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The pomp and pageantry that attended the recent Igbo Day/new yam festival spoke
eloquently of the people's rich cultural heritage. The occasion which held at
the main exhibition hall of the National Theater, Lagos, was packaged jointly
by the Igbo Council of Chiefs, Lagos
chapter, and the All Igbo Speaking States in Lagos.
The latter is a nascent umbrella body for all Igbo indigenes, both east and
west of the river Niger, resident in Lagos. According to Raph Uwazuruike, the
chairman of Igbo Council of Chiefs, Lagos, it aims
"to strengthen the
bond of relationship that existed between (the Igbos) before the civil war."
In Igboland, the occasion of Iri-ji (new-yam eating) is a cultural festival
because of its significance. The individual communities, as agrarian people,
have their days for this august occasion during which assortment of festivities
mark the eating of new yam. To the Igbos, therefore, the day is symbolic of
enjoyment after the cultivation season. Emeka
Odumegwu-Ojukwu, the star guest at the occasion, captured its importance
vividly when he described
"the new yam festival, in our tradition, as the culmination of a work cycle and
the beginning of another."
That perhaps explains why in a traditional Igbo setting invitation to the
festival is usually thrown open. What this means, according to
Uche Momah, the president of All Igbo Speaking States in Lagos, is that there
is abundant food for not just the harvesters but friends and well-wishers alike.
The ceremony at the National Theatre apparently south to replicate the new yam
festival in its indigenous setting Interestingly, it was
advertised as the first time all the seven Igbo states of Imo. Abia, Enugu,
Anambra, Delta, Ebonyi and Rivers were uniformly celebrating the new yam
festival. The attempt was not in futility, judging by the carnival nature of
the event.
In Igbo communities the solemn role of eating the first
yam is performed by the oldest man in the community or the king, as the case
may be. The belief is that their position bestows on them the privilege of
being intermediaries between their communities and the gods of the land. The
rituals that attend the new yam eating are meant to express the community's
appreciation to the gods for making the harvest of farm
yields possible. The influence of Christianity notwithstanding, many
traditionalists and title holders in some Igbo communities never taste the new
yam until the day traditionally set aside for it.
At the new yam festival, only dishes of yam are served since the festival is
symbolic of the
abundance of the produce. In contrast, however, the Lagos occasion of October
4 was
"a new rice festival", as one observer spitefully put it. Apparently, he was appalled by the
pau-city of yams at the event. There appeared to be yam enough only for the
ritual by Odumegwu-Ojukwu, as
"the father of the
day," Garuba Hamza, chairman, Hamza Holdings, who chaired the occasion, and a few
members of the high-table.
Amused by the situation Matthew Egbo, an Igooman in Lagos, dismissed the
occasion as
"a big joke." He told Theweek that
"the occasion was just put together by
Ojukwu faithfuls" bent on inventing an occasion in Lagos to present the ex-Biafran war-lord as a
king.
The absurdity of the situation was not lost on odumegwu-Ojukwu himself, hence
he was to question, rather rhetorically:
"What new yam are we celebrating?" remarking:
"We have no yam."
That the new yam
festival in Lagos was a campaign for Odumegwu Ojukwu's acceptance by his
loyalists may not be far from the truth. Uwazuruike set the tone in his
welcome speech which ironically was silent on the occasion the full hall was
gathered for. After clothing the star guest in colourful
phrases, he went ahead to exhort
"all Igbos in Nigeria to request our Eze Odumegwu-Ojukwu (Eze-Igbo) to dialogue
with the federal government on behalf of all Igbos
" regarding what he described as their
"30 years of marginalisation." He claimed that Ojukwu is a saviour
"and above all, the Jesus Christ of Igbos."
With the
stage thus set, Odumegwu-Ojukwu, who described the occasion as
"the most Igbo of Igbo events," laced his speech with a catalogue of his travails through the years, which he
described as the
"dues" he has paid to Ndi-Igbo and to Nigeria."
Critics of the event may have discerned in Uwazuruike's subsequent announcement
a justification of their allegation.
Speaking for the organisers, he disclosed that both organisations had
unaminously agreed that henceforth
"the annual Igbo day/ Iri-ji festival of all Igbos in Lagos shall be permanently
held on 4th of every November," For those at the occasion who were disappointed with that development, the big
consolation was the dances, the
displays and the appearance of Igbo ancestral masks, which succeeded in
capturing the festive mood that has become synonymous with the iri-ji in
traditional Igbo societies.
Reported by Onyema Omenuwa in TheWeek November 24, 1997.
