The Akwa Ibom State chapter of the Civil Liberties Organisation has blamed the State House of Assembly for passing the controversial Traditional Rulers Council Law Cap 55 without consulting Nigeria’s extant law.
The chairman of the organisation in the state, Godknows Njoku, who stated this while briefing newsmen in Uyo, during his inaugural speech at the weekend described the amended law as discriminatory and offensive in nature.
He, therefore, called for a declaration of the law as null and void because of its inconsistencies.
He said CLO in the state would have applied to be joined in the suit as a plaintiff, adding that it rescinded its decision having seen the good intention of the governor who consistently told traditional rulers to write to government if they are not comfortable with the law.
Newspot recalls that the law generated controversies in the polity soon after its passage with various youths and women groups as well as traditional rulers from the minority ethnic groups including Annang, 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 statement in part reads: “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 has been passed now is discriminatory in nature; it is offensive.”
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