We the members of Eko Club Atlanta use this medium to strongly berate, in its entirety, the acts of sacrilege committed by some hoodlums who desecrated our cultural heritage by invading the Palace of Ọba of Lagos, carting away invaluable artefacts and set ablaze some buildings within the palace on Wednesday, 21 October, 2020.
The Palace, Iga Idunganran, is our ancestral seat of power and the custodian of centuries’ old priceless and irreplaceable heritage artefacts that have been passed down through generations. It is saddening and disheartening to learn that such heinous activities could be perpetrated by these miscreants and vandals, leading to wanton desecration of our traditional heritage in Lagos.
We totally frown at this attack, and we demand, immediately, that security services should be deployed to secure the Palace and the true essence of our palace traditions be restored. Thus, we urge the Lagos State government to speedily investigate the incident and apprehend whoever that is found culpable in the act, to bring them to justice as well as recover all the stolen artefacts.
While we understand the sufferings and impoverishment of our people including women, children and youths in Lagos and the suppression of the rights of indegenous Lagosians far and wide, we want to reiterate that the sanctity of Idunganran is our collective responsibility. As such, we ask the state government to put every mechanism in place to forestall the recurrence of such incident in future.
We implore the Governor of Lagos State to continue to unify our state, provide infrastructures that will enable positive productive endeavors and show a pathway for ending all violence while promoting true hope and peaceful deliberations.
Signed.
Hon Deji Thaani
President Eko Club of Atlanta