ORSUMOGHU NOW DESOLATE: A KING IN EXILE, A TOWN IN PAIN By Ichie Ifeanyi Ndulue
(High Chief Akajiofor/ Ichie Onyima)
On Friday, 12th September 2025, I attended a most unusual celebration, the New Yam Festival of Orsumoghu kingdom. It took place not in the ancestral square of the town, but in a quiet residential compound in Lokogoma, Abuja.
I was invited by my friend and fellow custodian of culture, Chief James Ntom Ifenatuora (Ichie Omekannaya/ Ezeafojulu), a cabinet chief of the Orsumoghu royal stool. I assumed I was attending one of the many Eze Igbo cultural events we often see in the North. But what I witnessed was far more sobering.
This was no symbolic festival. This was the official, annual New Yam Festival of Orsumoghu town, performed in exile by His Royal Highness, Igwe Elochukwu Mbanefo, the Igwe Ozuruoha II of Orsumoghu.
And I ask today, as a son of Igbo land and as a custodian of ancestral tradition:
How did we get here?
*A CULTURE FORCED INTO EXIL*
The Iri Ji festival is not merely a celebration of harvest. It is a spiritual and cultural renewal, a thanksgiving to the gods, the land, and the ancestors. It is a moment when kings reconnect with their people and reaffirm their covenant with the soil.
But this year, the king was in exile.
The people were in diaspora.
The rituals were performed in foreign land, far from the sacred grooves of Orsumoghu.
Why?
*Because Orsumoghu town is no longer safe.*
According to multiple accounts, the community has been under siege, overrun by armed groups suspected to be affiliated with IPOB/ESN or similar non-state actors. Roads have been taken over. Forests have become hideouts. Families no longer feel safe. The royal palace lies cold, while the king rules from afar. What was once a thriving town of dignity and tradition is now desolate.
*A CALL TO THE ANAMBRA STATE GOVERNMENT*
This is an official call to the Anambra State Government and the security agencies of the Federal Republic of Nigeria:
*Orsumoghu needs help.*
Provide visible, sustained security presence in and around Orsumoghu.
Establish a peacekeeping and community reentry program, working with traditional and youth leaders.
Restore confidence in the rule of law and freedom of movement for residents, traditional institutions, and returning families.
Ensure that sacred cultural institutions are not trampled under the weight of armed conflict.
The government must not fold its arms while one of its ancient towns is spiritually uprooted and emptied of its people. A town where the Igwe performs festivals in exile is a national shame.
*A PLEA TO NON-STATE ARMED GROUPS.*
To those who have turned Orsumoghu into a no-go zone, be they IPOB, ESN, or unnamed factions:
How does it help the Igbo cause to make our own land uninhabitable?
What liberation forces a king to flee his people?
What revolution silences the very voices of tradition?
If you claim to fight for Igbo dignity, do not destroy the last remaining symbols of that dignity.
*Let us be clear: This is not liberation. This is cultural suicide.*
We plead with you, whoever you are, to withdraw from Orsumoghu and other occupied communities. Reconsider your methods. Return the space for dialogue, for tradition, and for peace.
To the People of Orsumoghu: Unite and Reclaim
To the proud sons and daughters of Orsumoghu, wherever you may be:
This is your town
Your heritage.
Your king.
Let no force, internal or external, divide you any longer. It is time to unite, to organize, and to reclaim your land, not with violence, but with strategic resolve and collective voice.
Let Orsumoghu rise again.
Let its yam be blessed in its own soil.
Let its Igwe return to his rightful palace.
Let the drums of Iri Ji sound in the town square, not behind closed gates in faraway cities.
*CONCLUSION*
I left that festival in Abuja with joy in my heart for the resilience of Orsumoghu's people, but also with grief for what we have allowed to happen to one of our own.
As a High Chief and cultural custodian of Igbo tradition, I say this:
_Let not another yam be broken in exile.
Let not another king be crowned in hiding,
Let Orsumoghu live again.
*Ichie Ifeanyi Ndulue*
(High Chief Akajiofor I of Obaubazaw kingdom/
Chief Onyima)
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