Asaba Indigenes Rejoice as the Tone of Their Christmas Celebration is Set

Men, women and youths of Asaba, on Thursday, 18th December, experienced, for the first time, the intervention of their community in the celebration of Christmas.

Cows, goats and bags of rice were gifted to them and their joy knew no bounds.

Each of the five Ebos (Quarters), namely: Umuezei, Ugbomanta, Umuagu, Umuaji and Umuonaje, received a big cow and eight 50kg bags of rice for the men, a goat and 15 bags of rice for the women and a goat and 5 bags of rice for the youths.

Speaking on the occasion, the Asagba of Asaba, His Royal Majesty, Prof Epiphany Azinge, SAN, OON, FNIALS; reiterated his commitment to addressing the welfare concerns of the people.

Asagba Prof Azinge said he did not believe in the norm that the King should be the one to receive gifts from the people, stressing that “there comes a time the reverse should be the case, and the Christmas season is such a time”.

He thanked the Asaba Welfare and Endowment Fund Community for working in line with his vision of improving the quality of life of the people, emphasizing the need for privileged sons and daughters of the community, at home and in the diaspora, to contribute to the welfare and well-being of others.

According to the forward-thinking Monarch: “If I say that I want to shift from traditional rulership to traditional governance, may be people don’t seem to understand the underpinning. If you are leading a people you must care for them and think about their well-being at all times.

“For me, this is a clear demonstration that we cannot sit in our comfort zone, in our respective palaces and wine and dine without giving a damn about how our subjects spend their Christmas; whether they have or not, especially when we have the elderly, the widows, the vulnerable in our midst. We must show concern.

“We may not have done it in the scale and magnitude that one would have envisaged, but even a cup of rice may change the narrative for many families. And that’s why I have said that it is not just the palace, other well meaning sons and daughters of Asaba who are blessed and privileged can also replicate what we have done so that together we can put smiles on the faces of our people.

“And I need to let you know that it’s not just the palace alone, the community also contributed through the Welfare and Endowment Fund and we all know how the money came about. If you are taking the Alor title, you give N2 million, the Olinzele title, you give N5 million and for the Obi Eze title, it is N10 million. So, we’ve been using that money for scholarships, empowerment of the widows, for bursary to our students in tertiary institutions and we are now using it for this.

“We are also going to use part of it for the Asaba Day celebration and every other thing. So, when people give and they see that you are utilising their contributions judiciously they are happy, but the major thing is to touch the life of our people, and I believe that by what we have done today, we have successfully touched the lives of Asaba people and I can conveniently go to the palace and sit very well”.

Representatives of the men, women and youths from each of Ebos who spoke, thanked the Asagba for carrying Asaba people along in his leadership, describing the Christmas gifts as the first of their kind in the history of Asaba.