By; PATRICK TITUS, Uyo
Akwa Ibom State chapter of the
Civil Liberties Organization (CLO), has said that the amended Traditional Council Law (TRC) cap 55 recently assented by the state governor, Pastor Umo Éno, is discriminatory and offensive in nature.
It chided the State House of Assembly for passing the controversial law without consulting the country’s extant law.
Chairman of the organisation in the state, Barr. Godknows Njoku, who stated this while interacting with journalists in Uyo at the weekend, said that the bill should be declared null and void because of its inconsistencies.
He said the CLO in the state would have applied to be joined in the suit as plaintiff, adding that it rescinded its decision, having seen the good intention of the governor who has consistently told the traditional rulers to write to government if they are not comfortable with the law.
The CLO chairman said that the law has generated controversy in the polity soon after it passage into law with various youths and women groups as well as traditional rulers from the minority ethnic groups including Annnag, Oro and others opposing the law which grants perpetual leadership of the Traditional Rulers Council to the Oku Ibom Ibibio, disregarding the longstanding rotational provision among all the paramount rulers in the state.
The bill birthed the new Supreme Council of Akwa Ibom Traditional rulers with the Ibibio Patriarch and Oku Ibom Ibibio Nteyin Solomon Etuk as the President -General for life.
Njoku said, ” The matter now is in court, but we can safely say that the House of Assembly that, we respect, did not consider many things, especially the extant laws of the country before they came to that conclusion.
”We are of the view as a body that the state House of Assembly should have consulted the extant laws of the country especially with regard to section 42 of the 1999 constitution as amended in 2023, by looking at how it will affect other minority tribes. The law as it’s being passed now is discriminatory in nature; it is offensive.
“We trust by God’s grace the court will do justice to it if this matter will continue, by the extent of it inconsistencies, it should be declared null and void. We are of the view that the traditional rulers should look at it and we call upon them to reason together and come up with one voice if they did not want it.
“The CLO is of the view to apply to join in the suit but we may not join again having considered the good intention of the state governor who has indicated interest and had publicly said that he does not intend to marginalize or witch-hunt any particular group of people in the state that they should write to the state government if they did not want it”.
