IGUE FESTIVAL: A CHERISHED CULTURAL HERITAGE, By Ehigie Uzamere

Igue Festival home to people of the Ancient Benin Kingdom and still with us, is our version of the Feast of Passover and the American Thanksgiving Day celebrations. Igue Festival marks a period of Thanksgiving to God Almighty and our ancestors, a period of gift-sharing and exhibition of love and fairness to mankind. It is peculiar to us Benin people and is a culture that has endured since Oba Ewuare N’Ogidigan I, who reigned from 1440 to 1473.

As we mark this year’s Igue Festival, I pray that God continues to bless and preserve our revered Monarch, Omo N’Oba N’Uku Akpolokpolo Oba Ewuare N’Ogidigan II. I pray that in the spirit of the season, we love and appreciate one another, and put the welfare of our ethnic Benin, above personal gains. I pray for our nation Nigeria that peace and progress, return to her.

As we celebrate Igue, let us give thanks to Almighty God for life, family and friends. We pray that God gives us the wisdom to eliminate insecurity in our land, give us enduring progress and the best President of His choice in our upcoming election.

May God continue to bless all Benin men and women, and the entire nation.

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May God imbue us with greater understanding, that we may give our Oba, needed cooperation to rule and prosper our land. We are Benin first, and ought to remain truly Benin.

Today, in appreciation of our enduring culture, I will observe Igue Festival, my own way in my country home in Omi. With dancing, eating, drinking and fireworks, we shall give thanks to God for His blessings upon us and pray for His continued mercies in the coming year and beyond.

Iselogbe! Ogbe ma vbe dia ru!

In God I trust,

● Senator Ehigie Uzamere (2007-2015)