PLEASE, LET’S TALK ABOUT IGALA CARNIVAL, EKINRIN-ADDE DAY AND THE REST
By ONOJA OKPANACHI
Getting back on track is the ultimate goal of this piece (like the previous ones) and until that is achieved, analysing events, situations and developments will not seize. This is very critical at this point as a people since we have become very relaxed holding onto our past glories, always dwelling on histories most of which are terribly far from our realities today and despite this fact, many are yet to see the ugly side of our relaxation on the past to the level that we are just waiting for things to correct themselves because it’s us, the “special ones” as we think of ourselves. It may take a very long time if we keep waiting. This attitude needs to change. We must wake up and begin to be deliberate about our every action today as every little thing matter now to building our desired future.
We glory too much in the past – “in the past, we did this, we did that” but painfully what about today? Despite all the rich records from the past, the big question banging in our ears now that we seem not to be hearing very well is what are we doing today that will be historical tomorrow? All the peoples and lands our history recorded victory and economic superiority over have gone way ahead in many fronts; politically, socially, economically et al – let the truth be told – while we are still basking in the euphoria of our past, they picked up, fought their ways out and are already up playing national and international leagues as a people but here we are, still great only in those pasts. We can do better as our past are meant to inspire us into greater ventures to bring home good results and not to serve only as records to be documented and be visited only for story telling.
So, let’s talk about these things we ignore and trivialize – many of them are out there but for now let me dwell on the just concluded Igala Carnival that was held in Anyigba on Tuesday, June 18th. That edition is the 8th counting from 2017 (if my calculations are correct). The crowd was a huge one, unprecedented but that’s my major concern now. The crowd got me thinking deeply, reminiscing on the value of our crowd in the Eastern axis of Kogi State and how well have we been able to convert this crowd that we have to great values is one big question begging for answer. I am still worried about our mindsets till this point. Again, in the whole of that crowd, aside the organizer’s team and associates, the only prominent Igala (political/business) elite I sighted from the multiple images so far is Engr. Friday Michael Ojima, MON (may be I should keep flipping through more images from that event) and that speaks volume about us as a people – if this event was to be in an election year or pre-election year, all the reigning “featherweight and lightweight millionaires” who would be buying tickets to run for offices on various political parties platforms would have been on ground to show themselves – this is hypocrisy at the highest level. We keep failing to understand the key principle of building which is process. We always jump in and that’s why we easily jump out, too.
This same thing happened the last time Agabaidu, Ata Igala called for Italo Festival. I think only about six or seven top Igala elites turned up for the Italo; Hajia Salamatu Baiwa Umar-Eluma, Pharm, Zakari Jiya, PhD., Senator Jibrin Isah, Prof. Stephen Ikani Ocheni, Prof. Salisu Usman Ogbo, Gen. Patrick Akpa, Rtd. … Now, what I think about this is the seriousness we attach to these events, particularly those ones that are designed to bring the people together – we don’t see the opportunities in them – these are critical meeting points where decisions could be reached unplanned and a spark could be ignited that could light up the nation and the instant gains are there economically on one side, too. These gatherings could be a sort of revival giving hope to the people by the time they see their top men gather for a common purpose for the good of all. And, at the same time, gatherings like the Igala Carnival bring down tensions and create good atmosphere for the people to grow in all ramifications even in political dealings at the grassroots as the togetherness assures the people that whatever differences that may exist are merely political and they don’t affect our brotherhood. But, we do it differently and that’s encouraging everything negative contrary to the positives that Igala Carnival can bring to the land.
During the period of the Igala Carnival, other similar cultural events took place across Kogi State and the testimonies were positively different. Let’s face it and be challenged to rise and start doing better because we have all it takes to do great in this regard. Of all these events, let’s take the Ekinrin-Adde Day for instance, see the quality of men that turned up for the event from all realms, home and abroad – note, this is not Okun Day, it’s just a part of the Western axis of the state and it was like a decision making gathering as both the government of the state was heavily on ground and other national political and business heavyweights, too. The national dailies had multiple full page adverts of the event paid by their people and their supporters – I can’t remember who so valued the title from the revered Ata Igala Palace or events of IGALA origin that they publish them in the dailies – may be they check the cost but forget that at the end, all these things formed the evaluation criteria. We need to wake up as a people. We are great individually but are yet to harness our individual greatness to form a great nation that we once had in the historical past.
We have no excuse to fail as a people. We need to understand what the time is and how fast the world is evolving and then dwell less on the past and become very conscious that our attitude and actions today will be the history of tomorrow.
ARISE!
