From Priscilla Ediare, Ado-Ekiti
As part of ways of ensuring that the Igbo culture does not go into extinction, the Ohanaeze Ndigbo in Ekiti State recently painted Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, red, as Igbo indigenes within the state and outside Ekiti converged on the Ekiti State Pavilion NTA/New Iyin road, Ado-Ekiti, to celebrate the 2022 Igbo Cultural Day. Even non-Igbo were part of the celebration.
The event also featured an appeal fund of N150 million for the construction of ultramodern hall as well as award of excellence to some individuals.
The cultural day, which is celebrated once in five years by Igbo indigenes residing in Ekiti State, was to come up December 4, 2021, but had to be shifted because the original date clashed with the local government election held in the state last year. The celebration, which officially came on stream in 2011, is aimed at showcasing and sustaining the rich cultural heritage of the Igbo to the world.
The event attracted such dignitaries as Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, who was represented by Hon. Ayodele Jinadu, Commissioner for Integration and Special Duties, Chief Alex Ndubuisi, president, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Ekiti State, Ewi of Ado-Ekiti, Oba Rufus Adejugbe, represented by Chief Obafemi Ojo, Bobajiroro of Ado-Ekiti, Chief Matthew Nwankwo, president-general (PG) Ndigbo S/West and representative of PG Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, Amb. George Obiozor, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, represented by Nze Emeka Ewereonye (former president, Ndigbo, Oyo State), Chief Nathaniel Uzomah, Asiwaju Ndigbo Ekiti, and former president, Ndigbo Ekiti State, Chief Benjamin Ndubuisi, chairman on the occasion and president, Ndigbo, Oyo State.
Also in attendance were Hon. Biodun Oyebanji, represented by Hon. Tade Aluko, Chief of Staff to the Deputy Governor of Ekiti State, former Governor Segun Oni, represented by Ladi Owolabi, Eze Gregory Iloehika, represented by Onowu Ndigbo Ondo State, Chief C. Anyaku, Chief Nnamdi Iwuchukwu, Special Adviser to Ekiti State governor on Igbo Affairs, Samuel O. Njoku (legal adviser, Ohaneze Ekiti State) and Chief (Mrs.) Nkechinyere Iyiakimo(President, Ohaneze Women Wing S/W and Oyo State), among others.
In his address, the President-General (PG) of Ohaneze Ndigbo in Ekiti State, Chief Alex Ndubuisi, thanked Governor Fayemi for the harmonious relationship that has been existing between the people of Ekiti State and the Igbo living in the state.
He also appreciated the royal father of the day, Adejugbe for his fatherly role in ensuring that his subjects live in peace with their Igbo neighbours and also appreciated other traditional rulers across the 16 local government areas of the state harbouring the Igbo in their domains.
The PG also thanked members of the planning committee for their efforts, the Ohaneze Ndigbo and non Igbo indigenes at the event.
Commending the efforts of the federal and state governments in tackling the security challenges in the country, Ndubuisi advised that new approaches should be evolved to restore normalcy in all areas affected.
The President-General urged that the next president of Nigeria should come from the South East since it is a vital component of the country, appealing that the next president should allow restructuring as part of reconciliation and equity. He also appealed to the federal government and other concerned authorities to effect the release of the agitators from different parts of the country as they are part of us.
Delivering Fayemi’s speech, Jinadu said: ” Mr Governor is aware of your contributions to the growth of Ekiti State. He is equally aware you have contributed immensely to the social- cultural development of Ekiti State. There is no where you will go to in Nigeria that you will not see an Igbo man doing one legitimate business or the other. We cannot do without you. You are our friends, you are our brothers, we are partners in progress. I will appeal to you to ensure there is peace in every area you find yourselves. Our take home is that Ekiti progress is in our hands, we must collaborate and all hands must be on deck to ensure peace and progress in Ekiti State, to make sure that we are going to make Ekiti State a destination of success, a destination of peace, a place where you can sleep peacefully with your two eyes closed, a place where you can make your contributions without hindrance, that is our focus and that is what makes Ekiti a peaceful state. On behalf of His Excellency, we want to thank you for putting this programme in place. ”
While offering prayers with the kolanuts presented at the occasion, the governor’s representative said: “kola is about life, he who gives kola gives life. Kola is about peace, may we all know peace. Kola is about progress, may we all know progress in our families, society and Ekiti State as a whole.”
In his remarks, Owolabi, who represented former governor Segun Oni, said: “His Excellency sends his greetings. He could not be here because of other engagements outside Ado-Ekiti. We thank you for organizing this programme, we pray that the next one in five years time will be better than this. We want to assure you that we are with you and will continue to be with you when we come on board in the forthcoming election. I am sure at the time when he(Oni)was governor in Ekiti State you must have seen or have been told of his gigantic feat of what he has done. We thank and appreciate you for your economic progress all over the states, not only in Nigeria but all over the world because it is a common saying that even if you go to the moon you will find the Igbo there. Thank you very much. We wish you more progress.”
On his part, Aluko said: “Hon Biodun Oyebanji greets Igbo people in Ekiti State. He is a man who enjoys the commerce of Igbo people in Ekiti State. He appreciates the tremendous work you are doing in the state. May God continue to be with us and bless us all.”
Speaking on the significance of the day, representative of Amb. Obiozor, Chief Nwankwo, from Ebonyi State, said, “Amb. George Obiozor would have been here today but due to one programme or the other, he travelled outside the country. Today is a great day in the lives of the Igbo people in Ekiti State. It is not a new thing that the Igbo are the Pathfinders, there is no place we are that we don’t make positive impacts that will make us to be recognized in the state and anywhere. If you look at today’s occasion you can see that the governor of the state sent a representative here so that the Igbo will know that he has us in mind. We are also part of the development of Ekiti State in terms of our contributions to the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR). We thank God and Gov Kayode Fayemi for the peace in the state. We thank God for today’s event.
“You can see the different types of cultural display here today. Our cultural masquerades, our cultural dancers both males and females, all of them are showcased here. You can see our children speaking in our dialect, we ensure that our local language is being passed to our children, so that when we are getting old they will not be denied their rights as Igbo men or women.”
Speaking on this year’s event and its significance, the Chairman, planning committee, Sir Okugo Chuks, from Enugu State, said: “I am impressed with the turnout. People from within and outside Ekiti, even from outside the country honoured our invitations and that goes down to the integrity of the committee members and that is what gave rise to the success we are witnessing today and I give God all the glory.
“The Igbo culture is one of the best cultures in Africa; you can see things yourself. It is highly respected. It is blended alongside religion, if you are talking of Christianity, our culture is similar to it. In some places in Igbo land, if you go there we have masquerade display where even reverend fathers used to take part in the celebration, like the Igodo festival. This Igbo culture is very rich, a tip of the iceberg is what you have witnessed today. We want to showcase to our host community that this is our culture, this is how we live, this is part of the things you will witness if you come to Igbo land.
“In Igbo land, culture and tradition will never go into extinction and that is part of what you witnessed today that even if we are in foreign land we will still display our culture and wherever we are the Igbo people must show what they are known for.”
Speaking about the people of Ekiti State, Chuks, who bagged his first and second degrees from the state university when the name was OSUA and UNAD respectively, and also lived in Ekiti for some time, said: ” Ekiti people are wonderful people. Infact, it’s like I am more known here. I mean I have more friends than in my place. My wife is a Yoruba woman from Ondo State and if I come in the next world, I will still marry her.”
The special adviser to Ekiti State Governor on Igbo Affairs, Chief Nnamdi Iwuchukwu, who has lived for 37 years in the state, said: “We are very united. Today, all shops in Ekiti State are locked up because we are having our day, we do it once in five years. We cherish our culture and we maintain it wherever we find ourselves. It is good to maintain one’s culture because Africans have their different cultures.”
Mrs Mary Ehibe, Secretary General, Ohaneze Ndigbo, Ado local government area (women wing), a business woman from Abia State, said: “Today is Igbo day celebration in Ekiti State, all Igbo people are celebrating. It comes up every five years and Igbo people will gather and celebrate it, shops or businesses will not be opened. We feel happy today because this is not our land but we have gathered to celebrate according to our culture as you are seeing us dressed in our Igbo attires, people dancing in different ways. These are parts of our Igbo culture.
On her perception of Ekiti indegenes, Ehibe said: “Ekiti people are good and accommodating. I have been living here since 2005 and even after my husband died nobody has told me to leave their land and go to my place. I have been living in the house my husband built before he died. Ekiti people are good. “
One of the guests, Victor Nathaniel, a business man, who has been living in Ekiti State for 13 years, said: “Today is Igbo day and we celebrate this every five years and we are very happy with what we are seeing. Culture is something good in every tribe. We, Igbo people, highly cherish our culture, and you can see this in what is happening here today.”
On his relationship with Ekiti people , Nathaniel said: “Ekiti people are very accommodating; they don’t discriminate and they unite with Igbo people.”
Mrs Caroline Nwankwo, a caterer, who has lived in Ekiti State for more than 20 years, said: ” I thank God for today’s event because we can see ourselves together again. We have people from all the local government areas in the state and other states. So many people you haven’t seen for long, they are all here today.”
Mrs Nwankwo professed she liked the people of the state because they are accommodating. “I like Ekiti people, they are very accommodating. They like me and I like them too,” she volunteered.
Evang. Ejike Celestine, who also attended the occasion, said: “Today’s cultural day is fantastic. We ought to have celebrated it last year but due to certain things we differed it to this year and to the glory of God we are witnessing it. Our greatest joy is that the people we invited from different parts of the country and even outside the country are here to celebrate with us.
“What we are trying to showcase is that the Igbo people are one wherever we are, whether living in our different states, in other states and even outside Nigeria. And we are trying to tell our children that are here that there is a place they belong to despite being born in the South West. We thank our host communities because we are doing very well here. We don’t have any problem with our host community in Ado-Ekiti here and in Ekiti State in general.”
Ejike described the relationship between the Igbo people and their host communities as very cordial and they are also somehow related with Ekiti people having engaged in intertribal marriages.
“Our relationship with Ekiti people is very cordial in the sense that some of us have done intertribal marriages. Some of our men are married to Ekiti women, some of our women are married to Ekiti men. This means that we are somehow related,” he said.
Awardees at the event included Fayemi, Ekweremadu, Chief Ambrose Anyanwu, Hon Emma Ogbozor, Eze Ifeanyi Gilbert Achi, Mr Chidi Okeke, Chief Emmanuel Ezeofor, Mr Emeka Egwudike, Mr Ejike Odo, Chief Ndubuisi Okemini, Mr Humphrey Okoli, Mr Ichie Hillary Agbedoh, Amb. Temitope Awelewa, Prince Joseph Okafor, Mr Ikechukwu Ezenma, Mr Henry Okonta, Mr Gideon Nwani,Mr Igew Michael and Chief Solomon Eze among others.
Nze Emeka Ewereonye, who received an award on behalf of Ekweremadu, said: “The award is an honour well deserved. Our people have seen what he represents, the things he has been doing and the things he will be willing to do. That is why they decided to honour him today.”
On why the day was set aside, Ewereonye said: ” The life of Ndigbo revolves around culture. Most of the things we do are based on our culture. Without culture, the people may not have any identity. What we are witnessing today is just mainly for our neighbours and our children who were born here to know that the Igbo people have a culture that we have been trying our best to keep.”
The side attractions included cultural parades by men and women from the 16 local government areas of Ekiti State and cultural dances by men and women from various groups.
Various sizes of masquerades beautifully dressed in colorful costumes with different shapes of masks and jesters dressed in beautiful outfits also entertained the guests.