MEET THE AFRICAN KING WHOSE ANNOYANCE BROUGHT BEES TO HIS OPPRESSORS
In 1956, the Queen of England was Commonwealth tour, that is visiting the countries they once colonized. She visited Lagos and other places including Kaduna in the North. In Kaduna, all the Northern traditional rulers were at Kaduna to welcome her and to have a meeting with her. During the meeting, it was instructed that each traditional ruler should removed his crown and greet the Queen. While many did as told to, it was a taboo for Attah Igala to remove his crown in the presence of men let alone in the public where women were in attendance.
The king told them that it is forbidden. But they insisted that he must remove it. He did not do it but sat silently after they refused to understand what Igala taboos mean. They asked one man to go and remove it from his (Attah’s) head. Attah made the man to start dancing. Everyone was shocked. After the man was made to stop dancing by the Attah by saying “stop”, and went to sit down, the coordinator of the meeting, a traditional ruler from core north announced that Attah Igala must leave the meeting since he was not ready to remove his crown and greet the Queen.
Attah got up and said that he came all the way from Idah for the meeting, and he will not go out. “But since you people said I must remove my crown even as I have told you that it is a taboo, I am removing my crown now”, he said. That was the last thing they remembered. They all ran outside of the hall as bees flooded the venue from inside of the crown of the King that was removed.
After that, people started describing him as “The king of Bees”. The meeting ended. That African king was HRM Ameh Oboni, the 80th Attah Igala, and the Attah who ruled from 1946 – 1956.
