Earlier this week, we woke up only to be jolted by the shocking reality of a bad dream. One Igboman, called Chibuike Azubike, made his plans open to establish a kingdom somewhere in Lagos with himself as the paramount monarch, going by the title of *Obi of Lagos state,* the title for traditional rulers in Igboland.
For me, i can't just hazard even a modicum of understanding of the reason behind this sudden craze for monarchical embellishments by some successful Ndigbo. For want of a better description of this malady, I'll like to call it a gross manifestation of an overreaching complex syndrome. I'll explain.
Oh yes ! The malady is now a pandemic because its effects exceed Igboland. It has manifested in Ago Palace, Festac, Ajangbadi, Okokomaiko, Agboju, Ibadan, Ado Ekiti, Abeokuta, all here in various parts of the Southwestern Nigeria. Then, it has transcended beyond Nigerian borders to places like Ghana, South Africa, Malaysia, Indonesia, and so on. In short, the malady has now attained the monstrous phenomenon of a global scourge !
My inability to understand this craze for monarchical status by some Ndigbo in places outside Igboland, results from my conventional understanding of Igbo sub-culture as an acephalous society, where no recognition is accorded kinship. In fact, the proper language by which the Igbos are described in this respect is _Igbo enwe eze._ (igbos don't have kings). We all know those indigenous Nigerian societies that place a high premium on monarchical institutions. These are the societies that are outside Igboland.
So, why is it that the princes of those indigenous Nigerian kingly societies are not so crazy about kingship status outside their domains like the Igbos are doing? For instance, I've never heard of any Calabar prince claiming to be an Obong of anywhere outside his efik community, nor have we heard of any Nupe prince calling himself the Etsu of Ibadan. Similarly, no Ife prince has ever introduced himself as the Ooni of Kano, nor has any Oyo prince ever labeled himself as the Alaafin of Enugu, and so on and so forth. So, how do we interpret these hysterical cravings for kingship by some successful Igbo businessmen outside Igboland? Could it be a case of a people earnestly craving for the accretion to their astute business endowments, of a trado-cultural attribute that they lack in their communities? I guess so.
In any case, i wouldn't blame anyone with an ambition for kingship in Nigeria, having regards to the pride of place that traditional rulers occupy in the socio-cultural configuration of the Nigerian polity. In this country, traditional rulers are as powerful and as influential as any high government officials. And by reason of the fact that the influence of government functionaries is durational while that of the traditional rulers endures for life, I think the latter is more powerful than the former.
As a cadet in training at the Police Academy in those days, there was this cadet course mate of our's, called Shehu, now of blessed memory. He was a prince and scion of Hadejia Emirate. He was always leaving the Academy on AWOL, either to go and attend to emirate issues in his father's palace, or to invest in farming. The effrontery and impunity with which he was doing that made us to nickname him as _Man-pass-man._ On one occasion of his AWOL, he was away for about two months, as a result of which he was declared a deserter by the Academy authorities. That time, AVM Abdullahi Hadejia, who was then the Minister of FCT, was his uncle. So, when he eventually returned to the Academy, he came in a princely babanringa, sitting at the owner's conner of an official car of the Airforce and accompanied by a young Airforce officer, apparently from AVM Hadejia. He was later summoned upstairs to the commandant's office. When he was ushered before the big man, the dreadful commandant engaged him as follow...
*You, Shehu. You left this Academy without permission. And I heard that people are calling you _Man-pass-man._ are you more powerful than me in this Academy?*
And Shehu responded...
*No, sir ! I can never be more powerful than you, sir ! It is my colleagues that call me _Man-pass-man_ sir. And when they do, I always respond that 'God pass all'.*
With that exchange, the commandant ordered Shehu to return to the class with a stern warning that he should never leave the Academy until our passing out.
One day, i accosted Shehu in the Academy and asked him what he would do if upon our passing out, he was posted far away from Hadejia. He said he would resign from the force to attend to palace affairs, after which he would return to the force again. I once asked him to pick a choice between being appointed as Inspector General of Police, or as the Emir of Hadejia. Shehu didn't hesitate at all before choosing Emirship. When I told him how important and highly reverred the IG was in Nigeria, Shehu retorted by saying that an Emir was far more important than even the president, let alone the IGP. He added that the president, the IGP, and all the service chiefs were under the authority of the Emir !
That is the mindset of a typical prince in the Nigerian scheme of things. This is not very strange to us in Yorubaland either. In the etymology of the word *government* in yoruba, one finds that government means an assemblage of monarchs *Ìjo oba* or *Ijoba.* The glory of Nigerian monarchs attained its apogee during the colonial days, when the colonial masters were constrained to govern the colony through the monarchs, in a form of government known to history as _Indirect Rule._ kings were so highly elevated in colonial administration, that warrant chiefs were created in the acephalous societies of Igboland, where no traditional kingship existed.
Although the hitherto importance and unmeasured monarchical powers of traditional rulers have now been considerably waned, eroded, and fatally atrophied by the institution of westminster democracy, monarchical influence is nevertheless still potent in Nigeria. So, could it be that these pro-monarchy Igbomen are craving for welding the influence that is associated with monarchy? I can't just understand.
But then, even if any Ndigbo must nurse a kingship ambition for whatever reason, shouldn't such craving be restricted to Igboland? It is this insensitive act of exporting this ambition to places outside Igboland that is so worrisome. No indigenous society can possibly accommodate or dispose favorably to such an audacious manifestation of royal hegemony by settlers in their midst. The failure of these successful Ndigbos to realize this simple fact is quite troubling and nauseating. And one doesn't find any struggling Ndigbo nursing this kind of impulsive ambition. Such acts are exclusive to the very rich and successful Igbo businessmen. That explains why I'd described the crazy craving as a gross manifestation of an overreaching complex syndrome. For having attained the zenith of success in the business world, these very rich Igbomen couldn't find any more thing to lavish their excessive money on, other than this pursuit of senseless monarchical frills in other people's land. This is what the yorubas call *Ó yó tán, ó wá ńwá békùn békùn kiri* (he's mindlessly displaying his protruding belly after he'd eaten to his fill).
Let these rich Igbomen get wiser by controlling their urge for monarchical primacy in communities outside their's. This I think is the only recipe for peace and harmonious coexistence in an heterogeneous country such as ours. A word is enough for the wise !
My name remains Dauda Adesina Joki-Lasisi esq.