Contrary to claims linking Senator Tony Nwoye to the disruption of the Nsugbe traditional ruler selection, documents show that a High Court order, not the senator, halted the exercise.
The selection, scheduled for Saturday, 8th August, 2026, for the Nsugbe community in Anambra East LGA, was stopped by an order of the Anambra State High Court, Awka Judicial Division, Vacation Court 1.
In a statement credited to Mr Sunday Attah, chairman of the Caretaker Committee set up by the Anambra State government to oversee Nsugbe community affairs, Attah accused Senator Nwoye, an indigene of Nsugbe, of leading a group to the venue of the selection.
Attah also claimed that no court order stopped his committee from conducting the Igweship election and appealed to the senator “to allow peace to reign.”
He further exonerated the Anambra State attorney-general and commissioner for justice, Prof. Okechukwu Nweke, saying he had no hand in the committee’s election process. Attah argued that because neither the state government nor his caretaker committee was a party to the suit, the court order did not apply to them.
But court records obtained by LEADERSHIP showed that Justice Jude Obiora issued a preservative order on 5th August, 2026, prohibiting any election to select the traditional ruler of Nsugbe pending the determination of the substantive suit.
The order was made in Motion No. OT/1192m/2026, dated 8 July 2026, and filed alongside the substantive suit No. OT/237/2026 by Chukwuma Omenyi.
Other plaintiffs/applicants listed are Okechukwu Arizona Dibua, Uchechukwu Emmanuel Nwalunor, Obichukwu Nwokike, and Igwebuike Ado. Except for Omenyi, the rest filed the action on behalf of themselves and the Nsugbe Electoral Committee for the selection of Igwe Nsugbe.
Defendants/respondents include Eugene Ado, Sunday Ado, Sunday Nwoye, Tony Tagbo, Igweze Chinweze, Ikechukwu Nwalunor, Dr Emeka Ezeazu, Kingsley Mokwe, Obi Christian Ebochie, John Obiora, Felix Okonkwo, Nnamdi Okeke (President-General, Nsugbe Development Union), Incorporated Trustees of Nsugbe Development Union, Sir Amarachi Franklin Okeke, and Nzekwesi John Nweke.
Counsel in the matter included Chukwudi Obieze, SAN, with Chief M.I. Anah, I.D. Obieze, and O.I. Obieze for the plaintiffs; Amarachi P. Nwoye for the 1st, 6th, 7th and 8th respondents; M.C. Udechukwu and C.S. Chinedu for other defendants; Chris Nweke for the 12th and 13th defendants; C.C. Ofoegbunam for the 14th; and I.I. Orji for the 15th.
Justice Obiora declined to grant the “broad” interlocutory injunction sought but issued limited preservative orders to maintain the status quo.
He ordered: “All parties shall maintain the status quo existing as at 8 July 2026, being the date on which the substantive suit was filed, pending its amicable or judicial determination.”
Specifically, “no party, whether by himself, his agents, servants, privies, or any person acting on his authority… shall organise, conduct, supervise, conclude or give effect to any election or selection of the next Igwe of Nsugbe from Ivite Quarter on Saturday the 8th day of August, 2026.”
The court also ruled that time shall not run against Ivite Quarter to produce the next Igwe, and the right shall not rotate to another quarter until the matter is resolved. The order, the judge said, is “without prejudice to the determination at trial of the authenticity, validity and proper interpretation of the rival constitutional documents.”
Justice Obiora further directed an accelerated hearing and ordered parties to file all outstanding processes within the time allowed by the rules of court.
Following the ruling, the Secretary-General of Nsugbe Development Union (National), Dr Benedict I. Uzoechina, wrote to the State Director of the Department of State Services on 6 August 2026. The letter, acknowledged on 7 August 2026, was titled “Re: Forwarding of Enrolled Court Order and Request for Compliance.”
“This letter serves to formally notify your office of the said Order and to emphasise its binding legal effect,” the letter stated. Uzoechina urged the DSS to take necessary steps to ensure compliance and prevent a breach of the peace.
The disruption of the 8 August Igweship selection in Nsugbe was ordered by a court. Allegations linking Senator Tony Nwoye to the stoppage are contradicted by court records.
