Royal tussle places lagos family under siege

The ongoing royal crisis between the Amala ruling family house and the kingmakers of the Traditional Ruling Council of the Nchare Oloko, Ikwuano Local Government Area of Abia state, took another dimension recently, leading to the forceful evacuation of the wife and kids of Prince Chibunna Amala, a contender of the stool of Akuchinyere, from their Lagos home, by some alleged umunna(kindred) of the Amala clan, after a controversial disappearance of the Abia Prince, since 2014.

Investigation revealed that the ensuing disagreement between the Amala royal family and the Traditional Ruling Council of Nchare Oloko, broke out first in 2014, when a faction of the cabinet of the late monarch, Eze Meshach Chinedu Amala, Akuchinyere 1, allegedly enthroned the brother of the monarch, Solomon Amala, as against the norm of kingship succession of enthroning the first son of a departed king, Prince Chibunna Amala.

According to a village resident in Nchare Oloko autonomous community, “mayhem broke out in the community around November 2014, when the youths in the Abia community razed part of the king’s palace in protest against the plot of a division of the kingmakers to impose Solomon Amala as a king”.

According to the source, Solomon Amala allegedly sponsored some thugs and mercenaries to vandalise people’s home and cause unrest in the once peaceful community. However, in a swift move to frustrate further plans by a section of aggrieved kingmakers in enthroning the son of late monarch of Nchare Oloko, the children and wife of the heir apparent and son of the late Obi Mesach Amala, Prince Chibunna Amala, living in one of the Lagos homes of the late monarch, were evicted and are now on the run for safety, reports added.

Prince Chibunna Amala’s wife, Angela Ifeanyinwa Amala, stated also that some aggrieved unidentified group, allegedly acting on the orders of the ruling king and brother of late monarch, Solomon Amala, stormed the family house of the Amalas and allegedly threatened to kill her and the children, if the family do not immediately vacate their residence.

“Since my husband, Prince Chibunna Amala, went into forced exile, after he was severely injured, in 2014,following a contest for the throne of Akuchinyere, between Prince Chibunna and an uncle, Solomon Amala, the family has blamed his disappearance on me, and have assaulted me many times for this’, she said.

‘’My three kids enjoy no privacy in the home. The worst that happened was that some so called union members from the village, invaded our residence in April, and they threatened to waste my life and that of the kids, if we do not vacate the home, belonging to my late father-in –law’’, she added. ‘’Right now we put up with a friend in the outskirts of Lagos. My children have stopped going to school, for fear of being kidnapped from their schools, Angela added.