Emeka Esogbue

 Our Festivals Can Exist Side By Side Christianity, Ikwele Celestine Okafor Speaks Ahead of Ibusa People's Ine Festival His Royal Eminence, Chief Engr. Celestine Okafor is the Ikwele of Ibusa and also the Ibusa community's Chief Priest. The Ikwele, by his traditional office, is the custodian of the Ine Festival which the community is preparing to celebrate. In this interview with Ibusa Community Advocate, PEN MASTER (EMEKA ESOGBUE), His Eminence shares his experience of the festival with other forms of culture with readers. He also speaks on the expected role of the government toward social-cultural growth and development of the community, using the instrument festivals and offers historical opinion on the cultural relationships shared by Umejei and Ikenga. More interestingly, he also renders an oral historical narrative on the role of the Ikwele in Ibusa wars with other communities and how he also prepares the warlords to defend the community. Excerpts: Pen Master: You have be...

  Ibusa's Cherished Ine Festival Makes a Triumphant Return By Emeka Esogbue After two years of the last enactment, the Ine/Ichu Ekwensu Festival, a beloved tradition of the Ibusa people in Oshimili North Local Government Area of Delta State, is set to make a huge comeback to the delight of the people. His Eminence, Chief Engr. Celestine Okeibunor Okafor, the Ikwele of Ibusa, has unveiled plans for the bi-annual festival to take place. The community's Chief Priest recently revealed intention to newsmen in the community to celebrate the festival, a cornerstone of Ibusa's cultural heritage. A specially prepared video on the festival now being broadcast in media houses across the nation, also forwarded to PEN MASTER showcases the festival's significance and beauty. Significantly, the Ine Festival also called Ichu Ekwensu in some quarters, holds deep spiritual and cultural relevance to the people of the community, aiming to exorcise evil spirits, cleanse the community and pa...

The aftermath of Ulo Festival: The Aesthetic Gains in Ibusa   "Art is never finished, only abandoned." - Leonardo Da Vinci By Emeka Esogbue Although the Ulo Festival of the Ibusa people as recently celebrated by the Umueze Quarters of the community has come and gone, the gain ushered in for the lovers of artworks is what is rarely talked about by the people of the community. A few weeks ago, Umueze, the community's largest quarters celebrated the Ulo Festival in what was widely reported in the media including PEN MASTER with the arrangements, the buildup, the essay competition, the essay for secondary school students from the community, the principal characters, the dances, and the significance of the event all mentioned but rarely was any consideration given to the renovation of the Nne Eze statue by the 2022 Ulo Umueze Committee in the media.  Graciously and gloriously, the committee added some lasting beauty to the artistic state of the community. Pen Master learnt tha...