The Legacy of Chief Ngwuta Otubo of Ezzama Onueke, Ezza, Ebonyi state
By Peter Okeke, Abakaliki
Chief Ngwuta Otubo, known across the land as Ezenwodu 1, hailed from Ezzama Onueke, Ezza South local Government area, Ebonyi State, and he was a man of wealth, vision, influence, and a brilliant businessman, a great farmer that his yam barns overflowed, his palm oil flowed in barrels, and his name carried weight in every market place but however, with his wealth came responsibility, five wives.
Sister to Chief Ngwuta, Chidinma Ngwuta Onuta, made this disclosure to newsmen stating that, "At first, his household stood united. The women tended his farms, bore his children, and shared in the respect his name commanded. But as the children grew, envy crept in like a shadow. Rivalries began to burn quietly in the hearts of the wives and their sons.
"Yet one woman outshone the rest in the chief’s eyes: Mrs. Chinyere Ngwuta, his youngest wife. Chinyere was devoted to her husband, caring for his meals, managing his finances, and watching over him with loyalty that others mistook for favoritism. This special bond stoked jealousy among the co-wives, until the tension boiled into tragedy. Chinyere was poisoned, and the whispers pointed inward, to the very household she had lived in.
"Before her death, she bore five children, the eldest being Arinze. Chief Ngwuta trusted Chinyere so deeply that he named Arinze as his official next of kin in the bank, a decision that would later shake the entire family.
"But Arinze’s life took a different path. From the tender age of four, he was raised not in his father’s house, but by his mother’s elder sister. There, he shed the name “Ngwuta” and grew up as Arinze Donatus Emmanuel. His childhood was far removed from the rivalries in the big compound. As he grew into a young man, opportunity carried him overseas, to Dubai, where he lived and worked.
"It was not until 2021, after news reached him that his father had died, that Arinze returned home for the burial. His arrival reopened old wounds. The older sons, bitter and suspicious, turned their anger on him. To them, Arinze was not just the youngest wife’s son, he was the chosen heir, the one whose name their father had written at the bank, the one who “stole” what they believed was their birthright.
"Arinze tried to explain: there was no secret fortune, no hidden wealth. His name as next of kin was only his father’s wish, not a key to untold riches. But reason could not calm envy. Fights broke out daily. Brutality replaced brotherhood. And the storm of hatred was so fierce that Arinze had to flee for his life on January 15, 2022, even before his father was laid to rest.
"After that day, Arinze vanished. Some whispered he returned abroad, others believed he changed his identity again. No one knew his whereabouts. The compound of Chief Ngwuta was left broken, his children divided, his legacy consumed by suspicion and rivalry.
"And so, the story of Ezenwodu became a cautionary tale in the land, of wealth and wives, of love and betrayal, of how a father’s decision, born of trust, became the seed of unending conflict," the sister concluded.
