Esanland Cultural Identity & Survival
strategy in Perspective - & Prediction for the future
Benin Kingdom has one of the most diverse, flexible
cultures in Nigeria of 200 million people.
Esan folks, being a minority in a nation of a
great majority has carved out a survival strategy of peaceful co-existence
among different ethnic groups in Nigeria by being flexible. Although some Esan
folks bear names that don't sound like Esan, it doesn't mean the bearer of such
names has forgotten his or her Esan identity or root. For a minority, like
Esans folks taking on of names that are not Esan is about personal survival. We
have to be coded to survive. Some take cultural names that are different from
Esan names just to find their bearings amongst the majority – This is the Esan Code. By WPP Jr
"Culture
is simultaneously the fruits of a people, history and determinant of
history" - Amilcar Cabral
The kola nut name is a reflection of what
kola nut is. Even if we wrapped it in a nylon bag, calabash or present it in
gold silverware, kola nut will never misrepresent itself. It will still serve
its purpose. Although our mould of dressing is a reflection of our collective
thoughts style and taste we are first of all mortal and our innate being is a
reflection of who we really are. Cultural identity is a reflection of our
original place of ancestry.
You're not just an Esan, or perhaps Hausa,
Efik, Igbo, Zulu, Ashanti because you‘re born in Esanland or perhaps your pap
or mom is from the Benin Kingdom or Africa but because Esan is in you. You
carry it in your heart and breathe; it lives in you, and it'll never go away
from you because you can never run away from you.
We shouldn't take our historical or cultural heritage for granted anymore, but we should embrace its
entirety and preserved it. We
must preserve the best of our past and do away with the worst of our past. Tomb
stones are not just stone its eternal glory.
Cultural identity or heritage isn't just about the clothes we wear or the food we eat,
wedding or burial ceremonies; it's the combination of the above, an entirety of
our collective well being. We cannot
embrace one part of it and ignore the rest. It is like music to the ear, we
cannot dance to just one tone while neglecting another arrangement of the
music. Cultural identity is the beauty of our collective being, both
spiritually and physically.
Although you live in Europe or the Americans
or Asian, Kano, Lagos, Port Harcourt, Johannesburg, Sokoto, etc speak and eat
the food of your host, although born in a foreign land you are first an
African, Esan from the Benin Kingdom, a Nigerian before anything else.
Carrying American passport doesn't
necessarily make you an American in totality. We're from somewhere except our
host-Indians – the indigenous people.
Passports are just identity document.
America/UK can withdraw your citizenship anytime any day, but nobody – under
the sun can withdraw or cancel your Esan, Benin Kingdom or Nigeria citizenship
or the African in you. It cannot be taken away from you. They may jail you, but
they can never imprison or chain your mind or thoughts. Our thoughts are
spirits; it has the power to transport us to greater heights or to pull us
down. Proverbs 4:23. There is really no limitation place for you except the one
you help create for yourself.
To some of you, who constantly make a mockery
of Nigeria/Africa on social media, remember when you do that, you are actually
mocking and shaming yourself. We, all, are the head, eyes ears, nose hand and
legs of Nigeria/Africa. If nothing goes well in Esanland, Edo State, Nigeria or
Africa we should all help make things work for the better of us all. When you
see a problem Osanobua – God wants you to do something about it. Nigeria is not
the problem of Nigerians. Nigerians are the problem of Nigeria. Africa is not
the problem of Africans. Africans are the problem of Africa. Esanland is not
the problem of Esan folks. Esan folks are the problem of Esanland.
Some of us are abandoning our core Esan/African values for Western
values that we do not understand its complexity. The core value of our culture
we should preserve is the one we are abandoning and preserving the ones that
should be discarded. When I speak of
cultural identity, I do not mean one's accents, but the totality of who we are
as an ethnic unit.
Bearing Western, Yoruba, Ijaws, Hausa names
doesn't alienate Esan folks from his cultural identity. The taking on of names
by Esan folks from different ethnic or cultural groups or nations, that's
different from ours, is merely to feel welcome amongst our host and for
personal survival. Esan folks live and speak in code. Because we're a minority,
our forefathers in their wisdom have transferred from one generation to another
‘CULTURAL TOLERANCE' - the embrace
and peaceful coexistence with mortal beings and celebration of diversity as an
Osanobua gift to humanity.
The Benin Kingdom has the most diverse,
flexible culture in Nigeria of 200 million people.
Esan, being in the minority in a nation of a
great majority has carved out a survival strategy of assimilation among
different ethnic groups by being flexible. Although some Esan folks bear names
that don't sound like Esan doesn't mean the bearer of such names has forgotten
his or her Esan identity or root. A minority must learn to be coded among the
majority. You can bear Esan names yet your behaviour or an activity doesn't
reflect Esan values. You can also bear Igbo or English name, although you are
Esan and still maintain the core values of Esan folks in your attitudes and
character.
For a minority, like Esans folks taking on of
names that are not Esan is about personal survival. Some take cultural names
that are different from Esan name just to find their bearings amongst the majority,
others to erase the bad memory of their place of origin.
I know imported religion says Africans should
throw away their cultural-historical heritage, that it is evil. But yet Benin
Kingdom Artistic genius was looted in 1897, proudly display in top global
museums generating millions of dollars every year. A missionary came to our
land in grooves to be eyes and ears of Europeans interest, while they mock our
artistic genius and called it an idol so our people can part with their
valuable works of art, behind their backs, these arts, carvings which is a
reflection of our civilization, intelligence, inventions were hastily carted
away to display at the Western World. We throw away our originality to embrace
artificial ways that are alien to us.
Europeans have heritage, but they have no
culture, but Africans have Rich Culture and Heritage, that's a double blessing.
But having been in church all my life, as a clergy for the past 27 years, with
lots of experience in Cross-Cultural Global Mission I've come to terms with the
truth that:
1.
Political
religion is imported religion and it is confusion. It is the suppression of the
genuine and the true meaning of mortality for the acceptance of an ideology
that oppressed and suppressed various views that is opposite their view.
2.
Religion
is not Christianity and Christianity is not a religion. Religion is a set of
rules made by men. It is the rules and the tradition of men that impede the
work of Christ. May Osanobua-God revive our spirits to embrace the truth and
free our self from self-imprisonment of political religion and encountered the
true Christ our Saviour. Not the one's money-hungry Pharisee has made him be.
3.
That,
the depiction of Jesu-Jesus with a European face is not a true reflection of
the colour of Jesus. The colour of Jesus is love and true love is colourless.
All symbols that take the place of Osanobua –God in men's hearts are an idol
because God is spirit and spirit cannot be reflected through visible objects or
symbols. The terrestrial and the non-terrestrial are two different worlds, air
is invisible that's God. As an Esan man, its Esan folks right or any rights of
mortality to depict Jesu in resemblance of an Esan man or African on the cross.
Yeah,
"Men are naturally mad on the subject of religion, and "the revival,
restore them rather than make them mad." Charles Finney.
Knowing your history is as important as
eating your favourite Jollof rice or Egusi with pounded yam. You can't eat the
food and throw away the other part of your culture that's not quite favourable.
You're not an Esan because you were born in
Esanland. You are an Esan because Esan is in you. Kola nut doesn't cease to be
kola nut in the Americas just because it's in America or Europe. I'm an Esan
man and I am proud of it.
Some
of us need to retrace our roots to redefine our purpose on earth and find fulfilment
in our destiny.
Oh African, Esan folks, the spirit is
calling, come back home so you can find rest for thy being.
Esan folks and African's parent in the
Diaspora need to stop sowing negative thoughts about their homeland -
Motherland. Why are you threatening your children you will send them to Africa
when they misbehave? As if Africa- your homeland is a place of death. This
attitude has a negative reaction to African children in the Diaspora. As such,
many do not belong anywhere. They are lost in the Diaspora chasing shadows in
foreign nations; although they were born there the colour of their skin is
still being used to define them, instead of their intelligence and skills.
That's wrong. The richest black man in the
world (Mr. Dangote) was neither educated in the West neither did he makes his
wealth in the Western world. He schooled
in Africa and made his fortune in Africa.
As Esan folks, Africans let us never forget
that we are from a lineage of kings and Queens. So let not trade our Africa
values for inferior foreign values that do not suit our cultural heritage that
we continue to struggle to fit in for the rest of our life.
It's easier to be one truer self than
pretending to be someone one else. You can take an Esan man out of Esanland, but
you cannot take Esan out of an Esan man. Pounded yam is pounded yam even in
Rome. Egusi soup doesn't announce how it's prepared, but the eater of pounded
yam agreed Egusi is the twine of pounded yam although they were not born the
same day.
I'm not saying you should hate who you've
become but all I am truly saying embrace who you are and become who you are
originally created to be. Proudly Esan, Proudly Nigeria an African, proudly
humble by the blessings of Osanobua – God. Rather walk in the shoe that fits
you well than on borrowed shoes.
Let
endeavours to preserve our rich cultural heritage, build and develop our
community, country and our continent.
Those in the Diaspora should endeavours to
make it a duty to have their children visit home often while they are still
young until they are old enough to begin visiting home themselves. Many African
children are lost in foreign countries. Although born and raised in a foreign
land, they can't fit in. They are still being defined and will continue to be
judged by the colour of their skin. Make no mistake about it economy racism
will never go away until Christ comes.
When I used to model, I and other fellow
black model were constantly told black Model don't sell products. We know
that's a big lie. Black spends more money on merchandise – luxury goods than
white folks. While the White model gets all juicy contracts black models are
disfranchised. The black model has to work extra hard to get Lead roles. I
called it economy racism. It will
never go away. I speak from experience.
AFRICA
IS THE FUTURE, some
Esan/Africans in the Diaspora have already lost out but need to catch up now,
begin taking your kids to visit home, it's an investment you will never regret
in the near future. Let us not sit in our apartments in New York or Europe
build with cardboard thinking that's the end of living. By what we are paying
high rent for in those small cubicles in America, Europe, in Africa, our mates
are living in mansions, duplexes, gated houses to guard and housemaids. While
we work so hard helping to build foreign countries with our hard earn skills
yet we do not often get the recognition that we deserve.
How long shall my people continue to live in
modern day slavery in foreign nations while we can live as kings and queens in
our homeland?
There
is a disadvantage of raising kids in Diaspora without them visiting their home
country while they are young and there is also a great advantage of sending
kids home when living in the Diaspora
If you are Esans/African living outside of
Nigeria or Esanland, it's time to look back home. Your post on social media
doesn't have a positive effect until you begin to put your boot on the ground.
I speak from experience; I've been on a Global Cross-Cultural Mission for the
past 25 years.
If the kids are young, take them home often.
It is a sacrifice you will never regret.
If you don't intend to build a home in the
village, at least renovate your village home or build a family home somewhere
in any state of your choice in Nigeria. There is a great advantage of having
family home for yourself in your country, anytime you are home, you open your
door to enter your house, it feels really good and there is more respect. At
least begin from somewhere.
America or Europe, the Western world doesn't
have its good anymore, they are in decline. Days of the industrial boom are
over in the Western World. Automation is taking over jobs.
High paying jobs will continue to strike in
the West, remember artificial intelligence is rapidly taking over jobs which
leads to a less paying job, that means jobs will continue to be lost, we all
know retails jobs in the Western world can't pay your rent. The bible says in
the last days, there shall be an increase in knowledge. Daniel 12: 4.
Revelation 22: 10
So many of our people are making the mistake
thinking Nigeria, Africa is going backwards, they are seated on their couches
with remotes in their hands, on Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram analysing
Africa from Western ideological perspective, sidetracked by the falsehood that
China is taking over Africa.
AFRICA
IS THE FUTURE.
Nigeria is going
to be the number one major player of the stability, the driving force of the
industrial revolution in Africa.
So once we become fairly comfortable, let us
remember who we are and never forget where we are coming from to where we are
going. We cannot transport our self to a better tomorrow if we do not know how
we get to today. We should preserve the best of our past for the next
generation.
My prediction is that Nigeria/Africa is going
to be a great and stable nation and continent in this 21st century. As a matter
of fact, in the next 10-15 years' time from today, the development will be so
visible that the sceptics - who were never prepared, will be silenced by their
own failed predictions.
If you are living outside of Esanland, get
involved in Esanland development. If you are living outside Nigeria, at least
buy land and build yourself a personal house. If you can't build now at least buy
farmland in the middle of the forest, fenced it and get the right documents,
one day you are going to thank me for it.
REDISCOVER
YOUR ESAN ROOT.
Is not enough to bear Esan name, yeah, that
is important, but are you inform about Esanland? Although you were born in
Lagos, Kaduna, Kano, Sokoto, Port Harcourt, London, New York, Italy, and you
didn't grow up in Esanland, but Esan is in you.
You're old enough now to come by yourself and
discover your root. We need your skill, wealth to develop and fix the
Esanland/Edo State, Nigeria and Africa.
Enough
Of Seeing Everything Bad About Nigeria.
Nigeria is not the problems of Nigerians.
Nigerians are the problems of Nigeria. Let us stop seeing everything about
Nigeria from a negative perspective. It's not Nigeria that has failed
Nigerians. It is Nigerians that has failed Nigeria. Until we collectively own
up to this responsibility, we shall continue to slow our developmental path. But
Nigeria is on the rise.
It is
not Esanland that failed Esan's. It is Esan folks that have failed Esanland and Nigeria/Africa. But we must remedy our wrongs.
We must take responsibility for our collective failure so we can rectify and
correct our yesterday mistakes and rewrite history again.
When we are too focused on where things are
wrong without accepting, take responsibility to fix our fault line, we will continue to repeat the mistakes of yesterday
and yesteryears and get the same result today.
Make no mistake about it and do not be
distracted by disgruntle bad losers –alarmist who raped Nigeria since 1999.
Nigeria will be better organized in this 21st century. The earlier we all join
in this race the better for us all.
Presently the wise ones -visionary are busy
in Nigeria positioning them self for the future. They are buying property,
lands, farmlands, they've put their foot somewhere belting on the future while
the unwise are busy spreading hate on social media, feeding on vulture
carcasses news, getting likes and making fools of their destiny.
The wise are in the field of destiny sweating
quietly in silence in Nigeria/Africa, cutting deals with China, no one
recognized them now, but wait, a few years than the line, they've taking over
choice land and established choice businesses.
While Doubting Thomas’s - those who dream and
never put their ideology into practice, think the future will always be blink
would have lost out. The land they should have bought for 400k they despised
now, in the very near future, it will be selling in millions.
For those of you in the Diaspora, don't judge
Nigeria by what you see or read on YouTube, Tweeter, Facebook, WhatsApp group,
gossips blogs. Social media is an illusion and 75% information there is fake
and unverified. Please note: This message is not for everyone in the Diaspora,
but for those with four sights.
Some
people wait too late until it's too late. Don't
be one of them.
Mark every word that I said. This is the black man century. Nigeria is
going to play a significant role in the rise of Africa. When Nigeria has fully
risen Africa will be completely settled. Africa will be fully settled and
develop in this 21st century. Let he that has ear take heed, "the future
shall be better tomorrow." Ise and Amen
Williams Patrick Praise Jr
Editor-In-Chief/Publisher
A
Clergy, Social Entrepreneur/Community organizer
29th years in Cross Cultural Global Mission
29th years in Cross Cultural Global Mission
President/Founder
of Comfort Place- Proudly from Esanland, Benin kingdom, Nigeria
