By Kingsley Chukwuka, Jos
The Plateau community of Langtang Local Government Area in the State, has vowed a showdown with the Nigerian Military should they go ahead with the burial ceremony of the late Gen. Domkat Bali (retd), without consulting the Langtang Traditional Council.
The burial of the late General, according to the LG Chairman of Langtang North, Dr. Joshua Ubandoma, should be in consonance with the traditional procedures of Langtang community in burning a chieftaincy title holder, a position the late Gen. Bali held before his death.
Ubandoma said the tension which will accompany this misnomer will be a sore tale to tell if the right thing is not done.
“The Chief Priests of Taroh land who are not suppose to come out anyhow came out in their numbers from the hills and marched straights to the palace of the Ponzhi Taroh to register their displeasure over an attempt to subvert the custom and tradition of the ‘Taroh’ (native) people”, Ubandoma said.
Recall that Bali who was also a one time Chief of Defense Staff, died recently in the nation’s capital Abuja.
Before his death, the late Army General occupied a prestigious traditional stool in the community known as “Ponzhi Tarok”, a position which some factions of Langtang community elders had however contested in court.
However, still warning the Nigerian Army of a possible looming arnachy should they go ahead with the burial without recourse to the contributions of the Langtang Joint Traditional Council, the Southern LG Chairman of the Council, Hon. Nimchak Rims, appealed to the Army high command to seek advice from the appropriate authorities.
“The burial arrangement should have been an exercise which should include the Military, Langtang North and Langtang South LGC, Joint Traditional Council, the State Government, Family of the deceased and critical stakeholders in Taroh land”, Rims said.
The two LG Chairmen told our correspondent that they are not saying that Gen. Bali should not be given a full Military honour, but that the traditional council should be allowed to perform their own traditional rites, and then the Military can take over, because Bali was a first class Chief that cannot be buried without a cultural and traditional input as the “Taroh” (native) custom demands.
Our correspondent reports that a socio-economic group known as the Ngwang Ishi O’Tarok (NIO) had in a statement issued in Jos vowed that the late “Ponzhi Tarok”, Domkat Bali, must be accorded full traditional burial rites as a First Class Chief and President Langtang Joint Traditional Council as affirmed by the Federal Court of Appeal Jos Division.