.png)
By Madu Obi
The newly appointed chairman of the Anambra State Council of Traditional Rulers, Igwe Chidubem Iweka of Obosi( Eze Iweka 111) has swung into action, saying his first move is to bring the Royal Fathers together to plan how to positively impact on their subjects.
Igwe Iweka became the chairman following the removal of the Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Alfred Nnaemeka Achebe from the position by the state governor, Professor Chukwuma Soludo at the weekend.
Igwe Iweka, a renowned author said: "The first thing we will do is to come together as traditional rulers and dialogue on how to help our various communities in solving the problem that is currently facing everybody".
Governor Soludo had announced the change in the leadership of the traditional institution in the state on Saturday at the International Convention Centre Awka, during the launch of the "Operation udo ga-achi" security initiative.
According to the governor, Igwe Iweka's appointment aligns with the newly amended State Traditional Rulers law, which provides for the rotation of the chairman among the three senatorial zones.
The change of guards, however, did not come as a surprise following the feud that had existed between the governor and the Obi of Onitsha for some time.
Recall that Igwe Achebe had faulted the governor's suspension of Igwe Damian Ezeani, the traditional ruler of Neni community, over a chieftaincy title conferred on the late Senator Ifeanyi Ubah.
The Obi of Onitsha had accused the state government of disrespecting traditional rulers and violating their rights, describing the government's actions as the apogee of the progressive dehumanisation and dismantling of the traditional institution under Soludo's administration.
In an open letter to Gov. Soludo in the heat of their misunderstanding, Igwe Achebe alleged that the Anambra State government had been treating the traditional rulers in the state shabbily.
Achebe, who was apparently angered by the way the governor handled the issue involving the traditional ruler of Neni, who was suspended by the state government for conferring chieftaincy title on the late Senator Ifeanyi Ubah, said the government ought to respect the traditional institution.
The Obi of Onitsha, in a letter to the governor said: ”Without providing evidence for your sweeping statement about trading chieftaincy titles for money, you also, wittingly indicted the entire traditional institution of the state.
Your press release to a global audience put the institution into disrepute when a direct circular letter to all traditional rulers as the parties of interest would have sufficed.
The tone and language of your letter were, by any measure, a public riot act and pontification to the same majority of traditional rulers that you extolled as acting with dignity and integrity.
The letter lacked respect and sensitivity in addressing the traditional rulers of Anambra State who, by any standard, are held in very high esteem in the comity of the traditional institutions of Nigeria and beyond".
Since that altercation, the traditional rulers council in the state had remained inactive and work on the new council chamber for the Royal Fathers inside the Government House, has since been abandoned.
Comentarios