Abia State Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Prince Uzor Nwachukwu, has dismissed insinuation that Governor Alex Otti has a preferred candidate in the Eze Aro enthronement tussle in Arochukwu Local Government.
He made the clarification while addressing reporters at the Government House, Umuahia in company with the Commissioner for Information and Culture, Prince Okey Kanu and other members of the Executive Council, who rose from the New Year Executive Council meeting chaired by Dr. Otti.
Said he: “Governor Otti does not have interest in who emerges as Eze Aro. He has no interest in who becomes the Eze Aro, he has no interest in the process.
“He is only trying to ensure the people obey the laws they instituted by themselves.”
Nwachukwu said the interest of the governor was to ensure peace and tranquility in communities.
He said: “What the government is trying to do is to ensure peaceful and harmonious existence in every community, according to the laid down rules and laws.
“These rules and the procedures of who emerge as Eze Aro, they were enacted by the people, not the government and they submitted them as part of their laws that these are the laws that govern our community.”
The commissioner added that the government was not trying to mandate them to do something different from their own rules.
He said if the governor had any interest, he would have told his preferred candidate to go ahead and hold coronation.
Nwachukwu said he wrote a letter to the police and the two individuals involved were forced to reconsider their positions, regretting that even at that, one of them still went ahead and had his coronation done in secret.
He narrated the scenario in the Eze Aro tussle and said for an Eze Aro to emerge, he must emerge from any of the families that could produce a king.
He said: “There are two families in contention in this instance, and once the kingmakers screen those who have presented themselves, whoever they choose, they now present to the Eze Ibom Isii, whose duty is to do the crowning.
“The duty of the Eze Ibom Isii is to do the crowning; his duty is not to choose. Now the committee, whose duty is to do the selection, finished with their selection.
“They had a candidate, but the candidate they produced was not the one the Eze Ibom Isii chose to crown.
“So at the time the Eze Ibom Isii chose the candidate as against the people, whose traditional authority was to produce a candidate, they raised the alarm and wrote a petition to the government.”
Nwachukwu said it was at that point that a petition was written that the government told Eze Ibom Isii to suspend what he was doing, go back to the process and follow the procedure as established by the tradition of his people, which he flouted.
He said when Eze Ibom Isii failed to rescind his decision, he was suspended by the government according to law, adding that based on his refusal to rescind his decision and settle allegations that were being created in Arochukwu, the government established an administrative panel of inquiry to look into the matter.
He said the panel had concluded its assignment and had submitted its report to the government, who would study it and come up with a White Paper.
