The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo; Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri and Minister of Youths and Sports Development, Dr. Jamila Bio Ibrahim, over the weekend graced this year’s annual Amaseikumor festival organized by Ijaws
Also in attendance were Senators, House of Representatives members, Bayelsa and Delta Houses of Assembly Speakers, as well as members, traditional rulers from all the ethnic groups in the Niger Delta attended the carnival-like festival.
The Amaseikumor festival, a yearly cleansing ritual, is one of the ancient traditional celebrations of the Gbaramatu people, which was handed to them by their forebears.
The pilgrimage-like festival of Amaseikumor worship is believed to have been rekindled under the leadership of Tompolo.
Besides the land cleansing rites by the Amaseikumor, the festival also showcased dance troupes from various Ijaw kingdoms, traditional wrestling and tug-of-war competition.
Ijaws believed the weeklong festival is significant because, at the end of the celebration, the people of Gbaramatu kingdom usually enjoy unprecedented peace and unity within and outside the kingdom, and that the Amaseikumor is a deity of peace.
In a chat with journalists at the colourful event, Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Chief Festus Keyamo and the National President of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Comrade Alhassan Yahaya and popular environmental rights activist, Comrade Sheriff Mulade urged Nigerians to live in peace and unity.
They made the call during the grand finale of the festival held at Oporoza, Headquarters of Gbaramatu Kingdom in Warri South-West Local Government Area of Delta State.
Keyamo noted that with Amaisekumor festival, the Ijaws of Gbaramatu Kingdom have brought peace amongst the ethnic groups in the Niger Delta region.
He stressed that like the Argungun festival, the Amaseikumor festival being celebrated by the People of Gbaramatu Kingdom brings peace, unity and harmony.
“Amaseikumor festival represents the people of Niger Delta. We must do everything as a people to preserve our culture and traditions. This is our identity as a people”, he said.
National President of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) Comrade Alhassan Yahaya commended the people of Gbaramatu Kingdom for organizing the Amaseikumor festival.
While noting that it was a way of preserving the Nigerian culture, Comrade Yahaya also encouraged the various ethnic groups and tribes in the Country to showcase their culture to the world.
He added that Nigerians should promote things that will bring unity to the country and prayed that God gives the people of Gbaramatu the strength to sustain their culture through the Amaseikumor festival.
An environmental right activist and Gbaramatu chief, Comrade Sheriff Mulade, said the essence of the festival was to promote peace amongst the Ijaw Nation and the people of Nigeria.
He said political gladiators in the country should take advantage of the festival by promoting peace instead of war.
“It is important for us to work as a people in unity because there will be peace across the Niger Delta and Nigeria at large”, he added.
