The deputy transition chairman of Umuahia North local government area, Hon Eze okwulehie has chided the Igbos for their penchant for foreign culture at the detriment of their own, stressing the need for the people to always uphold their culture as way of identity.
Hon Okwulehia who gave the charged during this year’s New Yam Festival and Ekpe cultural dance of Okwulaga Autonomous Community in Afaraukwu Ibeku Umuahia North, noted with dismayed the abandonment of the Igbo culture particularly by the elites and some Igbo leaders pointing out that Igbo culture cannot die and that without tradition, there would have been no church.
Hon Okwulehie maintained that the Iriji ceremony was not fetish in nature but a peoples way of celebrating and thanking God for bumper harvest in yam cultivation, promising to dedicating his life and services in upholding the culture of the Igbos.
He decried the behaviour of some youths who used the occasion to unleash mayhem and robbed people of their valuable items describing it as unfortunate and attributed it to the handiwork of some stranger elements in Ibeku land who were born 20 years ago but have naturalised in Ibekuland .
The deputy council chairman advised parents to cautioned their children and wards of the consequences of such negative actions, warning that any one caught would be dealt accordingly to the laws of the land.
Hon Okwulehia appealed to the youths in the area in particular to avoid consumption of illicit drugs and be mindful of negative peers group influences that would destroy their future, bring pains and dash of hope their parents had for them.
The highlight of this year’s celebration was an award of recognition presented to Hon Okwulehie for his encouragement and empowerment of youths among other awardees.
