A community leader and promoter of Igbo culture and tradition, Chief Eddie Nwaeri has tasked Ndị Igbo to prioritize the efforts to protect, preserve and promote their culture and traditions.
Chief Nwaeri made the call during the grand unveiling ceremony of the statue of ths 14th Eze Nri of the Ancient kingdom, Eze Nri Obalike, Nri Obalike 1 of Umu- Nri Omalo, Royal Lineage.
The monarch reigned over the kingdom between AD 1889 and 1936.
Chief Nwaeri explained that the statue was an opportunity to immortalize Eze Obalike and bring to limelight the role he played in preserving the tradition and culture of not just Nri community but the Igbo and Nigeria in general.
Chief Nwaeri said that Obalike reign witnessed a major assault on the culture, traditional institution and authority of the priestly king of Ndi Igbo, suffering gross intmidation in the hands of colonial masters who forced the Eze Nri the 14th at a gunpoint to abrogate the Nri values, custom and traditions and instructed him to order his people to pay respects to the whiteman.
“Of course! Yes, he did that in his wisdom just to save the lives of his people knowing that such pronouncement cannot hold in Nri and Igbo land since they Igbo’s have a degree of control over external forces and internal politics of the older Igbo settlement.
“This belief is ingrained with the concept of peace, harmony and truth, ritually symbolised and enacted in the ceremonies of the Ozo title men who were the political elite of the time.
Chief Nwaeri noted that the attempted rape of the Igbo culture did not lead to the expected annihilation of Igbo civilisation as the truth cannot be buried.
He called on the Nri people to come out in hugenumbers as the time is very apt to change the narrative and inculcate the Igbo ideology into the younger generations.
” It is a recognition of the fact that we must leave a legacy for our children who are in a better position to tell the story of Eze Nri Obalike but his educated grandson who by the grace of God is 98 years old and as fit as a fiddle has set the pace.
“It is a clarion call for us to assimilate other cultures that will bring progress to our society but retain those that defines us as a unique creation of God – Chukwu Okike”.
“These include but not limited to respect for our elders, mastering the English languages but preserving our mother tongue, our dress code, cultural heritages, etc.
” Our cultures and traditions have evolved over thousands of years and defines who we are, we cannot let it go without handing over to our children in a manner they can appreciate.
” Oral tradition has served us well in the past but now we need to document and create sculptures and films to immortalize our cultural heritage.
‘We need more professors of Igbo language, professors of anthropology, professors of traditional Africa religion and professors of music -cultural heritage to ensure our culture is preserved.” he said.
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