IF YOU DONT SAY 'I AM'.. PEOPLE WILL NOT SAY 'YOU ARE'

In  an  effort to  close  a little  circle  before   the process of   handing  the over  and changes in the platforms  as I  said  recently,   I decided  to rekindle the  project which we  all were proponents or  promoters  (REVIVAL  AND PROMOTION OF OUR CULTURE) some years  ago.
This  time  coming from a different angle thus the creation of the NENWEI  language  group.. It will be  very  improper to pretend that everything went or is going  well  with the Cultural revival project. During my stay in Nenwe (Nigeria)  in the last 3 years I understood  most people inwardly regret this train we missed , therefore we should not miss a train twice  as they say.

I saw the politicized project and not the one most of us had in mind. I saw a lot of people hoodwinked into feuds, jealousy,  disrespect for elders, lack of regards for traditional and cultural institutions, disregard for instituted hierarchies  and selfish personal gratifications /egotism: Many  still trying to hide one or a cocktail of the above under the cloak of religious belief . Some decided to keep away from  ‘giants fighting’. Tell  your mind this  loudly ; are you happy with the situation of things   as they are now?

 Myself, Charles Okechukwu Chukwubike  is not happy. I normally get to an embarrassing point whenever I proudly tell my kids of the gallantry of Nenwe  people in liberating themselves and her neighbors of slave mongers after a fierce battle , and that this liberation day was celebrated annually  when I was  a kid and that ill-conceived  religious thought/teachings has made us  to abandon it a pagan festival. My kids   who have  been to Nenwe only twice  but write and speak  Igbo (more than many children living in Nigeria) though sometimes in their  own ways told me.. ‘ hahaaha   daddy may be your people  in Nenwe   would  prefer American   HALOWEEN and Brazilian carnival ’.  I sincerely was ashamed  the  day these our ‘European kids’  laughed  at me on this issue. Though I also understood it was a wish things were the other way round so that they could take their friends home.

When I tell them of Edja aho; their new year eve sort of, oriri Ali and the meaning, I tell them that I am an Onye Ali…showed my daughter the Ali shrine  and Eke shrine and the stories behind them. When I tell them of Ovivi ekwa by newly married ladies and their late evening trips to Eke ukwu  for the Ovivi ekwa  , When I showed my daughter  Onye Ali of Eziecho : Chief Nathinel Nwigwe  and told her his status in the town, when I tell them of Oriri ndi agbo and oriri ndi Ugwu Amorji  and our yearly oriri obulorum in  our Aunties  house at umuduru and the rain fall that never missed beating us on our way back yearly. When I tell them of Ogalugwu and the  rain dances  and that sometimes the rains  were prompt by coincidence or not . I show them of pictures of Ogu okokoro, tell them of the Ekpe of Agbada, tell them of Iconic Maestro like Money Hard , Chief  ‘Nwa nzelukwu’ and their magic  like the ones they see in TV  today. After all these they ask me one simple question; …ma daddy cose è succeso che non succeed più niente  …but, daddy what happened that nothing is happening anymore? A stupid person will still continue  to blame colonialism .

They asked me   ‘but you people were still great during and after colonialism from what you say’  then I answered  yes and went  back to my little litany of Nenwe people  as :-

• ·       The (probably) only people that invited the British to leave  them alone because they learnt Germans in Cameroon were better. We all know the consequences of that.

• ·       The (probably)  only people  who planned  a bloody coup d’état  (beheaded him in a market)to remove  a dictator planted on them by the British empire.

• ·       The people who produced the  first senator (RIP) for Enugu and Awka  areas In the 1st republic

• ·       The people whose son  (RIP) was the second person with  Nzeogwu that wanted to bring equity to  Nigeria by executing the 1966 coup. That made him the last Biafran that left Nigerian prisons in 1977  with  Col Achuzie..seven good years  after the ‘No victor no vanquish’  

• ·       The people whose son was such a wizard  with the jet fighters  both in Nigeria and  in Biafra that the Nigerian government did not imprison him    as expected rather  reinstated him   almost immediately to help brush up the battered and almost non existing NAF  after the war. May his Soul RIP.

• ·       The people whose land was built the state of art college  of its time in 1957

Sometimes I stop the litany abruptly like now  at their ‘what then  is happening now’? Do we continue to  live  on past glories?

Well we must recognize the  giant stride  many people made in the areas of politics, education, and business, but collectively   are we as a people  sitting on a foundation that will continue  to hold us as a people that should be proud of a common heritage of are we drifting to an individualistic state that is baseless. The European culture is individualistic as we may see on the surface but siting on a strong cultural heritage.

I don’t normally like writing more than two pages  therefore I must conclude now.

The formation of  the Asusu NENWEI  https://www.facebook.com/groups/1505573913074466/  group on face book is  just a gradual way of trying to step back into  reviving our  culture , this time  laying a good foundation   and a gradual growth of interest. I recognize that many people have written things on Nenwe  , many people not even linguistics promoting the language in many ways  for this I would personally suggest  we take time to build a base before  one fires us  with a Nenwe vocabulary or dictionary and the confusion would be more

I am highly motivated by what I am seeing on Facebook from our people. The interest and courage  people take in writing as much as they understand is encouraging . Ifeoma Alinta  was appointed as the second  coordinator and moderator and we still encourage others to enlist write or especially read  the discussions. We certainly shall get somewhere  from there.

Do know that the taunting  cross country song by some umu mbala in County (Nenwe Boys) were  typical authentic Nenwe parlance we should adopt as symbols… and themes :

Lekweeteee lekwete ogbo ngula!

Lekwete ..ogbo ngula  lekwete.!

Do you remember these songs at county?

I shall complete this write up by the week end as I wait for  your reactions.

Good night.

Chukwubike O Charles

(The Moderator NOL)