By Jimoh Babatunde

THE four days communal feast, which was celebrated at the convocation arena of Gregory University Uturu (GUU), for many reasons was very significant and has different appeal from the Calabar festival or any such event across the country.

For one, it is a privately organised and sponsored annual celebration. Until two years ago, the six years old event was financed by Chief Greg Iyke Ibe through his Foundation, Greg Iyke Ibe Foundation and now funded by GUU, a private institution established by him.

Another area of concern was the fact that it is the only event in the South east of Nigeria, which is devoted to the celebration of Ndi – Igbo. Perhaps more appealingly is that it is a sorely cultural celebration, which is geared at displaying the rich and enduring cultural heritage of the people.

This is obvious from the conception to the execution of the carnival and the fact that it is now being run by the Centre for Igbo Renaissance of GUU as part of propagating and entrenching the Ndi – Igbo cultural values led credence to this fact.

Other than the usual cultural feast of the carnival, this year, it had a new dimension to it as it was devoted to marking and celebrating the 70th birthday anniversary of one of the sons of Igbo land, Chief Sab Ejimofor.
A display of its inclination towards exposing the cultural elements of the people in a very profound manner was the setting itself, which was entirely made of local materials, creatively put together.

In this wise, the locally woven mats and straw hats, which are part of the cultural symbolism of the people of Uturu featured prominently alongside native calabashes, clay pots and cups and other forms of art and craft.
Even in the choice of communication language, it was purely that of an Igbo affair by all the speakers that mounted the rostrum at the various events to deliver speeches or lead the programme.

The founder of the carnival, Ibe said “the major aim of the carnival is to explore the potency of the carnival to weld apparently disparate cultures to create cultural unity, social harmony and strength on the one hand while on the flip side it is to checkmate the move towards ethnocentrism, which leads racial prejudice, discrimination and other social ills.”

Thus, this was what informed the choice of this year’s theme: ‘Ibu anyi danda’ (Resilience – the indomitable spirit ofNdi – Igbo), an evocation of the consciousness of Igbo cultural unity and to influence national cultural unity.
The choice of the theme, according to him, was not only to pay homage to Chief Sam Ejiomofor whose rising from rags to riches through the dint of hard work and resilience but also that of every Igbo man who has achieved in their various enterprises and engagements in life as such achievement came through resilience and surmounting of life threatening obstacles.

The presence of the President – General of Ohaneze Ndi – Igbo, Chief Gary Enwo – Igariwey, he said also boosted the appeal of the carnival.
“We have achieved without major partners, we have achieved in a major way of bringing our culture to the world, we have achieved by our continuous demystifying all the na sayers,” said Ibe.

The fact that children and the youth have embraced the carnival and yearly turn out in their numbers with different masquerades and dance troupes, to him, is one of the greatest feats, as it met that the culture of the people will never die because the older generation is using the carnival to pass on the cultural values and traditions of the people to the younger generation.

He said that the choice of Uturu as the venue of celebration is a deliberate effort to create awareness and draw the people’s attention to the extant Uturu Caves, which he said has been proved historically to be the ancestral home of the progenitors of the Igbo race, as traces of what he called the ‘early man abode,’ is obvious for all to see.