Shafa-Abakpa: The frills, thrills of Egbura Irewha hunting festival

Saturday December 26, 2015, witnessed yet another annual Irewha Hunting Festival of the Shaba-Abakpa community in Toto Local Government Area of Nasarawa State, a neighbouring community to Abaji town in the FCT. Aso Chronicle’s reporter was there. The youth of the community came out under various age grades, adorned in their hunting garbs with locally […]

Saturday December 26, 2015, witnessed yet another annual Irewha Hunting Festival of the Shaba-Abakpa community in Toto Local Government Area of Nasarawa State, a neighbouring community to Abaji town in the FCT. Aso Chronicle’s reporter was there.

The youth of the community came out under various age grades, adorned in their hunting garbs with locally fabricated guns slung over their shoulders.  Their black hunting attire gave them fierce look.
Chanting Egbura traditional songs, the youth filed out like ants from the bush to the playground, stomping their feet on the dusty ground as they proudly displayed their catches.
It was a dance of the brave and a display of gallant hunters to mark the popular Irewha Hunting Festival of the Shaba-Abakpa community.
The hunting festival is observed yearly by the people, which has its origin in Ikaka, one of the founding fathers of the community. Ikaka was said to be a great hunter, renowned for his great skills and bravery in hunting. As such, he was said to be nicknamed in Egbura  dialect  as Ada-Ugbe.
The story has it that Ikaka who was also a great warrior had instructed his son, Onda, to stage a hunting festival at his death, which should be accompanied with merriment.
He, according to the story, had warned that there would be no peace and animals would not be caught during hunting if the festival was not organized to appease his spirit.
At his father’s death, Onda did as was instructed and that was how the festival came into being.
Today, the community has taken the festival to a new level. The festival is the major thing that attracts natives of the community who are away from home to come back every year.
Apart from the hunting dance and display by the young, local hunters, there was a beauty pageant contest for Egbura maidens, known as ‘Soroniyya’ in the local dialect. At the end of the event, prices were given to those who emerged first, second and third positions.  
The Shafa-Abakpa community no doubt has a lot of advantages, especially when it comes to the area of having access to western education.
Aso Chronicle gathered at the event that Shafa-Abakpa community was the first village where Christian missionaries came to settle during the colonial period which has placed the community above other communities in Nasarawa State. 
The situation, our reporter learnt, has given opportunity to indigenes of the area to acquire western education which has now produced prominent sons of the village at higher positions, that include, the Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Suleiman Galadima, Architect Jafaru Isah of  the FCDA, former Rector of Kaduna Polytechnic, Engineer Isah Danjuma, Architect Abu Sheze, a private developer, among others.
Speaking at the event, National President of the Shafa -Abakpa Community Association (SACA),  Barr. Muhammed D. Zubairu, said the festival had helped encourage the indigenes, including those in diaspora to come home every end of December, which in turn has afforded them the opportunity to attend the annual general meeting of the association and public lectures which precede the festival.
He said the association has provided a forum for unity, peace and progress since its inception. He added that there have been modest achievements on issues of our common interest and a lot has also been achieved in the areas of developmental projects and socio-cultural developments.
He also hinted that the festival has provided a link for the living with their ancestral leaders of the land, saying the event is mostly significant in maintaining and sustaining discipline, respect, hard work and love for humanity.
He however called on the state government to urgently come to the aid of the people of the community in building an earth dam or alternatively, connect the community with Toto dam in order to reduce the perennial water problem in the community.
He added that Toto Local Government was the only council in Nasarawa state that has not benefited from creation of new districts and village areas for decades, saying only the districts of Umaisha and Gadabuke were upgraded during the Second Republic.
“May I also use this opportunity to request the Nasarawa State government to give local government administration a new lease of life, as local government today is in a very pathetic situation to the extent that it cannot only pay monthly salaries of workers. No development projects are being handled at the local government level at the moment to the best of my knowledge,” he said. 
The SACA president therefore urged all the elected representatives and political appointees to rise up to the challenge in order to ameliorate the neglect at the grassroot level and give the electorates a new lease of life.
In his speech, the Nasarawa state Governor, Alhaji Umaru Tanko Al-Makura, represented by his commissioner for Budget and Planning, Dr. Uthman Ibrahim, commended the Egbura people for sustaining their cultural heritage.
He stressed the need for indigenes of the community to take advantage of the APC-led administration change mantra to help themselves so that it would be easy for the government to also help them.
The governor, therefore, appreciated the efforts of people of Shafa-Abakpa community for their support to his administration, even as he urged people of Toto Local Government and Shafa-Abakpa community to continue to sustain the habit of finding a better way of expressing any disappointment from the state government. 
Also speaking, the speaker of Nasarawa State House of Assembly, Alhaji Ibrahim Abdullahi Balarabe, who was the chairman of the occasion, noted that the Irewha hunting festival not only afforded the people of the community the opportunity to showcase Egbura cultural values, but also served as a vehicle for promoting peace, unity and understanding among various ethnic groups.
He therefore solicited for the support and understanding of all sons and daughters of the Egbura nation to continue to imbibe the culture and spirit of peace and unity, which he said the Egbura people are known for. 
“To this end, I will like to call on you to continue to support the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, and Governor Umaru Tanko Al-Makura, on their change mantra in order for them to provide democratic dividends in the country,” he said.
On his part, the chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in FCT, who is an indigene of the community, Alhaji Abdulmalik Usman, also said the festival had become a symbol of unity for not just the people of the community, but other tribes in the country.
He said the festival always attracts friends and political associates across the country every year, who come to witness the festival, even as he called on the Nasarawa State government to upgrade the festival as it would not only serve as a tourist attraction, but also a source of revenue for the state.
“This always happens every year, even as the festival is turning to be a Nigerian thing. You can see the Bassa, Gede, Tiv and the Gbagyi as well as the Hausa and other tribes who are here to display their cultures. It is a symbol of unity amongst residents in this community. I really commend the organizers,” he said.
Also speaking, the Ohimegye Igu – Koton- Karfe and chairman Kogi/ Lokoja Area Traditional Council, Alhaji Abdurazaq Isa Koto, said the event was an avenue for the people to promote their culture and emphasized the need for government’s intervention.
“This has turned into a tourist attraction because this is the only place you can see the Ebira culture being exhibited. If you look at the event, it gets us to remember where we come from. Individuals and government should come and help so that this activity can be sustained,’’ he said.
Another traditional ruler, the Ohimegye of Opanda-Umaisha, Alhaji Usman Abdullahi, hinted that the festival, which he described as a unifying factor, had granted the royal fathers the opportunity to see each other and celebrate with one another.
“I am the paramount chief of Umaisha and I  came all the way from Umaisha for the festival, because I and the paramount chief of this place have the same grandfather. So you can see the festival has brought us together. It is also good for the community,’’ he said.
Another guest who came to witness the festival, Mr. Umar Yakubu, told Aso Chronicle, that he was at the festival in order to rejoice with the sons and daughters of Shafa -Abakpa community, adding that what he had witnessed symbolized peace, unity and understanding of different ethnic groups in the community.
The festival which was celebrated with lots of gunshots and a show of strength and valour, also witnessed presentation of prizes to hunters that came first, second and third positions.  Those that won were able to catch big game.