Tension mounts in the Kalabari kingdom as May 9, 2016 approaches, a day set aside by a High Court sitting in Port Harcourt to deliver a judgment on Kalabari kingship tussle. The May 9 judgment will decide whether HM King Prof. J.T.T Princewill, Amachree XI followed a due and recognized legal and traditional process before ascended on the prestigious king Amachree stool as the Amanyanabo of Kalabari kingdom on the 22nd March 2003.
Tuesday last week when the case in Suit No. PHC/624/2002 between King Princewill and Chief M.O. Abbi, one of the contenders to the Amanyanabo throne came up before Hon. Justice E. Tettito the court deferred the final verdict to May 9, 2016.
One of the prayers of Chief M. O. Abbi is to nullify and void whatever thing, decisions King Amachree XI has done or taken since he became the Amanyanabo. Chief M.O Abbi anchored his prayers on the restraining injunction slammed on King Princewill from acting as a Kalabari monarch by an Appeal Court in Suit No CA/PH/19/2007.
If Hon. Justice E. Tettito grants this weighty prayer of the Amanyanaboship contender on May 9, individuals and persons that had been admitted into the chiefs council before King Princewill between March 2003 and 2016 will consider themselves out of the Kalabari chieftaincy institution. The Newswriter reliably gathered that within this 14 yrs of the kingship battle King Princewill, Amachree XI had admitted no fewer than three hundred and twenty six (326) chiefs into the Kalabari council of chiefs.
As the judgment day comes closer fear griped some chiefs of being delisted from the chiefs council if the judge makes certain pronouncement.
Another crucial prayer of Chief M.O. Abbi is the closure of king Amachree memorial hall, a meeting centre for Kalabari chiefs during important deliberations. Chief M.O. Abbi in his submission insisted that King Princewill should vacate the royal stool and submit himself to fresh selection process of Amanyanaboship, adding that his (Princewill) installation was done on faulty foundation, because of subsisting court order of 31st July 2000. ###
