Weeds, Rodents Take Over Palace of Calabar Monarch

Weeds, over grown shrubs, and rodents have taken over the palace of the Muri Munene of the Efuts which has in the past one year been under lock and key following the invasion of the place by thugs loyal to Professor Itam Hogan, one of the claimants to the throne who forcefully sacked the Muri Munene, Effiong Mbukpa, who has been duly enthroned by the Efut Combined Assembly.

The weeds which are everywhere have grown close to the roof with wall geckos, lizards, and rats taking residence on the walls and rooms of the three buildings while cobwebs are visible everywhere in the rooms and balcony left unoccupied for the past one year.

When crossriverwatch visited the palace on Friday evening, nobody, not even a security man was around the palace though most of the furniture and house hold items are still in place outside those broken by the thugs when they invaded the palace.

Residents of Anantigha said the palace has not been opened since the invasion and the subsequent locking of the place by Mr. Rekpene Bassey, the State Security Adviser to safeguard the place.

“Nobody has entered there since it was locked last year and before anybody will live or do anything there again, they have to offer scarifies to cleanse the place because it is a taboo to lock the home of our king for such a long time”. A man who lives opposite the palace and gave his name as Ekong said.

The Chairman of Efut Combined Assembly, Muri Obo, said the forceful ejection of the king was masterminded by a personality in government who does not want the Muri selected by the people to reign peacefully.

“Effiong Mbukpa has done all the customs and sacrifices required by our tradition to become our king and he was doing that when the thugs came to cause trouble in the palace”.

Muri Obo said the matter is in court and hopefully it shall be resolved soon and the “world shall know the truth because the laws of the land empowers the people to select their king and present to the kingdom but in the case of the Efuts, some people because they are in government want it the other way round”.

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