By Fred Chukwuelobe
“There is a tide in the affairs of men,
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.”
— William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar
History offers moments. Rare ones. Defining ones. That moment came for a hitherto little-known traditional ruler, Igwe Lawrence Agubuzu, and he seized it.
When an Igwe speaks truth to power, applause is not optional; it is instinctive. This was not merely about Nnamdi Kanu, compelling as that point was in his extempore speech. It was about the courage to say the hard thing in the right room, at the right time.
Until now, Igwe (Ambassador) Agubuzu, Ogbunechendo of Ezema Olo Kingdom in Ezeagu Local Government Area of Enugu State, was largely unknown beyond the South East where he is Chairman, South East Council of Traditional Rulers. His name rarely surfaced in national conversations about first-class monarchs. Although his resume is very rich: Ambassador. First class graduate. First Chancellor, National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN). Among many others.
Then history called and he answered.
At the National Traditional and Religious Leaders Summit on Health in Abuja, attended by President Bola Tinubu, the Igwe rose. He did not bluster. He did not posture. He spoke calmly, yet every sentence landed with force.
Within hours, especially among Kanu’s supporters, he became an instant hero.
I watched the speech. Unequivocally, he spoke truth to power. He made two sharp interventions.
First, he referenced reports that the Ooni of Ife was planning to honour separatist agitator Sunday Igboho.
Meanwhile, Kanu remains incarcerated. The Igwe appealed to the President, in the spirit of fairness and equity, to consider releasing Kanu and, if the government preferred, return him to the United Kingdom or to Kenya, from where he was apprehended.
The hall erupted. The applause was rapturous.
Then came the deeper truth:
“The youths in the South-East see us as sell-outs. When we come to Abuja, they think we come to collect money and keep quiet on these issues. Mr President should do something about Nnamdi Kanu. We cannot make progress in this country if we don’t tell ourselves the whole truth.”
That was not theatre. That was candour.
A monarch publicly acknowledging the trust deficit between traditional institutions and restless youth. The room felt it. The country heard it.
He went further, dismissing claims of a so-called “Southern Traditional Rulers’ Council.” “There is nothing like that,” he said, resisting the convenient fiction of manufactured consensus.
But it was his forthright call on Kanu that altered his national standing. In one measured address, he moved from obscurity to relevance.
Let us be honest: many Nigerians reject the separatist methods of both Kanu and Igboho. Kanu’s agitation spiralled into violence that cost lives and property in the South-East. Igboho’s path differed. Yet when one agitator is feted and another remains behind bars, the optics are troubling.
The administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari bears significant responsibility for how the Kanu matter was handled and how it hardened perceptions in the South-East.
Justice must not wear two faces.
Selective application of the law breeds resentment. And resentment, left unattended, ferments into instability.
Fairness must not only be done; it must be seen to be done.
In a season when many crowns glitter but few speak, one throne found its voice.
And Nigeria listened.
