The Nri community lost a prominent title holder when Oba Maduka Arubaluezeama, popularly called Oba Muozuluaru, was shot dead at a building site in Nise, Anaocha Local Government Area, Anambra State.
A source in the community told journalists the killing took place on Tuesday evening at about 7 p.m., while the deceased was at the site to oversee work on an ongoing project. The source said assailants confronted him and ordered him to leave; as he moved toward his car they shot him, killing him on the spot.
Residents and local figures have linked the murder to a bitter contest over the Nri traditional stool, which has remained vacant for about eight years since the death of Eze Obidiegwu Onyeso. Multiple attempts to install a successor have failed, and the dispute has left the community divided.
The same source said some people also suspect a separate land dispute around the estate where the late title holder was building, noting that other affluent purchasers own plots in the area. Locals pointed to several violent incidents they believe are connected to the chieftaincy fight, including a past machete assault on Chief Sunday Alike as he left Oba Muozuluaru’s house, the assassination last year of the commander of the Nri Central vigilante, Ogazi, and an earlier attack on members of the Nri Nze-na-Ozor society at Agbadani village hall.
The community has been thrown into mourning because of the victim’s popularity, the source said, and residents are calling for an extensive police investigation to identify the killers and their motives. At the time this report was filed, the police spokesperson in Anambra, SP Tochukwu Ikenga, denied knowledge of the incident.
Authorities now face urgent pressure to investigate whether the shooting sprang from the chieftaincy struggle, contested land ownership, or criminal violence. The course of that inquiry will determine whether local tensions are contained or whether the unresolved succession dispute fuels more violence.
