The annual Egbira Irewha hunting and cultural festival of the Shaba-Abakpa community in Toto Local Government Area of Nasarawa State held recently amidst colorful traditional displays, Daily Trust Saturday was there.
Tuesday, December 26, 2023, witnessed yet another Egbira Irewha Hunting Festival of the Shaba-Abakpa community in Toto LGA of Nasarawa State, where youths of various age grades in black garbs with locally fabricated guns slung over their shoulders trooped out.
Chanting Egbira songs, the youths, led by the chief of hunters of the community, Alhassan Obada, filed out from the bush to the playground, stomping their feet on the dusty ground as they displayed the animals they caught.
The festival, which is observed annually, has its origin from Ikaka, a founding father of the community. Ikaka was said to be a great hunter, renowned for his skills and bravery, hence he was said to have been nicknamed Ada-Ugbe.
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The story has it that Ikaka, who was also a great warrior, instructed his son, Onda, to stage a hunting festival at his death, warning that there would be no peace in the community and that animals would not be caught during hunting if the festival was not organised to appease his spirit.
Today, the community has taken the festival to a new level. The festival is the major event that attracts natives who are away from home to come back every year.
Apart from the hunting dance and displays, masquerades also entertain guests, and a beauty pageant is held for Egbira maidens, known as “soroniyya”, and prizes are presented.
Daily Trust Saturday gathered that the Shafa-Abakpa community was the first village where Christian missionaries came to settle during the colonial period which placed it above other communities in Nasarawa State in terms of Western education.
The situation, Daily Trust Saturday, learnt, has made the community produce prominent sons in high positions that include retired Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Suleiman Galadima; Architect Jafaru Isah of the FCDA; a former Rector of Kaduna Polytechnic, Engineer Isah Danjuma; state Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the FCT, Alhaji Usman Abdulmalik and Architect Abubakar Oseze, a private developer.
Speaking at the event, the National President of the Shafa-Abakpa Community Association (SACA), Comrade Usman Adams, said the festival had helped encourage indigenes, including those in the diaspora, to come home every December, which afforded them the opportunity to attend the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the association and public lectures which preceded the festival.
He hinted that the festival had provided a link for the living with their ancestral leaders, saying the event was mostly significant in maintaining and sustaining discipline, respect, hard work and love for humanity.
He said the association had provided a forum for unity, peace and progress since its inception.
He added that there had 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, therefore, 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 them with the Toto Dam in order to reduce their perennial water problem.
He noted that, “Though, some NGOs and some top politicians tried to sink boreholes in this community, yet they were not able to get to the water level. So, we are calling on the state government to come out and find a lasting solution to the perennial water problem in the Shafa-Abakpa community.”
In his speech, the Nasarawa State Governor, Eng Abdullahi Sule, represented by the Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General, Barrister Shuaibu Labaran Magaji, urged the Egbira people to continue to remain united and sustain their culture and tradition.
He said organising such cultural events was something that his administration would not take for granted, saying such events would go a long way in promoting peace, unity and development not only among the Egbira-speaking ethnic group, but across other tribes in the state.
He noted that the celebration of the Egbira hunting festival in Shafa-Abakpa had shown that the state had not witnessed any communal or tribal conflict in any part of the state in the last five years.
The governor, while commending members and executives of SACA for organising the event, told the gathering that his administration would on December 29, implement its 2024 budget, which he said would bring a new lease of life to the good people of the state.
Also speaking, the Member representing Toto/Gadabuke State Constituency, Hon Mohammed Isimbabi, 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 the support and understanding of all sons and daughters of the Egbira nation to continue to imbibe the culture and spirit of peace and unity, which he said the Egbira people were known for.
Daily Trust Saturday further reports that this year’s Miss Irewha, Fatima Adamu, who emerged victorious at the beauty pageant, was awarded a scholarship, N100,000 cash and sets of clothes; while the second and third runners up went home with cash prizes.
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