“There would be no better way to mourn this great father of faith other than live in every bit, the great legacies of brotherhood and service to humanity that he lived for all his life”
‘Abuali’ is the Ohafia word for the ‘Puff Adder’ a highly venomous snake commonly found on grasslands. The snake is quiet and swift in its attack at intruders. This is the name a young man from Amaekpu Ohafia, an indigenous performer, has chosen to be identified with.
If you are a regular visitor to many public functions in Ohafia you might have come across this tall muscled dark figure, a young man painted in soot from head to toe, decorated with fetish figurines, sometimes he clung on a chopped off carved human head, sometimes adorned in exotic animal skins and at other times he goes in company of the real ‘devil’ a dwarfed fetish masquerade, a moving figure with live burning coals of fire on its head while ‘Abuali’ leads the procession walking on his toes, a really scary figure at first sight!
This is ‘Abuali’ the sole indigenous performer, fetish, somewhat scary with a costume said to be alien to the Ohafia culture. Nevertheless the young man has found a footing as he saunters at every event, invited or uninvited, ‘Abuali’ has found a body to tell a story, culturally deep and laden with curiosity at those ancestral histories, we the ‘ignorant educated’ generation continue to struggle to accept, denying our past in the name of civilization and religion.
On this fateful date, the Great Evangelist, the Rev. Dr, Uma Ukpai has been invited as a Special Guest of Honor to this occasion at the housewarming ceremony of a young man from one of those villages in Ohafia, ‘Abuali’ showed up in his usual costumes, on sighting the location where ‘Papa Uma Ukpai’ was sitting, he sauntered up to him on his toes, stopped before the Great Servant of the most High God, the orderlies dares to stop him but ‘Papa’ the Rev. Dr. Uma Ukpai took a careful look and gave a quiet nod, then ‘Abuali’ raised his voice in high pitch chanting deep cultural incantations in praise of the great son of Ohafia, his spiritual and physical exploits, a cultural pillar adored both by the divine and the ‘unchristianed.’
I stood behind the canopy and watched with keen interest as ‘Papa’ Uma Ukpai closed his eyes as in a trance, smiling as he listens to ‘Abuali’ incantation.
When it does appeared ‘Abuali’ has delivered the message from the ancestors, Papa Uma Ukpai gave him a salutary nod with a smile, and he sauntered away walking on his toes, feeling fulfilled.
This scene takes me back, during the 2023 Political campaigns, I had accompanied a very important ‘Ohafia big man’ on a ride, an award recipient from many Churches for his religious participations, while we were driving off the campaign ground at Central Primary School, a stranger barged into the car, a masquerade with a burning clay pot firmly placed on its head, the leader, a young man painted in soot from head to toe had stationed himself in front of the car asking for tokens, the ‘big man’ born again Christian elder, seated at the Driver’s seat shouted ‘blood of Jesus.’ ‘What is this?, He quickly wound up the louvers and declined to give the ‘devil’ any attention, “this is satanic” He retorted, this should no longer be tolerated, No, no, this is not acceptable”, he vehemently refuse to oblige while the masquerade itself refuse to budge.
After having spent about 20 minutes on one spot, one of us in the car volunteered to dip his hand in the pocket and give something to the masquerade and his team.
While we drove off, the man of God fumed; “this should not be tolerated at all, giving any form of consent to these strange masquerades signifies support to the ‘devil’, the children of God should not be seen among such infidels.”
“As I watched and read tributes upon commentaries flying across every platform, I learned one greatest lesson of a lifetime from this great icon of faith and culture. The strength of Character, the bond of family and the Cultural connectivity of all humanity, you cannot afford to live and love humanity in all its frailness if you lack these attributes”
And it did happened that, that ‘infidel’ that should be shut out, not tolerated and condemned is ‘Abuali’ the drab, soot painted young man that has found a body to practice an art that is not just alien but unacceptable irrespective of its cultural inclination and ancestral significance in a society drifting without regard nor honor to its history.
This was the same man, the great father of faith; the Reverend Dr. Uma Ukpai had welcomed with a smile, listened to his incantation and gave him that salutary nod of family and community.
There wouldn’t have been any other message so deep, that one of the greatest leaders of the Pentecostal movement in Nigeria from Ohafia, gave the ‘Unchristianed’ ‘Abuali’ a place in his heart, a smile and friendship, fatherhood and that spiritual connectivity between the divine and the physical.
Today, while we wounded up our louvers and shut our doors to those ‘infidels’ among us, I see many ‘Abuali’ in their different attires, in sizes and colors while we take pride in our ‘born again Christian civility and comfort.
I see many masquerades representing the “Abuali’ and his team in our community and their only sin is identifying with their roots, connecting with the ancestors, those who led the discoveries to every settlement, pathways to every village we call home today.
As we celebrate the demise of one of the greatest Ohafia sons, father, uncle, grandfather to many and spiritual leader, the Great Rev. Dr. Uma Ukpai, memories of this great man will live in the great legacies of his exploits across the world, his courage, faith in God almighty and his love for humanity, culturally rooted in the Ohafia culture of family and the community.
Between the great Evangelist and his people, there was an uncommon magnetic force that was almost inseparable, his love for the ordinary people of Ohafia, his participation in the community service and the spiritual role he played at large between his people, their culture and the divine.
And I would post that there would be no better way to mourn this great father of faith other than live in every bit, the great legacies of brotherhood and service to humanity that he lived for all his life
“One of the greatest cultural icon from Ohafia, spiritual leader who made popular the famous “Chineke m kaa, asim gi kaa Papa” gospel anthem
Rev. Dr. Uma Ukpa live and carried the Ohafia culture with ecclesiastical pride in all his signature evangelism the ‘Greater Ohafia for Christ Crusade’, as one of the serving Ushers, I stood amazed listening to Papa Uma Ukpai preaches and communicate with ease in deep Ohafia dialect without a single mix of English language at a time when it was a common practice among many Pentecostal Pastors to bamboozle their audience with highfalutin English words
Papa Uma Ukpai associated with all, thrived and invested heavily in his community, built Healthcare centers with his own money, build Institutions of Learning, supported his age grades made up of both the ‘unchristianed’ including the ‘Abualis’ and the born again Christians, He was down to earth with everyone, young and old, the Rev. Dr. Uma Ukpai gave his all
As I watched and read tributes upon commentaries flying across every platform, I learned one greatest lesson of a lifetime from this great icon of faith and culture. The strength of Character, the bond of family and the Cultural connectivity of all humanity, you cannot afford to live and love humanity in all its frailness if you lack these attributes, you cannot serve God enough if you lack that genuine empathy for humanity and all its weakness, strength and deficiencies.
In the encounter between the great spiritual leader and ‘Abuali’ I learned that golden message that says; we are all children of God, and assigned a greater responsibility of love and service to humanity and our community, God does not wind up his louvers or shut his doors against us at any time for all our weakness, deficiencies and ignorance, God’s love is made manifest on this premise and that is the greatest legacy Papa Uma Ukpai is leaving here with us, to follow that path of honor in service to God and his creations, only then will our mourning be of great impact to our loss of our father in Christ and blood.
