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 wreck, no one dares to harm it.
Though the celebration spans within 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 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.
A source confirmed that on Sunday, a boy in masquerade costumes was involve 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.”
The source equally stated 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 they must be spill of blood during the festival.
This year’s egwu Imo Awka Festival is expected to commence on May 19 and climax on May 24.
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