Governor Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom State has constituted a seven-member committee of royal fathers in the state to proffer solutions to the feud triggered by the amendment of the state traditional rulers law.

Governor Eno inaugurated the committee during a meeting with paramount traditional rulers of the 31 local government areas in the state at the Government House in Uyo, the state capital, on Tuesday.

The chief press secretary to the governor, Ekerete Udoh, said Mr Eno urged the royal fathers to find a lasting solution to the matter.

What is the matter?

Akwa Ibom State has three major ethnic groups – Ibibio, Annang and Oro, with the office of the chairperson of the state Traditional Rulers’ Council to be rotated among the paramount rulers from the 31 LGAs.

The occupants of the Office of Oku Ibom Ibibio, Akwa Akuku Annang and Ahta Oro are the highest kings in Ibibio, Annang and Oro respectively.

Mr Eno, an Ibibio, had last year sent a bill to the state assembly seeking to amend the Traditional Rulers’ Law to upgrade the status of the traditional stools in the state to be at par with others at the national level like the Sultan of Sokoto; Obong of Calabar; Oba of Benin; and Ooni of Ife.

The bill renamed the “Traditional Rulers’ Council” in the state as “The Supreme Council of Traditional Rulers” with Oku Ibom Ibibio as the life Presidential General while Akwa Akuku Annang and Ahta Oron serve as Vice President I and II respectively.

The bill further created the office of the “chairman” of the Supreme Council of Traditional Rulers’, whose tenure is made to rotate among paramount rulers in the state.

Governor Eno assented to the bill on 22 September 2023, the eve of the 36th anniversary of state’s creation.

Inauguration of President General

The governor had on 23 September 2023, during the marking of the 36th anniversary of the state creation, presented staff of office to the Oku Ibom Ibibio, Solomon Etuk, as the Presidential General of the Council while the paramount ruler of Udung Uko, Bassey Edet, was inaugurated as chairperson of the council.

The ceremony was streamed live on Facebook.

It was, however, boycotted by some

paramount rulers from Annang and Oro extraction, who claimed that the new law which made Oku Ibom Ibibio as the life president general of the council has placed the people of Annang and Oro as second class and third class citizens.

Mr Eno had, in his remark before inaugurating the two traditional rulers, denied influencing the new law, arguing that the decision was taken by the royal fathers themselves. Mr Eno said the only part he played was sending the agreement made by the royal fathers to the state assembly for legislative backing.

“Before I came into office, the paramount rulers of Akwa Ibom had met in a meeting. I was just a witness in that meeting and they had an agreement among themselves.

“They had agreed that to enable Akwa Ibom to play a role in the national traditional rulers council there was a need to elevate the Traditional Rulers’ Council to be now called The Supreme Council of Traditional Rulers headed by a president general that they had for years. I didn’t appoint that president general, (who) incidentally is Oku Ibom Ibibio.

“Along with him, they chose a vice president general 1

I, Akuku Annang. They chose vice president general II, the Ahta Oro and then they agreed among themselves that it would represent the supreme council of traditional rulers as playing at the national level.

“And they agreed in that meeting to rotate the chairmanship of the traditional rulers’ council of the state as it has always been. That decision was taken without my interference,” he said, and challenged any traditional ruler to counter that that was not what they agreed at the meeting.

“To make that possible we needed to back it up by law and then when I came into office a bill was sent to the state assembly to bring into law what they already agreed.”

The governor had reiterated that he did not originate the bill nor being part, adding that the confusion was created by people who lost the election.

Dissatisfied with the new law, some royal fathers from Annang, Oro and Obolo instituted a suit against the state government, seeking a reversal of the law.

Governor Eno last October accepted the apologies of the royal fathers but urged them to withdraw the suit they instituted against the state government in court so that the matter could be resolved.

Speaking on Tuesday during the meeting at Government House, Governor Eno thanked the royal fathers for opting for an out-of-court settlement.

“We won’t want to meddle in this issue involving our revered traditional fathers. That is why we are setting up a seven-man committee drawn from this revered body to make recommendations concerning the mode or structure of the rotation and submit the conclusions to us, in two weeks.

“We will thereafter, send the recommendations to the State House of Assembly for further considerations,” Mr Eno said.