Palace Validation For Golibe 2025 As Obi Alfred Achebe Highlights Culture, Leadership & Youth Unity
By OBI DAVIES
THE 2025 Golibe Festival has received high praise from the Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Alfred Achebe, who described the event as a strategic youth-development investment capable of transferring Onitsha heritage while checking crime through mass positive engagement during Christmas festivities. The commendation followed a palace homage visit by the Golibe board, Onitsha youth representatives and the festival’s star artiste, indigenous rapper Jeriq, whose presence underscored the festival’s expanding influence within Nigeria’s mainstream entertainment circuit.
Achebe described Golibe as more than entertainment, calling it an institutional youth project designed to strengthen organisation-building, leadership pipelines and cross-generational cultural handover. He noted that the festival is Onitsha’s second most prominent annual event after the Ofala, pointing out that its greatest asset lies in youth connectivity, diaspora integration and collaborative cultural reinforcement. According to Achebe, the festival was intentionally structured to create opportunities in poetry, artwork, business dialogue and lifestyle expression, ensuring that festive energy is channelled into creative and economic productivity rather than crime.
Golibe board member Brenda Nwagwu confirmed that all 16 Onitsha villages competed in categories including music, masquerade display, street carnival, pageantry, art exhibitions, culinary contests and cultural choreography. She highlighted that the festival began on Dec. 26 with the finals of the Ado Football League at the Chuba Ikpeazu Stadium and will conclude with a large-scale music night at the same venue, drawing at least 10,000 participants, including organisers, artistes and audiences. Nwagwu disclosed competition outcomes for the carnival category, where Ogbeoza claimed first place, Umuikem came second and Odoje finished third. She reiterated that Golibe remains Onitsha’s most powerful Christmas youth festival, created to transfer culture, build leadership capacity and foster global youth unity through entertainment, networking and business opportunities.
