Masks and Masquerades In IGALA LAND

Igala Mask 1

Ekwe, leader of Attah's 9 masquerades

Iñelekpe, one of Attah's reverred Nine Masquerades!

Aidokanya Idakwo Ameh Oboni on the Verge of History

The new Attah-Igala, Idakwo Ameh-Oboni, has left Lokoja for Ugwolawo at the beginning of a week-long traditional rites for his coronation. Alhaji Yakubu Yunusa, the Majority Leader of Kogi House of Assembly, disclosed this on Tuesday at the house’s plenary session.

He said the performance of traditional rites for ascension to the throne was mandatory on the new Atta-Igala.

“After spending some days at Ugwolawo, the new Attah-Igala will proceed to Idah on foot to meet the Achadu-Oko-Attah, the traditional husband of Attah, where some aspects of the rites would be performed,’’ Yunusa said.

According to him, the Attah-Igala would then proceed to Ojainah in Idah to identify where he would be interred by the time he had vacated the throne to join his ancestors.

“On completion of the rites, the Attah-Igala will address the Area Traditional Council of Chiefs and thereafter ascend the throne in his palace,’’ he said.

Idakwo Ameh Oboni is New Attah Igala

The governor of Kogi state, Idris Wada, has approved the appointment of Prince Idakwo Michael Ameh Oboni, as the new Attah Igala.

A statement yesterday signed by the governor’s Special Adviser on Media and Strategy, Mr. Jacob Edi, said the appointment followed the laid down procedure according to the Igala Native Law and Customs as it relates to the selection and appointment of a successor to the throne of Attah Igala. The statement added that the appointment takes immediate effect.

It would be recalled that the stool of Attah Igala became vacant with the death of the former Attah Igala, Dr. Aliyu Obaje who reigned for 56 years. Prince Ameh Oboni was unani-mously selected by the Igala traditional council from the four existing ruling houses.

Prince Idakwo Michael Ameh Oboni was born in 1948. He enrolled at the Saint Boniface Primary School Idah and completed in 1960. He was admitted at Saint Augustine College Kabba in 1961 and graduated in 1967.

Nigerian Banks And Their Phoney World-Class Status

Reeling heavily under an attack of exaggerated success and self-importance, Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Chukwuma Soludo declared recently that with over 3, 866 branches, a total asset base of N6.5 trillion, a definitive prospect of 7 banks hitting shareholders’ fund in excess of $1 billion, and over 10 of the banks attaining market capitalisation of over $2 billion by the end of the year, Nigeria’s 25 mega banks have achieved world-class status in less than 3 years. 

He went further to add that “the CBN is poised to sustain and strengthen the new banking system, as it remains a key driver in the nation’s effort at becoming one of the 20 largest economies in the world by 2020”. This assertion and many others in like manner have become esoteric swansongs on the lips of our modern day Reformers who would never miss any opportunity to regale us with how their advent on our shores has secured our deposits in the banks, multiplied our investments, increased our access to funds and loans, and have further solidified our collective symbol of purchasing power (naira).

WHY IAM BIASED - Atayi Babs

My Dear Brother, 

I must commend you for your response to the information i posted on the igalanet entitled “VERY VERY LUCRATIVE VACANCIES IN NIGERIA on the 19^th of April 2007. I also wish to thank you and others who contributed for their brotherly advice and comments. Your response did not come to me as a surprise as I have been inundated in the past, with similar responses (especially to my column in the dailies) that I am biased against a party. Some say I’m too critical of the Government, some wonder why I seem to continually see issues from ‘a half-empty position and not a half-full position’ while some other persons find it difficult to understand why I fling invectives at visionless rulers, or better still, why I excoriate Nigerian rulers, from local Government Councillors to the President. Most times, I am advised to take things easy, loosen up, join ‘them’ or take the opium and wake up on the other side better. The call or advice to treat public issues with detached aloofness is not new anymore. These days, it comes in different linguistic guises. Some dub it objectivity. Others invite me to see ‘the other side’ or better still, ‘get on the bandwagon.’

The Legendary Inikpi Takes Israel by Storm

Princess Inikpi statue at Idah

 A play by Emmy Unuja Ikanaba Idegu, a professor at the Department of Theatre and Performing Arts of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, recently thrilled an Israeli audience. This was on Tuesday, October 16, at the ZOA Theatre, 26 Eben-Gevirol Street in Tel Aviv. The play, The Legendary Inikpi was staged as a command performance during the commemoration of the 20th years of the restoration of diplomatic ties between Nigeria and Israel as well as the celebration of Nigeria’s 52nd independence anniversary.

Performed by the Israel-based African Israeli Stage, the play is about the war between the Igala and the Benin people from 1515 to 1516. History has it that the Ata Igala (the Igala King), Ayegba Oma Idoko was a bosom friend to the Oba of Benin to whom he always sent eunuchs for his palace. Somehow, a misunderstanding ensued and soured this cordial relationship. The Ata Igala thought the messengers he sent to his friend the Oba were captured by the Oba preparatory to taking war to Ida the traditional and administrative headquarters of the Igala kingdom and if possible, annex Igalaland.

The Ata Igala, Ayegba Oma Idoko consulted the oracle and the ancestors divined that nothing short of the life burial sacrifice of his most cherished child, Princess Inikpi will suffice. Historically, the Ata Ayegba Oma Idoko was said to have resisted the oracle divination and its demand for a considerable length of time until Princess Inikpi got to hear. She walked up to her father and agreed to offer her life via the life burial sacrifice to save both her father and the entire Igala kingdom from the fierce battle ahead. Agonizingly, Ayegba succumbed to the ancestors’ demands and Inikpi’s agreement. Princess Inikpi was thereafter buried alive by the bank of the River Niger at Ida where till date her statue stands at the very spot of the sacrifice. After the sacrifice, the Benin forces were crossing the River Niger to Ida to battle and annihilate the Igala people when they saw the town in flames. What was the need of taking war to a burning people and town they thought, and went back home. The Ata Igala, Ayegba Oma Idoko and the Igala people lived in peace thereafter. Using this story as his historical material, Emmy Unuja Ikanaba in the play graphically represents this unique aspect of the Igala history and he calls to question all over the imperative of selfless sacrifice for the generality of a people.