Date: 2015-05-07

Suddenly, Ilorin's culture of Islamic scholarship, pursuit of excellence and associated culture of productive life are fast receding and a depressing culture of material consciousness is emerging leading to self abnegation of our cultural legacy. Sad, real sad.

Presently, substantial parts of Ilorin is witnessing confrontations between the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and a set of misguided youths. These youths have upturned their inherited cognomen of omo alfa and are appropriating a despicable name of omo Amugbo. Sad real sad.

Name the area which you will proudly use your forefinger to identify as "Ile "omo Ola" or ile awon alfa tin anfi toro', what your finger will bring out are youths though with solid self respecting ancestors but now uprooted into the hands of politicians who use them as canon folder for their despicable acts. Shameful, real shame.

How we transited from our model status to this morass can be traced to stakeholders' criminal lethargy. Who are these stakeholders? You and I of course. But if the truth must be told, the real culprits are the traditional anchors of our legacy,-- the alfas, followed the traditional rulers, the IEDPU and the elites. The rest are the middle class Ilorins who feel secured in their new found abode of "security" outside the traditional areas or those ensconced in the comfort of their Diaspora living. Those feelings are false consciousness of safety. It is more or less irresponsibility as the realities are now steering us in the face. Our legacy is being eaten up not by outsiders but by your brothers, my brothers, our future, the youths. Frightening, very frightening.

It is a standard prayer among us that may the good deeds of past Alfa remain after them. Olohun jeki enyin awon Alfa dara. Hmm, how do we classify what we are witnessing now? Se enyin won dara ni eyi? Whose fault? Is it the fathers that have gone past or we that we are filtering away their legacy? Those Baba met a certain condition, improved upon it and sustained it till their demise.

The assault on our collective legacy of peaceful and responsible living were/are products of interrelated acts of politicians, who are our own; the fierce materialist culture among the Alfas and the greediness of our traditional rulers. In the midst of this rapacious behaviour on our lives, stakeholders like IEDPU became demobilised from serving as rallying points or bulwark against the rampaging politicians and their materialists Alfa. Also the elites went into lethargic helplessness. Now, we are getting feedback to the letters we wrote. I am aware of the efforts of few discerning voices who have been sounding the sentinel but those are voices in the wilderness. Some of these voices lack the capacity to effect change. Most of them are even voices from the fringe.

As of now, NDLEA are raiding the "cells" of drug addicts and arrest are being made across Ilorin either as panic measure or as face saving for those who perpetuated the acts by encouraging the youths to take to drugs in order to use them for their selfish ends. These are the politicians, especially the Sarakites who drab the youths in elegant but condescending name of "Good boys".

The contemporary Alfa; except for few ones, who are supposed to be the restraining voices, are steep in moral duplicity, making them to be candidates for reformation themselves. In addition to their duplicitous acts, and at a time when what is required of them is precise and firm actions Islamic guidance, many of them are veering off the basic Islamic practices. Rather than being proud inheritors of the frugal but respectable life of the holy Prophet (SAW), they now take pride in flaunting wealth as the baseline of being an Alfa. .Kai, regrettable, very much regrettable.

This is a wakeup call to all stakeholders in Ilorin, genuine patriots, to rise and rescue our legacy before it is too late. And if your standard response is to just blame and do nothing, you are indeed part of the problem. To salvage the situation, we must wake up from our various lethargies and do something. Join in the brainstorming for solution; contribute your widow’s mite by acting in whatever way possible. We must do this as a payback to a culture that nurtures and gives us a sense of pride. We must do it for the love of our people, if indeed you want to merit to be called a patriot. Ilorin needs you NOW.

Oba Abdulkadir La'aro is a Lecturer, Mass Communication, University of Ilorin