Inikpi’s Igala encounter in the hands of Israelis

There are several ways you can be an ambassador to a nation. Apart from the conventional posting of career diplomats to other nations of the world as ambassadors, in the academic circle, either the works or the personalities of academics qualify on several levels as ambassadors to their nations where ever their works or they […]

There are several ways you can be an ambassador to a nation. Apart from the conventional posting of career diplomats to other nations of the world as ambassadors, in the academic circle, either the works or the personalities of academics qualify on several levels as ambassadors to their nations where ever their works or they in person find themselves outside of the shores of their host countries.  In far away Israel on Tuesday 16th October, 2012 in ZOA Theatre, 26 Eben-Gevirol Street, Tel Aviv, one of his plays, The Legendary Inikpi by Professor Emmy Unuja Idegu, of the Department of Theatre and Performing Arts, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, was staged as a Command Performance being part of the activities to commemorate the 20 years of the restoration of diplomatic ties between Nigeria and the State of Israel as well as the celebration of Nigeria’s 52nd year of independence in Israel. The play was performed by the African Israeli Stage based in Israel.

The Legendary Inikpi is a play that captures theatrically, the war between the Igala and the Beni people in 1515-1516 Nigeria. History has it that the Ata Igala (the Igala King), Ayegba Oma Idoko was a bosom friend to the Oba of Benin to whom he always made eunuchs for his palace. Somehow, there was some misunderstanding that made this hitherto cordial relationship sour. It turned bitter when the Ata Igala thought the messengers he sent to his friend the Oba who did not return home were captured by the Oba preparatory to taking war to Ida the traditional and administrative headquarters of the Igala kingdom and if possible, annex Igalaland.

Ata Oma Idoko consulted the oracle and the ancestors divined that nothing short of the life burial sacrifice of his most cherished child, Princess Inikpi will suffice. The Ata was said to have resisted the oracle divination and its demand for a considerable length of time until Princess Inikpi got to hear of it. She walked up to her father and agreed to offer her life to save both her father and the entire Igala kingdom from the battle ahead. Agonizingly, Ayegba succumbed to the ancestors’ demands and Inikpi’s agreement. Princess Inikpi was thereafter buried alive by the River Niger bank at Idah where till date her statue stands at the very spot of the sacrifice. After the sacrifice, the Beni forces were crossing the River Niger to Idah for the battle when they saw the town in flames. What was the need of taking war to a burning people and town they thought, and went back home. Till date, the battle never came to Idah. The Ata  and the Igala people lived in peace thereafter. Using this story as his historical material, the play graphically represents this unique aspect of the Igala history and calls to question all over, the imperative of selfless sacrifice for the generality of a people.

The author was invited as guest to the most popular Israeli theatre festival, the Acco Theatre Festival and to also present a paper at the Theatre Studies Department, University of Tel Aviv in December 2008. He used the occasion of his presence in Israel in 2008 to interact with a lot of his professional colleagues and attend several live stage productions, films and street/community theatre performances. During the said visit, he gave out copies of his plays to quite a number of people. According to him, this way, he was exporting his plays including The Legendary Inikpi, Omodoko, and Tough Man that all have Igala history, tradition and culture as their backgrounds. It was this that eventually caught the fancy of the African Israeli Stage who saw in the play the global thematic thrust of selfless sacrifice, and thereafter, the play was translated into Hebrew and performed with English sub titling on Tuesday, October 16, 2012.

Nigeria celebrated 20 years of the restoration of diplomatic relations with the State of Israel and also celebrated her 52nd year of independence in October 2012 in Israel.  As part of these two great memorable events, The Legendary Inikpi was staged as command performance. The cast was composed basically of Israelis with two or three Israelis of African descent. The actors were Kais Nashif, Netzanet Mekonen, Hadar Levin, Liad Frank, Uri Sagi, Vincent Adeyinka, Omer Cohen Eden and Idit Biney. The musicians were Pascal Izik Neuton, Ophir Baron, Pierre Shain and Milo. The Stage and Costume Designer was Tali Itzchaki. Light Designer was Shachar Verechzon. The Multi Media section was made up of Liad Frank, Yoni Cohen and Gai Aisner. While the translation from English to Hebrew was done by Lihi Barzel-Melamed. It was directed by a vibrant Israeli director called Yaffa Schuster.

Though the play talks about the selfless sacrifice of Princess Inikpi to save Igala Kingdom, a look at the history, re-emergence, struggle for Statehood and survival of Israel, brings some levels of similarity between what happened in Igalaland centuries ago and what happened and are still happening to the State of Israel today. Like Inikpi gave her life for the Igala people, there are several Inikpis on the symbolic level that have given their lives and are still giving their lives for Israel to survive.

In the audience were diplomats of other nations led by the Nigerian Ambassador to the State of Israel, His Excellency David Oladipo Obasa who spoke very well about the play.

The production of play by the African Israeli Stage was not devoid of cultural challenges and directorial license to the interpretation of text outside of its immediate Igala setting. Within the Igala context of the play for instance, you can never have a woman Ohioga Ata as ifa consultant. But in the production was a powerful female Ohioga Ata who stunned the audience with her superlative performance. At a point when she came on stage as the Ohioga Ata to announce the demands of the ancestors that Inikpi be offered for sacrifice, the entire audience went still and calm. She so acted the role that she unambiguously carried the charisma, aura, serenity, reverence and awe that the playwright confessed he never saw any male Ohioga Ata, not even in the production of The Legendary Inikpi that he directed a couple of years ago. Simply put, it was a transparent artistic success. One of the most difficult members of the audience for any director is to have the playwright right there. Most difficult because being the author and creator of the work, the director’s interpretation should be seen to at least be close to the original intention of the playwright. The second challenge with the play production has to do with all historical plays. Both the play text and its production must be close to the history being represented via dramaturgy. For an Israeli Troupe, performing an Igala historical play on both levels, they did very well.

Asked about his assessment of the production the playwright answered; “I was there, I saw it and I was not disappointed AT ALL.   Honestly, when I heard that the play will be performed in Israel, it sounded like a dream. An Igala play that was never performed by my State Council for Arts and Culture; an Igala play that was not performed by the National Troupe of my country being performed in far away ZOA Theatre in Israel, and by Israeli cast and crew. I was so elated. There was I sharing knowledge with world class diplomats, and renowned Israeli theater professors including Professor Shimon Levi and Professor Avraham Oz of the Theatre Studies Department, University of Haifa in Israel, and a couple of other global scholars.  There was I, in the Igala national colours carrying the history of my people on my shoulders to the international audience. The fulfillment was not and is still not mine alone but for the entire Igala people and for my dear country Nigeria. The cast members themselves were so pleased to see me and they expressed their desire to one day perform The Legendary Inikpi in Nigeria, right in Idah. That for me is a dream, but a realizable dream and a challenge to the Igala people, Kogi State and Nigeria. Bringing the troupe to Idah, for now, is obviously beyond me. The tourism potentials of bringing them to see the statue of Inikpi and perform on the same soil that Inikpi was buried alive should ordinarily be the responsibility of the State Government or relevant national bodies”

Talking about the zeal in fostering unity between Nigeria and the state of Israel through the instrumentality of theatre, Professor Idegu went down the memory lane. He explained how his self-sponsored trip to Israel in 2008 led to the coming of the African Israeli Stage to Nigeria in 2010 to perform in the National Theatre, Lagos, University of Ibadan and the Obafemi University, Ile-Ife. That production was the very first time an Israeli troupe would perform in Nigeria. As a follow-up to this link created by the professor, in 2011, the National Troupe of Nigeria was invited to Israel for a performance. That again was the first time a troupe from Nigeria will perform in the State of Israel. The production of The Legendary Inikpi in October 2012 was to further cement this Nigerian/State of Israel theatre collaboration.