The Anambra State Government has charged community leaders to eschew crisis and work toward peace building and development of their areas.
The Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Mr Collins Nwabunwanne, gave the charge at a news briefing on Thursday in Awka.
Nwabunwanne warned those instigating crisis in communities in the state to refrain and embrace peace.
According to him, community crisis retards development and progress.
Speaking on the current crisis rocking Ifitedunu in Dunukofia Local Government Area, he warned those fomenting crisis in the community to stop forthwith.
He accused a prominent Ifitedunu leader, Chief Vincent Udobi, of fuelling crisis in the community, saying that the President-General of the community, Chief Uchenna Nwoye, was “unfairly humiliated.”
“To assault Nwoye, beating him up and forcefully removed him from office, is most unfair,” the Commissioner said.
He cited a section of the Ifitedunu Constitution, saying that the act of removing an elected President-General is a constitutional matter.
According to section 19 of the Constitution, a general meeting, supported by two-third majority of the people present, is the only way to remove an elected president-general.
Nwabunwanne regretted that some persons unilaterally removed Nwoye as the president-general, a position his office was opposed to.
He said that his ministry had conducted elections in more than 100 communities, which were hitherto in leadership crisis, to restore peace.
He said that the state was not interested in the candidacy of anybody, either for president general or traditional ruler.
But in a reaction, Udobi said the community had been peaceful until Nwoye was reinstated by the commissioner, pointing out that his reinstatement ignited crisis in the area.
He urged Gov. Charles Soludo to look into the activities of the commissioner.
Udobi, a chieftain of the All Progressive Grand Alliance, advised the commissioner to remain neutral, saying that “taking sides has obvious negative implications.”
“The commissioner is the one causing the problem in Ifitedunu and the governor must look into the activities of the ministry,” he said.
Ifitedunu Community has lately been embroiled in crisis, involving the president-general and some community leaders over the activities of his office
Speaking on the development in the community, the Traditional Ruler, Igwe Emeka Ilouno, urged the State Government to urgently intervene to save the community and ensure that the crisis did not escalate.
“My community has been peaceful until 2015 when some people began to do very strange things by registering Ifitedunu as an enterprise with the Corporate Affairs Commission.
“A community cannot be run as an enterprise and government is keeping calm at such a development to the extent that the Constitution being cited is silent on the office of a traditional ruler,” Ilouno said.