Leave traditional rulers out of constitutional agitation

The National Assembly must stop hearing the memoranda purported to arrogate constitutional roles to traditional rulers in Nigeria. It is an aberration as well as waste of time and resources because a great number of rulers are already corrupt and dictators that rule in fiefdom; keeping their subjects locked in the prison of their making and such development will heat up the king-making polity across the nation.

Traditional institutes of the past commanded respect due to the mode of emergence, sincerity and level of freedom, security and quintessential development experienced by the subjects. It is easy to observe that the memoranda is a guise of turning the entire traditional unit of the society into a complete political manipulation and maneuvering apparatus that will further traumatise voiceless Nigerians and upgrade corruption.

In recent times, it was that traditional rulers were at daggers-drawn with lawmakers at the state and national levels, claiming that they were shabbily-treated and are not receiving the dividends of democracy.

And as some of them go cap in hand, they become government contractors without expertise.  Frankly, traditional rulers received five per cent of every Local Government Council monthly-allocation in Nigeria apart from other overtures from their respective governors, investors, individuals and other unions, yet, they remain unaccountable.

• Remembering Elephant

We witnessed an abnormal trend, a phenomenon where certain rulers collect the cash from monthly-allocations in bulk and degrade their district heads.

It is in public consciousness that some traditional rulers employed proxies’ services to execute contracts.

It is an understatement that today some rulers oppress their subjects and constitutional roles to adorn henchmen may result in issues beyond control.

Comrade Akingbola Temidayo,

Ondo