Aloysius Attah, Onitsha
As the next governorship election gears up in Anambra, there are plans by the government to tele-guide the activities of traditional rulers in the state.
This move, Daily Sun learnt, is to ensure no monarch in the state goes against Governor Willie Obiano’s plans in choosing and installing his successor from a particular zone of the state against some dissenting voices.
The move is also connected to the ripples in government circles generated from last weekend meeting which some traditional rulers had with oil magnate, Arthur Eze, where he told the monarchs that he would take them to Abuja to see President Muhammadu Buhari and also ensure that Obiano pays them five percent from the local government joint allocation.
The monarchs were summoned to an emergency meeting at the government house, Awka on Wednesday where government issued various directives to them.
In the meeting, Obiano, through the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, Greg Obi, directed that, henceforth, no traditional ruler in the state is allowed to visit Abuja, Nigeria’s seat of power without state authorisation.
The monarchs were also barred from receiving political party members from Abuja or elsewhere and also restrained from talking to senior police officers other than the divisional police officers in their areas.
Confirming the development, Traditional Ruler of Nawfia community, Chijioke Nwankwo, told Daily Sun that the government’s new order was dead on arrival because it is an infringement on their fundamental rights as enshrined in section 40 and 41 of the 1999 constitution and would be resisted.
Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, C-Don Adinuba, when contacted said he has not been briefed on the latest development while calls made repeatedly to the cell phone line of Obi were not answered.