~ As Nnenyi-Ezi Bemoans Marginalisation
BY RAYMOND OZOJI, Awka
All is set for the 2023 Alommuo festival of Umueri community in Anambra-East Local Government Area of Anambra State. Alommuo now known as new yam festival in Igbo land with the coming of modern civilization is said to have been in existence from time immemorial.
Alommuo which is an occasion to express profound gratitude to the gods and ancestral deities of the land for a bountiful harvest and for keeping them alive all through the period of cultivation, is also a time to pour libations in prayers and thanksgiving to the ancestral spirits for peace, unity and fertility of the land for more bountiful harvest.
Alommuo festival according to the Chief Priest of Aro Umueri Shrine, His Majesty Nnazoba Uchenna Kingsley Ajeh Umueri, Alommuo is the highest new yam ritual in Igbo land and has its origin at the Aro Umueri Shrine Obu Gad. That only the Ajeh is vested with the authority and spiritual fortification to perform it not any Igwe or traditional ruler.
History has it that Alommuo was the normal traditional practice of new yam celebration amongst the three quarters of Umueri kingdom comprising Ezi, Ikenga and Ivite with its customs and traditions on the tripod of Ajeh, Onowu and Eze prior to the emergence of the Igwe in the 80s. It is said that no one ate new yam in the community without the annual Alommuo being performed by Ajeh Umueri. Hence the inevitability and significance of the Alommuo festival.
In spite of all attempts by the doctrines of the white missionaries to wrestle traditional religion to a standstill, religious practices of the preliterate era like the Alommuo Umueri have continued to survive the incursions of alien cultures.
Thus, the Chief Priest of Aro Umueri Shrine, His Majesty Nnazoba Uchenna Kingsley expressed worry at the gradual decline of native customs and traditions due to the influence of the computer age especially with Igbo language gradually becoming extinct. Ajeh Umueri was of the opinion that the 2023 Alommuo festival was to remind Ndigbo of their root and why it is of utmost priority for the Igbo nation to promote, preserve and protect the customs and traditions handed down to them by their ancestors.
Ajeh who spoke with our correspondent in his shrine at Aro Umueri Obu Gad Nnenyi Umueri, described Yam as the king of all crops and that the strength of a man was measured in his Oba ji ( yam ban ) in the stone age era. That it was a taboo to steal a tuber of yam in the olden days as such acts amounted to ritual cleansing or outright banishment from the land.
He said, ” What we are doing on 29th September, 2023 is Alommuo festival. Alommuo is the ritual performed before an Umueri man uses yam to do anything traditionally. Alommuo is the ritual performed to thank the gods for the gift of the new yam and also to thank our ancestors for the gift of life.” The Chief Priest said he was the 23rd Ajeh and it was his 16th year on the throne of Aro Umueri Shrine performing the Alommuo and other esoteric traditional worships for the betterment of Umueri community and the entire Igbo nation.
According to him, Alommuo is the Iwa Ji festival of the modern day Igbo land. That in the last 16 years of his reign as Ajeh Umueri, the Alommuo festival has brought peace and progress to the community. He said Umueri now have an airport, oil companies as well as other social amenities, stressing that Umueri is the best place anyone can live without threats of unknown gunmen and other forms of insecurity. He also added that the gift of the President-General of Umueri General Assembly Amb. Chief Dr. John Chukwudi Metchie is another big plus to the community as the PG has used his personal resources and connections to bring Umueri to limelight.
Our correspondent also gathered from the Chief Priest that the Alommuo festival is not just for Umueri alone but for the entire Igbo race because the throne of Ajeh Umueri is the highest throne in Igbo land and that no other spiritual alter can supercede it not even the throne of the traditional ruler. He therefore recalled that during the Nigerian/Biafran war no harm was done to Umueri community because of the existence of Aro Umueri Shrine as the entire community was surrounded by spiritual waters preventing enemies from gaining access into the community.
Ajeh said Ndigbo should return to the doctrines and teachings of their forefathers and not be blindfolded by the wiles of the whiteman’s religion. He said the Alommuo festival slated for 29th September this year is the highest new yam celebration from the throne of Ajeh Umueri and that every other ceremony or celebration is secondary, stressing that nobody will cut the new yam except Ajeh Umueri did so. That the only new yam festival is the one performed by the throne of Aro Umueri after which people are free to celebrate in their own unique ways.
Aside the Alommuo festival, the Chief Priest bemoaned what he saw as outright marginalisation of Ezi Umueri, saying that in spite of the fact that Ezi is the first son of Eri, he is being sidelined in the scheme of things. He said amongst the three quarters in Umueri community, Ezi is the only quarter without government presence. That they only find solace and consolation in the abundance of natural resources nature bestowed upon the area.
Ajeh who emphasized the urgent need for Ezi Umueri to become an independent autonomous community to end the age-long maltreatment and marginalisation of the area, revealed that Umueri Constitution provided for 8 autonomous traditional rulers; that there’s a dire need to revert to the constitutional provisions, noting that he who goes to equity goes with clean hands.
He said the atmosphere would be convivial as Umueri celebrates the 2023 Alommuo New Yam festival with masquerades, cultural performances and showcasing of the rich cultural heritage of the Igbo nation at the Aro Umueri Shrine Obu Gad Nnenyi-Ezi Umueri where people from all walks of life will converge for the 2023 Alommuo festival.
