His name is Isaac, and he acts as his father.”
