By Cornel Osigwe
Nnewi has long been admired for its ability to manage political power through dialogue, equity, and carefully negotiated agreements among its four quarters. At the heart of this stability is the zoning and rotation arrangement that has guided the sharing of political offices, especially at the local government level. It is therefore troubling that a recent communiqué allegedly issued by Nzuko-Ora Nnewi on January 12, 2026, now threatens to undermine that hard-earned harmony.
The communiqué, which seeks to impose a four-year tenure for the Chairmanship of Nnewi North Local Government and to compel political parties to field candidates from a particular quarter, raises serious legal, political, and moral concerns. While the language of unity used in the document may sound noble, its content, if allowed to stand, will drag Nnewi into an avoidable crisis.
The most obvious flaw in the communiqué is its direct conflict with the law. The Anambra State Local Government Administration Law clearly provides a two-year tenure for elected local government chairmen. This is not a matter of opinion, tradition, or negotiation. It is the law. No town union, no committee, and no communiqué has the authority to extend that tenure to four years by agreement. Any attempt to do so is legally void and sets a dangerous example of lawlessness disguised as consensus.
Equally disturbing is the misrepresentation of the original Nnewi zoning document. That document never fixed tenure length at four years. Its focus was rotation, not duration. It provided that each quarter should enjoy one tenure as defined by the law in force, after which the office must move to the next zone. To now reinterpret that agreement to suit present political ambition is to distort history and betray the spirit of the very arrangement that has kept the peace in Nnewi for decades.
Zoning was introduced to reduce political tension, prevent rivalry, and avoid crisis. Ironically, the current communiqué is already achieving the opposite. Instead of calming nerves, it has reopened old wounds, deepened mistrust, and set quarters against one another. When an agreement designed to prevent conflict becomes the source of conflict, it has clearly been abused.
Perhaps the most damaging aspect of the communiqué is the way it drags Nzuko-Ora Nnewi into partisan politics. The town union has always served as a neutral father of all, a custodian of collective agreements, and a platform for unity. By endorsing the continuation of a sitting chairman and directing political parties on who to field, the institution risks losing its moral authority and public trust. Once a town union becomes partisan, it loses the power to mediate, reconcile, or unify.
Even more dangerous is the precedent being created. If one chairman can extend tenure through a communiqué, override zoning by reinterpretation, and use the town union to legitimise personal ambition, then every future chairman will attempt the same. At that point, zoning will collapse, elections will become chaotic, and Nnewi will lose one of its most effective tools for managing political power peacefully.
There is also a serious procedural flaw that cannot be ignored. The President General of Nnewichi Quarter did not sign the communiqué, which means Nnewichi was not represented at the meeting where the decision was taken. In Nnewi tradition, no agreement affecting all four quarters can claim legitimacy without the participation and consent of all. Decisions taken in the absence of one quarter are invitations to rejection and resistance.
If, at any point, the zoning document is to be amended, it must follow due process. This means full consultation, open deliberation, and the clear consent of all four quarters through their recognised leadership structures. Such an amendment cannot be done through selective meetings, and it must never benefit a sitting office holder. Any change that rewards the current chairman immediately becomes self-serving and morally defective.
Nnewi stands at a crossroads. We can choose the path of law, fairness, and restraint, or we can choose the path of convenience, distortion, and crisis. History will remember this moment either as the time when wisdom prevailed or as the moment when ambition was allowed to tear open old divisions.
Nnewi does not need a crisis of ambition. It needs leadership that respects the law, honours agreements, and understands that peace is more valuable than power.