Barr Basil Igwike has clarified that no court has determined the suit seeking to change the name of Nkerehi community in Anambra State to ‘Umuchukwu’ community.
Igwike said in a statement on Sunday, that the issue of the change of name of the Nkerehi community to Umuchukwu is still pending in the Anambra State High Court in Aguata in a suit marked AG/102/2007 Between Barr. Basil Igwike & ors vs. the Governor of Anambra State & ors .
He said the suit.the suit seeking the has not been determined by the Supreme Court as erroneously speculated in media report of 10th February 2025. Igwike said the media report has was false and misleading to claim that the Supreme Court confirmed the change of name of the community from Nkerehi to Umuchukwu.
He said that the Supreme Court only dismissed an interlocutory request for a prohibition order against a referendum for residents of the community and awarded a cost of N500,000 against the applicants while the matter of the community’s name is still pending before the high court.
“So, the implication of the Supreme Court ruling in the matter is that the issue of whether the government has the right to conduct a referendum in Nkerehi to change the town’s name has been finally determined as the Appeal Court judgment in the issue stands final. The trial court and the Court of Appeal are in agreement that the issue of the conduct of a referendum is not a quasi-judicial function and therefore the government or its agency can carry out such exercise,” he said.
“The order of prohibition was refused by the High Court and the appellants went to the Court of Appeal in which the appeal was dismissed. The appellants further appealed to the Supreme Court but when the matter came up in January 2025, the counsel to the appellants applied to the court for withdrawal of the case and the respondents without objecting to the application, the Hon. Justices of the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal and awarded cost against the appellants.
“The issue of referendum stands as a process of the name change while the instrument that eventually changed the name being the gazette of the Executive governor of the state is the act itself. So, the gazette is the subject of the amended suit in AG/102/2007 which is still pending at the high court. So, it is randomly false that the Supreme Court affirms the Anambra community name change.”
It would be recalled that the Nkerehi community in Orumba South Local Government Area in Anambra State has been locked in a legal battle since 2007 over the change of name. A section of the community has long believed that the name portends a bad omen and hinders development