'WARRANT CHIEFS': THE LAST LAP (1)

As far as one is concerned, Nigeria's democratic order had always manifested behavioral patterns which invariably posed threats to political stability in the country.

One of them is impunity - this idea in the heads of tenants of power positions that they can do anything and get away with it; their feeling that they can do and undo, without bothering about the rules, best practices or even the traditions of their people.

Some of our temporarily powerful people (they always seem to forget that no king or political leader ever occupies a position indefinitely) probably think they are gods who must be obeyed, when they ought to realize that those ones exist only in their imagination. Of course, linked to that impunity is the related reality of disrespect for law and order, as well as for the appropriate actions which can help to safeguard peace and order in the society.

These people act as if they are no longer answerable to anyone under the sun, especially their people. Those who, just a few months ago, they had to appeal to for support at elections. Some have even opined that if, truly, they depended on the votes of the people and not on some strange manoeuvres which people never discuss openly, they would indeed have been more careful how they brush aside wishes of members of their communities, particularly in places where there are divisions over developments in the public arena, especially on decisions by officialdom which do not appear palatable, as will be clarified presently.

Now, the story, as captured in the following piece of prose-drama, features the Commissioner for Chieftaincy Matters of Enugu State - Hon. Mr. Emeka Abugu; the President-General of the three -year -old Egwu Achi Autonomous Community created from the former Isikwe/Egwu Achi Autonomous Communtiy, Mr. Okechukwu Onwuka, and a Government choice for the traditional ruler position of the new autonomous enclave, by name Chief Victor Meniru.

The plot? Simple, but conflict-ridden: The Commissioner of Chieftaincy Matters, says Chief Meniru is Egwu Achi's traditional ruler and turns deaf ears to those who think otherwise.

On the other hand, the President-General of the Town Union, Okechukwu Onwuka, repeatedly says 'Mba - capital NO!' on the claim, asserting categorically that no traditional ruler - 'Igwe' - had been elected in accordance with the community's constitution. That is Act One.

In Act Two, we move over to the court of law (the Oji-River High Court), where the people's representatives seek a ruling that they had not yet elected an Igwe and that anyone so announced or addressed, was only being dressed in borrowed roles. However, before the court's ruling, the Ministry makes two Maradonic moves towards electing a traditional ruler (on April 22, 2010 and March 12, 2011), but the elections could not take place. Tension in the air?

Act Three: The community leaders remember their civil rights and plan to lead a protest to Government House, Enugu, after learning of Abugu's proposed visit to Egwu Achi on April 5, 2012, to give Chief Meniru the staff of office as 'Igwe'. The leaders insist that would not happen, but the government is adamant. The community have their say, but the commissioner has his way, leading to scars and blood among the people. The dialogue:

Commissioner Abugu (cynically): '… I was there (at Egwu Achi Autonomous Community), to give a staff of office to the traditional ruler of Egwu Achi community (His Royal Highness Victor Meniru). I met him as a traditional ruler. He is one of my traditional rulers. We are paying him as a traditional ruler. He has his official vehicle as a traditional ruler and nobody has come to challenge that and I eventually went to give him the staff of office.

I was not aware of any protest before my visit…and if he is recognized as a traditional ruler, the appropriate place they should go to address the issue of not being properly recognized, according to what I am hearing, is the court. They should actually go to court to settle their differences. I have even had occasion to speak with the town union president and I told him that mobilizing people, protesting, trying to stir up crisis in the community will not help matters…. You should always know that it was the Ministry that recommended him for recognition and he was recognized… the position is that he is my traditional ruler. I have not received any contrary order indicating that the man is not the traditional ruler of the community so, I need to act on the superior order….'

President-General Onwuka (frowning): 'As law-abiding citizens of the State, we are crying out that the government should desist from doing anything capable of causing a break-down of law and order. We are not happy the way some influential politicians from the area are trying to impose a traditional ruler on us, and we are saying that we have not conducted any election in that community. We have our constitution with the government, and the constitution says that it is the right of the community to elect their own Igwe.

That's what we have been trying to do but some political figures from our area have been trying to impose this particular young man on the community. At a point, I was invited to a meeting where I was told to name my price. We have been writing series of letters to the governor, made publications in the newspapers, stating clearly that we have not elected any Igwe in our community, yet they are bent on imposing the same candidate on us. They have also shown no concern at all that the matter is still subsisting in court, even after the court has given a ruling, barring both parties from doing anything capable of causing chaos, pending determination of the substantive suit…'

Act Four: The Igwe, riding his official vehicle, enters with his staff of office, and sits on an ornate piece of furniture (a throne); puts his feet on a large mahogany stool with glass top, puffs a cigar in a'Life is good' posture: 'Nna, I am here? What can they do to rule His Excellency and my Honourable Commissioner out of order? Yem one whisky there, biko?!'

Act Five: The Egwu Achi Autonomous Town, with people nursing their scars from previous encounters with agents of the favoured one: 'All we are saying, we have no Igwe. They will meet us here, and very soon we will give him a red card…. They are only putting their long fingers in the tail of the tortoise. They will soon see the red of our eyes?!'

Faan, faan, faan?? Patrol vehicles with sirens parading the autonomous territory, waiting for who will throw the first stone. At Government and the 'Igwe'.

The curtains are drawn. (All credits go to the Daily Sun, in the report by Petrus Obi, Monday, April 20, page 17).

Before running any commentary let us go to the Archives. The great historian, Michael Crowder, in his book 'The story of Nigeria' (Faber and Faber, London, 1962, 1966, pp. 249-250), records Lord Lugard's challenges in establishing Indirect Rule in the West following the bloody clashes at Ijemo and Abeokuta in 1914 and 1918, both of which led to the overthrow of the partly independent Egba United Government, which had been guaranteed by a treaty with Britain in 1893, but was resented by Lugard.

As Crowder stated, '…If Lugard had difficulties in applying Indirect Rule to the West, he found it almost impossible to introduce it in the East. Except for the Delta States there were no chiefs of consequence in the Eastern Region. A system that depended intimately on a fulcrum of authority obviously had no application in so loosely organized a society as that of the Ibo and Ibibio…

'…It is, however, significant that in the Delta (then part of Eastern Region), there was no difficulty in collecting taxes, for before the British administration the house chiefs had imposed tax on their members. The other parts of the East were ruled through courts, which dispensed not only justice but administrative orders. In certain cases individuals with some apparent authority were raised to the status of warrant chiefs, a class that was to incur great unpopularity. Lugard was quite unable to devise any alternative system for the East…'

To be continued.