By Vincent Ujumadu

The seven-year-old feud in Ndiowu community in Orumba North Local Government Area of Anambra State has been resolved amicably, with a special thanksgiving in which every village in the area is expected to participate.

The 2023 Ndiowu reunion will round up this year’s Christmas celebration with an indigene of the town, Dr. Joseph Onuorah commending the people for putting behind the past and looking forward to a prosperous future.

In a message to mark the occasion, Onuorah said: “There is no gainsaying the fact that in the last seven years, Ndiowu has gone through a very difficult and tumultuous experience— culturally, politically, and economically. Our unity and togetherness as a people were stretched to its elastic limits; our collective prosperity dwindled because we fought over issues that could be settled around the table as men. 

“Some will say that we lived as strangers under the same roof, and nobody can claim to have enjoyed this period of rancour and strife which were unfortunately passed on to affect the minds and mentality of innocent youths and children.

“It is, therefore, apt that I call on every son and daughter of Ndiowu to explore ways to live together and cherish one another as brothers and sisters, one people under God. “Irrespective of our political leaning in the community, it is an undisputable truth that we can never prosper except we give peace a chance.

“Together, everyone achieves more and in peace and when there is shared prosperity for everyone. We should endeavour to manifest the true spirit of the ideal Ndiowu man and woman as aptly etched in our town union motto, which ais Unity, Peace and Progress. Without the first two, the latter will remain a pipedream.

“It is my earnest desire that on this historic thanksgiving day, we all shall continue to reach out to all sides, forgiving all the hurts, erasing the old norms, stories, divisions, strife and healing the old wounds. 

“Our real enemy is not the next Ndiowu man or woman; our true enemies common to all of us are general insecurity, poverty, crime, youth unemployment, poor healthcare amenities, soil erosion, decaying infrastructures, criminal herdsmen and frightening drug addiction among young people.

“Ndiowu shall remain one united family, irrespective of the quarters and the villages, irrespective of socioeconomic background and modes of worship.

“We should always find common grounds like this 2023 thanksgiving ceremony, age grade programmes and many other unifying initiatives of the Chike Emenike-led executive; we should face our common enemies together. We should prosper, and we can rebuild our town to be the pride of Orumba and Anambra State as a whole.”