The Criminalization Of "Ishi Agû" By Nigeria

 

Today, at a federal court in Abuja, a federal high Court judge ruled that the MAIN traditional Igbo dress, The Ishi agû will NEVER be worn in her Court by a man from the Igbo ethnic group, who's being "tried" in her Court... This outrageous ruling, which came as a result of her inability to get The DSS to allow Nnamdi Kanu to change his dress in his different court appearances, is most probably the biggest attack directed at the igbos by Federal Nigeria in recent times. Nothing of this sort has ever happened in Nigerias in recent history.

To put this into some sort of context, not even during the traumatic trials of MKO Abiola, was the culture of the Yorubas subjected to this kind of judicial violence. Not even during the trial of Awolowo or Mustapha or anyone in the history of high profile trails in Nigeria was the cultural dress of the suspect subjected to such abuse and ridicule, not just by security agencies but also by the trial judge. And this is supposed to be a well constituted court of law. That justice Binta Nyako is struggling to enforce her order on the need for The DSS to allow Nnamdi Kanu change his dress, is in itself a national disgrace.

This brings us to the issue of the motives behind the judicial abracadabra going on in Abuja at the moment. It's obvious that if what Femi Fani Kayode once revealed that the president told him directly is the truth, that what is about to go down between his government and the Igbos is nothing but a "cultural war", then this country is being pushed to the precipice by those who are supposed to protect her. You need nobody to tell you that the ultimate aim is to insult, humiliate, taunt, ridicule and undermine not just Kanus abilities to protect his people but the Igbo culture in general.

It's amazing that everyone in this country will keep quiet while this state supported attacks on a people, her culture and heritage by the supposed government of their country, goes on ceaselessly. Folks conviniently cite the IPOB-ESN activities as the reasons to justify the federal government apartheid policies towards the east, yet the emergence of these group and her activities, are nothing but the direct results of a wayward presidency that turned normal democratic differences into a full blown ethnic war. The attack on The Igbo dress by one Binta Nyako must NEVER stand. It's wrong, it's unconstitutional and it's a direct attack on the culture of over 50 million igbos world wide.

The "Ishi agû" dress is not just an Igbo dress, it's also a Nigerian national dress. Until now, it has never been subjected to this sort of abuse by any state institution. A Nigerian court can not allow Nigerians dressed in western suits to operate freely inside the court premises, while banning the national dress of a major ethnic group in the country. All men of goodwill must speak up now before this government and her allies within the legislature and the judiciary institutionalizes these segregative culture of parochialism and tribalism as state policies..