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Business mogul and chairman, Oranto Petroleum, Prince Arthur Eze, has replied Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, who called for his banishment and that of 12 Anambra traditional rulers.
Ngige had called on Anambra State governor, Chief Willie Obiano, to banish the 12 monarchs and Prince Eze for embarking on a trip to Abuja to see President Muhammadu Buhari. Governor Obiano had suspended the 12 traditional rulers for over the trip.
In a statement by his media directorate signed by Okpala Okechukwu, Prince Arthur Eze said he would treat Ngige’s call as “ranting of an ant who, by all social and political equation, is an inconsequential product of history.”
Prince Eze expressed sadness that Ngige could ask Governor Obiano to “banish traditional rulers whose only offence is that they took a trip to Abuja to commend his boss, the president, for the magnificent jobs he is doing for the people of their geo- political zone.”
He said such a call was “most irresponsible, callous, derogatory and unbecoming of an accidental minister.”
The businessman said the minister should have known that his call was useless as “no section of the constitution empowers a state governor to banish or trample on the fundamental human right of any Nigerian.”
According to him, no governor should heed such call because it is “against the letters and spirit of the Nigerian constitution.”
Prince Eze said Ngige had been involved in serious traditional leadership crisis in his Alor community over the Igweship, insisting that this should not “becloud his sense of judgement to make calls that has no legal or constitutional backing.”
He said for Ngige to call for action against him shows how ungrateful he is, saying: “if not for Arthur Eze’s benevolence Dr. Ngige would not have been able to pack out of his former two bedroom slump appointment in Festac village some years ago to a decent apartment in Lagos. Mention must also be made of how Arthur Eze helped to change his Volkswagen car.”
The statement warned Ngige to desist from making further unpleasant comments about Prince Eze, saying: “Let us warn that if Chris Ngige makes any further unpleasant statement against our principal we shall be left with no option than to publish some facts and materials at our disposal which will shock Nigerians on the person and individual known as the labour minister.”
THE SUN, NIGERIA
