By Izunna Okafor, Awka
The immediate-past Senator who represented the good people of the Anambra Central Senatorial District in the National Assembly, Senator Dr. Uche Ekwunife has been caught up on camera, sweating, and preparing Igbo’s special cultural delicacy of bitter leaf soup (ofe ogbugbu) in the Washington DC, United States of America.
According to a video that has gone viral on social media, Senator Ekwunife, who is also the Director General of the South-East Governors Forum (SEGOF), was specially preparing the soup for her elder sister whom she had gone to visit.
The video also shows the popular political figure squeezing and processing some bitter leaves in the kitchen sink, with which the soup would be prepared.
During an interview in the 57-second video by an unidentified person in the kitchen who had a foreign accent, the Senator revealed that she “came prepared” and brought along very special ingredients, including the bitter leaves, palm nuts, locust beans (ogiri), dry fish (azụ kpọnkụ), and soup thickener (ụrị) all the way from Nigeria, for the delicacy.
“I am squeezing bitter leaf for cooking bitter leaf soup — our Igbo delicacy. I’m squeezing it in Washington DC, to cook bitter leaf soup for my elder sister,” she joyfully said, while fielding question from the interviewer.
Ekwunife’s act has been commended by many as a step towards upholding Igbo cultural and traditional values and a crystal demonstration that Ndị Igbo should not lose their traditional and cultural values, irrespective of the level of successes they attain in life.
Sharing his thoughts on the video, a prominent Nigerian media personality and culture proponent from Anambra State, Dr. Uche Nworah, said there was everything to love about the heartwarming video of the Senator and her demonstration of a sense of strong family bond and respect for elder siblings, which, he said, are regrettably lacking among many Igbo families and households today.
Titled “The Joy of Upholding Igbo Cultural and Traditional Values”, Nworah’s piece reads:
“There is everything to love about this heartwarming video of Senator Uche Ekwunife, Director General of South-East Governors Forum (SEGOF), demonstrating the traditional method of removing bitter taste from bitter leaves (Onugbu).
“She is showing that no matter the successes attained in life, we should never lose our traditional and cultural values. She travelled all the way to Washington DC taking along with her ingredients needed in cooking our good old ‘ofe onugbu’ for her elder sister. Ofe Onubu is a globally acclaimed Igbo delicacy.
“We can see from the video her joy in doing this, cleaning the onubu leaves herself etc. We also get a sense of strong family bond and respect for elder siblings. This spirit is no longer obtainable in many families. We should all work towards bringing love and family bonds back in our families and stop the bickering.”
Watch the video below:
