By Abraham Ogbodo
Readers do not have any way of knowing what writers go through to serve the dish hot and sizzling on a regular basis. Cooking a readable article involves all the art and science, including the patience and perseverance to stand the pressure in a choking kitchen to see through a good dish. This is more so when a writer, by choice, boxes himself or herself, into a weekly columnist. It becomes a social contract to be discharged as contracted with all the attendant contractual obligations. Irrespective of other factors, like running out of ideas or incapacitation by exhaustion, the writer must keep re-inventing the muse to stay afloat for his readers.
I was in some dilemma last week. It was Christmas week and I was worrying over how to effectively and efficiently combine the contending factors without recording a shortfall on any front when the good news came. Editor Debo Abdullahi sent a message to announce that The Tribune would be off the newsstand on Boxing Day. It meant the crew at Imalefalafia voted for full measures. They deserved a Christmas without worries actually. It was a sudden break in transmission and a serious breach in communication protocols. But the break was very fair to all concerned including me. I guess this should answer those that called and sent messages to ask what happened, as well as assuage, those who were too angry to ask questions.
Yet in this our business of column writing, it does not take forever turn around and return to the starting point. It takes only seven days. And so, I have resumed after the beautiful break, but racing against time and events to recover lost grounds. Even at that, I will start from the beginning of a story of the same folks that have attracted different strokes.
Just before Christmas, I was on stage with Richard Mofe-Damijo popularly known as RMD. To outsiders, he is the ace actor, super celebrity, who, together with a handful others, define the Nigerian film industry also known as Nollywood. To us in Warri however, especially those he is older than, he is just a big Bros from Aladja in Udu Kingdom. Udu is one of the 24 kingdoms that constitute the Urhobo ethnic nationality. The only connection is that what makes RMD Big Bros in Warri is the effective local application of his national and international assets.
In other words, he is one prophet that also commands recognition at home. In Aladja, all the fantastic imageries around him are compressed into a communal content. The loud vibes of the big stage and big screen are pigeon-holed into the Uloho Quarter which is one of the three quarters in Aladja. RMD is from the Uloho quarters. The others are Izagbo and Owhorhu quarters. Aladja holds a uniqueness. It is a cultural powerhouse in Udu kingdom and Urhobo land in general. It parades products and producers or performers at equal intensity to create and sustain a robust creative market that spills across.
In Urhobo, music and poetry come in many forms. Highlife is part of it. But this is gradually changing character from the way it was served by pioneers like late Chief Sally Young and Patrick Idahosa. A number of young musicians like King Nakpodia who seek adventure more than they seek tradition or art, are pushing for a a cross-cutting blend. Consequently, even the pure opiri genre which, does not seek any special attention outside Urhobo audience, is beginning to yield to a collaboration and unification with highlife that enhances its marketability and acceptability to the outside world.
Amid the maze, the udje and ajuya music genres stand out in beats and lyrics. Both remain almost the exclusive creative business of the twin kingdoms of Udu and Ughievwen . While the opiri, and to some extent the udje genres, place emphasis on beats that fire up an unimaginable degree of biomechanism in energetic dancers, the beauty in ajuya lies more in the philosophical lyrics within a mid-tempo instrumentation. The latter is like music while you relax. Still, within that delineation, Aladja holds extra strength with an uncommon input to the Urhobo creative pool. The community holds enough in originality, forms and style to run successfully on its own. And that was the bold statement it made on December 20, 2025; five days to Christmas.
But making a statement, no matter its high pitch, was not enough for the purpose. The Aladja community which came emphatically on the national map when the Delta Steel Complex (DSC) was sited inside it in the early 1980s, needed to leverage all of its advantages in the treatment of the subject matter. Thus, weaving the maiden edition of the Aladja Cultural Day around a big name was not only a drive for inclusion but a master strategy to mount the event on a very high pedestal. That big name is Richard Mofe-Damijo. The various dance groups from the three quarters offered enough in content and spectacle to make it a complete cultural day. The udje dance groups did theirs so well. So, also, was the war dance group from the Uloho quarters. There was so much between this war dance and the version in Agbarha-Warri Kingdom. His Royal Majesty, Kingsley Orere, the Ovie of Agbarha-Warri was among the special guests. His empathy was visible. He is maternally Aladja.
The masquerades (emejo), in rhythms and effects, pushed for a choreographic fusion among the known groups in the Warri area; namely the Urhobo, Ijaw and Itsekiri. Basically the same elements flowed in most the performances in Aladja with what would be obtainable in either Ijaw or Itsekiri cultural outing. While the gyrations and stunts are a lot more vigorous in Aladja and elsewhere in Urhobo land, same may be relatively less intense among the Ijaw and Itsekiri. In all of this, RMD stood alone as a content in himself. Everyone around wanted a selfie. The attention, especially among young spectators, was divided between him and the arena.
The community was wise enough to saddle him with the ultimate responsibility. He wa the chairman of the nine-man committee that planned and executed the day. He was not among the guests who jumped in and out of the venue of the cultural fiesta. He stayed till the end because outside other considerations, he needed to stay and offer the vote of thanks at the end of the outing. The joy of having him around was palpable on all the faces around. His stake in the common heritage is firm. The foremost Aladja exponent of the Odje music, late Sir Juju, is a Damijo.
While the Aladja people came together to celebrate their cultural ambassador and icon, elsewhere in the old Bendel State, it was a different spectacle and story. It was also a live but not a staged performace as was the case in Aladja. It was a reality show and an ordeal. The deal was raw; very raw that is, for Dr. Don Pedro Obaseki. RMD and Don Pedro earned a bachelor’s degree in Theatre Arts from the University of Benin. I guess Don Pedro entered in 1983 the same year that RMD left after completing the programme. Don Pedro is celebrated. Every fine adjective in academics has been deployed to describe him. He is monumental. He writes books, he makes film, he directs stage plays and does a lot more to tell the world that he is a scholar with Benin as a focal point. He is a Midwestern exponent. To him, the idea of an integrated Niger Delta region is fallacious. He argues that the old Midwestern region and later Midwest State before becoming Bendel State, is more organic as a geo-ethnic or political unit. He sees the relentless aspiration of a consolidated Niger Delta to capture the six states of Edo, Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Cross River into a geo-political bloc as misplaced.
I have not had an opportunity to engage Don Pedro at close quarters. But I am at home with every detail about him. He is a highly cultivated academic and public intellectual. A clear asset to any jurisdiction. How some of his people in Benin got good reasons to brand him public enemy number one is really difficult to understand. They say he is an enemy of the Oba of Benin – oghion Oba. For this reason, he was dragged naked on the bare ground, for a distance of about five kilometres. I guess it was meant to be a cleansing ritual to forcefully restore Don Pedro Obaseki as a friend of the Oba.
Apparently, nobody is allowed to become the enemy of the Oba in Benin tradition. You must remain his friend whether you like it or not. That is why some people are telling us that what happened to Don Pedro Obaseki was in his interest. If one is a Benin man or woman, it takes exactly that to transition from an enemy to a friend of the Oba of Benin. It is difficult to believe but such is the reality.
Meanwhile, I have suffered a personal injury to which I deserve a cure. I am asking around, if my grounds are high and safe enough to warrant my seeking a remedy through the court. Here is my case: I was a witness to the veneration of a cultural icon. It was a most beautiful and emotionally rewarding experience. And then only a week after, and more or less, within the same jurisdiction, I had my sensibilities most violently assaulted by the absolute humiliation of another icon with equally laudable credentials. The disorientation is not only unsettling but injurious. I need a therapy. I am imagining an RMD, or any other person cast in that station, being dragged along the streets of Warri on accusation of being the enemy of an Ovie, Olu, a Pere or whoever. It is a contradiction that diminishes the Great Benin Kingdom.
