The Hon. Judge Elias O. Abua of the Calabar High Court has ordered the Cross River State government to pay N50 million to the paramount monarch of Etung LGA, His Royal Majesty, Dr. Ntui Atue Oru Ojong, as compensation for suspending him in May 2021.
The monarch was placed on administrative leave after claims that he stole money from the cocoa industry.
On March 23, 2023, Justice Abua gave his ruling in case number HC/96/2022. He stated that the compensation is meant to ease the emotional and psychological pain the monarch endured while he was unjustly suspended.
The monarch’s immediate reinstatement and payment of all of his benefits from the period have also been ordered by the court.
The government, the attorney general, the commissioner for justice, and four other people were defendants in the monarch’s lawsuit.
According to Justice Abua, there is no legal provision that allows the state government to suspend a paramount ruler, hence the suspension did not follow the law’s due process.
The judge clarified that the legislation only permits the state government to revoke a paramount ruler’s certificate of recognition if they have broken certain rules.
He insisted that articles 5, 17(1), 21, (1) and (2), 27, 28 (2), 29, and 30 (2) of the traditional ruler’s cap T4 Vol.6 laws of Cross River State 2004 had been broken by the alleged suspension.
“Thus, the suspension was arbitrary, incorrect, illegal, and null and void. In this case, the claimant was never granted a fair hearing.”
The state government was additionally prohibited by the court from giving any recognition certificates to anyone posing as the supreme monarch of Etung LGA.
The court insisted that neither HRM Oru Ojong’s throne was overthrown nor was his certificate of recognition revoked.
The sixth defendant, Ntufam Raphael Ekuri Agbor, had his actions and every document he had signed in that capacity declared invalid by the court.
Agbor was warned not to portray himself as the acting supreme monarch of Etung LGA.
The restored paramount ruler declared to journalists: “I thank God that the court still exists because it is the average person’s last hope.
“I have pardoned everyone who plotted to frame me for reasons that only they know.
“I was accused of stealing the royalties intended for the Etung cocoa landowner communities.
“Today, payments to beneficiaries were launched by the state government. “So, where did I misappropriate the cocoa fund?”
Dr. Oscar Ofuka, Governor Ben Ayade’s special advisor on cocoa development, was not yet prepared to comment.
