The traditional ruler of Umunam Atta Autonomous community in Njaba Local Government Area of Imo State, HRH Eze Uchenna V. Nwaka has cried out to Governor Rochas Okorocha to save his life and throne of his fathers from Chief Samjack Okoro, who was appointed as the Government Liaison Officer (GLO) of the community by the state government.
The monarch also accused the GLO of plotting for his removal as the traditional ruler of the community and install one of his paymasters as successor.
This is even as the members of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the community known as Atta Ward 1 have also petitioned the governor over the activities of the Chief Okoro to frustrate development in the ward, lamenting that the idea of the government to decentralize and fast-tracking governance through the appointment of GLOs and SDC coordinators had become a mirage in Atta Ward 1.
In a letter addressed to the Chief of Staff, Imo Government House, Owerri, Chief Uche Nwosu and personally signed by Eze Nwaka, the monarch said since the appointment of Chief Okoro as the GLO and SDC coordinator, Umunam Atta autonomous community had never witnessed peace, but series of crisis.
The letter dated December 20th 2016, reads in part: “I have continually received series of embarrassment, total disrespect and dishonour and attack from the said Samjack Okoro, aimed at destabilizing and frustrating my government just to bring me into disrepute with the present government of His Excellency Owelle Rochas Okorocha”.
He recalled with sadness that upon his appointment as the GLO earlier in 2016, “the first thing Okoro did was to announce the removal of Dr. Basil Izuagba as the President General of Umunam Atta Autonomous Community without due consultation with and regard to me as the traditional ruler of the community….
“Rather, he projected some other person who is not better than Dr. Izuagba as the new President General of the community. For clarity purposes, apart from the fact that he is a committed adherent of the APC in my community, the said Dr. Izuagba, as a retired director in the Imo State civil service with good disposition, is highly suitable to handle the position of president general of the community as it were”.
The royal father also recalled that the in less than one year of his rein as the GLO of the community, Chief Okoro had written frivolous petitions against him and the PG, and upon receipt of the letters, the Commissioner for Community Government and Chieftaincy Affairs advised the GLO to go home and reconcile with him as the traditional ruler as Dr. Izuagba was not found wanting in his duties.
“But, instead of Samjack Okoro to adhere to this instruction, or advice by the Honourable Commissioner, he went about calling the commissioner names and since last week, he has been holding series of meetings scheming again to remove Dr. Basil Izuagba as the President-General and this time joining him with Mrs. Oby Nnebue, the community woman leader in his list of persons to be removed from their offices”, the letter continues.
Eze Nwaka added that having failed to remove the said Dr. Basil Izuagba from office, Chief Okoro had now directed his attacks on him (the traditional ruler). “As the traditional ruler, Samjack Okoro is supposed to brief me on government directives through the SDC to the community. But, he rather chooses to call meetings of only ward executives to tell them what he would want them to do”.
He therefore called on the governor to review the appointment of Chief Okoro as the GLO and SDC to enable the community move forward.
In a similar development, members of the APC in the community, the members called on the state government to save the party in the hands of the Chief Okoro, who they described as sabotaging the party in the area because of his romance with the PDP caucus in Orlu zone.
In a letter signed by booth leaders of the party in Atta Ward 1, the booth leaders accused the GGLO of openly working against the party during the 2015 House of Assembly and Governorship elections in the community because he lost nomination of the party and since his bizarre appointment as the GLO na dSDC, the community had known no peace.
They called on the governor to investigate the series of allegations against the activities of the GLO with a view to resolving the crisis created by him in the community and party, otherwise the intention of the rescue mission would be a mirage in the community.
