“History preserve the past, shape the present and mold the future”.
First and foremost, I start to appreciate the late Ohinoyi of Ebiraland, Alhaji Sanni Omolori, for his wisdom to introduce the award of chieftaincy titles to our worthy sons and daughters who excel in their professions and made contributions to the progress and development of the land.
These reward, however, was noticed with some observations and thoughts on the non-native nomenclature of titles given to some personalities like Turaki, Ciroma, Tafida, Daniya among others.
For every new idea, it always comes with mistakes and oversights but equally provide opportunity for evaluation and correction of mistakes noticed for future dealings.
Your highness, Sa’aki ! Some mistakes and non dialectical meaning were conspicuously noticed in the award of chieftaincy titles to our sons and daughters as inherited from the past Ohinoyi.
Sa’aki, it is not out of place that you chose to use the non native titles on the premise that were from the north on territorial expansion by the Hausa hegemony. It is true by history and geographical coverage we are northerners, but by birth and culture we are Ebira people with distinct features, character, language and of course destiny.
Every native names or titles goes with meaning and message. For instance, Adohueje, Odovidi, Ohiare, Anataku etc. are names and several others that could be given to any worthy Ebira ambassadors but titles like Tafida, Turaki and Ciroma are not only alien to Ebira culture but meaningless and suggestive of a second fiddle and inter-tribal slavery in a free and democratic environment.
Your highness sir, let me quickly reflect on a scenario about other tribes in Ebiraland including the Hausas we want to copy. It is over thirty years the Hausas arrived Ebiraland followed by Yorubas and then come the Ibos and some other minority tribes. Out of these tribes, none of them today have ever named their wards and children an Ebira name despite they speaks the language fluently.
They gave their various traditional title holders in Ebiraland their native names according to their tradition and culture despite there is equivalent meaning of the title in Ebira language. See their respect for culture and pride for their tribe?
Your Majesty, Sa’aki ! Inter-tribal slavery does not stops at selling and buying of human beings alone, it is a multi-dimensional phenomenon which encompasses abandoning of one’s culture and embracing someone else’s own, surrendering your dialectical sovereignty and of course unknowingly making oneself a subterfuge of other tribes in a bid to impress or expresses a relationship.
Sa’aki ! Our lingua-franca is Ebira language not Hausa. Trying to adopt their title for our children is highly unethical and uncivilized. It needs to be revisited to freeing Ebira nation from mental infractions and social naivity on the self inflicted slavery.
Ebira people are too vulnerable to adaptation on the pretext they know the meaning, no matter how long a Hausa, Ibo or Yoruba man lives in your land they will never by mistake name their children your native names like Ozovehe, Ohunene, Osheiza etc but an average Ebira man after one year in another person’s land will begin to adopt the native names like Abiodun, Babatunde, Kemi, Oluwatosin. What a shame !
Your Majesty sir, this open letter is seeking your highness and the palace’s review of the non native titles been given to our worthy Ebira ambassadors for them to look unique and special in the midst of their contemporaries.
Ebira nation was never conquered by any tribe, we should not by now conquer ourselves on the pretext of exhibiting relationship on territorial frontier.
God bless Ebiraland! God bless the palace!!
– Hon. Onujabe Nasir
