Former Executive Chairman of Awka-South Local Government Area, Prince Azubuike Iloh, has said that the suspension of twelve traditional rulers by Governor Willie Obiano over their trip to Abuja with Prince Arthur Eze was not a well thought-out decision.
The former LG boss said he believed that the monarchs banished from their thrones were not the only people guilty of the billionaire business man’s “kolanut money.”
Iloh was reacting to the current crisis between the governor and some traditional rulers whose mission was to report Governor Obiano to President Muhammadu Buhari over alleged bad governance and misappropriation of local government funds.
He alleged that government officials serving in the Obiano administration also visited the oil magnate and collected his “kolanut money.”
Iloh, who spoke to journalists in Awka, said the video of the traditional rulers circulating in the social media where they were allegedly caught on camera sharing the said money, was nothing but cheap blackmail intended to deride and lampoon their personalities as royal fathers.
He said there was nothing wrong with traditional rulers going wherever they wanted because it was their fundamental rights as citizens and that they could not have taken permission from the governor to go about their private affairs.
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Iloh said: “The political scenario playing out in Anambra State is not too palatable. If it is because some traditional rulers decided to pay a visit to Mr. President and for whatever it is worth, that shouldn’t be an issue.
“Maybe, the state government has their own reason for taking the action they have taken to suspend the traditional rulers.”
He maintained that in exercising executive powers, one should do so with caution, stressing that even if it was proven that a traditional ruler should be suspended for one offence or the other, there was need for a second thought.
He added that the bone of contention remained whether the state government followed the right procedures before giving their verdict for the suspension of the royal fathers.
According to him, “The traditional institution should be respected. I saw some video they are circulating on the internet alleging that those traditional rulers were bribed.
“They were not sharing money because anyone who has come to Arthur Eze knows that he offers money as kola nut, including some highly placed government officials of this state who had gone there and enjoyed the largesse of this man called Arthur Eze.”
