ATABOR JULIUS
The Onuh Igala in Delta State, Dr. Salifu Akoji Anthony has advised Nigerians living outside their place of births to respect the culture, traditions, and value their laws and regulations in order to live in peace with their host communities.
The Royal father said, the advise became necessary as a result of incessant violent clashes across the country between the natives and settlers leadership to loss of lives and wanton destruction of property.
Chief Salifu Akoji Anthony gave the advice from the sidelines at the Igala Cultural Development Association’s ICDA one day consultative and confidence building for National Executive Committee NEC held at AKK hotels Lokoja, kogi state.
The Royal father noted that if one is in a foreign land, what one needs is to obey the rules, regulations,and value the hosts customs and traditions , which would pave ways for conducive environment to utilise their potentials.
He added that the host customs and traditions, rules and regulations are flagrantly breached by the settlers,which breeds acrimony leading to violent clashes across the country.
He said, his people living in Delta State have been briefed on this fact, and their assimilation to the value systems of the host has made Delta State a safe haven for his people.
Chief Anthony lamented at the attitudes of Igala sons and daughters not helping their people to grow, who alway indulged in pull him down syndrome, stressing that collective wealth is what define a great people and not individuals or pockets of rich people.
” Back home, average Igala man and woman does not want his siblings to grow. Why because, we have an orientation, of bringing ourselves down . For instance, a family that has one rich man is equal to a poor family, but in a family of say ten children and have seven rich men, the entire family would be rich.” He said.
He decried the worsening security situations in Igala land, urging patriots to wake up to their responsibilities to tame the external aggressors, saying, constant talking to the people to stop aiding and abetting criminal elements from inflicted pains on the people is the solution to the impasse.
He added that the first line of defence is for the community to organise themselves and protect the land as no strangers, kidnappers, fulani herdsmen can attack a community without the collusion of the natives.
” We must learn how to defend our communities against intruders. I’m not talking about arming ourselves to even kill ourselves, but to protect our internal integrity against external forces that would cause chaos and violence in our land.
” In this present situation of insecurity staring us in the face, and just like , security agencies do advice , communities should wake up to defend their ancestral homes. We are as a people must stand up to defend our land, nobody will do it for us, it is we, and I’m confident that we can do it.
On creating wealth for the kingdom, the revere monarch, disclosed that the Igala land is blessed with numerous mineral resources, but, lack front runners that will organise our people to tap these God given deposits.
He said the story of backwardness of Igala kingdom would soon be over with the present leadership of ICDA, headed by Navy Commodore Surgeon Ahmed Abdullahi who is passionate about repositioning the Igala heritage.
He disclosed that the ICDA through her NEC has been able to resolve disputes in some states and ready to inspire the people to take ownership of Igala cause and with prayers , the kingdom will soon become an envy of other nationalities.
He call on the people to jettison the mundane orientation of pulling ourselves down and to establish trust among people so as to bring development to our land.
” It is necessary for us to harness ourselves, enlighten us on the power of unity . With the renewed trust, those with the means would be able to establish companies at home and be rest assured of prudent management of their resources. With disunity, we can’t achieve our common goals and we will continue to wallow in poverty.
” We should be begin to think of larger Igala land, as together we will be able to achieve a lot. It is imperative for our people to know that it is more beneficial to teach someone how to catch a fish rather than givjng him the fish.
” our People can enter cooperatives and establish their businesses and those with connections should attract businesses to the land. We should have a new thoughts about ourselves as a people. We should go on Advocacy to raise consciousness of our people to know the importance of being in unity with fellow Igala.
” We are good at farming, but along the lines , we lost our values system and replace it with lack of trust. “You can’t trust anyone any longer to manage anything for you, In the olden days , we used to send our children from the cities to our parents at home for them to learn our language, understand our culture and tradition, but that tradition is no more. We are scared of everybody. We have lost our value system. That is why I’m using this medium for us to have a reorientation of our ways of lives” he sermonised.
charge Nigerians to Respect , culture traditions, value systems of host communities, as panacea to communal clashes
ATABOR JULIUS LOKOJA
The Onuh Igala in Delta State, Dr. Salifu Akoji Anthony has advised Nigerians living outside their place of births to respect the culture, traditions, and value their laws and regulations in order to live in peace with their host communities.
The Royal father said, the advise became necessary as a result of incessant violent clashes across the country between the natives and settlers leadership to loss of lives and wanton destruction of property.
Chief Salifu Akoji Anthony gave the advice from the sidelines at the Igala Cultural Development Association’s ICDA one day consultative and confidence building for National Executive Committee NEC held at AKK hotels Lokoja, kogi state.
The Royal father noted that if one is in a foreign land, what one needs is to obey the rules, regulations,and value the hosts customs and traditions , which would pave ways for conducive environment to utilise their potentials.
He added that the host customs and traditions, rules and regulations are flagrantly breached by the settlers,which breeds acrimony leading to violent clashes across the country.
He said, his people living in Delta State have been briefed on this fact, and their assimilation to the value systems of the host has made Delta State a safe haven for his people.
Chief Anthony lamented at the attitudes of Igala sons and daughters not helping their people to grow, who alway indulged in pull him down syndrome, stressing that collective wealth is what define a great people and not individuals or pockets of rich people.
” Back home, average Igala man and woman does not want his siblings to grow. Why because, we have an orientation, of bringing ourselves down . For instance, a family that has one rich man is equal to a poor family, but in a family of say ten children and have seven rich men, the entire family would be rich.” He said.
He decried the worsening security situations in Igala land, urging patriots to wake up to their responsibilities to tame the external aggressors, saying, constant talking to the people to stop aiding and abetting criminal elements from inflicted pains on the people is the solution to the impasse.
He added that the first line of defence is for the community to organise themselves and protect the land as no strangers, kidnappers, fulani herdsmen can attack a community without the collusion of the natives.
” We must learn how to defend our communities against intruders. I’m not talking about arming ourselves to even kill ourselves, but to protect our internal integrity against external forces that would cause chaos and violence in our land.
” In this present situation of insecurity staring us in the face, and just like , security agencies do advice , communities should wake up to defend their ancestral homes. We are as a people must stand up to defend our land, nobody will do it for us, it is we, and I’m confident that we can do it.
On creating wealth for the kingdom, the revere monarch, disclosed that the Igala land is blessed with numerous mineral resources, but, lack front runners that will organise our people to tap these God given deposits.
He said the story of backwardness of Igala kingdom would soon be over with the present leadership of ICDA, headed by Navy Commodore Surgeon Ahmed Abdullahi who is passionate about repositioning the Igala heritage.
He disclosed that the ICDA through her NEC has been able to resolve disputes in some states and ready to inspire the people to take ownership of Igala cause and with prayers , the kingdom will soon become an envy of other nationalities.
He call on the people to jettison the mundane orientation of pulling ourselves down and to establish trust among people so as to bring development to our land.
” It is necessary for us to harness ourselves, enlighten us on the power of unity . With the renewed trust, those with the means would be able to establish companies at home and be rest assured of prudent management of their resources. With disunity, we can’t achieve our common goals and we will continue to wallow in poverty.
” We should be begin to think of larger Igala land, as together we will be able to achieve a lot. It is imperative for our people to know that it is more beneficial to teach someone how to catch a fish rather than givjng him the fish.
” our People can enter cooperatives and establish their businesses and those with connections should attract businesses to the land. We should have a new thoughts about ourselves as a people. We should go on Advocacy to raise consciousness of our people to know the importance of being in unity with fellow Igala.
” We are good at farming, but along the lines , we lost our values system and replace it with lack of trust. “You can’t trust anyone any longer to manage anything for you, In the olden days , we used to send our children from the cities to our parents at home for them to learn our language, understand our culture and tradition, but that tradition is no more. We are scared of everybody. We have lost our value system. That is why I’m using this medium for us to have a reorientation of our ways of lives” he sermonised.
