All the nooks and crannies of Tudunwada Secondary School, Zone 4, Wuse, Abuja the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) wasn’t only agog on Saturday, but couldn’t contain the people who came to enjoy the Newyam (Iriji) Festival organized by Abuja Chapter of Orumba Peoples Town’s Union Association (OPTU), and our man, Ekuson Nw’Ogbunka saw it all.
Although a passer – by, who didn’t care to branch to do Christmas to their eyes, may think that what made the area highly and excitedly agog was a political rally, Christmas, or even Sallah celebrations, but those who wanted to do Christmas for their eyes were able to find out that it was a celebration of the agelong Iriji Festival organized by Indigenes of Orumba, comprising of from Anambra State, resident in Abuja.
New Yam Festival is a great occasion performed in Igbo land with rekindling of justifiable cultures, such as native songs, dances, as well as performance from various masquerade, wresting competitions, among others. Although the Orumba people in the FCT rekindles this culture yearly, but this 2025 edition, which turned out to be another carnival, attracted in attendance, traditional rulers, title holders, members of each Anambra community, who showcased their cultural competition, and people from all works of lives, who came to do Christmas for their eyes.
Prominent, among the traditional rulers in attended the festival was HRH, C.C. Okolo, the Eze Ndigbo in Suleja Local Government Area of Niger State, who performed the traditional cutting of yam. C.C. Okolo, a prince from Ufuma ancient kingdom in Orumba, spoke at length on the importance of the festival, even as he made it clear that, the festival started from Ufuma. He explained that in Ufuma, the title of their traditional ruler is “Di-Ji, literally translated to English: Lord or Master of Yam.
Another prominent traditional ruler who graced the occasion and partook in the cutting and blessing of the Yam traditionally and culturally was His Royal Majesty, Igwe Ochendo Ogidi- Igbo, Eze Igbo 1 of Ado Kingdom and the wakili of Ado in Nasarawa state. An indigene of Orumba, the royal father hailed the organizers of the festival, just as he urged for its continuity, which if done, according to him, would go a long way to promote the rich culture of Ndi Orumba, Ndi Igbo and other Nigerian ethnic groups who will in tirn emulate it and learn to use it to rekindle their own too.
The Chairman of the occasion, Dr Prince Emeka Egwuekwe, the CEO, Prince Interior and Decorations Ltd and the President General (PG), Ezumezu Umunri Worldwide, who was represented by Dr Chidi Okoye, the former Chairman of Enugwu Agidi Community in Abuja hailed the rekindling of the festival, followed by the cultural revival. According to him, the Newyam Festival is a normal cultural practice in every Igbo family and Igbo community. But the only difference is that this one is happening in faraway Abuja and it is a tradition that we conduct every year in every Igbo community.
“I am satisfied to the extent that there is need and purpose for all of us to come together and remind ourselves 
of who we are as people. This remind us that we have this very important culture of New York Festival to that extent, but to the other reason why our people should be very mindful of the details and the nitty gritties involved in our culture to the extent that their children, should know have the ability to speak their dialects.
“Most of these people here, their children, who are born in Nigeria, some of them even born in Anambra State, cannot speak Igbo language. It’s very shameful. And some of them here will hold the kola nut without the ability to speak Igbo in the process of trying to do the prayers in Igbo language. And they will end up the prayer of the cola not breaking in a Christian way. So those who are Christians have said the Christian prayer. If you want to say the cultural prayer, you say the cultural prayer in full.
“You don’t end it up again mentioning like trying to end up like a Christian, then that’s a mix up, and people should be very clear and clear and purpose for things they do. So I am an advocate that people who practice tradition, should practice it the way it ought to be, not trying to Christianize our culture. Our culture is distinct, likewise Christian religion.
Similarly, Comrade Eze Onyebuchi, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) Chairmanship candidate in Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) said he was very excited knowing that Igbo culture is active, against what people are saying.
“Here in Abuja, we feel the sense of our culture, and you can see the way I dress; the cultural costumes, showing that we still have our culture in mind, promotion of cultures. In our manifesto, we call reactivating of culture, social contracts, because we are coming to have a contract with the people. We have what we call cultural day celebration, where we bring all the cultures in existence in Abuja together to celebrate what we are known for, to celebrate their culture.
However, the Chief Arinze Anadu, the PG of Anambra indigenes in the nation’s capital was highly excited, saying that the cultural festival should continue to be reminded. He said that the f estival isn’t only a culture to be observed by Ndigbo with seriousness, but a culture that promotes unity among Ndigbo and Nigeria in general. He hailed the organizers and urged them to keep it up.
Throwing light on the event, Hon Ikenna Nwankwo, the PG, Abuja Chapter of the Orumba Towns People Association had this to say: “We want to showcase to the world the Iriji Cultural Festival of our people which we normally observe every August, September, October, that is when we observe the celebrity. That is what we are doing today; showing our people who are dominant here in Abuja, how Orumba people observe the New Yam Festival. You can see cultural display and observe the method we use in cutting the yam by the Royal Fathers and other title holders here.
“We expect that after this at least, it will be widely seen, observed by so many people in Abuja. So by this, we are promoting our culture, which is going viral. Everybody is seeing our culture, you can see cultural entertainment.”
On what they expect from Anambra Governor Chukwuma Soludo at the festival, he said: “We are asking our governor, who we know is performing to look inwards and see how he can promote agriculture in orumba. And because of this, we want him to look downwards to orumba and see how he can provide agricultural abilities to Orumba to enhance what we just witnessed today, because we are there in the network.
Here are sights and sounds of the event.
