Just as the agitation for the sovereign State of Biafra has continued to gather momentum across the country and the reactions that have trailed the contentious campaign, the people of Igala Kingdom have described as delusional, the attempt by the agitators to include them in their agitation.
Addressing a World Press Conference today in Lokoja, Igala Social-Cultural Groups, which comprises all the Igala Associations and traditional groupings, they stressed that their inclusion in the agitation is not only provocative but also very insulting to the entire Igala race.
The Press Conference, which was necessitated by a publication on pages 5, 6 and 7 of the Daily Trust Newspaper of Sunday June 4th, 2017, had one of the renowned Iagala sons, Barry Idakwoji, read out their resolutions.
The Press statement was signed by all the ethnic groups and nationalities that make up the Igala Kingdom.
The group went down memory lane to inform journalists that the Igala nation, which found itself in the 1914 amalgamation of the Northern and Southern protectorates of the Niger River Basin, was a renowned kingdom in the 15th and 16th centuries.
It said the Kingdoms vast political, economic and social influences cut across most States in the current Federal Republic of Nigeria and that in ther days of glory, the Igala kingdom ruled most parts of the geopolitical area being described in the agitation for the State of Biafra and beyond.
It however regretted that in the plot to reduce the geographical size of the kingdom, different attempts were made to balkanize the Igala kingdom and at a point, one division of it, particularly the Idah division, was carved into Onitsha province as a district.
The people of Iagal Kingdom consequently said it may be this illusionary understanding that has led the agitators to wrongfully and erroneously imagine that Igala kingdom is a clan. For the avoidance of doubt, many kings in the current States of Enugu, Anambra, Delta recognize the place of the traditional leadership of the Igala kingdom in their affairs. Describing the Igala Kingdom as a clan is definitely a product of ignorance of history and mischief, they stressed.
They stated that the agitators for Biafra have marginalization as the main plank for their grievances and it is unthinkable to annex the Igala kingdom without seeking their consent which may be due to the erroneous belief that Igala kingdom is a clan that is not important to consult before being annexed into the agitation.
This is against the spirit of fairness, sovereignty, equity, peaceful cohabitation and democracy to forcefully and falsely claim that a great kingdom as the Igala kingdom, which was never defeated in any war is part of Biafra.
“Nigeria is a democratic country where any Nigerian should be allowed to live peacefully and secured as prescribed by our laws, without any fear of intimidation so long as the individual or group is living within the boundary of common sense and our Constitutional provisions, the group reminded the agitators.
The group therefore made it unequivocally made it clear to the Biafra agitators That Igala ethnic nationality is not part of the Biafra agitation because it holds the indivisibility of Nigeria sacrosanct.
It was however quick to stress its belief that every Nigerian citizen has the constitutional right to freely live where ever such an individual or group so choose within the ambit of the laws and in the interest of peace and security.
