Monarchs can’t be vigilantes, says Anambra union leader.

 

The National President of Anambra State Association of Town Unions,  Dr. Jude Okolo has faulted the state policy that makes traditional rulers in the state chairmen of vigilante committees in their domains.
He noted that the development was already causing confusion in many communities.

The  Anambra state House of Assembly had recently passed the State Vigilante Law, which was an Executive bill which provided that the traditional ruler should be the chairman of the vigilante group, while the President General should be the secretary.

But Okolo described the arrangement as improper.

Accusing the state lawmakers of fueling the crisis that had erupted in many communities following the passage of the bill, he said there was need to have another look at the law.

Before the passage of the bill, and worried by the likely feud it would generate, the Okolo had led the Presidents- General of communities in the state to the speaker of the house, Mrs. Rita Maduagwu to prevail on the legislature to stop the passage of the law, but they did not succeed.

He said: ‘’We proposed an arrangement where the traditional ruler would become the chairman of the community vigilante committee in an advisory capacity, while the President General becomes the administrative head and the Executive Vice Chairman or Secretary and both of them will be co-signatories of the community vigilante committee bank account.

‘Vigilante operators should not be the kind of people that would be frequenting the palace. It seems as if the traditional rulers didn’t understand that what the PGs were agitating for was to protect the sacred symbol of Igweship. But we, the PGs, have given in to the decision of the House of Assembly while envisaging that the law as it is, would have a need for revisiting in future”.


He also spoke on the state of federal roads in the South East and called on the federal government to direct the Federal Road Maintenance Agency,  to commence palliative measures on them before the yuletide season so as to minimize the rate of road carnage on the highways during the period.