Soludo Re-enacts Mike Ejeagha’s Gwogwogwongwo!

PAUL NWOSU

It was such an exhilarating scene to behold when Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo CFR, masterfully re-enacted the rendition of Mike Ejeagha’s rave song of the moment Gwogwogwongwo in Awka, Anambra State.

Shortly after the media briefing to mark the 33rd anniversary of Anambra State, the obviously happy Governor Soludo put his mellifluous voice to work as he sonorously and flawlessly rendered Mike Ejeagha’s timeless story-in-song (akuko n’egwu) about the fable of the Tortoise-cum-Elephant tango, and capped it all up with the trademark raising of a leg at the end.

Mike Ejeagha was a renowned minstrel of the 1970s through to the 1980s and became almost forgotten until the social media influencer, Brain Jotter, miraculously brought the aged musician back into the limelight with the Gwogwogwongwo dance routine.

Governor Soludo’s spontaneous and unrehearsed gwogwongwo lyrics along with the now famous one legged jig stands him out as typical ordinary Nigerian who is familiar with the street. It goes to shows that he has his finger on the pulse of the social trend that he has added his pedigree to the extension of the Mike Ejeagha phenomenon.

Mike Ejeagha in his other memorable song, Uwa Mgbede Ka Nma (The Evening of Life is Better), strikes a chord with Soludo’s advocacy of patience and perseverance in the drive to live a laudable long life.

As Mike Ejeagha reaps the harvest of his musical expertise in the twilight of his life, it is a matter of joy that Governor Soludo has given the unexpected gravitas to the good cause.