THE STRUGGLE
FOR IZON EMANCIPATION:
A CALL FOR INTENSIFIED IZON STUDIES
by
Gerald
Agbegha, PhD
An Address
Presented to the Izon Community on INAA Boro Day
May 31, 2008
I am Dr. Gerald Agbegha, son of the late Chief Matthew Agbegha of
Ayakoromo; Ozifariowei of Emgbilebiri Clan; a man who devoted his life
to the service of Izon. He was one of the founding
fathers
of Izon studies. I am accompanied by my lovely daughter,
Vivian
Agbegha, who will play some simple Izon tunes on her violin in a moment.
I want to directly express my deepest gratitude to the members of the
INAA for giving me a slice of time to make this speech and do a little
performance. Izon-otu a do! INAA Ogbo mi a do! Yes,
I am an
Izon performer; I am an Izon lover; I am a cultural ambassador of
Izon.
I will start this talk by conducting a memory test; a test designed to
show that our memories about things grow dim with the passage of
time. Mainly due to this reason, we, the Izons,
cannot rely
on oral tradition alone to enable us to transfer the cultural content
of our life to future generations. Vivian will now play some
Izon
tunes on her violin. After she provides the melody, I will
pause
for a moment to see whether anyone of us still remember the lyrics for
the tune.
<<Vivian Plays Labo Labo tune>>
There are at least two sets of lyrics that went with this tune. In the
first set of lyrics, it is apparently that some great misfortune befell
this person and the individual is calling on the entire world to insult
(weri) her because she believes she deserves the insult.
Labo labo bone Iweriyo. E Labo.
Labo labo bone Iweriyo. E e Labo o.
Abo, bone Iweriyo. E Labo.
Abo, bone Iweriyo. E Labo.
The Grade III and Grade II teachers were the elite of Izon society of
those days. Growing up we all aspired to be like
them.
These lyrics are about a young lady who, though she cannot even recite
her ABCs, has her eyes set on a teacher husband. A symbolic
way
of stating her educational status is given has her inability to even
understand what “Come Chop” means.
Komu sopu nagha ‘rauma, Tisa yeiki douminiye.
Komu sopu nagha ‘rauma, Tisa yeiki douminiye.
Abo, Abobo eyeama! Tisa yeiki douminiye e.
Abo, Abobo eyeama! Tisa yeiki douminiye e.
<<Vivian plays trumpet section of Seri Binabo on
violin>>
The youth at that time were fond of providing lyrics for the wind
(trumpet) sections of highlife music. Here is a
popular one
associated with the trumpet section of the Rex Lawson track
“Seri
Binabo”. It gives us an idea of the changing
times.
It used to be that your family, especially your father, had the final
say in who you must marry. This song is a protest song by
some
young woman.
Edau ‘Diyemu seiyei pri
Sei yei mi nana o
Sai deya youmumo
Edau dieyei nana o ya
My daddy betroths me to an ugly husband
I will not marry such an ugly husband
I will pack my belongings and leave
I will not marry the husband chosen by my father
In talking about negative campaigning; America has not seen anything
near what used to happen in Nigeria. In the not too distant past in
Nigeria, other than setting the opposition on fire, opposing party
fanatics used to compose songs either to project their party as the
best or to reduce the other party or its top members to
rubble. In some cases, the opposition was burnt to
death by
pouring gasoline on them and lighting them up. This happened
in
the Western Nigeria.
Now, Ozobolo was an Izon politician of old. I think he was
from
Siama. I have forgotten the name of the party; but the symbol
of
his party was the umbrella (asisa). I believe he did not do
well. So, someone put it into a song.
<<Vivian plays Ozobolo on her violin>>
Ozobolo, eni asisa kain de yo
Ozobolo, eni asisa kain de yo
Osuo korobai ka terimiki tonmo
Aye
E! Osuo korobai ka terimiki tonmo
Eni asisa kain de yo, Ozobolo
Ozobolo; your umbrella has been torn
You thought you were going to use it on a rainy day
Your umbrella has been torn; Ozobolo.
Awolowo was one of the great Nigerian politicians of his
time. He
was a Yoruba and the leader of the Action Group Party. Here
is a
song by the opposition.
<<Vivian plays “vote for Awolowo>>
The Niger Delta Congress (NDC) was a party formed by some
Izons.
Their symbol was naturally the fish (endi). This
song calls
on all those who want the good of Izon to vote for the fish.
Votu endi ki pri yo
Votu endi ki pri yo
Izon ebimi doumini kimise
Votu endi ki pri yo, Aye
Vote for the fish
Vote for the fish
Anyone who seeks the good of Izon
Vote for the fish, Aye.
Annnnnnnnnnnnn Izon!
Izon Kimie mi?
Tei paa a teimini?
Sei paa a seimini?
Numou paa a tunmini?
Please, repeat after me:
Izon is beautiful!
Izon is honesty!
Izon is fun!
Izon is peace!
Izon is strength!
Izon is truth!
There is a fire burning within me. It has been burning within
me,
probably all my life. It is burning within me like molten
magma
within the earth’s bowel looking for some fissure through
which
to escape. This fire comes from pride in my Izon Land and the
desire (yearning) to project that pride on the world
stage. I believe that many Izons in my
generation
share this fire as well. I also hope those generations to
come
have the opportunity and the willingness to bear this fire of Izon
pride. Generations to come will not have this
opportunity
at all if we, the current custodians of Izon heritage and all it holds,
the current okosuotu of Izon, do not intensify our efforts to study our
Izon nation, Izon ways of living, its customs and beliefs and pass
these on to them. Our children,
especially those in
the Diaspora are trying to reach across a chasm to know more about
Izon, but they are not getting the help they need. The chasm
is
widening and someone must stem it. The world also
wants to
know what Izon is like.
I am sure that the reason we all are here is to find ways to tell the
world that we are not militants as we have been branded by the oil
companies, the Nigerian powers that be and the American
Government. We are just a peace-loving people, whose rights
have
been trampled on for so long and we are just struggling to be
freed.
We are the custodians of Izon, which means we should be concerned about
its resources and how they are used. We should also be
concerned
about preservation and dissemination of our cultural values and beliefs
to outsiders and to future generations. This point is stated
very
well by an Urhobo author in an article (Otite about 1998: 13) in honor
of Mukoro Mowoe, one of the founding fathers of Urhobo Progress Union
(UPU). In delineating ways to move Urhobo forward into the
21st
Century, he stated:
….our Urhobo identity and unity will continue to be elusive
into
the 21st century if we fail now to preserve and pass on the cultural
content of our life to future generations.
So it is with Izon. Our identity and unity can only be
realized
if we study the aspects of Izon culture and tradition and pass it onto
our children-- both those in the Diaspora and those in generations to
come. Let us intensify efforts in this direction for we are
the
custodians of those endearing and enduring things about Izon.
This call to intensify Izon studies is made urgent by the fact that
most of what we know about Izon has been passed to us by oral
tradition, and the population of the bearers of this oral tradition is
undergoing decimation at a very fast rate. Even the
segment
of the population to which I belong is being decimated. It is
said that “The pen is mightier than the
sword”.
The world knows that we can wield the sword; it is time to let the
world know that we can also wield the pen. We are bearers of
the
pen. I would interpret the pen to include sound reasoning,
eloquent articulation of positions, and all those tools that are used
to communicate this sound reasoning about an issue, an object or a
situation including the use of modern electronic media and
international agencies. When you use sound
reasoning to
state a case, articulate it eloquently to the world by putting
“pen to paper”, your case will never be forgotten
and it
will travel to the furthest parts of the earth and will
endure. I claim that a lot more work needs to be
done for
Izon to take a more prominent place in world affairs. I will
now
present a few directions of Izon studies and also a few things we can
do to preserve and promote Izon culture for the world and our children
to see and hopefully adopt.
a) Izon Arts and Artifacts:
With a piece of art or artifact in one’s hands, one can
capture
the attention of people by telling them a story or the history
associated with it and therefore a part of the history of a
people. No art or artifact is too little or too
big; these
must be found and studied. Some of these things if not
collected
at this time, will not be seen again. These objects
include
different fishing tools such as the fishing spear (agosugbeinye) and
different kinds of baskets; masquerade arts and paraphernalia;
wrestling paraphenelia etc. Where are the bells and obuluku
that
were worn by great wrestling champions such as Ariri, Emotoghan, Biide,
Obabiriowei, Kenibraowei and others? Where is
Obabiriowei’s
kettle of water? It is difficult to find replicas of some of
these objects. I know it is difficult here in America because
I
have been searching for bells for many years. I have been
performing wrestling dances for audiences for many years; thanks to
King Ebizimor’s “Owei” tracks of
wrestling
music. The only bells I could come up with were
cowbells. There are also Izon games such as apodo
that
require fairly complex rules and therefore require complex reasoning to
play. Does anyone remember this game? What about
the art
and science of canoe making?
b) Izon Performances
Izon has some of the most beautiful cultural performances in Nigeria
and possibly beyond. We have beautiful and exciting
categories of
dances that are the envy of other ethnic groups. These dances
and
performances include masquerade, wrestling, abo, agene, ongu, kokoma
(probably extinct), ekpede (probably extinct). Probably the
most
beautiful and exciting one that requires and draws the attention of the
whole community is the masquerade festival. Putting
together a masquerade festival requires a lot of people with different
skills including constructing the head piece, the paraphernalia, well
choreographed dancing steps, and a well-practiced orchestra.
It
also requires athleticism for those who wear the
masque.
Izon masquerade performance is so highly regarded not only by the Izons
but also by our neighboring ethnic groups – the Urhobo and
the
Itsekiri. These ethnic groups not only adopted the
masquerade festival but also most of the songs they use are copied from
Izon using Izon lyrics. The masquerade festival is an
original
Izon contribution to the world.
What about our wrestling
tournaments? These
were held about every market day (Akenbai) in the dry season.
Not
much work was done on this day. People would come from the
small
villages and hamlets where they tap palm wine and distill it to obtain
bekewuru (ogogoro, akpeteshi). It is believed that on
wrestling
days even the things of the forest and the things of water take a break
from their usual activities as suggested in this wrestling song:
Olotu koromo ye ye
Olotu koromo ye ye
Mebai nama akenbai yo
Endikpo akenbai yo
On this day, able-bodied men would process throughout the whole town
(anda ogele) dancing to inspiring wrestling drumming. The
music
produced would make even the not-so-able-bodied person feel like a
champion; ready to take on an opponent. The procession ends
in
the town square. Contestants would perform and at the end a
champion would be identified. No blows were exchanged and
there
was no ill-will even if one lost. Every body went home and
waited
for the next akenbai.
c) Izon Healing Systems
Izon also offers a very sound health system. I am a
beneficiary of herbal treatments to cure malaria. I used to
have
bouts of malaria when I was in high school at Bomadi Grammar
School. I would go home and my cousin (who was like my
uncle),
Mieyefa, would go to the forest to pluck herbs to fill a pot.
The
pot was brought to a boil and I was made to sit over it with a covering
of thick blankets. After about two days of inhaling
and
drinking this concoction, I was good to go back to school.
One of
the treatment methods that is particular to Izon in the context of
Nigeria, is massaging. In Nigeria, the Izons are recognized
as
experts on this method of healing and have taken it to many big cities
in Nigeria. The Izons can also treat many orthopedic
cases.
There was the case of an Izon student at the University of Benin - one
of his legs was deformed. It so happened that he was involved
in
a motorcycle accident and injured his good leg. He
spent
quite sometime at Benin hospital, but the healing was not going
well. He then went to seek help in different
places. We
even heard at a point that he was dead. Miraculously he
recovered
completely at the hands of Izon healers and came back to school.
There are also herbs (used to be?) in the Izon forest that can cure
male impotency or erectile dysfunction (ED) more effectively than
Viagra or Cialis or levitra. These western drugs
provide
only a temporary cure for a reported maximum period of 24
hours.
But I tell you, there have been Izon healers who found permanent cures
for their patients.
d) Life and times of prominent Izon
Personalities
We should study the lives and times of our people – those who
have contributed to the betterment of the Izon.
There are
many people who have been true leaders of Izon, people who contributed
significantly to the betterment of the Izon in different spheres of
life including culture, music, language, art, politics, education,
dance, and sculpture. From here on, I will now use
the word
leader in the more inclusive sense covering politicians who are well
known and those other lesser known people who lead by
example.
Detailed research should be done into these peoples’ lives
and
published for posterity. It should be a scholarly
investigation
pointing out their contributions as well as where they fell
short. It should also look into areas of
controversy.
I now give you a list to extend as you please: Chief E. K. Clark,
Gabriel Okara, J. P. Clark, Professor Alagoa, Chief T. O.Onduku, Chief
Matthew Agbegha, Chief Atiye, Chief Naitiri, Rex Lawson, Robert
Ebizimor, Isaac Adakar Boro, Echo Toikumo, etc.
Take for example King Robert Ebizimor. We
all enjoy
his music but not many of us know his life history. I
personally
would like to know more about Robert for he is a true son of
Izon. He lives Izon and with his music has made us all live
Izon
better. The little I know about him is from my cousins at
Gbekebor. He used to visit different towns in Izon singing
Osundu
songs and Gbekebor was one of the towns where he performed.
There
was a time I think I almost brushed shoulders with him at Warri Motor
Park. He was probably coming back from a gig and was
offloading
his (meager at that time) music instruments from the trunk of a taxi
cab. I would like to know more about him. I think
he
struggled in obscurity for along time before he came to the limelight
as suggested by one of his early songs:
Apkone eboye yeyeye yeyeye
Apkone
eboye yeyeye yeyeye
Apkone
eboye yeyeye yeyeye, Roberti ye
Koro
piinkpo sele epiri a ni
Ebo duma
tunye mo
If you have not heard this song of Robert; search for it and listen to
it. This song will tell you a little bit about
Robert.
The point is that we should not let the contributions of Izon sons and
daughters go to waste. We must appreciate their work by
writing
about them for the world, ourselves, and posterity.
e) Language
Language is the main tool for preserving culture. Words are
the
keys to doors which when opened reveal so much about the culture of a
people. Take for example the word embigha-ere. The
literal
translation refers to a woman who does not fish with a basket (akpere)
or spear (agosugbeinye). Is it her wish not to fish with a basket or
spear? No. The real meaning refers to a woman who
is
forbidden to fish with a basket or spear. Why is she
forbidden to
do this? It is because of an Izon custom at that
time. The
word refers to (Agbegha 1996: 26):
A woman who gives birth to twins, triplets, quadruplets or quintuplets.
So called because a woman who gives birth to twins, etc., is considered
as defiled and is forbidden to touch the river or go fishing till she
is purified by a subsequent conception. If such a woman dies
while in this state, the river is her grave. The husband also
shares her defilement; and he is therefore deprived of certain rights,
such as entering the shrines in his village to partake of the meats and
the drinks offered in sacrifice. He, too, if not purified by
her
subsequent conception or conception of any of his wives and dies in
this state, must be buried in the river.
More details on the birth of twins is found in (Preboye 2005: 135)
Among Nigerian languages, Izon is probably the richest when it comes to
use of pronouns. This is because the language allows the use
of
feminine and masculine forms of pronouns. In many Nigerian
languages a sentence such as “she is coming” may
well be
referring to man. The same sentence is used both for a man
and a
woman. This is not the case with the Izon language.
Not many people have contributed more to Izon literacy than my father,
Matthew Agbegha. He was a true son of Izon. He
believed
that honesty and truth must prevail. He went all over Western
Izon putting out fires wherever they occurred. He was a man
who
worked for peace in Izon Land. He was the leader of the
Catholics
in Izon. Because of these attributes, he was hand-picked by
Governor Ogbemudia in a gathering of Izon leader at Bomadi to be
Chairman of the Western Izon Local Government
Council. This
was done at the suggestion of Chief E. K. Clark. He was one
of
the early scholars in Izon Studies. He did all his scholarly
work
at Ayakoromo, where he was born. The scholarly work he did
was
groundbreaking and is enough to have earned him doctorates; at least
the honorary kind. His formal education stopped at about
standard
three. But, he was determined to educate himself.
From
Ayakoromo, he took correspondence courses from London including courses
in nursing and first aid. He was always reading and had the
Oxford dictionary by his side. In an attempt to improve his
skills in interpreting sermons, he also contributed to Izon
literacy. His first book Izon-English Vocabulary was
published in
1961. The second book Izon-English Dictionary was published
in
1996, three years before his death. Here are excerpts from
the
introduction to his second book:
My many years’ service in the Catholic Church as a catechist,
whose duties consist mainly of teaching the catechism, interpreting
sermons, and translating prayers and hymns into Izon language, gave me
the knowledge to write a booklet entitled “Izon-English
Vocabulary” in order to revive our vocabulary which is almost
on
the brink of decadence. ….. It is an indisputable
fact
that our vocabulary is on the verge of decaying simply because we tend
to speak English in our every day conversation rather than our
mother-tongue whereby we are identified. ….
I am gratefully indebted to all my
friends …
and finally Professor Kay Williamson for being instrumental to this new
and lucid way of writing our language.
Most of his work was done in collaboration or under the guidance of
Professor Kay Williamson. Here are excerpts of her foreword
to
the book.
It gives me very great pleasure to introduce this dictionary by my
friend of many years, Chief M. L. Agbegha. We have worked together at
intervals for the best part of forty years, and I have always found him
a most careful and methodical worker with an outstanding knowledge and
deep love of the Izon language.
…. It is encouraging to see that there are some signs of
hope on
the horizon, in that speakers of Izon are beginning to realize that
they must take the initiative and work positively to save and develop
their language for posterity. To them I would like to say
what I
have said on other occasions:
USE YOUR LANGUAGE OR LOSE YOUR LANGUAGE
I strongly recommend this dictionary to all those who speak or wish to
know about the Mein-dialect of Izon. May it encourage others
to
write and publish more books on and in their own languages.
Recommendations for Izon Culture and Izon Nation
As I was thinking about Izon cultural preservation, I was encouraged by
what I found in (Otite about 1998: 13). Some of the
ideas I
am presenting here either conform or are modifications of ideas in that
article.
- Parents and patrons should attempt to teach their
children
the Izon language. I say “should attempt”
because it
is not an easy task, especially in the Diaspora, even if both parents
speak the Izon language. We should try to do this in the
context
of the way we live Izon in our family lives.
- We should try to create opportunities for learning
Izon
language and culture at events such as this event (INAA yearly
event). In cities or urban centers where we have a sizable
Izon
community, arrangements should be made for holding lessons and sessions
in Izon language and culture.
- We should live Izon for our children to
see. A
classic example of this is the way the Izons lived in Lagos.
Preboye (2005) states this about how Izon was lived in Ajegunle: Izon
took the spectacular traditional Ogele war dance and the kokoma dance
to Lagos. It started every Saturday afternoon with the Ogele
dance through the streets and ends at the primary school premises at
Ogbewanko Street, where a wrestling match took place.
Thereafter,
in the evening, everyone assembled for the kokoma dance at Aromoh
street. The party went on till the early hours of Sunday
morning. This was a weekly ritual during the dry season.
- Every Izon,
especially in the
Diaspora, should build an Izon shrine in their
homes. The
shrine may not be in a corner of the house, but in a symbolic way, it
should be such that visitors to your home should know that you are an
Izon just by looking around.
- Involve the
youth, especially
in the Diaspora. Weni kimi eye ari kami. Most of
this age
group have been to or can get access to places we have not and cannot
get access to. They have bright ideas that are most
times
not allowed to be heard. Give them a forum to ask questions about Izon
and for them to give their opinions and suggest solutions for Izon
problems. We must empower them to articulate things
concerning
Izon. I was on my way back from San Diego and I
fell into
conversion with a young lady of about 25 years who was sitting next to
me on the plane. She told me her ethnic group is the original
Babylonians and their whole population is now less than a million
world-wide. They are a minority in Turkey. She
spoke
passionately about her people and their struggle for
survival. She talked about all the things they try
to do to
preserve their culture and prevent their group from going into
extinction. Although she has not lived in Turkey, you can see
that she has been empowered to talk about her people.
- We in the
Diaspora must take
the initiative to preserve our culture; just as we are taking the
initiative in resource control issues. Tomu yerinboke wari
nemi. It seems to be the case that those who live their lives
abroad value their home place more than those who are living in close
proximity to home.
- I call for an
educational
census. The census should reveal the number of graduates,
number
of master’s holders, number of PhDs, professionals, and their
disciplines. The most important resource we can
develop is
of the human kind. As we go through this struggle we should
not
lose sight of this. On the basis of such a census,
we can
make a comparative study of where we stand in education with respect to
say, out neighbors and what we can do to improve our educational status.
- Cultural centers
should be
established in urban areas consisting of libraries of Izon collection
– books, journals, articles, artifacts, films etc.
There
should be periodic demonstrations of ritual and artistic dances, and
collection and documentation of folktales, riddles, proverbs, oral
literature, poetry etc.
- A research unit
on Izon
culture should be established and occasional lectures on various
aspects of Izon culture should be organized.
- A center for Izon
Studies
should be established and possibly attached to a sponsoring university,
for example, Niger Delta University which is the only true Izon
University at this time. We must develop this university to
the
status of a premier university just as the University of Ibadan used to
be for Nigeria and beyond. The Niger Delta University should
take
on the responsibility of accommodating Izons from all parts of
Izon. The Izons in the other states have very little to say
in
the way those other institutions are run. I do not
believe
those institutions are set up to offer fertile grounds on which Izon
studies can thrive.
- An Izon National
Day should be
established and popularized for the celebration of Izon culture,
Identity and achievements. You can think of it as a
celebration
of our Izonness. I suggest February 23rd as Izon National Day
since this is reported as the day Isaac Adaka Boro and his compatriots
started the liberation of Izon. Such a holiday has
been
suggested by others. (see Preboye 2005: 100-101)
- This is the era
of public
relations. In everything we do, we should explore avenues for
attracting the media so that Izon will be given the
spotlight. If
I can single-handedly put a masquerade dance, live, on the 6pm evening
news on Charlotte CBS affiliate, collectively we all can do much more.
- We should present
the Izon
Land as a cherished world resource that is being destroyed. We should
make efforts to take our struggle to those world agencies and
dignitaries who are either known to be sympathetic to environmental
causes or who do documentaries on environments such as Travel Channel,
National Geographic, Discovery channel, Al Gore, etc.
- Joining forces
with other
Nigerian language groups, we should try to solve some of our
orthographical problems through electronic means. It is very
cumbersome to write Izon effectively using available word
processors. If Microsoft can produce software for a
complex
system of symbols like that from China and Japan, it should not be very
difficult to produce software to write Izon and most other Nigerian
languages. It is all in the demand. If we ask them to produce
it,
they will find a way to do it.
I am calling on us
to do Izon
studies so that Izon beliefs and ways of life become objects of
discourse in literary spheres. Several outsiders have done
Izon
Studies. But we must do Izon studies through our own lenses,
and
convince others to look at Izon through those lenses.
Izon is to be
lived on a daily
basis. Wherever you are, try to live
Izon. I will be
doing you a great disservice if I do not let you know about how I have
lived Izon, and how I am still trying to live Izon
everyday. I am a custodian (self-appointed) and
promoter of
music in general and Izon music and dance in
particular.
Although I grew up in what can be considered the foremost Catholic
family in Izon, and therefore discouraged from participating in most of
the Izon performances, I was a keen observer and lover of Izon
performances.
I sniff out Izon music wherever I go. I have obtained early
recordings of well-known Izon artist such as I. K. Belemo, Robert
Ebizimor and Echo Toikumo. Some of these I acquired when I
was
doing my National Youth Service at Ijebu Ode in
1980. I
still have the tapes. My collection of Izon music has been
found
to be useful on occasions like this when I am called upon to offer DJ
services. In this direction I want to give special thanks to
Mr.
Dennis Amaso and his family for their friendship over years and in
being my music buddy. I have collected quite a bit of music
from
him.
This collection of music has helped me tremendously in putting together
Izon cultural performances in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Since
1995, I have performed Izon dances in schools around Charlotte
(primary, secondary, university). My main supporters were my
youngest two daughters – Ebiere and Timi. At the
annual
“World of Words” poetry festival at Johnson C.
Smith
University, our cultural dance performance was one of the
attractions. As part of the events of Black History month, in
1995, with the help of Dr. Dennis Ogirri, Director of Afro-America
Studies at that time, an Eshan man, I put together a cultural show that
captured the attention of many. I trained my
students who
were African American ladies born here in America in Izon
dance.
The festival included the masquerade dance and abo
dance. I got inspiration from my long
time buddy and
brother, Prof. Joe Ebiware whose masquerades we have been enjoying for
many years. Unbeknownst to most of you, I have had the
privilege
to carry some of these masquerades. I carried masquerade for
the
first time here in America. I made the masque Oguberi
(Hammerhead
Shark) for the performance. Prof. Ebiware was not only my
consultant, but he also provided me with many of the
paraphernalia. The show was a huge success. A
portion of it
was carried live on the 6pm evening news of the CBS affiliate and few
things were said about Izon. Charlotte newspapers
–
the Observer and the Post also carried some photographs. The
point is that if a single person like me can put Izon in a little way
on the Map, think of what we can do for Izon if all of us
collectively worked together and called major world media such as CNN,
BET, ESPN, and the NY Times,
Izon is a living dynamic entity. Izon must be
lived. There
are many, such as our children in the Diaspora and urban centers, who
want to live Izon, but they do not know how. We need to bring
Izon alive in them so that they live Izon to the fullest.
I conclude this talk with the following two stanzas to be sung using
the melody of the NDC war song. The first stanza calls on all
Izons to live the Izon way and the second calls on all Izon to brag
about Izon.
1. Izon yerinm’ atuduo
Izon yerinm’ atuduo
Izon ebimi doumini kimise
Izon yerinm’ atuduo. Aye.
2. Izon kon bala e
Izon kon bala e
Izon ebimi doumini kimise
Izon kon bala e, Aye.
This is my time.
This is your time.
This is our time.
What are we going to do for Izon in our time?
Acknowledgement
In putting this
speech
together, I received a lot of support and encouragement from Dr. Tanure
Ojiade, distinguished professor of poetry and African Studies,
University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Dr. John Oyiborhoro, a
well-known audiologist practicing in New York City, and Ms. Vivian
Agbegha, a Ph.D. student at George Mason University, Fairfax,
Virginia. Drs. Ojaide and Oyiborhoro pointed me to the
tremendous
work the Urhobos have and are doing concerning their
culture. Dr. Ojaide was also very helpful with the
editing
of the speech. My daughter, Vivian Agbegha, not only
performed
songs on the violin as part of the speech, but also was the chief
editor of the speech. I am deeply indebted to you all.
Reference:
Agbegha, M. L. 1996. Izon-English Dictionary based on the Mein dialect,
Riverside Communications, Port Harcourt, Nigeria.
Otite, O. 1998. Fifty Years After Mukoro Mowoe,
Mukoro
Mowoe 50th Anniversary Lectures, Orhobo Historical Society website:
http://www.waado.org
Preboye, I. C. 2005. The Core Delta – Iduwini Clan, Otounkuku
“The lost Tribe”, Rural Development Nigeria Ltd,
Preboyes
World Bodija-End, Ibadan, Nigeria.
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