*The Battle for the Throne of Ata Igala Shifted to the Appeal Court As Prince Ocholi Idakwo Ameh Oboni 111 of Aju Ocholi Dissatisfied with Kogi High Court Judgement*

The Battle For The Throne of Ata Igala and The Claims of Prince Ocholi Idakwo Ameh Oboni III

By:

Ochedi Shaibu Udale, Aju Akumabi Royal Lineage, Idah, Kogi State, Nigeria.

Part 2:

The Battle For The Throne of Ata Igala and The Claims of Prince Ocholi Idakwo Ameh Oboni III 

It is worth our information that, the Kogi State High Court sitting in Lokoja had earlier in a judgement delivered by Hon. Justice M.E Umar on February 13th, 2024, dismissed the case for lacking in merit. 

However, the plaintiff, Prince Ocholi Idakwo Ameh Oboni III is insisting that the crux of the redress he seeks which lies in the Chieftaincy declaration partaning to the appointment/ascension to the throne of Ata Igala was yet to be answered. And that the closest the Hon. Justice came to doing that was when he held in his judgement thus: 

"the legal notice No 2 of 2015 is not a new chieftaincy declaration." 

If the above holds true of the said 2015 legal notice, what then was the legal and traditional fulcrum upon which the decision to install the 5th respondent oscillated to his favor?

Prince Ocholi Idakwo Ameh Oboni III, while equally alleging that the earlier judgement of the High Court aims to undermine the Igala traditional chieftaincy protocol, hinged his Appeal on:

1. Religious implementation of the Igala Area Traditional Council, Modification of Native Laws and Custom order 1961 (extant chieftaincy declaration for the throne of Ata Igala).

2. The legality of the installation of the 5th respondent as the Ata Igala, a decision based on legal Notice No 2 of 2015 by His Excellency, Capt. Ichalla Idris Wada, and several other grounds.

It is important to learn that, His Excellency, Capt Ichalla Idris Wada, set up a committee headed by HRH John Egwemi, Eje Ibaji/Onu Uje, to look into the conundrum surrounding the ascension to the throne of Ata Igala. He attempted to serve justice to the other two ruling houses of (Aju Ameacho and Aju Akogu) who have both stayed out of the throne for over a Hundred (100) years and therefore, consequently losing their rights to the throne. But, in doing that, he excluded the then Ata Igala, HRM Agabaidu Ata Idakwo Ameh Oboni II, the Igala Area Traditional Council and other relevant role players in the ascension and passage rites of the Ata Igala. Despite setting up the committee and excluding most relevant stakeholders, chief of whom was the Ata Igala on throne, the committee subsequently failed to make a chieftaincy declaration as required by extant chieftaincy law.

Governor Wada claimed that section 8. of Chiefs (Appointment, Deposition and Establishment of Traditional Councils in Kogi State ) Law No. 23, 2006 gave him the powers to amend and/or review the Native law.

That particular section reads: 

THE GOVERNOR SHALL HAVE POWER TO CONSTITUTE A COMMITTEE TO MAKE A CHIEFTAINCY DECLARATION IN WRITING STATING THE CUSTOMARY LAW WHICH REGULATES THE SELECTION OF A PERSON TO BE A CHIEF OR HOLDER OF A RECOGNIZED CHIEFTAINCY STOOL. 

The point now is, was there a chieftaincy declaration made by the committee headed by HRH Chief John Egwemi, Eje Ibaji/Onu Uje? If yes, why was such evidence not tendered in court in order to validate the Gazette?

Furthermore, section 8 (6 & 9) states as follows:

6. ALL CHIEFTAINCY DECLARATIONS APPROVED BY THE GOVERNOR-IN-COUNCIL SHALL BE REGISTERED WITH THE STATE GOVERNMENT AND THE DEPARTMENT OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND CHIEFTAINCY AFFAIRS SHALL BE CHARGED WITH THE REGISTRATION OF ALL SUCH CHIEFTAINCY DECLARATIONS.

9. ANY CHIEFTAINCY DECLARATION NOT REGISTERED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THIS LAW SHALL NOT BE RECOGNIZED BY THE STATE GOVERNMENT FOR ANY PURPOSE.

In my view, the point Prince Ocholi Idakwo Ameh Oboni III is advancing therefore, is that, since there was no evidence of any declaration by the said committee, it means there was no registration of any formal documents (Declaration) to necessitate a change of the extant chieftaincy/Native law and custom of the Igala people, hence, the purported 2015 legal notice (gazette) is in his view, not a proper legal requirement to be a recognized document.

Prince Ocholi Idakwo Ameh Oboni III, further holds the view that, the legal notice No 2 of 2015 was an inchoate legislation that lacks the requisite legal and traditional weight to replace the chieftaincy declaration of 1961. He further argued that, one of the very obvious customary and traditional anomaly in the 2015 legal notice No 2 was the usurpation of the ancient powers and roles of the Achadu Oko'Ata who was from time immemorial the head of the kingmakers and sole selector of his own wife (Ata Igala). Another was the abrupt removal of Unana, Ochijenu and Achanyiwo clans from the list of kingmakers without reasonable explanation. Some of these clans are big role players in either the ascension or passage rites of an Ata Igala.

" I am being particular about the Achadu Oko'Ata because, It has never been the practice of the great Igala people to allow a total stranger select a wife for a man (husband) when he (the husband) is fully fit, mentally and spiritually sound to do that himself. Therefore, depriving the Achadu Oko'Ata his traditional right to select his own wife as customary and traditional with our people was a complete departure from the tradition and cultural dignity of the great Igala people. That it was wrongly done once does not make it right. The Gov. Wada's 2015 legal notice No 2 is advancing traditional and cultural aberration that must not be allowed to perpetuate. We must all stand up in defense of what is right."

Prince Ocholi Idakwo Ameh Oboni III, is therefore, demanding several declarations by the Court of Appeal among which is: the invalidation of legal notice No 2 of 2015, invalidation of the appointment of the 5th respondent made based on the document and any further actions taken under it.

Historical Background To The Conundrum To Ascension To The Throne of Ata Igala 

Right from when the rotational order of ascension to the throne of Ata Igala was restablished, the problem of the Royal house whose turn it was to ascend to the throne never arose again. Even when it was almost altered by the circumstantial emergence of my ancestor, HRM Agabaidu Ata Itodo Aduga after the accidental demise of HRM Agabaidu Ata Ameacho, elder brother to HRM Agabaidu Ata Itodo Aduga (same parents), the Igala elders in their wisdom met and immediately resolved the impasse with a more plausible rotational structure. That was what was invoke until 1956 when it was the natural turn of Aju Ameacho ruling house  after the controversial demise of HRM Agabaidu Ata Ameh Oboni I.

Aju Ameacho (ruling house whose turn it was to produce an Ata) met and unanimously selected Prince Opaluwa Oguche (Akpa), a direct son of HRM Agabaidu Ata Oguche Akpa (1911-1919). Prince Opaluwa Oguche (Akpa) was though, not the eldest of the children of HRM Agabaidu Ata Oguche (Akpa) but, he was the overall choice of his own ruling house. Prince Opaluwa Oguche (Akpa), thereafter, was to begin his customary/traditional rites preparatory to ascending to the throne of his father before it was obstructed, when suddenly, the British colonialists in collaboration with the core northern oligarchy appointed and announced Prince Otulukpe Ocheja Obaje, a man who was later popularly known and reverenced as Ali Obaje, having earlier converted from his Christian faith to the Islamic faith allegedly on the prompting of some core northern islamists.

Prince Ali Obaje was later sworn in as the substantive Ata Igala by the colonial government in 1956 without passing through the ancient well established traditional and customary protocols of ascension to the throne of Ata Igala.

Prince Opaluwa Oguche (Akpa) who was denied his rightful chance to the throne of his father later challenged the decision of the British/Northern government up to the British Court in London (how the case ended will be a subject for another day). HRM Ali Obaje of Aju Itodo Aduga, went on to spend over 50 years on the throne. Within the period His Majesty held sway, the direct children of an Ata Igala (HRM Agabaidu Ata Oguche Akpa and HRM Agabaidu Ata AtaboIjomi, from the both ruling houses of Aju Ameacho and Aju Akogu respectively had died thereby, traditionally foreclosing the chances of the two ruling houses presenting a direct son of an Ata Igala for the throne as required by both the traditional/customary and legal instruments guiding the throne.

That was the debacle that was created in the traditional/customary rotational order from 1956-2012.

And in the fierce selection battle that ensued in 2012, the legal/traditional documents of 1961 as well as, the Kogi State chief's law of 2006 was followed and strictly adhered to in the final selection of HRM Agabaidu Ata Idakwo Ameh Oboni II. Part of the reasons adduced for the choice of HRM Agabaidu Ata Idakwo Ameh Oboni II, was that, 

1. He was the only direct son of an Ata Igala alive. 

2. It was the turn of His own ruling house (Aju Ocholi) to ascend to the throne of Ata Igala.

Kindly, take notice of the Ata Igala genealogy chart as attached.

In it, you will find from when dating began that, it was always the turn of Aju Ocholi ruling house after the turn of Aju Akumabi (Itodo Aduga) ruling house.

Conclusively, I would say, there were problems in the past and they were resolved by the Igala elders. There is problem now and Igala elders have only become spectators, watching the Igala Nation struggle for life. 

Rather than watch things go from bad to worse only to look for who to blame later but themselves, I will implore the elders to immediately call for an Anukwu discussion on the traditional and legal veracity of the claims of Prince Ocholi Idakwo Ameh Oboni III, take an unbiased look into his claims and proffer permanent solution to the issue.

We must not continue to watch the Igala Nation go down. The Igala Kingdom must not remain HEADLESS because we probably acted wrongly either on self conviction or on destructive self interest in the past. That must not continue.

A stitch in time saves nine.

Thank you!

Ochedi Shaibu Udale,

Aju Akumabi Royal Lineage,

Idah, Kogi State, 

Nigeria.