Ncowa Meeting With Igwe Kenneth Orizu 111 Of Nnewi On Sunday 10/13/2019

QUESTION #1 BY Dr. Ebube Odunukwe; WHO IS ANA-EDO?

ANSWER: Ana-edo comprises three towns, Nnewi, Oraifite and Ichi, in order of seniority.

Edo was a beautiful deity damsel of Nnobi who got married by Ezemewi , a god in Nnewichi. Marriage rites demanded certain observances and celebrations in favor of the damsel goddess and Nnewi agreed to those terms. Those include, but not limited to Ikwu-aru, isi-ebili, ilo nmuo etc

IKWU-ARU was an annual festival of cows parade. Individuals who can afford it, purchased a cow per family and on the Ikwu-aru day, the ceremony commenced at noon, with all cows bought by the Otolo village proceeding in procession around the present-day Nkwo triangle, followed by Uruagu, Umudim and Nnewichi villages in that order...

It was always the case that Uruagu took disproportionately longer time than every other village. By the time Umudim got to start, it was already evening and Nnewichi followed late in the evening, so late that Oraifite and Ichi rarely got any time to parade their cows.

After years of the same experience, Oraifite town would not have any more of the same and decided to take a “branch” off the Edo deity and establish it in their town. Ichi followed suite. So, Edo got branches in those two towns while the main head remained in Nnewi till date. Ikwu-aru continues to be celebrated simultaneously on the same date in the entire Anaedo , till date.

It was noted that whereas the Otolo rich men slaughtered their cows and had their village feast with the beef, Uruagu saved and kept their cows till the following year. By doing so, they had more numerous and better fed cows on each parade.

Q. WHAT IS OFALA AND WHAT IS ITS ORIGIN?

A. Eze Ugbo-Onya-mba was the great grandfather of the current Igwe Nnewi (was then Obi of Nnewi) as was the nomenclature till recent times when Obi of Nnewi became differentiated as Igwe of Nnewi and Obi of Otolo while the other three quarters retained the tiltle of Obi’s of their villages). Eze Ugbo –Onya-mba was a powerful ruler who inspired awe. He was transported to any destination he went to by sixteen dedicated stalwarts whose duty it was to carry him, four men at a time, on his Amoku.

[Amoku is a designed wooden recliner with four sturdy protruding arms which rested on the shoulders of four carriers. Long journeys were divided into four stretches and each set of four men got to bear their burden in rotation.

On court days, the Igwe (Eze) was taken the day before to his lodge close to the courthouse.

Any man who was seen on the way when the Eze travelled was seized and disposed of by being sold to slave merchants. Any woman who dared to be seen on the road in like manner was seized and taken into the Eze’s harem of sex slaves.

Ofala was a festival copied from Onitsha. One of the Igwe’s predecessors had disagreement with another party and when judgment was granted to the other party, the British District Officer staged an Ofala to sympathize with and entertain the Obi. Ofala (an Onitsha terminology) became a festival where the people can see their Obi and bring him gifts (for no one can “go empty-handed to see a teething baby”).

Role Division between the Igwe and the British government authorities was rooted thus:

Mr. Humphrey Nwosu, was the Administrator who started Town unions, to enable good participation by, and representation of the people. Nnamdi-Azikiwe Teaching Hospital was built as Nnewi General hospital during the military administration of Governor Emeka Omerua. Nnewi town Union canvassed and raised Two million pounds with which they approached the military governor and requested to have the hospital sited in the town. The Governor was amazed by the proposition and the money ready for the project. He, right away commissioned the effort and the hospital was built.

Governor Peter Obi, in his tenure, restructured and empowered towns Unions and thence, government functions were taken over by the administrator/governor while the Igwe’s remained the custodians of customary courts and traditional rites. As it is today, Igwe’s have no oversight or obligations with government functions.

It is up to us and our generation, the Igwe advised, to take the challenge and work with our local councilmen and government representatives to get things done (erosion control, road construction, security problems, etc).

Q. From Mazi Lucky Ufondu.

Who shall I approach for permission to construct a culvert at a site I have built a (gasoline) filling station opposite Edo shrine? I have been given a run-around about who is the right person to grant the permissions.

A. Your best bet is to approach your local councilman. He should be the one to get you the needed permission to construct the culvert.

Q. Nnewi is teeming with tenants who flock in from everywhere and there is fear that majority of them are not documented by their landlords. Does Nnewi have any plan to register and document these people as safety precaution?

A. Nnewi is administered via 55 WARDS. Each ward should take the responsibility of documenting tenants in their domain. Dr. Joseph O.Nnadike echoed the advice by proclaiming that his ward in Uru Umudim has been doing detailed registration and documentation of all tenants in their ward.

Q. Erosion disaster. Serious erosion delt havoc to some family homes in Nnewichi. The erosion force is too severe for any local village to handle. Where shall the village turn to for help on the government level?

A. Again, the local council man shall be the representative to channel the request to the appropriate government quarters for remediation.

Q. Gouging of citizens who sell or buy land. Some village group has organized an extortion party that demands 10% fees of any land sale from the seller, turn around and collect another 10% from the buyer. Some group demands some payment before any building construction is begun.

The Igwe was grieved to hear this report which he condemned as illegal. He will ask the Nzuko Ora Nnewi to look into such matters and stop the evil practice.

Q. NKWO TRIANGLE. What is in there and what is going on in the triangle?

A. A stalemate between the Nnewi governing council and the State government.

This reporter broke off as it was getting late at night and the elderly monarch couple deserved a break to get their sleep. The discussions ended officially but some people still pestered the Igwe with various personal questions which this reported did not record.

Humbly Submitted,

Dr. Ebube Odunukwe