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Imolites may soon have a crowned female ‘Eze’ the king, instead of the Queen, legalised abortion and same sex marriage, if the schemes of proponents of the Law No 12 of 2012 gets away with their plans, reports ITREALMS. 
ITREALMS gathered that the same repealed law, encourages abortion throughout the nine months of pregnancy and heightens same sex marriage, which Nigerian Constitution under Dr. Goodluck Jonathan’s administration outlawed and recommended certain terms of imprisonments for violators.
Lawyers and doctors, who were instrumental for its earlier repeal, insist that Imo Law No. 12 legalises abortion, same-sex marriage, outlaws the use of Bible in schools, outlaws all-men Catholic Seminaries, ordains women as priests, crowns women as traditional ‘Ezes’ in Imo communities, promotes the sale of human parts from aborted babies, imprisons parents and preachers for moral education of children, which were the reasons it was repealed.
They are confused whether the new Bill, which is a clone of the repealed law, if passed into law, would see to the disappearance or replacement of Men-in-Council with Womenin- Council Imo tradition since a woman by this law, under the right to inheritance, can be crowned as an ‘Eze’ and not a queen.
Sequel to this, Imo Prolife, a group of doctors, lawyers, priests and monarchs said this would be the first of its kind in Igboland, to see a woman being crowned an ‘Eze’ to rule over Men-in-council, just as the state became the first to give father’s inheritance to a woman in a bizarre Supreme Court judgment (Ukeje vs. Ukeje) against the tradition of the land.
Their worries were further compounded by the thoughts and feelings that their children who may be growing up under the bill, if it becomes a law, would have cultural, religious, ethical, moral restrictions with no traditional upbringing for which Imolites are known.
To this end, in a bid to protect its tradition and morality from being eroded by Bill 12, the ACMPN and other stakeholders in the state, are seeking the revision of the Imo State of Nigeria Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Law No 12 of 2012, which is currently undergoing resuscitation. To one of the lawyers who stood their grounds until the Law was repealed in 2012, Sunny Ekwowusi, they fought and defeated the Law after its promulgation due to a number of hidden agendas in the law, said the same fate awaits it if it resurfaces.
“We fought the bill in 2012 and defeated it but if they represent it, we will do the samething. The last time it came up, we, group of prolife lawyers visited the Bishop of Owerri Diocese, educated him on this attack on our religion and culture, and we were able to join forces with other stakeholders and ended the bill. “The problem is that African culture and life are under serious attack.”
The western world has been sponsoring a number of bills and policies that are clandestinely targeting at destroying Africa’s strong morals, tradition and heritage. “What is the need for legalising abortion in Imo State? Ordaining a woman Catholic priest and ‘Eze’ if not targeted at destroying Africans and their culture. We don’t need all these weird typescripts of the West. We need to train our people to understand these onslaughts in our societies. A number of Nigerians are illiterate and always fight the right and spare the wrong.
“Foreign bodies under the guise of aid and grants, are coming into Africa with the sole aim of bringing about rejection of our culture and tradition under the guise of development. We need to rise up against this.” In the same vein, His Grace Most Rev. AJV Obinna, the Catholic Archbishop of Owerri, Diocese, has also called on the lawmakers in the state to be cautious of laws they are promulgating as church will not entertain any indent law that would destroy the moral fibres of the people.
As stated by ACMPN, the new Bill 12 is poorly written and conceptualised, which has an agenda to destroy the family and erode the Igbo traditions and Christian religious foundation in the state. ACMPN stated that Section 22(1) of the Imo Bill no. 12 intends to crown women ‘Eze’ in communities by including ‘succession rights’ to the Bill, which would mean that if the first girl in the family of an ‘Eze’ is jumped in the line of succession, in accordance with Igbo customs and tradition, the ‘Eze’ or the village kingmakers would be jailed for four years.
Prince (Dr.) Chidi Njemanze from the ruling family in Owerri, the Imo State capital, said the aim of this Section is to crown women as ‘Ezes’ in Igboland, which would result in rejection by the Imolites and cause a total breakdown of the state’s traditional governance.
He noted that the law will destroy the Igbo traditional institutions and create a problem where the bill mentioned ‘harmful traditional practices,’ saying that by including ‘succession rights’ in the bill, the male-only ‘Ezeship’ in Igboland is outlawed by the Imo Bill No. 12.
“This would create unprecedented chaos and collapse of Imo society. Applying Section 22(1) would mean that a woman refused as ‘king’ to succeed her father is a ‘harmful traditional practice’ liable to four year imprisonment.
Noting that ‘succession rights’ mentioned in the bill should be removed from the ‘harmful traditional practices’ list, rather all sections in the definition must exempt ‘accepted good practices’ of Igbo customs and traditions as well as religious traditions of Imo people.
The Prince also stated that ‘succession rights’ as economic abuse, should now read ‘economic abuse’ to mean forced financial dependence; denial of inheritance rights in a manner that violates the Fundamental Rights of the Person as stipulated in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and generally accepted good social practices of Igbo traditional norms.
“On a more serious implication, the Imo Bill No. 12 legalises abortion, same-sex marriage, outlaws the use of the Bible in schools, outlaws all-men Catholic Seminaries, ordains women as priests, crowns women as traditional ‘Ezes’ in Imo communities, promotes the sale of human parts from aborted babies, imprisons parents and preachers for moral education of children, which were the reasons it was repealed,” he said.
Njemanze emphasised that the Bill is better not promulgated in its present form and or remain repealed, saying if the Bill is well intended, it should ban the proliferation of ‘Imo Baby Factories,’ who are being killed and their organs taken for export to Western countries to provide organs for their infants with heart defects, kidney defects, liver and lung insufficiency.
Uboshe Uboshe/Editor with additional report from NewsExpressng.com
Pix: Gov. Hope Uzodinma of Imo State
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