Obi of Onitsha condemns Soludo for suspending monarch over Ubah’s chieftaincy title

The Obi of Onitsha and chairman of the Anambra State Council of Traditional Rulers, HRM Igwe Alfred Achebe, has expressed deep concern over the poor attitude of Anambra State Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, and his government towards traditional rulers in the state.

Specifically, Achebe, is apparently miffed by the way the traditional ruler of Neni, in Anaocha Local Government Area of the state, HRH Igwe Damian Ezeani, was suspended by the state government recently.

The  monarch of Neni was slammed with indefinite suspension by the state government for conferring chieftaincy title of Odenjiji of Neni on the senator representing Anambra South Senatorial district in the National Assembly, Ifeanyi Ubah.

But Igwe Achebe, in a letter to the Commissioner for Local Government, Chieftaincy Affairs and Town Union Matters, Collins Nwabunwanne, said the government should respect the traditional institution.

According to Obi of Onitsha, in his letter entitled, ‘Notification for the Suspension of HRH lgwe Damian O. Ezeani, The Traditional Ruler of Neni’, “This act, amongst many others, was seen by the traditional rulers of Anambra State as a measure of the worth of the traditional institution to the present administration.”

He reminded the government that it was right in its letter that the Code of Conduct for traditional rulers in Anambra State is the creation of the traditional institution.
“It became effective as a self-regulating code following the 2013 Annual Seminar of Anambra State Traditional Rulers where it was presented and adopted.
It was subsequently published in the book, ‘The Traditional Institution in a Modern Society’ being the proceedings of the Anambra State Traditional Rulers Seminars held in 2011, 2013, and 2014.”

It added, “The Code of Conduct was also re-issued in March 2020 under my signature as Chairman of the ASTRC. The ASTRC worked harmoniously on most occasions with previous administrations in the application of the Code, such that the ASTRC monitored compliance and recommended sanctions for non-comliance to the government for necessary action.”
He said, “Now, it would appear that the present administration has completely appropriated the entire application of the Code of Conduct without the involvement of or reference to the ASTRC.

“You may recall, Hon. Commissioner, that on 04 October 2023, Mr. Governor had called to tell me in a late-night telephone conversation that the government was considering establishing rules to govern the actions of traditional rulers.

“The conversation was sequel to a chieftaincy conferment ceremony by a traditional ruler that was deemed inappropriate by the government.
I promptly drew the attention of Mr. Governor to the subsisting Code of Conduct which had served previous administrations and the traditional institution well and suggested that the present administration may need to review the code for its current efficacy. I, thereafter, called the same night to brief you on my conversation with Mr. Governor.”

Igwe Achebe added that, “I also directed that copies of the above-mentioned book be made available to you and Mr. Governor the following morning before a meeting where the matter will be discussed.
“Having since not received any feedback from you or Mr. Governor, I assumed that the same order with previous administrations would continue to prevail.”

“This response also provides a fuller context of other events relating to the suspension of H.R.H lgwe Damian O Ezeani, the traditional ruler of Neni. Your letter was hand-delivered to me at Onitsha at 6:55pm on Tuesday, 09 January, 2024.

‘’I was curious about the timing of the delivery considering that I had presided at the meeting of the Anambra State Traditional Rulers Council (ASTRC) at Awka earlier in the day, where such a letter would normally be presented to me by the ASTRC Secretariat,” he said.

“The letter was a justification for the Government’s suspension of lgwe Damian Ezeani as traditional ruler of his domain.”

“I am writing in response to your letter, Ref: MLGCCA/HC/2022/T/025/001/103, of the above caption to me dated 8th January, 2024.”

“My suspicion that your letter was an after-thought was buttressed by the fact that your letter of suspension to lgwe Damian Ezeani of the same date, 8th January 2024, was already trending virally on social media for well over twentyfour hours prior to my receipt of your letter.”

“I was embarrassingly inundated with phone calls and messages from traditional rulers and other persons seeking clarification from me as chairman of ASTRC regarding a situation to which I was not privy.”

“Your letter to lgwe Damian Ezeani was copied to the Commissioner of Police and Director of DSS, Anambra State, but not to the chairman of the ASTRC.”

“I noted that the self-acclaimed lgwe Nawfia, whose recognition was withheld by the Government due to pending matters in court, was consequently not considered a member of the State traditional institution.

“His activities should therefore not be associated with the State traditional institution in any manner. I distinctly pointed out that picking on the above two cases (Ojoto and Nawfia) by your office was selective and appeared to be a deliberate favoritism towards other cases which you were well aware of.”

“I reminded you that there had not been any reaction from you or Mr. Governor to our conversations of 04 October 2023 on the Code of Conduct for Traditional Rulers. You apologized for the failure to revert.”

“Fast forward to the meeting of the ASTRC on 09 January, 2024. The normal practice of the ASTRC Secretariat is to immediately send electronic copies of important correspondence to me as they are received in the course of the month.

On the day of the monthly meeting, a folder is presented to me with all correspondence for my attention, including the last-minute arrivals that were not forwarded electronically.”
“The folder presented to me on 09 January, 2024 included a press release and a letter to the Chairman of the Anambra State Traditional Rulers Council. Both documents were under your signature and were the same in caption, “Directives on Conferment of Chieftaincy Titles by Traditional Rulers”, date of 5th October, 2023.