Adinno Phizo

Kohima, April 20: Self-exiled Naga National Council (NNC) president Adinno Phizo, 81, who will land in the country after more than 50 years, is likely to stay back after the funeral of her brother, Kevilevor, who died in London last week.

Sources said Adinno was expected arrive from London next week along with the body of her brother, who died of a massive cardiac arrest on April 12. Kevilevor’s death has come as a blow to Adinno. They said all paperwork related to Kevilevor’s funeral and Adinno’s return had been completed in India and London and added that Indian high commission officials in London had also visited her residence to hand over the documents.

Family insiders said Adinno would land in the state along with her brother’s body by next Wednesday. They will be accorded a public reception at Dimapur airport, where Rev. V.K. Nuh, a Baptist clergyman, will conduct a prayer meeting.

This would be followed by a funeral service, conducted by Nagaland Baptist Church council general secretary Rev. Anjo Kiukiung at Heritage Kohima. The body will be buried at Khonoma, some 15km from here. Several hundred people are expected to attend.

According to the funeral organising committee, representatives from various Naga organisations will speak during the funeral service.

Incidentally, with Adinno’s return, all key leaders of Naga rebel groups would be in Nagaland, except for S.S. Khaplang.

Last year, chief minister Neiphiu Rio had visited Adinno in her London home to apprise her of the situation back home and stressed on the need for her to come back.

Moreover, people, including those from her Angami community, want Adinno to retire and pave the way for the younger generation to lead the council. As she was too old to handle official work, her brother used to handle that till his death at the age of 74. Sources from Khonoma, the ancestral village of her father, A.Z. Phizo, said there was a demand for her to pave the way for others who could revamp the council.

“It is time to let others take charge of NNC,” a source said, adding that this would help revamp the council. Many are also speculating that Adinno’s retirement could pave the way for the council’s unification.

Her father, who had left for London in 1956 with Pakistan’s help, was the president of the then undivided NNC for 40 years and after his death in 1990, Adinno took over the reins. But her ascent to the helm was embroiled in controversy and finally led to splits in the council, resulting in formation of NNC/FGN (Adinno), NNC (V. Nagi), NNC (Hozheto) and Federal Government of Nagaland (Singnyu).

“She should also abrogate the 1975 Shillong Accord,” a source close to Kevilevor’s funeral committee said. Some members of the council had signed the accord accepting the Constitution of India but neither Phizo nor Adinno have ever condemned the accord. Some of the members of the council are still housed in the Shillong Accord transit camps at Kohima village and Chedema, 8km from here.