Emeka Esogbue

Culture lovers and students of various tertiary institutions in the nation on Monday, December 31, 2012 gathered in Ibusa in Oshimili North Local Government Area of Delta State to celebrate the first annual Igbuzo Day organized by the National Association of Ibusa Students (NAIBS). The occasion was marked with a beauty pageant tagged “Face of NAIBS” and dancing competition for cultural groups of Ibusa extraction. Mr. Emeka Esogbue who stood in for the Caretaker Chairman of Oshimili North Local Government Area as the Chairman of the Occasion stressed on the need to preserve Ibusa culture, noting that change was inevitable in the community. He described Ibusa as a close-knit community with unique beliefs, rules of behavior, language, rituals, arts, technology, styles of dress, ways of producing, cooking food, religion, political and economic systems. Mr. Esogbue lamented that the community’s festivals and native dance are increasingly facing extinction even as heritage of peace is...

Rev. Fr. Dr. Kunirum Osia, an Anioma leader, Scholar, Adjunct Professor, Linguist, Administrator, Anthropologist, Rehabilitation Officer and Journalist was the Parish Priest of St. Augustine’s Catholic Church, Ibusa during the Nigerian Civil War. In this interview with EMEKA ESOGBUE of Ndi Anioma, he relieves memory on how Asaba, Ibusa, Ogwashi-Uku, Isheagu and other major towns of Anioma were affected by the war. He also bares his mind on other problems troubling the region. These and more he shares in this interview. Excerpts.                Emeka Esogbue:   A number of people accord you with being an enigma of some sort; can you let us into the personality of Rev. Fr. Dr. Kunirum Osia? Osia: An enigma? Not at all. I am a simple individual who is not given to too much talking unless it is necessary. By natural disposition, I am quiet but very observant and I internalize much of my encounters. If you describe me as brave that I mi...