The newly crowned King of Azabade Kingdom, His Majesty Atoroba Peni Rikito Gbudue has vowed to promote unity and peaceful coexistence in the Azande Kingdom. His Majesty, King Atoroba, who is a grandson of the late King Gbudue became the new Azande King to rule the newly restored Kingdom.
Speaking during his restoration on Wednesday in Yambio, King Rikito said his first program would be to bring and unite the Azande people as well as other communities within the Azande Kingdom as means of peaceful co-existence.
He explained that the Azande Kingdom was restored not to separate its people, but to strengthen the nation’s lost cohesiveness and work together for growth and better service delivery to its people.
As a new day dawns for us as Azande people, as Azande King, I will work with everyone in this kingdom in order to restore our lost togetherness in order to achieve our dreams of promoting development.
He also emphasizes that one of the goals of the Azande Kingdom’s restoration was to maintain and encourage culture, particularly in terms of food and dancing, in its territory.
Our aim of the refurbishment of this kingdom is to promote and preserve our culture, and we are not going to interfere with other people’s culture. We are going to work according to what our powers give us as a kingdom
The Royal ruler also vowed not to meddle with government activities, as the South Sudanese constitution and local government acts expressly state. The return of the Zande Kingdom has been opposed by non-Azande who are within the Azande Kingdom, who have expressed concern that the restoration may interfere with other tribes’ cultures.
Many claimed that the Azande kingdom should be restored only to deal with the Azande’s cultures and traditions, as well as the cultures and customs of other traditional leaders, such as monarchs, witchdoctors, rainmakers, and others, as long as they do not encroach on other people’s cultures.
While others suggested it would generate problems if the Kingdom’s major goal was to expand the Azande kingdom onto other people’s territories.
However, Rimbasa Daniel, a member of the royal family, repeatedly echoed that the Azande people as a whole will not infringe on or interfere with any ethnic setting within that area, adding that each ethnic group has its own culture and has the right to promote and preserve it.
Azande is not saying anything about the other groups. What is going to happen is a traditional [thing] which has nothing to do with fear of invading other people’s rights. This one is just a symbolic modern kind of kingdom which will have only two things: one, its objective is to preserve and promote the culture of the people; and two, it will develop a system that will supplement the government’s work. It is going to work under the government,
He added that even though paramount chiefs will be present, the King will be present as a symbol to ensure that people’s cultures are revived and that social and economic activities are carried out to empower people economically, in agriculture, education, and health. He repeated that there is no interference with the government system; it is just a social traditional thing that is stipulated clearly in the government local act.
Rikito is the grandson of King Gbudue and he has been paramount chief of Yambio for over 20 years. He has also been the leader of traditional authorities in Western Equatoria, according to Badagbu Daniel Rimbasa, one of the grandsons of King Gbudue and a member of the royal family.
