₦airaland Forum

Akhenaten:
Very nice video FACE. I hail from Umuahia as well. Umuahia South to be exact. Umuopara is my clan.

Umuopara na Ibeku bu nwanne. Nwanne mmamma oo.

ChinenyeN:
That's an interesting video. Reminds me of one picture EzeUche had on his profile. The guys were dressed (nearly, if not exactly) the same way as the men in the Ikpirikpe Ogu video.

That dance is common in most Old Bende axis, but Abiriba, Abam, Arochukwu-Ohafia are the Don Dadas of it.

Chinenye, here is a link to Ikpirikpe ogu dance (don't know how to paste pixs/videos).


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lg_dSLOKywk&feature=related

Our ekpe is a combination of that, other ekpo types, and a procession through all the ama (compounds) in the clan before ariving at the communal ground for the climax (in our case Ama mbara oru).

There are 3 kindreds in my clan (Afara ukwu- Ibeku) and each kindred host their own ekpe but not in the same year (by mutual agreement), but it was very much centralised back in the days.

Ekpe is not a society in my place, but warriors were expected to participate in ekpe. Okonko, though a society, is not clandestine and the members are known by others.

To participate in real masquerade (ifu ekpo) you have to be initiated and mee mmanya ekpo. When I was growing up ( when villa was villa) we used to see the mmanya ekpo guys unmask and destroy the masquerades of the mmanya ekpoless guys. However, mmanya ekpo guys never used to show up during the build up of any major event (xmas and iri ji) they only showed up on d-day and went in groups.

I so much loved going home for xmas just because of masquerades and I also did little boys masquerades (agaba) and the ones that did not require mmanya ekpo.

ifyalways:
Loving this thread.
Missed this years' Ekpe.
Ekpe ohuhu is my favorite. Mbiarabia laa

Chineke mee, ndi ofe anyi hiri nne ngaa. mbiarabia laa oo !

Chinenye, our name for masquerade in Umuahia (Ibeku and environs) is ekpo. A gbaala m ekpo a couple of times. We call it I fu ekpo. e.g a furula m ekpo.

We do ekpe during iri ji. The main feature of our ekpe is the Ikpirikpe ogu (war dance ) with the ishi aja (three sacred heads on a platform) which is not put down by the carrier until after the ekpe. He also doesn't talk during the task and has omu (palm leaf) in his mouth to prevent him from talking.

Although we have a few ekpo around during iri ji, they don't get as much attention as the ekpe. This ekpe climaxes with the severing of a goat's head with one stroke of the matchet (an art not to be undertaken by the weak or careless as there is a price for failing in the task and a reward for success)

Okonko is similar to Iwa akwa and membership is accomplished in two stages; I da iyi (immersion in water) and I kpu ulo (home entrance). Being in okonko entitles you to participating fully in all matters that have to do with keeping law and order e.g land dispute, resolution of sacrilege and decision on how to deal with other societies.

Our Ibeku (Umuahia) tradition is rich but I will stop so far.

Aka m ji, a habeghi mu ye. ( I am still holding tight and my interest is still here)

I wonder if that "Egbo" is a mispelling of "Ekpo" as we generally call them in Umuahia. The Ubakala one is very close to our traditional masquerade "Udomi" in Ibeku, but ours has more rafia (agwo) to the mask and waist.

Akhenaten, how do you paste pictures here; let me paste the one I'm talking about ?

I see so many kettles ganging up against the pot. Inward review advised.

Aisha, Beaf might not have passed his message across in a politically correct way, but he was right in labelling the OP's intentions as daft.

Ndu_Chucks was the one that politicisized his own thread and all Beaf did was to try and bin that insensitivity. This is not the first time that Ndu_Chucks is employing this tactics. He enjoys trying to score political points out of other peopple's misery as he did with his ARABA thread. I had some form of respect for him until I saw that thread and understood the level of his moral decay.

I am sorry about your sisters and I hope they get well soon.

RIP to those that fell where they stood.

onye_ngbu:
No shes not igbo she only lived in Aba.

She did not really live in Aba or if she did, she only stayed there as a child. Her knowledge of the terrain once came under scrutiny and she fell like a pack of cards. She is between 47 and 52 years (as deduced from her comments), but goes about ROFLAMAOing, ranting like a juvenile, arguing blindly, supporting her arguments with pretexts of being in a situation related to the case in discussion and generally making zilch points.

As for those people deriding Dora for changing to APGA and not sticking to PDP to contest; where do you stand ? Most, if not all of those people have have expressed their dislike for PDP at one time or the other but still want to castigate someone for leaving the party, just because they hold a phantom beef against that person.

Onlytruth, you captured it well with the quote below. She is still going to fight for a ticket in her new party and votes in the main election, so I don't see what the fuss is all about.

Onlytruth:
The fact that she is willing to contest against long established PDP senator like Senator Annie Okonkwo shows that she is really courageous. She may also have to contest against Dr Chris Nwabueze Ngige -the Onwa of Anambra state- contesting under ACN (I think he should leave that party ).

You see what I meant?

Yes, Anambra is an APGA state (thank God Nigerians have finally accepted the truth ), but she still has to win against HEAVYWEIGHTS in this senatorial zone. I wish her maximum luck, 'cos she will need it.

Like Anambra governor Peter Obi said:

“Anambra cannot be a highly sophisticated state, with highly intelligent people and continue sending one_legged men to represent her in a pushing competition”

Classic quote. Captures the whole gist!

Omenani:
Umuahia North - Ibeku

Nwanne, I hie nga ole na Ibeku ? (Now that's some good ole Ibeku dialect) A bu m onye, Umu Okeyi, Afara-Ukwu.

Very daft and agressive lady. She was lucky she did not get her butt hauled to jail for number of good reasons, just to teach her some manners.

Absolute rubbish. After kidnapping and killing innocent people, he wants to talk about amnesty and fairness ? He deserves a slow painful death, gestapo style.

mrlaconic:
@bk.babe97y I fully agree with you on the HOSPITALITY issue! I can say that the Ibos have a zero tolerance to HOSPITALITY,its not in their dictionary.I did my NYSC in a community called Eha-Alumona under Nsukka Local Govt in Enugu State,and I must say that these people are nothing to write home about in terms of HOSPITALITY! We were made to buy a 25litres galon of rain water @ between #30-#50,there was nothing like these people are Corpers lets consider them,foods stuffs were more expensive in the village market that held once in 4 days,than in Nsukka town and here is somebody complaining of the South East being the POOREST! There is a universal law of Seed time and Harvest time,i think the SE are reaping the seeds they have sown in the past.I called my friends serving in oda parts of Enugu and oda SE States and it was the same report of lack of HOSPITALITY that i got.I would rather throw my money in the Ocean than INVEST it in any of th SE states!

Funny that.

So why did you not fetch your own rain water while it was raining ? Did they also cover your part of the sky with umbrella while it was raining ?

If food stuff were more expensive in the village market, why would you expect them to give you special consideration just because you were a corper, would you pay the kids school fees or other necessities if they gave you special discounts ?

You are just a pathetic whinger, go and sulk elsewhere.

chino11:
hahahahahaha, i'm being asked why am laffing this way. My brother stop talking trash. Closed up so that people won't hear you out. See Aba and urban planning. Ask even goat and sheep knows that Abia state is in shamble, total disaster and failures. See Aba and aerial view. The question is ,does Aba have an area. Where is Aba? How many roads are in Aba? Aba is full of filth. My brother pls travel home and take another look at Aba so that you can petition your gov. Aba and Abia state has remained the state that is giving the south east bad image. The reason why I used Nnewi to compare to abia state is because its an insult rating Anambra the Light of the Nation to a mere Abia state. I'm based here in PH and Awka, I have seen the way and manner people ran out of Abia state.

Mention one multinational coy in Aba. Mention any road in Aba, is it Portharcourt road which is over flooded with weeds or is it the Enugu/Porthcourt road, the traders have taken the whole express. Am sure myour not in Aba. Even your gov has given up on Aba Ngwa. He recently called them kidnapers and murderers. UN Habitat recent rated Onitsha among the fastest growing cities in the world. What the world say about Aba Dirty, disoganised, disorderly town. Aba is an epitome of disaster. Banks are still closed in Abia state as an writng this piece. Abia state needs prayers

Aba might be filthy, just like Onitsha and the roads may be bad, but those are superficial and are fixable problems. The problems with Onitsha and Nnewi are fundamental.

What Aba needs is the restoration of the existing roads and drainage as the houses are already in line. But Onitsha and Nnewi would need demolition of houses to make way for straight paths and drainage.

Use google earth map and look up the three cities and anya ga emepe/edo gi. For the fact that you asked about the roads in Aba means that you haven't been to Aba; you only pass through.

You need to do your own research with regards to the industries in Aba, but you asked me to name one multinational in Aba and I will oblige you just this once , so here you go: PZ.

I am not going to over flog this issue, but I will leave you with your opinion.

chino11:
Whether you accept the facts on the ground or not the truth will continue to be seen. Where are the industries in Aba?? Nnewi has better road network than the whole of Abia state. Anambra is the only state in Nigeria that has three cities that can pass for state capital (Awka, Onitsha and Nnewi). Have you forgotton that recently due to insecurity in Abia state all the banks shut down and there was major movement of people from that town even up till now. Listen i'm an Igboman but am not proud of Aba for anything. Its a disgusting place. Also recently armed men stormed MTN office and killed all their staff. It was in Aba that three journalists where kidnaped. Listen my friend Aba has been in the news for very dirty and bad news. I dont want to compare Onitsha with Aba because it will be too unfair, because Onitsha will be too much for Aba ngwa. It will be like comparing New York and Nairobi. That is why I blv I can do it justice by using Nnewi. Aba is so dirty that motor part dealers are trading on the enugu-ph exp road. Its alwys an eye-saw passing thru Aba.

That Aba has been in the news for all the wrong reasons does not mean that Nnewi, which is rural compared with Aba is now more industrialised than Aba unless you are implying that all the industries relocated from Aba to Nnewi during the kidnap crises. I asked, how many roads do you have in Nnewi talk less of good ones? Apart from Nkwo Nnewi, which other markets do you have ?

I just pointed out where you would find the industries in Aba including those that are quoted on the stock exchange, but I will leave you to wallow in your ignorance.

Regarding the selling of spare parts along the express way, do you realise that Alaoji spare parts market abuts the express way ? I guess you are not aware. Apart from that, is there anywhere in Nigeria that you wont find roadside trading ?

Talking about filth, Onitsha is no better than Aba and I would advise my Anambra brothers to pay more attention to town planning and stop building in a disorganised manner and blocking drainages. You can accuse Aba of anything but you can't accuse it of narrow crooked roads and buildings that are out of line. If you doubt me, take a look at the aerial view of Aba, Onitsha and Nnewi and compare.

Anambra may have a bigger economy than Abia (verification needed), but Aba's economy is at least 4 times the economy of Nnewi.

I applaud the Nnewians for their efforts, even as most of their industries are indigenous, but to compare to Aba which has had regional, state, indigenous and multinational inputs would be laughable.

chino11:
Lets not wash the dirty linen of Abia state in the alter of NL. Leave that matter, we all know that Abia state has nothing that make any economic sense to compare to Anambra state. Industries in Nnewi alone can over run the entire Abia state. So lets not go there. The economy of Nnewi is far bigger than the economy of Abia state put together. What industry are their in Abia state, ? Is it the bad roads in Aba, the dirty environments all over. Which investor will go to such unsecure places like Aba and Umuahia. Abia state is a disgrace to Igboland.

You simply do not know what you are saying. You talk about bad roads scaring away investors; true that, but does Nnewi have better roads than Aba and how many roads do you have in Nnewi by the way?

You also talk about insecurity scaring away investors; true as well, but was it not just in the last one year that the insecurity in Aba reached an alarming proportion or do you think that the industries already in existence all packed up and left ? Do you realise that three Chinese workers were kidnapped and one lost his life in Nnewi when Innoson started the construction of his auto plant and that incident nearly destroyed his investment?

How big is nnewi  compared with Aba ? Do you realise that most activities in Aba are either commercial and industrial ? Do you also realise that there are multi nationals in Aba ? How many are there in Nnewi ? How many markets do you have in Nnewi and how many small scale(backyard) and large scale industries do you have in Nnewi ?

Apart from the industrial layout in Aba central, which is fully subscribed, you have industries littered every where in Aba. Starting from toll gate (Enugu -PH express), which is part of metropolitan Aba, you would see big industries to your left and right until you get to the city through Ariaria end, but before you get to that end, turn right at Abayi junction towards NNPC depot and you would see that the industrial zone there is heavily subscribed. I wonder why people make very ignorant statements.

Do you know that the primary reason Geometry Power Supply  chose Aba to start their independent power supply was because of the sustainable industries there and the existence of a gas line which Shell invested in because of the industrial clusters in Aba ?

Many things contribute to the GDP of a place including Service, industrial and commercial activities and Nnewi can only dream of competing with no more than a third of Aba. That is why I am upset with Abia governor for neglecting Aba, because Aba to Abia, should be a cash cow in terms of taxes and employment.

@ Topic, are SE states performing in accordance with their potentials ? NO. Are they, the poorest in Nigeria ? HELL NO !

Ini gone bad no be small. What a nice jackpot for the police. Their parents will now have to pay a lot a money to secure their release. Some of them might have been sent to school with the last buck at home in the first place. I always said that it is essential to be smart to pull off this confra thing.

Abagworo:
Some viki boys wey go ini don enter wahala be dat.dat thing no be pirates or buccaneer.

In a nutshell,this news is another funny one like those Dokpesi texts.

My thoughts too except the puzzle of presence of a lady. They were "sallying ruggedly" on their way to island. Very foolish thing to do in these trying times, they will learn the hard way now they have been caught.

revolt:
Let's support zoning. It will Guarantee our political relevance. Gej will only favo
your s.s. When he finishes what happens to the east. Since its a known fact that the typical s.s man would rather vote a megida than vote a Daniel with igbo origin. Ohanaeze will lead us to political suicide.

"You could guess how a meal would taste from the way it smells"

If northerners were interested in Igbo presidency, why did Jonathan become Yaradua's VP in the first place ?

If Yaradua had remained alive to complete "8" years, do you think that they would waved Jonathan goodbye in favour of an Igbo person ?

People from both divide have fought for the presidency from the beginning, so the whole zonal thing has always been a sham, except to the gullible.

I am yet to see any integrity from any of those screaming "zoning", they have all looted public funds at one time or the other and they all display such wealth in a "what can you do style ?" and people still want them to come back ?

In my opinion, Jonathan is not a lot better than the rest, but he is the one eyed man, in the land of blind (PDP).

As for Igbo interests, they would be best served by an Igbo person or their immediate neighbours, especially their far eastern neighbours.

auwal87:
The Ultimately Good people of the present Northern Nigeria are not participating in Politics simply because they do not believe in the system. The present structure of Nigeria is a blush.

What the Good people of the present Northern Nigeria wants is a free country where laws and orders are applied to every citizen without considering his rank or status in the country. They want a Nigeria where every citizen has right to liberty, education, health, and security of his life and his property. To achieve this, the Good people of the present Northern Nigeria wants the National Assembly to amend the country's constitution and get the following things done in matter of days.

1. Let each state in the country establish its own state police departments and abolish the federal police structure
2. Let each state in the country control 100% of its own natural resources, contributing certain percentages of the revenue to the country (Just don't let Ndu_Chuks catch you on this one.)3. Let there be regional governments, with 1 ceremonial president with very less power at the central government
4. Let the traditional rulers of each state be represented in their regional governments executive council

With this structure, Nigeria can change in matter of months not years, economy will improve drastically.

Central Bank of Nigeria will remain as it is (so we continue to have the Naira)
Nigerian Military (Army, Airforce, Navy, etc) will remain as it is (So we continue to have military power)
Nigerian Immigration and Customs will remain as it is. (so we continue to have our Nigerian passport and ports as one)
State Governors, State Assembly, Local Council Chairman, Councillors, will all remain the structure

What this change will bring is peace and transparency, no confusion in matter of governance, because all citizens will be looking forward to their regional government to provide its means of sustainable development.

Let the first step be the granting of 100% control of resources. 10% to the central government, 30% to the regional government, while 60% to the state governments. Reason why regional government will get 30% is the number of states in that region is more than the number of states that the central government will get the 10%. For instance if the present states remain i.e. 36 states, the central government will get 10% from each state of Nigeria, while the regional government of northern Nigeria will get 30% from each state of northern Nigeria.

I know some regions will suffer because of the drastic reduce of revenue, but they should learn to live like that because even the so called oil wealth is not forever, the regions must therefore find ways to generate their own revenue that will cater for their development. e.g. in Kano we have population, therefore trade is blessed, with Singer market, kwari market, and dawanau market alone, Kano can survive. in Jigawa, we can have center of learning where the government concentrates more on Education, so people from all over Nigeria or even outside Nigeria can go to Jigawa for studies (that is what brings most revenue to the UK government), in central north we have mining, in north east we have agriculture, etc. Overall, there must be structure to invite foreign investments, there must be structure to improve the tourism sector.

If I will be Nigeria's president today, this is the first thing I will do. Honestly.

That's quite a progressive outlook in my opinion.

I would change a few things though; no need for traditional rulers in the capacity you want them and state and local government structure would need a massive overhaul and downsizing.

There would be no more than 7 councilors per LG and the LG Chairmen would replace the state house members. They would be known as constituency speakers, while the House leader would be known as State Speaker. Laws would be debated and made by Constituency speakers, but the Local councilors would also have a vote in what would be known as the State Gen Assembly before laws are passed.

National Assembly would have no more than 2 members from each of the 36 states or if regional, no more than 12 from the 6 regions.

We spend nearly 80% of our budget on recurrent expenditure, leaving less than 30% for capital expenditure, out of which a significant amount is looted.

slap1:
I recall playing football in the said primary school with some of those boys for the two days we were there. We saw them as harmless dudes, although we saw their guns, because they told us they were not going to harm us, that they just want to play football with us. That was last year and this kidnapping thing has not even started and we took them for local thieves. The priest himself has a gun, a pump-action riffle he used to scare miscreants away during bazaar sales.

You played football with the fellas that lived around the church, you saw their guns, thought they were local thieves and still imagined that they were harmless ? Were you just naive, plain silly or are you the type of person that would continue to condone evil as long as you don't feel threatened ?

The priest may not have been involved in the act but it is unlikely that he was unaware of a defensive sandbag in front of the building next to his residence, which was set up by gun wielding civilians. It was his moral duty to report such development to the right authorities . What about those that worship at the church ? Were they also naive like Slap 1 ?

grafikdon:
I always pictured the Osisi character as one of those dubious ''fine boys''. This image here gave me a tremendous jolt. Usually, people with somewhat unpleasant facial features make up for that shortcoming by clinging to some redeeming qualities, like a good haircut for instance, but this guy, I am afraid. . . not so much.

I can now see why he was a dreaded kidnapper. Forget his AK47, the sight of his face would make anyone voluntarily offer to pay twice the amount demanded by him.

FIFA can go to hell. Time for corrupt Sepp Blater to haul his freight. He is very silly trying to play God. Why does he not penalize countries' FAs for letting their governments fund FIFA competitions ?

The nations FF is not self financing, therefore it cannot and should not be free from govt regulation one way or the other. If fifa wants it otherwise, they should also penalize the FF for receiving funds from the government.

The ministry of sports are the employers of NFA and NFA was not set up without the ministry of sports initiating that move. I do understand limiting the involvement of the sports ministry, but that involvement should include the hiring and sacking of NFA chairman by the sports, otherwise the FA chairman would be a law unto himself as exemplified by Adamu. FIFA is talking absolute nonsense in that regard.

FIFA should first of all purge itself of corruption, unfairness and sit tight attitude of FIFA presidents with no legislation designed to limit years of reign and have frequent elections in the spirit of democracy.

The sports ministry has no business running football directly and making decisions such as the league timetable, relegation/promotion of clubsides, league sponsoring and TV rights, players transfers and regulation and things that have to do with  direct running of footy.

ndu_chucks:
FACE, I never accused you of showing any form of hatred for northerners, in fact I know enough about you not to expect the portrayal of such hatred.

According to the agreement that gave rise to Jonathan as VP, the next PDP presidential candidate should come from the North - that’s all I am pointing out. I agree with you that we all should be supporting the best candidate for the country based on their leadership abilities and vision. Most people, including you, would agree with me that Jonathan does not possess these qualities.

Pat Utomi has been stained by his loan scandal as far as I am concerned and Duke’s Tinapa theft is not a quality I admire. You by the way have refused to mention Ribadu or Gusau– I wonder why.

Ndu_Chucks da Ndu_Chuks. You never accused me of hatred and what is this

ndu_chucks:
I expected you, of all people, to have a nationalist take on these issues as opposed to a tribalistic one. Your hatred for Northerners will do nothing but continue to eat you up.

? Are you smoking ganja with pito today or what ? Ok go and mellow and come back. You know I hate northerners but you know that I would not portray such hatred. That's some strong weed in action right there.

You accused me of insinuating that the next president must come from PDP, yet you went and started lamenting how PDP had an agreement.

Jonathan is the one eyed man among other blind contestants from PDP. When credible contestants come forth in PDP, I shall support them regardless of where they come from. You are used to being handed things on a gold platter, e.g quota system, but I am used to working hard for stuff so you must change and also try to work hard like the rest of us. Put forward a credible candidate to contest like everyone else or go and sulk in a quiet corner.

You have your choice in Gusau and Ribadu and I look at Gusau as one of those that should be shot for looting the country and for being a coupist. What are Gusau's accomplishments other than being a coupist and looting the nation dry ? The man himself said that he wants to run because of the arrangement of "pass the batton" that he had with Babangida and Abacha before Abacha died on him. I am disappointed that you even mentioned Gusau.

If this talk is about PDP, how does Ribadu fit in ? Ribadu was a selective attack dog in his time, rude with dictatorial tendencies so I do not view him in the same light as you do. Why did you not mention Col Umar ? He does not fit your bill right ?

I am all for continuity and stability and for that reason, Jonathan should emerge as PDP candidate if no other credible candidate wants to step up and convince me why they are better than Jonathan. Let me make it clear that Jonathan would not be my first choice PDP flag bearer if not for his useless opponents, because I do not think he has the grit, zeal,decisiveness and leadership qualities I would love to see in a president.

Now, what loan scandal are you talking about, Re: Pat Utomi ?

ndu_chucks:
I expected you, of all people, to have a nationalist take on these issues as opposed to a tribalistic one.  Your hatred for Northerners will do nothing but continue to eat you up.

The issue being discussed is really a PDP affair and I’m afraid you cannot discuss it rationally with a tribalist mind set.  You have already defeated yourself by insinuating that the next President must come from the PDP party. Shame on you. IBB, Atiku, and Buhari are not the only Northerners running for the Presidency ?

Ok, I am trying to figure out where I showed any form of hatred for northerners.  

Last time I checked Buhari was not in PDP so I did not limit my response to PDP aspirants.

I want PDP out as well, but who has mounted a serious campaign to oust them ? And why must the next president come from the north ? Is it your birth right ? OK lets throw our weight behind Pat Utomi or Donald Duke; if not show me who is better from the north.

The football pitch is nice and the grass looks good, which is what matters to players. However, the stadium itself is ordinary and plain. The covered section is about 10% of the entire stadium and the roofing of the stand is plain. Apart from the pitch, there is nothing to oooh and aaah about the stadium.

ndu_chucks:
What makes you think that I or Ango Abdullahi speaks for the North? Please stop allowing tribalism becloud your better judgement.

Pathetic desperation. If you do not believe that Ango abdulahi's stance represents northern position, why are you going about quoting him ? And here I was, thinking that you had some integrity.

Double speak will not take you anywhere. You guys had no intention of letting the SS or SE produce the president in 2015. Karma was just hanging around the corner with his paycheck and he paid up.

Fate dealt you the wrong cards in the end , so you must now play with those cards. You guys keep talking about your right to 8 years uninterrupted rule but you cannot point to what you did with the other 37 years of misrule. Step aside and support prosperity. The everyday northerners should stone people like you for misleading them all these while and maintaining an elitist status , using them as a tool for mayhem and setting up yourselves as people to be revered. dan Iska.

O.k, let's assume that you should produce the next president in 2011; who do you want us to support ? Babangida, Atiku or Buhari ? You gotta be kidding me !