INYIAGBAOKU, DANGEROUS MASQURADE OF AKEGBE UGWU, ENUGU

INYIAGBAOKU MASQURADE

Inyiagbaoku is a masqutade feared and respected in Enugu. It is well known and associated to Akegbe Ugwu people. Inyiagbaoku etymologically means a particular type of wood that can never burn in the fire. Inyiagbaoku is well fortified with fearful charms. With its beauty and admirable outlook it is preffered for masquerade outing. During outing the Akegbe Ugwu people does not fear of any sort of intimidation from the masquerade of other towns.

INYIAGBAOKU MASQURADE RENDERING DIRGE

Inyiagbaoku does not carry cain. It carries only its hand fan on the right hand and the ofor (charm) on the left hand. Virtually every part of its body is decorated with charms as you can see in the image. Inyiagbaoku is never afraid in any exchange of charms in ceremonies or outing. It does not charm other masquerade first but any masquerade that tries to charm it is automatically in trouble. It would just pin the masquerade in one place with its fearful charm.

INYIAGBAOKU MASQURADE ADORNED WITH CHARMS

Any masquerade the inyiagbaoku pins down is in trouble. The group that led the masquerade to the occasion comes to beg and appease the Inyiagbaoku before it could release the masquerade. Inyiagbaoku usually places a stringent condition on the release of any masquerade it pins down with its charm. First the group that brought the masqutade must bring a big ram and a cock. Then the Inyiagbaoku releases it and instructs them to go home immediately. Whether the occasion is over or not, the masqutade group goes for fear of further catastrophe. However there is usually a bad news about the victim masquerade the following morning.

THE WITCHCRAFT POWER

In this part if the globe, the African people , the Igbo people as a case study, what they know how to do best is witchcraft. When others are busy channelling their ingenuity in the production and invention of new goods and technologies they are busy using their charm powers to bring down those who are progressing. They are envious. They are diabolic and lazy.

By the way, what is witchcraft?

According to Wikipedia, " Witchcraft (also called witchery or
spellcraft) broadly means the practice of, and belief in, magical skills and abilities that are able to be exercised by individuals and certain social groups . Witchcraft is a complex concept that varies culturally and societally; therefore, it is difficult to define with precision [1] and cross-cultural assumptions about the meaning or significance of the term should be applied with caution. Witchcraft often occupies a religious,
divinatory or medicinal role, [2] and is often present within societies and groups whose cultural framework includes a magical world view"

With that definition I will tell you how the Igbo people view witchcraft. The raw form of witchcraft is when a diabolic person comes to you in the dream to fight you and when you wake up you will see the physical injury on your body, exactly the same way the witch or wizard attacked you in the dream.

There are however other subtle forms of witchcraft. Witchcraft is not only that toothless old man or old woman with haggard look. Witchcraft can be practiced by anybody irrespective of the age. There are men who acquire charms all over the place to prove themselves powerful. They use their charm to frustrate the efforts of their so-called enemies. They may pretend to be a friend and feign to be your helper. But after they help you they go underground to frustrate your progress. Those are the worst witches and wizards you will ever meet.

THINGS YOU MUST KNOW ABOUT AKEGBE UGWU

I shall present in detail several things you must know about Akegbe Ugwu and Akegbe people of Enugu State. Below are ten things you must know.

1. Akegbe Ugwu is a town in Nkanu West Local Government area of Enugu state.

2.Akegbe Ugwu is one of the four towns that make up Awkunanaw. The other three towns are Amodu, Amechi and Obuoffia.

3. Akegbe Ugwu has five autonomous communities. They are Umuatugbuoma(Umuatugbu in short), Amagu, Attakwu, Umuokwu, and Obeaghu.

4. Akegbe Ugwu is within Enugu-Port Harcourt Express way.

5. Akegbe Ugwu has produced a chairman of the Enugu State Council of Traditional  Rulers. He was the igwe of Umuokwuo in the person of HRM Late Igwe Jeremiah Onovo.

6. Akegbe Ugwu has produced the incumbent house member representing Nkanu West constituency in the state house of assembly. His name is Hon Iloabuchi Aniagu. He is from Amagu.

7. Akegbe Ugwu has a good tourist and economic site: Nyama. It is a river where sand is gotten. It helps the jobless youth to earn a living.

8. The Enugu state zoological and botanical garden is located in Attakwu Akegbe.

9. Akegbe people is very hospitable to strangers. Nevertheless, they are also stubborn.

10. These are the four kings in Akegbe Ugwu:

Umuatugbu: HRM Igwe Okechukwu Nwobodo (Atugbu 1)

Amagu: HRM Igwe Ignatius Ugwu ( )

Attakwu: HRM Igwe Dr Greg Ugwu (Enyi 1 of Elephant Kingdom)

Umuokwuo: HRM Igwe Ray Agwa

Obeaghu: HRM Igwe Nnamene (Ngwuajo)

Feel free to ask your question in the comment box.

WHAT DOES A VILLAGE MAN KNOW ABOUT TABLE MANNER?

An Igbo man from Akegbe Ugwu in Nkanu West Local Government Area of Enugu State, I grew up in the village and did not know anything about table manner. I shall tell you in this post how we used to eat in those days.

My siblings and I would pound a large quantity of fufu (akpu) and wrap it with a waterproof to prevent it from drying up due to the harsh weather. And then we would put it in a basket. It was big enough to last for about three days, eaten by eight persons.

Concerning the soup, we would pound ogbono and go to the farmvto pluck leaf. We were blessed in the village because we produced 90 per cent of what we ate. We would make a good ogbono soup and put twenty naira mangara fish (dry fish). The fish was too little for the soup but we would always put it because we know that people put fish in their soup. Then our soup was ready!

HOW WE ATE

The food used to be in large quantity. So everybody would go into the kitchen and fetch his own. The rule in those days was "fetch the quantity you can finish". If you made a mistake and fetch the one you were not able to fish, daddy would teach you a lesson.

We fed well! Then what we knew about feeding well was eating a large quantity of food. The class of food or how it was eaten did not matter. We ate predominantly akpu morning, afternoon and night. It showed in our body. Malnutrition! It affected us in so many ways, even in our cognitive development.

MMM… MY NEIGHBOUR STILL QUARRELS WITH WIFE OVER LOST THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND NAIRA

MMM NIGERIA LOGO

My neighbor at Meniru invested his wife’s three hundred thousand naira in the MMM ponzi scheme. My neighbor has not earned even one kobo before the crash of the scheme in December 2016. Since that day my neighbor has been quarrelling with the wife every day. Just yesterday he was heard shouting at he top of his voice saying… “My brother did it and it worked for him, why are you blaming me?”  wonders shall never end oo.

“My brother did it and it worked for him, why are you blaming me?”   Those were my neighbour’s words to his wife.  

Imagine when the scheme crashed my neighbour did not even show any sign of remorse to his wife. This my neighbor I am telling you about did not inform his wife that he was going to use her money to do MMM. And I was surprised to hear his voice louder explaining the whole thing to everybody.

Proudly compiled by MY VILLAGE MAN.

WHAT YOU MUST KNOW ABOUT PALM WINE TAPPING

 

palm wine and dodg meat

The Igbo people of Nigeria are well known for tapping good wine. Palm wine is used in virtually all the traditional festivals and ceremonies celebrated in Igbo land. And as a custom, a typical Igbo man loves to drink palm wine.

However, Enugu people are known to be the best tappers of palm wine. For Example the Udi people are known for  their ‘aneke achime’. This is the name associated to their palm wine because of its exceptional quality. The Akpugo and Agbani people of Nkanu Enugu also tap good wine in large quantity. It is at Akpugo that the people of Enugu usually go to buy plenty of palm wine that they use in ceremonies. The wine is sold in Oboo market and Orie Mba market, all in Akpugo. I will not conclude without mentioning the Otu market in Amechi Awkunanaw. These are well known places where good palm wine can be obtained.

 Perhaps, there are different kinds of palm wine according to the alcoholic level. A knowledgeable Igbo man can tell the type of palm wine by merely tasting it. There is the ogwuduani and the nkwuenu.

The ogwuduani is the palm wine tapped from a fallen palm tree. The palm is allowed to stay for about three to four weeks before the actual tapping process can proceed. However, after falling the tree you will cut off the palm frond so it won’t drain off the entire wine flowing along the palm stem. Probably, I said earlier that after falling the palm tree you allow it to stay for like three to four weeks. It’s to allow the fluid to ferment. If it is not allowed to ferment the palm wine it will produce will be sour.

On the other hand, nkwuenu is tapped from a palm that is not fallen. The palm wine tapper has t o climb the palm tree with a rope and his container. This type of wine is considered the best because it is sometimes sweeter in the mouth. It can be given to  a nursing mother to increase the flow of her breast milk. Nevertheless, elderly people prefer ogwuduani because it is stronger. Or if they must drink the nkwuenu they will allow it to for some days to ferment.

The palm win is white in colour.

HOW TO ENJOY PALM WINE

Palm wine is best enjoyed with dog meat in the evening market at in Nkanu. The palm wine seller usually buys a live dog and slaughters it. He prepares pepper soup with it as that is what the people of Nkanu enjoy with palm wine. It is said that dog meat is a straight cure to malaria. Read also: Amazing Facts About Dog Meat

THE EQUIPMENTS USED IN PALM WINE TAPPING

Rope (agbu): the rope is used in climbing the palm tree

Machete: machete is used to cut down unwanted palm fronds and to trim the palm tree. It can also be used cut foot paths on the stem of the palm tree.

Knife: sharp knife is used to create a hole in the palm tree where the palm wine flows out from

Calabash/gallon: calabash or gallon is used to collect the rushing palm wine.

Bicycle/motorcycle: commercial palm wine tappers normally use bicycle or motorcycle to convey the collected palm wine to the business unit

Head lamp: the palm wine tappers carry lamps on their heads at night to see the way to their palm trees.

Proudly compiled by your VILLAGE GENIUS.

WILL GETHELPWORDWIDE EVER OPEN AGAIN

GETHELPWORLDWIDE LOGO

Speculations have been high among the people who put their money in gethelpworldwide ponzi scheme. The ponzi scheme whose services had been working fine suddenly began to experience delays in paying back mature donations together with the promised 30% interest.  Some of the participants fear that the system has crashed like MMM which crashed in December 2016.

As at the time of publishing this report,  gethelpworldwide  @ www.gethelpworldwide.com claimed that the problem the system was having came as a result of fake Proof of Payment that unserious members were uploading to sabotage the system. They also unveiled their plan to introduce new mode of operation that would curb the problems.

According to their promise to lauch a new platform they called gethelpwordwide xclusive on 20^th March 2017, there is still hope for the participants who have already put their money in the system to get their money back. But who can tell whether another story won’t come up. Let’s wait till 20^th March 2017.

Proudly compiled by MY VILLAGE MAN.

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MMM...my neighbour still quarels with wife over lost three hundred thousand naira

WHAT IS THE PRICE OF GARRI IN ENUGU?

The rate at which the price of things increase in Nigeria is overwhelming. Imagine the price of garri that used to be 400 naira last week; I went to the market today and found out that a paint rubber of garri is now 500 naira. Nawa oo. Wetin man no go see for Nigeria.

Data My Local Champion gathered from different markets in Enugu urban on Wednesday March 15 2017 showed the price of garri to be 500 naira per paint rubber. A cup of garri however sold at 80 naira. The price is uniform to the five markets visited by our correspondents.

My Local Champion was able to gather data from Garrikki market, Ogbete market, Mayor Market, Coal camp mini market and Meniru mini market, all in Enugu urban.

Proudly compiled by MY VILLAGE MAN.

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WHAT YOU MUST KNOW ABOUT PALM WINE TAPPING

THINGS YOU MUST KNOW ABOUT GARRIKKI ENUGU

Are you a visitor in Enugu and haven’t heard stories about Garrikki Awkunanaw? You are in the right place where you will get the right information that will help you adapt in the city.

Information is power. That is why it is necessary to sort for it wherever you can find it. My local champion will tell you the necessary thing you need to know to protect yourself in Enugu city, especially in Garrikki.

Let’s move on.

Hold your purse/bag tight, and your phone too! What? You heard me right. ‘Area boys’ dey for Garrikki well well. That is why you must be at alert with your property. Garrikki is not a place where you form ajebo. No, you shine your eye!

There is a place known as APO filling station at Garrikki, along the main road… yes…the name of  the filling station has been changed to____ but the place is still called it is already known as and called APO filling station up till date. Yes… yes… what about the place? Calm down I will tell you. That place is their zone, their headquarters. Hahaha. That is where the hoodlums always stay to spy for a possible victim.

How do the hoodlums operate? How do they snatch purse and phone?

They have a union…call it picking pocket associations of Garrikki if you like…hahaha. They know the possible victims. Those who walk lackadaisically, holding their phone anyhow and purse dangling loose on their shoulders, those are the people they normally attack. They one person normally snatches the item from their victim and takes off, run. And don’t think anybody will pursue them when their snatch your purse from you. No no no. they are like a recognized and registered association Garrikki. Your item is gone for good.

Several cases have been recorded when they snatched phones off peoples ear when their where making calls right inside the bus, close to the window. They would just put in their hand from the window side and snatch the phone of your ear and do a gentle cat walk away into the ghetto.

So be wise and guard yourself in Enugu city. Welcome to Garrikki!

Proudly compiled by MY VILLAGE MAN.

WHAT YOU MUST KNOW ABOUT PALM WINE TAPPING

THE USE OF LOCAL FOWLS IN IGBO LAND

LOCAL COCK

Local fowls (okuko Igbo) is the local species of fowls. They are not bred in a cage. Rather they walk about, getting their food from kitchen waste in the compound, from the farm and bushes. They can come in different colours. There is the white fowl, the black fowl, the brown fowl, the spoted fowl (black and white or brown and white), there is also the fowl ash in colour. There are other types of local fowls that I bet you might have never seen or heard of. See them here.

Related Post: Different Kinds Of Fowl And Their Uses

I am going to share with you in this post what local fowls are generally used for in Igbo land. Unlike the broilers and other types of English fowls which are mainly reared and demanded for meat, local fowls are bred for offering rituals and sacrifices to the gods. Nevertheless, some people prefer to eat the local fowls because they are tasteful, better than the broiler. But that is an exception.

 Read: why local fowl is more tasteful than broiler.

Let’s state again that local fowls are demanded basically for offering rituals and sacrifices to the gods. The Igbo people believe so much in the forefathers that their usually offer rituals to their spirits and to the sacrifices to the gods. There are special seasons when some sacrifices are made. Popular among these seasons is the new yam festival. In such occasions every elder goes to the Nkwo market to buy ritual items and the cock which will be used for the sacrifice on the following Eke market day.

Related Post: How to Celebrate the New Yam Festival in Igbo Land

Proudly compiled by MY VILLAGE MAN.

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WHAT YOU MUST KNOW ABOUT PALM WINE TAPPING