Dethronement of monarch: Orlu women urge Okorocha to rescind decision

The Women from Orlu Zone have called on Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State to rescind his decision to dethrone the Chairman of the South/East Traditional Rulers Council, His Royal Highness Cletus Ilomuanya.
The women, under the umbrella of Orlu Stakeholders Forum, made the call during a solidarity visit to Ilomuanya at his Palace in Obinugwu.
A statement issued by Kennedy Eweama, the Chief Press Secretary to the chairman, Imo State Council of Traditional Rulers and Chairman South East Councils of Traditional Rulers, made available to journalists on Tuesday, said the women were sad over the action of the governor.
The spokesperson of the women, Dorothy Egbule, was quoted as having said: “The governor has only succeeded in desecrating Igbo traditional institution by dethroning a first class traditional ruler in Igbo land.
“We cannot fold our arms and watch the Igbo traditional institution and the identity of Ndigbo being rubbished by one person.”
The statement said the aggrieved women threatened that if the governor failed to rescind his action against the monarch, they might stage a protest similar to the famous Aba women’s riot of 1929 in Imo State.
According to the statement, the group contended that “the purported dethronement of Eze Ilomuanya was an act capable of over-heating the polity”.
It said Egbule described Ilomuanya as an asset to the Igbo people and condemned the alleged recent conversion of the secretariat of the Imo Council of Traditional Rulers to Imo Women Development Centre by the governor as an abomination.
The statement further quoted the women as having said: “How can the governor want the women to annex the spiritual base of Ndi-Eze in Imo State?
“What does he want to push us (women) into?
“God forbid, we won’t be part of this sacrilege.”
In his response, Eze Cletus Ilomuanya thanked the women for the solidarity visit and described the governor’s action against him as “petty and an affront on Igbo traditional institution”.
He, however, pleaded with the people to remain calm as he had already forgiven Okorocha in the belief that the governor would “turn a new leaf