Kula Chiefs Call For Monarch’s Sack

The crisis in the oil rich Kula community in Akuku-Toru Local Government Area of Rivers State, has taken a new twist as chiefs and stakeholders in the community have called for the immediate dethronement of the Amanyanabo of the kingdom, HRM, King Kroma Eleki.

Speaking to newsmen in Port Harcourt at the weekend, some stakeholders and traditional rulers in Kula community accused the monarch of holding the community to ransom through abuse of power and called on the state governor, Rt Hon Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi to strip him of his title in the interest of peace in the area.

A stakeholder, Alapuye Igkikis, accused the Kula monarch of breaching the existing agreement in the election of compound leaders in Kula, which he said, was based on nomination and election for a tenure of two years.

He said the monarch imposed his cronies on the community to stay beyond the stipulated tenure of two years contrary to the existing order.

Igbikis, a former compound leader in the community stated that the various compounds and traditional rulers in Kula had resolved and written to the local government to the acting chairman to intervene in the matter after which the acting chairman of AKULGA, Hon Stanley Benibo called for a  meeting inviting all compound leaders and traditional rulers in Kula, but the Amanyanabo refused to attend.

He said it led to the decision of the acting local government chairman to dissolve existing structures in Kula in the area.

Also speaking, another traditional ruler in the community, Chief David Emineye-Orlu II, attributed the festering crisis in Kula to abuse of power by the monarch.

Chief Orlu, the immediate past secretary of Kula  Council of Chiefs, said the deliberate absence of the monarch from the meeting called by the council authorities was an indictment on the monarch over security breach.

He appealed to the  state  governor to remove him from office and save Kula from drifting into anarchy.

When contacted, the Acting  Chairman of Akuku-Toru Local Government Area, Hon Stanley Benibo, said the dissolution of the existing structures  in Kula, was based on wide consultations with the community to avert security breach allegedly perpetrated by the monarch and his cronies.

He noted  that various council chairmen in AKULGA, had alerted the Rivers State Government of the abuse of power by the Kula monarch but the royal father was adamant to the voices of the people.

The acting chairman said he would not renege in his role as the chief security officer of the council and condone anarchy and lawlessness in the area.

He further accused the monarch of embezzling N35million meant for 40 housing unit allocated to Kula by the Ministry of Niger Delta and sponsorship of cult activities which resulted in the arrest of the monarch in a case that is pending at the State Investigation Burean (SIB).

It would be recalled that the Kula monarch had in a press conference, accused the acting chairman of AKULGA of high handedness in the dissolution of existing structure in Kula, which he said was his prerogative as a royal father.

The Kula monarch also described the decision of the acting chairman AKULGA as  “provocative and devised to erode his traditional powers”.

Taneh Beemene