Njiko Aniocha-Oshimili Visits Asagba of Asaba, Urges Him to Help Reposition Group

The leadership of Njiko Aniocha – Oshimili has been challenged to refocus the organization towards the realization of the original vision of its founding fathers.

His Royal Majesty, Asagba Prof Epiphany Azinge, SAN, OON, the 14th Asagba of Asaba, gave the charge when a delegation of the Planning Committee for the Njiko Aniocha – Oshimili December, 2025, Annual Event paid him a courtesy visit.

Asagba Prof Azinge recalled the enthusiasm with which the organization was founded and the much it did to mentor Aniocha – Oshimili youth and inculcate in them the right values, regretting, however, that the vision of the group had been eroded due to lack of interest and direction by those who came after.

He said though he was no longer active in the group’s platform, by virtue of his position as a King, he still monitored the contacts in the group and engaged with the leadership, while making behind the scene inputs to keep the body on the path of progress.

The Monarch commended the ongoing efforts to revitalize the organization and pledged support for the upcoming event, which he promised to attend with the Palace Chiefs and other title holders to give the desired credibility to the ceremony, scheduled for December 29, 2025.

“If you are favourably disposed, we can also yield the Ogwa-Ukwu Ahaba to you to use. For me, whatever I thought I could use the Aniocha-Oshimili platform to achieve I elevated the pedestal by now bringing in all the traditional rulers of Aniocha-Oshimili. I host them. We’ve agreed that we will be meeting every other month; so we have started talking and we’ve started moving the way and manner it’s expected that Njiko will move.

“So, now that they are part and parcel of what I am doing to foster peace and engender brotherly love, it becomes easy that we can use the same 29th December to host another meeting of the traditional rulers of Aniocha-Oshimili and then have them in audience to do whatever we want to do. That I believe will broaden the base and of course deepen the level of participation as well.

“On the whole, there is need for us to be meeting so that we will be able to do what others are doing. It is a big challenge to us and we keep wondering why we always consider it difficult to do the things we ordinarily can do. Is it that our people don’t believe in what we do or that they don’t want to be part of it? Or is it because they feel that we are inferior to any other group of people? I believe we have the right caliber of people but it seems that we are not able to manage ourselves properly.

“Obviously this your organization is very important because with it you can get others to believe in your vision and join the group. It then becomes a kind of mentoring process for the younger ones that will come so that they will not make the same mistakes that we have made, having been properly tutored and guided, growing up”, the forward-looking traditional ruler said.

Asagba Prof Azinge noted that the same lackadaisical attitude and absence of leadership were also evident in politics and governance, just as he bemoaned the beggarly disposition of some Aniocha-Oshimili traditional rulers, which tended to cheapen and make them susceptible to compromise.

Earlier in his remarks, the leader of the delegation and renowned advocate for Anioma culture, Arc Kester Ifeadi, said the organization had been struggling to find its feet over the years due to the apathy of some of the members, noting that while similar groups in other ethnic nationalities had become the mouthpieces of the people, the same was not the case with Njiko Aniocha-Oshimili.

Arc Ifeadi thanked the Asagba for his interest in putting the group back on track, disclosing that the organization’s upcoming event scheduled for December 29 was aimed at rejuvenating the body.

He expressed confidence that the upcoming event would be a huge success and solicited the involvement of the King at every stage of the repositioning process, as his wealth of knowledge, experience and wisdom could go a long way in reshaping the organization.