ON THE BOOING OF NTISONG! The act of publicly desecrating the office and persons holding traditional titles institutions should be condemned by all. We must learn to respect our elders no matter their opinion. Whatever Ntisong Ekidem had to say, no matter how disagreeable, was within his own right to do so especially having been given the opportunity to speak by the moderator(s) of the gathering. Before I take on the issue of the Ntisong being heckled, I would want to state as follows: It seems safe to speculate that Ntisong Ekidem is already known by Akpabio to be holding a different political view from the governor’s camp as far as 2015 is concerned. All the same, he (Akpabio) still allowed him the opportunity to speak. I would instantly have condemned Akpabio if he had denied the Ntisong the opportunity to speak out his mind. And knowing Akpabio, nothing on that day stopped him from exercising the control of his being the moderator if he wanted otherwise. EYEN ISONG I have restrained myself from responding to the post by Marshall on this issue. Part of the reason is that Marshall did not tell us what Ntisong said or did not say. Devoid of such a background, we were left with a curious, and perhaps and dazzling, headline that the Ntisong Ibibio was heckled. As a caveat, I dare say that there is no one, at least of our generation, from the Ibomland who does not know how revered our traditional institutions are. Many well-meaning Ibomites have already commented copiously on the issue so much that it is unnecessary for me to repeat what they have written. But Marshall asked an important question: Can they do this to the Sarduarna of Sokoto? Oba of Benin, or Oni of Ife? to which Ani Douglas retorted appropriately: Will the Saurdauna, Oba or Oni ever put in an appearance at a meeting such as this? Sarduarna, Oba, or Oni do not leave their palaces for political rallies. Governors or even the president of Nigeria would not dare ask these monarchs to bless their candidates; rather, after consulting with their councils of chiefs behind the scene, these monarchs would tell the governors and president who their candidates are. This is why these monarchs command respectability that ours can only dream about. Until our traditional rulers restore dignity to their offices, they would never be respected by their subjects. We are in an age that politics has hijacked our traditional institutions; our traditional institutions have penetrated politics; and the populace has lost respect for politicians and traditional rulers. Felix M. Edoho
Posted on: Sun, 23 Mar 2014 00:26:19 +0000
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