• Celebrates 98th birthday, 60th year on throne in one fell swoop
By Henry Umahi
For the people of Nnewi in Anambra State, it is party time. Apart from the Christmas festivities, the rich cultural heritage of the people is being celebrated.
Nnewi people have enough reasons to celebrate. Today, December 28, the 60th Ofala festival of the Igwe of Nnewi, Igwe Kenneth Onyeneke Orizu III and his 98th birthday will hold. So, all roads lead to the town of some of the richest people in Nigeria.
Igwe Orizu, who was born in 1925 and ascended the throne of his forefathers on June 2, 1963 as the 20th Igwe Nnewi, is currently the longest-serving monarch in Nigeria. He is the traditional supreme ruler and spiritual leader in Nnewi.
The kingdom of Nnewi is one of the oldest monarchy in Eastern Nigeria with records tracing the beginning of the Nnewi monarchy to the 15th century well before the arrival of the Europeans. The succession to the throne is patrilineal and based on the rule of primogeniture. Igwe Orizu III ascended to the throne following the death of his father, HRH Josiah Nnaji Igwe Orizu II.
He is a member of the Nnofo Royal lineage and the successor to his father, Igwe Josiah Orizu 11, his grandfather, Igwe Orizu 1 and great-grandfather Igwe Iwuchukwu Ezeifekaibeya. In Anambra State, Igwe Kenneth Orizu III is the vice chairman of the House of Chiefs.
The Ofala festival will showcase the rich and splendid cultural heritage of Nnewi people, who are known for their resourcefulness, business acumen, hospitality, communal spirit and profound connection to the values of their ancestors. The festival displays the grandeur of the Nnewi royalty and the loyalty of the people to their monarch, in whom they are well pleased. It is regarded as an opportunity for the Igwe to meet with his subjects and interact with them and for them to pay homage to him.
The trajectory of his life shows that he was born to rule. It also shows that an Igwe is born, not made. According to the custom of the land, an Igwe’s first son succeeds him when he joins his ancestors. The first son can only be denied such opportunity if he does grievous harm against the people and custom of the land. But like the queen, the Igwe does no wrong.
Igwe Orizu’s story is not ordinary. Take this from him: “My mother died early, just about a week after my birth. They married many in the family, and normally, in such a situation, there were always quarrels and jealousy. Those who came before her asked why my father married her, especially from a far place called Umuchu.
“When she came in, she bore a male child, so they hated and worked against her. They killed her a week after my birth.
“My father did not want to take chances, so he called those women to breastfed me, but breast milk was not forthcoming. So, he went to John Holt and bought a carton of milk.
“They mixed the milk with coconut water and used it to feed me, and it was good for my system. That was how I was fed until I started eating solid food. God was with me and sustained my life.”
From childhood, he recognized the weight of responsibility on his shoulder and he acquitted himself well. As a young man, he wore integrity like a badge, knowing that he would be the traditional ruler of his great community.
Igwe Orizu III has left his footprints on sands of time. He brought a lot of innovations into the institution, giving it a human face. And his people are well pleased with him.
For instance, he abolished the Osu caste system because, according to him it didn’t have any value. In time past, some people were castigated and regarded as Osu. In the those days, people found guilty of abominations were cast away to avoid the anger of deities and it was a taboo to associate with them.
In fact, if you associate with them, like sitting on the same mat and you are seen, you became an Osu automatically. But while non-osu, hide from from being seen with Osu people, men secretly impregnate their ladies. For the monarch, that was the height of hypocrisy.
Igwe Orizu 111 said: “These same beautiful women were branded Osu in the day, but at night, many people would go for them. I thought that was outright deception. I told my people that the deceit must stop. By the way, who did God create and call Osu? It was man-made. So, it was largely because of those beautiful women and the obnoxious conditions they were subjected to that made me abolish the caste system in Nnewi to enable them to freely marry. And shortly after the abolition, many of them started getting married. We don’t have any problem with that again in Nnewi. We are one.”
Another thing the monarch did was that he discouraged extravagant traditional marriage and funeral ceremonies. Explaining his decision to take that position, he told a newspaper: “I looked at the way we conducted funerals here; it was associated with wasteful spending and was affecting the people, so I thought something must be done about it. I made consultations and we decided to cut everything down to the barest minimum. Today, you can hardly see any funerals in Nnewi with wasteful spending. If anyone violates the rules, there are attendant sanctions for that. We collectively achieved the feat, so nobody is complaining about it.”
Under his reign, the Agbedo forest was cleared. Before then, no one dared enter the forest because it was believed that anyone who dared would die.
When the decision to clear the forest was taken and the date was fixed, no one dared everyone to enter the forest because of the fear death or the unknown. Even when he gave his approval to get on with the job, everyone was afraid to be the first to start clearing the forest.
But when the lion-hearted monarch got there, he started the clearing first after praying, before they took over from him. He leads by example.
Igwe Orizu 111 is not afraid of taking big decisions. In 1963, he cancelled the Ofala celebration in Nnewi. He abolished a grandiose ceremony called Ikwaro. It was an occasion where people showed off their wealth and made merriment without measure. It was breeding bad blood in the community and he yanked it off the community’s calendar.
Igwe Orizu 111 does not believe in a traditional ruler just wearing red cap and doing nothing. Under his watch, Nnewi has achieved remarkable development.
When the issue of establishing a teaching hospital in Nnewi came up, Igwe Orizu 111 encouraged sons and daughters of the town to contribute money to build the facility and they did. Other projects he attracted include a college of health sciences, a teachers’ training college and NITEL, among others.
Igwe Orizu 111 is a man of high moral standing. He said: “I don’t go after ladies and I don’t go to beer parlours to drink. And it didn’t start when I became Igwe; it has been like that right from my youth. No woman has ever seen my nakedness apart from my wife. It is part of my life.”