It was three days of fun-filled celebration extravaganza in Emohua Community in Emohua Local Government Area of Rivers State as the youths of the community came out en mass to organise a peace carnival to mark the exit of 2017 and to usher in a more peaceful and prosperous New Year.
The event started on Friday, January 5, with a well attended Christain thanksgiving and rededication of the community to God, presided over by the General Overseer of Sacred Flames Int’l Church, Mgbuoba, Bishop Eddy Ogbonna, Rev (Barr) Dan I. Obinna of the Rivers State Ecumenical Centre, Port Harcourt and other anointed men of God.
This was followed by a symposium and a lecture titled ‘Youth Restiveness and its Effect on Community Development’, delivered by Chief (Dr) Esesi Obilor, as well as cultural display and other side attractions.
On Saturday, January 6th the community was besieged by a mammoth crowd of fun seekers from the eight villages of Emohua community made up of both the old and young as well as the rich and the “down trodden hoi-poloi” who were entertained with good music by notable Dee Jays (DJs) as they danced, wined and dined all night.
In an interview with The Tide Entertainment, the Chief Pioneer of the Youth Carnival, Mr Light Ihiechi Olomi said “the carnival is to show the world that Emohua is a very peaceful community and not bad as portrayed by detractors”. He urged them to come to Emohua to see things for themselves.
Mr Ihiechi Olomi disclosed that the carnival started in the morning hours with street parade in all the eight villages of Emohua Community to prove the peaceful co-existence of the good people of Emohua.
“I am happy that the carnival achieved its aim of uniting the youths as the event was hitch-free and a very huge success”, he said.
He thanked the sponsores of the carnival such as Senator Andrew I. Uchendu, Chief Godpower Adum and the Carnival Planning Committee members for their commitment towards ensuring a successful carnival to usher in the New Year. According to him, 2017 was a very good year in the community but hopefully 2018 will be better and more peaceful.
Sunday, January 7, was the grand finale of the three eventful days in the community which saw the finals of the Chief Sergeant Awuse Soccer Cup Competition where Liverpool FC emerged winners after defeating Paris Saint Germaine (PSG) 2-0 at the over croweded ‘Ahia- Ezi’ Field in Rumuche-Emohua.
High points of the soccer fiesta was the handover of the Chief Sergent Awusa Soccer trophy to the winning term, Liverpool FC, presentation of awards, sourvenirs and cash prizes to the best player of the tournament, Mr Adebayo (Isiodu), Highest goal scorer, Mr Precious Bobby Enyi (Rumuohia) and best goal keeper Ovunda Ogbonna (Rumuche). All the recipients were from the winning Liverpool FC team.
Presenting the awards and prizes, renowned Sports Personality and Dean Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Port Harcourt, Prof Okechukwu Onuchukwu commended the players for their wonderful performance and their spirit of sportsmanship throughout the tournament which he said contributed to the success recorded at the soccer event.
Speaking with The Tide shortly after the soccer competition, the cup donor and sponsor Chief (Hon) Sergent C. Awuse, KSC, disclosed that the aim of the competition was to promote peaceful co-existence among the youths and the community at large which the competition achieved throughout the Yule-tide season and beyond.
The overtly elated soccer promoter said “I am very happy that Liverpool won the competition because I am an ardent Liverpool FC fan”. He congratulated the eight teams that participated in the third edition of the tournament for their peaceful conduct. He urged them to embrace sporting activities as a means of developing their mental and physical abilities and to see sports as an alternative to cultism, kidnapping and other social vices, as he assured them that the next edition of the competition would be bigger and better.
Also speaking, a soccer enthusiast and Nigerian Army Legionnaire, Mr Victor Okechukwu Ogbor noted that the importance of sports in human development could not be over emphasised. He said apart from being a unifying factor among the youths during the yuletide period, the peaceful event had shown the world that Emohua is a peaceful place and boasts of legendary hospitality to strangers as against the negative reports from some sections of the media portraying the community in bad light. He commended Chief Awuse for his encouragement of youths development in the community.
It was gathered that eight teams that participated in the soccer fiesta decided to adopt the names of foreign football clubs in order to avoid inter village quarrel as was experienced in previous competitions where the winning teams bragged about their superiority over the defeated villages which brought problems among the players.