This year’s Iriji Mbaise, the popular annual new yam cultural festival celebrated, August 15, by the entire Mbaise clan, at home and abroad, is being threatened by the decision of Mbaise Council of Traditional Rulers to confer a chieftaincy title on Mr. Uche Nwosu, Chief of Staff to Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha. The festival said to have been introduced in 1946, as the Christianised version of the Ahianjoku, the eight-day new yam festival dedicated in honour of the yam deity, has always drawn guests and visitors from across the globe, so much as to attract corporate sponsorship. Read more