URGENT PRESS RELEASE. ANE IGALA RESTORATION(AIR) REJECTS THE CONFERMENT.

URGENT PRESS RELEASE.

ANE IGALA RESTORATION(AIR) REJECTS THE CONFERMENT OF NON IGALA TITLES ON INDIVIDUALS BY ANKPA TRADITIONAL COUNCIL HEADED BY THE EJE OF ANKPA, HRH ALH ABUBAKAR SADIQ AHMED YAKUBU AND CALLS FOR INTROSPECTION.

Ane Igala Restoration (AIR) is a pan Igala socio-cultural and restorative Organization with a unique mandate from the Atta Igala to pursue the restoration of all Igalas scattered across the federation to their ancestral root and to foster unity, progress and a sense of communality amongst them strongly view the

press release by Rilwan Hamza, who claimed to be th Chief Press Secretary to Eje of Ankpa dated the 2nd January, 2024 where he announced the conferment of supposed traditional honourary titles to individuals in recognition of their contributions to the wellbeing of Ankpa people, the Ankpa chiefdom and Nigeria at large as an affront on Igala culture.

While we appreciate the gestures of Ankpa traditional council under the leadership of the Eje of Ankpa, ALH ABUBAKAR SADIQ AHMED YAKUBU for this timely development which is aimed at encouraging other members of the Nigerian society to contribute positively towards the development of the society, we make bold to say that as the representative of the Igala Nation and people, an integral and very cardinal part of which Ankpa is, we reject the said exercise in entirety and call on the Ankpa traditional council to cancel the said appointment and conferment immediately for the following obvious reasons.

1. May we state in passing that the Ankpa traditional institution as personified by the stool of Eje of Ankpa was created by the Military Administration of old Kwara state in 1974 for the Atiyele rulling dynasty of the Igala Nation on the Eastern flank of Ane Igala. Historically, the stool was established by an Edict to assuage some feelings of non inclusiveness in traditional representation amongst the Igalas of the old Ankpa Division and meant to rotate amongst the oldest traditional stools of Onu Ife, Onu Ankpa, Onu Ogugu, Onu Imane, Onu Ojukwu, Onu Enjema and Onu Atabaka.

2. Suffice to state that it was and it remains a wholly Igala stool with no Fulani affiliation or colouration whatsoever and that the subsequent balkanization of the old Ankpa Division with the creation of Ankpa, Omala and Olamaboro respectively came with the replication of the Eje stool at Olamaboro which is to be rotated amongst the Onu Ogugu, Onu Imane and Onu Atabaka while Ojogba of ife retains the permanent leadership of Omala Eje stool. Eje of Ankpa remains rotational between Onu Ojukwu, Onu Ankpa and Onu Enjema.

3. We wish to put it on records that the foregoing facts are contained in historical legal documents and that the conttinued monopoly of the stool of Eje of Ankpa by the offspring of the first Eje of Ankpa, Alhaji Yakubu Adaji is a mere happenstance and a gesture of unique tolerance and understanding by the contending rulling houses within the Ankpa traditional domain.

4. If the foregoing historical account is well taken, Ane Igala Restoration wishes to state that she is bewildered by the action of the present Eje of Ankpa and the Ankpa traditional council who holds the beads of Ankpa people and Igala land but yet choose to wilfully concede Igala land to the Hausa Fulani oligarchy without any request or contention, by abandoning Igala traditional values, identity, ethos, spirits and mannerisms and in its place embracing those of the Hausa Fulani oligarchy.

5. The foregoing acts of cultural sellout has characterized the activities of His Royal Highness over the years of his reign and has climaxed with the purported conferment of about 44 supposed traditional titles with about 19 of them only being Igala in letter and spirit while the rest are Hausa Fulani in body, soul and spirit.

6. We wish to further state that this act of the Royal Father runs contrary to everything the Igala Nation and people holds sacred. Infact, it is an insult on the Igala Honour and historical stance and a desecration of her well established glory. May we add that never in history has the Igala Nation been subjected, culturally assimilated or conquered by the Hausa Fulani as to warrant the imposition and supplant of Hausa Fulani cultural Identity and values over those of Igala.

7. We hereby state unequivocally that the conferment of titles such as Galadima, Turakin, Marradin and their likes by HRH the Eje of Ankpa is an affront and a desecration of our common ancestry, heritage and identity and we demand without hesitation that such should be repudiated forthwith.

8. We therefore call on the Ankpa traditional council head by the Eje of Ankpa to immediately cancel the purported conferment of titles as announced because they are against the spirit and values of Igala land and the beads of which he holds and the land on which he reigns.

9. We call on our beloved Igala people and our Ankpa brothers to totally reject the said non Igala titles and refused to be part of any exercise that tend to promote same, as the said titles can equally be conferred in Igala.

10. We are through this release, drawing the attention of the Igala Traditional Council headed by our father, the Revered Agabaidu, Mathew Opaluwa Oguche Akpa, the Atta Igala to intervene and call the Ankpa traditional council to order.

11. May we conclude by reminding HRH, the Eje of Ankpa and Ankpa traditional council that in Igala parlance, Onu Noja, Oja Nonu, he is the traditional symbol of our people's coherence and must do all to preserve same.

11. Ane Igala Restoration (AIR) wishes to add that she and other Igala socio cultural organizations are ready to deploy all arsenal's at their disposal to preserve the Igala values, glory, honour and Identity.

God bless Ankpa land

God bless Ane Igala

Thank you.

Signed

Salifu Oguche Usman, Esq (LL M)

Deputy National Secretary (AIR)

Apostle Ocholl Ekpe Odekina (PH.D)

National President (AIR)