Chike Dike calls for capacity building for Igbo royal fathers.

Dr. Chika Dike, educator, trainer, protocol consultant and social management advocate has called for a specially packaged capacity building programs for royal fathers across Igboland. While speaking with Umuaka Times correspondents last week, Dr Dike, an Uba Umuaka born stakeholder lamented that “There doesn’t seem to be a known system for managing traditional issues in Igboland and that makes some overzealous and ambitious people to do things their ways with ready and willing miscreants who have no regard or respect for our culture.”

Dr Dike cited the relegation of Igbo culture as one of the major reasons that the Igbo are not respected across board. “Some people will try to rationalize the anomaly with the wrong notion of Igbo people being republican”. He went further to ask if being republican translates to being extremely selfish, uncontrollable and unorganized.

According to Dr Dike, “the problem is that there’s no system of traditional social management which imposes sanctions when people go the wrong route.”

Dike finally advocated that social cohesion, interdependence and collective solidarity should be anchored on the traditional institution – the community leader, ruler and his cabinet.”

For those the consultant referred to as “recalcitrant rulers in Igboland”, he called for the exile option or dethronement of such rulers if they are found wanting. “There should also be a system of taming – exile, dethronement, etc. These things don’t happen today in the name of modernity. Everything is referred to church, an imposed foreign culture being used to suppress and replace our culture. But the Bible I read said Christ came not to displace the cultures but to promote them, so where is our preaching or attitude coming from?”

Before Dr Dike ended his sermon, he asked a million dollar question which will perhaps play like a cracked record in the ears of many. Hear him: “Can you imagine people doing traditional activities and concluding with “in Jesus name”. Was Jesus an Igboman??”

In his own views, these things happen because there are no solid custodians of Igbo culture. And we have imbibed the defeatist psychology and dodge under the umbrella of inferiority complex, so everything Igbo or African is satanic, must be denigrated and avoided. These must stop.”

Back to his advocacy, he called for a standard and streamlined procedures for nominating and crowning community leaders. He dismissed the idea of people using money to override and replace Igbo cultural heritages in diverse ways.

A training conference according to Dr Dike, will work on these and come up with an acceptable blueprint for Ndi Igbo.

“Imagine the recent Anambra State fracas with ndi dibia. No community leader spoke out. Nobody supports evil doers but the position of our culture should be made known and people should operate within its ambit.”