Igbo traditional rulers seek creation of two additional states in Southeast

The Council of Traditional Rulers in the Southeast geo-political zone has appealed to President Bola Tinubu to consider the request for creation of additional two states in the zone.

The Chairman of the Council, Igwe Samuel Asadu, made this request at the Forum of News Agency of Nigeria on Sunday in Abuja.

He said the request was part of a decision reached by the council at its last meeting.

Asadu added that the appeal for an additional two states is to address the imbalance in state creation, as the south east zone had only five states.

At a meeting, which was well attended by the traditional rulers in the zone, we agreed that we will accept any state creation from any part of the eastern states.

“We are united in this struggle. We have five states in south east, so we need to have two more states to be even.

“But whatever we get, we thank the president. We are at his mercy and God bless him for that.

“So when the state is given to us, we will endorse it. It does not matter where it comes from, it does not matter whose lawmaker sponsored the bill,” he said.

Speaking on the clamour for constitutional roles for the traditional institutions, Asadu said: “We want to have some constitutional relevance, some constitutional powers.

“Our monthly release of five per cent of the local government allocation to traditional rulers in the state have not been given by state governments.

“Traditional rulers play an important role in communicating government policies and programmes to members of the community.”