Gov. Sullivan Chime

By PETRUS OBI AND CHINWE EDOGA, ENUGU

■ Threatens to drag government to court back

Dethroned Chairman of Enugu West traditional rulers’ council and monarch of Amadim Olo, in Ezeagu local government area of Enugu state, His Majesty, Hayford Agana has threatened to drag the state government to court over his removal as traditional ruler.

The monarch said he would be asking for N200 million as damages from the state government for the embarrassment caused him by the withdrawal of his certificate of recognition should the government fail to reverse same.

The state government in a letter by the Commissioner of Chieftaincy Matters, Pastor Emeka Abugu had suspended the monarch over alleged refusal to handover “assets of Enugu West Traditional Rulers Council, a Toyota Bus and the sum of one million naira to the new executive.”

In a letter addressed to the secretary to the state government in which the monarch conveyed his intention to sue the government, he insisted that the vehicle in question and the one million naira were personal gifts to him by the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu.

Stressing that the bus was not the property of Enugu West traditional rulers council, the monarch who attached the receipts of purchase and other transactions concerning the bus, said it was in appreciation of his support to the Deputy Senate President, adding that the one million which he (Ekweremadu) gave him on the day of delivery for maintenance was equally shared with other traditional rulers.

He narrated in the letter by his Counsel, Peter Eze that Governor Sullivan Chime had in 2013 convoked a meeting of all recognized traditional rulers in the state, where he dissolved the zonal executives of the council and appointed new ones, adding that Igwe Samuel Uka was appointed to succeed him.

He said that he was sur­prised to receive a letter from the Commissioner for Chief­taincy Matters that the rea­sons he had given concerning the bus was not acceptable to him and had gone further to suspend him for allegedly refusing to “hand over the bus and the sum of one mil­lion naira”. Eze said that the Deputy Senate President had corroborated his story when on July 2, 2014 he wrote the Commissioner for Chieftaincy Matters informing him that he purchased the ‘bus in question for my client’s per­sonal use and also gave the sum of one million naira as donation to assist with initial running costs of the bus’

“On July 18, to our Client’s greatest surprise, the commissioner for chieftaincy matters further wrote our client withdrawing his recognition as traditional ruler of his community. We would have thought that since Senator Ekweremadu was the person that purchased the bus and made the gift, his letter would have been conclusive as to the ownership of the bus and money. The purpose of this letter is to request you to direct the Commissioner for Chieftaincy matters to restore our client’s recognition as the traditional ruler of Amadim–Olo”, Eze wrote.

He said unless the withdrawal was reversed, the monarch would be challenging it in court as “arbitrary, illegal and unjustifiable”, adding that he was not given a fair hearing before the withdrawal was made.


Source: Sun