By Johnbosco Agbakwuru, Calabar

EMBATTLED paramount ruler of Efuts in Calabar South Local Government Area of Cross River State, Muri Munene Effiong Mbukpa, was, on Friday afternoon, removed from the throne following a fresh selection of a new monarch, Prof. Itam Hogan Itam, as allegedly approved by the state government.

But, in a swift reaction, Mbukpa said that he remained the paramount ruler, describing the alleged selection as a nullity and out of the tradition of the Efut land. Besides, the Efuts Combined Assembly, which claimed that, by the traditional of the Efuts, it was the assembly that has the right to conduct any selection of any Muri Munene said that there was no vacancy in the first place for anybody to contemplate filling any position.

Secretary of the assembly, Ndabo Godwin Bassey, explained that the Mbukpa had been on the throne for about four years now and was recognized by Governor liyel Imoke on many occasions, adding that  when the governor visited the palace during his electioneering campaign, he commended the Munene for maintain the peace in the area.

He said that Mbukpa had performed all the traditional rites to mount the throne and that, according to the tradition of the Efuts, whoever performs the burial rites of the late monarch automatically takes over and that the rites had been done many years ago except otherwise somebody wants to exhume the corpse.

According to him, “The only people who are qualified traditionally to vote or be voted for in the purported selection were the three Muris that did not come, the other five are not qualified and there has never been a time they are up to five that are qualified.

“The two other persons there are challenging their suspension by the late Muri Munene in court and the court has pronounced that they cannot partake in any thing on selection. To start with, there is no vacancy there. It is the duty of the Efuts Combined Assembly to conduct selection where there is a vacancy.

“It is also the conclave of qualified accredited Muris of the ancestral clans that select Munene, this one was conducted by government, there has never been any place in the world where government conducts the selection of the traditional ruler.”

The Cross River State government had, in a letter dated September 18, 2012, entitled,  “Filling of the vacant stool of Muri Munene of the Efuts,” signed by the Special Adviser to Governor Liyel Imoke on Chieftaincy Affairs ‘Hon. John Eyikwaje’ directed that the purported vacant position of the Muri Munene be filled.

The letter,  addressed to the embattled monarch and seven other contestants, read: “Please be informed that His Excellency, the governor of Cross River State, Senator Liyel Imoke, has given approval for the filing of the vacant stool of Muri Munene of the Efuts in Calabar South Local Government Area.”

Some Efuts indigenes claimed that the selection traditionally should be conducted at the palace of the Muri Munene but it was gathered that it did not take place there as the palace for several months now had been under lock and key following the attack on Mbukpa by people suspected to be area boys who were allegedly hired by the opposition to take the place by force.

It was gathered that the alleged filling of the vacant stool took place at the Calabar South Council secretariat instead of the palace and was supervised by the Secretary of Chieftaincy Affairs, Calabar South Local government Area, Charles Obo, under the watchful eyes of the Special Adviser to the Governor and the Chairman of Calabar South, Hon. Ekeng Henshaw.