Bimbilla celebrates Naa Jigli
The mention of Bimbila easily connotes a town that has suffered severe chieftaincy conflicts and other forms of violent clashes in recent times.
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Located in the Nanumba North District in the Northern Region, Bimbilla has been in the news over the years for a bad reason.
The town has witnessed protracted violent clashes.
The incessant conflicts in the town have not only robbed the community of its development, but have also denied the indigenes some level of freedom.
Many curfew orders have been imposed on the community by the country’s Interior Ministry as part of measures to solve the conflicts in the area.
This in no small way has affected every fibre of the community including the celebration of certain festivals.
However, the inhabitants of Bimbila can now smile as peace returns to the area.
This was manifested when the chiefs and people of Bimbila celebrated the ‘Naa Jigli’ festival peacefully last week.
The festival was last celebrated some 12 years ago.
The area, which has not witnessed the event after the death of Naa Abarika Attah, the Paramount Chief of the area, as a result unstable chieftaincy dispute.
During the celebration of ‘Naa Jigli’ festival saw the regent, Nyelinbulgunaa Yakubu Nadani Dasana, dancing round the town with his elders amidst singing and merry making.
The Naa Jigli is a special prayer performed in the afternoons after both Eidul Fitr and Eidul Adha celebrations where the Chief Imam of the area together with the king and some traditional leaders converge at the mosque to give thanks to God for granting them another year.
Narrating the event in an interview with The Mirror, the spokesperson of the regent, Mr Tahidu Osman Kikaa, said the festival “is celebrated in two sessions”.
The first session, he explained, was led by the Chief Imam in the morning at an open space joined by the whole Muslim community while the second session was held at a different location for only the chief and his elders.
“The second session is led by the chief himself. After this, there is merry making where the people together with the chief eat and dance to beautiful tunes while the youth also entertain the chief and his elders with beautiful acrobatics display”, Mr Kikaa said.
According to him, the celebration of the Naa Jigli meant that the people had resolved to bury their differences and to unite with a common purpose of developing the area.
He said during the celebration, the youth called on all stakeholders especially government officials to refrain from aiding the youth to secure arms but rather to support their education.
