Prime Heritage Magazine

By Nwafor Oji Awala The first sound that broke the calm of Ogale that Sunday morning was the raw, trembling cry of a mother who refused to believe that life could be this cruel. Grace Nnena Obele stood at the doorway of her son’s house, calling his name over and over again: "Theophilus, my first son" hoping that the silence before her was only a bad dream. But the silence did not answer. Instead, it swallowed her voice, her strength, and her hope. Since that moment, her tears have flowed without restraint, her dirge echoing through Aluebo community, a sorrow too heavy for words. A day after the tragedy, she fainted several times and was rushed to a nearby clinic. Even now, she repeats the same sentence to anyone who listens: “I will wake up from this bad dream.” But this is no dream. Theophilus Obele  At about 10am last Sunday in Ogale, Eleme Local Government Area of Rivers State, an entire family: father, mother, three children, and a young in-law, was discovered dead in the...

By Nwafor Oji Awala Rivers State is once again a theatre where power drums too loudly for peace to sleep. The air is heavy with talks of pacts, threats of revelations, and the clang of constitutional swords drawn from their scabbards. When agreements are made in candlelit rooms and later denied in daylight, who bears the burden of truth: the tongue that threatens to speak, or the ears that must listen? Gov Fubara  The year 2025 ended with sparks as the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, stood before stakeholders in Eleme and unsheathed a promise: if Governor Siminalayi Fubara would not speak of a pact allegedly witnessed by President Bola Tinubu, he would. What is this agreement that trembles like a trapped bird between disclosure and denial? Why must Rivers people hear it as a threat rather than a confession? At that same gathering, allegiances were pledged like libations poured on old altars. Senator Olaka Nwogu declared fidelity to Wike and accused the gover...

By Nwafor Oji Awala The Ogbochure Eleme Social Club on Sunday, January 4, 2025, unveiled its 2025 community project, a landmark signage tagged “Welcome to Ogale,” in Ogale, Eleme Local Government Area of Rivers State, reaffirming the town’s historic and cultural status within Eleme land. The project was unveiled by the Special Guest of Honour, Chief Mrs. Rose Osaro Igwe , described by members as a respected mother figure in the society. The ceremony attracted club members, community stakeholders, and well-wishers who gathered to witness what was described as more than a physical structure, but a cultural statement. Speaking at the unveiling, the President of Ogbochure Eleme, Evang. Ngajo Sunday Oyor , traced the roots of the club to their formative years as pupils of State Primary School, Ogale. He explained that many years after leaving primary school, members reunited under the Ogbochure Eleme umbrella, convinced that their early bond was divinely orchestrated. “Our motto is Un...

By Nwafor Oji Awala When the moon is full, it shines on every compound without discrimination. On Sunday, as the 2025 edition of the Eleme Chairman’s Cup Football Tournament drew its final curtain, Eleme once again felt that impartial glow: this time not from the sky, but from the communal spirit ignited by football. At the centre of the spectacle was a pulsating final where Aleto Football Club edged past Alode Football Club 2–1 to lift the coveted trophy and a sum of ₦3 million. Alode FC, gallant in defeat, went home with ₦2 million, while all other participating teams received ₦500,000 each. Beyond the figures, however, lay a richer harvest: unity, renewed brotherhood, and a reaffirmation that Eleme still knows how to gather as one people. The tournament dissolved old boundaries. Football did what endless meetings and speeches often fail to do: it reminded Eleme of itself. As our elders say, the drum that summons the village does not ask who offended whom yesterday. At the stadium, c...

By Nwafor Oji Awala There is a dangerous rhythm moving through Nigeria’s digital space, and too many are dancing to it without asking where it leads. In the market of modern relevance, attention has become currency, and some content creators are willing to spend lives, both theirs and ours, to remain trending. The recent arrest of a 20-year-old social media influencer, Habeeb Hamzat, popularly known as Peller, by the Lagos State Police Command is a mirror held up to a society intoxicated by virality. A young man, behind the wheel, driving recklessly on a public road while live-streaming his flirtation with death: this was not performance art, it was a public rehearsal for tragedy. And tragedy, as expected, followed. In the viral video that led to his arrest, the road was no longer a shared civic space but a stage; other road users were no longer human beings with destinies but props in a dangerous drama. What mattered was not safety, not morality, not even sanity: what mattered was tra...

By Nwafor Oji Awala An African proverb says that when brothers sit around the same fire, the night grows warmer and shorter . On Sunday at the Alesa Unity Stadium, Eleme gathered around a different kind of fire, not of flames, but of football, and once again felt the warmth of togetherness. The official flag-off of the 2025 Eleme Chairman’s Cup by the Executive Chairman of Eleme Local Government Area, Chief Obarilomate Ollor, was more than the ceremonial kick of a ball; it was the symbolic lifting of a people’s spirit. At a time when December bells are ringing and Christmas draws near, a season when Christians reflect on peace, love and reconciliation; football arrived as a timely messenger of unity. Football, like life itself, needs no interpreter. Once the whistle blows, tongues, clans and political colours dissolve into a single language of hope. As our elders would say, the drumbeat that calls the children of the land does not ask about their fathers’ quarrels . On that lush tu...