THE funeral service of Chief Oluwole Awolowo, scion of the Awolowo family, was another occasion for public officials to display their importance rather than pay their respects to the dead with the solemnity the event demanded.

Protocol officials of the Federal Government and those from Ogun State Government were in a battle for superiority, in the church – before God and man.

In contention were seats, really the front row. The seats were no indications of the depth of sympathy mourners had for the family. Those who turned up to mourn had enough attention for themselves that they would not tolerate a breach of their importance. Their lieutenants saw to that, carrying on as if their lives depended on pressing the status of their bosses.

Who sat where, who spoke first, were so important that misguided protocol officers made an issue of them. A protocol official of the state government had enough effrontery to ask the Federal Government delegation to vacate the front seats for Governor Ibikunle  Amosun and other governors. One would have expected that as the host, the state protocol officials’ interest would have been in the smooth running of the event, such that they would have catered for all interests.

Assuming that the front seats in the church were reserved for the officials deemed more deserving of them, where were the visitors from Abuja supposed to sit? The importance of occupying the front seats was not lost on others at the occasion. They watched as a new row of seats was arranged to have the governors in front.

Protocol officials of the Federal Government resisted the affront, particularly when their bosses were asked to vacate the seats. All these were going on in a funeral service, where people were in mourning and had turned up to worship the Almighty!

The battle for sitting rights over, the next move was on the order of precedence for speeches. The moderator asked the representative of the President to speak before Governor Amosun.

The team from Abuja ignored him. Some consultations and everyone realised the President’s speech should be after the governor’s. Amosun in his remarks admitted a protocol faux pas in asking that he speaks after the President’s representative.

Were the protocol officers who created those curious situations punished for almost throwing the event into the sort of crisis that could result in unanticipated security challenges? Are protocol officers trained adequately for their jobs? Do these squabbles have places in worshipping God?

Protocol officials should facilitate orderliness through their duties. The ugly incidents in Ikenne should have been avoided if they understood that their jobs demanded more than securing front seats for their bosses.