Ejeh Ankpa IV: A King Right In Time, Why Looks Doesn’t Really Matter
By Muhammed Nasiru Adejoh
An ignorantly united group of vile men and women seems to be on the offensive against the dressing choices of Ejeh Ankpa IV and Chairman of the Ankpa Traditional Council, His Royal Highness Alhaji Abubakar Sadiq Ahmed Yakubu II in his ongoing familiarization tour to some Emirates across the North. They pick issues with virtually every public appearance he makes, pretending to do so in the Igala interest; positing that they alone, know it all.
Arrogantly, they claim to know more about Igala dressing than everyone else and they are ever so ready to criticize, condemn and speak negatively about whatever their minds feels should not be.
They have no original claim to their arguments other than that they are not slaves to the North, as in their most arguments and to Islam, as in rare cases. They feel so all Knowing about the Igala royal dressings that they point examples to their heart desired personalities without recourse to circumstances that led to the mode of dressing.
With just a few exceptions, they really don’t care about Igala socioeconomic development but it the regalia they love to see. So, they will stop at nothing to discredit whoever is not dressed as they imagined themselves that he or she should look and His Royal Highness Alhaji Abubakar Sadiq Ahmed Yakubu has unfairly become the target of their pitiable frustrations. Unfortunately, there is no instance or record of Him dressing contrary to the Igala mode of dressing before His Royal Majesty, Matthew Alhaji Opaluwa who is the Atta’gala and custodian of Igala Culture.
It is important to state clearly that identity is everything and the current crop of Igala traditional rulers, especially the Ejeh of Ankpa welcomes objective criticisms and cultural activism that are poised at moving Igala Nation forward. This is an aspect of his emergent intention that expands on his current visitation to highly respected chiefdoms, kingdoms and emirates that can fasten the developmental growth of Ankpa Local Government Area and therefore, the social media cultural custodians must be told to go get a life and find meaningful things to do.
Those who believe that no King can dress as it pleases them must be told to stop hallucinating. The mischievous story tellers, cruel propagandists and calculated liars who are bent on turning the people against our royal fathers must be reminded that Igala nation is in a state of ethnic amnesia, lost glory, divided attention, forgotten prides, stranded actions and pitiful inactions brought upon it by too much dependence on political economy. In fact, these decadence is a tale for another day.
Let me put it on record that you cannot own a football game when the ball is not in your possession, you cannot be a referee without the whistle and you cannot play God for the case of God is not in the hands of men. Therefore, beyond clothing attires, the Igala Nation needs people that has the true virtues necessary to resuscitate it from the abyss of underdevelopment, youth unemployment, economic retardation and those norms and value such as honesty, hard work, self dignity, discipline and sound morals that were characteristic of our forefathers.
Without any iota of doubt, His Royal Highness Alhaji Abubakar Sadiq Ahmed Yakubu has come right on time to lead a pathway in this revival and his choice of dressings are completely inconsequential. Within his short assumption of office, Ankpa power supply has greatly improved as a result of his strategic facilitation of the deployment of technicians from Transmission Company of Nigeria, Ejeh Royal Palace in Ankpa is back to normal liveliness, the Youths have found in him a father they can walk up to for consolation and career guidance, a more realistic Ankpa Town Hall project has commenced as being coordinated by the Igala Consultative Forum and a good number of illustrious sons and daughters of Ankpa has begin to form a united front to bring home development.
The albatross of those ranting to high heavens, the dressing of the very young, energetic, visionary, determined, refined and focused Ejeh of Ankpa IV therefore is that their “see-no-good” comments comes from their ignorant knowledge of the ideal identity of the Igala Nation which is almost dissolving like a scientific diffusion that causes a substance to dissolve from the region of a high concentration to a region of lower concentration through a permeable membrane. With this sad reality, where is the audacity to condemn the King?
For the first time in a long while, an Igala King is up and down, touring and connecting, meeting and engaging foremost traditional rulers who doesn’t just command high respect in their emirates but occupy father status to citizens that has the capacity to turn things around or otherwise all over the country.
From the Gidan Makama in Nasarawa to Zazzau in Zaria, through Kazaure via Kano-kanawa to Katsina and Daura, the Ejeh have succeeded in building a long lasting relationship with royal fathers that have subjects across the different spheres of the economy. The multiplier effect of these familiarization tours is that it has coherence in the achievement of an improved society better than we have today. Moreso that the Ejeh had earlier promised to bequeath a greater Ankpa to generations to come in his acceptance speech, he needs to be supported at every cost.
The truth is, most of these men and women who are quick to condemn dressings don’t seem to care very much about the Igala unemployed youths who are looking for jobs. They don’t give a damn whether it puts Igala to shame or not when they dupe, lie, backstab or engage in socially unacceptable conducts that contradicts the ideal Igala reputation. At a time like now, it is not enough for Kings to be dressing as will please their subjects while those innate characters that made Igala an enviable ethnic nationality fades away.
We will be of course, doing ourselves no good overstating what is by now, not a problem at all: We have too many problems confronting us as a people and the earlier we begin to channel energy towards addressing them, the better for all of us. Let’s stop crafting emotions and start making meaningful engagements.
For us as a people, who we have as Ejeh Ankpa IV is a king right in time. It doesn’t really matter how he dresses, moreso that his appearance only raise dusts when he is on external engagements, let him be. His allegiance to Attah Igala is unquestionable, his acceptance is legendary and his profile is what we prayed for.
Long Live Ané Igala
Long Live Ejeh Ankpa
Long Live Ankpa Traditional Council
Muhammed Nasiru is a proud subject of Ankpa Traditional Council and can be reached on naadejohs@gmail.com or his Twitter handle — @amnasiru
