PAN-Yoruba organisation the Afenifere Renewal Group (Arg) has called on Nigeria's Igbo community to stop the practise of crowning their own kings in Yorubaland as it desecrates the culture of their hosts.
Earlier this week, Sir Gregory Iloehike was enthroned as the Eze Ndigbo of Akure in his own palace but the traditional monarch the Deji of Akure, Oba Aladetoyinbo Odundun II opposed the move saying the city cannot have two traditional rulers. He subsequently marched to the Eze Ndigbo's palace and asked that it be shut down and the furore has brought about tension in the city.
Lately, Igbo communities across Nigeria have taken to installing their own monarchs known as Eze Ndigbo, to cater for the welfare of their subjects. Although these Eze Ndigbo's are not legally recognised by the government, they wield a lot of influence within the Igbo communities, especially the retail trade.
Arg publicity secretary Kunle Famoriyo, said the title of Eze Ndigbo in Yorubaland is not backed by any customary law and is therefore considered alien. He denounced the unrelenting desecration of Yoruba culture, particularly by the Igbo communities’ obsession with having a crowned king in Yoruba domains.
Mr Famoriyo said: “The evolution of this structure has forced us to consider it as an expansionist agenda as the structure is only rampant in Yorubaland. In Akure, the Eze believes he now has the power to invest people with chieftaincy titles that are traditional to Yoruba kingship system.
"In Lagos State, there is an Eze Ndigbo of Lagos, as well as for each of the 57 local government areas and there are reports that we now even have Eze Ndigbo of some neighbourhoods in Lagos. What used to be were development unions and associations of Igbo people living in Yorubaland and these associations are welcome and supported, being organisations set up to discuss the welfare of their members.”
According to Mr Famoriyo, the manner this idea of Eze Ndigbo sprouted and started spreading connotes territorial influence and even ownership. He added that this practice has continued to stretch the tolerant nature of Yoruba people to the limit and it appears the eventual aim of its perpetrators is to stretch this beautiful culture of Yorubas to the breaking point.
He added that this was something that Yoruba people living away from Yorubaland did not even think of and therefore see no reason why migrants living in Yorubaland should not know their boundaries. Arg then called on all Yoruba traditional rulers and the executive heads of government at state and local levels governors to de-recognise all customary titles that are not backed by our customs, particularly those that they did not confer and enjoined those parading themselves as holders of such titles to drop them in the spirit of peaceful coexistence.
