IGBO STORIES: THE LONG-AWAITED RETURN OF NWABUFO (PART 1)

IGBO STORIES: THE LONG-AWAITED RETURN OF NWABUFO…

This heart-stirring tale written by Nze Tobe Osuigwe is part of the stories we feature on our Igbo Stories series. These Igbo stories are aimed at preserving the emotions, struggles, and spiritual beliefs that shape the life and identity of Ndigbo.

“The Long-Awaited Return of Nwabufo…” captures the pain of war, a father’s unwavering hope, and the mystery that binds the survivors and those who were lost in or with the Biafran War. We hope to bring more Igbo Stories your way. Enjoy this!

It has been over forty-five years since the Nigerian-Biafran war ended. Yet, Ozuomba still hoped that his thirteen-year-old son, Nwabufo, who was forcefully conscripted into the Biafran Freedom Fighters, would return home like his other two sons, Chima and Ogbonna.

Everyone had pleaded with him to conduct a burial for Nwabufo and consequently accept that his boy had gone with the tragic war that swallowed more than one million children. Ozuomba refused. Rather, he strangely kept the traditional Ana Obi for Nwabufo, whom he believed would return someday when he shared his estate.

Ozuomba’s village, Ubahu, had an ancient mystic tree planted by their early founders. The name of the tree was Njuofia. The essence of this tree was to lead any lost son or daughter of Ubahu home. Ozuomba believed this tree would bring Nwabufo back.

In truth, many sons and daughters of Ubahu who had lost their way in strange lands or who went hunting or fetching firewood and got lost told tales of how they saw a distant tree. The more they tried to get close to the tree to lay under its luxuriant shade, the more the tree appeared out of reach.

However, in their concerted attempt to get to the tree, they found themselves back on a known village road in Ubahu.

After the war, many Ubahu sons and daughters who were lost and did not die with the three-year war returned. Even ten years after the war, people whose whereabouts were not known returned.

Some of these August returnees gave credit to God while some gave credit to Njuofia Ubahu, while boasting, “Njuofia agaghị ekwe ka isi nwa Ubahu fue na mba” — Njuofia will never allow a child of Ubahu to get lost in a strange land.

But it was now forty-five years — not ten or twenty years after the war. No one, except Ozuomba, believed Nwabufo was going to return. As far as any sane person was concerned, Nwabufo was dead and should have been buried like one or two others whom they waited long enough for, thereafter, went on to bury.

Chima, Ozuomba’s first son, made up his mind long ago that once his father joined his ancestors, his first duty would be to bury Nwabufo. And that was exactly what he did three months after Ozuomba died.

Ozuomba died at one hundred years of age. He died broken. Although many believed he stretched his life that long because he was earnestly waiting for his missing son’s return.

Every day, for the past thirty years before his demise, Ozuomba did the exact same thing. He got dressed, sat on the front step of his house while leaning his frail weight on his walking stick, waiting for his son Nwabufo to return. He would not leave the spot except to go pee or retire for the day. Jokingly, that spot was called Ugwu Nwabufo — Nwabufo’s Mountain.

Ozuomba told his first son, Chima, not to bury Nwabufo. But if Chima did not bury Nwabufo, how could he lay claim to Nwabufo’s Ana Obi, which he had serious plans for?

Chima’s plan was simple: bury Nwabufo, sell off his land, and use the money to send his son, Obinna — who had just finished learning buying and selling — to China.

It was exactly nine days after Nwabufo’s burial that he returned with his American wife and three children.

Chima was shocked when Nwabufo and his family came out from the airport taxi that drove them into the compound. What came out from Chima’s lips was, “Nnam gbaghalum” — Forgive me, father! He slumped.

The Igbo Stories series continues…

Learn more about the Biafran War here…

• https://www.britannica.com/topic/Nigerian-civil-war
• https://nnewicity.com/top-documentaries-books-and-films-about-the-biafran-war/

Note: You are welcome to send in your beautiful Igbo stories for publication in our Igbo stories series.