Imo monarchs battle Okorocha

By EZUGWU OBINNA

In the latest of what has become a recurring decimal in the life of the present administration in Imo State, hardly any week passes without a major political crisis. Now, Governor Rochas Okorocha is again fighting it out with the traditional rulers in the state as the courts begin hearing in a suit between the monarchs and the Governor today.
Recently, Governor Okorocha moved to punish over 60 traditional rulers in the state for the support they allegedly gave to HRH Igwe Cletus Ilomuanya, the chairman, Imo and South East Council of Traditional Rulers during his protracted battle with the Governor which eventually ended in favour of the monarch.

Okorocha had upon assumption of office in 2011, accused the state’s traditional rulers of supporting the former governor of the state, Ikedi Ohakim during the governorship election that year and sacked Ilomuanya from his position as the state’s Council of Traditional Ruler’s chairman, and consequently named Chief Eze Samuel Ohiri as his replacement.

The decision angered Ilomuanya who dragged Okorocha and the Imo State government to the state High Court challenging his sack. The High Court however ruled in favour of Okorocha. Not satisfied with the ruling, Ilomuanya took the matter to the Court of Appeal in Owerri, the state capital and on July 13, 2013, the Appeal Court declared his sack by the governor ultra vires and reinstated him.

But that was not the end of the case as it further dragged to the Supreme Court which finally on Monday February 2, 2015, sacked the governor’s appointee, Ohiri and upheld the earlier decision of the Appeal Court that reinstated Ilomuanya.

The Governor having lost out in his quest, reportedly opted to punish the over 60 traditional rulers for leading Ilomuanya to receive former President Goodluck Jonathan when he visited the state during the presidential election campaign, as well as their support for the monarch over the years. Okorocha had, allegedly in collaboration with Ohiri, suspended the traditional rulers and maintained that they would face disciplinary action.

Although the state government had reportedly claimed it did not have a hand in the suspension, it had reportedly continued to show preference to Ohiri despite his being ordered by the court to stop parading himself as the Chairman of Imo State Traditional Ruler’s Council. Meanwhile, the said traditional rulers had ignored the Governor and continued to pay homage to Ilomuanya as their leader.

The suspended traditional rulers had meanwhile, dragged Okorocha to the Owerri High Court challenging their suspension, and in an interesting development, seven Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN) have promised to offer free legal services to them when hearing of their suit begins today, Tuesday at the High Court. The identity of the SANs which had been hidden to avoid unnecessary tension would consequently be revealed today.

Meanwhile, tense atmosphere is currently pervading the state with the affected traditional rulers promising to storm the court with their subjects.

It would be pertinent to point out that since the governor got re-elected in the April 11, 2015 governorship election in the state, he has been fighting relentlessly to assert himself as a major political force in the state and by extension, the South East geopolitical zone.

Few weeks ago, the governor sacked the Vice Chancellor of Imo State University (IMSU) and the immediate past president of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, Professor Ukachukwu Awuzie and replaced him with the state’s former Commissioner for Education, Prof. Adaobi Obasi.

Awuzie who was appointed IMSU Vice Chancellor in 2012 was alleged to have also incurred Okorocha’s wrath for reportedly supporting the candidature of Jonathan during the presidential electioneering campaigns.

The former ASUU boss was said to have also been at loggerheads with the Governor over his demand for, among other things, the improvement of IMSU’s funding by the state government as according to him the funding was not enough.

Awuzie became the third IMSU Vice Chancellor to be sacked by Okorocha in the past four years, the governor having sacked Prof. Nwebo and Prof. Betrand Nwoke before him.

It also emerged that Okorocha is not pleased with the suggestion in some quarters that the former governor of the old Abia State and a chieftain of APC, Chief Ogbonnaya Onu to be considered for the position of Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF). The Governor is said to have been rooting for Prof. Anthony Gozie Onwuka who was the state’s SSG for the position.

He had reportedly made unsuccessful bids to convince President Muhammadu Buhari to consider Onwuka for the SGF job and was thus angered when Onu appeared to be the one favoured by his party, the APC.

The above is also one of the reasons adduced for Okorocha’s sacking of Prof. Awuzie. The former VC had reportedly put up an advertorial in two national dailies congratulating Onu over the honourary doctorate degree awarded him by the Abia State University.