Chief Umunnakwe, one of the clan
heads in Okpuno Otolo, initially treated the information as a rumour when he
received the first report, but he could no longer ignore subsequent factual
reports from eyewitnesses that Mazi Ayezuba his subject, was seen at various
locations at Upper Iweka, Onitsha begging for alms.
The Chief's initial doubt was
reinforced by his knowledge that Ayezuba's junior brother took care of the
school fees of Ayezuba's children, supported the wife's petty trading and had
ensured that foodstuff was not lacking in his brother's home.
"How could it be said that
we have a beggar in our midst?" Chief Umunnakwe asked rhetorically.
"Not in my own time! Chineke ekwekwana ngwere gbaa ajị (meaning "may
God never allow lizards grow hairs"). I will never be a laughing stock at
the meeting of clan heads", the Chief exclaimed.
Begging, as a habit, is a taboo
in Nnewi. Up till today, townsmen who must have learnt the bad habit of begging
from other tribes, travel to far away towns to practice their trade and would
disappear into thin air whenever they sight someone from Nnewi who would
immediately pick harass them and thereafter proceed to report the shameless
beggar to his kinsmen. What on earth would make an Nnewi man become a beggar?
Not even the Nigeria-Biafra civil war could. So many cultural safety nets in
the town from time immemorial have made professional begging unattractive of
ndi Nnewi. For instance, no man and his family can kill and eat alone, a cow or
any animal higher than a goat in size. He must share with his kinsmen. An Nnewi
man could be said to be stingy for economic and investment reasons but not when
a relation is sick, bereaved or suffers a misfortune.
The wealthy in Nnewi ensure that
no family members lacked food and meat during festive periods spread over
quarters. Ogbuefi (i.e the man that donates a cow to his kinsmen) is no longer
a cherished title in Nnewi as many young men, not only would kill cows for
relatives during festive seasons, but also donate rice, beans and salt to their
kinsmen. How would you be regarded as a wealthy man in the community if you
have not awarded scholarships, supported young boys in their trade, built
roads, sunk boreholes or have not put widows and less privileged in your
payroll? An Nnewi rich man is only but a treasurer to his people. He would be
taunted, cajoled and pilloried if his kinsmen feel that he is not spreading his
wealth to the needy. Also, the apprenticeship system or trade mentorship in
Nnewi continuously migrates the hardworking children of the poor to become mega
rich men. Even beggars from other tribes don't find Nnewi town a good business
environment. They would come as beggars and would soon leave or engage in
menial jobs even with their disability.
That was why Chief Umunnakwe felt
very justified when he dispatched four able-bodied young men to Onitsha to do
the needful. The team led by Agumbu, a seven-foot tall head of the village
vigilante, knew what to do in a swift operation like this. It was very easy to
locate Mazi Ayezuba as an advance party had trailed him along his begging
routes at Ama Hausa or a place populated by beggars from the northern part of
Nigeria. Upon sighting Agumbu, Mazi Ayezuba attempted to run but his disabled
legs betrayed him as he only stepped not more than ten yards before the
vigilante head and his boys parceled him into a waiting Mitsubishi L300 bus
hired for the purpose. The new beggar was astonished that anybody could
recognize him after all he did to disguise his identity. He knew that his
kinsmen would come after him if recognized. In the ensuing melee following the
pursuit and eventual capture of their colleague, other Igbo beggars within
eyeshot, except those from the north, ran away as Ayezuba was being
pursued. It appeared as if it was a
daily occurrence for relations of various Igbo towns to come to Onitsha to
catch and take home their own kinsmen who dared come to the township to beg. It
is demeaning to be called a relation of a beggar in Igbo land. The beating in
the bus was not enough.
Mazi Ayezuba was made to tell the
whole assembly of the umunna or kinsmen why he took to begging thereby
disgracing the entire kindred. His pleas to be forgiven was not tenable as he
was given 12 strokes of the cane and a fine of a he-goat. That Mazi Ayezuba was
disabled in the legs was not enough an excuse to warrant taking to begging. He
had himself to blame for his bad legs. He brought it upon himself.
Mazi Ayezuba, against all wise
counsels, continued philandering with the wife of Agwotulumbe, a powerful
native doctor who also doubled as a village rainmaker. Not every young woman
could marry a native doctor without committing adultery. Wives of rain making
doctors are worse. Due to the nature of their job that requires long abstinence
from sex, the wives of native doctors are not wood and would naturally look
elsewhere for sexual satisfaction but at a greater risk to the unthinking male
sex partner.
Dr. Agwotulumbe was convinced
that he was not responsible for his wife's pregnancy as he had abstained from
sex for 3 months to enable him to spiritually prepare for the annual all Igbo
native doctors' competition on who could successfully untie an invisible rope
strapped on the neck of a ram at Arondizogu. The wife confessed that Mazi
Ayezuba was responsible for her pregnancy only after Dr. Agwotulumbe threatened
to inflict her with "ebube agu"- a serious skin disease. She also
confessed to the frequency, where and when the act was done. The fact that Mazi
Ayezuba did the act without a modicum of fear in the house of the great
Agwotulumbe while the dibia was away, was humiliating and annoying making the
native doctor feeling murderous. The interloper needed to be taught a lesson of
his life.
It was a judgment long awaited,
when one day, Mazi Ayezuba woke up in the morning to find his two legs swollen
like the tube of the tyre of a big lorry. The swelling continued until the
fourth day when some sores on the legs erupted and started oozing out very foul
smelling liquid. The legs had become gangrenous or what the locals call
"enyiule". The relatives must do something.
In Nnewi, an illness of a fetish
source like Ayezuba's is never referred to an orthodox medical doctor. The
patient would simply die. All the native doctors engaged to cure Ayezuba upon
divination or "igba afa" said that the person who inflicted the
sickness on him "was holding an ofor" or justified; and that the
patient could respond to treatment only after the "disease inflicter"
was appeased. Native Dr. Agwotulumbe demanded a cow, a ram and a white cock as
a compensation before he would undue the affliction on Ayezuba. The new born
baby would remain his. The sores on the legs healed but the legs were never the
same again as Ayezuba could not walk normally. The legs were three times their
original sizes hence dwarfing his once monstrously big brokus. He moved around
as an ice hockey player would. But his tailor made him bogus trousers to hide
his disability from prying eyes.
After receiving the lashes of
cane as a punishment for venturing into begging, therefore disgracing his
kinsmen, Ayezuba was made to swear that he would never engage in such trade
again. This was followed by a discussion on how to rehabilitate him and keep
him busy. One of the relations offered him employment as a day watchman in his
house, a job that attracted a monthly pay but particularly ensured that
Ayezuba's whereabouts was known to all. Federal government of Nigeria would
soon realize that no Nnewi citizen would come up to receive the beggarly N5,000
earmarked as a monthly allowance to the "poorest of the poor or the most
vulnerable in the society". There is a rumour that the stipend is meant
for beggars.
A real Nnewi man would rather die
than to become a professional beggar. But his kinsmen will never allow him to
die. We have own people's issues as a town but our motto of "onye aghana
nwanne ya" meaning "nobody should forsake a relation in need"
has remained in our DNA.
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