Uburu Ekwe

Uburu Ekwe
Autonomous Community
Uburu Ekwe
Coordinates: NG 5°41′2″N 7°4′8″E / 5.68389°N 7.06889°ECoordinates: NG 5°41′2″N 7°4′8″E / 5.68389°N 7.06889°E
Country	Nigeria
State	Imo State
Headquarters	Eziekwe
Government
• Eze	Nicholas Nnanna Ibekwe
Time zone	WAT (UTC+1)
Postcode	474121

Uburu Ekwe is an autonomous community in Ekwe Community in Isu Local Government Area of Imo State, Nigeria. It comprises four main villages and several kindreds and clans. The villages that make up Uburu Ekwe are Umuduruehie, Umuokwara, Eziekwe and Odicheku. The headquarters of Uburu Ekwe is located at Eziekwe.

Location and Geography

Uburu Ekwe is located in the northern part of Ekwe in southern part of Isu Local Government Area of Imo State. Uburu Ekwe is bounded to the East by Isu Njaba, to the South by Ekwe Nwe Orie, to the West by Ebenator and to the North by Okwudor.

Origin and Genealogy of Uburu Ekwe

The historical origin of Uburu Ekwe is based on oral myth passed from generation to generation. The origin is linked to the origin of Ekwe Community and can be traced to the Progenitor, Nnamike Onuoma who is believed to be the founder of Ekwe by oral myth and legend. Nnamike Onuoma had two sons Ekwe and Okwudor. Okwudor separated from his brother Ekwe and crossed the Njaba River at Eziekwe and found a landmass there to found the Okwudor community.

Ekwe had two sons- Ekwe Nwe Orie and Ekwe Nwe Nkwo. Ekwe Nwe Orie was the Diokwara (First Son) of Ekwe. The number of daughters and wives Ekwe had is not known because of the less importance attached to women in Igboland in those days.

Ekwe Nwe Orie had seven sons. The sons were: Umudibi, Ibeama, Umuduru, Eluama, Obara, Umudiwoha and Ebenano. These sons founded the seven villages that make up Ekwe Nwe Orie today and the villages bear their names till date.

Ekwe Nwe Nkwo had seven sons. The sons were Eziekwe, Umuduruehie, Umuokwara, Odicheku, Unuokorokoro, Umuduruewuru and Eluama. These sons founded seven villages that bear their names till today.

Eluama, Umuduruewuru and Umukorokoro separated from the rest of their brothers and crossed the Iyi Abalaka and found a landmass there to found the Ebenator Ekwe Community. The landmass is known as Okwuotiri. The rest of Ekwe still refer to Ebenator as Okwuotiri till today. The four children of Ekwe Nwe Orie stayed put and founded the Uburu Ekwe Community which is today a politically Autonomous Community. Ebenator is also a political Autonomous Community today.

Creation of Uburu Ekwe Autonomous Community

The former Ekwe Autonomous Community was made up of 14 villages. The villages are: Umudibi, Ibeama, Umuduru, Eluama, Obara, Umudiwoha and Ebenano - known as Ekwe Nwe Orie; Umuduruehie, Umuokwara, Odicheku and Eziekwe - known as Uburu Ekwe; Umuokorokoro, Eluama and Umuduruewuru - known as Ebenator. Umudibi was the headquarters.

The clamour for the creation of more Autonomous Communities out of Ekwe Autonomous Community was started by Ebenator Community who felt that they were marginalised in Ekwe Community because of their small size (they were the smallest in terms of population and size). Their clamour gained momentum in the 1970s as they unofficially seceded from Ekwe Autonomous Community. This was seen in the founding of their own parallel Town Union (Ebenator Ekwe Improvement Union) and the breakaway from the celebration of common events and ceremonies like the Annual Ekwe Day – Ebenator started celebrating their own Annual Ebenator Day – in the 1980s. Despite their secession, they formed a weak alliance with Ekwe Community.

Uburu Ekwe made up of Eziekwe, Umuduruehie, Umuokwara and Odicheku started their agitation for the creation of Uburu Ekwe Autonomous Community later. The Uburu Ekwe people felt that they were also marginalised in the scheme of things in Ekwe Autonomous Community. The first step towards actualisation of Uburu Ekwe Autonomous Community was taken when Uburu Ekwe broke away from Ekwe Autonomous Community in the celebration of common events and festivals and formation of parallel Town Union and community organisations – Uburu Ekwe started a parallel Town Union known as Uburu Ekwe Development Union and Annual Uburu Ekwe Day in late 1980s.

Ekwe Nwe Orie protested against the unofficial secession of Uburu Ekwe from Ekwe Autonomous Community but Uburu Ekwe persisted with their agitation only formed weak alliance with Ekwe Community in legal and official matters. This dream was finally realised with the creation of the Uburu Autonomous Community by the administration of Achike Udenwa in 2002. The struggle for the creation of Uburu Ekwe Autonomous Community was fought by many of Uburu Ekwe sons and daughters.

Language and Ethnicity

The people of Uburu Ekwe are ethnically Igbos and they speak the Orlu variant of the Igbo Language dialect.

Religion

There is freedom of worship in the town. The people of Uburu Ekwe hold religious belief to a high esteem and religion plays a central role in their daily life. The people believe in the supremacy of God Almighty. They usually pray before the opening of any official function and say closing prayer before rounding it up.

Today, the people are predominantly Christians of different denominations. Anglican Church has the largest following in the town because it was the first church that was located in the town. The St Andrew Anglican Church located in Umuduruehie village was founded in 1936. It is seen as the official church of the town by many of the indigenes and has the largest congregation in the town. Recently, other Christian denominations such as Deeper Life Bible Church, Catholic Church etc. have started locating their churches in the town. The Christians have been organising Revivals and Crusades in the town aimed at converting the few non-Christians to Christians.

Before the advent of Christianity, the people worshipped African Indigenous Religion. Some of the people especially the older generation still practice African Traditional Religion bequeathed to them by their fore fathers till date. There are still some of the older generation that still practice both African Traditional Religion and Christianity.

Festivals and Culture

• Ogho – celebrated by three of the four villages, Umuokwara being the only exception.
• Okorosha – celebrated by only Umuokwara village.
• Ekeleke – celebrated by only Umuduruehie village.
• Iriji (New Yam Festival) – celebrated by the four villages that make up Uburu Ekwe.

Ekeleke

Ekeleke is a cultural festival celebrated by the people of Umuduehie village in Uburu Ekwe. It is celebrated annually during the Christmas and New Year festive period. It holds for two days between 25 December to the first week of January in Umuduruehie Village Square known as Ama Ukwu.

Ekeleke is a finely choreographed stilt masquerade dance, performed by a group of men with figurative headgear dancing to the tune of musical instrument by the side. The musical instrument consists of side drum, gong, ogene, flute etc. played melodiously by a group of men.

Ekeleke masquerades wear George-cloth wrappers and cover their faces with piece of lace and atop their heads is a figurative headdress, dance gracefully on short stilts

Notable People

• Apollos Okwuchi Nwauwa - Director, Africana Studies Program, Bowling Green State University, Ohio, USA