SV: SV: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Can this be true? And is it right?

Normally, there should be no Kingdoms in a Republic, a fact I emphasized in one of my previous posts that there is no Federal Kingdoms of Nigeria but Federal Republic of Nigeria. Since the Constitution permits the institution of traditional rulers in Nigeria Oba, Emir, Sultan, Eze, etc. there is little an individual like me can do than expressing my views on the contradiction until it is removed from the constitution.

Prior to the advent of colonialism in Igboland, some communities were republican, while others were monarchical. The Eze Aro, Eze Iri and others preceded colonialism - Chidi Anthony Opara.

Just to be clear, Igbos traditionally do not have Kings (Eze) that rules them - K. Gozie Ifesinachukwu.

The two contradictory statements on the significance of the institution of Eze in Igboland by Mr. Opara and Mr. Ifesinachukwu, demonstrate the confusion the word Eze can generate outside Igboland in Nigeria. We know about Aba Market Women's Riot of !929 against the Warrant Chiefs created by the Colonial Britain in Igboland to facilitate their administration as against their utilization of Oba in the West and Emirs in the North. That was because, as the Igbo say, Igbo Enwe Eze, Igbo have no kings. But when Britain elevated Warrant Chiefs to EZE and crowned them with the red cap imported from Morocco, Igbo protested too and coined the euphemism, Ezebuilo, meaning A-King-Is-An-Enemy. As colonialism persisted, Igbo got used to their Eze which, contrary to Ifesinachukwu, Achebe translated as King in his book, Home and Exile. If we accept that the right translation of the Igbo word "EZE" is King and the person who is crowned "EZE NDIGBO OF AKURE" behaves not only as a King but requests all Akure inhabitants to treat him as a King, there can be no other conclusion than there are two kings in Akure. Only an ignoramus would blame Deji of Akure for reacting against the emergence of Eze Ndigbo Kingdom in his Akure Kingdom. If Eze Ndigbo of Akure, has behaved like an ordinary leader of the Igbo in Akure, the traditional rulers in Ondo State would not have had anything against him. The core of the problem is that the word EZE in Igbo means King and Eze Ndigbo of Akure means Igbo King of Akure when, according to tradition, Akure can only have a King over all the inhabitants of Akure irrespective of their ethnic origin in Nigeria. Igbo people can have a leader in Akure, but he should not be called a King who desires to be treated as a King.

S.Kadiri  

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Från: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> för K. Gozie Ifesinachukwu <kgifesi@austin.rr.com>
Skickat: den 28 december 2016 22:48
Till: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Ämne: RE: SV: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Can this be true? And is it right?

 

Salimonu,

Just to be clear, Igbos traditionally does not have kings (Eze) that rules them. They have council of elders that make laws for the community and the oldest person in the town is traditionally the leader. Having the oldest person in the town be the titular head almost always means no one titular head stays too long in the office as a leader before he is claimed by death.

 

"If Eze Ndigbo of Akure, for instance, is translated to mean Igbo King of Akure, that would mean there are two Kings in Akure and that the Igbo in Akure only recognize the authority of their Eze of Akure and not that of Deji of Akure." Salimonu Kadiri

 

Why not simply translate "Eze Ndigo of Akure" to mean "The leader of Igbos in Akure or the President of Igbos in Akure" and not a translation that is designed to create unnecessary tension in the community.

 

"Any attempt to install Eze Ndigbo of Akure must necessarily imply the expropriation of landmass from the territory under the jurisdiction of Oba of Akure." Salimonu Kadiri

 

Mr. Kadiri, you are extrapolating things that do not in fact exist. There is no expropriation of landmass in Akure by the "Eze Ndigbo of Akure" any more than there is expropriation of landmass by Oba Yoruba of The Gambia in The Gambia. Imagining it will not make it so.

 

"Just as the Yoruba in [The] Gambia are free to organize themselves socially, culturally, and economically, and are free to appoint/elect a leader for such organization so are the Igbo free to do likewise in Akure or anywhere in Nigeria." Salimonu Kadiri.

If the Igbos are free to organize themselves as you indicated, then they should be free to name their leader as they see fit including "Eze Ndigbo in Akure" just as Yoruba in The Gambia are free to appoint their leader and give the leader a name that works for them. I am surprised that will make the statement above and then reach your conclusions in your posting. It is often important to be intellectually consistent in our postulations.

 

I personally do not believe in the concept of "Eze Ndigbo ….." Having said that, I am surprised at the length that you will go to justify a clearly illegal pronouncement by the traditional rulers of Ondo. Why stop there. Why not declare that any person born in Ondo State must bear approved Yoruba name by these "traditional rulers" of Ondo state. These traditional leaders simply do not have the power or right to make the pronouncement on the words any person should address themselves by.  Under the Nigerian constitution, a leader can call themselves anything that they so wish including "Eze Ndigbo in Akure" so long the name does not impersonate other. Whomever this person is, did not call himself Oba of Akure, or Deji of Akure, or Alafin of Akure or any other title that makes him leader of anything but the Igbos in Akure. These Ondo State traditional leaders are creating tensions where none should exist. We either want to operate a democratic republic governed by our constitution or we don't.

 

"All communities have the right to organize themselves and their networks in legitimate manners so far as they are not doing anything illegal, promoting violence, and causing troubles. Citizenship rights are crucial in a country as big as Nigeria." Toyin Falola

Now, that is wisdom enfolded in empathy.

 

Regards,

Gozie

 

From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [mailto:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Salimonu Kadiri
Sent: Wednesday, December 28, 2016 9:49 AM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Subject: SV: SV: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Can this be true? And is it right?

 

By definition, a Yoruba Oba (King) has, not only subjects under his jurisdiction but, a coherent territorial landmass on which he exercises power. Premised on that definition, the Oba Yoruba of Gambia, without control of a coherent territory of a landmass and with his subjects scattered throughout the Republic of Gambia, would amount to nothing but a counterfeit Oba. He is not a genuine Oba as the ones in the Yoruba part of Nigeria. That was what I undiplomatically referred to as fraud with regards to Oba Yoruba of Gambia and no pawn was meant. Similarly, Eze Ndigbo of Akure is a counterfeit Eze because his subjects are scattered throughout Akure and he has no territorial landmass under his control. Just as the Yoruba in Gambia are free to organize themselves socially, culturally, and economically, and are free to appoint/elect a leader for such organization so are the Igbo free to do likewise in Akure or anywhere in Nigeria. Any attempt to install Eze Ndigbo of Akure must necessarily imply the expropriation of landmass from the territory under the jurisdiction of Oba of Akure. Gambian aborigines are complacent to the Oba of Yoruba in their country since it does not infringe on any of the officially recognised tradition and cultural ethos of the Gambians. In Akure, the Eze Ndigbo infringes on the officially recognized tradition and culture of the people, namely, two Kings in the town. The leader of Igbo socio-cultural and economic organization in Akure cannot be titled King of Akure Igbo and to do otherwise is an invitation to battle.

S.Kadiri
 

 

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Från: 'Bayo Omolola' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Skickat: den 27 december 2016 19:58
Till: usaafricadialogue; usaafricadialogue
Ämne: Re: SV: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Can this be true? And is it right?

 

Thank you, sir, for your great idea. It makes sense to me, and l hope other readers of your contribution may support it. However, l would not consider the word "fraud" an appropriate label or description for the institution of Oba in The Gambia. I know you may want to my reasons. I have two reasons. One, l lived in The Gambia and still visit the country and know about the Yoruba culture, displayed by the Aku (the descendants of the Yoruba) and the Nigerian and Benin Yoruba who moved directly from their countries to the country. With that, l think l am in a good position to talk about the place. Second, l was one of the few people that started a Yoruba group which eventually came up with great ideas to promote the Yoruba culture which the Aku are known to be promoting in the country. The current Oba is number two. He ascended the throne after late Oba Jinadu, a very nice elderly man from lkirun ,"entered the roof," a Yoruba euphemism or idiomatic expression reserved for announcing the passing_away of a king. May his soul test in peace! During the reign of Oba Jinadu, I resisted taking a chieftaincy title he wanted to confer on me. He, his wife, other chiefs and some members wanted me to be a chief. I said l was not ready for a title. That happened at intervals before l left the country. The current Oba was my colleague at a school and has been a friend since we met. He is now a successful business in the country. He was not in our group at the formative and initial implementation stages. I doubt if he was in The Gambia then. If he was, he was not in Banjul where the whole idea started and began to manifest. Banjul is a small place.We knew one another. Some people living in Serrekunda joined our sessions. Michael Ogunlana (now Michael Lana) who was the attorney_general during the era of the Akala government in Oyo State of Nigeria coordinated the initial meetings, provided a space in his apartment for our sessions, and became our president and coordinated the meetings until the mantle of leadership fell on the shoulder of Olatunde, the brother_in_law to Edward Singateh, the former vice_president to President Yahya Jammeh of The Gambia. Other development followed.Lawyer Lana and other members, especially the executive, worked relentlessly to lay the foundation of the Yoruba community of the modern days in The Gambia. Later, we involved older Yoruba to give them due respect and to form a common front for all the descendants of the Yoruba in The Gambia. Some of the pioneering members are still with Yoruba groupI in The Gambia today. With the information above, l will proceed to the institution of obaship in The Gambia. Is the institution of Obaship in The Gambia a fraud? An answer to this question will depend on the motive behind the issue that led to the use of the word "fraud" by my fellow discussant. It also, depends on my motive for rejecting the word. Since l am not a mind reader, l do not want to belabor myself on the motive of the user of the expression. Rather, l want to say why it is not a fraud so that all those who know about the development in The Gambia through this medium can know why the institution started. Some issues led to the establishment of the institution of obaship in The Gambia: vibrant nature and wisdom. These description should not be mistake for pride. When l look back and rember how we wanted to avoid possible future clashes between with the Yoruba association, we decided to have two layers: traditional instition or council of elders and the political wing, though not labelled so. Most of us left Nigeria for better opportunities in The Gambia but still wanted to create our cultural awareness for development that would link us well with the people of The Gambia as well as with our own people in Nigeria. Underneath, some of use would want to dive into politics at home from the far away Gambia.. We also had economic opportunities as our interest. At a stage, we realized that the older people had to form a council of elders and hold their meetings and we had to be reporting our activities to them to get their view. Eventually, the group decided to emulate the idea in places like Togo and Cote D'lvoire. Those two places had had a long history of obaship for their Yoruba communities. After the demise of Oba Jinadu Salami, Oba Mashood Abolade, the current Yoruba king who hails from lbadan, ascended the throne. That was after l left The Gambia, but l got the information that our initial idea to get one or more leading Yoruba kings to witness and perform the installation of any Gambia-based Yoruba king materialized; some traditional kings were present to perform his installation rituals, according to the information that reached me. Oba Jinadu passed after l left the Gambia. I have added this information so that you can know that l might have missed some development since l was not in The Gambia at the time involved. Perhaps my fellow discussant or other readers who have the same view and still believe that the word "fraud" best describes the obaship in The Gambia will add their contribution for the general benefit of all us that like adding to our knowledge as we try to prove our points.

 

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From: Salimonu Kadiri <ogunlakaiye@hotmail.com>;
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>;
Subject: SV: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Can this be true? And is it right?
Sent: Tue, Dec 27, 2016 3:03:05 PM

 

There can only be monarchs in Federal Kingdoms of Nigeria and not in Federal Republic of Nigeria. Having Kings in the Federal Republic of Nigeria is a contradiction that makes the outside world laugh at us. Before 15th January 1966, the then Western Region had House of Chiefs and not House of Kings, but the supposedly Kings occupied the House of Chiefs. Officially, any King could be deposed and banished by the government of the day. At present, Kings exist at the grace of the State's government who issue them staff of office and remunerated them according to their grades. In Yorubaland, a King (Oba) is the traditional ruler of a town in which all the inhabitants are his subjects. Therefore, there can be no two Kings in a town.   If Eze Ndigbo of Akure, for instance, is translated to mean Igbo King of Akure, that would mean there are two Kings in Akure and that the Igbo in Akure only recognize the authority of their Eze of Akure and not that of Deji of Akure. To legitimatize Eze Ndigbo of Akure, he must be approved and given staff of office by Ondo State Commissioner of Local Government and Chiefs' Affairs. With that done the Eze Ndigbo of Akure will be entitled to enjoy salaries and other fringe benefits from the State's Government. Since, according to the tradition, Deji of Akure is the traditional ruler of Akure and all inhabitants of Akure are his subjects, regardless of their ethnic origin in Nigeria, the institution of Igbo King of Akure constitutes an act of rebellion against the King of Akure. The Eze title is valid in Igboland and not in any other place in Nigeria.   No  one disputes the fact that 'the Ebira in Akure have a right to appoint their own leader,' but the truth is that such a leader should not be titled Oba Ebira of Akure. The existence of Oba Yoruba of the Gambia as reported is a fraud and an illegal imposition. Yoruba have many Kings (Oba) and not a single monarch. Since all the Yoruba in Gambia do not come from the same town, all the Oba in Yorubaland must approve the person aspiring to be Oba Yoruba of the Gambia, for him to attain legitimacy. Besides, Oba Yoruba of the Gambia does not conflict with any of the traditional and official titles in the Gambia. Similarly, Eze Ndigbo of Baltimore does not conflict with any of the traditional and official titles in Baltimore. But if Eze Ndigbo of Baltimore is translated to mean Igbo Mayor or Governor of Baltimore that may lead to a case of impersonation or illegal usurpation of official title and power. In Ondo State, it is not the right of the Igbo to organise themselves and choose their leader that is in question but the right to have their own Kings in all the towns and villages of Ondo State. In Ondo State, like all States in Yorubaland, it is an abomination to have two Kings in a town. S.Kadiri       Från: 'Bayo Omolola' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> Skickat: den 27 december 2016 12:32 Till: usaafricadialogue; USAAfrica Dialogue Ämne: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Can this be true? And is it right?   It is unfortunate that Nigeria is and will continue with its ethnic issues until every Nigerian is law_abiding, ethnic tolerant, culture conscious, and free anywhere in the country. If Ondo bans lgbo from having their Eze, what is or are the reasons? How does the reason or do the reasons fit into the frame of the Yoruba culture? What does the constitution of Nigeria say? Has the constitution been effective in similar situations? What is the implication of the conflicting intercultural experience in Ondo for the Yoruba land in particular and Nigeria in general? What should be done to prevent what does not promote peace? My questions add to the voice of Professor Toyin Falola so that the issue can be approached from different angles. Bayo Omolola   From: Toyin Falola <toyinfalola@austin.utexas.edu>; To: dialogue <USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com>; Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Can this be true? And is it right? Sent: Mon, Dec 26, 2016 12:21:46 PM   Dear ones: I read the news below, and I am reaching out for its confirmation. Can Ondo traditional rulers ban Igbo among their midsts from having their own Eze? Someone needs to first, confirm that they that they said this. Second, to let them know that they lack the right to do this.   All communities have the right to organize themselves and their networks in legitimate manners so far as they are not doing anything illegal, promoting violence, and causing troubles. Citizenship rights are crucial in a country as big as Nigeria.   The Ebira in Akure have a right to appoint their own leader. Period. On December 11, I had a short meeting with the Oba Yoruba of the Gambia, wearing all his insignias. Yes, the Yoruba in the Gambia can choose to have their own Oba. On the day of his coronation in Gambia, people went from Nigeria. We spoke about politics in Gambia. Yes, we can speak about politics in Gambia within the constitutional rights and limits granted to non-citizens in that country. Can we organize a coup and take over? No.   The Igbo in Baltimore can choose to have their Eze in Baltimore, so far as they do not set up laws contrary to those of the city. They can even build their own schools, church, mosque, even create a bank.     http://punchng.com/ondo-traditional-rulers-ban-eze-ndigbo-title/ Ondo Traditional Rulers Ban Eze Ndigbo Title Traditional rulers in Ondo State have banned the Igbo traditional title of Eze Ndigbo in all towns and villages in the state. The Deji of Akure, Oba Aladelusi Aladetoyinbo announced the resolution of the traditional rulers in the state through a statement issued by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Michael Adeyeye. He declared that the title of Eze Ndigbo no longer exist in the state. He said all the traditional rulers in the state had agreed to ensure that the title of Eze Ndigbo is banned in all their domains. Punch Toyin Falola Department of History The University of Texas at Austin 104 Inner Campus Drive Austin, TX 78712-0220 USA 512 475 7224 512 475 7222 (fax) http://sites.utexas.edu/yoruba-studies-review/ http://www.toyinfalola.com  http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa   http://groups.google.com/group/yorubaaffairs  http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue    -- Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group. 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