A new Eze-designate has been chosen by the people of Aro ancient Kingdom, in Abia State, after a rigorous and meticulous process.
His is Pastor Eberechukwu Eni Kanu Oji, a grandson of the late Mazi Kanu Orji who led Aros for 73 years on the throne, emerged on October 18, 2023, at a selection event in the kingdom.
It was learnt that a selection process by a committee of seven elders culminated in the emergence of the new Eze. The development now ensures that the gap created by the passing of Mazi Vincent Okoro, the immediate past Eze Aro, has now been filled as the Eze Aro-designate succeeds him.
Checks by our correspondent show that one of the candidates had stepped down in favour of Pastor Eberechukwu Eni, a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers, before the voting process, and after screening of all interested candidates, two persons, including Mazi Godwin Kanu Idei and Pastor Eberechukwu Eni emerged for election..
During the final voting process, Pastor Eberechukwu Eni received more votes, while Mr. Godwin Kanu Idei got only two votes. Guided by the result, Pastor Eberechukwu Eni was declared the new Eze designate of Aro Kingdom.
The new Eze Aro-designate, Pastor Eberechukwu Eni has also invited members of the Oror community, Arochukwu who are solely responsible for choosing new Ezes to a meeting. One of the highlights of the meeting was to secure the necessary buy-in ofthe prole and appeal to all and sundry to give him the needed support during the days before he is formally presented to the entire Aro Kingdom as the new Eze Aro.
The essence of it will also involve they accompanying him to Utughugwu, the Royal Community of Arochukwu, for formal presentation of him to them, before he is taken round to Eze EzeAgwu’s palace ahead of the final crowning at Ibom Isii.
The emergence of the Eze Aro-designate has thrown up concerns since Pastor Eberechukwu Eni’s father, Pastor Joshua Kanu Orji is still alive. This has led to debates about what to call Pastor Eberechukwu Eni – “Nwamazi” or “Mazi?”
Apart from bring a Pastor and an Engineer, the Eze Aro-designate is also the Chief Executive Officer of ND Western Limited, a frontline oil and gas industry player.
A peek into his professional profile shows that he is a high profile corporate chief executive officer with high level strategic leadership capabilities and a high-performing, high-capacity strategic business executive with more than 25years deep technical, leadership and broad functional expertise in Upstream & Midstream Asset management, Operations management, major project commissioning with a track record of transformational business improvement and delivery in Nigeria, Netherlands, Kazakhstan, United Kingdom, United States,Singapore, Australia, Continental Europe and other Shell Operating Units across the World.
He is a Business executive with hands-on and effective experience with running Oil and Gas business and Operations in the Niger Delta, with strong relationships, network and experience with managing all government regulatory agencies in the Oil & Gas industry and demonstrable capability in managing local communities to ensure smooth operations.
The Eze Aro-designate is a skilled strategist who develops compelling visions and translates business strategic goals to workable tactical plans and solutions to improve safety performance and maximize production, availability, reliability and utilization to consistently deliver stretch business delivery goals.
He is also a technical Authority in Global Production Excellence as TA1 and Regional Discipline Lead (RDL) for Maintenance, Reliability and Turnaround (MRTA) and Operations and highly respected globally with extensive experience in the Front-end of Projects through to Operate phase and proven track record of consistently developing high performing teams aligned to deliver above expectations and producing solid bottom-line results.