The Oku Ibom Ibibio’s permanent headship of the Supreme Council of Akwa Ibom State Traditional Rulers has received the nod of elderstatesman and foremost business tycoon, Obong Dr Asikpo Essien-Ibok, who holds that for the sake of Akwa Ibom’s unity and national integration, the state had to settle for a permanent representative in the National Council of Traditional Rulers of Nigeria.
Speaking with newsmen over the weekend in Uyo, Essien-Ibok averred that the development is in sync with the setup of traditional institutions in other climes.
According to him, Akwa Ibom State having a supreme traditional ruler has revived the consciousness that the present occupants of Akwa Ibom land mostly originated from the same stock as evidenced in the dominant Ibibio language, culture and tradition.
Drawing inferences from other parts of the country, he said the North, South West and South East, often referred to as Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo, respectively, doesn’t imply suppression of the various subsets embedded in those tribes.
Going down memory lane, Dr Essien-Ibok recalled that the founding fathers of the state were wise in using the all-encompassing Ibibio umbrella in pursuit of statehood.
Listing other merits of the development, he highlighted that Akwa Ibom State through the Oku Ibom Ibibio will be able to establish longterm and productive camaraderie with majority of members of the national TRC who are permanent members, and be properly carried along in the formulation and implementation of long term policies and programmes that are of great importance to the citizenry.
He cautioned politicians to desist from stoking disharmony and unrest in the state by spewing baseless allegations of tribal suppression and hatred.
“The political interpretation of the amendment is different from the content – there is nowhere in the content qof the law that mentions anything about superiority and inferiority, there is nowhere that mentions oppression and submission. Politicians seeking to make political gains have minscontrued the law. Their interpretation is not what the law represents. Let’s not create unnecessary problems because of this well-intentioned law,” he advised.
About a fortnight ago, the Akwa Ibom State Government via Governor Umo Eno sent an Executive Bill to the House of Assembly for a Law to amend the Traditional Rulers Law, Cap. 155, Laws Of Akwa Ibom State.
The bill, passed by the House of Assembly, has since been assented to by the governor.
The amendment among other provisions prescribes that the Oku Ibom Ibibio (the king of the majority tribe) assumes permanent headship of the newly created Supreme Council of Akwa Ibom State Traditional Rulers.
