Otute Uvume: Anambra community celebrates king of crops

The atmosphere in Ufuma community, Orumba North Local Government Area of Anambra State will be exciting today. Major roads and streets would also be busier as people from all walks of life empty into the premises of the palace of the traditional ruler of the community, Igwe Chika Uchime (Diji III), venue of today’s Egwu Otute Uvume Egbe-na-Diji festival. Otute Uvume, in simple terms, is the celebration of the community’s new yam festival. It is a unique annual event and high profile personalities from different parts of the country including the state governor, Chief Willie Obiano, are expected to attend.

In a chat with Saturday Sun, Igwe Uchime said the festival is an annual event which brings the people together as one.

What we are doing is called Egwu Otute Uvume Egbe na Diji. It is the day the traditional ruler of Ufuma meets with his subjects and celebrates with them. He dances around the arena and acknowledges cheers from his subjects.  A lot of activities take place that day. There is usually a wrestling bout, dances, various masquerades perform that day, and there is also the conferment of chieftaincy titles on deserving individuals. “That day, people also pay homage to the traditional ruler. These activities would go on till the sundown. The Egwu Otute Uvume is an annual festival of 32 days. During the period, we celebrate new yam with elaborate custom and tradition in the footsteps of our noble ancestor who discovered the edible nature of yam when roasted by fire.

“We are following the footsteps of our great grandfathers. It is our forebears that discovered that when yam is roasted, it can be eaten. Before that discovery, people harvested yams and ate them raw; and it scratched the throat.

“Our forebear had embarked on a hunting expedition and saw a yam burnt by wildfire. The yam had been exposed by the flood during that year’s wet season. So, he was surprised to see the yam in that state, black in colou,r having been burnt. He cut off a part and ate; perhaps, out of curiosity but discovered that it didn’t scratch him as before.

He abandoned his hunting expedition and rushed home to announce to others his new discovery; which was that when yam is roasted, it could be eaten”, the monarch narrated.

Significance of Otute Uvume

Igwe Uchime explained that the celebration meant so many things to his subjects. He said that it affords them the opportunity to thank God for His blessings and their bountiful harvests.

“It signifies that the tradition bequeathed to us by our forefathers is still being sustained. The cultural practice is still alive. For this year, we started observing the traditional demands of sanctification on July 9 and would end on August 6. The celebration starts from 7th, 8th and 9th.

“This celebration is to thank God for the bountiful harvest He has granted us for the last farming season and then, ask Him for more blessings. We also use the opportunity provided by the festival to teach our children our culture and tradition”, he stated.

Development issues in Ufuma

The traditional ruler is not happy with the state of roads and other infrastructure in his community. He said that many of the roads have become very bad even as their health centres require upgrade. We want the government to construct our roads. This is because Ufuma is big and we are spread out. If you move from Mgbom, our boundary area with Ndiowu community to the place where we have boundaries with Ogbunka and Olo, it is more than 30km. Olo is in Enugu State. And if you move from our boundary area with Akpu to Akpugo and Inyi, we will cover about 11km. So, you see that we are massive. We are widespread; we are everywhere. If you want to go to Umueji village from this place now, an Okada man would carry you at the cost of about N500 because of the distance. This is to show you that there is a need for our roads to be constructed.

“A bridge along that road has collapsed. Vehicles can longer pass through it. It is only Okada riders that cross it. If you go to Akpugo or Inyi from here, you will see that the road from the junction to that place has become very bad. A road construction flagged off by the government from Enugwu-Abo village to Umuogem has been abandoned for about seven years now. Government closed up all the reservoirs we created for floodwater and constructed straight gutters, and that has become a problem.

“You saw the road leading to my house. In 2018, I spent the sum of N850,000 trying to repair the dilapidated road. So, we need good roads and that’s what we are asking the government to do for us. Another one is our schools. We have about 13 primary schools in this community. We need to have the schools fixed. We need functional health centres. The one built by the community (and handed over to the government) is in bad shape. Our hospitals need to be fixed and made to be functional. We also need pipe borne water,” Igwe Uchime said.

Praises for government

Regardless, Igwe Uchime was still thankful to the state government for what it has done for his community.

“We benefited from the state government’s Community-Choose-Your-Project initiative twice. But we will need more. There are communities that are 1/40 of Ufuma population even in this Orumba North LGA but we get equal share from the government. We thank the government for supporting our vigilantes with monthly stipends. That is good. But that government’s support needs to be adjusted. We used to have over 200 people in our vigilante unit but the government said that it would only pay 20 people. That demoralized the members of our vigilance group who were initially doing the work free of charge, happily. We set up our vigilante in 1993. But as soon as the government started paying only 20 people, others stopped participating in the vigilance activities. We have been begging the government to increase the number to at least 60 people. That would be helpful if it does that. We need to strengthen our vigilante groups”, the monarch stated.

Meanwhile, the Chairman of the organising committee, Nze Chukwukadibia Nnebe, told Saturday Sun that every preparation had been made to make the event worthwhile.

He said: “The people should be expecting everything today. From fanfare to yam exhibition to chieftaincy titles and the rest of them.

“We are expecting important dignitaries today. We’re expecting the National Assembly members representing Anambra South and Orumba North and South Federal Constituency as well as our House of Assembly member. Those who would be given chieftaincy titles would also come along with their families and friends. So, we’re expecting important dignitaries”. One of the persons that would be conferred with chieftaincy titles, Nze Nnaemeka Okoro, told Saturday Sun that he was elated when he was told about his nomination.

“It is when people say that they see what you do for them that you know truly that you’re useful to them. I was a council chairman here for three years. And it was when I was the chairman that we experienced tussle over our traditional stool; and I stood my ground. I made it clear that Ufuma deserves the best. And eventually we got the best. So, I was excited when I got the good news of my nomination”, he said.