Ogwashi-Uku Community Condemns Town Development Association

OGWASHI-UKU, DELTA STATE — Prominent voices from the Ogwashi-Uku community have sharply criticized the Ogwashi-Uku Development Association (ODA), accusing it of abandoning its constitutional mandate of community development and instead waging a relentless campaign of misinformation, division, and hostility against the traditional leadership of the kingdom.

In the latest example of this pattern, the ODA submitted yet another letter to the Governor of Delta State on May 26, 2025. Rather than advocate for infrastructure, public health, or educational improvements, the letter focused once again on attacking the Obi of Ogwashi-Uku with misleading claims, including a blatant falsehood that “the enquiry process put a hold on the traditional leadership in Ogwashi.” This claim has no legal or governmental backing and contradicts facts on the ground.

A prominent local legal practitioner, in a widely circulated response, posed the question many indigenes are now asking: “Who does ODA really represent?” He highlighted a disturbing trend of ODA failing to defend the territorial and cultural integrity of Ogwashi-Uku in recent boundary and identity disputes involving Otulu, Issele-Azagba, and Olodu. Instead, the association has consistently directed its energy toward discrediting the Obi through expensive petitions and public smear campaigns, including the hiring of multiple Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) to petition the Obi during the recent Commission of Inquiry. The ODA apparently didn’t rise up or use their Senior Advocates hired to counter claims of autonomy by self acclaimed Obi’s in Otulu and Olodu.  They also haven’t bothered to applaud the efforts of the Obi of Ogwashi-Uku in ensuring the unity of the community especially the satellite communities of Otulu and Olodu Ogwashi-Uku.

Even more troubling is ODA’s failure to pursue a single meaningful development initiative in years. As the Barrister put it: “In the past six years, has the ODA written to request for construction of roads, building of schools, for a transformer, or for any developmental project in Ogwashi-Uku? The answer is a resounding no.”  Diokpa Charles Obi also commented that the ODA have not been able to complete the town hall they embarked on almost a decade ago rather choosing to utilise precious resources on hiring expensive lawyers for meaningless petitions. 

In stark contrast to ODA’s inaction, the Obi of Ogwashi-Uku has, in just the past month, commissioned a new Mother and Child Clinic at the General Hospital, partnered with High Chief Odogwu to provide a borehole to Ogbe Odogwu in Azungwu, and held strategic meetings with the management of Admiralty University to explore educational and economic partnerships.

Community elder and academic Dr. Ben Nwabua reinforced this sentiment, stating: “Anybody or group fighting the Obi of Ogwashi-Uku is fighting the entire kingdom and the institutions he represents. The throne is not political—it is spiritual, ancestral, and sacred.”

The association's loss of moral authority is made worse by the  records of some of its executives. Barrister Francis (Mayor) Okolie and Elue Adigwe were among individuals charged at the Federal High Court in Asaba for a terrorist attack on the Obi. Another executive, Prince Frank Ohei, was recently convicted for cyberstalking and defamation for inflammatory posts made in the ODA’s own WhatsApp group. Another prominent member of the ODA WhatsApp group Mr Iloba Obata is facing criminal trial at the State High Courts for his involvement in two murders and also a cyberstalking trial at the Federal High Court in Asaba for posts made on the ODA WhatsApp group. 

Despite this, the association continues to operate as if above the law, doubling down on internal sabotage rather than external progress.

The people of Ogwashi-Uku are now calling time on the ODA’s dangerous drift. “We need roads, clean water, power, and schools—not more petitions, not more lies, and not more attacks on our traditional ruler,” one youth leader commented anonymously.

The verdict from the community is clear: the ODA, in its current form, has become an obstacle to development. If it cannot realign with its core mission of uplifting Ogwashi-Uku, it may no longer deserve the trust or recognition of the people it claims to represent.