‘Traditional marriages, burials no longer hold’

Famous businessman and celebrity barman Pascal Okechukwu, also known as Cubana Chief Priest, has lamented the decline of age-long traditional activities in South Eastern Nigeria due to insecurity.

Restiveness and killings in Anambra and the Southeast geopolitical zone, in general, have been at an all-time high with growing concerns from residents and the state government.

Recently, PREMIUM TIMES reported how gunmen attacked and killed four soldiers in Aba, Abia State.

Given these challenges, however, President Bola Tinubu has vowed that his administration would ‘come down heavily’ on those responsible for the unrest in the region.

Addressing some of the growing concerns in a recent interview with BBC Igbo, Mr Okechukwu said the insecurity in the South-east, coupled with kidnappings, and the killing of wealthy men, has stalled social gatherings in the region.

The Imo State-born socialite reminisced about how a once-vibrant age-long festival in his village, usually held every first of January, has been stalled.

He said, “My children are growing, and we have all been in Lagos; in their minds, they think they are from Lagos State, but they don’t know where they come from. Things are getting bad. We have our own culture and heritage, and we cannot project it from afar. Before, in my village, there was this festival called ‘Ofeke’ Day, every 1st January; there is nothing as sweet as it, but it is no longer there.”

“Imagine, we no longer celebrate traditional marriage in the village, burials are conducted in a hurry due to insecurity, and people now do traditional weddings in event centres in Lagos. This is not how we live. Before, when they are burying a big man, there are a lot of festivities and excitement, but all these have all died a natural death, and we are gradually losing our own. Let’s go back to the root and make our land better. Those things that have been destroyed, we can rebuild them.”

Reacting to the recent insecurity, he said, “Greed has caused all that is happening in the southeast. “Why kill your brother just because you do not like the government? What you will do is wait for the election to vote out that person instead of beheading or killing your brother who is in the army or the police. Who will protect us if not the Army or the Police?”

Relocating

During the interview, Cubana Chief Priest, who originally started his business in Owerri, Imo State, revealed that he moved to Lagos because of the lingering insecurity that kept wealthy patrons away.

He said, “I came to Lagos to do business because our brothers from the East stopped returning home for the Weekend or Christmas due to fear of being kidnapped or killed. People in Owerri, all they drink is a bottle of beer, a little hot and a little Champagne, but those in Lagos and Abuja, when they come for weekends, spend very well, and money enters into my system.

“Like during Christmas, when Christmas used to boom, after my Christmas sales, from the profit, I would buy a new car or buy a new business. But it is no longer the same. The lack of patronage started slowing down my business. I had to move to Lagos.”

He noted he decided to run for his life alleging his kinsmen stopped coming back home during festive seasons.

“The insecurity in the East dragged our region back. Rich Igbo men like Dr Ned Okokwu and E-Money built mansions back home; hence, we competed among ourselves; everyone wanted to go home and develop. We were an inspiration to ourselves, but now, everyone has run away because of insecurity, and these criminals don’t want to see a big man. If they see a big man, they will want to kill him and call him all sorts of names. Because everyone is running away, there is hunger in the land, impoverished my region, and our people became hungry.”

“It is our brothers at home that give criminals information. Our people started killing the rich, so the rich stopped coming back home during festivities. That’s why I ran to Lagos to do my business,” Cubana emphasised.

Appeal

Despite the challenges, Cubana Chief Priest urged his relatives not to abandon their roots.

He called for a collective effort to rebuild and protect their homeland from the grip of criminal elements. He stressed that the community must unite and resist being driven out by fear.

“I am appealing to my brothers not to forget their home; let’s not all run away because of these evil people; the wrong people should run away from us. And those our brothers at home are supposed to look after the land because the rat in the house would invite the one outside that there is fish in the house. Some people at home are setting trouble for their brother all because of greed.

“We know it is not easy at home, neither is it easy abroad, but it is what we would use wisdom to deal with, not knives and guns. These unknown gunmen should drop their weapons. Unknown gunmen are destroying our region,” he said.