Finally, Soludo Removes Igwe Achebe As Chair, Anambra Council of Traditional Rulers

By Charles Igbo

It had been long expected, according to sources who insist that the relationship between Anambra State Governor, Professor Chukwuma Soludo, and the revered and urbane Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Alfred Nnaemeka Achebe is untidy.

For several years, Igwe Achebe had been the Chairman of the Anambra State Council of Traditional Rulers. Not a few people believe that the Onitsha Stool is the most respected and revered Traditional Stool in Igboland, aside from the all-round high profile of its current occupant, including in the corporate world. At one time, Achebe was a very senior staff of Shell, and in the recent past, the Chairman of a solid bank. Not a few, also, believe that for all that and more, the position of the Chair of the State’s Traditional Rulers’ Council is not rotatary; that whoever occupies the Stool of the Obi of Onitsha remains the Permanent Chair.

But all that changed on Saturday when Soludo announced a change of baton.

At the launch of a security initiative, Operation Udo Ga-chi, in the State besieged by insecurity, Soludo named the Traditional Ruler of Obosi, Igwe Chidubem Iweka, as the

new Chair of the Council.

In January 2024 when the Governor had issues with some Traditional Rulers for daring to confer chieftaincy  titles on the late Senator Uba who, before his sudden passing, was set to challenge Soludo in 2025 for the Governorship seat, the Governor  had noted that that the constitution of the Traditional Rulers Council was improper, and contravened the Anambra State Traditional Rulers (Amendedment) Law, 2020. He  had noted that, as constituted, the Council can neither make any valid decisions, nor function legally, given the provisions of the Law.

The law was then amended and provided that the Chairmanship of the Council be rotated among the three Senatorial Zones.

It thus began with Igwe Iweka, Anambra Central, a celebrated author. Igwe Achebe was from Anambra North and had taken that slot.

The Governor did not say for how long Igwe Iweka will remain the Chair of the Council.