Asaba:town Charmed By A Bookish Professor

I first saw Asaba in the bloom of childhood.

Nigeria was rising gradually from the ashes of internecine war that abated in 1970.

Nwadini my whimsical mum took me on a trip to Onitsha market years after the war, to behold a spectacle.

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Ensconced in an old but iron cast Peugeot 4O4 van, that roared down the hilly rainforest landscape of Okpanam,we zoomed through Asaba, crushing across fleeting images of rustic buildings and dusty hedges.

The streets were narrow and winding as we journeyed, my attention glued on scarcely clad kids playing in small clusters. Some of the children nearby,whooped and jumped with excitement at each blast of the “pam pam” honk of our chauffeured truck. My inability to join them in the surreal scenario somehow kept me rueing.

My tender senses assailed by the tranquil breezy surrounding, nestled on the bank of River Niger. A restive ocean of water surged spectacular scenes of spiralling waves in staccato splashes. Asaba flickered eerie, yet calm, unhurried and sleepy.

Earlier, a fictional encounter had fixated my psyche after reading Chinua Achebe’s “Chike And The River”, a delightful novel about the adventures of a little school boy (Chike) and his holiday fantasies about visiting Asaba from Umuofia.

The two unforgettable gifts – the adolescence novel and expedition to Onitsha all by Nwadini ( God bless her beautiful soul) formed my earliest knowledge of Asaba – unknown to no one ,the future capital of Delta.

Then, fate brought me to Asaba ,even as an itinerant resident since 2011. The power of imagination was no longer from the eyes of a child.

If Asaba were to be a woman, she would have attracted a thousand suitors! Among Nigeria’s 36 state capitals, it is arguably the only headquarter free from a common vulnerability. Ethnicity is not clearly pronounced in Asaba. The town is Delta-Anioma – Ibo by origin but her sociological flavour is overly cosmopolitan , liberal in character and tribal- blind in embrace.

Lagos prides itself as “no man’s land”, euphemism for inclusiveness yet it is profusely Yoruba in appeal.

Every part of the East bears certain “Igboness”

Benin the “twin sister” of Asaba has a peculiar cultural marker unapologetically monolithic – bini.

Northern state capitals ring and reek true of either Hausa or Fulani.

This paradigm shift does not in any way suggest that Asaba is unclassifiable or amorphous by genealogical or cultural predilections.

It speaks natty and noble of a paradise city divinely created to serve as treasure trove of human brotherhood, matchless model of accommodation and universal home of oneness.A thing of beauty is a blessing to everyone. Today Nigerians from all quarters are settling in Asaba.

But what has romanticized the appeal of Asaba most is perhaps in the title of this piece.The emerging cultural Renaissance of the Asagba of Asaba. Both past and present royal actors.

Obi Professor Chike Edozien came, planted glory all over Asaba and flew home on eagle wings.

Obi Professor Epiphany Chigbogwu Azinge (SAN) took the mantle to light up Asaba in an unprecedented amazing glow. He is remaking and rebranding the ancient city in sparkles of modernism.

His security and peace actions in the town, within a short period of his coronation are now exemplary templates among the comity of Delta communities in search of sanity in a decadent world.

A bold chivalrous queue following the enabling environment set by a development-savvy governor, Rt.Hon.Sheriff Oborevwori,
encouraged by his predecessors and enamoured with continuity and competence.

Asaba Amaka! Even with basic human challenges.

Long reign “Okilolo” the great thinker, the philosopher- king who kindled my childhood memory of Asaba.

-Norbert Chiazor
Veteran Journalist/Media leader.