Christmas is celebrated on December 25th each year. It has been taken as a
consecrated fiesta of Christians, no matter that history shows the
celebration as archetypical of the ancient traditions of the worshippers of
Sun God. No matter any divergent view to the celebration, followers of
Jesus Christ (recorded in the bible), do not joke with this day. They are
ready to put in their heads against any opposing views. They have taken
this day as a day they remember the birth of their Jesus Christ.
Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, a former governor of Abia State and one of the most
celebrated personalities of this world, happens to be an irrevocable
follower of Jesus Christ. He has given his undeniable gift in this season.
As a man known for the character of exchanging gifts, Dr. Kalu has
beseeched Nigerians and by extension the world, to grow in peace and love,
just as Christmas has grown much longer all over the world.
In his charisma, he is of the conviction that the season should not be all
about shopping, eating and showing off magnanimous wealth and acquisitions,
but a period of turning a new leaf for service to humanity and restitution
of self. To him, the celebration should continue in harmony after the days
of the festivity. He says this since country to country varies in customs
as they relate to Christmas.
The symbols of Christmas, according to Kalu, are not all about the
Christmas tree and the Christmas veal, but about tracing our family trees
and understand that human beings are inter-relational. There is no
individual who is an Island. This, perhaps, was the reason Kalu says that
every human being on earth should be kind-hearted and understand that love
should be the universal part of people’s everyday celebration and not the
celebration of the Christmas trees, which was the creation of man that
history fingers was first used in Germany.
He believes that the sharing of love among each other should be a common
practice just as ‘Father Christmas’ is more common in the UK and many
Western African countries, or as in Anglo-American tradition, ‘Father
Christmas’ is whispered arrives on Christmas Eve. Dr. Kalu who started
celebrating the Christmas since November, has given a number of gifts and
kindness to different offices, individuals, schools, social communities in
Nigeria and across the world, with organised Christmas parties and dances,
hosted in his favour in his Igbere country home of Bende public.
He has seen to Christmas pageants in Igbere, which celebrates the ‘Face of
Igbere’ every year. At his Neya’s expensive and expansive compound
containing over four hundred rooms, singing of carol and visitation to
neighbourhood homes and exchanging of gifts, are common practice his aides
are carrying out, as he directed before living for Europe a fortnight, to
attend to his wife and children, who missed him so much, because of his
accentuation to duty for fatherland.
Dr. Kalu believes that there is much to observe in this season, not with
manners that are absurd. Christmas is only meaningless, when people carry
with them tinkering and bickering, which brew false reaction and void
flattering-remarks. To Kalu, people must not misplace the priority of the
season, for selfish gains and ruthlessness, webbing themselves in
alteration of the heritage.
The day should be enchanting and informative, Kalu says, to enable people
see their loved ones coming around from different locations of the world.
He says that hard-liars anywhere in the world should not be taken as good
people, but deceivers, who do not mean well for humanity. He says that time
of deception, of any kind, will never habituate the world again, especially
the minds of the young ones. He sees the energy used in telling lies as
something that must be converted to typical truth that would be useful in
everyday life.
While people are merrying, Kalu reminds them to know that they should trade
carefully, to enable them celebrate with their different families in
happiness. He wonders why the season is full of merry, but many people are
not happy. He urges the people to show sincerity and genuine goodwill that
would help their wellbeing and Nigeria, where untrustworthiness would be
send on errand out of human existence. He says that Nigeria should use this
season and reasonably, make amendments in ways that would help the masses
and the citizenry to attain a powerful soci-pol-eco status before the
comity of nations, across the globe.
Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu warns that those who see the annual recurrence as a
‘festival of crime’ should desist. He says that people should see the
period as fortunate enough to shape the lives of people to attain a
consciousness of morality, but not inspired by compulsion. He admonishes
against ruinous purchases deliberately orchestrated for mischief and
maliciousness, which invariably put people in dangers of being killed and
tiresome abatement.
