Ahịajọkụ: Governor Uzodimma’s Passion For Cultural Renaissance

COLLINS OPUROZOR

Chinua Achebe tells us something deep in ‘Things Fall Apart’. Unoka, the gentle flutist of Umuofia, lived and worked with the rhythm of the earth but missed its secrets. He was a man who worshiped Ala, the earth goddess, and Ahịajọkụ, the deity of yams, with devotion. “Every year, I sacrifice a cock to Ani (Ala), the owner of all land. I kill another at the shrine of Ifejioku (Ahịajọkụ), the god of yams,” Unoka lamented. Yet, year after year, his harvest was poor, his barns empty, and his debts piled high. Unoka, therefore, sought answers from Agbala, the oracle of the hills and caves, who spoke with the voice of the gods.

“You, Unoka, are known for the weakness of your matchet and your hoe,” came the verdict of Agbala. “While your neighbors cross seven rivers to farm virgin land, you sow your yams on exhausted soil. Go home and work like a man,” Agbala spoke.

Unoka’s tragedy lay in his refusal to blend human effort with divine guidance.

Okonkwo, his son, was the opposite. He rejected his father’s perceived laziness and resolved to wrestle with the gods if necessary. He worked with ferocity, borrowing 800 yam seeds from Nwakibie, the wealthiest man in the clan. But the year he staked his fortunes on the earth, the rains betrayed him. The sun scorched his yams, and when the rains returned, they came with such violence that even the earth seemed to weep. Farmers wept, and one man, in despair, took his life.

Okonkwo learned then that toil alone could not triumph over the whims of nature. In his strength, he too forgot that divinity walks hand in hand with humanity.

The story of Ahịajọkụ, the deity of yam and fertility, offers a lesson that neither Unoka nor Okonkwo fully understood. Ahịajọkụ teaches that the earth, Ala, is sacred and must be revered, and the harvests we reap are blessings from God. It reminds us of the sky, igwe, which sends rain and sun to nurture the crops, and of ikenga, the personal god of enterprise and achievement. The centrality of Ala in Igbo pantheon stems from its nurturing and fertilizing force, the awareness that man is forged from the earth, depends upon the earth for survival and returns to the earth after death. The Igbo cosmology, therefore, recognizes the delicate balance of human effort and divine grace, a harmony that finds expression in the rituals Ahịajọkụ.

It is heartening that Governor Hope Uzodimma has breathed life into the Ahịajọkụ festival and lecture series, an event inaugurated in 1979 by the visionary Dee Sam Mbakwe. This festival, a gathering of Igbo intellect and culture, brings together the wisdom of the past and the challenges of the present, to set the agenda for the future. Uzodimma’s initiative is a call to return to our roots, to celebrate the interplay of labor and divinity, and to forge a sustainable pathway for posterity.

The Ahịajọkụ lecture series has always been a mirror of Igbo society. Starting with the theme Ahamefula in 1979, it has examined the soul of the Igbo nation through the voices of its brightest minds. Scholars and patriots like Prof. Chinua Achebe, Prof. Ben Nwabueze, and Prof. Adiele Afigbo have used this platform to speak truth to power and to chart a course for the Igbo people.

Next year’s theme, “The Future of Igbo Economy Amidst the Challenges of Insecurity in the Southeast; A Call for Paradigm Shift”, is both timely and urgent. It acknowledges the storms battering the Igbo nation—economic hardship, insecurity, and disunity. Yet it also calls for hope, innovation, and a return to the values that have sustained the Igbo for generations: enterprise, hard work, and community.

The Ahịajọkụ festival reminds us that the Igbo economy cannot thrive on human effort alone. Just as Okonkwo learned in his struggle with the earth, the Igbo must recognize the role of collective responsibility and divine alignment. The festival provides a space for brainstorming solutions that honor both tradition and modernity.

As the Igbo once again gather in Owerri, described by the foremost historian, Prof. Adiele Afigbo, in 1979 as the Jerusalem of the Igbo, they will confront their shared challenges and address them. The festival is not merely a celebration but a convocation of ideas—a fusion of ancestral wisdom and contemporary scholarship. It is a reminder that the Igbo, scattered across the world, must not forget their roots.

In the spirit of Ahịajọkụ, the Igbo shall return to their guiding principles: respect for the earth, reliance on collective strength, and acknowledgment of divine providence. Governor Uzodimma’s revival of this festival is more than a cultural event; it is a clarion call for the Igbo to rise above their challenges, to balance the extremes of Unoka and Okonkwo, and to secure their place in a changing world. For as Ahịajọkụ teaches, the yams we plant today determine the harvest of tomorrow.

*Opurozor is the Special Adviser to Governor Hope Uzodimma on Electronic and Creative Media.