From Aloysius Attah, Onitsha
His Royal Majesty, Igwe Chidubem Iweka, is the chairman, Anambra State Traditional Rulers Council (ASTRC), and the traditional ruler of Obosi Kingdom.
In this interview, he talks about the urgent need for government to find a permanent solution to farmers-herders clash in Nigeria, which has led to killings and food shortage in the country, the need to give constitutional roles to traditional institutions in Nigeria and issues of security and governance in Anambra State.
Not quite long, a wave of reprisal attacks was averted in Nigeria following the incident in Uromi , Edo State over the mistaken identity of hunters who were murdered amidst the repeated invasion of farmlands by herders. As a custodian of the people’s culture and royal father, what can you say about this lingering issue of farmers-herders clash in several parts of Nigeria?
For quite some time now, farmers across the country – Middle Belt, Southeast, Southwest, the North etc, have been complaining bitterly over the activities of cattle herdsmen and their cattle that have been causing problem between the farmers and herdsmen. And in the past number of years, that has caused a number of clashes, thousands have been killed in this impasse concerning the herdsmen and the farmers. There have been talks about ranching, however, I believe some of the people were suspicious of the modalities and intention of that ranching which would have brought some peace between the farmers and the herders. But the killing in Uromi, not quite long ago, stirred up animosity and bad blood between different groups. The problem that erupted in Uromi is symbolic as it affects and stands for so many hostilities happening all the while. But in all, as a royal father, I call for peace and I’m happy that the man who wanted to instigate killings across the country was arrested and the situation brought under control. It is important we refer to history. Because millions of people killed in the North in 1966 , women, children, innocent people who were slaughtered, most of those people killed then had no idea whatsoever why they were attacked and killed . Now, it is high time we stopped taking out our aggression and animosity on people that have nothing to do with a certain incident. Now, if not that swift efforts were made, many would have been killed in the North and other places because of this incident at Uromi, and that would have been most unfortunate because many innocent people would have been murdered for nothing and that is wrong in all ramifications. The Federal Government should as a matter of urgency find a lasting and permanent solution to the crisis between herders and farmers because many precious lives have been lost across the country because of this while in various parts of the country, farmers don’t go to their farm anymore because of fear of killer herdsmen. Their farmlands are no safer and this will worsen food scarcity in the country if not addressed and the situation will end up negating the economic programmes of the Federal Government and thereby in a roundabout way, affect the masses generally.
There is a Bill presently before the National Assembly seeking to provide statutory roles for the traditional rulers in Nigeria. This has been a rolling debate for so long till now. What is your position on the development?
The bill is a right step in the right direction. In 2023, we had a sort of talk show on NTA and I represented the Southeast along with some Obas, Emirs, Etsu Nupe, among others. I spoke for the Southeast then concerning this bill because it is very vital. I’m not supporting this bill because I’m a traditional ruler, but I support it because of what I know and what I’ve seen. I come from a dynasty of kings dating back to the pre-colonial days. The white colonialists met a sitting king in Obosi kingdom when they came to Nigeria. So, I speak from a profound experience of the value of kings in every community. The masses depend a lot on the king. If there is danger in the town generally, a lot of people will start coming here for safety. That tells you the importance of kings in the communities. The kings have their ears to the ground and the monarchs are in touch with the masses. I was speaking with a friend of mine recently, an Emir and he told me that his friend who is from his community and a high-ranking government official cannot come home without a truck-load of security agents. But he as a king lives in the community with hardly any meaningful security details attached to him. That is possible because he is part and parcel of the community and in times of chaos or mayhem, the people rely on him. We the traditional rulers have the wherewithal to maintain peace, to speak to the people and they will hear because it is a position you are holding for life. You don’t place any other thing first except to succeed, to please the people you are ruling. The traditional rulers have been left in the background for too long and that situation is a minus for the structure of the society, governance and government generally. But if traditional rulers are given that constitutional right, then they will be encouraged to actually come out in their full capabilities and endeavours to see that in the community, the masses, that there is synergy, communion between the government and the people. As much as we do not have these constitutional rights, still the people listen to us. I think it is very necessary, that this is effected timely and not belated. It will help the government and the masses and actually bring the much needed synergy between the arms of government and the masses.
There is also the controversy over the payment of five per cent of local government allocations to traditional rulers which is reportedly in force in some areas in Nigeria at a point in history. Do you think this arrangement should apply to the traditional rulers at this point in time?
As it stands now, traditional rulers are not funded, but only receive stipends from government and I can tell you that such situation affects our performance a lot because not every traditional ruler is a billionaire. It is the state government that issues certificate and staff of office to the traditional rulers and the state government can only do much if a traditional ruler has a project that he wants to do or carry out within the traditional rulers’ council, he has to go back to the government to ask for funding. But with the role the traditional rulers are playing in their various communities, there ought to be security votes and adequate funding for them to be able to take care of basic things in the communities without reaching out to the government cap in hand for funding. Some people sit back and erroneously think that traditional rulers don’t have much to do, that they just sit back in their palace and break kolanuts, pour libation and bless people, but that’s not true. Traditional rulers play much vital roles in the communities, liaise with the President Generals of the communities, the security agencies to ensure there is peace in the communities. Traditional rulers need to have an assigned specific fund available to them monthly to take care of the communities. We hear that some traditional rulers in some parts of the country are already receiving the five per cent local government allocation and I tell you one thing, if that percentage is actually cemented to be accruing to the traditional rulers, there will be great change positively in the society . Let me use the Obosi kingdom, for example, many people from various families come to the palace on daily basis seeking for one level of financial assistance or the other. Some with critical cases at hand. What do you think I will do in that situation? I will start rallying round to get some money to address those immediate challenges and help because I’m the traditional ruler. But who will tell them that I may only have meagre resources to take care of those needs? We are saddled with various heavy responsibilities but the pecuniary to be able to carry out those responsibilities are lacking. We all know that the police is under-funded in Nigeria. When there is any emergency for the police in their various divisions and they don’t have the wherewithal to take care of it, we support. I gave a lecture at Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University some time ago on anti-cultism, anti-drug abuse etc and at a portion of it, I talked about traditional rulers who have been killed, kidnapped or murdered over the years. Though I can’t quote the exact figure now, I know it is very high. Now, traditional rulers who live in volatile, insecure areas need security and most of them cannot afford such services, so what they do is that most of them leave their communities and move to the nearest city or metropolis to reside. I know a traditional ruler who was kidnapped and held hostage for five days and before the kidnappers move out in the day for fresh kidnapping job while he was in their custody, they would kneel down before him and tell him to bless them and he would do that or else they would have killed him there. That’s why I tell you that traditional rulers need so many things from the government.
But there are fears in some quarters that if traditional rulers are given such statutory powers and empowerment by the constitution, it might lead to a situation where some of them may become autocratic and some might even become much powerful to lock horns with the government. Don’t you think so?
I don’t believe that. Such school of thought is unrealistic because traditional rulers are not wired with such clout to challenge the government. Mostly, when someone is selected to become a traditional ruler, there is the physical election and the spiritual/divine aspect of it. Most traditional rulers are divinely picked, they are not like becoming a local government chairman, governor or president. Not that it is impossible to have some or few traditional rulers who may have such autocratic inclinations, but most traditional rulers are imbued with Godly wisdom to distinguish between right and wrong. Because it is a life vocation/appointment most traditional rulers try to do good because if you mess yourselves up, that’s posterity. The kindred you come from might curse you because you’ve let them down. What kind of statutory role are you going to give a traditional ruler to start fighting the government? It is not possible.
You talked about insecurity as it affects the traditional rulers in their domains. In recent times, Anambra has been relatively calm security-wise. What do you think is responsible for that?
Security has always been a problem in the country no doubt. But in Anambra with Governor Soludo at the helm of affairs, some people used to think that all along before it got so bad, before he instituted the Operation Udo Ga Achi, that he has been idle. That is not true. I am an insider and I’m aware that even before this Udo-ga-achi, he has spearheaded the organization of this joint security task force comprising the army, police, anti-cult, navy etc and they have dislodged many criminal flash points of unknown gunmen and their camps. But as I pointed out, crime has always been with us, but what we had in this couple of years back was an epidemic of crime. It has never been so bad like that, a situation where kidnappers will be picking people up in the streets anyhow. I joked out of the situation when I told someone that it has gotten so bad then that a man will tell his neighbour “bring N500, 000 because I have your father with me here” and the neighbour will also say “oya bring N1 million, your mother is in my house”. It was not the whole fault of the government rather it was a mindset that took over especially among our youths. Who are the armed robbers and kidnappers? They are all youths. The mindset of “I don’t want to work, I will go to that native doctor of so, so place and he will give me a pot of wealth, Oke-ite.” That kind of mindset created an epidemic of criminality and that is what our governor at his own time was faced with. But I thank God that God gave him the wisdom to form this operation Udo-ga-achi, Agunechemba outfit to be able to tackle this peculiar type of insecurity we had. It is working today in Anambra and we are happy that crime has been brought to the barest minimum in the state today through this initiative by Governor Soludo. It is something that needs continuity, it has to be maintained so that the situation doesn’t relapse.
What do you have to say briefly on the governance of the state under Prof. Soludo?
I want to commend our governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo for the very laudable programmes he has established in the state. The infrastructure like the roads and security, among others. We are hopeful that he will return for a second tenure to finish up what he started. What he has done so far is not something he will hand over to someone else to finish. Let him go and finish the good things he started in Anambra. This one is not politics, but a fact and the reality on the ground in the state is that Governor Soludo is doing well in office. If another governor comes after Soludo and he is not doing well, I will not praise him. If you do well, you deserve commendation.