By Ajogwu Jerry Ochada
Once upon a time we had a rich cultural background rooted in royalty and prestige with tentacles expanding across the Niger. Today, it is an ugly story told by survivors behind a dim moonlight with reflections full of agonies amidst touching memories.
This too shall pass away!
It is just a matter of time but never again in our clime shall we record the death of great men before reaching their prime. Ane Igala is in need of solution; a portion to bury bitter notions troubling our beloved nation.
This quagmire of confusion, destruction and frustration must not continue. We must come together to plot a new graph before it is too late. This great kingdom needs urgent spiritual overhaul and we do not need the services of any soothsayer to teach us prudent skills to embrace in order to avoid disgrace.
The Igala kingdom should not be a center for the burial of martyrs who lived a life of impact but exited the world with bleeding hearts due to unaccomplished mission. As humans, we are all messengers on earth to run destined errands as dictated by God; the ultimate creator of mankind.
The fall of an iroko tree is a lucid warning to other trees to be conscious of their lifespan but it does not necessitate an end of the forest. Kings will come and go but the kingdom must remain.
Since 1999 when the great Alapa – Dr Stephen Oma’koji Achema – bade us goodnight at dawn, it has left a tribulation of unfulfilled dreams at the peak of bigger goals we seek. How can we forget the contributions of Adoja? A colourful breed of Igala race who left when the ovation was loudest according to the will of God but to the grief of man.
Just a fortnight ago, the great Gabaidu went for another hunting expedition leaving the Igala nation in a critical situation of wailing and gnashing of teeth. It is time to stitch our excruciating wounds before we preach another agenda of unity.
Ane’Igala is our home, there is no place like home but who do we have to call our own? It is time for sober reflections. How long are we prepared to mourn the exit of great icons? Where did we go wrong as a people? We urgently need a critical appraisal to stitch our wounds because we cannot continue hoping for better days without the much needed spiritual wherewithal.
Igalas are peace loving people with histories of communal cooperation from the earliest times with enviable foresight anchored on prosperity of Ane’Igala but in contemporary assessments, reverse is the case. We now have a disorder of classified new breeds of political sellouts always on standby to perpetuate evil doctrines of greed thereby instigating disharmony in our land.
Henceforth, may the gods do the needful!
We must understand the obvious realities: before politics, we are first of all Igalas and the bond of ethnic extraction should always have overarching authority over any form of political engagement because at the end of every game we must retire home to rest in our nest in the euphoria of contest and conquest. In other words, you cannot return to a territory you once set ablaze in search of peace because karma is a beast.
Politics should not define our unity rather it should refine our conscience to unite positive forces against a common enemy. We need to raise the standards by striving to bury any structure affecting our peace, prosperity and progress.
It is time to stitch old wounds before it is too late. We must not watch Ane’Igala bleed to death by allowing political actors to suffocate our fortunes. Politics is a recent twist, Ane’Igala and abomi Igala existed before politics therefore we must wake up from our slumber by uniting forces in search of peace.
Ane’Igala MUST rise again because we have learnt bitter lessons that must not be debated on social media but it is prudent we go back to the inner room to redefine our steps.
May the sacrifice of Attah Ayegba Om’Idoko and all our heroes past NEVER put us to shame!
