The King of Igbo community in Ghana, His Royal Majesty, Amb.Chukwudi Ihenetu has marked 12 years anniversary on his throne.
The celebration was aimed to diverse accomplishments and elevation of the Igbo culture and traditions.
The King in an interview revealed that the late Ikemba, Chief Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, created Diaspora kingship for Igbos in order to preserve their culture in foreign land.
He added that the annual New Yam festival that started in 2010 has become a celebration of African rich culture from Igbo perspectives.
The purpose of the Diaspora throne he said has not fully achieved its goals, while expressing optimism of achieving greater thing years to come.
He noted that the Igbos in the diaspora have been able to have town hall meetings to educate its people on how to live in a foreign land as foreigners living in Ghana who must therefore respect the rules and regulations of the land, and not to violate it.
The King recalled that about 13 years ago, the Igbos in the diaspora were tagged as people who misbehave by doing things that are against the rules and regulations of the land, adding that for the past 12 years on the throne, he ensured that he kept cleaning up the minds of the people to let them know that as a foreigner, you do what the owners of the land want and not what you like.
This among others he said have been achieved.
“One thing about education is that when you enlightened someone, you also transfer that knowledge to someone else. That’s why, as new people are coming in, those already armed with the knowledge are transferring it to the newcomers” he noted.
He revealed that the Igbo community have achieved good relationships with their host nation, Ghana, in the area of tradition, culture, and government and have been able to convince the host nation that the Igbos are not here to compete with the authority or challenge their laws, rather to live in peace and harmony so they could engage in their commerce and trade.
Many years back, you could see some Ghanaians fighting Nigerians on the streets and markets because some of our people did not understand that they are not Ghanaians and that they needed to conform with the laws of their host country, Ghana”.
He called on Ghanaians, most especially, those who had one or two things against Nigerians, to know that we are brothers and sisters stating that they have been able to educate their Ghanaian friends who were disturbing them at the market that the Igbos were not in the country to challenge them but to engage in legitimate trade, which would also help to boost the Ghanaian economy.
“When you talk about business, it is all about competition. What I have in my store may not be what you have and vice versa. So we need one another in a symbiotic manners. My goods may not be the same as yours. The source may also differ. Some buy from manufacturers, others may buy from distributors.
The Price people get from manufacturers would certainly differ. We are strategic partners with the sole aim of growing the economy.”
Highlighting on Igbo culture he stated that it is all about celebrating their Igbo New Yam festival, unity, love among ourselves, celebrating peace and celebrating being your brothers keeper.
He added that their culture and tradition are all about love and coming together and that the history of Ndigbo is a powerful history that many people want to emulate.
“We that are Igbos always want to give out goods to our brothers on credit, the same way we also give to some of our Ghanaian brothers. So we are not afraid of ourselves that our brothers would run away with the goods because we have structures, like local government meetings, town unions, and town hall meetings of our communities” he noted
The introduction of Igbo culture in Ghana, according to him has also given them a sense of belonging and thanked the people of Ghana for accepting them while insisting that Igbo culture is not here to challenge the Ghanaian tradition but to enable their son’s and daughters to be connected to their roots.
