Some members of Ihite community in Orumba South Local Government Area of Anambra State have rejected the newly crowned monarch of the community, Igwe Timothy Ifurunwa, saying he is not the wish of the people and failed to emerge through a legitimate process.
Anambra State Governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo had on January 13 presented a certificate of recognition to the monarch at the government house, alongside newly installed monarchs of other communities.
But members of the traditional council of Ihite, who are the kingmakers have approached the court, to contest the crowning of the monarch, urging Soludo to restrain him from parading himself as monarch until a legitimate process has been concluded and a duly accepted candidate installed.
The council said the governor was deceived by few people, whereas the council which has the statutory right of undertaking the process of electing a monarch was illegally dissolved by the president general of the community, Mr George Madu who set up what he called electoral committee for the electing of Ifurunwa as monarch.
Some members of the traditional council, Chief Sir Dominic Ahamkonye and Ichie Dennis Ohajekwe who spoke to journalists said the process remains invalid until the right thing is done.
Chief Ahamkonye said: "We have a process by which our community elects a traditional ruler, but the town union through the president general of the community is choosing to do the wrong thing. They have used what they called electoral college to nominate and crown someone.
"Our kingship is rotational among villages and it goes according to seniority. We as traditional council are members of the cabinet of our demised Igwe, Sir B.O Ofu, we are supposed to oversee the transitioning and election of a new monarch. Traditional matters are not political, so electoral college is alien to us."
Also, Ichie Dennis Ohajekwe, a member of the council who is also the deputy president general of the community said: "The PG is solely running the community and excluding even me as his deputy and all members of the traditional council.
"We are in court already with him. It is unheard of that anyone uses electoral college to elect a king in Igbo land. He even pegged the form for kingship at N3million just for you to get the nod to contest. They turned it into a political matter. This should not be.
"I'm appealing to Governor Soludo to come to our aid before this degenerates into a full blown war. We know that if Ihite boils, it will affect other towns in Orumba, and Anambra may be affected. We are appealing for his intervention to stop this anarchy. We want Timothy Ifurunwa to be restrained from parading himself as traditional ruler as the constitution of our town was not used in electing him."
Meanwhile, copies of court documents obtained by journalists over the matter showed that there is already a motion before the High Court Orumba South Judicial Division, Umunze for determination, which restrains Ifurunwa from parading as traditional ruler of the community, until the matter is determined.