Asiayei Enaibo
AZIZA Father Igologolo, Aferekiripon! I dip my fingers into your pot of power to redeem my father’s vow made before your sacred altar in the days of antiquity before I came to see the light of the Earth when I was you, and now I am you, then you in your mercy made my father smile before men of this land. In your greatness, the emblem of your Lion existed in my flesh and soul, I have come in human flesh to say thank you as a gatekeeper to man and the gods.
I came through your passage, and you made me spirit in human form while you are the lion I represent here. Eferekirikpon! Igologolo! What men or human offence I have done, you can’t hurt yourself from whom I am sent to do the will I am here on Earth.
Man is nothing before you, and you are both day and night through your words, I have come to fill the vacuum in Ijaw nation. I came to build your temples on the lips and hearts of men for what I am sent for so that generations upon generations of our heritage will not go into extinction, and your values will return; that is the will of the gods and God to man. For you made me God’s begotten son to be on Earth for 119 years as it is written before I was born. Yes, the holy book said 120 years for those who are pure in heart and do thou will, and you said 119 years, Aziza, Father Igologolo, you spoke to me in dreams and made your manifestation to celebrate my birthday, so I have come to do your wishes, for I am Oweizide Government Ekpemupolo aka Tompolo, the eyes of the gods, a messenger sent to do the ancient tradition and powers of Ijaw land. I have not brought any new deity to mankind, but to bring back what was before my coming, may you watch over me above the trials, temptations and persecution of man; AZIZA, the invisible forest where men and women do not play in vanity.
A man who finds pleasure in no other things than in the temples of the gods, what has been before his coming, for he has not invented any deity than what has been in existence before him and is Tompolo, not Aziza himself? Who has come to fulfil the words of the gods in Ijaw land as a vow to be accomplished?
Thunder, light, rain, rivers, estuaries, brooks and lakes move under the command of Nature in the divine order of time, open your ears, your eyes and your mind, for this message is the through essence of your purpose on earth, in love I made you be an instrument to open the pathway for the benefits of mankind, and it is a rare thing for humans to have an encounter with the gods in human form and generation will lack nothing, and their fears have been conquered. Aziza! The left hand with a white plate, a symbol of a full nation and riches, and the right hand a Mat; when you have done all that you have to do, in peace, you have built a shelter around your people so they could rest. Yes, Tompolo has built munificent temples of all ages for Ijaw traditional heritage and worship with extraordinary foresight.
Father Igologolo!
What is beyond you is beyond you; man is nothing before the gods, and when they come to speak to humans in a supernatural form, what the mere mundane man could see is doubt; the mysteries only unfold to the one with the garment of the gods is different from the mere mortal mind.
Tompolo is a deity, Eferekirikpon; he is the air from the breath of AZIZA, men who just gathered to drink, dance and eat, questioning their ignorance in a manner of innocence. I made men bow before you, to trust and love when they plan to kill you. I, your source, have fixed the years for you are unarmed; it has never happened to the gods over what they own and watches over. When your persecutors come after you, I shall always hide you under the waters, in the forest, and in the air to overcome all adversities.
All the believers gathered again with drums, and selected singers in their numbers took the day: for Tompolo had not said anything about this mysterious birthday party; not even Kariwei could know when He Eferekirikpon is set for his father’s work, Igologolo.
“When I wish to speak, I speak. I was not directed to speak yet,” Tompolo said.
AZIZA Deity is as old as mankind; in ancient days when man was not formed, the gods were with God when God gave them the assignment to watch over the earth and report back to Him– God, the affairs of man, men lose their consciousness in the pleasant affairs and forget about their purpose in the mundane existence. To correct this loss of man’s consciousness, the god AZIZA metamorphosed into a human form as a mystery with a special assignment in a period of 119 years to Tompolo. That is to say that in these years of AZIZA’s reign, Tompolo’s period on earth to return as a faithful representative is foregrounded. This is true in the realm of time in human existence.
Eferekirikpon
In the book of AZIZA Deity, the 119 years is not just for Tompolo alone but for all mankind, believers especially Aziza faithful, who are pure in spirit, passionate at heart and turn away from evil and wickedness will experience 119 years decreed by the gods.
Eferekirikpon! Igologolo!
The one that moves with the air, water and the land! It is actually a story whose sensibilities many will doubt as an untold mystery which came at the time AZIZA spoke to Tompolo himself in the human soul. He brought him, empowered him and manifested himself to be celebrated down the forest where the seeker-Father, Chief Osen Thomas Ekpemupolo, requested in the Kindness of AZIZA Deity, manifested in the highest realm in the history of man the bravest, the Lion, the king that made men kings. The lion who lives in both water and the earth, whom the Queen of all Queens BINI-EBI will love in all her powers in his earthly Sojourn.
The goddess loves the gods!
Who will not find this story funny as to how the gods requested to be celebrated in the forest? What is beyond you, and when the revelations are not made to Oweizide, our human theories could infer the premises that gods operate, their frequency is higher than man’s–for they are infallible.
In every mythology, when the gods make the manifestation with those who walk in their pathway, they become supernatural.
Yes, High Chief Thomas Osen Ekpemupolo, the father of High Chief Government Oweizide Ekpemupolo, aka Tompolo, made a solemn vow in ancient times in search of a male child in his dynasty who was at that time a traditionalist, faithful to the laws of nature, serve the gods of his progenitors in the Gbaramatu Kingdom, Okerenkoko community, yes many became fearful of Osen Ekpemupolo because of his belief in the supernatural, pour libations and set dining for the gods, a typical custodian of the Ijaw spirituality. Before the coming of the European Gospel of God, the Africans, the Ijaw of the Niger Delta region, already knew Woyin, Tamarau, Temewei and Egbesu, so dedicated that people called Osen a witch Doctor who solved people’s problems with prayers in his sacred temple. Those who believe him as Izon people hold faith in him for his morality and dedication to the gods of the land have made him naturally successful. But Chief Osen Ekpemupolo has a challenge: his wife has given birth to four beautiful girls without a male child, yes Ijaw cultural and spiritual values uphold firmly that it is the son of a man who bears the family name whenever he is no more. He possesses the heir heritage of his lineage, so the gods of the land had not failed his believers when they made sacred vows and cried unto them. The gods manifest their potent powers to humans at all times; it is so to Egbesu whatever positive thing you request, they come and make the manifestation either in human form or in the spiritual.
Yes, the deity he serves religiously prayed for people and made manifestations as people returned to his temple to say thank you to the gods for the fruit of the womb.
Yes, one day, Chief Osen, the Tonteriwei of the ancient Gbaramatu kingdom in Ijaw land, on a calm morning, left his house and his family deity and moved to the very calm forest where a deity in the Gbaramatu Kingdom where their forefathers prayed for blessings when they had pressing issues beyond their mortal understandings.
To seek answers for their needs for the gods of the land to bless them: drinks, snuff, and native chalks to speak to the great AZIZA deity, and in mental words, prayed and dropped the items from his praying hands and heart to seek for a male child and in return to come back to honour AZIZA for whom his heritage would be preserved for generations upon generations that AZIZA would forever be in the heart of man till the end of time.
Osen returned home to join his beautiful family, the league of female children the gods have blessed them beyond the eyes of Osen–so adorable! Sologha, his wife, later conceived a child, and she gave birth to a son. And the joy had no bounds! Thomas Ekpemupolo was so happy to name his son Oweizide meaning “I have given birth to a man.” In a thankful heart, he returns to thank the Aziza deity in the forest, Osen Ekpemupolo also gave an English name to his son as Government, –Government that will take care of my entire dynasty that has unbeatable powers and influence as a government with sovereign authority both lands, waters and air will obey his commands. Eferekirikpon beyond the understanding of man, AZIZA deity is Tompolo in human form to have come to correct the mundane errors of man in the pleasant earth created by God and the gods to watch over the affairs of man to obey the moral-spiritual laws of God. Such natural laws of God made human Flesh direct other humans by using supernatural beings in the form of a human beings to guide and save the affairs of a nation.
Yes, like the Jewish book of an Avatar Jesus, so Tompolo is the Avatar of AZIZA Deity; like the Greek mythology of Deus and Apollo gods, which the likes of Socrates manifested and after completing such assignment returned with many allegations but later humans discovered that they were supernatural beings that just came to give directives to a man on earth, so is Tompolo.
Many in their complex questions have asked who Tompolo is. Why did he have so much power and influence over the affairs of the gods of the land? Why did he know much about the gods and goddesses of Ijaw land? His humility and, his actions, his powers are only traceable to the Supernatural Aziza deity himself– for he is a god who moves with the air. What you plan, he sees; what you speak, he hears as he moves in both the air and waters. Eferekirikpon! Igologolo, the man that sees when he will Go back to his father, Igologolo. Zibaooooo! Ziba came and lit up all the sanctuaries for the gods.
Part 11
Why Tompolo Celebrated The Birth Of A Deity In The Forest Of Old In Gbaramatu Kingdom?
Have you ever seen someone who makes cakes and celebrates the birthday of a Deity in a forest?
It sounds absurd, and it looks funny, but it is a divine instruction revealed to Tompolo from the cradle of his existence.
Over the years, Tompolo Government Oweizide Ekpemupolo has never celebrated his birthday in any form since he was born on this Earth, but as he grows up with amazing contributions to the affairs of mankind, a philanthropist, a freedom fighter, a builder of a nation, a conqueror, a great hope to both the living and the death, many called him the living legend, the Lion of all lions, the gods in human form and Enaibo called him the “gods begotten son” the man with three eyes who have yes for his YES and no for his NO. His love for transforming the Niger Delta region made him the hero we all called him. So every 12th of April, the Ijaws, the Niger Delta region, Nigeria and Africans celebrate him, and GbaramatuVoice has epitomized April 12th as the World Tompolo’s Day of Peace. People in all spheres of life celebrate him with cakes and different gifts but the celebrant in absentia.
“Only once have I cut a birthday cake at Oporoza that Mr Matthew Tonlagha organized after coming out of the many persecutions by both the Federal Government and individuals for about six years (2015- 2020), yes all the Agadagbas gathered as custodians of the pristine tradition, so I appeared once as human flesh with many pressures, and the flesh must abide by it in some occasions.”
Yes, he never appeared and jubilated like others because the gods’ ways are different from the ways of mere mortals.
So, this year Aziza, Eferekirikpon! Father Igologolo appeared before his son Tompolo with a question in a dream: “Who are you to celebrate yourself when I have not celebrated you?” Tompolo woke up from the dream and slept again three consecutive times. Tompolo said, “Father Igologolo! I know you by your voice, I know I have not celebrated myself for anything on Earth, for your will shall be done, not mine. Humanity has celebrated me on different occasions. I can’t stop them from celebrating you, the Father.” AZIZA was silent for his mortal being and said, “I have come to celebrate you like others, for you have done well, it is 119 years, and as a faithful servant, you shall be on Earth to do the work of what I have sent you. In the forest where your father took the vows before you came, that is the venue where humanity shall join you in cutting the cake they have severally cut for you. A symbolic gesture to mark your existence that I am glad for you.”
So, Tompolo woke up from the dream in three days without the knowledge of his followers; polo shirts were printed, two beautiful cakes were presented at Aziza deity at both front and back, money was sprayed as the realm of celebration of AZIZA, Eferekirikpon! Father Igologolo, so the dance and singing took the day of 5th June 2023 in the forest of old Gbaramatu Kingdom to compliment the vows of Osen as Tompolo will be in this on Earth for 119 years.
In the thick forest of celebration, Samuel Ekpemupolo telepathically infused my soul to write this story after his Dialogue with Tompolo in the forest, and Aziza banged at my creative pen with inspirations from above and so below, so I write to preserve this history for the living Deity on Earth, High Chief Government Oweizide Ekpemupolo aka Tompolo.
Happy birthday to Eferekirikpon! Father Igologolo Aziza deity and High Chief Government Oweizide Ekpemupolo.
Asiayei Enaibo, the Talking Drum, is the SA to the High priest of the Ijaw Deities and Culture. He writes from the GbaramatuVoice media organisation