Prince Nwachukwu, 4th from left and OMPAN members


Abia State Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs,   Prince Uzor Nwachukwu on Tuesday proffered reasons why the Governor Alex Otti-led administration  instituted a panel of inquiry to investigate the staffs of office hurriedly issued to some Traditional Rulers  on  May 9, 2023 by the then out going  administration.


“So we said we have to do a verification which a lot of people wrongly called biometric but it was never biometric but to get proper identification of all the Traditional Rulers in Abia State”, the Commissioner said while interacting select members of the  Online Media Practitioners Association of Nigeria, OMPAN  who visited him at the Ministry's headquarters in Umuahia.


Prince Nwachukwu, right and PUO

 Prince Nwachukwu further added that the  Otti administration has instigated reforms in the local government system and restored it to its original status, pointing out that the immediate past administration was overwhelmed with  issues of governance and left the system to decay so badly.


According to Nwachukwu: “When I came in as SA , I realized that the state had no figure of how many Traditional rulers we have in Abia


“After the enumeration, we now realized that there were 539 Traditional rulers as at that time in Abia”


Speaking further, the Commissioner said his Ministry stopped the desecration of the customs and traditions in Abia.


“My Father is a traditional ruler and I understand that the traditional institution is a respected institution, I believe that if you want to be a traditional ruler of a community,you must have the capacity to manage people


“It is not the responsibility of Government to choose who becomes traditional ruler for any community but only insist that the process must be followed as enshrined by law"


Earlier in his speech, the Chairman of OMPAN, Chief Promise Uzoma Okoro said they were at the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs to interface with the Commissioner and synergize with him in the area of information dissemination.


He also extended an invitation to the Commissioner to OMPAN's  interactive media parley  scheduled for May.