THE LITERARY AND MANIFEST MEANING OF THE "EKPO STORY" IN " BECAUSE I AM BANTU; THE EKPO STORY"
BY HON PATTY ETETE INEMEH
Even I myself the author of the book as at the time that I was searching for a caption to give the book which was an expression of thoughts of understanding of my personal view of what I believed was part of the major reasons for the myriads of both the unseen and seen actions that are yet again directly or indirectly responsible for the occurrences and seeming insurmountable unprecedented occurrences of the manifestation of strange values in different manifestations vis Boko Haram, Badoo, Ipob, Cult gangs both the seen and unseen, including crave for unquenchable strange desires eg other peoples Wives including your brothers and friends and vice versa to the opposite sex, Extreme corruption, Tribalism, nepotism, unbridled favouritism, so called farmers and herdsmen clashes etc. Much as we are aware that it is part of human nature to be a little bit or even more sentimental towards love of self first and foremost before Love of his closest family, his closest next door neighbours before his immediate environment seeing that he is incapable of obeying strictly Gods number one command to mankind as captured in Luke 10vs 25-37 but for emphasis and highlight I shall summarise through vs 37 the last chapter thus "...And he said, he that shewed mercy(The good Samaritan) on him.Then said Jesus unto him, Go and do Likewise ". This is one of the greatest principles responsible for peace and prosperity in a society. If people could take out time to reflect on the relevance of this theme "Mercy" in almost their every day Lives engagement between neighbours, family, friends and partners rather than evil thoughts, evil machinations etc when there is a proliferation of agents and occurrences of the opposite of mercy at a given time it can only spell doom and more doom for the society. So the choice of the word "Ekpo" was from both the literal and manifest meaning of the word from the point of the Bantu Annang speaking people being the manifest/observable meaning and Ekpo directly translated literarily to English language as Spirits, ghosts of the departed, an unseen person watching etc. Now it was always during the Ekpo seasons
That manifest crimes and ills that affected the collective survival, prosperity and future survival of the society where exposed openly through both her assumed heavenly inspired drumming, dance steps and background vocal renditions. In those days it was regarded as an anathema or taboo if the masquerade or Ekpo sang about the ills or crimes committed by a particular so called influential "big" man or role model. This action of expose is akin to a " Higher unseen spirit force " of which almighty God the Highest Priest through his Son Jesus Christ who is seated in heaven is always looking down on us both in our innermost private secret moments and secret thoughts of both good and evil at a particular point. He knows everything and he is about to surprise mankind by exposing most of those our innermost thoughts which we felt was done in the secrets without any one knowing or seeing so that the whole world would realise in this our short life time that truly "There is God ooh". So the word the Ekpo story confirms the fact that yes the Bantu heritage was not wrong in propounding the age Long Ubuntu philosophy literarily meaning "I am because you are" or the Annang cultural philosophy of wealth creation, "Imoadeagwo" meaning that people constitute wealth rather than material or worldly things . My conviction in writing both the book "The Ekpo story" , the name , the dance drama was primarily to alert the world about the dangers of keeping quiet and allowing more evil to thrive, multiply and continue unabated and also let people know that it is not about the govt of the day but in changing our mindsets through support of the sincere programmes of the Pmb regime which I believe is sincerely out to redirect our thoughts and attention towards proper ways of doing things. All these prayers, hope, name of the book "The Ekpo story " derives its biblical justification from Luke 12 vs 2-9 " For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid that shall not be known. Therefore whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the Light;and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops.And I say unto you my friends, be not afraid of them that kill the body and after that they have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear; Fear him, which after he had killed hath power to cast into hell (permanent perdition); yea I say unto you fear him. Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one is forgotten by God? But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore; ye are of more value than the sparrows.Also I say unto you whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the son of man also confess before angels of God. But he that denieth me before men shall be denied before the angels of God." More excerpts from Because I am Bantu: The Ekpo story by Hon Patty Etete Inemeh Www.ekpofestival com. First published 29th January 2018
BY HON PATTY ETETE INEMEH
Even I myself the author of the book as at the time that I was searching for a caption to give the book which was an expression of thoughts of understanding of my personal view of what I believed was part of the major reasons for the myriads of both the unseen and seen actions that are yet again directly or indirectly responsible for the occurrences and seeming insurmountable unprecedented occurrences of the manifestation of strange values in different manifestations vis Boko Haram, Badoo, Ipob, Cult gangs both the seen and unseen, including crave for unquenchable strange desires eg other peoples Wives including your brothers and friends and vice versa to the opposite sex, Extreme corruption, Tribalism, nepotism, unbridled favouritism, so called farmers and herdsmen clashes etc. Much as we are aware that it is part of human nature to be a little bit or even more sentimental towards love of self first and foremost before Love of his closest family, his closest next door neighbours before his immediate environment seeing that he is incapable of obeying strictly Gods number one command to mankind as captured in Luke 10vs 25-37 but for emphasis and highlight I shall summarise through vs 37 the last chapter thus "...And he said, he that shewed mercy(The good Samaritan) on him.Then said Jesus unto him, Go and do Likewise ". This is one of the greatest principles responsible for peace and prosperity in a society. If people could take out time to reflect on the relevance of this theme "Mercy" in almost their every day Lives engagement between neighbours, family, friends and partners rather than evil thoughts, evil machinations etc when there is a proliferation of agents and occurrences of the opposite of mercy at a given time it can only spell doom and more doom for the society. So the choice of the word "Ekpo" was from both the literal and manifest meaning of the word from the point of the Bantu Annang speaking people being the manifest/observable meaning and Ekpo directly translated literarily to English language as Spirits, ghosts of the departed, an unseen person watching etc. Now it was always during the Ekpo seasons
That manifest crimes and ills that affected the collective survival, prosperity and future survival of the society where exposed openly through both her assumed heavenly inspired drumming, dance steps and background vocal renditions. In those days it was regarded as an anathema or taboo if the masquerade or Ekpo sang about the ills or crimes committed by a particular so called influential "big" man or role model. This action of expose is akin to a " Higher unseen spirit force " of which almighty God the Highest Priest through his Son Jesus Christ who is seated in heaven is always looking down on us both in our innermost private secret moments and secret thoughts of both good and evil at a particular point. He knows everything and he is about to surprise mankind by exposing most of those our innermost thoughts which we felt was done in the secrets without any one knowing or seeing so that the whole world would realise in this our short life time that truly "There is God ooh". So the word the Ekpo story confirms the fact that yes the Bantu heritage was not wrong in propounding the age Long Ubuntu philosophy literarily meaning "I am because you are" or the Annang cultural philosophy of wealth creation, "Imoadeagwo" meaning that people constitute wealth rather than material or worldly things . My conviction in writing both the book "The Ekpo story" , the name , the dance drama was primarily to alert the world about the dangers of keeping quiet and allowing more evil to thrive, multiply and continue unabated and also let people know that it is not about the govt of the day but in changing our mindsets through support of the sincere programmes of the Pmb regime which I believe is sincerely out to redirect our thoughts and attention towards proper ways of doing things. All these prayers, hope, name of the book "The Ekpo story " derives its biblical justification from Luke 12 vs 2-9 " For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid that shall not be known. Therefore whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the Light;and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops.And I say unto you my friends, be not afraid of them that kill the body and after that they have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear; Fear him, which after he had killed hath power to cast into hell (permanent perdition); yea I say unto you fear him. Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one is forgotten by God? But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore; ye are of more value than the sparrows.Also I say unto you whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the son of man also confess before angels of God. But he that denieth me before men shall be denied before the angels of God." More excerpts from Because I am Bantu: The Ekpo story by Hon Patty Etete Inemeh Www.ekpofestival com. First published 29th January 2018
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