Emeka Esogbue

 I am Doing Everything Within my Capacity to Project My Enuani People to the World  This Year's Edition is Dedicated to the Ndi Omu. - Augustine Nwaeni, Miss Enuani Initiator Tells Pen Master "Miss Enuani is one of my projects that is so dear to me and I am doing everything within my capacity to project it to the world. Miss Enuani/Enuani Achievers Award is a very unique project which I conceived to to bring the Enuani to the world."  These were the words of Augustine Onochie Nwaenie, the Ogwashi-Uku-born initiator of Miss Enuani pageant. He told PEN MASTER on Friday that although he is into ICT and also an Entertainment Entrepreneur and a graduate of Mass Communication, he is inspired to drive the Enuani people of Anioma to becoming a household name.   "Enuani, I would say came as a divine inspiration as I wouldn't categorically say that I ever contemplated floating a unique pageant like it unlike the conventional pageants and awards that we have." "Th

 Nni Olar: The Precious Food of the Anioma People - Emeka Esogbue Were you ever served Nni Olar? Well, if you are a bit aged, spent your days in any Anioma home as a parent or relatively young within the period of discussion and spent the early days of your life with your grandparents in any Anioma home back in the 'village,' congratulations to you because you will comprehend fully what I mean with this story. Nni Olar was never a special delicacy of the Anioma people but actually any remainder of food that should not be discarded because it must be eaten the following day. It was then a pleasing food with rarity to the Anioma people.  Unlike today, Anioma's parents rarely threw away foods that had undergone the effects of time. They simply covered them up inside the plates to awaiting the following day. All that they did was to hurriedly simmer the food again on the stove and it would be eaten again satisfactorily, especially by children hurrying to school.  Then you hear,

 OMU OF IBUSA ATTENDS OTU EHULU FULU IBUSA SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM  - Emeka Esogbue The Omu of Ibusa, Obi Josephine Isioma Nwannabuogwu on Friday, joined other Ibusa guests from different walks of life to attend the Otu Ehulu Fulu Society of Ibusa scholarship award program which held in the community. The program, the first of its kind for the community's women society and also the first major outing for the Omu of the community was hailed in various quarters as successful.  Pundits in Ibusa had asserted that with the recent Omu coronation in the community, activities of Ibusa women representation will peak and Otu Ehulu Fulu, justifying it, stood out with the initiative that not only encouraged education but also emphasized the need for hard work among the youths of the community. Obi Josephine Nwannabuogwu, the Omu of Ibusa, after her coronation, represented Ibusa on April 18, at the recently held Anioma Cultural Festival of the Organization For the Advancement Culture in Asaba and r

 ANIOMA OMUS CONSTITUTE "ANIOMA COUNCIL OF OMUS." - OMU OF OKPANAM/ANIOMA, CHAIRMAN - OMU IGBUZO GETS POSITION OF PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICER AFTER 13 DAYS OF CORONATION - COMRADE PATRICK NWEIKE OCHEI OF ANIOMA TRUST NEWSPAPER, MEDIA ADVISER - HRH QUEENSLY UZOKA OF OBOMKPA IS THE SECRETARY/LEGAL ADVISER; AND  - PEN MASTER IS THE COUNCIL'S RESEARCH CONSULTANT The Anioma Council of Omus (ACO), the aegis of Omus in Anioma Nation on Friday issued a communique on its socio-cultural, economic and political demands. In the communique released to the public as published by Anioma Trust, the Omus announced positions of members and took some stance. The Omus affirmed the region's traditional rulers as the fathers of the Anioma Nation and acknowledged their roles in protecting and projecting the people's traditions and cultures.    As the 2023 general elections approaches, the Anioma Council of Omus appealed to Anioma sons and daughters in politics to follow the rules and avoid

 OMU JOSEPHINE MAKES FIRST REPRESENTATION OF IBUSA AT THE OFAAC ANIOMA FESTIVAL By Emeka Esogbue The Omu of Ibusa, Obi Josephine Isioma Nwannabuogwu on Monday, made her first official representation of the Ibusa community in her capacity as the Omu of the community. The Omu was at the Anioma Cultural Festival of the Organization For the Advancement of Anioma Culture (OFAAC) which happened inside the Arcade Centre in Asaba, the Delta State capital in the traditional name of the Ibusa community. The beautiful, bold and intelligent Omu had a seat on the table, side by side, Her Royal Majesty Obi Dr. Martha Dunkwu and other holders of the exotic female traditional office from Anioma in a reservation specially made for them. Incidentally, it was the first time in history any Ibusa Omu would represent the community in any event of this cultural magnitude outside the town and she was sure ecstatic about it. The Omu of Ibusa, in company of her Otu Omu that included Miss Jane Nwajei stormed the

 PROMOTING ANIOMA CULTURE:THE ONU IKA EXAMPLE - Emeka Esogbue Established in 1988, the Ika Organization of Leaders, which later transformed into Onu Ika (Voice of Ika) by name, is a group for the people of Ika South and Ika North-East local government areas within the Delta North of Delta State. It holds an annual lecture in what it calls "Ogwa Ika." The Onu Ika Nigeria is an example of an Anioma group that has supported the advancement of the Ika culture in particular and Anioma in general through different programmes and different platforms available to it. It was not therefore surprising that the foremost group of the people launched the Ika dictionary also called Ekukwo Oku Nkowa in Owa in 2017. The purpose of this piece throws up the 17th annual OFAAC Festival that was spectacularly held yesterday, April 18, 2022, inside the Arcade Centre in Asaba, Delta State, and the esteemed contributions of Onu Ika. It is historic that Onu Ika, deriving its mandate from the people of

 IF YOUR ANIOMA TRADITIONAL LEADER DID NOT ATTEND THE OFAAC FESTIVAL OF YESTERDAY, ASK HIM WHY WE ARE THANKING ARC KESTER IFEADI AND THE OFAAC TEAM FOR THE ANIOMA FESTIVAL SPIRIT AND FOR UNITING US, THE ANIOMA PEOPLE IN LOVE AND ONENESS - Emeka Esogbue Yesterday, April 18, 2022, the Organization For the Advancement of Anioma Culture (OFAAC) proved what it is known for in Anioma. OFAAC, the culture umbrella of the Anioma people returned to the action of promoting and preserving the people's culture after a two-year break.  There seems no group or organization anywhere that has showcased, preserved, or projected the Anioma culture as has been the case with OFAAC. Acting as the Anioma Pole Star, OFAAC appears to have put the Anioma cultural flag in every place possible, bringing the Aniocha, Oshimili, Ika, and Ndokwa/Ukwuani together in unison.  With about 5,000 participants gathering to appreciate and celebrate the Anioma beauty and over 30 traditional rulers from within and outside

 "MY OMU REIGN WILL ADVANCE OUR IBUSA CAUSE AND RE-POSITION THE PLACE OF OUR WOMEN," A SPEECH BY OBI JOSEPHINE NWANNABUOGWU, THE OMU OF IBUSA PROTOCOLS Igbuzo Igwe nu, Umuwanyi Omu, Omu, Ladies and Gentlemen, I send you my greetings for coming together to witness a day of the Ibusa people, a day of our Ibusa women especially. A glorious day for the Ibusa women is the day we have all decided to rebirth, renew and advance the traditional destiny of our dear Ibusa community with this noteworthy event in the history of our people. Guarded and Guided by the gods and goddesses of our land, it's been years of a journey of focused and tireless pursuit, perseverance, trust, and faith for me to serve our people in the way, our Omu matriarchs served us spiritually and traditionally.  In all modesty, let me submit that all my life, I have been divinely gifted with service to mankind, I have always taken service to humanity as a tool of healing humanity, conquest of insurmountable cha

 OMU CORONATION: IBUSA AGOG FOR OBI JOSEPHINE NWANNABUOGWU  By Emeka Esogbue Like what looked like a newer form of unity, the people of Ibusa, a hilly, agrarian community in Oshimili North Local Government Area of Delta State, stood still for Josephine Nwannabuogwu who was on Monday, coronated as the Omu of Ibusa. Indigenes of the community, as well as sisterly Anioma towns, started to arrive at  Kefas Amusement Park,  the venue of the ceremony inside Ibusa as early as 11.00 am but it was also the time, Josephine Isioma Nwannabuogwu the Omu Designate was seen in the train of Imanokwa group that moved in a stately and solemn order to the community's sacred ground for performance of some rites and rituals.  What followed was a grandeur reception ceremony that unveiled the beautiful and now powerful new Omu in splendour to the Ibusa and Anioma public. With the opening prayer said by Rev Fr. Hilary Nwadei from the community, and the breaking of the kola nut traditionally observed as cu

  Omuship of the Anioma People in Brief By Emeka Esogbue INTRODUCTION Omuship is the oldest, best known and most revered female traditional among the Anioma people of Nigeria, which includes Onitsha where Omu Nwangboka is known to have reigned and also Ossomari, another community outside Delta State that shares ancestral relations with Anioma. According to Prof E. A. C. Nwanze, the former Vice Chancellor of the University of Benin, Edo State from Asaba, the Omu institution of the Anioma people is about 822 years in existence. Until recently, the history of Omuship despite its age-long existence remained obscure partly due to the nature of the spiritual requirements of the institution and the traditional nature of the occupants, on one hand, and lack of interest from writers of social history of the people of the area, on the other hand. The deep spiritual nature of the institution meant that only little was known about th institution and even then, the sketchy knowledge of the

 EBU, THE IGALA- SPEAKING COMMUNITY IN ANIOMA By Emeka Esogbue Located in the midst of other Oshimili communities and sharing the same Oshimili North Local Government Area in Delta State with Ibusa, Akwukwu-Igbo, Atuma, Okpanam, and Illah, Ebu is one of the most culturally influenced Anioma communities in existence today. The community, a border town that stands on the road to Benin, is further bordered by Illah and Ezi, among others.  The Ebu geography of contiguity continues. The people migrated from Idah in today's Kogi State from where they settled in the present Delta State site amid Igbo-speaking Enuani communities of Oshimili extraction. It is historically said that they migrated all the way from Idah to settle in their present location in search of a prime fishing area. The Igala-speaking Ebu is noted for its agrarian nature due to the fertility of the community in growing food crops, especially rice and yam. Their settlement on the bank of the majestic River Niger is also

  A Brief History of Ibusa By Emeka Esogbue The Ibusa account of foundation depends on oral sources as continually handed down from generations, and also documented by the writers of the community’s history of origin. The community offers an example of a bipartite society, formed by two distinct movements from two dissimilar settlements that have now merged. Indeed, it is a federation of two autonomous communities considering that its major founders were from Nri and Isu of the Igbo outside the present Anioma enclave. Nevertheless, the modern community of Ibusa has the three founders being Edini (founder of Ogboli), Umejei (founder of Igbuzo) and Ishite (founder of Ezukwu).   Ibusa, an Igbo-speaking settlement as it exists today was founded in the 15 th century by two major migrations to the West of the River Niger Basin. The movements were by migrants from Nri and Isu, two ancient settlements that are located in today’s Southeast part of Nigeria. The Nri migration occurred wh