Emeka Esogbue

 10 THINGS THE IBUSA COMMUNITY MISSED IN LEGENDARY WILLY IKOLODO - Emeka Esogbue At exactly 3:45 pm of Saturday, August 7, 2010, he gave up the ghost inside the hospital at the age of 74 but he had been his community's traditional Warlord being the Uwolo of Ibusa. Hon Chief William Ukadike Ikolodo who hailed from Umuisagba, Ibusa was one of the greatest Ibusa personalities of his time. He was certainly one man that his community benefitted immensely and selflessly from as an illustrious son and political representative.  The huge gap that Willy Ikolodo left in Ibusa resonated with the ceremony organized in his memory by his family to mark his ten years of demise in Lagos. This article serves as a reminder of the life and times of the legend and all that the Ibusa community lost in him. 1. He was perhaps the most popular Ibusa figure of his time and he utilised it to the latter. The name, "Ikolodo" was like the name of a Roman god, feared by some, loved, respected and vene...

AN ORAL ACCOUNT OF AKWUKWU-IGBO FOUNDATION AS TOLD EMEKA ESOGBUE BY GABRIEL N. OSAKWE The version I was told my  my late uncle, Mordi Osakwe, which I find more authentic is as follows: Akwukwu-Igbo came from Nri, the origin of the Igbo tribe. Adaigbo (Odaigbo), a Prince of Nri kingdom committed an abomination, the penalty on which was death. His father, Agu, the King, loved him so much that he could not bear to see him beheaded. He therefore prepared him to leave the town surreptitiously by night. His junior brother, Okolie Agu who loved him so much, decided to go with him.  A half brother was asked to carry a medicine pot on his head with the instruction that wherever the pot fell, there they should settle. They left and the pot fell in the present day Ogwashi-Ukwu, and there they settled. Okolie Agu was a great Hunter, and hunted in the jungle after Umu Opu, a small town with their own king.  When he came back from his hunting, he rested at Umu Opu before going back to ...

IKELI IFE RITE IN ANIOMA NATION Emeka Esogbue Here is the age-long tradition of the Anioma peopl e on focus.  It is the "Ikeli Ife" rite in which beneficiaries, mostly old men, titled men, clan representatives or youths depending on the nature of Ikeli Ife usually gather within an agreed location that could be Ogwa or home of the Diokpa to receive their portion of a given item.  Usually, a communal goat or cow is slaughtered, and once slaughtered, shared pieces of meat are natively put on plantain leaves from which individuals pick their portion by seniority.  On a lighter side, this is where you hear the biggest forms of grammar from our Diokpas. Some make it a mixture of English and Igbo, which we lightly call 'Engili-Igbo' while others especially the 'Oluoyibo' returnees demonstrate the biggest forms of 'adjectivial grammar' to talk their 'opponents' to submission.  Lest I forget, it does not take long for disputes to break out in which argu...

ANIOMA IS NIGERIA'S CULTURAL MELTING POT Emeka Esogbue Anioma is a cultural and ancestral spot where many Nigerian ethnic groups met. But little did our docile forebears realise this. It is indeed the cultural melting pot of Nigeria.  From ancient Nri Kingdom were migrations that led to the foundations of Igbuzo, Ogwashi-Uku, Akwukwu-Igbo and many more. These movements were followed with the migrations from Isu of the Igbos. The Isu migration became the more important in terms of number in Igbuzo, Ewulu etc. But there were the Ikelike of Benin origin who were the original settlers in Ogwashi-Uku. The earliest waves of migrations were of the Ife and Akure of the Yoruba race led to the foundation of a number of Yoruba communities in the Enuani region of the Anioma area and it gave rise to the foundation of Olukwumi communities that are Ugbodu, Eko Efun (Ukwunzu), Ogodor and many more. Surprisingly, little did early Yoruba historians record the Yoruba communities in Enuani enclave unt...

REMOVE LEGEND, TESLIM BALOGUN WOULD ALMOST BECOME ORDINARY - Pen Master Believing that Tesilimi Balogun popularly called "Teslim" or Thunder Balogun is the Nigerian greatest player will only capture your love for legend - a story of unknown origin describing plausible but extraordinary past events. Such is the case of Teslim Balogun whom legend helped to elevate as imaginary greatest footballer Nigeria ever had.  Who outside the world of imagination will believe that he surpasses Rashidi Yekini, Jay Jay Okocha, Mikel Obi, Segun Odegbami, Kanu Nwankwo and others? Yekini remains Nigeria's highest goal scorer and also one of Africa's highest scorers, followed by Odegbami who is Nigeria's second highest goal scorer till date, Mikel and Kanu are two of Nigeria's best achieved and Okocha is obviously the most skilful. What is the place of Thunder Balogun as the greatest? Do you know? Curiously, most people who never did watch Thunder Balogun helped to overblow his t...

IGBUZO SINGLES: POLL FAVOURS IMPROVEMENT IN IBUSA INTER- MARRIAGE -        -   Emeka Esogbue Over the years of my existence in this world, I have lived with the wrong perception that discourages us, the Ibusa people from marrying from Ibusa. Some say that Ibusa girls are only good for friendship but not marriage but ISM has totally changed my perception and now I wish, desire and prayer to marry from ‘obodo oma’, Ibusa. -        Anonymous An opinion poll carried out by Pen Master within the period of July 19 to July 26, 2020 has shown that in recent times, Igbuzo marriage has not only been favoured by the community’s youngers but may expectedly go on the increase in the years to ahead. The poll which was conducted on the platform of Igbuzo Singles Meet, popularly called “ISM”, a singles Association with Igbuzo membership initiated to promote the Igbuzo marriage and also foster love, unity and understanding among the sin...

The Death of Uche Nwalama Stopped Me but Now, I am Back and Strong -        Heritage Anioma Band Leader, Eluemunor Okafor He is musically a household name in Anioma, one of the earliest Ibusa traditional musicians that entrenched the music in records and also one of people’s longest playing traditional musicians of today. Music Composer, Eluemunor Isichei Okafor, the well-traveled musician also grounded in the people’s culture relieves worthy memory on how recorded music started in Ibusa. The veteran musician speaks to PEN MASTER on a number of issues that helps to fill the musicality gap of the Ibusa people in Delta State. Excerpts: Pen Master: Onyeoma Diyoyo is a household name but for those that are far-off, can our readers meet you? Okafor: Okay, thank you very much, Pen Master. Well, my name is Isichei Eluemunor Okafor. I am the third child but second male child of my parents. I was born to Odigwe Obi Okafor from Umuwor, Ogbeowele in Ibusa,...

By Emeka Esogbue Most African women, married to African men live with horrible taboos that are hard to surmount. Sadly, many of the enslaving taboos are only discovered in the middle of married life or sometimes when marriage has ended but they leave a wide gap of inequality between husbands and wives. In most parts of Africa, the groom’s mother wields an ungainly but tough influence which determines whether her son should consider marrying a particular woman of his choice or not. As a result of this, the lucky woman proposed to by a man has the first task of praying to be accepted by a mother-in-law to be. If the marriage goes through, then begins an entirely new life of societal laws that the woman will learn to live with all the days of her married life. To start with, the journey to a successful marriage ceremony can be very knotty, tenaciously made so by the elders in the village who will show interest in monetary gains. There are elders whose lives depend on finance and ...