Festival and Civil War

Name: Festival and Civil War
Price: $24.99 USD
Author: Tony Okonmah
ISBN: 9781543417098

Agony of a Seven Year Old

by Tony Okonmah

Formats

Hardcover

$24.99

Softcover

$15.99

E-Book

$3.99

Hardcover

$24.99

Book Details

Language : English

Publication Date : 5/16/2017

Format : Hardcover

Dimensions : 6x9

Page Count : 98

ISBN : 9781543417098

Format : Softcover

Dimensions : 6x9

Page Count : 98

ISBN : 9781543417104

Format : E-Book

Dimensions : N/A

Page Count : 98

ISBN : 9781543417111

About the Book

There is nothing as entertaining as reliving some forlorn events. This account is of some events that a young man thought he had lost, but in fact, they are alive in retrospect, in his psyche, and his personality. For him to be able to bring back this vivid recreation of the past and to make it alive are the handiwork of a gifted craftsman with great imagination and a vivid sense of history and emotional balance. Anyone who had witnessed the Nigerian Civil War at the Asaba/Illah axis would really feel this genuine rehearsal of the events as if they happened just a few days ago. Festival and Civil War: The Agony of a Seven Year Old is a book of legacy.

About the Author

Tony Okonmah, a writer and author is a career finance and business processes development and management consultant. A Fellow Member of the Chartered Management Institute, UK, Tony has written several other books including “The Lies of an Honest Man”, and “The Mystery of our Friendship”. Tony a seasoned columnist for most international financial newspapers and magazines, holds a Master degree in Business Administration from the prestigious South bank University, London, and a BSc in Estate Management besides other financial qualifications and memberships. Tony is also a Minister of religion and event speaker, and social and equality activist. Tony resides in London with his wonderful family and is well travelled.

Customer Reviews

I feel very elated today to be asked to perform the task of Book Reviewer on this occasion of the launching of a book that concerns my home town, Illah. As somebody who has also written about the town, in my book, The Firsts in Illah, I rejoice with the author of this book we are here to launch, in the person of Tony Okonmah, for joining the ranks of those who have written on Illah. In this wise, I must mention the likes of the late Ogbueni Emeka Agadah and the late Ogbuenyi R.B.K. Onochie, who contributed their quota to the documentation of Illah’s ancient and contemporary history whether as University research project or as a full-fledged book.
Preamble
The book that has brought all of us here today is titled Festival and Civil War and contains 79 pages. It was published by the publishing House known as Xlibris in the UK, in June 2017, less than 4 months ago and it is available in both soft cover and hard cover. There is no indication on how much the book sells for.
Thematic interest of the book
The book has two major concerns that constitute its thematic content. Going by the title, it is clear that it has to do with a particular festival, (that of the annual festival in the town of Illah) as well as recounting the story of the civil war (and how it affected the people of Illah). The author uses the opportunity to pay homage to those who worked with his father, the Obi-Ogbelani to sustain peace and harmony during his 27 years reign as the monarch in Illah and especially during the troubled war years at Illah.
Structure
The book, which is divided into two unequal Parts, contains 17 chapters in all. The first part is from Chapter 1 to chapter 13, while the second part is from chapter 14 to chapter 17. I will attempt to briefly summarise the chapters as follows, in order to guide prospective readers of the book:
Part 1
Chapter 1: This is the introduction in which the author describes the joy, peace and tranquillity which the town of Illah was experiencing before the outbreak of the civil war. He explains how the joy and peace derived from the annual traditional festivities knew no bounds and how, as a young child of 7 years, he used to look forward to the occasion.
Chapter 2: This chapter describes the beginning of the annual festival which is characterised by the Ekpensu festival, which he always looked forward to, but which the civil war deprived him of.
Chapter 3: In this chapter, the author describes the resumption of the festival, the first since the war broke out in 1967. It talks about the curiosity of the 7 year child and how he almost over-stepped his bounds in relation to the mysteries surrounding the forest spirits.
Chapter 4: This is a follow up on the descriptions of the activities of the festival such as the ife ilo and egede anyasi events.
Chapter 5: The chapter tells us how these activities were disrupted with the outbreak of the war. The author tells how his father, the Obi-Ogbelani at the time, strategized to save his people from disaster and avoid the fate that befell the Asaba people on that fateful day of 7th October 1967.
Chapter 6: This is one of the longest chapters in the book and depicts what the author’s family went through during the war and how the family was each time saved miraculously from the high-handedness and overzealousness of some military personnel at Illah at the time.
Chapter 7: The story returns to the end of war times and recalls the jubilation that heralded the news of cessation of hostilities.
Chapter 8: This chapter focuses on the monarch, the biological father of the author and the cooperation he received from his palace chiefs.
Chapter 9: The author seizes the opportunity of the visit of his oldest brother and his family to their Illah home, to explain to certain traditional ways of greeting the monarch at Illah (in the day time and in the evening/night time).
Chapter 10: Again, the author dwells on the personality of his father, the Obi-Ogbelani at the time and tells us about his close attachment to him.
Chapter 11: The attention in this chapter is on the Ogbelani’s sister, Omu Nweme Ogo and how she supported her brother doggedly throughout the period.
Chapter 12: The author in this chapter pays eloquent tributes to the late Obi Chime of Ajaji quarters of Illah, his father’s loyal friend. He is touched by the magnanimity of Obi Chime in conceding the Obiship to his father during the tussle for the crown. Obi Chime is presented here not only as a faithful friend of his father’s, but a great Illah patriot and indeed, a man with a large heart! Chapter13: This chapter is also a tribute to the then Omu of Illah, Omu Nwatumujo, who was the Omu of Illah during the civil war, for the unflinching support she gave to the Obi-Ogbelani. She tried to encourage the Obi by predicting that no Illah life would be lost on Illah soil as a result of encounter with soldiers during the period.
Part 2
Chapter 14: The chapter deals with the influx of Biafran immigrants into Illah immediately after the civil war and their immense contribution towards the post-war socio-economic recovery of Illah as they functioned as artisans, domestics, petty traders and so on. but points out that with them came the trade of prostitution in the town.
Chapter 15: Takes a look at the restoration of certain events of the festival in the community such as the Igwu Uje festival carnival, the igba mgba (Wrestling) festival.
Chapter 16: The author describes the village by village carnivals which also form part of the annual festival and names them as follows: - Ibu isi atu by Ajaji, Ogbeolu and Umute-Edem; the igba-iwu Carnival by Umutei and Ogbe Orji, and Ukwukpe, by Umuagwu.
Chapter 17: The author titles this last chapter “The festival Break”. The break is marked by a final carnival known as the Iyorka festival which is performed to determine the best fish farmer of the farming year to be honoured accordingly.
Style and Presentation
The author adopts a semi-autobiographical style in the presentation of the book. He clearly identifies himself as that 7 year old boy and son to the Obi-Ogbelani when the Nigerian civil war broke out in 1967. He further reveals how he was personally involved in the story he tells. He invariably uses a mixture of the first and third person narrative approach. However, the first person narrative dominates the story as we see in chapters 3, 6,7,8,10,11 and 15, leaving us with little doubt about the auto-biographical inclination of the story. The third person narrative is used in the remaining chapters where the author recalls the impersonal story of the war events.
The language is simple and straight forward and devoid of unnecessary high sounding and clumsy words. The chapters are short and concise and help to sustain the reader’s interest till the end of the story as the story moves rapidly from scene to another. However, attention must be drawn to a few grammatical slips and a few mistakes attributable to the printer’s devil. It is necessary to correct these little errors when a reprint becomes necessary
I must say that I do not agree with the publisher’s declaration on the copyright page which reads thus: “This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the author’s imagination or are used the fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual person, living or dead, events or locales is entirely co-incidental”, for we all know that the characters in the book, including the 7 year old child (at the beginning of the war, who attained the age of ten when the war ended, are real!
Conclusion
In conclusion, I want to say that I recommend this book to every Illah indigene and indeed to every Anioma indigene. I find it suitable for researchers in Anioma contemporary history. It is strongly recommended to our Illah younger generation who are usually not conversant with the history and traditions of our people. The book is a good tonic that will awaken our sense of history of our past. In this regard, I consider it most significant and that we are launching this book on the day, 50 years ago, our brothers and sisters were massacred at Asaba. I therefore wish to dedicate this review of the book to the everlasting memory of those who died as a result of that massacre.
Thank you for listening.

Professor Cyril Mokwenye
7th October, 2017.

Cyril Mokwenye ((Professor of Linguistics, University of Benin, Nigeria))

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