By Ajogwu Jerry Ochada
I observed with stark dismay the way and manner some persons hastily embrace the gullibility of social media to cast lazy aspersions on the revered stool of the Attah of Igala. It took me time to write on this subject but it is pertinent I state it clearly to free my conscience of mute connivance because my silence is no longer golden.
I have centered this discourse on my perceptions and it is my passionate appeal that as sons and daughters of Igala extraction we should endeavor to learn our cultures and norms in order not to attract curses because ignorance is never an excuse.
From time immemorial, the stool of the Attah Igala was (and still) revered and it will NEVER lose relevance even though it is ignorantly a habit for an average Igala youth living in this century to tongue-lash the custodian of our defined and refined heritage.
For the records, it is not morally justifiable for ANYONE to insult a leader — exceptions of an elected clueless leader — because it is a general belief that traditional rulers are chosen by the gods seeing that they are usually numerous contenders for the seat but just one person emerges the winner.
Permit me to posit that the incumbent Attah of Igala is ruler appointed by the gods and any style utilised as a form of defamation of character is a curse earned by the offender, attempting to criticise the gods.
It is my passionate appeal, to all Igala sons and daughters (in Nigeria and diaspora) that we must learn to moderate our verbal aggression and misguided utterances towards that noble stool of our ethnic pride.
ATTAH should be seen as a god and if you think he has derailed —in your personal or communal assessments — allow the gods to take their decisions, nobody can criticise the gods and go scot-free.
In a nutshell, no individual should take cover under any religious backing to insult any traditional ruler. If you think you are living in an era of modernity, kindly pinpoint an occasion where the Queen of England was openly insulted on the social media by people of British descents. Remember, the effects of colonisation which pirated our cultures to some lesser extent, prompting some of us to misbehave in this contemporary era, came to the frontiers of our local existence through the White imperialists, yet they do not insult their Queen.
WE MUST RESPECT OUR TRADITIONAL INSTITUTIONS!
God bless the Igala Nation!
