Emeka Esogbue

 Which of These Five Challenges Troubles Ibusa the Most, and What Is the Way Forward? By Emeka Esogbue Ibusa is a community of great history, culture, and promise. Yet, like many growing communities, it faces pressing challenges that demand serious reflection and practical solutions.  Among these issues, which troubles Ibusa the most, and what is the way forward? 1. Power Supply Whether the electricity problem is national or not, the people of Ibusa have been particularly unfortunate over the past two decades. For many residents, darkness has become the norm and electricity the exception. In the last seven years, several prominent sons and daughters of the community have donated electric poles, cables, transformers, and other facilities, yet the situation appears to be getting worse rather than better. Today, it is difficult to live comfortably in Ibusa without relying on power banks just to keep mobile phones charged. The people are groaning under this burden. How can the com...

Ibusa: The Multiplicity of Names, Identity Crisis Creation and the Way Forward     - Emeka Esogbue As I write this article, my community does not only remain colonially tied to the British administration but suffers a terrible 'identity sickness.' No one has seen any community with as many conflicting pronunciations, claims, facts, and spellings of its name as my community and a rise by the leadership to invoke a symmetric correspondence among these constituent components and immediately involve the government of the day-to-gazette it seems more difficult a feat to achieve in the present era. It stands to the truth that a name is the first characteristic by which a person, thing, or place is known, and where a name carries crisis, everything soon goes wrong. The identity of a people begins with the name that they bear. Ibusa is located in Delta State and is one of the important communities in the state due to its human resources, population, and strategic location...

  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 oc...

I Hardly Sleep because I Want to Meet My People’s Demand -        Hon Hilary Okobi   About five months after his election unopposed, he rebuilt a market under his constituency much to the amazement of his community. In this interview with PEN MASTER (Emeka Esogbue), a media personality, Hilary Ifechukwude Okobi, the Counselor representing Ward 5 of Ibusa in Oshimili North Local Government Area of Delta State speaks on his counsellorship feats so far, evaluates the Oshimili North Local Government and answers other pressing questions. Excerpts:   Pen Media: I agree that a lot of people in your locality and beyond have now heard of your name. To others, who might not have known you, who is "Hilary Okobi?”   Okobi: (Smiling) Okay, well, thank you very much Pen Master. Hilary Ifechukwude Okobi, as I am fully known is a grassroots politician who started his politics with student unionism in University of Benin where I obtained my Dipl...