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The Ondo State Government says it has moved to ensure seamless succession in vacant stools and reduce litigations associated with chieftaincy matters in the state.
Commissioner for Local Government Affairs and Chieftaincy Matters, Alhaji Amidu Takuro, stated this at a news conference on Thursday in Akure.
Takuro, who said that there would be public hearing on Monday on chieftaincy declarations for various stools and petitions in the state, explained that the move was to allow peace to prevail in all communities in the state.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the chieftaincy declaration is the law guiding each community in the state in chieftaincy succession arrangements, including the number of ruling houses and kingmakers.
“We are embarking on public hearing on chieftaincy declaration in order to understand the laws applicable to each community with approved stools.
“These laws will determine the number of their ruling houses and their successor arrangements; they will also determine the number of their kingmakers.
“This is will ensure that when a king passes away, there will be seamless succession arrangement.
“In the absence of this, we’ve discovered that we’ve been having litigations upon litigations across the state.
“We, therefore, see it as our duty as a ministry to ensure that we do everything humanly possible to limit the number of litigations on chieftaincy matters in the state,” he stated.
The commissioner said that the chieftaincy declaration committee had received over 50 proposals and 70 petitions that would be analysed for deliberations during the public hearing.
He said that the state government would not allow any traditional ruler or individual to undermine government’s efforts at ensuring that peace reigned across the state.
“Government will not allow any traditional ruler or person to impose his view and interest on other communities.
“We have put mechanisms in place that will address all the issues raised on chieftaincy matters.
“The Gov. Lucky Aiyedatiwa-led administration has so much interest in the welfare and wellness of all traditional rulers in the state. We are backing them with all the necessary paraphernalia.
“In fact, government has increased their monthly take-home to five per cent and we are planning to give them cars. They are happy now and we want to make them happier.
“They are at the heart of government because they are the closest to the people and they also preserve our culture,” he said.