Essential Ndubuisi
By Chritopher Udoka
It happened yesterday at the Royal Palace when the Monarch of Nnewi, HRH Igwe Kenneth Orizu decorated Engr Chris Emeka Azubogu with a well deserved chieftaincy title, IFEANYICHUKWU NNEWI.
In Igbo land today, I know you know that, our cultural values have been reduced to a total mess, ferociously eroded in their entireties!
Needless to say that chieftaincy title, as a part of that devalued culture, has equally been made nonsense. So that, the way and manner at which chieftaincy titles are got today on silver platter left very little to be desired, quite mind boggling and disheartening. This is thus wearing down or away the original value and or prestige placed on chieftaincy titles.
Today, many well known notorious fellows around our communities, who have got their wealth by either hook or crook, or; as succinctly put by our legendary Prof. Chinua Achebe, “Our young men and women [sic] whose palm kernels were cracked by benevolent gods…”, entice many of our greedy and easily swayed monarchs with all sorts of gifts and financial inducements. The whole essence of such inducements is to mortgage the consciences of such traditional heads and have them confer one chieftaincy title or the other on them, even when there’s no merits for such, no appreciable track record and or pedigree.
Before now, in Igbo land, chieftaincy titles are conferred ONLY on illustrious sons and daughters who, by virtue of hard work, philanthropy and obvious services to humanity/fatherland, have distinguished themselves in any way and thus written their names so boldly in gold.
Suffice it to say that titles then, unlike what is obtainable, in much today, had respect and value; they’re earned, NOT induced or bought!
What played out yesterday at the Igwe’s Palace tabled those few occasions when chieftaincy is conferred based, strictly, NOT on mammon, but on merit – a reenactment of the old system.
And the beneficiary is Engr Chris Azubogu – a complete gentleman who, at least, since the turn of the Fourth Republic in 1999, is second to none in returning the dividends of democracy to his constituency, Nnewi North, Nnewi South and Ekwusigo LGAs.
He’s tested and trusted! And in fact, funny as it may sound, he has put “sleeping” politicians in his area and beyond on their toes as they try to feign “project” people. That’s okay!
Thus, his people made sweeping statements yesterday through their Igwe and he was so conferred, IFEANYICHUKWU NNEWI, presupposing that in the bigger and envisaged task ahead, nothing is impossible with God.
Apparently, with him,
