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The chiefs, elders and people of Okochiri kingdom in Okrika Local Government Area of Rivers State, as well as non-Indigenes resident in the area, have protested a perceived slight on their traditional ruler, HRM King Ateke Michael Tom, by “some immature and irresponsible members” of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, threatening to drag the party to court if it does not tender a public apology.
Addressing journalists last Friday December 15, 2017, chairman of Koniju Town Council Of Chiefs (KTCC), Chief Chris Biriowu Opuayaraya, expressed the kingdom’s “anger and pain over the denigration, disrespect and defamation of the character of our well respected monarch and royal father, His Royal Majesty, King Ateke Michael Tom, Sekuro 1 of Niger Delta, Amanyanabo of Okochiri Kingdom by some uninformed, immature and irresponsible members of the All Progressives Congress.”
According to Chief Opuayaraya, during a Pro-SARS demonstration held in Port Harcourt on December 11, 2017 by “agents of the Rivers State All Progressive Congress (APC), some uninformed members boldly displayed a flex banner bearing the inscription ‘Wike Is Making Criminals Kings’ with the pictures of HRM King Ateke Michael Tom conspicuously sh0wn.”
He said that “as if that was not enough, the defeated Deputy Governorship candidate of APC in the 2015 election in Rivers State, Hon. Asita O. Asita, was also heard on radio corroborating the inscription on the flex banner.
“We, the chiefs, elders and people of Okochiri Kingdom and indeed the entire Wakirike ethnic nationality wholly condemn in the strongest terms the damaging, malicious, provocative and insulting inscription targeted at maligning and denting the hard-earned reputation of our monarch.
“We view the act as sacrilegious, inciting and intended to demean not only the image of our well respected traditional stool and its occupant but also a great disrespect and disservice to the people of Okochiri Kingdom who after thorough selection picked His Royal Majesty to ascend this exalted ancient throne,” Opuayaraya said.
He noted that it is the exclusive preserve of the community to decide who becomes their king, and that such selection has no recourse to the government or the state governor, adding that to allude that Governor Wike crowned King Ateke Michael Tom is an affront to the highly respected cultural values of the Wakirike people and the Ijaw nation in general.
“We warn that no group, political party,’ community or any other organization will humiliate the Okrikans as a people or denigrate their kingship institutions as well as their kings and be allowed to have their way,” he said.
Opuayaraya wondered how “these uninformed members of the APC” could tag an innocent man a criminal, when no competent court of jurisdiction had done so, adding that “His Majesty has never at any time been convicted by any court in Nigeria and beyond.
“It is therefore most unfortunate that a man who for over a decade sacrificed time, resources and efforts to promote philanthropy and sustained peace in Rivers State and Niger Delta in general, instead of being appreciated and encouraged by APC is being blackmailed.”
He therefore demanded that the statement be retracted, and a public apology rendered in both local and national print and electronic media “by the perpetrators of this treacherous act without further delay or we (the people of Okochiri Kingdom and Kirikebese) will take legitimate and necessary action as we may deem appropriate.
