Documentary photographer Philips Akwari has kept the ancient Igbo community, Abiriba, in Abia State, in the spotlight in recent times. His travel exhibition, tagged: The Rich Abiriba Heritage, which ended in Lagos in June and moved to Abuja last Saturday, has raised conversation on the importance of photography to the transformation of the country. In this chat with EVELYN OSAGIE, Enachioken of Abiriba, Eze Kalu Kalu Ogbu, shed some light on why Nigerian politicians must borrow a leaf from the town’s political system.
My voyage on the throne
I became the Enachioken of Abiriba at the age of 36, and I am 20 years on the throne now. In Abiriba, rulership is hereditary. You have to be a descendant of the founder of Abiriba to be an Enachioken of Abiriba. I am the 17th generation of the descendants of Abiriba.
Like life, my experience on the throne has its ups and downs – high and low moments. The challenges, however, prepared and kept me strong for the future. They became stepping stones, teaching me more about the heartbeat of my people and how to react to situations.
Abiriba comprises wise and elderly men. When I ascended the throne, the eldest man in my cabinet was 103 years old, so you can imagine my experience as a young man.
Myths about culture being fetish
Culture reflects the beauty of the people. It is dynamic, flexible and reflects the people at any point in time in history. As we are evolving, some aspects of our culture continue to change. There is this Repugnancy Test, which is created by the Whites and is used to judge our own culture, which is not proper. For us, culture should reflect the spiritual consciousness of a people. So when people say that our culture is barbaric, it is because they don’t understand us. People should know that we are different from one another.
It would be monotonous if we all had the same beliefs. When we speak from different perspectives and exhibit our culture in diverse ways, we reflect the beauty of creation. There is beauty in this world when we respect our different cultures. When different opinions of people come together, it creates harmony, and in my view that is how we can celebrate God in His beauty. He keeps everything in perspective. When we come together in our diversities, we make a unified harmonious music.
For me, our culture is not fetish or barbaric. But in Abiriba, our system emanates from white chalk, Nzu, which signifies peace and purity. Abiriba is not all about fetish things, we don’t have a particular shrine there. Rather, shrines belong to families and groups.
Challenges of preserving culture
It is a very difficult challenge to maintain one’s culture for more than 500 years in a place like Nigeria, under this environment that we live in. But the grace of God is upon us and my people are working hard to ensure that we keep our culture alive. And we are happy that we have been able to sustain it all these years.
Once in a while, people bring their children home to acquaint them with our cultural practices and go through the various age grade systems; and Akwari’s exhibition is an in-depth reflection of the beauty and value of such traditions.
Age grade system, proclamation of laws
The beauty of Abiriba is aptly displayed in ceremonies involving age grade system, particularly during the Iriama Festival. A unique feature of the festival as depicted by Akwari is the proclamation of laws, with the use of the mace, that would guard the community. People do not know that the mace is what guards the proclamation of laws in Abiriba. The use of the mace has been in existence in Abiriba for more than 500 years, so many years ago before the White man came to Africa. But when did the use of mace come into Nigerian politics?
I’ve often told people that democracy started in Abiriba. Besides the use of the mace, our age grade system is another aspect of governance that Nigerian politicians can learn from. For Abiriba, the age grade system has about 13 categories, and there is the eldest age grade called Uke ji agbala, it is the age that handles all laws passed by the Eze. As the Eze is passing the law, it is picked by the leader of the group, who uses the Uke igwa mang. The Uke igwa ensures the security of the community. The age grade system in Abiriba is like a two-party state. One group produces the eldest age grade and rules over Abiriba for a period of two to four years. They hand over to the other group which rules the system for it’s own term. The leadership is passed to the first group again ad infinitum. They rotate the leadership without rancour. This system is as old as Abiriba Kingdom
The lesson to be learnt by politicians here is, that, we can curtail acrimony in the country if our political parties are divided into two. One party can stay for five years and hand over to the other party for another five years. .
Importance of photography documenting history and culture
It is a very beautiful thing and very relevant to the documentation of culture and history of a people. A good example is Akwari’s exhibition. It tells Abiriba’s story in pictorial form in a very simple way. It is wonderful, seeing each exhibit. It reminds me of historical facts I have almost forgotten.
When you look at his works, you’d see the beginning of a man to the end of the man. The story telling is so beautiful and flows naturally, such as how a man is introduced to Abiriba community – at birth; how he grows up to adulthood to the point of marriage; attains greatness and retires – in which case you’d see him as an elder statesman in the person of Prof Anya O. Anya and others on display; and Akwari’s pictorial story continues till the death. In short, it is a true picture. of Abiriba in a very simple format.
Moving round the exhibition was very nostalgic for me. Each time I see any of the sessions, I’d say to myself: ‘Ah, I have almost forgotten this one. It felt so nice recounting our history to all, especially the young ones in our midst. There is beauty and lessons in the presentation of pictorial position of things. Ordinarily, people would not have remembered all these things but as one sees each picture it. In a nutshell, one is able recall and tell the history of Abiriba in a very simple method. I think it is a very beautiful work of art
Of neo-cultural reawakening
To be candid, this exhibition is an eye opener for all of us. What the young man has done is just the beginning; if he finishes all this his travel exhibitions and doesn’t come back to Abiriba to exhibit it, it would make no sense. This is because, it is the people that it is targeted at, and then, the entire world should also see it. But let us start from home. After holding the exhibition in Lagos and in Abuja, I urge him to present it in Abiriba in December to give hope to the younger generation who may have forgotten everything about the culture in Abiriba. This is a very good way of starting a socio-cultural reawakening.
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