You Searched For Ozoemena Nsugbe Aguleri Bu Isi Igbo - Highlifeng May 2026

“Why did my father search for this?” she asked.

The trail led her to Aguleri, a town clinging to the banks of the Omabala River. The elders at the palace of the Eze did not want to talk. But an old dibia (native doctor) named Okonkwo agreed to meet her under a silk-cotton tree. “Why did my father search for this

It was a praise song, but not for a living man. It was an oriki , a praise epithet for a hero. Nneka had grown up in Surulere, far from the dusty hills of Aguleri. She knew she was Igbo, but “Isi Igbo”—the Head of Igbo? That was not a nickname. That was a title of war. But an old dibia (native doctor) named Okonkwo

The dibia smiled. “Because your father is Ozoemena’s great-great-grandson. And the last line of the song says, ‘Nwoke a na-efu efu ga-alọta’ —The lost man shall return.” Nneka had grown up in Surulere, far from