With the ongoing political crises in Rivers State, traditional rulers have been advised to play impartial roles and keep off acts that could undermine their roles as fathers for all. They have also been counselled against hob-nobbing with persons of dubious intent who ride on the crest of the current political turbulence in the state to desecrate the sanctity of the paramount stools some of which are as old as human civilisation.
Reacting to recent comments attributed to His Royal Majesty, Eze Chukumela Nnam Obi, 11, the Oba of Ogbaland, who hosted the leadership of the Grassroots Development Initiative, GDI, in his palace at Omoku, the PDP under the leadership of Chief Godspower Ake said the visit had political undertone much as the statement credited to the Ogba monarch was “most unfortunate.” Speaking through its State Publicity Secretary, George Ukwuoma-Nwogba, the Ake-led PDP advised the Rivers State Council of Traditional Rulers led by His Royal Majesty King GNK Gininwa, not to dabble into politics and beware of politicians who come in sheep clothing but are ravening wolves, adding that anything short of that would rubbish their hard-earned reputation and the sacredness of the stools they hold in trust for their ancestors and the people. The statement reminded the traditional rulers to be aware that the politicians who now want to wine-and-dine with them are the men who said they would not only turn Rivers State into another Somalia but would ensure that nobody sleeps with their eyes closed. “Since then have we not witnessed increased kidnapping, armed robbery, rape and sundry crimes? What else do we need to see to be convinced that these men should be kept at arms-length?” the statement asked.
“It’s most strange,” the Ake-led PDP noted, “that those men and their cohorts are those who have benefited immensely from the benevolence of the present administration in the state,” the PDP noted warning that as men who lack in repute, the Abuja-based politicians, would end up ruining the traditional institution in Rivers State.
While reminding the traditional rulers that the government of Governor Chibuike Amaechi has elevated many traditional stools, improved their living conditions, the PDP said no good elder stays at home to watch the goat delivered of her kid tethered.
Lamenting on the attempt to bastardise the sacred traditional institution by politicians who pledged to commit their labour to deny Rivers people good sleep, the PDP warned against awarding chieftaincy titles to questionable characters and undeserving errant.“We are worried that traditional rulers would award chieftaincy titles to persons who instigate crisis in their state and promote lawlessness. We never saw it so. Monarchs awarded titles only to persons whose integrity and commitment to development were never in doubt.”
In asking King Gininwa to call deviant paramount rulers among the Traditional Rulers Council to order as to save the most sacred traditional heritage of the people from political marauders in Rivers State whose chief mission is to kill, maim and destroy, the Ake-led PDP suggested that however, “any traditional ruler interested in partisan politics, rather than hide under the cover of their forbears’ symbols, should abdicate such stools.”
