The Amala Protection Bill: Why It’s Needed Now

From “Treason of the Palate” to “Yoruba Food Reorientation Camps,” here’s why the conjoined twins of Gbegiri and Ewedu must be protected by law.

byBamidele Johnson

January 19, 2026

Credit: rexclarkeadventures

The Lagos State government and, indeed, all state governments in the Southwest with any claim to culture or conscience must, without delay, pass legislation that criminalises the vending of amala without ewedu and gbegiri.

This is not just a culinary issue; it is a matter of subnational integrity. We can no longer tolerate Amala with one or the other. It has to be with both.

I seethed this afternoon after ordering amala for the first time in what felt like a sabbatical. I was told, without shame, that only gbegiri was available. No ewedu. Just gbegiri, like a lonely orphan wandering the streets. I felt spiritually violated.

That was not my first encounter with such sacrilege. Some time ago, around Ajah at a place promoted as an amala cathedral in that axis, I arrived and was told that there was no gbegiri. They had only ewedu. That development was the equivalent of disregard for due process.

Amala and only ewedu. Credit: Item7deals

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Are these clowns unaware that ewedu and gbegiri were conceived as conjoined twins? Why would it be one or the other? This is no longer a mistake. It is sabotage. Treason of the palate.

The Amala Protection Bill (APB)

I propose an Amala Protection Bill (APB). Section 1: Any vendor who serves amala with only one of ewedu or gbegiri shall be fined, publicly shamed, and made to attend a Yoruba Food Reorientation Camp. Section 2: Repeat offenders must be banned from selling amala, and their facilities must be devoted, exclusively, to the sale of maize and ube.

If we allow this foolishness to continue, we will wake up one day and be served ofada without sauce and a Scotch egg without akwa.

Enough is enough.

Written by Bamidele Johnson