Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra State has come under heavy attack by the people of Umudioka community in Dunukofia Local Government Area of the State for allegedly imposing a traditional ruler on them.
Obiano had presented certificate of recognition to Chief Raphael Chukwura as the new Monarch of the community last Tuesday, at the Governor’s Lodge, Amawbia.
But the action has received condemnation from people of the community, including the kingmakers who insisted that the new king was never chosen by the people nor emerged through their due customary and traditional processes of selecting a traditional ruler.
Chairman of the Kingmakers, known as Nzeoba Oji-Ani Umudioka, Chief Nwachukwu Chiezie in an interview told journalists that the people of the community had already chosen Chief Harry Obi-Nwosu, a Professor of Psychology, at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK), Awka, as their Igwe-elect.
He said, “We had even started according him full rights as a traditional ruler, and he was even on the verge of being presented with a certificate of recognition by the then Governor, Nwabuze Ngige when an action instituted in the Court stopped it.”
He vowed that the people of the community would explore every traditional and legal means to ensure that the new monarch does not reign over the community.
Also, reacting, the immediate past President-general of the town union, Mr. Chuka Odenigbo condemned the action of the governor, adding that the certificate of recognition presented to the new monarch amounted to contempt of a subsisting order of a court of competent jurisdiction.
Several other communities in Anambra, including Obiano’s Aguleri are still enmeshed in kingship tussle.
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