Crisis may hit Imo

Senator Chris Ngige (left), with Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi, after a church service to commemorate the 50th year of Bishop Otteh as a priest at the Basillica of the Most Holy Trinity, Onitsha…recently.

President Goodluck Jonathan has been urged to intervene in the crisis brewing in Imo State over the removal in office of the chairman of state Council of Traditional Rulers, Eze Cletus Ilomuanya, by Governor Rochas Okorocha.

In a news conference in Owerri Monday, the Orlu Political Consultative Assembly (OPOCA) warned that unless Ilomuanya was reinstated by Governor Okorocha, the state was on the verge of exploding into a crisis.

National President of OPOCA, Dr Samfo Nwankwo, pointed out that the removal of Ilomuanya was illegal and an affront to the Orlu people, and called for his immediate reinstatement.

According to him, contrary to the laws establishing the Traditional Rulers Council which guarantee a secured tenure for Ilomuanya, the governor “just woke up and removed the chairman.”

Nwankwo said no formal charge had been brought against Ilomuanya to justify his removal, and described the action as illegal and vindictive.

He said OPOCA, which was established to protect the interest of Orlu people, decided to bring the matter to the attention of the president because Okorocha had ignored their appeal for the recall of the monarch.

“We wrote to him and demanded the reinstatement of Ilomuanya within 14 days. The date has since expired and the governor completely ignored us, hence our recourse to the president”, Nwankwo lamented.

He disclosed that the youths of the area had earlier planned to shut down oil operations in the Oguta/Ohaji/Egbema axis, but were restrained by OPOCA.

He said the volatile situation in Imo State now required presidential intervention before it snowballs into the major crisis.

His words: “Our people are restive and angry. We consider what is happening as an ethnic cleansing. The Federal Government should wade in before it is too late.”

Nwankwo therefore appealed to President Jonathan to take a serious look into what is happening in Imo State before it threatens the security of the nation.

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