Igbo-Ukwu: Around & About in 21 Days-Ik Muo,PhD

I am proudly a native of Igbo-Ukwu, one of the largest towns in  Anambra State situated in the Aguata Local Government Area. Igbo-Ukwu is unarguably, the cradle of Igbo civilization and was hitherto known as Igbo, until the town decided to differentiate itself from the entire  Ndi-Igbo by adding UKWU to its name to yield its current name, Igbo-Ukwu, which means the Great Igbo( or IgboBig)  The archaeological excavations from  Igbo-Ukwu  consisting of sophisticated bronze metal-working culture dating to 9th century AD, 

centuries before other known bronzes of the region, show how far our people have come, especially viz-a-viz the various contenders to the Igbo throne ( Shaw,T(1977) Unearthing Igbo-Ukwu: Archaeological Discoveries in Eastern Nigeria; Oxford University Press). Igbo-Ukwu was indeed great then, to the extent that neighbouring towns added Igbo to their names; I am yet to ascertain whether Ijebu-Igbo is one of them! I have always been a ‘village man’. I did not grow up in Igbo-Ukwu because I was following my late father, Sir  Ezeamaluchi W.O  Muo, (we called him ‘W.O’ behind him), the original village  Head Master from one rural community to another( Abba, Ebenator, Osumenyi, Azigbo et al). But every Christmas, he ensured that we all visited home. One of his co-inlaws, a Morris-lorry driver( late Matthew Muoneke)  would ferry us all home and we sang  and rejoiced as we left  wherever his duty post was, to the village, where we would enjoy the Christmas holidays.

There , we would mix  and play with brothers, cousins and nephews and the elders, Uzoahia, Udoye Emeka, Gabriel-Nwagbe, who would tell us tales and give us the kind of affectionate attention that was scarce with the cane-wielding WO. So, over the years, I have become increasingly in love, and involved, with Igbo-Ukwu and have been attending Igbo-Ukwu  meetings and events  for the past 43 years. And thus, whenever I have some free time, I wish to spend it at home   but the problem is that the time has never been enough. At times I get home on 24th December and disappear on 2nd January, when most of the festivities  are just  revving up. 2019 Christmas was however a pleasant exception. Our ‘GO’ approved a university holiday from 23/12/19 to 5/1/20. My Oga HOD also approved a part of my annual leave  that set me free till the end of January. You are wondering who is our GO? That is our  inclusive and open minded Vice Chancellor whose initials are ‘GO’. 

When  I heard that appellation for the first time, I was aghast: How can we have a GO in an academic environment?. But when I learnt that it was his initial and encountered his pro-people tendencies and attributes, I joined others in calling him the GO. By the way, we have many wonderful names at OOU. We have ‘The ROC(k)’( a Professor  and Dean, whose initials are ROC); an ‘MD’( who is just an ordinary  student of Business Admin);   ‘Government’( a hard core sociologist who had worked at the Governors office before), Aristotle( I have not yet tested and tasted his  Aristotelian capabilities),  DIBIA( I do not know whether his is a native or modern dibia)  and of course we have the Spirit!

So, I mobilized my resources and family( actually, only my wife; the children have become adults, with different agenda), and an emergency personal driver and set up for Igbo-Ukwu. My first concern was how to make the trip, ( this was on my prayer point since November!) giving the 60+  security tollgates and the declaration by the IGP that since those of us from the east were the greatest criminals, he would not reduce that armada. So, I took desperate and unusual step of leaving Lagos by 3 am on 22/12/19. (Yes; 3 am) And by the time  we drove into the Ago Palace Way in Lagos, there were 1001 vehicles already on the road, all of them  headed east and thus, getting out of Lagos took us more than 2 hours. Somewhere around Shagamu, we joined a one-man  alarm-blaring convoy and when the man noticed that we were following him bumper-to-bumper, he ‘adopted’ us and told security men at all the ‘tollgates’ that we were a part of his convoy and thus nobody stopped me from Lagos to Onitsha( God answers prayers!). At Onitsha, where we shook hands and parted ways around 12noon( He was on his way to Ebonyi State. That was also where I discharged my emergency driver who headed back to Lagos immediately.

We got home about 1 hour later, unpacked our luggage, visited my mother in-law, where we had a sumptuous late lunch, attended evening mass,( since we could not attend mass in the morning), visited some of our neighbours  for both routine greetings and Christmas handshake. The following day, we engaged a very dutiful lady to clean and de-dust the entire house and thereafter, settled down for the serious business of holidaying in Igbo-Ukwu. 

Over the next 20 days, we( self  and at times, with the family) moved  around and about  Igbo-Big from morning (at times straight from the morning Mass, 6pm) till night( at times, up to 10pm and beyond!). It was all about weddings( traditional and modern), ( I attended about  5 of them) funeral ceremonies and condolence visits(6), birthday celebrations(5), harvest and bazaar ceremonies(3) ( the urban churches will always do theirs before the  December Eastern migration while the ‘village’ churches would always wait for the returnees before doing theirs) ozo-initiation  ceremonies( 6) and meetings,(7) most of which ended up in fundraising. Key activities included the surprise birthday party which  some musketeers( including the son of man) organized for Ezenwagu Okafor( 26/12/19),

my own birthday party on 1/1/20 (  the only day I stayed indoors for a WHOLE day and attended by ‘small medium and large’ compatriots), the 76th birthday celebration of my maternal aunt, Lady Rose Nwosu,( 29/12/19) and the 5-in-1 celebrations by Ezeonyima Igwilo( birthday  of self and spouse, wedding anniversary,  award of Moving Patron?? by his club +++, 2/1/20).

 The greatest meeting was the IgboUkwu General Assembly, where and when, in the presence of Anambra State Government representatives, we resolved the 8-year long impasse and elected Christian Ikeh as the  President General.    The funeral ceremonies of Chief EE Okoye, Odu2 of Igbo-Ukwu took me two days, the first day as a member of the Idu Cabinet and the second as a member of the prestigious nze na ozo society. The highest Ozo initiation ceremony was the  initiation of  Lintog Ikwuetoghu  and his three brothers into  ‘ozo-ship’  at a sitting, the first in Igbo-Ukwu history.   The wedding ceremony of my cousin, Nduka Muo took us all, including other members of the large Muo clan to Owerri, Imo State, then under the governorship of Ihedioha.There were also personal visits for Christmas felicitations {including the visit to Chief Barth Nwibe( 25/12/19),  Ezeakajiugo MCK Uba on his birthday( 4/1/20)Professor Nwosu, Odenigbo( 6/1/20), and Oji3 of Igbo-Ukwu( 9/1/2020, to discuss IgboUkwu affairs)} and  Christmas ‘handshakes’( about 30 families). I also had time for my usual academic pursuits as I was the  Guest lecturer at the Achina Development Summit, 29/12/19( A new Model for Achina Development: The need for a paradigm shift) and the Youth Social Club of IgboUkwu  2019 Convention, 31/12/19( Preparing the Youths for Leadership) and participated fully at the 15th Anniversary of Nze Basil Osuokwu Foundation, of which I am a member of the Board of Trustees.

I also went beyond Igbo-Ukwu; to Isuofia and Nimo (to visit my wife’s paternal aunt and maternal uncle); Alor( on solidarity visit to Ichie Udeagwa on the  burial of his in-law), Nnewi( Symbol Hospital) and Akwaeze( to drop off my Sister In-law)

I actually enjoyed the whole period without the usual stress of lectures, results and meetings. The weather was dry dusty and cold;  NEPA, quite surprisingly gave us light for 80% of that period; there was traffic holdup everywhere  and only those who knew the terrain very well could move freely and there were police escorts and sirens everywhere. Our people are now all doctors, all chiefs, all Sirs so that everywhere you go, you see Chief, Dr. Sir XXX. And the latest status symbol is to have police escorts and sirens.  Where did they get all these policemen from when we have all these security challenges? Were all these official? Anyway, by next year, I will have my own; even if they are OOU security personnel or the village vigilante!

By 11/1/20,  it was time to pack and  return to the madness of Lagos.  It was not necessarily because of activity drought. My pocket was almost dry; NEPA had taken light for two days; two of my sisters took ill simultaneously and one of them had to be taken to 4 hospitals  before being admitted in the 5th. And of course, it was just time to go because of 1001 demands on me and other members of my family. I left Igbo-Ukwu by 7 am and we were on the road for 14 hours, and I was on the steering.  At one point, we veered off the Benin Sagamu highway and meandered through  routes that looked like roads (and probably  constructed by Lugard and last used by Awo during his Western Nigerian campaigns), through Oniparaga, Onitea,  Oke-Ado  and Isale-Ijebu Ajebandele and, Ajebandele High School. The route was actually at the middle of nowhere,  habited by people forgotten by their governments  and I thanked God that there was no emergency, (even if a flat tyre) Eventually we busted out at the Ajebandele side of the expressway and before long, the environment showed us that we were back to Lagos: the bumper to bumper traffic; the mad-driving, verbal terrorism and toxic exchanges  among the drivers,  mosquitoes that had been famished over the days, hot weather and  noisy generators.  As usual, there were fewer police tollgates on the way back but I can’t forget the look on the face of one of them who asked me ‘anything for the boys’ and I  replied ‘dem don close border!’

It was a wonderful holiday but I could not continue because I needed some time for recovery: for my body, my car and my POCKET, and most important, the various official and unofficial assignment that were abandoned in the spirit of Christmas migration and holidays.  And by 15/1/20, I was back to OOU for an ASUU conference and other small-small matters.

I am also glad to report, to the glory of God, that my sister who was hosted by 5 hospitals within 48 hours is now hale and hearty.

Other Matters: Will you sacrifice for Nigeria and Nigerians.            

Fifty-Six men signed the American Declaration of Independence that kick-started the struggle for freedom from Britain.  24 of them were lawyers and jurists; 11 were merchants, 9 were farmers and large plantation owners. They signed pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor, knowing fully well that death penalty awaited them if captured. They were propelled by the untold sufferings for themselves and their people. Of those fifty-six, 5 were captured by the British as traitors and tortured before they died;12 had their homes ransacked and burnt; 2 lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army, another had two sons captured; 9 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War etc.

 Here in Nigeria, we are independent but we all know that the fruits of that independence have been warehoused by a few from the North, South, East and West. We complain, complain and complain: poverty, unemployment, executive highhandedness, unpardonable government profligacy, decayed infrastructure, judicial rascality, corruption, etc; but who is ready to pay the price to set us free from the deliberate misrule of the political, bureaucratic, judicial and military elites? Even the intellectual elites are involved by silence, acquiescence or providing strategic backbone! Yes; it is not just an APC, PMB and Northern affair! So, are you willing to pay the price?


Ik Muo, PhD. Department of Business Administration, OOU, Ago-Iwoye; 08033026625