“We Reject Bill Elevating Ooni, Sultan, Exclusive Co-Chair Of Traditional Leaders Council” – Ohaneze

By Akinwale Kasali

The Igbo Apex Cultural Group,  Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, has condemned the Bill in the Senate seeking to permanently elevate the Ooni of Ife and Sultan of Sokoto as the permanent Co-Chairmen of the Traditional Rulers’ Council in Nigeria.

The Bill which has scaled its Second Reading in the Upper Chamber of the National Assembly, Ohanaeze said, will be at the expense of other equally High Profile Traditional Rulers from other ethnic nationalities and geopolitical divides. For instance: South-east, South-south, Middle Belt.

Ezechi Chukwu, National Publicity Secretary of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, in a statement on Sunday in Enugu, said that the Bill which has passed second reading, astounds the Igbo body as there is no rationale for such an asymmetric Bill.

He added that the move is with utter disregard for fairness, equity, justice and the principle of Federal Character, as enshrined in the constitution.

“The Senate, in this vein, has failed in its capacity as the highest legislative carrier and custodian of the nation’s democratic mandate.

“This bill is not only inequitable, discriminatory and ethnocentric, it is equally distasteful, reprehensible and objectionable.

“It lacks all the ethical considerations, objective metrics and unbiased categories for national unity and social justice in a pluralist nation-State like Nigeria,” Chukwu said.

Speaking further, Chukwu said the Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide calls for the urgent withdrawal of the Bill and the need to review it in consideration for ethnic differences, cultural sensitivity, geopolitical balance, inclusive governance and equitable representation.

“It is only by so doing shall the Bill will foster national unity, peaceful co-existence and social stability,” he stressed.