The Etsu Bassa-Nge kingdom in Kogi state, Dr Abu Ali Mopa III, has described the purported name reversal from Bassa-Nge to Nupe by Bassa-Nge Development Union (BNDU) as a ruse that can never stand the test of time.
He urged the federal and Kogi state governments to caution those behind the orchestrated plan aimed at diminishing the status of the ethnic nationality before the whole world.
The royal father who stated this Thursday at his palace in Ogboloko, Bassa local government area of the state while responding to the call for name reversal by few BNDU members , wondered why the name beared by the Bassa-Nge people for over 100 years and gazetted in the nation’s constitution should be reversed without following adequate procedures.
“It has become expedient for me to make few clarifications in order for the public not to be misled by some of my subjects who in the exercise of their freedom of expression have offended the sensitivities of a larger majority of my kingdom, both at home and in the Diaspora.
“The press conference organised by Bassa-Nge Development Union (BNDU) on the 4th of December, 2021 at Gboloko for the name reversal was done to destabilise the peaceful coexistence of my people as they are not legally mandated to carry such name reversal as majority of Bassa-Nges are not in support of such change of name.
“Unfortunately, such development, for all intents and purposes can’t be as simplistic as it was made to appear and I wish to state categorically as a custodian of the culture and tradition of Bassa-Nges worldwide that the purported name reversal is null and void and of no consequence whatsoever,” he said.
The monarch who lamented that the majority of his people were not properly sensitised , stated that BNDU planned to impose the reversal of name on the good people of Bassa-Nge and Bassa-Nge council of chiefs to ridicule the paramount traditional ruler of the land before his subjects.”
