Umuahia North Royal Fathers Invoke Peace, Blessings At Isu Ofo Na Ogu, Herald New Yam Festivities

It was an atmosphere of prayers and thanksgiving yesterday at the Umuahia North Council headquarters as traditional rulers from the council came together to perform the Igo Ofo na Ogu ritual as a solemn prelude to the season of festivities across the land.

Leading over twenty traditional rulers who took turns to pray over different prayer points, offer supplications and pour libations, the Chairman of Umuahia North Council of Traditional Rulers, Eze Innocent Adiele-Nwaigwe, described the event as their sacred duty as chief custodians of the land which hosts the state capital.

Eze Adiele-Nwaigwe, who noted that the New Yam Festival and other festivities are set to begin in communities across the area, stressed the importance of cleansing the land and invoking divine presence and ancestral blessings upon it, which, he said, is what the Igo Ofo na Ogu represents.

The Umuahia North Council of Traditional Rulers Chairman maintained that there was a need for peace and unity to ensure hitch-free celebrations, while warning criminal elements and those planning to cause mayhem within the period and beyond to have a rethink or prepare to face the full wrath and consequences of any unwholesome act against the land.

“We are performing this ritual as custodians of the land, which means we hold Ofo na Ogu. We will continue to keep the land safe, beckon on good fortunes and rebuke any form of evil in the land. When we do this as traditional rulers of Umuahia North, it covers the entire Abia because there are no others whom it behoves to do so in the state capital except the traditional rulers of Ohuhu and Ibeku. Now we have gone to our farms to cultivate, harvest and are about to eat; we will first and foremost reverence God and our ancestors. That is what we have come to do, and there is nothing fetish about it,” Eze Adiele-Nwaigwe declared.

In their remarks, some of the traditional rulers, including the Chairmen of the Ibeku and Ohuhu Councils of Traditional Rulers, Eze Emma Onwubuariri and Eze Charles Ngwuli, as well as Eze Iheanyichukwu Ezeigbo, described the solemn ritual as one that has come to stay, while praying for continued peace, unity and understanding among the traditional rulers in Umuahia North.

The event also featured the symbolic cutting of the new yam (Iwa Ji) by Ndi Eze Umuahia North to herald the festivities, as well as special prayers for the Governor, Dr. Alex Otti; the Mayor of Umuahia North, Chief Smart Iheoma; the Chairman of Traditional Rulers in the state and the South-East, Eze Linus Nto; and other leaders. Prayers were also offered for a rancour-free forthcoming electioneering season.