Niger Delta royal fathers under the auspices of Traditional Rulers of Oil Mineral Producing Communities of Nigeria, TROMPCON, have indefinitely suspended the Amayanabo of Twon-Brass, Bayelsa State, King Alfred Diete-Spiff.
TROMPCON cautioned the suspended traditional ruler against using the title of national patron pending his readmission.
The body’s national chairman, Owong Effiong Bassey Archianga, announced this on Thursday at a press conference in Ibeno, Akwa Ibom State, stating that the embattled monarch was creating confusion by exhibiting an anti-establishment conduct portrayed in his recent remark “denigrating” the Oba of Benin stool.
His words: “TROMPCON Observes with dismay the conscious but deplorable attempt by HRM King Alfred Diete-Spiff to create unwarranted confusion in the body by embarking on anti-TROMPCON activities by denigrating the highly revered stool of the Oba of Benin using the name of TROMPCON.
“At no time or forum, did TROMPCON mandate or authorise HRM King Diete-Spiff to go fishing for a new national chairman. There was absolutely no need for such venture because the succession mechanism in the association is self-regulatory.”
Meanwhile, the Benin Traditional Council, BTC, same Thursday cleared the air and distanced the Benin monarch, Oba Ewuare II, from any leadership crisis in TROMPCOM.
A statement by the monarch’s Chief Press Secretary, Desmond Agbama, expressed shock that Owong Bassey was claiming the chairmanship of the body after Diete-Spiff and other executive members had pleaded with the Oba to chair the association for the next two years.
Guardian reports that Diete-Spiff, in a swift reaction, described his purported suspension as a fluke, stressing that the body remains his brain-child and will continue to work for its progress.
