The Chairman, Cross River State Council of Chiefs, HRM Etinyin Etim Okon Edet, has said insecurity in the country could be curtailed significantly if the federal government could accommodate traditional rulers when giving out security votes to political leaders.
In a chat with reporters in Calabar, Tuesday, HRM Edet opined that since traditional leaders in every Nigerian community know everyone in their domain, it is appropriate to involve them in the security arrangement of each state.
“Traditional Rulers are always vilified and arrested anytime there are security breaches in their domains yet, the government has not empowered them to police their areas of jurisdiction. This is unfair.
“There’s no traditional ruler that will tell you he does not know a bad person in his community but it’s difficult for him to tell security agencies ‘look, that that man is a thief.’ This is because he is not empowered financially to handle the security implications of such matters.
“For instance, security votes are not given to him to take care of security in his domain, it is in the hands of the new breed politician, but when anything bad happens, the first person the government people would call on the matter is the traditional ruler.
“Insecurity will abate in this country if we do the right thing. Our government should encourage our Royal Fathers to do their work. The key is in the hands of traditional rulers, the government should not be buying big cars for politicians and then they forget about traditional rulers. They’ve neglected the old ways for too long,” he submitted.
The Royal Father, who is the longest serving Chairman of the State Council of Chiefs, also explained that the prevailing peace in the Council was due to his ability to offer unparalleled leadership and that anytime he mulled the idea of taking the back seat, his people would always object to it.
“If you are able to provide good leadership, you’ll go a long way. What you see in the Council is a display of leadership. The transparency that is there is fantastic.
“If we have a good leader, nobody will be talking about political parties, everybody will just say allow that man to continue, continuity is not just given, you must work for it, that’s exactly what’s happening to traditional rulers’ council.”
HRM Edet is also the paramount ruler of Bakassi local government area.
