Apparently disturbed by the weight of the petition filed by the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Imo State, Chief Emeka Ihedioha against the state governor, Chief Rochas Okorocha at the state governorship election petition tribunal, Okorocha has appealed to the traditional rulers of Mbaise extraction to persuade the petitioner to drop his case.
The governor was also said to have also asked Mbaise monarchs to prevail on the head of Ihedioha's legal team, Chief Mike Ahamba (SAN), an Mbaise man, to withdraw the petition in the interest of the state.
Okorocha challenged the traditional rulers on Thursday, during a meeting with members of the state council of traditional rulers in Owerri, to do everything within their powers to persuade their sons to withdraw the petition.
The 40 traditional rulers who sued the governor were conspicuously absent from the meeting.Governor Rochas Okorocha
Meanwhile, the governor has directed the 40 traditional rulers in the state, who dragged him and the government to court to withdraw the suit without further delay and to also tender an apology, adding that such action amounted to insult and embarrassment to the governor and the government.
The governor said for the 40 traditional rulers to have gone to court against him and the government for no tenable reason, means they must have mistaken his patience, tolerance and respect for the people of the state as weakness.
The 40 traditional rulers had gone to court on ground that the governor had suspended them.
The governor said the traditional rulers were out to malign him and his government because he never suspended the 40 traditional rulers or sacked them or even queried any of them as Eze, and had not taken any action that suggested that he had any plan to go against the traditional rulers and then questioned the rationale behind the traditional rulers taking him to court.
He also explained that the State Council of Traditional Rulers, led by Eze Samuel Ohiri, does not have the right to suspend or remove any Eze from his stool, adding that it was only the governor who has that right, and he had never exercised such right against the traditional rulers in question.
He noted that the leadership of the traditional rulers council only suspended four of their members from the Council and not as Ezes as to begin to suspect that they acted on behalf of the governor or the government.
The governor however directed at the meeting that whatever money that was owed the traditional rulers in the state should be paid within a week and dissolved the traditional ruler’s councils in the Local Government Areas, because their tenures had expired long before now.
Source: http://dailytimes.com.ng/imo-tribunal-okorocha-begs-traditional-rulers-to-intervene/
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