By Ezeh Jude .O
Over the course of countless centuries, much before the advent of Christianity, Ndigbo had tried to maintain a good public image as a people cradled in moderation, modesty, and rational frugality. This was evident in the way and manner they organized and hosted social functions. Emphasis is placed more on the subject of the occasion than on its side attractions and frivolities.
For instance, at obsequies, they mourn the deceased and beheld in its remains the "vanitas vanitatum" of King Solomon of old (Eccl.1:2-14). Then, the rites of the Igbo funeral exhibition mirrored the rectitude of modesty.
When Christianity became a dominant religion of Ndigbo, the decorous modicum which depicted the earthly life of Christ-shaped the people's approach in hosting and celebrating obsequious festivities and necrology, albeit a few outliers on the socio-cultural graph. At some point, the Nsukka diocese, in Enugu state declared that any corpse that spent more than two weeks in the morgue, won't be accorded Catholic burial rites; a move to control the luxuriation of funerals. Other Igbo zones had similar rules.
Such was the noble culture for ages, until last two decades when the 3rd millennium, possessed with the spirit of ostentation, infested with maggots of showiness and obsessed with debauchery, dawned on our youths.
As the rest of the world welcomed the 21st century with prospective actionable plans to make the world a better habitat for humanity, some parts of Igbo land were making marriage ceremonies of their daughters some sort of mercantile ventures capable of impoverishing their suitors and enriching themselves. Prospective suitors from other tribes in Nigeria, out of genuine fear for this ugly trend became apathetic towards dating, courting or wooing Igbo ladies for marriage. Our ladies were seen as too costly and unaffordable 'commodities.' Nollywood made several satirical movies to correct this ill.
In the same vein, burial/funeral rites of fallen parents or relatives were observed in moderate ceremonies, until Anambra millionaires took it to a showbiz level. It blew out of proportion when Sir Kevin Chukwumobi established APAMS funeral home services in Onitsha. It was a luxury elitist undertaker company with offices across the South East. Patronizing his services by men of wealth made burial/funeral an unaffordable crapshoot in Igbo land.
What we witnessed on Friday, 17th July 2021 (a few days ago) about one multi-millionaire, Obi Iyiegbu, popularly called Obi Cubana burying his mother in a glamorous exhibition of raw wealth, where cash was flaunted to the consternation of the surrounding world, which dominated discussions across social media platforms as well as offline public discourses, was a progressive erosion of a people's culture. The 'show' portrayed Ndigbo as an epicurean society.
In November 2016, Sir Emeka Offor, a popular wealthy business tycoon from Oraifite in the same Anambra state, held the record for the most expensive coffin ever used in Igbo land. He buried his father, in an N15 million worth of casket. Obi Cubana doubly broke this record last week! A coffin estimated at N30 million went into the ground. Over 200 cows are valued at the same cost were slaughtered. A voluptuous show of libertinism!
If he had spent these sums on his late mom's healthcare, she probably would have fared better and her life sustained. The Prince of Saudi in coma is being sustained by such money since 2005. But a typical African would prefer to spare the money to lavish it on his obituary.
In my June 28, 2014 column in Newsdirect magazine, I wrote: "I followed keenly, the events of the death, burial, and funerals of the Emirs of Gombe and Kano respectively.
I marveled at the simplicity with which the Hausa/Fulanis conduct funerals. As influential in wealth and fame, as these northern Monarchs were, in their lifetime, their death and burial/funeral was no different from that of a commoner within their emirates. The cost of the entire event couldn't in any way match the cost of the sophisticated coffin for the burial of an average Igbo man.
The low-key celebration of the death of Hausa/Fulani men of prominence is a shame to the extravagance exhibited by their Igbo counterparts. Of late, we Igbos unjustifiably see burial/funerals of our relatives/loved ones as occasions to throw our weights around, show off luxury, and indiscriminately waste the scarce resources on which those left to mourn the deceased could survive.
It is getting to a stage that even the sons of an apparently poor man, would sell their late father's landed property to stage an elaborate funeral ceremony. And in that case, sadly enough, their father who lived his life struggling in penury will lie in-state, in a well-refurbished family house adorned with the proceeds from the sales of his hard-earned assets.
Let those who may argue that the Hausas are frugal with expenses during burial/funerals in obeisance to their predominant Islamic faith, be reminded that the Christian Faith which the Igbos profess, never supported such outrageous expenditure for the dead; and more especially at the expense of the living."
At Independence in 1960, a certain Billionaire statesman and philanthropist, Sir Louis Odumegwu Ojukwu donated the most expensive car of the time to the federal government to ferry Queen Elizabeth II from the airport to Marina Lagos. Yet his death and burial were done with no trivial exuberance. About 12 years after the civil war, another Anambra Billionaire-philanthropist, Chief M.N Ugochukwu, spent a staggering amount of money lobbying relevant federal authorities to make his hometown, the headquarters of old Orumba LGA, and it paid off for the common good of his people. It shows that the current scandalous exhibition of personal wealth to exude affluence was not the original culture of Ndigbo. It is a strange guest introduced by the present generation, that is better served the exit door.
I will conclude with the words of Ezugwu Okike: "Obi Cubana just took funerals to a monumental dimension. From now on, the competition will be for the loudest and most ostentatious funeral. We are largely an uninvolved people. Before now, a man who slaughtered some cows took the "Ogbuefi" title and died partly fulfilled. We are still a consumerist tribe of shoulder-high cow-killers.
This is distressing because as we bury the dead with obscene ostentation, others are traveling to space and planning to help us eliminate our malaria. I need hardly mention again that our society is facing a crisis of bleak and festering poverty.
If you are among those telling people that it is not their money and suggesting that they ought to have no opinion, you are just being a miserable student of logic. As an apple does not fall far from its tree, so does a human society from its values, its priorities. This society needs to be careful with the values it chooses to venerate and hold paramount."
It is not irredeemable yet. Ohaneze Ndigbo, the Igbo traditional rulers council as well as the council of President Generals of different towns in the zone can still save the day if they so choose.
May daylight spare us!
...Ezeh Jude. O is a Laboratory Scientist and Public Affairs Analyst. NNL
