My Issele-Uku Travels and the Kingdom’s Ine Celebration: The Experience

 My Issele-Uku Travels and the Kingdom’s Ine Celebration: The Experience 

By Emeka Esogbue

On that night, I rejoined Issele-Uku, we gathered around the Obi with the display of prowess in ‘ita inu’, ‘tales by the moon’ and the night seemed morning yet with Issele-Uku becoming antediluvian with resultant beauty; returning to the period before the foreign imperial incursion when the King of Issele-Uku was especially amused. Everyone that had to tell the tale, heralded his story with the usual ‘Enye mu unu nju’ as is the general practice of the Enuani people. In the middle of the ‘Ita inu', when a few unexpected distractions inhibited our hilarity, the Obi, possessing god-like quality, displayed superiority to mundane and humdrum matters with his constant call for the restoration of order from the distractors that instantaneously and ultimately submitted to him. The ‘Ita Inu’ was all about the adventures of ‘mbekwu’, the tortoise, a reminder of ‘mbekwu oka na inu,’ another saying of the Anioma people.

Emeka Esogbue

On the night before the Ine Festival on September 10, 2021, I was in Issele-Uku, the Kingdom of Oligbo, the youngest son of the legendary Ezechime patriarch. Accompanied by a longtime friend and ‘brother’, and also a friend of the royal family, Chief Michael Onyekali Odiakosa, our point of destination was the Royal Palace of the Obi of Issele-Uku which the people know natively as “Ugeh”. Instantly, I became a significant and imperative guest amid already gathering indigenes of the community, many of who recognized me as “Pen Master” from the point of the palace gate, much to my pleasant surprise. With the exchange of pleasantries and introductions in some cases, interminable and unrelenting, we were hospitably received by the palace. 

I have been to nearly every palace of Anioma community and I have not found one in recent times, with the busyness of my experience in Ugeh of Issele-Uku. In my establishment, the palace seemed to be a friend of the people. With the King majestically seated in front of the well-arranged people, the night was the day. Everyone present seemed a friend of another so that I wondered if they took off from one home. Every time, anyone that came too close to me or the chair that was already reserved for me, close to the heads, the trite and commonplace was greeted with “our special guest from Lagos” so, I had no alternative but to attune myself to the ‘royal accolade.’ 

Looking at the Obi who was a bit secluded from the rest of us, I asked but was told that he was in cultural observances of “Inor Nzu”, the rite that preludes the Ine Festival of the people, and had remained there for the past three days. The night of my visit made it four days. The Ine is also a festival in my Ibusa community but being a community of republicanism, it is difficult to tell whether any head observes the Inor Nzu, similar to the Issele-Uku people of not.

I was extremely content and cheerful to find myself amid the Ezechime descendants. I have Ezechime blood running in my vein, after all, and that joy throve me. My great grandmother, mother of my maternal grandmother, Madam Omebe Dike was an illustrious daughter of Issele-Mkpitime and it was only fortuitous that I missed returning to Issele-Mkpitime with the rest of my family members for her concluding funeral rites a few years ago when it was decided that she should be laid to rest with observances of funeral rites in Issele-Mkpitime so that my grand-mother would have her funeral rites properly celebrated upon death. By Anioma culture, the mother must be buried before her daughter. It is also culturally expected that one buries her mother before attending the funeral ceremony of the mother of another person as retained in the proverb of the people which says “onye enyi hor nnea onyi bea nne nmadu.” 

It is a serious natural offence with natural implications where violated. At the eventual death of Madam Omebe, her funeral rites turned out easier for us since we didn’t have to spend time and resources conducting her mother’s burial in Issele-Mkpitime before visiting her own. 

The geniality of royalty that greeted my presence in Issele-Uku made me return to the palace that night from Idumuje-Unor where I had quickly chosen to pass the night. Beforehand, I walked straight to the Obi of Issele-Uku, HRM Obi Engr Nduka, MNSE, who was seated to pay him a deserving homage. On meeting the king, he was delighted to encounter me. The quickness with which he recognized me, amazingly tasked my stupefaction on whether he knew of my expedition to the palace ahead of me but I carefully and diplomatically swallowed my bewilderment before the presence of the bustling throng of other visitors to the palace. 

Turning to my confidante, the Nwadialor of Idumuje-Unor, Chief Michael Odiakosa, “His Majesty knows me this much and even my Igbuzo community that he had had to quickly mention my hometown?”, I directed to him with utmost surprise. 

His Majesty’s response meant to me so much brainpower, brilliance, and intellect that I had quickly noted in him. I saw in Obi of Issele-Uku, uncommon handsomeness and friendly disposition to his subjects. Upon my return from the neighbouring Idumuje-Unor, another friendly Kingdom where I had also gone to pay homage to His Royal Majesty, Obi Charles Chukwuwinke Anyasi III, the only known Anioma monarch with blood donation-NGO pet project and a long-time advocate of the Anioma people, the story of my visit to him, I will have to tell another day, being a friend of that royal family.

On that night, I rejoined Issele-Uku and we gathered around the Obi with the display of prowess in ‘ita inu', ‘tales by the moon’ and the night seemed morning yet with Issele-Uku becoming antediluvian with resultant beauty; returning to the period before the foreign imperial incursion when the King of Issele-Uku was especially amused. Everyone that had to tell the tale, heralded his story with the usual ‘Enye mu unu nju’ as is the general practice of the Enuani people. In the middle of the ‘Ita inu, when a few unexpected distractions inhibited our hilarity, the Obi, possessing god-like quality, displayed superiority to mundane and humdrum matters with his constant call for the restoration of order from the distractors that instantaneously and ultimately submitted to him. The ‘Ita Inu’ was all about the adventures of ‘mbekwu’, the tortoise, a reminder of ‘mbekwu ako na inu’ another saying of the Anioma people. 

One man was excellently gifted with these tales so that he reeled them out with ease to the ceaseless applauds of everyone present. Indeed, every word of his mouth was like a tale. He twisted his mouth like a singing bird that is trained in Enuani folklore and danced with words inside his mouth before pouring them out. He exhibited and showed off very masterly the Enuani background in him before dropping his varieties of ‘inu' almost unchallenged but one particular man, maybe younger, in my opinion, was to steal the show with his ‘Inu.’ He frequently had his breast-pocket stuffed with money as a means of appreciation by his admirers. There was another man, a chief by my estimation who equally displayed expertise. His ‘inu' often arrived with brevity but every time, with the jokes that laced them. He could easily resort to quizzes which no one could interpret effectively well. The Obi, as I observed, had to display smiles over-emphatic stories that provoked laughter.

At this stage, I noticed that the Obi’s traditional salutation was similitude to Benin royalty, something I had quickly performed but I didn’t ask questions regarding this, aware of the history of relations shared by both kingdoms. At this stage, I was piloted to the palace with its significance. Happily, Mike Akeh, son of Prince Chris Afumata Akeh-Osu, a friendly, responsive, and amenable young man was present. His father, Akeh-Osu is the author of “The History of Great Isi-Ile-Uku) Kingdom: The Emergence of the Mighty Umu-Ezechima”, first published in 1992 and republished in 2016. Once Mike Akeh, a Prince and great patriot of Issele-Uku Kingdom sighted me, he recognized me without any introduction. Highly resourceful in Issele-Uku royal accounts and antiquity, he took the night and the following day to impart valuable information to me about the kingdom with worthwhile contributions from other chiefs present in the heat of an entertaining debate that swathed the discourse. I came out with great insight into the Issele-Uku royalty history. indeed, with Mike Akeh’s specialty in the area, anyone would have mistaken him for the custodianship of the Issele-Uku palace. 

Inside the palace, I was conducted to the royal photographs hanging on the wall, a testimony of the richness, preservation, and contact of the palace with important personalities outside the nativity of the kingdom. I particularly took delightful note of pictures of three kings of the kingdom – Obi Osemene II, Obi Rufus Osejindu Osemene III, his son, and Obi Henry Ezeagwuna, the late father of the present Obi. 

Perhaps, some little introductions of these monarchs are necessary here. According to the information supplied by Prince Akeh-Osu in his book, already cited here, Obi Patrick Okafor Ahamo was born the second son of his father, Obi Osemene I of Issele-Uku in the year 1911. He has crowned the Obi of Issele-Uku because his elder brother being the first son, died before growing in age to succeed his father as the Obi. It was on this basis, that Patrick Okafor Ahamo emerged the Obi, taking up the name, Osemene II of Issele-Uku. The writer described him as the most handsome and lovable king of Issele-Uku who, unfortunately, had a very rough and short reign on the throne. Obi Osemene II was the first Obi of Issele-Uku to own a car and was a member of the Western Regional House of Chiefs at Ibadan from 1945-1946. He was also noted to have settled the dispute of the first taxation between Issele-Uku and the British Government when he was in the Government School in Benin.   

The second Obi I noted was Obi Osemene III who was crowned as Obi Rufus Osejindu Osemene. He was born in 1932 and attended St. Patrick’s College, Asaba. He is best regarded for playing football up to the Nigerian National team level and for taking the Issele-Uku royal mask to the Government for use during the FESTAC ’77 ceremony following the Oba Akenzua confirmation that the mask was historically from Benin. The third Obi that captured my mind was Obi Henry Ezeagwuna (1996-2014). He has educated up the university level and seems to me, the first Obi of Issele-Uku to attain this level of education having schooled at the University of Benin, Edo State. He is the father of Oko Nduka, the present Obi of the community. 

Looking at the number of pictures with eagerness and zest. There was a picture with the image of late HRM Obi Anyasi, the father of the present Obi of Idumuje-Union, a clear indication that the Anioma communities relate closely. I sighted Gen Abacha, Nigeria’s eighth Leader and standing by him were a few others but my attention was primarily on a huge man with a beguiling body frame, whose imposing height dwarfed all others in the gifted natural order. He was clad in white, and I winked and vexed my eyes many times to take cognizance of him, a voice behind me, spoke softly. 

“That’s your brother, Chief Fred Ajudua’, he is one of our chiefs here. His wife is also a Chief here. I don’t know why he is not here.”   

Deserving of a chieftaincy title anywhere, philanthropic Chief Fred Chijindu was recognized with the title of “Edoma of Oligbo Kingdom Kingdom” on June 5, 1992, the day of his birthday, by the people of Issele-Uku Kingdom as conferred by HRM Obi Rufus Osejindu Osemene. The title of Edoma of Oligbo kingdom Issele-Uku with several others, numbering 75 in all, towers the Onwanetili Oha of Ibusa and Dike Anioma as the Anioma man with the highest number of chieftaincy titles, honourably garnered across the Southern, Northern, Eastern and Western parts of the country. I had told them that if he was present at the event, he would have done more than expected.

A few minutes later, HRM Obi Nduka, MNSE, the Obi of Issele-Uku retired into the inner chambers and at this point, we had the opportunity to talk Issele-Uku history again. The present mood of Issele-Uku did not welcome any form of noise including burials. Any noise would compel the enforcers of the order to move to the violator’s compound where a chicken would be beaten to death as a penalty for breaking the law. Furthermore, there are two wooden gongs in existence, one belongs to the Benin Kingdom while the other is in Issele-Uku and actually inside the chambers the Obi made his retirement. Unfortunately, the one belonging to the Benin Kingdom was carried away by the British during the Benin invasion of 1897, the ‘twin’ is what is still available to Issele-Uku. This is another uniform socio-spiritual relation shared by Benin and Issele-Uku. The other is the Queen Idia Mask popularly called the FESTAC’77 Mask already discussed here.

When I inquired further on the function of the gong to the people, I was told that it is used for prayers. The Obi of Issele-Uku prays for the entire Enuani people. In the olden days, the sound of the gong was heard as far as Asaba, another Enuani community. Adventurous British must be very stupid to have to ‘steal’ from the Benin Kingdom of the time, an object of prayer and a ceremonial mask which they took back home to display in their museum for economic gains. Did they wish that Benin stop to pray and observe their ceremonies? Well, that was the impunity with which the imperialists oppressed Africans, something that was of unpleasant interest to post-colonialists but now less worrisome to the present generation conceivably. Thankfully, they spared the Anioma gong and mask of Issele-Uku and at least, we can show them ofc to Benin.             

When I returned to Issele-Uku the following day and attempted to walk into the palace, I met a kingdom taken over by a gargantuan crowd. It was the day of the Ine Festival when the Obi was expected to leave the Inner Nzu and the multitude of people was so large that I feared that the kingdom’s entire population had poured themselves into the streets of Issele-Uku. Only then did I personally uphold Oligbo Issele-Uku to be the Anioma community with the most cherished keenness for the festival. Never in my life, have I seen a troop of people in their multitudes move out to celebrate any festival in a single country. Hired professional musicians occupied every part of the road with old and young dancers, pirouetting rhythmically and oscillating every part of their bodies to several songs of the festival. My attempt to re-enter the Ugeh was hindered by the frequent sound of canon which also gave no warnings before explosions. 

I thought of interviews with the dancers but their busy bodies might not permit them. All that I needed to do was to record some of the dances, something I hurriedly did before returning to Idumuje-Union. However, this could not have been possible without visits to some chiefs of the kingdom who equally threw celebrations in their homes. I had seen it all after all in Issele-Uku after all.