Professor Laz Ekwueme, 'Eze Ijikala II - Ozioko' Igwe Oko, Anambra State, is a man of many parts. He is an actor, choir conductor, music composer, a teacher and traditional ruler of his community. The accomplished statesman recently spoke with some journalists in Lagos where he talked about his early days and how he came about his music career. TEMITOPE DAVID-ADEGBOYE was at the session. Excerpts:

As an Igwe, does your elder brother, former vice president, Alex Ekwueme, prostrate to you?

My neice got married recently and somebody asked me if my brother would stand up when I arrived. I expalined this way. He would have been the Igwe but he felt, and I agree with him, that he would be more useful to the town not being the Igwe. There was no need for him to be tied down. Moreover, as at the time my uncle died, he was still in politics vying for the presidency of Nigeria. Because he couldnt be the Igwe, the town decided that they would accept whoever he nominated. It fell on me. I wasn't prepared for it, but if I didn't accept it, the throne would have left my family. But the constitution has been amended now. The Igweship would be rotated from now on.

You see, in Oko, Anambra State, everybody stands up when the Igwe comes, but when the Ide comes (and he is my brother), everybody, including the Igwe, stands up for him.

http://www.independentngonline.com/life/lead/article01

He should go and sit down. Yeye king. A time will come soon when Nigeria will be literate enough and equality conciousness will be rampant to stop all these unnecessary powers that are abled bodies but have decided to not be productive to the society.
Who dashed him king? Is he still going to be the king if we do thorough DNAs? and how did his ancestors become king? Will they still accept the position if the govt decides to follow tradition and make them live with the tradition? like no cars, no electricity, no plane rides, no cell phones, no western clothing, no bank account, etc and then lets see if there will be many candidates; Do I smell something fishy like colonization cooperation and slavery cooperation and all sorts of back stabbing. Rubbish set of people.
All they vie for is who will stand up for who and who is not going to stand up. How can there be this kind of people and still fairness? Is the local govt chairman not the representative of the community at the lowest level? Are the lawyers not there to settle disputes? So what are their duties if their responsibilities are now handled by other people. They need to stick to their respective jobs before ego got in the way because they don't seem to have nothing to do than to take advantage of others during elections and demand respect just because backwardness is a norm. The govt should wake up and put all these titles past and present on a total ban. If you do something for a community, the community can decide to honor you and give you a title but that title should not involve the provision to rule over others especially when you are not elected. All there stand for is to hinder ethnic unity in Nigeria. Too many of them. May God open our eyes.