South East breaking News
Steve Unegbu
The Ohuhu people are celebrating New yam festival to showcase their rich culture and traditions to the world and they discourage any form of violence.
This was made known to Newsmen by Chief Onyinye Ohuhu at his village Umuda Ofeme during the Ohuhu Iwa ji festival.
Chief Raymond Onyinye Ofoegbu disclosed that a trailer load of yams have been harvested from Ohuhu and to be distributed to the people.
In addition to distribution of the trailer load of yams, he said the Ohuhu women are going to be shared 250 pieces of wrappers because mothers are the pillars of every successful society.
His words , “We are trying to send a message across the Igbo land , across Nigeria and Africa , that Ohuhu remains that place where everything started .
” We want to showcase
our rich culture and traditions to the people of the world in a matured way ,we want to discourage violence,not because you are holding a festival, people are getting hurt , matcheting people and people loosing their lives,but Ohuhu is exceptional .
” We display our culture and traditions the way the world will appreciate.
” In Umudiawa today the rich culture and the heritage of Ohuhu people are displayed
” By the grace of God, we have been able to harvest a trailer load of yams from Ohuhu to distribute and feed people with and our women and mothers will be given 250 pieces of wrappers because mothers are the pillars of every successful society”
Commenting on the significance of New yam festival , Chief Onyinye Ohuhu pointed out that ” New yam ( Iri ji ) is a festival of joy and happiness.It is an African man’ s Christmas.
” This is where we show the end of our harvest year and the beginning of the next harvest year .
” The significance is peace ,love and celebration.I am an advocate of African culture.
” I grow up in this environment ,now found myself in the Western world ,the Western generation deceived African generation, culture is supreme and religion is secondary.
” Early in Africans’ religion and traditions ,brothers love brothers,sisters love sisters ,you can not do what is not expected of you,but I think after the slave trade , when the slavery failed ,the Western world found out that the only way to put Africans in check to remain underdeveloped in our level is religion,I think we have to go back to our route,where I know justice and truth prevail , religion is a major cause of African underdeveloped” he insisted.
Responding to things to be done to restore Igbo culture that are gradually going extinct in Igbo land,
Onyinye Ohuhu revealed that “in Ohuhu we have returned the power to the traditional rulers in Ohuhu land ,we gave them power to adjudicate in cases , restoring our rich cultural heritages ,the Okonko ,the Ekpe ,all the Mawus ,we want them to restore them back because I live in America,they have one special day ,a day they display their rich cultural heritage,they have masquerades ,they dance on the streets,they do all that we do in Africa in their own style, therefore I encourage the youths ,we need to wake up,we need to take back our culture,a nation without cultural heritage,they are as bias ,as wasteful as anything you can imagine.
” Again power should be returned to the women , empower the women, because I can tell you authoritatively that most of us as men have failed , the responsibility of home Building returns back to the mother .
” Any family that the mother is strong,you see the family growing, therefore,let the mothers have powers ,let us remove the women discrimination , place them where they belong ,that will give us opportunity to have peaceful homes , peaceful societies,where men will keep doing what they do in the olden days .
” Men stand for justice,wage for war ,they go out there to make ends meet for their families”
Speaking further on the steps taken to ensure Iri ji celebration without violence, he maintained that Ohuhu people are peace lovers , ” We are very high sensitive in security,we do not use matchets and weapons,we have security men watching every step .
On his message to Ohuhu people ,he said , ” Ndi Ohuhu,there is light ,I think what we have started doing in Ohuhu,we will recognize the chief of staff to the governor of Abia state, professor ACB Agbazure ,he is from Ngwa land ,we want to tell people that we are peace loving people.Ohuhu has come back to take its rightful place in Abia ” he said
