By Jude Michael
It was a sad Sunday day In Awka, Anambra State capital as a tricycle crushed a masquerade to death, leaving its head open.
May every year is a period indigenes of Awka, the capital of Anambra State, mark Imo Awka Festival, a festival that celebrates the town’s god which is symbolized in a monkey.
The festival is known as Imo Awka Festival, and it is widely known in Awka that despite the prevalence of monkeys in the town and the havoc they wreak, no one dares to harm it.
Though the celebration spans through a week in the month of May, but as a way of drumming awareness for the upcoming event, masquerading youths take to the streets in masquerade costumes, long before its commencement.
They also carry along with them canes with which they engage in a flogging competition with other masquerades, while some others block the way of motorists to get financial inducements.
The exercise usually starts far before May and ends during the grand finale of the festival, a period that spans more than one month in most cases.
It was gathered that last Sunday, a boy in masquerade costumes, said to bean only son, was involved in a fatal accident after he was knocked down by a tricycle.
An eyewitness, Mr Iyke Orji, said, ‘This afternoon (Sunday) in Awka, Imo Awka masquerades were seen everywhere. One small boy (in a costume) masquerade was hit by a Keke NAPEP and his head crushed. It was indeed a sad day.’
It was gathered that the tricycle operator was instantly arrested.
There have been cases of loss of lives during the celebration of Imo Awka Festival in previous years, leading to questions as to whether there must be spilling of blood during the festival.
This year’s Egwu Imo Awka Festival is expected to commence on May 19 and climax on May 24.
