By Ikechukwu
Amaechi
Three years ago,
I travelled to the United
States for the annual convention of Mbaise
people living there. The convention, which is usually rotated among the states
in the U.S. , held in Dallas , Texas ,
that year.
(Pix: Vanguard)
Former Deputy
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Emeka Ihedioha, a proud Mbaise son,
and President General of Ezuruezu Mbaise, the umbrella association of Ndi
Mbaise in Nigeria , Okey
Aguwa, who lived in the U.S.
for many years before coming back home, were also in attendance.
That was the
first time I was attending the convention that had become a landmark event for
our people in the U.S.
every year. And it was like a homecoming of sort for me.
A very good
percentage of Mbaise people living in the U.S.
was there because, as I was told, many of them live in the twin cities of
Dallas and Houston in Texas .
I met many
friends, some of whom were school mates, who left the shores of Nigeria
immediately we left secondary school.
What surprised me
most was that most people who graced the ceremony had the titles of chief or
lolo prefixed to their names. Many were adorned in elaborate traditional
regalia with heavy beads around their necks and wrists and oversized fans in
their hands.
And you dare not
call anybody by his first name without first pronouncing the word chief.
I remember
telling someone who sat beside me at the gala night that there seemed to be
more chiefs and lolos of Igbo extraction in the U.S.
than we have in Nigeria .
The guy smiled and said I had not seen anything yet. “Wait until you see the
Eze Ndigbos. These ones are the small fries in the bourgeoning chieftaincy
industry among Ndigbo in the U.S. ”.
As it is in the U.S. , so it is in almost every part of the world
where the Igbo live and, of course, Nigeria their country is not an
exception.