Traditional rulers in Calabar have protested the locking of their office by the Calabar Municipality Local Government Council Chairman.
Calabar Municipality Traditional Rulers Council, protested the locking of their Secretariat by the local government council’s chairman, Mr. Efefiong Eta, on Wednesday.
The Paramount ruler of Calabar Municipality, HRM Ita Etta, explained to reporters in front of the traditional rulers’ council chambers that his office was not informed of the reason why their council hall was locked.
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Clan heads, village heads, and other council members were scheduled to meet with the Peoples Democratic Party’s PDP governorship candidate, according to the custodian of Calabar Municipality’s traditions. However, they discovered that their meeting location had been looked up and questioned why such a decision should be made without consideration.
The monarch revealed that they had gotten an invitation from the gubernatorial candidate of the People’s Democratic Party PDP, candidate, Sen Sandy Onor, inviting them for meeting at 2:00pm, at their secretariat.
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In his words, “We had received a notice from the PDP governorship candidate that he will meet with us (Traditional rulers) by 2pm in our Secretariat which is usually where we hold all our functions and activities.
“As you can see yourself, the Secretariat is locked up, and the Chairman didn’t tell us why, and you can see soldiers everywhere.”
When contacted, an authority in the council who pleaded anonymity said the Chairman of Council, Mr Efefiong Eta, gave an instruction this morning that the traditional rulers Secretariat should be locked up.
He also gave a directive that no meeting of whatever kind should take place in the Secretariat.
“I am working based on directive,” he stated
Asked if there was an issue with the Secretariat, he said, “There is no issue here, the traditional rulers met here this month of January.”
The PDP governorship candidate has been campaigning round the 18 local government areas of the state, and is billed to conclude tour of the council areas with campaign in Calabar South and Calabar Municipality today Wednesday, January 25th 2023.
As part of the campaign schedule to the council areas, he meets with the traditional rulers of each council and holds stakeholders meeting before the rally in the area.
As at the time of filing this report, calls to the council chairman were not taken or retuned.
