By Emmanuel Una

GESILA—THE people of Gesila, a community on the bank of a river in Yakkur Local Government Area , Cross River State,   rolled out drums recently to celebrate the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Commissioner in the state, Dame Gesila Khan, who they conferred with a chieftaincy title for  bearing   the same name with   their community.

•Gesila Khan (middle) dancing with Gesila women. & •Gesila Khan (middle) dancing with Gesila women.

The entire atmosphere in  Gesila, 120 kilometers away from Calabar, was in festive mood, as prominent sons  and daughters  of the community, resident in outside, found their way home, a clear evidence of how valuable the event  was to the community.

Gaily-dressed chiefs, elders, women and youths  gathered at the central square in their numbers to chant  and dance to celebration songs amidst traditional gun salute in her honour.

Dame Gesila Khan, who hails from Bayelsa state,  was obviously elated and beamed with smiles, as she danced with the women adorned in her chieftaincy regalia.

Not a happenstance

Speaking to NDV,   a political leader of the community and managing director of the Cross River State Water Board, Professor Godwin Igbile, stated that   though Bayelsa State, where Dame Gesila Khan comes from, was hundreds of kilometres away from the Gesila community in Cross River, the history of the two Gesilas may not be too far apart.

“Taking a recap into Gesila history, in the early 1900s, some fishermen from the riverine area of the Delta  came here to trade  with our people. Though, they preferred  staying  on  tree tops  found in the creeks and rivers, they exchanged their fishes with yams supplied by our people,” he disclosed.

He averred   that since Gesila   which is not a common name   means bravery,   preciousness, and trust-worthiness   in their dialect and also has similar meaning in Ijaw,   it follows   that the Gesila in Bayelsa and the Gesila in Cross River is not a mere coincidence,  but   a clue to the fact that the two Gesilas   have something in common.

Diaspora ambassador

“It will interest the community to know more about you because  you could be one of us in the Diaspora. You could have come here without identifying with us, which gives credence to the fact that there is something more than the ordinary  that binds us. That is why today you are not stranger, but a daughter with full rights and privileges.”

He said the community has earmarked a piece of land in the area for Dame Khan to build a house to which she could return on retirement.

How I found Gesila, my namesake

On her part, Dame Gesila Khan said on resumption of duties in the state, while going through the list of polling units in readiness for the rerun election for the Yakkur State Constituency in March, she found that one of the units bore the  name “Gesila” and owing to the fact that the name was unique, she decided to visit the unit to make more enquiries only to discover that the people had similarities with her people and had made more visits to the place more than any other unit.

She called for peaceful coexistence among the people as that was the starting point for development.

“When I retire, I will come here and live with my people and trade and also fish because  apart from government work, I am a trader and fisherwoman like my father’s people, who trade and my mother’s people, who are anglers,”she said.

She promised to take over responsibility for the education of any girl child, who gains admission into Junior Secondary School, JSS, in September, on the recommendation of the community.