Igbo Masquerades

Igbo Masquerades 

Yesterday was the 5th class of the series I’m teaching, “Breaking Kola Nigeria’s Customs and Community,” at Lifetime Learners.

I talked about Igbo masquerades and showed some wonderful pictures. Agaba, the fearful masquerade that frightened my grandson Bruche during the Christmas holidays, was one!

I had a few pictures of masquerades from other parts of Nigeria too. Most of those were from the 2003 CHOGM, or Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.

CHOGM

For the 2003 CHOGM the opening ceremony included a procession of dancers and masquerades from all over the country. I told my class that every one of the 36 states was represented. But I may not have told the truth! I saw on a couple of the photos that they were from CHOGM, but not all. And I can’t find any description of the opening ceremony.

I did find that fifty-one of the possible 54 countries were represented, with 38 heads of government or heads of state.

Queen Elizabeth formally opened the Commonwealth leaders summit. She said, “Eradicating poverty, fighting terror, bridging the digital divide and building a more peaceful world are some of the challenges this meeting will have to face.”

She added, “Your decisions can make a real difference to people’s lives.”

Secretary-general Don McKinnon said the meeting would, “cover ways of reviving world trade talks,” among other issues. Sounds like we need him now!

“The success of this summit will not lie in the words that it generates but its impact on people’s lives and that is how we should measure our success,” said McKinnon.

The major issue was Zimbabwe. “Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe was not invited to the meeting because of ongoing political violence and intimidation in his country,” I read on Wikipedia.

While the meeting was still underway, Zimbabwe declared it was withdrawing from the commonwealth!

Who is the other woman besides the Queen in the picture? I cannot find the answer! Can you?

I just learned that CHOGM holds every two years, though sometimes on the off-year as well. The 2018 CHOGM, the 25th, is taking place in Great Britain later this month.

Reporter’s Diary

There is a fascinating BBC Reporter’s Diary from Abuja in 2003. He described the first evening as, “wonderfully vibrant, colourful and chaotic. The Nigerian hosts are relishing this opportunity to showcase their country to the world.”

He and other reporters went to an event outside of Abuja to accompany the Queen. She was shown Voices, a radio drama set in an African market place, “designed to raise issues of everyday concern to Nigerians, such as HIV/Aids, education and corruption.”

Peter Biles, the reporter, said, “The musical instruments look old enough to have been used in the Queen’s last state visit here before independence.”

He also noted a special moment. Folashade Randle was four when she presented flowers to the Queen in 1956, the Queen’s last state visit. And she was present at this event in 2003! “Not in my wildest dreams did I think I’d meet the Queen again, 47 years later. It’s been a glorious day,” she said.

Farmer-Herder Conflict

We hear about the Boko Haram attacks and kidnappings in Nigeria. But we hear less often about another conflict that is ongoing. It is between the cattle herders and farmers.

I’ve written about it before, including on Independence Day 2016. The Fulani cattle herders once had freedom to roam over much of what is today northern Nigeria. But now the desert is encroaching so they must go further south to find pasture for their cattle.

There they encounter farmers who do not take kindly to having cattle in their fields, eating their crops! The Fulani have begun arming themselves. Violence results, and many people have died.

The Council on Foreign Relations “Africa in Transition” blog had a piece by Ayobami Egunyomi. She is a “Robina Franklin Williams intern for Africa Policy Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, DC. and a Nigerian.”

President Buhari has not acted decisively to protect the people of the middle belt, the area between northern and southern Nigeria, she says. He is showing favoritism to his own people of the North.

“The Igbos in particular are angry that the administration arrested the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), which is a non-violent separatist movement, and deployed military troops to the region,” she says. “Fulani herdsmen . . . have killed over a thousand Nigerians but have not received anywhere near the same level of attention.”

The Minister of Agriculture has “proposed the creation of cattle colonies” where the Fulani could graze their animals. But southerners are concerned that land will be taken from their forcibly to establish the cattle colonies.

The writer says it is critical that, “the government prioritizes the conflict in the middle belt as a threat to national security.” She recommends a first step: send law enforcement people to patrol the affected areas.

Nigeria’s Current Events

My last class next Monday will be “Nigeria today, what customs survive, what has changed.”

I’ll certainly talk about today’s politics and how ethnic groups still have influence over voters. Other forms of entertainment have overtaken – no, supplemented – masquerades and I’ll talk about those.

The class members want to hear more about Boko Haram. Someone said she’d be interested in knowing how traditional languages are surviving.

If you have suggestions, let me know!