Ikeja Festival set to revive Nigerian culture

The world famous Igbo Ikeji Festival is being positioned to take the global appreciation of Nigerian arts and culture to a new great level. The organisers have rolled out huge plans to make this year’s Ikeji festival the most memorable to date. The big time festival which is now gaining international attention is billed to hold in April this year.

Ikeji festival is a long held tradition passed down through the ancestry of the  Arondizougu Clan emanating from Arochukwu in

Abia state . It is purported that Mazi Izuogu, the founder of the clan hails from there.

It is an annual festival of all the Aro kingdom spread alongside the South eastern part of Nigeria. Arondizougu autonomous community as it is called has the largest concentration of Aron settlers/elements which makes her the preferred hub for propagating Aron culture and tradition.

It is an eight day festival of merriment and spectacular display of masquerades coming out in their glamour to thrill the ever teeming crowd that converge on the village to witness the occasion.  Of high interest amongst the masquerades is the pericoma,  a masquerade known for its acrobatic displays and prowess.

It is multi cultural, multi racial and cuts across all gender. Ikeji festival literally transforms the serene scene of village life to a commercial hub driving a swamp of tourists, researchers, fun seekers, businesses and brands to one location for eight days.

Speaking at a pre festival gathering, the spokespersons Mazi Christian Okoha Okoro - President General , arondizuogu patriotic union and  Mazi Chimezie Nwankwo - Secretary of town union, pointed out that Nigeria’s “strong culture is one of the great attributes that has kept Nigeria strong. We are committed to further promoting Nigerian culture and this year’s Ikeji festival provides an unparallel platform to do so”

The first four days of the festival, the eke, oye, afor and nkwo  are also named after the four native market days of Igbo culture. 

On the eke, everybody turns up in the market to buy and stock up their homes in preparation for the next day, oye in which all the livestock bought on the eke are killed and made ready for merriment and feasting on the afor and nkwo respectively.  This merriment and feasting spans the remaining four days as visitors and dwellers alike go about from home to home participating in the feast.

Eze Kosman Ndubuisi Kanu and Eze Oliver Dike, two of the prominent rulers have indicated their festival readiness. There are a number of prominent Nigerians from that area, including: Mazi Phillip Obioha - director computer warehouse, Mazi Chinedu Okpareke - Sahara energy, Chief Ngozi Mbadiwe, Mazi Christian okoro - President general arondizuogu patriotic union, Onyeka Onwenu - Director ministry of women affairs, Chief Dr MI okoro  M I okoro and associates, Engr Ik okoro - Director, standards organisation of Nigeria

On each of these eight days, the masquerades come out and tour the village in a long procession of enthusiasts singing their praises as they thrill and put on spectacular displays.  They later on converge on the market square before calling it a day but the merriment proceeds into the wee hours of the day.