Umenzekwe recounts history, uniqueness of two central festivities in Achina Town, Ofala and Idegwu Day
Hon (Chief) Modestus Umenzekwe (Onwa Achina) a chieftain of the ruling all Progressives Congress, (APC), in this interview with Senior Editor, CYRIACUS NNAJI, speaks on the double celebrations, the Ofala and the Idegwu Day celebrations coming up on the 30th and 31st of December 2024 in Achina Town in Aguata Local Government Area of Anambra State, their history, activities, the nuances and the expectations.
Chief today is all about your town
What do you want to know about my town?
You are a critical stakeholder in Achina Community; I would want to know about Ofala Achina and Idegwu Day Festival, two major festivals in Achina?
Why are you so much interested about these two festivities, we have been talking about national issues, you bump in now and ask about Achina, did you hear anything? How did you get to know about Ofala Achina?
Chief, there is a lot of jingles and publicity in the air talking about the Ofala and Idegwu Day Festival, so being a stakeholder in Achina, I said let me come and learn from your most reliable knowledge and wisdom about these two key celebrations in Achina
Anyway, in anyway the news came to you, I will not deny we are celebrating Ofala Festival, not only that we are also celebrating what we call Idegwu Day. Achina Idegwu as it is fondly called is a notable town in Aguata LGA of Anambra State. My lovely town; a town noted for majorly Christianity, academics, civil service, business, agriculture, and so on and so forth.
This year to be precise is a special year for the indigenes of Achina Community both at home and in the Diaspora. A lot of activities are going to take place during this Yuletide period, and the biggest of those activities is the Ofala Celebration. So we are having what is called mass return this year.
The Ofala Festival, from my understanding and definition is a vibrant celebration of Igbo culture, honouring the reign of the traditional ruler in a grand style. It showcases colourful dances, music, exhibitions, in fact, it is the period the traditional ruler or the king, as the case may be, renews his authority and connection with the people he governs. When you govern a community or people and periodically you don’t draw them nearer to yourself, you are going to have gap. You may not know whether they are following you or not. So this is done in Achina once in six years. Our revered traditional ruler, His Royal Highness, Igwe Godwin Nnaemeka Obiora, Ononenyi, Eze Idegwu 111 of Achina, is celebrating his Ofala this year to get more connected with the Achina community, both the children and the adult, the youth, men and women, both those at home and in the Diaspora. It is a season he assesses himself to know whether he is still with his people. And that is the season the people assess themselves to know whether they are still with the king.
And from the look of things, we have been celebrating Ofala but this one, I would say, is reaching a crescendo, attesting to the fact that Achina Town as a whole are with the Igwe. The preparation is in top gear, the Igwe himself is equally preparing, a lot of projects, self-sponsored projects by individuals, groups, pressure groups, are going to be inaugurated and launched by the Igwe and the President General of Achina Town Union (ATU). We are expecting a lot of dignitaries, government officials, from far and near, so that is exactly what we are doing this year.
After the Ofala, we go into our triennial event which is called Idegwu Day Celebration, Ofala will be celebrated on the 30th of December while the following day 31st, we go into Idegwu Day celebration. Idegwu Day celebration is a cultural festival being celebrated by the entire Achina community, every three years to renew our connection with our ancestors, to showcase the culture of Achina community, where villages, branches, age grades, individuals, pressure groups are expected to showcase what they have done for the community. So these two occasions come at the same time, the only difference is that Ofala comes once in six years, and Idegwu comes every three years. Let me make it clear, it is the Igwe that celebrates the Ofala, it is his personal celebration approved by the town where the town shows solidarity and where they pay homage individually and collectively, and that shows the renewal of the mandate and connectivity.
Like I told you, so many projects are going to be launched; this is equally the period weak age grades are resuscitated and new ones are inaugurated. But then before they are inaugurated they must have shown a project they have executed. Like my own age grade, Achina Akwurugo Golden Age grade, we have been inaugurated years back, and since then we have not rested on our oars. Apart from our first project, the N50 million project which is the fencing and reconstruction of the Coronation Arena, a mini stadium, will be handed over this December, and I believe you will be there, you will equally see a podium, a special podium within the arena that is constructed by Igwe in Council. So nobody is resting, the Igwe and his Cabinet are spending through their nose, our age grade are spending through their nose, other age grades are doing same, to make sure that Achina takes its pride of place in the comity of towns in Nigeria in general and Anambra State in particular. That is exactly what is going to happen.
While you were talking something caught my fancy, you said that on Idegwu Day, people are going to reconnect with their ancestors, is it the Christian way or the traditional way?
Both ways depending on where you belong, but Christianity dominates. We have interdenominational service, then the traditional religion will perform their own rituals all aimed at thanking God for what he has done for us and praying to God to please give us the enablement to know him more, to develop our town, to develop human beings, and above all to serve him better.
Achina as a town, how is it administered, who is in charge?
One thing unique about Achina community is the existence of peace, and unity of purpose, the two leaderships we have, the Igwe and the president general are working in pari pasu, they are playing in the same goal, because we have been having smooth transition from one president general to the other without any crisis. The Igwe is using his leadership and position to unite the whole community, as well as the president general. So all these projects we are talking about are being presented to two of them. Because ordinarily, an average Achina man doesn’t wait for government, we try to use the age grades to develop our town, we use individuals to develop our town, and that is what the President General (PG) is doing to coordinate everybody because being the president general doesn’t mean that you must be rich, but he must be somebody endowed with wisdom and knowledge to coordinate, as well as the Igwe. So two of them are endowed with natural wisdom to coordinate and it is our duty to come to their aid, to assist them, to carry out their instructions, their directives and make the town livable and sweet for everybody.
Aside all you have said about Achina, what other things do you think a visitor coming to Achina this Yuletide stand to see?
A visitor is coming to see the defunct headquarters of Amaiyi Local Government Area, because when you hear about Amaiyi, where is Amaiyi? I was in a bus one day travelling from Lagos to my hometown, some people were talking about some local governments that were created and they are no more, they mentioned Amaiyi, I said that is in my town. They got interested to know more and I told them, at an appointed time you come, those people are coming this year; you are coming to see the Ezekoro Stream; the famous Ezekoro Stream, the best spring drinking water in Anambra State, with about 248 steps before you reach the collection chamber.
You are coming to see the famous St Peter’s Secondary School Achina that started about 1948. It started as Practicing Teachers College (PTC) in 1948, then metamorphosed to Elementary Teachers College (ETC) and now secondary school which has produced captains of Industry, high government officials, vice Chancellors, professors and a lot of them; and that is my alma mater. They are also coming to see the Community Secondary School Achina; they are coming to see the newly built road that traversed Achina and Orumba courtesy of Anambra State Government. You are coming to see exhibition of different cultures, you will see the women in their colourful outing, the Umuada, you will see age grades in their colourful outing, you will see projects, the Resource Centre being built by Achina women professionals is nearing completion for handover.
You are going to see our Health Centre which have been equipped by the same league of Achina women professionals and our brothers and sisters in the Diaspora, US and UK, you are going to see the two courts, built by two age grades, one has been handed over to Achina, and then the second court is equally nearing completion for hand over, you are going to meet quality people, individuals, notable Nigerians who are from the town because they are all coming home to celebrate with their kits and keen, it is going to be fun all through and we pray God to grant us health and life to be part of this reunion, and above all you are going to see the Igwe in his most outstanding cultural regalia supported by his epoch-making speech he is going to read out to the community as well as the president general.
Let’s go a little personal this time. You are going to be conferred with a chieftaincy title at the Ofala Festival, what are your expectations and how do you feel?
I feel good, I feel well, I feel happy, I feel important, I feel challenged, and the most important one is that I feel challenged, challenged in the sense that it will spour me to do more things to my community and mankind, that is much I can tell you.
I learnt it is double…
Yes it is double in the sense that my community, Achina Idegwu through the office of His Royal Highness Igwe Godwin Nnaemeka Obiora, Ononenyi, Eze Idegwu, is conferring me with the title of Enyimba. As if that is not enough, in my maternal home, HRH Igwe Raphael Okpaleke, Igwe Ohazurume, Igwe Akalabo, is conferring me again with another title. So it is two coming at the same time. So I see it that my father land and my mother land met in the spiritual realm and decided to go this way and I cannot say no, but like I told you, it is not a thing you brag about, but it is a challenge, a very very serious challenge and I pray God to keep me alive, give me the enablement to serve the two communities as I have been doing and to serve mankind as usual. God bless you.
Before we conclude this interview, I am sure that it’s about merriment, what are those things we have not discussed?
We are going to see influx of personalities from far and near all over the world, government officials, diplomatic visitors, people from the presidency, people from Government House Awka, all of them are being expected to grace the occasion. The names are numerous to mention, you are going to see captains of industries, you are going to witness what is called Idegwu Day Lecture where youths will be educated on how to live a meaningful life. Professionals and experts are coming to give lectures; we call it Idegwu Day Lecture, or Idegwu Day Summit. Then we are going to have Ofala Dinner, where notable sons and daughters of Achina, where the think-tank of Achina will seat, deliberate on the way forward on how to develop the town, and it may likely snowball into freewill donations to develop the town, and so on and so forth.
Finally as usual, your message to your Achina people
My message to Achina is that I congratulate the entire Achina community for their candour, their approach to life, their acceptance of government policies, their smooth transition from one government to another, the support they have given to the Igwe and the town union, their individual efforts in developing the town without waiting for the government to do everything for them, because that is what the government is talking about, more especially in Anambra State, start something, then we come to your aid, because government cannot do everything, their efforts in tackling certain erosion sites in Achina, on their own, but then there is one erosion site that has given us headache, which we are calling on the federal government, Anambra State government to come to Okparanwa erosion site immediately. I followed that matter up as a member of the Federal Housing Authority where the minister then, Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN) a great friend of Achina, who has been supporting whatever we have been doing one way or the other, gave us guideline on what to do, we are still in the process before their regime ended and we are still following up. Now we are using our collective and individual contacts with the Federal Government and Anambra State Government to bring development to Achina Town and of course we are soliciting the support of the Anambra State Governor in making sure that Okaranwa erosion site is captured in the budget and we hope it will come to fruition. So we should not relent.
My advice is we should not relent in our efforts to get these things done. And then to coordinate our youths because Achina youths are very very enterprising, not that there is no small small…but majority of them are very very enterprising, they want to learn, they want to get something doing, so I am appealing to the youths wherever they are to please join hand, to key in into these things because Achina is not known for crime. So I am appealing to the youth, to please let us come together, then some of us that are adults should one way or the other, periodically talk to them, use our connections in government to give them job and all that, we have been doing that and we would continue to do that, and above all let’s give our leaders maximum cooperation in character and finance.
