John Ejikeme Nebolisa became one of the most memorable figures associated with modern traditional rulership in Awkuzu, a historic Igbo community in present-day Oyi Local Government Area of Anambra State. A businessman widely known as Joneb, Nebolisa acquired a reputation for considerable wealth and influence before becoming the traditional ruler of his hometown.
His years on the Awkuzu throne became surrounded by stories about money, political influence and disputed custom. Popular accounts often portrayed him simply as the businessman who bought his way into kingship. His rise was considerably more complicated, involving an existing traditional ruler, disagreements over succession and an unusual transfer of authority that remained controversial long after Nebolisa’s death.
By March 1998, Nebolisa was already being publicly described as the traditional ruler of Awkuzu and addressed as Igwe John Nebolisa. His involvement in the institution therefore began before the 2002 date sometimes associated with a later stage of the transition involving Chief J. C. Ogamba.
John Ejikeme Nebolisa and the Awkuzu Throne
Awkuzu’s traditional institution underwent important changes during the twentieth century as community structures increasingly interacted with older ideas of lineage and royal authority.
Anaegboka Odife was one of the earlier rulers associated with the modern institution. Following his death in 1982, Chief J. C. Ogamba eventually occupied the traditional stool.
Ogamba’s relationship with John Nebolisa later became central to the story of Awkuzu kingship.
Chief Michael Ozua-Okoye, a former Onowu, or traditional prime minister of Awkuzu, recalled that Ogamba relinquished the position while still alive. He also recounted an occasion when Ogamba asked him to accompany him to Nebolisa’s residence because he wanted to thank the businessman.
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According to Ozua-Okoye, Ogamba said Nebolisa had given him a white horse and a substantial amount of money. Ozua-Okoye accompanied him to the residence, although the precise terms of the arrangement between Ogamba and Nebolisa remained private between the principal figures involved.
Nebolisa subsequently occupied the Awkuzu throne while Ogamba was still alive.
The unusual transition contributed greatly to Nebolisa’s enduring reputation as a businessman whose wealth had become closely connected with his rise to traditional power.
John Ejikeme Nebolisa Was Igwe by 1998
The exact beginning of Nebolisa’s tenure is complicated by differing dates in later accounts.
On 27 March 1998, Vanguard reported Nebolisa’s appearance before the Miscellaneous Offences Tribunal in Lagos in connection with an alleged advance-fee fraud case. In describing him, the newspaper identified him as the traditional ruler of Awkuzu and referred to him as Igwe John Nebolisa.
The case concerned allegations brought before the tribunal, but the report also establishes an important point in the chronology of his public career: Nebolisa was already being identified nationally as Awkuzu’s traditional ruler in 1998.
His position also became entangled in the turbulent politics of Anambra State during the administration of Governor Chinwoke Mbadinuju.
Studies of the period surrounding the Bakassi Boys and vigilante politics in southern Nigeria identify Nebolisa as the traditional ruler of Awkuzu during those political conflicts. His relationship with the state government deteriorated at one stage, and his royal position became part of the wider confrontation involving political authority and local power in Anambra.
His association with the throne therefore extended across several years before his death in 2005.
Wealth and the Making of the Joneb Legend
Nebolisa’s public identity was inseparable from wealth.
He was widely known as Joneb, a name associated with his business interests, while Joneb Holiday Inn became one of the establishments closely linked to him in Awkuzu. His imposing residence also functioned as his palace and became one of the recognisable symbols of his prominence.
The gifts associated with Chief Ogamba became particularly important in popular memory. The account of a white horse and substantial financial assistance helped create the perception that Nebolisa’s wealth had played a decisive role in the transition.
With time, the story grew larger.
Popular retellings increasingly portrayed Nebolisa as a man who could overcome virtually every obstacle with money. In some versions, anyone who resisted his desire to become Igwe was supposedly confronted with an offer too large to reject.
What remains most significant is that Nebolisa was an exceptionally wealthy businessman who became traditional ruler while the previous holder of the position was still alive. Money, patronage and personal influence consequently became inseparable from public memory of the transition.
His experience illustrates the changing relationship between economic power and traditional political authority in parts of southeastern Nigeria during the late twentieth century.
Ibilibe Ogada and the Identity of Awkuzu
Nebolisa became closely associated with Ibilibe Ogada, an expression with deep connections to Awkuzu.
The phrase has been linked to Awkuzu’s reputation for having a substantial population and has been rendered approximately as “the swarming locust”. It became connected with the identity of the community and subsequently with the traditional stool.
Nebolisa was also popularly remembered as Arusi Awkuzu or Alusi Awkuzu, a striking appellation that reflected the larger-than-life image surrounding him.
Such praise names formed an important part of public culture in southeastern Nigeria. Prominent businessmen, politicians and community leaders frequently acquired memorable titles and nicknames, while musicians helped popularise the reputations of wealthy patrons and influential personalities.
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For Nebolisa, these appellations strengthened an image that extended far beyond formal traditional rulership.
Yet his importance to Awkuzu history ultimately went beyond wealth and personal prestige. His reign became part of a much larger disagreement over how the town’s traditional ruler should be chosen.
Death in 2005 and the Long Succession Dispute
John Ejikeme Nebolisa died in 2005.
His death did not bring an immediate settlement to the controversies surrounding the Awkuzu traditional stool. Instead, the community entered a prolonged struggle over succession and the principles that should determine who became Igwe.
One position supported a rotational arrangement involving sections of Awkuzu. Chief Michael Ozua-Okoye maintained that provisions adopted by the community envisaged rotation of the stool among the town’s constituent areas.
Another position held that Awkuzu kingship was hereditary and belonged specifically to the Aganama royal family.
The disagreement involved more than competing individuals. It raised fundamental questions about the relationship between lineage, customary authority, community constitutions, kingmakers and government recognition.
For many years after Nebolisa’s death, Awkuzu remained without a monarch acceptable to all the competing interests.
Charles Anikweze and the 2019 Recognition
A major development occurred on 2 May 2019, when the administration of Governor Willie Obiano issued Professor Charles Maduegbuna Anikweze a certificate of recognition as traditional ruler of Awkuzu.
The recognition established Anikweze’s official position within the state system, but disagreement over the traditional institution continued.
The dispute resurfaced publicly in April 2023 when Chief Chibuike Okafor was crowned Ezeaganama III by traditional figures who maintained that the Awkuzu kingship belonged to the Aganama royal family.
Chief Nweke Ozoemena Mgbike, identified as the Okpala Awkuzu, presided over the ceremony. Supporters of Okafor argued that kingship in Awkuzu was hereditary rather than rotational and that the appropriate customary authorities possessed the right to install the monarch.
Professor Anikweze rejected the rival installation and continued to exercise his role as the government-recognised Igwe.
The emergence of two competing royal claims showed how deeply the succession controversy had become rooted in differing understandings of Awkuzu tradition.
The Awkuzu Traditional Institution in Recent Years
Official Anambra State communications continued to identify Professor Charles Anikweze as Igwe of Awkuzu after the rival 2023 coronation.
During the Awkuzu New Yam Festival in September 2025, an Anambra State Government report referred to him as Igwe Prof. Charles Anikweze, Nnamenyi III of Awkuzu Ibilibe Ogada Kingdom.
The festival, held at his palace, included religious observances, the ceremonial eating of new yam and prayers for the prosperity of the community.
The continued prominence of both government recognition and competing customary claims illustrates the complexity of modern traditional authority in Awkuzu.
Nebolisa’s career belongs within this broader transformation.
He lived during a period when inherited customs increasingly interacted with written community rules, modern state institutions, personal wealth and political influence. His rise to power became one of the most dramatic expressions of those changes.
Conclusion
John Ejikeme Nebolisa rose from business prominence to become one of the most famous traditional rulers associated with Awkuzu.
By March 1998, he was already publicly identified as Igwe of the community. His emergence was unusual because Chief J. C. Ogamba remained alive during the transition, while accounts from senior Awkuzu figures later linked Nebolisa’s wealth to significant gifts made to Ogamba.
Nebolisa’s extraordinary wealth helped create the enduring image of a businessman whose financial power carried him to the throne. His personality, businesses, palace and popular appellations further established him as one of the most recognisable figures in the community.
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His death in 2005 did not end the controversy surrounding the stool.
Instead, disagreements over rotational succession, hereditary entitlement, customary installation and government recognition continued for years. The state recognition of Professor Charles Anikweze in 2019 and the coronation of Chief Chibuike Okafor as Ezeaganama III in 2023 demonstrated that the fundamental struggle over Awkuzu kingship remained alive.
John Ejikeme Nebolisa’s place in history therefore extends beyond the story of a wealthy businessman who became king. His career reflects a wider transformation in Igbo traditional authority, where ancestral custom, community organisation, personal influence and the institutions of the modern Nigerian state increasingly met within the same political space.
Author’s Note
The life of John Ejikeme Nebolisa and the long controversy surrounding the Awkuzu throne reveal how traditional institutions can change as communities respond to wealth, political influence, written constitutions and government authority. Nebolisa became one of the most memorable personalities associated with that transformation, but the succession disputes that continued after his death show that the larger issue was always the source of legitimate authority in Awkuzu. His story remains an important chapter in the modern history of traditional leadership and community government in southeastern Nigeria.
References
Vanguard, “Royal Father Faces 419 Charge,” 27 March 1998, p. 3.
Aloysius Attah, “Awkuzu: Anambra Kingdom Without a King,” The Sun Nigeria, 8 June 2016.
Vanda Felbab-Brown, Vigilante Groups & Militias in Southern Nigeria: The Greatest Trick the Devil Played Was Convincing Nigerians He Could Protect Them, United Nations University, New York, 2021.
Nwabueze Okonkwo, “Crisis Looms in Anambra Community as 2 Monarchs Emerge,” Vanguard, 18 April 2023.
Ginika Oguji, “Comprehensive Medical Centre Awkuzu Family Graces Awkuzu New Yam Festival,” Anambra State Government, Ministry of Information, 28 September 2025.
