The Igbo Did Not Come from Israel: Israelites Moved Away from Alaigbo to Resettle in the Middle East – Opines the Erudite Prof. Patrick Lumumba of Kenya
Okija community in Ihiala Local Government Area of Anambra state, Nigeria hosted its fifth cultural extravaganza codenamed the Face of Okija, courtesy of the Obijackson Foundation. Obijackson Foundation was created by Dr. Ernest Azudialu Obiejesi, an Okija native, as a veritable platform for orchestrating his many philanthropic activities for his hometown and elsewhere around the country. Dr. Obiejesi is the Group Managing Director/CEO of the Obijackson Group, a conglomerate he has grown into a versatile indigenous entity, with interests in various sectors of the economy, including telecommunications and power generation. Nestoil, a member of the Obijackson Group, is arguably the foremost wholly indigenous EPCC company in West Africa.
Keynote speaker in the 2018 Face of Okija culture fest was Professor Patrick Lumumba of Nairobi, Kenya who is well-known for his incisive analytical discourse on sundry matters pertaining to the existential challenges of sub-Saharan Africa, in particular and the negroid race, in general. The erudite professor’s keynote address blended seamlessly with the event’s theme that features and celebrates the indigenous Igbo culture of the host who hails from Alaigbo. It is unique that such a culture fest was graced by the Oni of Ife, a Yoruba monarch who emblematizes his rich ethnic cultural heritage. Also present at the occasion was Chief Pete Edochie, a popular cultural icon who was the first person to act the role of Okonkwo in Chinua Achebe’s world-famous “Things Fall Apart” and a founding principal in the establishment of the Nollywood industry (Nigeria’s equivalent of America’s Hollywood film industry).
Part of the large audience that attended the 2018 Face of Okija cultural festival which featured Kenya’s Prof. Lumumba as its keynote speaker.
Prof. Lumumba feted the Igbo ingenuity in commerce and industry. He recalled the adage that the Igbo are globalists who are one of the most widely dispersed cultural groups on earth. The Kenyan guru stated in jest, “If you go to any land and you don’t find an Igbo, run away from that place because it is not a good place for human existence”. He acknowledged the literary giants that had emanated from the Igbo such as Chinua Achebe, Cyprian Ekwensi, Flora Nwapa, the Great Zik and others in the portrayal of the positive image of the Black African through the epochs. He thus concludes that the Face of Okija, a culture fest to depict the best of the Igbo people’s indigenous cultural heritage, to be a mere continuation of disposition that had its roots in the rich heritage of his hosts.
But he cautioned his audience to avoid being complacent or nostalgic of the past without projecting into the future. He referenced a Swahili adage which that he who does not recognize his culture shall eternally be a slave. He was emphatic and passionate in asserting that Africa is the cradle of humanity. The greatness of today’s Europe, North America, Central and South America, as well as the Greek and Roman civilizations, have their beginnings in the African continent. He had overheard some Igbo intellectuals argue that they originated from the Jews. To dismiss this notion, he asserts that Israelites moved away from Alaigbo to resettle in the Middle East and that the Igbo did not come from Israel as is being erroneously claimed.
Prof. Lumumba tells his audience to always stand proud of what they have and their past accomplishments as a people. By doing this, we are telling the world that we not children of a lesser God as some non-African cultures had attempted to characterize the African in the past so as to justify their wicked intentions and irrational morbid fear of the Black man.
He concluded his very informative keynote address with an oratory flourish that emphasized the urgency of the moment. African youths should not have to risk death crossing the Sahara Desert and the Mediterranean Sea in search of the so-called greener pastures while many parts of sub-Saharan Africa possess the characteristics of the Biblical garden of Eden. He sees post-colonial African nation-states as the 55 artificial boundaries put in place to frustrate and retard the developmental quest by the contemporary African. He sermonizes about the need for making the African continent and its peoples self-sufficient in food production, health care and industrial development required to take care of the indigenous populations’ basic needs.
Live performances on state-of-the-art theater are regular features at the Face of Okija annual culture fest. It is increasingly being looked upon as a venue for sourcing formerly unknown talents who may subsequently become leading stars in the country’s film industry, Nollywood. Popular music artistes are featured on regular basis.
As usual, Prof. Lumumba’s speech has inspired his listeners and challenged them to cherish their rich cultural and material heritage in ways that show the rest of the world that we Africans are not the children of a lesser God than non-Africans who look upon our peoples as objects of pity and targets for exploitation and relentless dehumanization.
Challenge your relatives, friends and associates to listen to Prof. Lumumba’s speech at the 2018 Face of Okija cultural extravaganza. Kudos to the Obijackson Foundation and its founder, Dr. Ernest Obiejesi, for putting out the required resources for orchestrating this annual Igbo culture fest. May the Face of Okija live forever!
Our folks say that one can readily ascertain the wellbeing of a given community through the exploits of only an individual. This is certainly so for the Okija community in Ihiala LGA of Anambra state, Nigeria. In not-too-distant past, the Okija community was the butt of joke that had emanated from an allegation that the former Anambra state governor, Dr. Chris Ngige, was presented at an Okija shrine by his then political godfather and benefactor, Mr. Chris Uba, to swear an oath of loyalty to the latter before a crucial endorsement for the former’s ascendancy to become the state’s chief executive in the early 2000s. Okija’s self-image has since been on the mend, first as the home for Madonna University and now as the hometown and key beneficiary of one its very successful homies, Dr. Ernest Obiejesi. The successful entrepreneur struck gold through his oil and gas business and other ventures. In sharp contrast to other nouveaux riches of Alaigbo, Dr. Obiejesi opted to unleash his largesse for the benefit of residents of his hometown community by the establishment of the Obijackson Foundation through which many developmental activities were offered pro bono to his people. One of such is the “Face of Okija” annual cultural extravaganza which features local, national and even international artistes, performers and personalities on stage right there in Okija town.
The 2018 Face of Okija occasion was the fifth of such event to be organized in this Anambra state community. On this occasion, Prof. Patrick Lumumba of Kenya was featured and the keynote speaker. The eloquent Kenyan academic, analyst and motivational speaker surely did what has made him a renowned communicator. He seized the stage, thrilled his audience and made some pronouncements that now also brought special attention to last year’s culture fest codenamed the Face of Okija. The scholar showed that he had done his homework regarding the history, culture and norms of his target audience. Beyond that, he also wished to moderate the uninformed enthusiasm of some Igbocentric pundits who claim that the Igbo people came from the Jewish state of Israel. He bluntly remarked that such a notion is erroneous. The probable truth is that Israelites moved away from Alaigbo and resettled in the Middle East. He argued that Africa is the cradle of all humanity and all knowledge that has driven civilization worldwide had its origin in the African continent. He asserted that as great as the European, American and Asian countries have become in the present era, all their greatness has been due to the crucial input of continental Africa and its peoples over the eons.
Prof. Lumumba fetes the extraordinary accomplishments of Igbo and some Yoruba intellectuals and writers like Chinua Achebe and his young protege, Ngozi Chimamanda Adichie, Christopher Okigbo, Cyprian Ekwensi, Wole Soyinka, the Great Zik and others whose literary excellence has projected the Black African positively in tangible ways. He acknowledged the entrepreneurial spirit of the Igbo who have taken their quest for wealth creation and global trade to all parts of the world. In spite of all the achievements thus far, the eloquent Kenyan professor enjoined his audience not to be unduly nostalgic about the past but instead to project their aspirations into the future. What he witnessed at the 2018 Face of Okija event went a long way to persuade him that the Obijackson Foundation’s example is a veritable template for achieving the future that Black Africans should aspire for. He decried the risky and danger-ridden mass migration of Black Africans across the Sahara and the Mediterranean Sea in search of so-called greener pastures that ought to abound in many niches in sub-Saharan Africa.
Dr. Obiejesi’s Obijackson Foundation has built an ultramodern Children’s and Women’s Hospital in Okija to serve his folks and paved the roads in the community amidst other goodies. The Face of Okija annual cultural extravaganza is a laudable investment in the promotion of Igbo culture and other indigenous cultures that comprise Nigeria, in particular and the African continent, in general. Thumbs up for the Obijackson Foundation and the generous mind that had conceived it.