Idu Oma, the progenitor of the Idoma people, would be bemused from the heavens over the fate of Idomaland. From genealogy, a nation is either formed from history or philosophy or the combination of the two, with some other elemental factors. This is the sum and substance of how people acquire a cohesive core of values, meaning and identity.
The geography of the Idoma, therefore, is also a marker of identity. And by means of summative assessments, the culture, traditions and customs of the people evolve to form the essence of their lives and their livelihoods. Therefore, referents of the Kwararafa confederacy, dispersal or migration of the people over time and space to the present day only made the Idoma more resilient in their history and philosophy of existence.
The latter-day extraneous influences designed to humiliate and subjugate the Idoma to some alien ideology must be resisted and uprooted and abandoned.
The Idoma ancestral entities and deities cannot be rubbished and eliminated through some subtle political designs or outright political violence.
It is an irrefutable fact of history that the Idoma Traditional Council had existed and acted as Kingmakers until Governor Samuel Ortom ended it through an executive bill to the Benue State House of Assembly that culminated in the present subversive Chieftaincy Law. The law, as it is, has violently disrupted the notion of traditional heritage, and has wildly desecrated the inherited rulership structure through deliberate massive discontinuities.
In the place of the Traditional Council as the Kingmakers, Governor Ortom has effectuated an inferior substitute namely: “college of electors”, that is nebulous and alienating. How would Ortom purposely alienate a people by replacing a time-tested institution that had served them peaceably well? The objective, according to Ortom, is to have born-again Christians and pastors as traditional rulers in Benue state. But this is not the original design of the traditional rulership. Anyone that is adjudged worthy of the office by the Kingmakers ascends the throne of his forebears. No discrimination. No particularism.
With Ortom’s artificial creations and discrimination, the newly created offices of first-class, second-class, and third-class chiefs are inorganic and rootless. This is so because the offices did not originate from the people. There is no linkage between them and the beaded chiefs and the district heads. These new chiefs are disoriented and dysfunctional because they are inorganic. They are principally a creation of the government and they are to serve the interests of the government, and not the people.
A traditional ruler must derive his power and authority from the people. The dominant objective is that the ancestral spirits, the Alekwu, guide the conduct of the traditional ridership system; and not Governor Samuel Ortom.
Rites or ritualized celebrations known as Ucholo, are held in the land for purification, peace, bountiful harvests and general development at regular intervals. This ordinance, Ortom must be told, has nothing to do with the church establishment.
The Och’Idoma institution cannot be desecrated by some artificial imports. This must be resisted by all well-meaning Idoma sons and daughters. The very soul of the institution is violently negated when the beaded chiefs and the district heads of Idomaland are violently cut off from the selection process of the Och’Idoma. The artificial import of the traditionally rootless first-class, second-class, and third-class chiefs as king makers is crassly offensive as it is a gross repudiation of the Idoma tradition and culture.
It’s a trite notion in law that you cannot build something on nothing. The very traditional council that elects and validates the institution of the Och’Idoma is not materially in existence due to Ortom’s subterfuge to ridicule and minimize the Och’Idoma. In truth, the Och’Idoma and the Tor Tiv are co-equals.
Therefore, the ridiculous exercise that took place on the 30th of December, 2021, proclaiming one John Elaigwu Odogbo as Och’Idoma is a moral blight on Idoma people of consequence. The process was teleguided/micromanaged by Ortom towards this ridiculous outcome. John Elaigwu Odogbo claims to be a pastor of the Deeper Life Christian Church. He claims also to have started a Pentecostal movement within the Deeper Life Church, where he leads a group of pastors. Does this claim make sense within the Deeper Life Church? Is he really an ordained pastor of the Church?
The significance of the office of Och’Idoma lies in the capacity for enrolling leadership provisioning. The office requires vast knowledge and experience in handling complex organizations and vast resources preparatory to doing same within the territorial boundaries of Idomaland and far beyond.
Mr. John Elaigwu Odogbo does not have a demonstrable capacity to meet the challenges of modernity. Can he attend World Economic Forum (WEF) or World Social Forum (WSF) and make worthy contributions? Can he attend a UN session and make remarks of significance? Can he give hope to Idoma at home and in the Diaspora?
It’s morning yet on creation day. Ortom would not stop at belittling the Idoma Kingdom. So, the pathway open to challenging him is to go to court of law to halt this collective humiliation. John Elaigwu Odogbo cannot be Och’Idoma through a skewed process. We should all be prepared to go up to the Supreme Court, if need be, to fight this collective shame.
It should be made loud and clear that nobody is fighting against Agatu interest. Odogbo is not synonymous with Agatu. He cannot be the best out of Agatu. He is a negligible quantity. Why was one of the contestants driven away from the selection venue? The chiefs that gave block votes were shepherded by one feckless John Ngbede, who happens to be the enabler/enforcer of Ortom’s scheme. Is this not revealing enough? He is the state chairman of Ortom’s political party. His greatest strength derives from a certificate he inherited from a deceased uncle. He should not have a seat at the table with men of consequence. He is Governor Ortom’s master builder in scheming.
A reimagined scenario or a reset would provide a fresh opportunity for all the contestants in an unfettered space. If one’s mother’s co-wife is better than one’s mother; humility, prudence, propriety, and grace require that one says so, loudly.
The more the self-vaunting of Mr. Odogbo through false educational and ecclesiastical/apostolic attainments, the more openly suspicious his claims become. What’s coming out of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) regarding his exit from service is shameful, to say the least.
Given the full spectrum of the Idoma kingship system and the Kingdom, this is an opportune moment for us to go all the way to the Supreme Court, if need be, to get abiding relief from the asphyxiating hegemony and/or ideology, for us to re-entrench our cultural identity, meaning and purpose. No law made within the realm of humanity is sacrosanct for all times.
In sum, the Idoma people stand vehemently opposed to the process that is throwing up occupants of revered positions in the traditional institutions of Benue state.
- Ejoyi Ode sent in this opinion from Abuja
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The OPINION / COLUMN is authored by independent contributors to the National Accord Newspaper. While contributors adhere to our editorial guidelines, they are not employed by the National Accord Newspaper. The perspectives and opinions expressed herein are solely those of the author and do not represent the views of the National Accord Newspaper or its staff.
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