20 Community Leaders Receive Staff Of Office

TWENTY Traditional rulers-elect in Abia State were last week, given their Staff of Office by the state Governor, Theodore Orji, at a colorful ceremony held at the state Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Auditorium, Umuahia, the state capital.

Former United States of America based Professor of Sociology and Anthropology; Dr. Ebere Edward Eule was among the new traditional rulers.

The selection cuts across communities in 11 local government areas, with Professor Eule, who had lived in USA for 42 years, emerging from Azumini community in Ukwa East council area.

During the inauguration, performed in the presence of other traditional rulers and top government officials, Orji charged them to rise up to their responsibilities of assisting government in sustaining peace and security in the state. He charge them to see themselves as agents of socio-economic development and peace and not as agents of disharmony and rancor in their various communities.

He said their emergence was either caused by the deaths of their predecessors in office or other unforeseen circumstances, stressing that his government attached great value on traditional rulers whose major role is to ensure peace, unity, security and preserve the culture and tradition of their people.

Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Mr. Emma Nwabuko, said their selection was based on merit that followed due process, insisting that government allows communities to first select their traditional rulers in accordance with their tradition and thereafter present them to their local governments, who will also present them to his ministry for recommendation to the governor for endorsement.

Speaking to The Guardian after the ceremony, Eze professor Eule said his emergence was as a result of his lineage, having come from a royal family in his Azumini community saying “I owe it as an obligation to my people.”