By Tony Nwankwo

It was pomp and pageantry, recently, as the sleepy town of Atan Abam, Arochukwu LGA, Abia State, welcomed the crème de la crème of Abia State culture and tradition for a once in a lifetime showcasing of Ekpenibro Festival 2025.

The event, at the behest of Chief James Chijioke Umeh and his Unibiko Foundation released the hitherto sacred spirits of Abam Onyerubi, in a classical display of unadulterated showmanship never before witnessed even within Abam.

And the governing authority, the amiable governor, Dr. Alex Chioma Otti, OFR, was present. Unubiko released to the atmosphere, the sacred secret cults of Ekpe as represented by “Atu Mpi” from Idima Abam, accompanied by its guiding spirits of ‘Abugiri and ‘Atankala”

The assemblage of the spirits was joined by ’Akang’, the quintessential spirits that the Ibibio people dance for sacrifice while the Abam dance for celebrations. Whichever ways, these spirit gods are taboo both in dance and participation by the womenfolk.

Yet, when the Akang arrived in an enclosure by the Atan Abam group, they were packaged and shepherded into a dark room within the complex for a brief performance. You could visualize that the women present were filled with awe and fear.

And there was no better audience and no suitable environment to call out a man who many had described as an angel in human form than when the Abia State Chief Executive Alex Otti took the stand and announced that the already sweeping title of Ike Abam that the philanthropist personified, Chief James Chijioke Umeh had been graciously conferred by the chiefs, elders and people of Abam was not encompassing enough.

Rather the governor said the name was restricting Chief James Umeh who would henceforth, the governor said, be known as Ike Abia, another sweeping title that no one had envisaged. And the title just stuck immediately as the people cheered. So, the Ike Abam released the spirits of Abam together with ancestral spirits from Arochukwu and the environs.

Since the emergence of Dr. Alex Otti as governor, the warrior enclave of Abam had witnessed positive energy in governance that had affected their daily lives bringing development right to their doorsteps. Every hamlet in Abam has benefitted from the present Alex Otti government.

Sometime ago, in an interview with a former Eze Aro, Eze Ogbonnaya Okoro, had confessed that the Aro people had some blood covenant with Abam people from time immemorial, a reason an Aro man cannot spill the blood of an Abam person and vice versa. “We have igbandu”, the revered monarch told me.

The climax of the festival was when Ike Abam joined the Ekpe Atu Mpi masquerade on stage to personally usher in the star event of the Ekpenibro Festival, a mock fishing expedition. The expedition itself was a reminder of how Abam forebears traversed the seas from Igwu River to Itu to trade with Europeans and the Portuguese traders in merchandise like tobacco, alcoholic drinks, stockfish and fabrics. These Abam

merchants prospered beyond measure, living in affluence and great wealth. This group of sea-going traders constituted the early wealthy merchants of Abam extraction, their exploits were replicated at the Ekpenibro Festival 2025. Their contributions are visible in Abam even to this day.

In his remarks at the occasion, Governor Alex Otti commended Chief James Umeh and his Unubiko Foundation, a non-profit, non-governmental organization, who he said had within a short period of time stamped his authority, not only in Abam, not only in Abia, but in Nigeria, generally.

He thanked the traditional rulers present for an awe-inspiring festival. “We are here in the behest of Ike Abam himself, I think we are restricting him by calling him Ike Abam, I think we need to call him “Ike Abia”. This was directly in reflection of the immense contributions of the Chief, both locally in Abam and in Abia State and nationally.

The governor commended the organisers of the Ekpenibro Festival, referencing the credibility and authenticity of Abam people who had not lost their tradition and cultural heritage. Abam people have retained and improved upon their values, traditions and cultures to this day. He commended the Unubiko Foundation for remembering these values and for bankrolling the Festival and prayed God to replenish his resources a million-fold. He reminded the Abam people to be steadfast and enjoy whatever development, particularly roads that government had provided for them and thanked the people generally for a very successful Festival.