By Ralph Ahanonu
The annual flagship intellectual festival of South East, Nigeria, the Ahiajoku Lecture Festival, is 40 years old today, November 28, 2019. The first ever Ahiajoku Lecture was held on Imo State soil on November 28, 1979, under the civilian administration of Chief Samuel Onunaka Mbakwe(Dee Sam).
That inaugural Ahiajoku lecture was delivered by Professor MJC Echeruo, the pioneer Vice Chancellor of Imo State University (IMSU). The lecture was titled AHAMEFULA: A MATTER OF IDENTITY.
Four decades down memory lane, the 2019 Ahiajoku Festival Organizing Committee decided to bring back the first Ahiajoku laureate, Professor MJC Echeruo, as the guest lecturer. This is very thoughtful and commendable.
The Ahiajoku Centre built by the administration of ex-governor, Chief Ikedi Ohakim, has now been elevated to an institute by the ‘Rebuild Imo’ government of Governor Emeka Ihedioha.
The institute is headed by a Director General in the person of Dr Amanze Obi, former Editorial Board Chairman of Sun Newspapers and a former commissioner in both the Ministries of Information and later Culture and Tourism under Ikedi Ohakim.
Today he has returned as DG of Ahiajoku Centre and his former boss, Ohakim, as the Chairman of the 2019 Ahiajoku Organizing Committee. What a coincidence. Bringing Professor Echeruo back to the Ahiajoku lecture podium will surely excite many people who have followed the history of the festival from inception.
On Saturday, November 30, 2019, the ogene will sound once again signalling the commencement of the 40th edition of the festival. The Ahiajoku Lecture Series was instituted by the Mbakwe administration in just 59 days after he took over power as the first civilian governor of Imo State.
If Dee Sam succeeded in doing this in just two months as the then new helmsman of the state and the festival has endured for four decades, it is indeed germane to salute his wisdom and courage of conviction. In doing this, we can’t forget the egg heads who conceptualized and midwifed this festival with him.
We remember the likes of Professor Adiele Afigbo, Professor Martin Ijere, Dr Loveday Ememe, Dr Ray Ofoegbu (all commissioners in the Mbakwe cabinet) and Ambassador GOK Anoka(founder and pioneer Director of Imo State Council for Arts and Culture) and a host of others. These men spent sleepless nights knitting together this Ahiajoku festival.
To the glory of God, it has survived them and remains one of the enduring legacies of the highly respected Mbakwe administration. In its four decades of existence, the Ahiajoku lecture has consistently been delivered by a Professor of Igbo extraction.
Within the same period, it has also been held during the last weekend of the month of November every year. Perhaps, the only exception was in 2009 when the lecture was shifted to January at the request of late Professor China Achebe who was the guest lecturer.
Today, the Imo State government and organizers of Ahiajoku Lecture Festival over the years remain eternally grateful to intellectuals like Professor MJC Echeruo, Professor Adiele Afigbo, Professor Emmanuel Obiechina, Professor Chinua Achebe, Professor Chinedu Nebo and a host of others who have graced the Ahiajoku podium to give well researched and insightful intellectual presentations on Igbo world view, traditions, values and heritage.
Although some of these men have passed on, their intellectual impact remains indelible in the minds of Ndi Igbo.
In the forty years history of Ahiajoku, the festival has suffered very serious drawbacks. These drawbacks came in the form of the festival not being held. This was mostly during the military era between 1984 – 1998.
Surprisingly, the festival suffered its worst disregard and complete humiliation for its founding fathers under the Rochas Okorocha administration.
As a son of the soil, the former governor drove a nail into the heart of the festival and branded it a “fetish” festival. He stopped its annual celebration with immediate effect. This was akin to questioning the intellectual prowess of its founders and laureates.
To drive this hollow and misguided notion home, his administration converted the prestigious Ahiajoku Centre to an amorphous Imo State Trade and Investment Centre – a centre that neither traded in anything and nor brought any investment to the state. The centre equally became the administration’s prime venue for all kinds of meetings.
Thankfully, those years are behind us now as the Emeka Ihedioha administration has restored sanity and glory to the festival. Ahiajoku is back with a bang. The Ahiajoku Centre has returned to its original idea with even enhanced status as an institute.
The fate that befell the Ahiajoku Festival under Okorocha was also meted out to the Ozuruimo Cultural Festival and other national festivals. The Ozuruimo Festival also clocked 30 this year having being established by the military administration of Amadi Ikwecheghi in 1989.
The Okorocha administration largely stopped the participation of the state in NAFEST and Abuja Carnivals. We started celebrating all kinds of unknown festivals that could not stand the test of time because they were not rooted in the peoples way of life.
As we celebrate the return of the Ahiajoku Lecture Series on its 40th anniversary, we must commend the thoughtfulness of the present government in the state. The return of the Ahiajoku Festival with renewed responsibility is a demonstration of this administration’s commitment to the advancement of Igbo cultural values.
Going forward, the pioneer Director General of the Ahiajoku Centre, Dr Amanze Obi, has been handed a responsibility to midwife the new face of Ahiajoku. Among other reforms, perhaps, he might give a consideration to the idea of making the festival gender sensitive.
This won’t be a bad idea if in the not-so-distant time, a woman of professorial ranking is called up to deliver the annual Ahiajoku lecture. It will also be a welcome idea if an Ahiajoku Lecture website is built and the lectures uploaded.
This will greatly help research students in Nigeria and in The Diaspora who are desirous of knowing more about Igbo world view, values and heritage get necessary information.
.Ahanonu, a public affairs analyst writes from Owerri.