Imo state traditional rulers have cautioned politicians to stop dropping their names in the guise of endorsements, saying that such claims are dubious and mischievous.
Chairman, Nkwerre Local Gobernment Area Council of Traditional Rulers, Eze Emmanuel Uzoho, who gave the warning, debunked a recent claim that traditional rulers had endorsed the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Hope Uzodinma.
He described the report as misleading and fabricated to embarrass the traditional institution.
The monarch said that as custodians of the people’s culture and traditions, all the candidates are their subjects and should not be seen as partisan.
He also warned against dragging the monarchs into politics of calumny, noting that “traditional Rulers are like fathers to everyone but among the children, knows who is who”.
He said that he received Uzofinma just as he had received other candidates who paid him courtesy visit, stressing that “There was never an endorsement,let alone all those unprintable cheap blackmail published on Newspapers and other media platforms”.
He said that in line with Igbo Tradition, “a King is a King to both the good and the bad and does not segregate. Once it comes to welcoming strangers,it’s not out of place because also in Igbo Tradition, if someone says he wants to visit you, you will welcome the person and after hearing the person’s message,it’s now left for you to accept the message or not and that was simply what happened”.
“Aside Uzodimma, other candidates had and do come and visit us too. It not out of place but the issue of changing the discourse in other to score cheap political gains is mischievous,” he added.
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