January, 2024.
Agabaidu, Your Royal Majesty
Alaji Mathew Opaluwa Oguche-Akpa
Ata Igala,
Ata Igala’s Palace in
Idah, Kogi State.
Our very Revered Agabidu,
RE: URGENT NEED FOR YOUR ROYAL MAJESTY AND THE IGALA AREA TRADITIONAL COUNCIL TO CALL THE EJE OF ANKPA, HRH, ALH. ABUBAKAR SADIQ AHMED YAKUBU TO ORDER AND AVOID DRIFT AND CHAOS IN IGALA LAND.
Your Royal Majesty, we bring you greetings on behalf of Ane Igala Restoration Network(AIR) and the teaming masses of the Igala Nation spread across several states of the Nigerian Nation. May your Majesty reign forever and may the New Year 2024 bring your majesty and your kingdom peace, prosperity and development.
May we start by condoling with your Royal Majesty over the death of Her Royal Highness, Iye Akwuma Odoo, Chief Maimuna Opaluwa Ogwuche Akpa and three members of her household, may the gods of Ane-Ayegba and Ane-Igala accept their souls and grant Your Majesty and the Igala Nation the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss
Your Majesty, as an Organization instituted by the office of the Ata Igala and mandated with the Royal seal to pursue, promote and preserve the restoration of Igala race’s culture and interests globally, our attention has been drawn in the past few days to an emerging development within your domain.
Your Majesty, we received with utmost shock and humiliation a press release by Rilwan Hamza, the Chief Press Secretary to the Eje of Ankpa dated the 2nd January, 2024 wherein he announced to the whole world that the Eje of Ankpa and indeed the Ankpa Traditional Council has approved the conferment of 44 Chieftaincy titles on some Nigerians. While such gesture is ordinarily commendable as it is capable of spurring other members of the society to make meaningful contribution towards the development of the society, the said titles and the appertaining traditional greetings leave much to be desired.
Your Royal Majesty, of the 44 titles listed in the said press release, about 20 of them are completely alien to the Igala culture, language and tradition. They are on the surface, historical titles of the Hausa-Fulani royalty and seems to deepen the dominance of the Hausa-Fulani caliphate over and above our very revered and well cherished Igala Kingdom, heritage and tradition which your fore fathers have preserved for several centuries before the coming to existence of the Caliphate.
Your Royal Majesty, we make bold to state that the stool of Eje of Ankpa, like every other stool in Igala land owes its legitimacy and origin to descent from the Atta Idoko oma Abutu and consequently every traditional ruler and title holder within the Igala kingdom and land owe Ane Igala, the Igala people and your Majesty his allegiance and must as a corollary to such uphold, preserve, protect and promote Igala culture, heritage, tradition, values and ethos. Any contrary act is antithetic to our Igalaness and render such a traditional ruler or individual unfit to hold the beads of Ane-Igala.
Your Majesty, for the purpose of clarity and emphasis, we wish to make it clear that the Igala Nation is rich in culture and titles and consequently, we find it very strange and insulting that the Eje of Ankpa, HRH, Alh Abubakar Sadiq Ahmed Yakubu, an offspring of the first and historical Eje of Ankpa, Alhaji Yakubu Adaji from the Atiyele clan of the Idoko dynasty will rather choose the titles of the Caliphate such as Wazirin, Talban, Maradin, Magajin Gari, Marafan, Dan-Masanin, Dan-Amanar, Wakilin, Yeriman, Jakadiya, Wakiliyan, Danmuri, Garkuwan, Sauaukin, Zinariyya, Ajiya, Kaura, and Dan-Galadima over and above their Igala version. This we wish to state is aimed at ridiculing, humiliating and bringing to disrepute the Igala stool that he occupies and the Igala culture and tradition that he swore to uphold and preserve.
Your Royal Majesty, may we add that Ane Igala Restoration(AIR) as the representative of the Igala Nation and people worldwide feel extremely embarrassed and insulted by the action of the Eje of Ankpa and more particularly by the acquiescence of the members of the Ankpa traditional council who sat in their chamber and approved the conferment of such scandalous and ridiculous titles in Igala-land and by Igala stool. May we add that the foregoing action of the Eje of Ankpa is not an isolated case as he has carried out series of action which suggest in the time past that his allegiance is not to the Igala people and Ane-Igala and that his focus is to promote the interest of the Caliphate against that of Ane-Igala and her interests. These he has consistently shown in his carriage, dressing, mannerism and actions. A few examples will suffice, the Eje of Ankpa has consistently worn attires that portray him as the representative of the Caliphate and have refused to identify with the Igala Royal attire and identity even after several protestations from well-meaning Igala sons and daughters. He has consistently conducted most of his public and private activities as the Eje of Ankpa in Hausa rather than Igala and in the most despicable way referred to the Sultan of Sokoto publicly as the owner of his land during his coronation ceremony at Ankpa in 2023 where he publicly asked the Sultan to seat on his Royal seat instead of the Ata Igala.
Your Royal Majesty, the foregoing actions, we submit is a show of the apparent concession of Ankpa-land and by implication, Ane-Igala in whole to the Sultanate and we are heart-broken that your Majesty, the beacon of Igala civilization have watched all of these developments without any form of protestation or rebuke thereto.
Your Royal Majesty, we are aware that the Ankpa Traditional Council like every other in the Igala Area Traditional Council is answerable to you as the Chairman of the Igala Area Traditional Council and Kogi State Traditional Council and consequently should get approval from your office in carrying out major functions and reforms of the nature embarked upon by the Ankpa Traditional Council. We are equally aware that your predecessor in office shortly before proceeding on hunting expedition directed all Ejes and Chairmen of Local Government Traditional Council within the Igala-Area to desist from awarding titles without recourse to your office. We wonder if that directive had been vacated and if same had been vacated, whether such translate into powers to the Ejes to award non-igala titles?
We are further bewildered by the fact that these actions of the Eje of Ankpa raises more issues when viewed from best global practices as traditional institutions Nationally and beyond are only known to award titles inherent and indigenous to them, as the source of their power to grant same lies in the fact that such titles are indigenous to them. The action of the Eje of Ankpa in this wise is apparently an attempt at negative trail blazing and opens Ane-Igala up to ridicule, insult and castigation. We call on your Royal Majesty to intervene to avert same.
On behalf of Ane-Igala Restoration(AIR) and the Igala land and People, we are privileged to have identified this orchestration and the danger it portends for the Igala Nation and People. It is in this wise that we most passionately call on you as our Father and the father of every Igala person nation-wide to rise to this august occasion and offer protection for the interest, honour, glory and integrity of Igala people, culture and fame wherever they may be.
We therefore on this account call on your Royal Majesty to most respectfully direct the Eje of Ankpa, Alhaji Abubakar Sadiq Ahmed Yakubu to forthwith withdraw the purported titles to be awarded as contained in the said press release.
It is also our prayer that you cause the Ankpa Traditional Council to respond to a querry as to how such decision to award non-Igala titles was reached and the basis of such.
We further pray your Royal Majesty to bring the imperativeness of this enlightenment to the knowledge of our traditional leaders through the Igala Area Traditional Council and every other traditional institution.
May we sum up our plea that the Igala-Nation has slept over her rights and has been trampled upon for too long but must as a matter of self-preservation rise to the occasion and begin to hold vigil over her rights and take proactive measures to protect same where and when such is threatened.
We trust you as our Father to lead us from the front in this wise while Ane-Igala Restoration Network will continue to mobilize and collaborate with other Igala socio-cutural bodies to drive home our point.
Accept the assurances of our loyalty to your Royal Majesty, even as we pray that you will prosper on the throne of your forefathers.
God bless Agabaidu, Amideju waa.
Yours Sincerely in the service of your land.
Apostle Odekina Ekpe Ocholi, (PH,D)
National President, AIR
Salifu Oguche Usman, Esq, (LL.M)
Deputy National Secretary, (AIR)
FOR
Ane-Igala Restoraion(AIR)
CC.
HRH AHL. Abubakar Sadiq Ahmed Yakubu
The Eje of Ankpa.
Eje of Ankpa Palace
Ankpa-Okpo Road, Ankpa
Kogi State.
All Igala Socio-cultural Organizations.