Fides Media Living the Faith
..Want Erring Indigene Sanctioned
By Jude Atupulazi
The kingmakers of the ancient kingdom of Awka have commended Anambra State Governor, Willie Obiano, on his warning to an impostor to the Awka Traditional stool to desist from such or risk imprisonment, reports Jude Atupulazi.
The Governor who had stated this during the issuing of certificate of recognition to three traditional rulers in the state recently, had affirmed that the traditional ruler of Awka, Obi Gibson Nwosu, remained the recognised monarch of Awka Town. He went further to announce that anyone found parading self as the traditional ruler of the town would be risking imprisonment.
The governor’s endorsement of Obi Gibson Nwosu which had been widely reported in national newspapers, has drawn the commendation of the kingmakers of Awka Town who are however urging him to go a step further by making the impostor to face the full wrath of the law to serve as a deterrent to others in the future.
In a press statement made available to Fides and signed by Ozo James Eze, chairman, Awka Council of Kingmakers; and Chief Chris Oyeudo, secretary of Awka Council of Kingmakers, respectively, the Awka Council of kingmakers noted that the said impostor, who was behind many of the crises in the community, needed to be sanctioned as ‘his cup of iniquity is filled to overflowing.’
They also condemned the activities of an indigenous police commissioner who is supposed to be serving in Abuja, noting that the said officer had been aiding and abetting the destabilizing activities of the impostor by helping the impostor with police escorts through whom he intimidated people and forcibly took over their lands.
Accusing the impostor of actively working against the governor’s re-election in the hope that his preferred candidate would support his desire to be monarch if the candidate won, the Awka Kingmakers particularly regretted that the impostor had chosen the day of the visit of the president of the country to the state, a few days to the 2017 governorship election in Anambra State, to organize an unlawful coronation of himself as the monarch of Awka Town with his cohorts, thus portraying the state as ungovernable, making her a laughing stock of other states.
They expressed satisfaction that the governor was fully aware of the situation in Awka Town concerning the rightful monarch, who, they said, was duly elected in the person of Obi Gibson Nwosu, OON, as Ezeuzu 11, and was subsequently recognised by the state government in accordance with all the relevant statutes of the state.
‘It is clear, therefore, that those who purport to remove the Ezeuzu 11 of Awka and to appoint another when they have no legal authority to do so, are usurping and denigrating the powers of the state government.
‘This is an affront that cannot be allowed to stand because it may encourage other negative elements elsewhere that anyone can get away with any act of impunity against the state government,’ the statement read, noting that the said impostor even went ahead to publish his phantom coronation in a national daily.
‘It is said that he who the gods want to destroy, they first make him mad. This young man has gotten away in the past with numerous acts of impunity. Now it seems his cup of iniquity is filled to overflowing; he should be made to face the wrath of the law, and immediately, so that Awka may know peace again,’ the Awka Council of Kingmakers stated in the press release.
Fides learnt that if and when the tenure of the incumbent traditional ruler who comes from Amikwo expires, the next village to produce a successor will be Nkwelle, meaning that the person said to be parading himself as monarch cannot even legitimately aspire to the throne.
This is contained in the Traditional Rulers Amended Constitution of Awka Town, 1986, which was upheld by the Awka High Court in a judgement delivered by Justice Sylvester N. Odili on January 15 this year.