By Chiedu Uche Okoye
The mere mention of the name of each town in Nigeria elicits comments from us and evokes both good and bad memories, too. And the town, Obosi, is imprinted on the minds of millions of Nigerians. Obosi, which is in Idemili North Local Government Area of Anambra State, is a well-known town in Nigeria. It is known by a great majority of Nigerians for diverse reasons, chief among which is that it is the hometown of important personages, who reached the summit of their careers. Obosi, which is bordered by Nkpor, Oba, and Onitsha, is the country home of prominent Nigerians, who played critical roles in the development of Nigeria.
Obosi is the hometown of Igwe Isaac Iweka, the first Igbo engineer; Chief Emeka Anyaoku, former commonwealth secretary general; the late Chief Chimezie Ikeazor, a legal luminary and founder of Legal Aid Council; Chief Osita Chidoka, former Nigeria’s minister of aviation; the late Ogidi Ibeabuchi, former Enugu Rangers International Football Club ace; Chief Mike Ajegbo, former senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria; Dame Dorathy Ejindu and others I will not list here for the reason of space.
Moreso, Obosi is known for its rich cultural heritage and festivals, the most celebrated and popular festival being the Ito-Ogbo festival. It is a periodic and collective birthday celebration of octogenarians. The Ito-Ogbo festival underlines the Obosi people’s reverence for old age. And the celebration of the festival offers the people of Obosi the opportunity to pray to God for longevity. Other cultural festivals like the performance of masquerades and Iwaji festival are observed and celebrated in Obosi, too.
And Obosi is a fast developing town with industries springing up in every nook and cranny of the town. The proliferation of industries in the town has led to the reduction of the rate of unemployment in the area. Those industries do hire workers for the production of goods and provision of services to people.
The massive road construction projects executed in Obosi as well as various other towns in the state by past administrations, helped to open up Obosi for development and rapid industrialization.
However, no town is without its downsides and developmental challenges. Obosi has its own peculiar niggling problems. It has been battling incidence of crime for a relatively long while now.
But, it has successfully tackled its problem of crimes. Armed robbery incidents have abated in the town while cult-violence in it has stopped following rapprochement brokered for the cultists by prominent indigenes of the town.
Thankfully, today, the atmosphere of peace is reigning in the town, which made both natives and non-natives of the town to heave a sigh of relief.
But sadly, now, some miscreants and hoodlums, who are not natives of Obosi, have not given up their perpetration of criminal activities.
Those ne’er-do-wells do engage in such sundry criminal acts as pickpocketing, snatching of phones and handbags, internet-based financial crimes, burglary, and others.
Sadly and incredibly, when they are caught in the acts of
committing crimes, they will assume false identities and claim that they hail from Obosi. But upon diligent scrutiny and investigation of their claims, their true identities will be uncovered. A majority of the perpetrators of those heinous criminal deeds are non-natives of Obosi town. Why they hide their true identities and claim to be natives of Obosi baffles us.
Those criminals and undesirable elements (non-indigenes of Obosi), who live within Obosi metropolis are besmirching the reputation of Obosi town by their false claims. Their fibbing regarding their towns of origins portrays Obosi people as bad people, who are adepts at committing crimes like armed robbery, internet fraud, rape, burglary, and others.
Consequently, uninformed people are being misled into believing that Obosi natives are the perpetrators of criminal deeds in Obosi town. The people of the town are now stereotyped as criminals and unrepentant cultists, who have sanguinary proclivities. This is the reason why some Industrialists are giving Obosi town a wide berth regarding siting of industries and factories.
Now, it has been established that other people’s portrayals of the personalities’ traits of Obosi people are not the true reflections of their character traits. The indisputable fact is this, Obosi people are proud and honourable. And they do not demean themselves and soil their images by engaging in anti-social behaviour.
Rather, they engage in honest and dignified labour to earn their livelihoods. Among Obosi people, you will find lawyers, doctors, teachers, journalists, businessmen, engineers, politicians, and others. There are Obosi people who are carpenters, welders, motor mechanics, electricians, bricklayers, and others. But The Obosi spirit of hard-work, truthfulness, and honesty, actuates these people.
That is why the matter of non-natives of Obosi who tarnish the reputation of our town by laying claim to being indigenes of Obosi, when they are apprehended for committing crimes should be looked into. Those miscreants who tarnish the image of our town should be punished. A stitch in time saves nine.
• Okoye, a poet, writes from Uruowulu-Obosi, Anambra
State