Gentleman Mike Ejeagha, the exponent of the popular, gwo gwo gwo ngwo, was a man who saw his tomorrow. He foretold his glorious end, in one of his folklore, “uwa ngbede ka mma” which can be translated as, “the good eventide is the best”. That song enjoins patience and orderliness in life. He narrates that after a child is born, it takes caring to nurture the child to begin to sit, to crawl, to stand and to take the first step. And eventually, to walk, and before long, to work for the parents.
He intones that from the ground we begin to climb. From counting one, we move to two, three and eventually to a billion. He juxtaposed life with the two types of palm tree, which produces a variety of palm wine. While Ngwo when harvested produces a lot of wine, like a broken dam; it however dies off within a few days. After, the tree trunk dries up, and at best the owner can only use it as fire wood, to cook.
But conversely, the Nkwu, which gives out a little wine, every day, produces for many years. It lives very long, productively. Ejeagha, prayed to God that his life should not be like that of Ngwo tree, but rather should be like the Nkwu. He prayed for long life and of course to be perennially productive like the Nkwu. He admonished everyone to note that it is more sensible to first secure a land, before one puts up any structure on it.
He philosophizes on the planting process. When one gets a land, the first step is to cut the bushes and gather the rubbles and burn them. Then the farm space is cleared and heaps of mounds are cultivated, after which the yam, is sowed. The owner keeps watch and continues to clear the weeds, nursing the yam until maturity. After the harvest, the owner decides how to enjoy the harvest. He exercises what in law is referred to as acts of ownership. He can choose to cook, roast, pound or do whatsoever pleases him, with his yams. The owner enjoys the revelry of a feast, as he takes his snuff after a munificent meal.
The law maxim which says quicquid plantatur solo solo cedit, which means, he who owns the title to the land, owns what is permanently affixed on it is applicable to the philosophy expounded by Ejeagha. Should a trespasser without settling the ownership of a land, go ahead to build on it; when the rightful ownership is determined, the owner owns what is on the land. Ejeagha calls for the virtue of patience, as anyone who lives by the sword dies by the sword, and if one acquires hastily, one may dispense hastily.
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Ejeagha, lived to be 95, and remained a veteran of highlife music, till the end. Like the Nkwu, he continued to be productive, even in his nineties. Last year, one of his hit songs, Ka esi Le Onye Isi Oche, was re-popularized with the gwo gwo gwo ngwo challenge by, Brain Jotter, a content creator. Ejeagha, through a satirical fable, sang on the consequences of greed. The song tells the story of how the tortoise tricked the elephant into submitting itself as a gift to the king to enable the tortoise marry the king’s daughter.
In the story, the king first called a democratic assembly, of his entire household, to know why the Princess, Adaeze refused requests from suitors, for her hand in marriage. Ejeagha, enjoins leaders to once in a while call such an assembly, so the governed could air their views and any displeasure, as to how they are being governed. At the meeting, was the queen and all the siblings of Adaeze. The king asked the princess to tell them why she has refused all marriage proposals.
The princess, explained that whoever wants to marry her, must present the king with an elephant, as a gift. So that whenever, there is a ceremony, she will climb the elephant to showcase to all and sundry, that she is a princess. The tortoise, who was interested in marrying the princess, went to his friend, the elephant, and cajoled him that the king has set a date for a festival in commemoration of his enthronement as a king, and that he has requested the elephant to be the chairman at the occasion.
The elephant who has been thinking of how to endear himself to the king, so he could marry the daughter saw that as an opportunity to get close to the king. He accepted the offer and got himself ready for the occasion. On the big day, the tortoise deliberately came late to take the overexcited elephant on the trip to the king. The elephant kept urging the tortoise to hasten up, so they don’t miss the ceremony. Cunningly, the tortoise told the elephant it may be better for him to climb on the back of the elephant, who has a faster pace.
Without thinking, the elephant asked the tortoise to climb on his back. Again, the tortoise, asked that the elephant put a rope on his neck, so that he can use it, to hop on the back of the elephant. Again, the elephant agreed, as his mind was set on the big occasion where he was going to be the chairman. Approaching the king’s palace, the tortoise raised a song, my lord the king, I have brought a present, the elephant. When asked by the elephant what he was singing, he said he was praying for long life for the elephant, who will be the chairman of the ceremony, but it sounded as if he was saying, he was making a present of the elephant to the king.
With pomp and pageantry, in the giddy atmosphere of music and dance, the tortoise led the elephant to the king, and handed him the rope, and intoned that the elephant is a gift to marry the king’s daughter. As I listened to the music again and again, my mind searched the dramatis personae, in the many gwo gwo gwo ngwo dances, in the political scenes. The more I look, the more the various role plays in the political arena, is increasingly bearing some resemblance to Gentleman Mike Ejeagha’s folklore.
Ejeagha, who hails from Umuagba Imezi-Owa, a stone throw from Amofia, Ogwofia-Owa, where this writer comes from, must be chuckling in his grave, as fiction is comingling with reality in the political sweepstakes. As the All Progressives Congress (APC), engages in unending harvests and thanksgiving, I have been trying to decipher the role-players. Who is the tortoise and who is the elephant, in each of the harvest? Of course, it will be silly, to ask who is the king.
