Igbos having ‘Eze, Igwe, Obi’ in Yorubaland is an affront – Ondo Obas Warn

The Council of Obas in Ondo State has condemned installations of Eze Ndigbo in the South-West.

A communiqué issued yesterday by the council in Akure after its monthly meeting described the trend as “an affront on the state traditional rulers.”

The Obas said having another king in an area where there was one already recoginsed was an attempt to embarrass the Yoruba traditional rulers and the entire institution.

It said that the use of titles such as Eze, Igwe, Obi or any other synonym was not acceptable in the state and that the only chieftaincy title recognized was the one bestowed by the traditional ruler in the state on Igbo indigenes such as chairman or president or leader of Igbo descents.


“The continued use of Eze Ndigbo chieftaincy title and flaunting of paraphernalia of Ndigbo traditional institution in Ondo State is a calculated attempt to embarrass the Yoruba traditional rulers,” the monarchs agreed.

“It is also meant to desecrate the Yoruba traditional institution. It is also an affront on Ondo State traditional rulers”, they added.

The Obas said that the issue of Eze Ndigbo chieftaincy title in Ondo State, which was the title of traditional rulers in Igbo communities, was alien to Yoruba and tradition.

They said, “it is a way of arrogating to the Igbo leaders the traditional power and equating themselves to Yoruba Obas.”

The Obas added that it was forbidden under the extant Chiefs’ Law for any person who was not a recognized Oba in Ondo State to wear a crown, costume or any other paraphernalia of an Oba.

“It is an infraction of the penal law and indeed the Chiefs Law in Ondo State for any person to parade himself as either a minor chief or recognized chief without the requisite approval of the prescribed authority or the State Executive Council as the case may be,’’ they said.

The Council therefore warned that, “whoever wants to be a traditional ruler among the Igbos or any other ethnic groups should go to his domain for such.”