Arua RCC blocks Ayivu Chief coronation

By Andrew Cohen Amvesi

ARUA. Alice Akello, the Arua Resident City Commissioner (RCC) has blocked the planned coronation of Manasseh Yuma as the new Chief of the people of Ayivu Division.

The development comes days after Mike Agondoa, the sitting Chief of Ayivu protested the said coronation of Yuma which was slated to take place on May 28, 2022.

Speaking to journalists in her office on Wednesday, Akello said there are three people who are claiming to be the Chiefs of Ayivu, a move that is likely to cause insecurity in the city if the coronation is to take place as scheduled.

“The coronation will not take place for many reasons. Yes, I got a letter from Lugbara Kari informing me of the coronation. I also got another letter from a different group petitioning the coronation; the petition says there is no Chief in Ayivu,” Akello said.

“So, when I read through the petition and the invitation, I decided to call a meeting of the elders and found out that three elders were claiming to be Chiefs of the Ayivu people. We allowed them to submit to us what makes them call themselves Chiefs of Ayivu. They submitted; one said he has been the Chief for over ten years, another one said he was elected while the other one called Edward Aderibo said for him, he has always been elected unanimously unopposed. I later saw that there is a lot of confusion in this Chiefdom business of Ayivu,” Akello added.

She said Sam Wadri Nyakua, the Arua City Mayor who knows the history of Ayivu, gave them a narrative that Ayivu has never had a Chief.

“Nyakua told us that the one who said that he has been the Chief for over ten years was elected to be the chairperson of the elders and was supposed to serve for five years and another election would take place thereafter. So, his term of office as the chairperson of the elders expired. This one who is saying he was elected, was the chairperson of those who were writing the constitution that would give them a background to start coming up with their Chief,” Akello explained.

She said it is on the basis of the constitution that they were now going to begin moving to look for a suitable person that can be the Chief of the Ayivu people.

“The other one, Aderibo, had nothing to show. So, based on the history Nyakua gave us about the Ayivu people, we discovered that Ayivu actually has no Chief. There is no Chief in Ayivu, the rest are impersonators who self-appointed themselves. What we did as security, we sent them back as elders to go and sit down using the constitution which they wrote, to come up with a common position and we told Lugbara Kari to step aside and leave the issue of Ayivu people to Ayivu people,” Akello remarked.

She asked the Ayivu elders to follow the right procedure for the government to support them in their quest for a Chief. Akello said if the confusion persists, they are not going to come in as government.

“There is going to be no coronation because you cannot coronate somebody who is illegally doing things. Let them go through the right process, the right person will come up and as government we shall support that person. But these ones that are always causing confusion, we are not going to allow them to continue doing so because it has been the source of insecurity in the city,” Akello warned.

Ends