AUTHOR: CHUKWUMA OBIAGWU

SECTION I:

THE ORIGIN OF IGBO PEOPLE

OJEMBA’S TALES

Igbo people came into existence through a man called Ukeneme the son of Nwachukwu (Ishmael in Hebrew). Nwachukwu, Ukeneme’s father, was called God’s son because his earthly father abandoned him few years after he was born. An angel of the Lord was sent from heaven to adopt him on behalf of God. He was however to inhabit the forest, fight nature and wilderness in order to become a strong man. He eventually conquered the forest and his descendants became forest people where kings and queens emerged to rule the ancient world at various times.

Ukeneme (Hebrew Kedema) was actually the last son of Nwachukwu. He founded the settlement of Asaba-Igbo near Ethiopia and married an Ethiopian princess. His great grand daughter called Ada (Ethiopian Adwa) became the queen of Asaba (Hebrew Sheba). Her son became the Menelik 1, an emperor of unified Ethiopia while her other generations ruled at Aksum, Unubi-Igbo, Cush, and even Egypt. These kings created im-portant cities such as Maarib, Aksum, Adwa, Meroe, Ahiaragu, Enugu etc., on their way to their promised land. There may have been about 44 Ukeneme dynasties that ruled the world of Igbo people.

Arufo

CHAPTER 1

IGBO PEOPLE AS PART OF THE BLACK JEWS

1.0 Introduction:

In this Chapter, Ojemba would try to answer an expected question; Who is the Igbos? The book will try to provide the answer by developing a theory based on Ojemba’s Tales. Igbo people are therefore the generation of people that developed Aksum, Cush, Nubia and Sheba. Etc., originating from the horn of Africa (North East of the Sub Continent). They had moved to the Central and then to West Africa because these various kingdoms and empires declined and because they remained strangers among indigenous people whom they had ruled. They encountered several revolts because they were strangers and some of such revolts often became catastrophic, necessitating relocation. They were therefore able to establishment several communities in many regions. This book also tried to imply that some of such movements were really ordained in order that they fi-nally find the promised land, i.e. where they are today.

1.1 THE HEBREW CONNECTION: THE BIRTH OF ISHMAEL

In the land of Canaan of the ancient Middle East, Hagar, a black woman from Africa was married to Abraham, a Jewish nomad. While starvation and famine descended on the Abraham’s country, he sought and obtained help from benevolent Africans in Egypt. Not only that he was fed, the great Pharaoh bequeathed him with gifts including male and fe-male servants (Gen. 12:16). Hagar, the daughter of blacksmith called Naradush was one of the female servants who accompanied Abraham and Sarah to the land of Canaan. She became the handmaid of Sarah and managed Abraham’s family with great efficiency. She never was a slave, for Abraham neither bought her nor captured her in any warfare according the Bible. Because Sarah was barren for most of her life, she gave her hand-maid to Abraham to marry as second wife. The purpose was for him to have children who would bear his name after him. Ironically however, Sarah was enraged when Hagar became pregnant for Abraham and eventually had a son, named Ishmael. Abraham was forced by Sarah to abandon this child and his mother.

God however, intervened and gave a promise of a son also to Sarah probably to calm her down. God then instructed Abraham to accept and care for Hagar and her son. The seed of discord had been sown and Ishmael had to be abandoned in favor of Isaac in the house of Abraham but not in the sight of God. Ishmael grew in the wilderness and married in the house of Gushe, descendant of Naradush, his mother’s lineage. The Bible recorded that he married two other women (1Chr. 1:29-31). Ishmael settled at Havilar-Shur across the Mediterranean at the eastern part of Egypt as you go towards Assyria (Gen. 25:18). When he died at the ripe age of one hundred and thirty seven years, his twelve sons had multiplied exceedingly as promised by God (Gen. 21:13). Each son established different settlement that grew into tribes. Holy Bible named the twelve tribes of Ishmael as Ne-bojoth, Keder, Adbeel, Mispan, Mishma, Dumah, Massa, Hadad, Tema, Teture, Naphish and Kedema in the order of their birth (1Chr. 1: 29-31). As the Havilar-Shur was a terri-tory of Egypt, the descendants of Ishmael were regarded as strangers in the land. Al-though they were made to live by the rule of law established for Egyptians, they were al-lowed a great deal of autonomy, which enabled them to establish their own systems of preserving their Jewish traditions.

1.2 Kedema (Ukeneme in Igbo) in Saba Province:

Kedema was the youngest child of Ishmael. When his father died, he was only 12 years old. In the other hand his oldest brother, Nebojoth, was 86 years old. After the death of Ishmael, all his wealth was divided among the adult children excluding Kedema. He was therefore unable to inherit any of his father’s wealth. To survive, he had to serve his brother, Hadad, the first child of his own mother, for seven years. When he was barely 20 years he set out to be on his own. Hadad had taught him to be a trader as well as crop farmer. He traded on goods and commodities brought by sea merchants. He traveled to distant lands for commercial purposes. Some of his trading sprees took him to Saba (now republic of Yemen), a province of Ethiopia, south of their original settlement (Havilar-Shur). Saba, Hebrew Sheba, an ancient kingdom directly East of Ethiopia across the Red sea and Gulf of Anden mentioned in the Bible, most notably in the story about the meet-ing between King Solomon and the Queen (See 1 King 10: 1-13).

Kedema found the Saba land very fertile that he decided to start a settlement with his ser-vants and nephews that were with him. While in Saba, he continued to trade on goods and commodities produced in Egypt and other countries. Fifteen years after his arrival in the land of Saba, he married the daughter of an Emperor of Ethiopia. In about 10 century BC, Saba, an Ethiopian province grew into a remarkable trading center and it became known all over the ancient world. With the marriage to the princess of Ethiopia, Kedema’s Saba was given relative autonomy.

1.3 The Rise of Adwa (Ada)-A Ruling Dynasty

Kedema’s great grand daughter “Adwa” later became the queen of Saba. Under her lead-ership, Saba grew in leaps and bounds. With the wealth and influence of Adwa and her descendants, Saba became one of the most powerful states in Southern Arabia until 115 BC, when Himyarites gained ascendancy. During the rule of Adwa descendants how-ever, the chief city occupied the present day Ma’rib, east of Sanaa, the capital of Yemen. At the height of its development, in the 8th century, the kingdom of Saba maintained colonies along trade routes leading to Palestine. Ma’rib became one of the wealthiest cities of the ancient world.

1.4 The Rise of Emperor Ezana- The Return of Adwa Dynasty

After Adwa as the queen of autonomous Saba, her son Menelik 1 united Saba with Ethio-pia and became the emperor of larger Ethiopia. Years later, Saba was lost and a new em-peror called Ezana moved his capital to Aksum. Ezana’s descendants ruled Ethiopia until 50 AD. During those periods, Ethiopia showed evidence of influence from Southern Arabia in its spiritual beliefs, its language and its writing until Ezana V was converted to Coptic Christian. He made the religion the state religion. During the 4th century, Greek influences began to predominate. Ethiopia’s receptiveness to outside influences was largely a result of the Kings continued contact with his cousins in the Lower Egypt.

The country’s shoreline on the Red sea and the Gulf of Anden made it a natural port for ships sailing from Egypt to trade with India and the Far East. The Ethiopian port of Adulis on the Red sea was a vital link in trade between Africa, the Mediterranean nations and Asia. From the interior, Caravans brought iron, animals, gold, horns, slaves and tor-toise shells. These they traded for weapons, cloth, wine and other local products. Adulis was cosmopolitan city with residents from Egypt, Persia and India. Greek was frequently spoken there. King Ezana V became the most powerful king in East Africa.

1.5 The Empire of Nubia and/or Cush: Gateway to Continental Africa

Historical accounts indicated that the people from Saba were responsible to the spread of Neolithic civilization, which their cousins helped to establish in Egypt. They thus became the main link between the Europeans and Africans in the 4th century. Aksum was strong as a nation well into the 7th century, when the kings forged alliances with several Byzan-tine emperors. Muslim however, gained control of most of the surrounding territory and forced Aksum off the Arabian Peninsula. Aksum quickly declined in importance, al-though it stubbornly maintained its traditions through the centuries. The spread of iron culture southwards into the African continent was consistent with the movement of peo-ple from Saba and Aksum. In the hinterland, the region of modern day Sudan, these peo-ple set up a black nation called Nubia or Cush. Nubian empire extended from the Medi-terranean South to the borders of Ethiopia and possibly into modern day Uganda. For a brief period, Nubia was one of the most powerful empires in the world.

Large slagheaps from ancient times indicate that the Nubians used smelting irons. They appear to have been active traders, exporting metal goods including gold, Ivory and iron deep into Africa and to places as remote as Greece, Rome and Algeria. During the 1st century AD, after the Romans conquered Egypt, Nubia sent ambassadors to Rome. The emperor, Nero, returned the favor by sending an ambassador to Meroe, Nubia’s capital. It is possible that Nubia, through its trade, served as a kind of clearinghouse for passing on ideas from Mediterranean civilization to the more remote areas in Africa. Other arti-facts left by Nubians are impressive. They built burial mounds in the fashion of the Egyptian pyramids. Near the capital city of Meroe, they may have been more that 60 of such royal mounds (tombs). They are as many as 200 Mereotic sites in Sudan today, but only a few had been studied. Those studied provided hint of life of larger civilization. The discovery of Nubian spindle whorls suggests that the people wove cotton garments. Among the most remarkable artifacts from Nubia are superb earthenware designs. The discovery of fine pottery even in the smaller villages suggests that the empire enjoyed high degree of prosperity as well as artistry. Mereotic wheel turned pottery is considered some of the finest from the ancient world.

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1.6 will follow shortly.........

[ June 09, 2001: Message edited by: Amanda Wekson ]

[ June 09, 2001: Message edited by: Amanda Wekson ]

Internal wrangling among others was responsible for the decline of Nubia. They were initially overshadowed and sometimes ruled by Pharaohs of Egypt when the Adwa ruling house was not able to bring their acts together. However, in 725 BC, Piankhy, descen-dant of Adwa gained power with the decline of the Pharaohs as the emperor of Nubia. He conquered Egypt, thus establishing the 25th ruling dynasty in Egypt. Apart from power struggle among the descendants of Kedema, Nubia was defeated in war by the As-surbanipal. Because of that defeat, the emperor shifted his capital southward specifically falling back to Napata at the fourth cataract (or waterfalls) of the Nile, then to Meroe be-yond the fifth cataract. The emperor defeated the Cushites at Meroe and established the city as his second capital. They came to Meroe with their entrepreneur skills and made a once sleeping city, a thriving commercial center of the world. The movement of Kedema tribe was traced from Aksum to Meroe at about 750 BC, to Napata below the 4th cataract in the earlier 6th century. As Meroe became the center of iron smelting, it maintained a leading role in the iron market. In roughly AD 350, the Adwa dynasty was overthrown by the nomads and by rival merchants. The civilization however, may have been weak-ened by over population and subsequent demand upon the fragile vegetation of the re-gion.

1.7 Journey to Central and West Africa

As soon as the empire of Nubia declined, the inhabitants started moving to the Central and West African sub regions in search for markets and fertile lands and to associate with emerging empires of Ghana, Songhay and Mali. The journey was through Darfur down to the Congo basin and across the Cameroon Mountains. The people were alternatively called Kwa-eboa people as they were said to speak Kwa languages. They were traders and ironworkers, making them the pioneers of modern technologies across Africa. They helped to build cities as trading posts mainly to serve their commercial interests. They were able to settle in many parts of Africa, some of, which became extinct while most, have been lost to other people of different races. The indication was that the Kwa lan-guage is the largest among the various subfamilies of Niger-Congo languages spoken in the Central and West Africa. In Nigeria alone, the Kwa subfamily of languages formed the various ethnic groups such as Tiv, Idoma, Doma, Nupe, Igala, Efik while the largest is Ibo. The customs and traditions of these tribes overlapped. In general, they are basi-cally crop farmers, producing root crops and other commodities. They are also commer-cially oriented and highly mobile.

Varieties of domesticated crops as well as breeds of animals typically found in the Egypt, were introduced to the sub region by these immigrants. In Congo Basin of Central Africa there were no indication that crop agriculture was practiced before the arrival of Saba people. In West African, so many hundreds of years after their arrival, all the domesti-cated animals with exception of guinea fowl, seem to have been borrowed from the North East Africa sub region. They were also responsible for the introduction iron technology with abundant number of metallurgical workers known as blacksmiths among them. Ar-cheological artifacts found in various West African locations, especially of metal hoe, were said to be the sign of the presence of the Kedema tribe or Saba people. The large stock of Kwa language groups in Africa continent indicated that the Nubians arrived in the location at different period and often relocated to new areas once in a settlement. This helped them to acquire the capacity to adapt to new environment. By their wide spread especially in the modern day Nigeria, they have made valuable contribution to the creation of modern Africa. Their ability to move and resettle in many lands was foretold Biblically. For God has said to Abraham after the birth of Ishmael, “Know certainly that your descendants shall be strangers in land that are not theirs for 400 years” (Gen. 15:13). They helped to create nations after nations and because they were strangers, they were never absorbed in the process. Wherever they have settled, their cultural heritage helped set them apart from their host community. They have been able to govern themselves even without established kingdoms.

1.8 The Overview of Saba Culture

The Saba people otherwise the Nubians, even in their most recent settlements in Central and West Africa, worshiped only the creator. Unlike the ancient Greek and Romans, their leaders never assumed the role of gods and therefore they were never worshiped by the people. They believed in the existence of the Supreme God who delivered their fore-father Ishmael from the wilderness of the Mediterranean deserts. They also believed in supernaturalism, in ancestral protections, in mystic potency of certain persons and in spirits of several kinds, who they suppose were subordinates to God. Some of the spirits are assumed to be both physical and spiritual messengers of God.

The Nubian immigrants in West Africa had great respect for age and experiences and or-ganized their leadership in that direction. They lived in numerous autonomous families once sacked from Nubia, their last empire or kingdom. These autonomous families often grew into villages and towns with time. They maintained special links with their ances-tors and ancestral heritage. They had no standing army while they became the husbandry of most civilization in Africa. They practiced advance economy of food production and in fact some of their philosophers became scholars in the Ancient University of Tim-buktu. They engaged in considerable amount of trade with distant markets. They used masks to celebrate their festivities. They were artistic and there were art works for every expression, perhaps borrowed from Egypt. These art works are indispensable elements of their religion, which are also used as spiritual symbols concerned with agriculture, an-cestors, divination and secret societies. Igbo people of West Africa are completely asso-ciated with the above culture. They are therefore, the largest part of the Kwa-speaking people who left Nubia after its decline to establish new settlements in Central and West Africa. The commercial efforts of Igbo people helped to build cities such Jos, Yaunde, Accra, Cotonou, Kaduna, Kano and Maiduguri etc.

1.9 Arriving at the Promised Land:

What ever was the real reason for the fall of Nubia became a catalyst for the people to relocate to their Promised Land in West Africa. Igbo people reside in the modern day Eastern Nigeria as well as the Niger Delta regions. The area had been a Promised Land for the Kedema descendants. It is the eastern part of the Gulf of Guinea, which is liter-ally flowing with milk and honey. It is bordered in the East by the Central African Re-public, including Cameroon, and in the South by small Islands of Bioko (formerly Fernando Po). It is also bordered in the West by the Ancient Benin Kingdom, (now Edo State of Nigeria). Its principal ports were Port Harcourt, Calabar, Douala and Cameroon. Douala and Cameroon were however removed from Igbo land by the government of Al-haji Tafawa Balewa in 1962. The principal cities are Enugu, Port Harcourt, Onitsha, Aba, Owerri, Awka, Abakaliki, Umuahia, Asaba, Orlu, and Okigwe, each of which was provincial headquarters before the creation of states.

Before arriving to the now homeland, these Saba people were first settled in Congo Basin from where they moved to the Cameroon mountains. They were said to have located the homeland by about AD 200. When they arrived, the place was unoccupied by any race and they were convinced that they have reached the Promised Land. The conviction was partly justified by the existence of large body of water (Atlantic Ocean) at the extreme south. By the sight of the water, they assumed that they were destined to stop so far and claim the land especially as they were no other people disputing their claim at the time. Archeology provided evidence that the people were the same pioneering group of the an-cient Saba immigrants who spread the knowledge and the use of iron implements in vari-ous African locations. They also played vital roles as middlemen with kings and emper-ors, providing needed European and Arabian goods to the local population.

Archeological finds in the Jos Plateau of the present day Nigeria indicate that Nubia peo-ple lived in the area from 500 BC. Iron tools and cast bronze burial artifacts from Nubia culture provided the earliest evidence of the Iron Age in West Africa. During the 19th century, Fulani chief and Islamic leader named Usman Dan Fodio (Shehu) carried a holy war he called Jihad in the region. The Nubian immigrants, otherwise the descendants of Ishmael retreated to the Ekoi/Ogoja axis to avoid incursion by Fulani horsemen. From this area they traded with Hausa kingdoms. The more southward movement was com-pleted then in order to avoid being forced to Islamic faith.

1.10 Spread of the People in Various African Locations

Although they were no records to show that they created other empires after the fall of Nubia, they however played vital roles in nearby empires as middlemen in distribute trade. They were rarely involved in local politics and although they did not take direct orders from these host empires or kingdoms, they submitted to the rule of laws that did not contradict their traditions and culture. As pioneers in many fields of commerce, their influences were felt throughout Africa. In the last century, when the British formed “The Royal Niger Company”, these people became natural partners in business. Because they did not have kings, they felt unconcern when the British colonized the provinces around the Niger River Basins as the ‘Southern Protectorate’. The were also important to the local population whom they provided the services.

TRADITIONS, RELIGION AND CULTURE OF IGBO PEOPLE
OJEMBA TALES:

There are many things that constitute abomination in Igbo Land. People are forbidden from committing abomination such as killing not only of a fellow human being but some sacred animals in designated places. Because they have been through a lot and traveled so far to their present settlement, they became their own brother’s keepers. They were no pagans as far as their believe in one God is concerned even before the coming of Irish Catholicism and other European Christianity. Their religion was the Coptic Christianity accepted about 50 AD and adopted as the state religion in Nubia. They were not allowed to kill a royal python or fish in certain rivers. The observation of this law started when a queen of Egypt called Iputu committed abominations by killing her half brother who was the Pharaoh of Egypt as well as her sister. A king of Rome aided and abetted these abominations and God punished them both by turning Iputu into a beautifully colored snake called ‘Eke Iputu’ while the king of Rome was turned into a fish. Because these involved kings and queens, these animals became royal animals.
Arufo

CHAPTER 2

IGBO PEOPLES WAY OF LIFE

2.0 Introduction:

Although as they arrived at the promised land, they did not set out to create an empire similar to that of Nubia and did not maintain a centralized government. They lived in numerous autonomous villages, with strict laws and customs for about 1000 years. The villages were organized into clans while each clan operated their government based on their special believe and ways of worships. Each clan therefore made and enforced codes of conduct commonly referred to as the traditions. In general, the occupation of the peo-ple, their traditions as well as their culture suggest strong relationship to the majority of tribes existing in modern day Zambia, Kenya, Southern Sudan, Uganda, Eritrea and Ethiopia, all in North East of Africa. Oral history also suggested that the traditions com-monly practiced by these tribes are similar to the practices of the ancient Jewish people as revealed by the Holy Bible (see books of Genesis, Exodus, and Leviticus). After Nigeria was created in 1900 and its attendant independence in 1960, Igbo tradition went into sev-eral transformations.

In this Chapter, Ojemba tried to show some of the culture that made the Igbo people unique in their present West African location. The account in this Chapter would explain how the people lived before the advent of Christianity, a factor that had much influence in the transformation of the culture of Igbo people. They have in recent time embraced European Christianity simply because their way of life as well as their belief had always been for one God. In accepting the European Christianity Igbo people renewed their faith in the supremacy of one God, the God of Abraham and Ishmael, their accepted forefa-thers.

2.1 The Culture in Perspective:

Like in the ancient Hebrew kingdoms of Israel and Judah, Igbo people manifests their culture in arts, literature, dance, music, drama, clothing, architecture and other esthetic designs. Story telling, proverbs, idioms, riddles, myths and folklore. All these play prominent role in the life of the Igbo people. Story telling for instance, serve to docu-ment actual events, entertain, teach morals and stimulate the imagination of the listener. Some stories also provide commentary on peoples lives in a given period. Myths are used to explain events especially the recurrent ones. Proverbs and idioms serve to com-municate the wisdom of the past generation. There is a proverb for every situation in life, typically formulated from home experiences and reflections throughout ages.

2.2 Socialization:

In the Igbo homeland, every person-man or woman- had a role assigned to him by the society. He or she learned the ways of the society and the tasks expected of him/she. It is usual for individuals to belong to groups other than family groups within the general society, such as hunters club, Ozo, Nze, Ekpe, Okonko, Oba, and other artisan guilds etc. These various organizations were meant to complement the family role and they exist also to perform certain traditional functions, sometimes in ritualistic ways. Igbo tradition offers two kinds of securities to the people, ‘Social and Psychological’.

In their villages, they were always assured of what to eat, in so far as the village had enough. They were assured of work. When they grow old, the kit and kin would provide for them. That was their social securities. They had to learn a single set of behavior. They know what was expected of them and what to expect from others. They know that when they were married or children are born, or a member of family died, the whole vil-lage could participate in an appropriate ceremony to mark the occasion. These were the psychological securities.

2.3 Oral Communications:

Igbo people speak ‘Ibo’ which is classified as the Niger-Congo language groups. Ibo belong to ‘Kwa’ sub family of such language groups. In terms of Igbo people’s popula-tion, Ibo is the largest linguistic stock of Negro Africa. Olauda Ekwiano was said to have been the pioneer of written language of Ibo. He, in fact, created the first set of Ibo alpha-bets as he translated his autobiography (1789), to the language, which he wrote under the pseudonym of Gustavus Vassa. He was kidnapped from Onicha-Ugbo in the former Be-nin Kingdom, and sold into slavery to the New World. He lived in England as a free man from where he wrote several articles including his life as Igbo boy. In the 20th century, many writers including the legendary F.C. Ogbalu produced Ibo grammar books and Ibo language had since been studied and used as medium of instruction in schools and col-leges in Nigeria and some institutions abroad.

Ibo language has a lot of dialects. The language changes as the location of Igbo people’s settlements changed. Going from the extreme south of Ikwere clan of the present day Rivers State of Nigeria to the extreme north of Igbo-Eze at the borders of Benue State, Ibo language has more than 66 variations. In fact sometimes more than a dialect exists in a province (collection of clans). This is perhaps one reason why non-Igbos can hardly learn the language. However, the complexities of Ibo language had made other neigh-boring languages very simple and Igbo people had learn to speak more than their own vernacular in every environment outside Igbo land. The progress Igbo people made in commerce especially had been their ability to speak Hausa, Yoruba and other languages spoken by smaller tribes such as Tiv, Igala etc. This has given them edge over other Ni-gerians in their ability to conduct business in the multiethnic Nigeria. They can commu-nicate and interact very effectively in every tongue in Nigeria and other West African lo-cations.

The complexities of the language are also manifested in various ways items were named. Some items are named differently in different clans and they are generally accepted as Ibo language. Most widely traveled Igbo people understand all of them. A word, Uri for instance could mean dance in Owerri province, or one of the tradition cosmetic herbs used by women to decorate their body during festivals. However, Onitsha or Awka per-son of Igbo origin may call the same word Uli having relatively the same meaning. While Igbo people traditionally know who speak what and how, it will be extremely dif-ficult for a non Igbo person or children born in Diaspora by Igbo parents to know what is what. In fact, several words in Ibo language have more than one meaning which led some people to suggest that Ibo language is incomplete. Also different words mean the same thing and it is understandable too. Drinking cup for instance, may be called obele, okuku or iko depending on the settlement. Ibo language has a few more alphabets than English language. Letters such as n, y, w, k, p, g, b, are combined in various forms to create extra Ibo alphabets such as nw, kp, gb, kw, gw etc.

2.4 Proverbs and Idioms:

Although Igbo people are excellent communicators but the practice of interjecting most sentences with Idiom or Proverbs had always confused most non-Igbos. Conversations are rarely concluded without an interjection of idiomatic expressions or parables (Ilu). There is a proverb for every situation in Igbo life. Those who can not follow conversions because of the added ‘Ilu’ are said to be less knowledgeable, while those who can effec-tively understand and follow conversations are said to be wise. That is, at all times, the elders had the expectations that the young ones could reason out events by themselves and the only responsibility of the elders was to give hints. This they believed would cre-ate wisdom because the idioms and proverbs as they are being used serve to communicate the wisdom of the past generations. They are typically formulated through home experi-ences and reflections throughout ages.

The difference between proverb and idioms is not distinctly clear. Ibo idioms still sounded like proverbs but they are actually figure of speech, which are common in other world languages. The beauty of both Idioms and proverbs are shown when they are written and spoken in Ibo. A phrase, ‘Our people said; or my father told; or the elders of our clan said in a proverb…’ usually start proverbs. However, for purposes of the reader-ship of this book, all the proverbs would be translated into English.

IDIOMS:

1.0 A child can not grow beyond his destiny.
2.0 A child can not pay for his mother’s milk.
3.0 A clan is like a lizard, if it lost its tail, it soon grew another.
4.0 A hunter’s dog can suddenly go mad and turn to his master.
5.0 A man is judged by his handwork.
6.0 A man who has sipped the spirit waters can not be revived.
7.0 A man who will not lend his knife to cut dog meat because that was a taboo but will offer his teeth for the same job.
8.0 A proud heart can survive a general failure, because such does not prick its pride.
9.0 Age is respected but experience is revered.
10.0 An outsider who weeps louder that the bereaved.
11.0 Every thing is possible but everything in not expedient.
12.0 God will not agree.
13.0 He is like small flying bird that so far forgot himself after a heavy meal, and then he challenged his personal spirit or Chi.
14.0 He tapped my palm trees to death.
15.0 He who brings kola brings life.
16.0 His worth and not that of his father judge a man.
17.0 I can not find the mouth to tell the story.
18.0 I owe them no yam and no cocoyams.
19.0 It is like pouring grain of corn into a bag full of holes.
20.0 Like a man in a song who had ten wives and not enough soup for his foo foo.
21.0 May bullet crack his head?
22.0 Never let a handshake pass elbow.
23.0 Nothing puzzles God.
24.0 Opposing him is like a proverbial fly trying to move a dunghill.
25.0 Proverbs are the palm oil with which words are eaten.
26.0 The man is as slippery as fish in water.
27.0 Those, whose kernels are cracked by their benevolent spirit, should try to be humble.
28.0 We are God’s flock, sometimes He chooses a young one to eat, and other times, the older ones may be chosen.
29.0 We must bale this water now that its is only ankle deep.
30.0 We should never fight a fight of blame.
31.0 You have put a knife on the thing that held us together and we have fallen apart.

PROVERBS:

1.0
2.0 A chick that will grow into a cock can be spotted the very day it hatched.
3.0 A child on its mother’s back does not know that the way is long.
4.0 A child’s finger is not scalded by a piece of hot yam, which its mother put into its palm.
5.0 A man who calls his kinsmen to a feast does not do so to save them from starva-tion.
6.0 A person who decided to chase after a chicken in the day light, for him is a con-stant fall.
7.0 An old woman is always uneasy when dry bones are mentioned in the proverb.
8.0 As a man danced so the drums were beaten for him.
9.0 As dog said if I fall for you and fall for me, it is a play.
10.0 As the elders said, if one finger brought oil it soiled the rest.
11.0 Eneke, the bird said that since men have learned to shoot without missing, he has learned to fly without perching.
12.0 I cannot live on the bank of a river and wash my hand with spittle.
13.0 I have climbed the iroko tree today; therefore I must come down with as much firewood as I can find.
14.0 If a child washed his hands well, he could eat with the kings.
15.0 Looking at king’s mouth, it may seem he never sucked at his mother’s breast.
16.0 Madness may indeed depart, but never with all his clamorous train which haunt the eyelid.
17.0 Sun will shine on those who stood, before it could reach on those who knelt under them.
18.0 The belly does not bulge out only with food and drinks; it might be the abomina-ble disease.
19.0 The lizard that jumped from high iroko tree to the ground said he would praise himself if no one else noticed.
20.0 Those who gather ant-infested faggot must be prepared for the visit of lizards.
21.0 When a man says yes, his personal spirit or Chi will always concur.
22.0 When a mother cow is chewing grass its young ones watch its mouth.
23.0 Whenever I see the dead man’s mouth, I see the folly of not eating what one has in one’s life.
24.0 Whenever you see a toad jumping in broad daylight, then know that someone is after his life.
25.0 Who will leave an Ozo feast to attend to poor ritual meals?
26.0 You can tell a ripe corn by its looks.

2.5 How Persons and Places are Named by Igbo People:

Igbo names are words and phrases used to identify and set people and place apart. Spe-cific names sometimes reflected parent’s experiences in life as well as described the cir-cumstances leading to the birth of such child. Such words or phrases can be descriptive adjectives turned into nouns or they may be substantive nouns. Majority of names of Igbo people often has a lot to do with the people’s belief in the theory of creation. The understanding was that children are direct gift from God (Seed of Stomach). Certain names are traditionally used to designate men while others are given to women. A num-ber of Igbo names can however be used for either sex. Today, in addition to the tradi-tional names given to children, Christian or baptismal names are common especially among Catholics. This came into existence when the Irish priests predominated the churches in Igbo land. Igbo people were then told that only names of Saints can be used during the baptism. However, Christian influence on first names, which was strong in the early times of colonialism, has began to be less important as some Igbo people began to embrace priesthood. The vernacular names are now being accepted universally as bap-tismal names or first names.

In the early times, before colonialism, Igbo people did not commonly adopt surnames and last names. People are known by the specific places they came from. However, after colonialism and the introduction of civil service systems, it became necessary to intro-duce consistent surnames or last names. It was mainly for purposes of taxation and for other administrative exigencies. Once introduced, Igbo people adopted it as they assume that it made for immortality. Succeeding generations used it venerate the family name as a symbol of permanence. Christianity, in its part, made Igbo people to adopt a threefold pattern of given, middle and surname or family name. Specific motivation for choosing names can be itemized below.

(a) Special relationship between persons can be object for naming children e.g. Azikiwe.
(b) When female children are produced while couples desired at least a male child, they can formulate names such as Nwanyibunwa or Nkechinyere etc.
(c) The people also recognize the limitation imposed by environment for their wishes and desires. Such natural hazards as wars, poverty, death and accidents etc., have influenced Igbo peoples choices of names of their children e.g. Balogu.
(d) Death (Onwu) and life (Ndu) are known to be mysteries of creation. The people therefore did not waist time to unravel them but expresses their faith in God’s domination of such mysteries. Names such as Agbapuruonwu, Onwudiwe etc., have therefore been formulated from those mysteries.
(e) Igbo market days and calendar consist of Afo, Nkwo, Eke and Orie. Children have been given names of those days especially when they are born in any one of the days. The names could be Nwafo, Nwankwo, Nweke, and Nworie for male children, Mgborie, Mgbafo and Mgbeke for female children.
(f) Children are also recognized as precious gift from God almighty and when they are born praise names are often given to them. There is also in recognition that, as precious gift from God, they are much more important than any material wealth or possession. . Example of such names includes Ibuaku, Nwakaego, Madukaeji-aka etc.
(g) Names such as Chukwumaeze, Chukwuemeka, Nnaemeka etc., are used to ex-press human faith in God almighty.
(h) Materials, Rivers, articles of household etc., can be used to name children in Igbo land e.g. Ofo, Aziza, Orji, Uzuh etc.
(i) Children names have been formulated based on the order for which children were born such as ‘Okpara’ for the first male children; Ada for the first female child etc.

Igbo villages bear names of mostly the founders. A town can bear a name as follows; Umuobom, Ndi-Izuogu, Ogwu, Nkerefi etc. In the first one, Umu means children and Obom may perhaps be the first settler or the ancestral father of all the inhabitants the par-ticular place. In the second name, Ndi means people of Izuogu probably because it in-cluded both his own children and his slaves. The prefix, Ndi is mostly used in the settle-ments created by former slave merchants mostly from Arochukwu. Some communities are named descriptively to signify the circumstances of its existence or the terrain and physical features of the specific location such as Ikpa and/or Ikpa-Okoli etc. Ikpa means a free range and probably located by Okoli who was the ancestral father or first settler in the location.

A place can also bear names used for the commemoration of a significant clan figure, historical event, or named after towns and cities of the ancient Cush and Nubia where the people originated. For instance, Asaba town across the Niger River was named after the original country of Igbo people, Saba, after one of the sons of Ham, the son of Noah in the bible. Unubi was also named after Nubia, one of the most powerful ancient empires created by the Saba people out of the land of Cushites, who were also the descendants of Ham (Gen. 10:6-8; Isa. 18:1; Jer. 13:22).

2.6 Educating Igbo Youths:

The educational methods of Igbo people in early times constitute only the informal meth-ods. There were no school buildings but knowledge is transferred from generation to generation through cultural discipline. Igbo people viewed education then as a life long process that includes broad range of other experiences as well as peer relationship and family living. This system usually occupy more time and often exert powerful influences than does formal schooling which was introduced in 1800’s. The primary purpose of such informal education was to serve the need of the society especially in agriculture, craft and trading process. The emphasis was always on imitation and apprenticeship. Children and young people learn by watching and imitating their elders, usually in work setting. They also learn by trial and error under the guidance of a master (Oga) or a spe-cialist. This is a fairly effective way to pass on the accumulated skills and knowledge to the society.

In the 18th Century, elementary, secondary and only later in the 19th century, higher edu-cation systems were established based on those in Great Britain. The intention was to provide the colony with clerks, teachers and so forth. Elementary and secondary schools emerged from churches, and these missionary schools were very prominent and contin-ued to play important roles before the Nigerian civil wars of 1970. Some Igbo people who were able to receive secondary education became such professionals as desired by the civil services system created by the colonial masters. Prominent schools established by the Missionaries include Methodist College at Uzuakoli, Holy Ghost at Owerri, St Augustine at Nkwere etc. The secondary education system that has remained today is designed to give all children a general academic education. The proliferation of secon-dary and primary schools made the number of people wanting to enter the University swell.

The University education was initiated in the 1960’s and they were supposed to provide higher education in all fields. In recent time, admissions to such universities are based on the result of the rigorous joint matriculation examination (JAMB). However, before the coming of the University Education Systems, some tertiary institutions meant to train middle level manpower were established. The prominent ones include; Institute of Man-agement and Technology at Enugu, the Schools of Agriculture at Igbariam, Umudike and Umuagwo. There is a Polytechnic at Nekede near Owerri as well as a National Root Crop Research Institute also at Umudike. Alvan Ikokwu College of Education at Owerri is the foremost advance teacher training college in Igbo land.

University of Nigeria at Nsukka was the first indigenous University established after Ni-gerian Independence. However, in the 1980’s and 1990’s more universities were estab-lished by the government of Nigeria including a University of Technology at Owerri and a University of Agriculture at Umudike. After the creation of states, some states created their university system. The first of such state Universities was the Rivers State Univer-sity of Science and Technology at Nkpolu followed by the Imo State University at Okigwe, which has since been relocated at Owerri. The former site of the Imo State University was converted to Abia State University after the creation of that state from Imo in 1991. The former Anambra State University has been changed to Enugu State University also after the creation of Enugu from the old Anambra State.

2.7 Igbo Family System:

In West Africa, Igbo was an autonomous nation with distinct culture and tradition until Nigeria was created by the Great Britain. In Nigeria, they are considered as a Tribe, however, they are the second largest ethnic group that makes up Nigeria after the Yoruba tribe. The people believe that they are products of both primary or nucleus family ( Umunne) as well as polygamous heritage (Umunna). Whichever way, they believed that they are blood relatives. It is therefore common for people to refer to each other as brothers and sisters even when they have not known each other previous as long as they speak the same language and their dialect can be identified.

Igbo family provided its members with protection, companionship, security and sociali-zation. The nuclear family in Igbo land is a subordinate part of extended family, which also consist of nieces, nephews, grand parents and other relatives. Igbo families are pa-triarchal in structure and the entire structure functions to provide affection and emotional support by and to all its members. Families are responsible for religious training and rec-reational activities for children in the home as well as socialization with outside children. However, children are regarded as the common responsibility of all; so that, no matter what the relationship between parents, their children still played together and even share their food.

In the late 20th century, extended family system declined in prevalence. The change was associated particularly with increased hardship created by long Hausa-Fulani cum mili-tary exploitation of the nation after their defeat in the Biafran wars. Also, increased resi-dential mobility played role in disintegrating the size of the extended family system. Property is usually passed across generation from father to his son, mainly landed prop-erties. The first male child usually, is given the lion share. Women, in some clans, do not inherit any property. Even lands belonging to mothers are always coming from the hus-bands and after them, the last male child is bequeathed with the property.

2.8 Marriage System:

Igbo society encourages marriages in general. The selection of bride by groom was mostly by referral. Love was expected to follow after living together and understanding each other properly. People, especially, relatives made their recommendations based on their own standards and not necessarily that of the groom or the bride. Potential grooms are expected to be providers while the potential brides would be the wealth and property organizers (Odozi-Aku). The qualities desired for such grooms were either to own or in-herit sufficient property as well as having the physique or the character to maintain, im-prove or expand such inherited property. He should usually be a good farmer as early Igbo people are mostly agrarian people. They may also be experts in some valued arti-sans practiced in the society. In order words jobless and lazy individuals may not be rec-ommended to potential brides. Another important factor that play role in the recommen-dation, selection and acceptance of both grooms and brides is the family background, in-cluding whether such families are Osu, Ohu or any of the forbidden caste of the society. Potentially, both groom and the bride must be free citizens and their families must be seen to be progressive according to the standards of the time.

The wealth in consideration was usually land, size of yam barn, size of palm plantation and number of domestic animals kept by the family or the extended family. Since mar-riage is by referral, the ceremony usually consists of several visits to the bride’s village or family as well as some rituals. In most clans, at least five visits would be made before a marriage could be considered final. The first visit was for personal introduction to the potential bride herself since most of the time neither her nor him had seen each other be-fore. It is also a visit of enquiry. There had been occasions where parents or the potential bride rejects the suitor’s offer and the case was usually closed. However, if the offer were accepted, the second visit would be scheduled where both nuclear families would be introduced. The third visit would be scheduled to set the bride price while the fourth would be to pay a bride price. The final visit would now involve greater number of peo-ple on both sides of the village in order to consummate the marriage, as well as to cele-brate the union.

The bride price to set depends on the perceived qualities of the bride but in the final analysis, the groom usually pay what he can afford irrespective of the price set and agreed upon. The price gives the recognition required that the two are to be one prior to the final ceremony. No marriage certificate is issued and no church minister or court of-ficial is required to proclaim such marriage legal. However, it becomes legal after the payment of the bride price. In each of the visits specified, gallons of palm wine are de-manded and obtained. The number of gallons increases with increase in the stage of the visitation. For instance, at the final ceremony, popularly known as “Igba Nkwu” or “Traditional Wedding” the groom family is to provide enough palm wine to keep the en-tire village intoxicated for a day or two. Other items are also presented such as snuff, cigarette, food items, goat or other domestic animals. The quality, and size of ceremony depends on the clan as well as the wealth and capacity of the groom family. Usually at this final stage, many friends and well wishers always contribute items to support the groom. This is why they will always intervene in the life of the couple and the woman becomes “Our Wife” even though an individual sleeps with her.

RELIGION AND SACRED BELIEFS OF IGBO PEOPLE

3.0 Introduction

This chapter is designed to answer the question; “What is the people’s philosophy of life in general?’ Igbo people believed that religious faith and philosophical understanding are complementary. They combined ethical and supernatural beliefs into a spiritualistic way of life based on the belief that the soul is a prisoner of the body. The soul would be freed at death and reincarnated in a higher or lower form of life, depending on the degree of virtues achieved. Religion therefore, is a way of life while it controlled all aspect of Igbo culture and tradition. In general, Igbo belief system revolved around one God “Chukwu” who rule heaven and earth. Their God is omnipotent and omnipresent spirit. However, they also believed that to reach this mighty spirit, intermediary agents are necessary. One of the greatest agents was the spirit called “Ala “. It was said to be the same angel that guided Ishmael to the land of gold called Havilar/Shur at the eastern part of Egypt after he left his father’s country. Ala, the superior guiding angel of Igbo people was responsi-ble for morality, fertility and general conduct of the people. It was also their belief that more than Ala, God almighty appointed several other spirits to work for the general guid-ance of His creation including “Chi” generally accepted as personal spirit of individual Igbo person. Every other spirit reported to Ala, who ultimately reports to Chukwu who resides in heaven.

3.1 Origin of Igbo Religion

The belief system adopted by Igbo people came from their last empire, Nubia. The re-ligion was identified as Coptic Christianity. Fundamentally, the religion was closely in-tertwined with every thing else, from the daily task to the most exalted rituals. In the an-cient city of Aksum, there was a very powerful emperor called Ezana who was converted to Christianity by two Syrians, Frumentus and Adessius. After accepting the faith, he made it the state religion. While in Aksum, Frumentius played very important role in the emperor’s court. After the fall of Aksum and subsequently, Nubia or Cush, the people scattered to various locations in Africa. Igbo people were part of those who left with this belief into their present homeland in West Africa. .

When Europeans arrived in West Africa in the 19th century AD, they were able to con-vince the people that Coptic Christianity was equivalent to paganism, especially as they were looking for foothold to colonize the people. How could a people who believe in one indivisible almighty God be pagans? As far as history can tell, Igbo people had always been religious. However, Coptic Christianity may appropriately be described as primi-tive religion rather the paganism. This is because it lacked the body of sacred scriptures and formal written body of theology equivalent to the Bible of the European Christianity. Igbo religion therefore, was an integral piece within the rest of the people’s culture.

3.2 Elements of Coptic Christianity:

Any success or failures are credited to the spirits. A successful hunter for instance, would credit the cooperation of the spirits as much as his own skill. The expression, “My Chi gave it to me” was common expression in Igbo land. Artisans including farmers would undertake periodic rituals to insure the fertility of the fields with the same care they gave to the work itself. Ndimmuo Ala and other lesser angels/spirits are represented by several symbols. Ofo particularly, represents chi and this instrument was usually handed down from generation to general within each family. Within each extended fam-ily, special houses were erected to place these art objects. Sacrifices meant for the su-preme God was offered from the altar of the sanctuaries during or before festivals as well as when misfortune befell on a person within the family.

Apart from Ala and Chi, there was several other spirits or lesser angels who may function for protection generally, or for avenging the transgressions of man on earth. Specific objects were also used as symbols of those other spirits while they were housed in com-mon clan or community sanctuaries, the Coptic Church. Each of the sanctuaries is main-tained by high priests appointed by the spirits themselves. Certain families are known to be the representatives of the people where high priests could be selected. The high priests tend the tabernacles from day to day.

It should be noted that Igbo people did not classify Chi, Ala or any other spirit as gods or goddesses. They were rather being referred to as “Mmuo” or “Umu-agbara”. Although these spirits were represented by artwork, they were worshipped as idols. They believed strongly that the almighty God of heaven chose these spirits as well as the high priests. Both were said to be the messengers of God, Chukwu, so that people can approach Him through them. Chukwu appointed them because His work was too great. People offer sacrifices (aja), not to the spirits but the true God through such spirits and their high priests. People worry the spirits more than they did to Chukwu because they were afraid of Chukwu. They know that Chukwu was everywhere and over all spirits while He re-mained supreme. The Supreme Being was also known by other names such Chineke (God of Creation), Obasi dinelu (God of Heaven), Amama amachama (God of Myster-ies) etc.

It is the notion of Igbo people that he who does not do the will of God needs to be afraid of his repercussions. They also believed that people were always made to pay for every sin they had committed in their lifetime. They therefore interpreted every misfortune as the punishment for disobedient to God. They also believed that all have sinned and con-tinued to sin and that all fall short of the glory of God. They assumed that God’s will was too great to be known by mortals. The high priests therefore, interpreted the will of God to the people, identify the spirit responsible for the specific area of life, would communi-cate with the spirits and would ask for atonement when transgressions are committed. If such atonement was ignored, the spirit’s anger would then be unleashed on the people not just the transgressor (See Leviticus 5). In this way, every member of the clan becomes the custodian of Igbo culture and traditions. Spirits rule over all natural things including water, lands, markets, days or nights as long as they were the creations of God. Igbo people also believed that creation of the earth was accomplished in four days and that the creation started on Afo day while ending in Orie day. God however, created man in the 8th day to look after these creations.

3.3 The Spirit World:

All God’s creations are classified and specific angels were appointed to rule over them. In Nwabosi clan for instance, while Ala remained the earth spirit, “Ndimmuo Ala”, there was Ogwugwu, the market spirit; Idemmili, the spirit of rivers; Agbara, the spirit of night and day; Amadioha, the spirit of thunder; Kitikpa, the spirit of small pox and leprosy; Agwu, the spirit of torment etc. Agwu, Kitikpa and Amadioha were assumed to be de-structive spirits. They could be used by the Ala to avenge pollution or desecration of the land for which she ruled. In general, spirits are the powers of death. Like in Christianity of the Europeans, Igbo people believed individual people’s souls are converted to spirit when the body died. The spirit however lived forever. Ancestral spirits therefore kept perpetual watch over individual families. The elders therefore, could not eat without calling on the names of their ancestors to come and share what was presented with them. The pouring of libation was the part and parcel of Igbo culture based on the precept that the dead lives on.

Why was Ala spirit held in higher esteem above all other spirits? Legend had it that she was really the woman ancestor and mother of all Igbo people, probably biblical Hagar, the wife of Abraham. Because she was mother of all, she always had the tendency to forgive man’s transgression, especially if people were really sorry for the sins they had committed. However, there were situations when she would allow the vengeance spirits to punish sinners on behalf of the almighty God. When she had not become spirit, she was sent away by Abraham at the wilderness of Beersheba, an angel came and comforted her and gave her certain messages from God, one of which was to guide her children per-petually, life or dead. When she departed this earth, she was sent back as spirit to guide her descendants forever.

3.4 Igbo Prayers:

While direct prayers are not offered to these various spirits, they were however respected as the main link between man and his creator. Igbo people therefore constantly praised the creator whom they also believed to have provided all they owned. The most popular prayer of the people was:

Chukwu who made heaven and earth!
The owner of past, present as well as the future!
The commander in chief of both spirit world and mankind!
We pray for good health, life, Children, happiness and good harvest!
We dare not ask for wealth, for when you have given us health and Children,
Wealth was bound to be ours.

Chorus: We shall live! Or Isee or Yaa!

This is some deep and extensive stuff. I have never read anything scholarly about the Igbo origins. The tripodal all encompassing ethos of "Mara Onwe gi, Odi be Ndi, and Egbe Belu Ugo Belu"could be seen in this socio-cultural historical piece.

The Igbo monotheism disproves the racist prevailing thougth of evolution. The western mindset lately has been that Africa is the birth place of Humans. Humans evolved from simple life forms such as aquatic unicellular organisms, after millions of years following the big bang theory. That they is no supernatural power (God)or (chineke) responsible for the intricate design of the cosmos much less the complexities of the Human body.

If this theory permeates the thought processes of Africans i.e (The early Man)as was taught in Biafranigeria schools in the past; Africans will begin to internalize the notion that they are just the remnants of the precursor of the Mordern Humans such as the Europeans and the Asians.

That the whole problem of the black race hinges on the fact that their brains might have ceased to evolve, hence they are incapable of using their brain power to solve the myriad of their existential problems.

Amanda in another thread, you had mentioned somthing about the Akashic record. Do you, or have you read any of the works of T. Lobsang Rampa? He talks about the this record a lot.

This is really an incedible piece of work in Igbo way of life. It explains to an extent the reasons for the suspicion, and oftentimes envy of the Igbo's mercantile ability by those less gifted. This bodes very well for the new Biafra.

Igbo people believed that after death, people’s souls were reborn or return into consecu-tive bodies. Sometimes they believed that there was improvement from the last life with each reincarnation. Although the ancestors are hovering about, watching over, protecting their individual families, God sometimes selected and sent back spirits to earth for spe-cific purpose. Each spirit was believed to be sending as many times as possible and in many forms. When a child was born, the elders usually enquired from Chief priests of tabernacles of who came to life. The practice is popularly known as “Igba Afa”. Most of the time some family members who died would be reported as having come back to life. However, on rare occasions, non-family spirits could come back to a different fam-ily. Some spirits returned with all the physical features for which they were identified with in previous life. The soothsayer (Ogba Afa) often predicted rightly who came to life. However, sometimes they can be in error. When such happened, the child had been sickly and the return to the same or another soothsayer became necessary in order to ob-tain the right prediction. The returning spirit sometimes made demands on his/her new parents while such demand was usually fulfilled. Sometimes also, the soothsayer pro-vided dos and don’ts in order that the coming spirit was appeased. They may decide not to be fed with dog, snail or pork meats. If such children are fed with the forbidden ration, the children usually broke out (allergies).

An Igbo legend had it that the great empress of Saba (Adwa) who ruled between 4th and 7th Century BC was the reincarnate of mother Hagar. It was said that because she had been in the land of Cannan in her previous life, it was easy for her to trace her way back to visit her cousin, King Solomon of Israel. It was also said that the spirit who later re-turned to life as Solomon was the same angel who brought God’s message to Hagar in Beersheba. Both Adwa and Solomon were returned to the earth to rule over the two sec-tions of the Abraham family at the same period. The visit of the queen was to thank her protector spirit in previous life.

3.6 Ogbanje:

Some reincarnated spirits may return for purposes of tormenting others, especially their parents. Such parents may not have been nice to them in their previous life. Such return was therefore meant to revenge for ill treatment meted to them specially or for the bad life they led in their previous life. That was why it was not strictly considered evil. They were said to have buried their power of return (Iyi-Uwa), beneath the earth and unless such instrument of power of return is found and destroyed, the child would keep coming and going. Medicine men popularly known as Dibia are said to have possessed special powers to identify Ogbanje, or their Iyi-uwa. When and if Iyi-uwa was found while the child was still alive, such child will not die again and if he/she did die, they will never return again.

3.7 Ajohia (Bad Forest):

Each clan in Igbo land usually set aside a forbidden forest where outcasts, twin babies, and people struck with leprosy and swelling diseases are cast out. Like in the old Hebrew laws, some people are isolated in those forests in order not to spread their diseases which came as punishment for their sins or the sins of their fathers and forefathers against God.

3.8 Feast and Festivities Associated with the Coptic Christianity:

Igbo people observe at least three main festivals in each year, mostly to honor Chineke. The first of such feasts was Mmanwu (ancestral Spirits) festivals to thank God for the maturity of fresh vegetables and fruits of the early season. This festival was a precursor of the most important feast of New Year and that of harvest. It was also the first feast of the year required to clean the society before they prepare for the celebration new crops. The New Year or new Yam festivals that follows was similar to the feast of harvest of the ancient Hebrew tradition and it probably served the same purpose (Ex. 26:16). In fact most biblical injunctions concerning feasts, festivities and sacrifices in the Old Testament of the holy bible were observed by Igbo people even before the advent of European Christianity.

In the first feast, several Mmanwu are featured. It was said to be the season when spirits came to life for at least three days to honor the chief spirit and Chukwu. Even the mes-senger spirits such as Ala, Ihejioku, Amadioha, Kitikpa, and Agwu were appeased for their roles in carrying human messages to God almighty. Each ancestral spirit that came to life in each season can be identified. Women and uninitiated were not expected to come close to the spirits while the spirits perform in various village squares. The spirits were believed to have risen from the belly of earth, the land of the dead, through some ant holes. The leader of the risen spirits would perform certain rituals to cleanse the land at Ogwugwu (sanctuary of market spirit) before other spirits could advance into such market. Part of the rituals was to appease the Ogwugwu Orie and allowed celebrating the arrival of new crop before human being can celebrate. The Ogwugwu was expected to communicate with other important spirits that could not come to life and such angels can now pray for fertility, peace, prosperity and forgiveness of human transgressions. Chi-neke, the God of creation, would forgive, cleans the clan, and bless the people abun-dantly. These aspects of their belief were what the messengers of European Christianity termed fetish.

Igbo religion, otherwise the Coptic Christianity was not fetish as long as other primitive religions such Judaism, were not classified so. Even in Catholic faith, the faithful are still praying to God through Virgin Mary, Angel Michael, and other saints (spirits). Very re-cently, the remains of an Igbo Catholic priest, Father Tansi, who died several years ago in an English Monastery, was brought back to his village in 1994. They said he was can-onized, some step towards attaining saint hood, by the Pope. In fact, by now Igbo Catho-lics believed that the late father had been admitted to Saint hood and they believe that praying in his name could work miracles.

3.9 The Festival of New Yam:

The feast of New Yam, otherwise, Igbo New Year was held every year before the general harvest begins. New Yam could not be harvested or eaten until appropriate sacrifices are made to the almighty Chukwu through the spiritual powers. Men, Women and Children looked foreword to the ceremony mainly because it will begin the season of plenty. On the eve of the festival, those who still had them disposed off all yams of the old season. The New Year must begin with tasty, fresh yams and not the shriveled and fibrous crops of the previous year. Yam looses water while in storage and usually becomes fibrous just before the new yam comes out. All cooking pots, kitchenwares such as calabash, wooden bowl (ikpo), mortar (ikwe), and pestle (odu) are thoroughly washed before the new crop could touch them. The event usually lasts for two days in many communities. The first day would be for feasting and fellowship, while the second day was usually marked by activities such as wrestling matches at village or market square. In recent times however, football matches in some Igbo communities, to mark the occasion had replaced wrestling. Wrestling was said to be savagery. However, more savagery sports were shown in the television in recent times.

No one had actually said when this celebration started. It was assumed to have been an injunction given to the people by the almighty Chineke, while their ancestors were still in the land of gold, Havilar, where they were strangers. But indeed, it must have coincided with the discovery of the miracle crop, Yam, which was said to be a revelation from Chukwu. However, in about 10th Century AD, New Yam festival was first celebrated with a lot of fanfare at Meroe in Cush, the one time capital of Unubi-Igbo (Nubia). Be-fore then, it was celebrated privately between families to honor their ancestors. It was the emperor of Unubi-Igbo who decreed that the ceremony became the state affair and must be celebrated with fanfare in all the provinces of his kingdom especially at Meroe. The emperor was indeed a man of God for his deeds were pleasing to Chineke. He encour-aged farming and started conferring titles to yam farmers according to their harvest. He proclaimed that a man’s worth could only be measured by the size of his yam barn. All that the emperor gave the title became the royal advisers. All the royal advisers including the emperor’s household were made to adopt pounded yam as their main meal and no other type of foo-foo was allowed into the royal chamber. The celebration, till today, be-came the occasion to give thanks to Chukwu through her grace, Ala, as well as Ihejioku through whom Chukwu provided the miracle crop to mankind.

3.9.1 The Decline of Igbo Religion (Coptic Faith):

Coptic Christianity or Igbo religion controlled the life of the people until late 19th Cen-tury when Europeans introduced other brands of Christianity while condemning the peo-ple’s religious culture and equating it to paganism. The main reason for the success of Europeans was because they introduced the reading of the bible as well as modernizing some rigid codes that had guided people’s behaviors for centuries. Igbo religion allowed the seclusion or segregation of certain individuals called Osu. Although, the Osu caste served as the chief priests of sanctuaries of worship, they were in fact first to be con-verted to European Christianity when the white people came to West Africa. The early European missionaries built Churches but more than that they built schools where they taught European culture to the Osu cast mainly and other free people who accepted their faith. The Osu people were taught how to read and to write and they were first to be em-ployed in the civil service of the colonial administration. They became government clerks, interpreters, court messengers etc. The court messengers were armed and they became the precursor of paramilitary security unit of the colony. These castes used the newfound power to avenge centuries of isolation by Igbo people.

The high priests of Igbo religion made no serious attempt to compete evangelically, with European missionaries. The high priest never tried to convert non-Igbos into their relig-ion. In fact, Igbo people themselves got they’re teaching from the families not from the priests themselves. Many natural things such as twinning in humans and some diseases are considered as abomination in the Coptic religion. Many individuals afflicted with such abominable diseases were thrown away to Ajohia while the Ajohia was the main burial place of the Osu Caste. The European missionaries discouraged such beliefs and convinced the Osu people that the spirits would not harm them if they shaved and be-haved like any other person. Meanwhile, the missionaries created hospitals and leprosy colonies where the one time abominable diseases are cured. Twin children were no more abandoned in the Ajohia. However, most of the actions of the followers of Igbo religions never had the ability to ask questions as laws and guiding rules were more mystic than anything else was.

3.9.2 Circumcision:

Before the introduction of the European Christianity, Igbo children were circumcised at approximately eight days after birth (izu abua or two Igbo weeks). It was said to be a covenant they were instructed to keep between Chukwu and the people. It will be re-called that the bible said that Ishmael for whom Igbo people claim descendant was cir-cumcised at the age of thirteen. Thereafter, his father instructed to circumcise all his male children after 8 days of birth. Thus said the Lord; “ This is my covenant which you shall keep between me and you and your descendants after you” (Gen. 17:10). This was another indication of their link with the Jews.

3.9.3 Some Taboos of the Land:

(i) Thou Shall not Kill
(ii) Thou shall not unmask Ancestral spirits;
(iii) Thou shall not Mistreat a Stranger;
(iv) Thou shall not kill the royal python

The most important religious law of Igbo land was not to commit murder of any kind. It was an abomination against the earth spirit and Chukwu to kill generally and a clansman in particular. A person who killed a clansman by accident must flee from that clan into another place where he will stay for several years. After which he performed rituals to cleanse the earth, which he desecrated by his deed. While in exile, the persons property will be confiscated and his compound destroyed, if he had any. If a stranger to the clan committed such act, his home clan should pay for his deeds with another human being and he should perform other rituals to be prescribed by the host clan. These rituals are methods of cleansing the land, which the murderer had polluted with human blood. On the other hand, intentional act of murder was never expected and no laws were made for such incident. Rather, the perpetrator was assumed to be possessed by agwu (spirit of torment). The contention was that no sound mind and soul could destroy the work of Chineke.

One of the Igbo mystics was the mass return of the ancestral spirits (Mmanwu), once every year especially during the festival preceding the Igbo New Year. However, indi-vidual spirits may be called up occasionally and when there was need. They were often used to settle cases, suspend harvest of common tree crops and used to punish transgres-sors of traditions. They were also used to suspend properties under dispute until substan-tive cases are determined (interim injunction).

Although women folks were not allowed to stay shoulder to shoulder with the spirits once risen from the ant holes, both men an women are initiated into mysteries of the Mmanwu. Uninitiated were not supposed to come close to Mmanwu unless by accident. Definitely, both initiated and uninitiated were forbidden from unmasking the spirit or to expose the mysteries behind them to the public eyes or in fact to say or do anything that could re-duce the immortal prestige of the spirit world. When it happened, it was viewed as seri-ous crime and a lot of sacrifices must be performed to atone the land spirits whose mem-bers had been killed. Once a spirit is unmasked, it must not return to earth again i.e. it has been killed.

Igbo land, original was an agrarian society, but as their agricultural practices became un-sustainable, and as natural resources became more scarce and more expensive, young men and women migrated to other parts of the world. They must however, make annual trips back to the homeland. They in fact became strangers in other lands. Therefore, they learnt to treat strangers with respect especially as they wish to be treated in such other lands they have been. The elders also convinced the youths that that was also part of Chineke’s injunction to their ancestors, to treat strangers with respect. This may be similar to those given to Moses on behalf of Israelites. Thus, “You shall neither mistreat a stranger nor oppress him, for you were strangers in the lands of Egypt, said the Lord” (Ex. 22:21).

Igbo people revered and treated royal pythons as if they were a people. It was addressed as a “She” and called “Eke-Iputu.” It was allowed to go wherever it wishes, even in people’s beds. It ate rats in the houses and sometimes-swallowed chicks or their eggs within the compound. If an Igbo man killed this animal, he usually made sacrifices to atone the mistake. He should also perform burial ceremony such as was done for ordi-nary human beings. Like in the case of murder, no punishment was prescribed for those who intentionally murdered the Eke-Iputu, because no person thought that people with sound mind could commit such an abomination. In other words, only a lunatic could do such a thing.

Much of the legend behind this had to do with a Queen called Iputu, who was changed to python because of the seriousness of her sins against Chineke. For she had planned and murdered not only her own sister but her step brother who was the Pharaoh of Egypt. She committed the sins with active collaboration of a king of Rome. That king also was turned into fish in the great Nile River. That was why the snake became royal python. Cleopatra really ruled Egypt after she killed Ptolemy XIII, her half brother between 68 – 30 BC. Although she was famed for her beauty, she was also known for her unscrupu-lous political dealings. At the age of 16, her mother ensured that she became a co-ruler of greater Egypt left behind by the great emperor of Nubia, Oku-Paleke (Piankhy in most literature). Her unscrupulous dealings along with adultery especially with foreigners made the his half brother to expel her from the throne and the land. Fleeing to Syria, she met Julius Caesar who restored her as queen. She lived as the mistress of Caesar in Rome until he was assassinated in about 44 BC. Her activities greatly distressed her immediate family. While she was in Rome, her sister attempted to overthrow her with limited success. Cleopatra met Mark Anthony and married him. The warrior moved to Alexandria with Cleopatra where she seized her sister, imprisoned her in Rome and eventually killed her. Their mother died of heartbreak, or so to say.

Chineke punished Cleopatra by sending Angels to help ailing Augustus Caesar (Octo-vian), to fight both Anthony and the queen in Alexandria. They were defeated and at the brink of such defeat, Mark Anthony committed suicide while the queen chose to die from the bite of an asp (a poisonous snake). After the bite, she went to the tomb she prepared for herself and Anthony and laid. When the Romans entered the palace, they could not find their bodies but saw a snake. After through search for their bodies, they concluded that they had changed to animals, snake for the queen and fish for the late emperor of Rome. The tombs were not found until several years later. She was also called Ogbanje, for a normal person could not had combined such beauty she was known for and reck-lessness she chose to live by. They way she tortured her family baffled Egyptians and all the people of the ancient. When the Romans announced that she had turned to snake, people did not dispute it.

Regarding the Akashic Records, I have an insightful book called, "The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ" by Levi Dowling. This book is actually transcribed from the Akashic Records. This book talks about how Jesus attained the Christ consciousness that is open to all men, and the fulfillment of the prophecy of the Aquarian Age.

***"The Aquarian age is pre-eminently the spiritual age, and the spiritual side of the great lessons that Jesus gave to the world may now be comprehended by multitudes of people, for the many are now coming into the advanced stage of sprirtual consciousness."

***Curled from the above book.

There are people in Igbo land that were made and treated as outcast by the tradition. They are called Osu and Ohu. Although both systems have limited interaction with free born, Ohu, which was mainly the domestic servants bought or captured in wars, live among the free citizens. On the other hand, any contact with Osu by free people that did not involve sacrifices to the spirit sanctuaries where they live, was an abomination. The implication was that the people classified as Osu were those offered to the clan or village sanctuaries. Their duty was to serve the ancestral spirits and to officiate at the sacrificial offering of the people to Chineke. Each village or clan was therefore responsible for the up keep of the caste people. Much of their stock came mainly from such offerings to Chukwu. They perform important functions of keeping the sanctuaries for the people and performing the duties of the high priests. They were thus, the intermediaries of such God’s messengers as Ogwugwu, Amuma, Agwu etc. They also had some roles to play during the conferment of traditional titles to free citizens. People became Osu by one of the following ways: - (1) Persons expelled for violation of traditions could be made to belong the caste system.
(2) Those who committed abomination that warranted death sentence may seek sanctuaries from the spirit and once that happens, they will never stop being untouchables, although their lives would be spared.
(3) Those who were expelled from their villages for committing capital crime, but had no other relatives in other clans who could shelter them, could de-cide to seek refuge within the sanctuaries of a clan.
(4) If people were oppressed and they ran away to the abodes of spirits, (alusi) and said to the spirit, “take me, O spirit, I am willing to become your servant, no man will ever touch him thereafter.

People who enter the cast for any of the above reasons are free in a sense, yet no power on earth could break their bondage. They are free of men but bonded to the spirit. It was a rigid system where they can only marry their own kind and their generations after them would continue to be Osu. They were restricted from pursuing certain occupations until the advent of European Christianity. An Osu was not allowed to shave and he could be sheltered or provide shelter to free citizens. In fact, long, tangled, and dirty hair was the major of this forbidden caste. If free born sheltered or be sheltered by Osu, they become one of them instantly. Osu was indeed a slave to one of the guiding spirits of the clan. He was therefore, a thing set apart, not to be venerated but to be despised and almost spat on. He could not marry a freeborn but from people like him who were bonded to any of the village or clan sanctuaries of guiding spirits.

The Osu community was large in Igbo land especially since every natural creation of Chineke had its own spirit. There must be families set aside to serve each and every spirit. Although they participated or in fact played major roles in conferment of titles to deserving free born, they were never allowed to take any of such titles. Their burial place was the Ajohia. Many members of the caste were first to receive western education in Igbo land. They eventually became well educated and were hired in the colonial admini-stration as clerks and as administrators in many field. Thus, they started formal contacts with people of non-caste stock. However, it may look like the European Christianity had abolished the system, but it was silently observed till today in many communities even among devote Christians. They no longer carry the mark of the forbidden caste but they had grown into towns and communities. Free people sometimes were reluctant to inter-marry with such communities even till today.

Ohu, the domestic slave, can redeem themselves but as long as they remain slaves, their status was not different from those of Osu. Unlike Osu however, the European mission-aries made no attempt to change or salvage them. Mainly because they enjoyed the services of these class of people. Ohu caste did not participate in several village activities or socialization. Igbo people were not expected to cause any harm to these people inten-tionally or otherwise.

CHAPTER 4

IGBO ARTS AND LITERATURE

4.0 Introduction:

Igbo artists have developed diverse traditional sculptures (figures and masks), architec-ture, furniture, pottery, textiles and jewelry. Basket weaving and woodcarving were also prominent. Other materials used in the artwork were clay, earth, stones etc. The forms of representation within each medium vary from relative abstraction to general naturalism. Igbo artists, in the earlier times generally work as specialists, receiving their training from established artists living in the community or wider area. The significant part of Igbo art is the folk tales and oral literatures. Many books have been written to document such stories that were used to convey the right codes of conduct from generation to gen-eration. In this chapter, some elements of Igbo arts and literature were examined.

4.1 Oral Literature

Igbo people had and maintained rich and varied oral literature which had grown since the beginning of Igbo society and continued flourishing till today. The written literature of Igbo people such as ‘Ije Odumodu’ and others had always shown a depth to the oral lit-erature, which took variety of forms. Folk tale and riddles are part of Igbo culture that convey acceptable social codes and conducts, while myth and legends teach a belief in the supernaturalism as well as explain the origins and development of states, clans and other important social organizations. Legends and myths are usually regarded as ground in fact, in many instances; they have proved that they were extremely accurate accounts of given history of some Igbo people. Folktales, on the other hand, are recognized as fic-tions. The most famous Igbo folk tales feature tortoise (mbekwu), hare (nwanba), and spider (udude). Some of the tales are formulated to calm the inquisitive minds of chil-dren.

FOLK TALES:
4.1.1 Why Mosquito Goes after one’s Ear:

Mosquito had asked the ear to marry him, where upon ear fell on the floor in an uncontrollable laughter. “How long do you think you can live?” she asked. “You are already a skeleton”. The mos-quito went away humiliated and any time he passed the way of ear, he will remind her that he is still alive by making the disturbing sound.

4.1.2 A Quarrel between Earth and Sky

A child was told how sky withheld rain for seven years until crops withered and the land became so hard that the dead could not be buried. At last vulture was sent to plead with the sky and to soften his heart with a song of the sufferings of sons of men. Vulture, the earth emissary sang for mercy as he reached the home of the sky. At last, the sky was moved to pity and he gave the vulture rain wrapped in leaves of cocoyams. But as he flew home, his long talon pierced the leaves and the rain fell, as it had never rained be-fore. And so heavy was the rain on the vulture that he did not re-turn to deliver his message but flew to a distant land, from where he had espied a fire. When he got there he found that it was a man making a sacrifice to Chineke. He warmed himself in the fire and ate the entrails.
Note: This may either be a way to explain intermittent drought that often come to Igbo land or why the rain was heavier than normal at times.

4.1.3 Never Kill a Man Who had Said Nothing:

Mother kite had sent her daughter to bring food. She went and brought back a duckling. “You have done well my daughter,” she said. “Tell me, what did the mother of the duckling do when you swooped to carry its child?” The daughter answered, “It said nothing but just walked away”. The mother kite said, “My child you must return the duckling because there is something ominous behind that silence”. The daughter kite returned the duckling and swooped again on a chick. When she returned the mother asked the same question. The daughter explained that the mother chicken cried, raved and cursed her. The mother kite thanked her and said that they can now eat with assurance that nothing will happen to them. There is nothing to fear from a noisemaker.

There are numerous stories told in order to answer what and why, to satisfy the curiosity of children. Some include why the shell of a tortoise was rough and looked broken etc.

4.2 Written Literature and Poetry:

In the area of written communications, an impressive body of Igbo literature has been produced. One of such writing were those of Pita Nwanna who wrote a story of an Aro Igbo man called Omenuko who sold his relatives to slavery, after his mishap in Igwu River. Such was considered an abomination in those times. It turned out to be adapted from actual event i.e. it was the actual autobiography of Igwegbe Odum of Ndianiche ulo. Most other literary works of Igbo people describe actual events or general ways of living in Igbo land and some were written in English language. Chukwuemeka Ike, Flora Nwakuche, Chinua Achebe etc., are the prominent literary giants who described Igbo culture using English language. Achebe particularly, examined Western civiliza-tion’s influence and threat to traditional values of Igbo people in his early novel “Things Fall Apart”(1958). More than 6 million copies of the book have been sold worldwide since it was first published. It has been translated into fifty languages. The Achebe’s master piece of work is often compared to the great tragedies of ancient Greek. It was a simple story of a man whose life was dominated by fear and anger. The book was written with remarkable economy and subtle irony. Uniquely rich in Igbo culture which reveal Achebe’s awareness of the human qualities common to men of all times and places. “A man of the people (1966)’’, his other novel, was a political satire on corruption in an un-named African country.

Chinua Achebe was born and raised in Ogidi, one of the centers of Anglican Missionary work in Igbo land. He was cited in the London Sunday Times as one of the “100 Makers of the 20th Century” for defining “A modern African Literature that was truly African”. He therefore made a major contribution to world literature. Chinua Achebe has published novels, short stories essays and children plays. His volume of poetry, “Christmas in Bia-fra” written during the Biafran war was the joint winner of the commonwealth poetry prize. Of his novels, ‘Arrow of God’ was the winner of New Statesman-Jock Campbell Award, and ‘Anthills of the Savanna’ was a finalist for the 1987 Booker Prize in Eng-land. Some of his short stories are collection under a title, ‘Girls at War and other sto-ries’. Specific titles of the collection include: - “The Madman, The Voter, Marriage is a private affair, Akueke, Chike’s School days, The Sacrificial Egg, The Vengeful Creditor, Dead Men’s Path, Civil Peace and Uncle Ben’s Choice”.

Another Igbo prolific writer of literature and novels is Buchi Emecheta. Her first novel, “In The Ditch” detailed her experiences growing up as a poor, single parent in London. It was followed by ‘Second-Class-Citizen’; ‘The Bride Price’ and ‘The Slave Girl’, which was awarded the jock Campbell Award for literatures. Her other novels include, ‘The Joy of Motherhood’, ‘Destination Biafra’, ‘Naira Power’, ‘Double Yoke’, and ‘The Rape of Shavi and Kehinde’ as well as a number of children books and a play. One of her plays, ‘A Kind of Marriage’ was produced on BBC television in London.

Another Igbo Poet, Gabrielle Okara wrote ‘The Voice’ which is one of the few African novels to concentrate exclusively on Igbo characters and values. Cyprain Ekwensi wrote ‘Burning Grass’, which has been adopted widely in Nigerian schools for the study of Af-rican literatures.

4.3 Masquerades and Face Masks:

Social themes in Igbo Land are prevalent in masquerade performances. In these mas-querades, animal and human characters, in an appropriate garb assume varieties of roles in demonstrating proper and improper forms of societal behaviors. Important historical roles are also fulfilled in Igbo art through its memoration of some prominent figures and events of the pasts, such as Ikenga figure at Okigwe Road Roundabout in Owerri town or the fallen soldier at the war museum in Umuahia.

4.4 Igbo Music Art:

Igbo land had produced magnificent musicians among males and female singers and per-formers. Among the popular female performers are ‘Onyeka Onwenu’, Christie Essien Igbokwe, and Neli Uchendu. Their song ranged from local high life music’s to gospel songs. In the male category, Osita Osadebe has been described as the grand father of high life music in Igbo land. Other male performers are Kabaka, Warrior and late Spud Nathan.

4.5 Body Painting and Decorations:

Body painting and decorations especially by women, was part of Igbo artistic heritage. Body paints produced from natural herbs such Uhie, Edo (cam wood), Nzu (carbonate clay or chalk) etc., are commonly used by Igbo people during festivities. Men are not usually decorated to any extent except as camouflage during hunting or in warfare. Some are rubbed lightly in the skin to perform cosmetic or therapeutic functions. Mostly deco-rated are women who are of marriage age. Uri is another cosmetic herb used both for decorative purposes and for the cure of skin problems caused by measles and chicken pox. Women also wear coiffure made in crest on their forehead. During ceremony also, many would dress up with colored bangles as well as waist beads called jigida. They have various artistic styles of hair-do, which the rest of the world had since copied.

4.6 Art Cultural Preservation and Maintenance:

Most of the ancient art work stolen by Europeans in the former Benin Kingdom were the works of Ikai Igbo artists inhabiting the Kingdom, West of River Niger delta. Majority of the spirit sanctuaries housed the most exotic artwork of Igbo origins and these were taken away from Asaba area as the people who maintained them were converted to Euro-pean Christianity. Because it was their production and of important cultural and religious values, Igbo people did not recognize the aesthetic values of these items until in the mod-ern times when such items are exhibited in London and Paris museums.

POLITICAL TRIUMPH AND TRAVAILS OF IGBO PEOPLE

OJEMBA’S TALES

Igbo philosophy included a belief that leaders are made only in heaven. Kings or emper-ors could only emerge by the will of Chineke. Igbo people therefore, had always waited on the lord for guidance in choosing suitable and acceptable leaders whom the people would honor with absolute respect. Thus, the connotations, Chukwuma-Eze, Eze-Chukwu, Chukwu-ga-ekwu etc. Miracles and sometimes, mystic signs were always ex-pected before confirmation of a chosen leader. When it was not Chineke’s time, Igbo people had been known to stay hundreds of years without a central leader or appropriate central government. It has sometimes led to the speculation that; Igbo people are lead-erless (Igbo Enwe Eze). When and if a leader emerged, he/she is expected to rule with fear of God, otherwise when they die, Chineke would prevent their spirit from reincar-nating. Each leader would actually bear the spirit of one of the departed ones. Because of this believe, leadership tussles are rare in Igbo land when a leader emerged.

In about 50 AD, a chosen leader, emperor Oku-Paleke (Piankhy) who ruled greater Nu-bia was said to have borne the spirit of Menelik 1. He was selected by God to lead his people but he spent more time expanding his territory beyond the lands of his people, that he angered Chineke. Although, two of his descendants, Ptolemy XIII and Iputu (Cleopa-tra), ruled in several places including Egypt, the disastrous decline of the empire after-wards as well as premature death of Akeha, Iputu and Ptolemy, his children, were attrib-uted to his disobedient of Chineke’s injunctions.

In the 20th Century, Chukwu also chose a man called Nnamdi Azikiwe (Zik) to lead Igbo people in their homeland. As a sign of his emergence, there was eclipse of the sun as well as other wonders of Chineke. Many more things had happened including his knowl-edge, which was equated to that of spirit and his ability to survive despite many attempts on his life by the white people. In short, his emergence was miraculous as no historian had been able to state, which, his extended families were and how he was able to go to white mans country as early as he did. He battled the British people single handedly to liberate his people. The British eventually gave him the opportunity to create all Igbo nation in 1952. His successes however, went into his head, that he demanded the entire Nigeria from them. Eight years after, he achieved it but because it was his personal am-bition and not what he was called to do, Nigeria of his dream crumbled and his people were massacred in the same country he labored greatly to create. When his people fi-nally wanted to do Chineke’s Will it was too late and millions of Igbo children were sac-rificed because of Zik’s disobedient.

CHAPTER 7

IGBO LEADERSHIP SYSTEMS

7.0 Introduction:

There were no historical record of a single individual before Zik who had been elected, nominated or appointed to rule Igbo people since they entered the promised land in about 500 BC. However, in absence of such kingly figure for generality of the people, Igbo people had been able to maintain law and order, while preserving their cultural heritage in the homeland. They have scattered to all parts of Africa, created settlements of Igbo people in many places other than the homeland. In these settlements including their home land, they constituted the authorities to looked up to, and had created the and ca-pacity to adapt while holding tight to their heritage. In villages and collection thereof, there were traditional rulers whom they have not been able to classify as kings or emper-ors. Each however, takes the title of Eze-ala, after the famous king of Aksum in the an-cient times.

The scramble for Africa by major European powers, and subsequently, the colonization of Africans, resulted to the creation of modern nation states in all parts, including West Africa. After such creations, no ethnic group to that effect maintained a region wide feudal system or what could be described as uniform state or empire of one people. The existing feudal lords were stripped of their powers and where a single monarch reigned; Europeans appointed multiples of them in the name of indirect rule. From the Hausa Kingdom of the ancient time came numerous emirates with each emirate having an emir. In the Yoruba west, Ooni of Ife and Alafin of Oyo were stripped of their powers and many more Obas were appointed in various Yoruba locations. It was therefore not strange for Igbo people to have several Eze’s especially, after the colonization of the people by the British.

7.1 Proliferation of Kingship in Igbo Land:

Like in several other ethnic African nations, Igbo people have numerous Eze-ala includ-ing ‘Obi of Onitsha, Igwe of Orlu, Abrakata of Umunze’ as well as so many others that are not well known beyond the borders of their community. All are supposed to have in-fluence all over Igbo land but the jurisdiction of each is restricted to specific communi-ties. Igwe performs traditional rites of Orlu people while Obi is traditional custodian of Onitsha town. Several Eze-ala were in fact appointed to all autonomous communities, no matter how small they are. In other words, Igbo people have more than 5000 traditional kings beside political and military leaders in the current dispensation. However, since Igbo people have not been able to have a single Eze-ala, they have not been able also to organize a nation state in the modern sense as they did in Nubia or Cush. One reason why such nation had previously not been created even before colonization, may have been the fact that many sub groups of Igbo people entered the homeland at different peri-ods in history. Ngwa sub tribe was said to have come to the place before others while the most current entrant was the Ikai Igbos inhabiting the Western Delta regions of River Ni-ger. Each sub tribe such as Wawa, Mbaise, Bende, Olu, Ijekebee etc., acquired several traditions that may be conspicuously absent from several others. Their system of gov-ernment indicates no separation between state and religion and no such separation be-tween culture and religion also. All the Eze-alas was therefore the custodians of both the culture, tradition and religion of specific clans of people. It would have been inappropri-ate to have a single king since clan laws slightly differed. There was also very little common interest that would have warranted the formation of a single entity called Igbo nation. However, as opportunities for such common interest arose, such as regulation of international trade and general commerce, new system of government emerged.

7.2 The Status of Traditional Igbo Leadership:

The saying, “Igbo Enwe Eze” gave a very wrong impression that the people are leader-less. On the contrary, they have chosen and produced remarkable leaders whom they be-lieved were crowned only in heaven. In fact, no group would be able to exist peacefully without leadership that are as effective as Igbo leaders had been over the years. In recent times, Igbo people have both traditional and political leaders whereas the separation of state and religion was observed in modern society. While the selection of the traditional ones are based on the religious belief held in ancient times, the selection of people on the political category was based on the laws of the modern nation state of Nigeria. The tra-ditional kings (Eze-ala) are the protectors of, and custodians of traditions and culture. In short, they oversee the maintenance of law and order in their individual settings since such traditions vary from clan to clan. Most communities can not give the history of how a certain family came to produce the Eze of their community. In many others, due to economic reasons, the original traditional stools have changed to other families and peo-ple still accepted that as the will of Chineke. No leader however, was above the law and traditional leaders did not go about amending the traditional laws or repealing any sec-tions of it. In short, the laws of the land before creation of Nigeria were unwritten but vivid in mind of the people.

Politically, Igbo people are very democratic and egalitarian. The system of governance involves several layers of organized assembly including the ‘High Council of Elders” at the apex of such many organizations. Governance was much more diffused than any-where else in West Africa was. They maintained strict republican leadership with repre-sentatives drawn from several organization, communities and villages. Many historians have described the system as novel democracy, and the people, as true democrats respec-tively. Speaking at the 1979 Ahiajoku lecture series (annual cultural affairs), Professor Michael Echeruo, the first Vice Chancellor of Imo State University, suggested that “Igbos as a people lack the monolithic cohesiveness characteristics of a people with long history of communal interaction”. In another angle, a British historian named Sylvia Leith-Ross stated that “Igbo people are true democrats”. Also some Arab traders, as early as the 8th century, found Igbo land to be a highly organized society with developed traditional towns such as Ajali, Aguleri etc., as well as well organized commerce, trading network and settlements governed democratically. Even in their settlements outside Igbo land, the people developed sophisticated society that was involved in trade and other human en-deavors. They had rule of law that was the envy of the Europeans who traded with them. “The people are seldom unjust”, noted some European traders, while they observed that there was complete security in their settlements all over West Africa.

7.3 The People’s Government System:

Igbo people possess three main levels of leadership groups, although several organiza-tions, especially secret societies, were often involved. The supreme body was the ‘Coun-cil of Elders’ which performed executive as well as judicial functions. They take execu-tive decisions on important issues as well as act as court to settle disputes. Other groups such as ‘Age Grade’ and ‘Umuada (Women Council) complement the roles of the El-der’s council. On an individual village, the council of elders was made up of all the cus-todians of Ofo or family heads while the chairman of the council usually was the oldest member of such assembly. All the chairmen from different villages formed the town council while the clan council members were the Eze’s of all such autonomous commu-nities. Where there are titled men, (Nze and Ozo), they usually became permanent mem-bers of the assembly and even chair some sessions irrespective of their biological age. A community Eze was usually an initiated member of Ozo society or any other secret soci-ety prevalent in such community.

The Elders Council made laws to preserve the customs and traditions of Igbo people mainly. They however could legislate on issues concerning inter communal relationships as well as regulated the life of the people to ensure that “Taboos” are not committed. Ba-sic laws of the land were also religious laws and the people were expected to obey them religiously. Since they were religious laws, all offenders were regarded as having trans-gressed against Chineke. Punishment for transgression therefore, came as atonement in form of sacrifices to Chukwu. When such atonement was not forth coming, the trans-gressor was usually excommunicated from the general society and sometimes exiled to other clans or communities. It should be noted that there were no prison houses, how-ever, lawbreakers may be asked to pay fines of various amounts depending to the com-munity and depending on the nature of offence. They may also loose some rights and privileges available to other members of the community. In the extreme case, individuals may be banished from the community and all his life worth confiscated. Many books in-cluding “Things Fall Apart” and others recorded significant information on how and what constituted high crimes or misdemeanors in Igbo community in the ancient times.

7.4 Age Grade and Umuada (Women Council):

The entire Igbo villages are usually compartmentalized into groups and organizations based on their ages. The oldest member of such particular group leads each group and these are called age grade. Their functions were really to keep busy, avoid troubles, learn several traditional arts including dances, as well as provide avenues for educating the youths. It also provided easy access to for the human resources needed in times of na-tional or community emergencies. Elections are rarely held in such groups. However, most of their leaders were selected based on the biological age differences or for the fact that a particular individual had distinguished him/herself in competitive sports such wrestling. Sometimes, those who had led the people successfully in wars could be hon-ored with more leadership responsibilities. Even those who had succeeded in commercial enterprises, or had the largest size of yam barn compared to others have assumed the leadership responsibilities, politically. In fact, any person that made contribution signifi-cant in the community or personal sacrifices can ascend the ladder of leadership irrespec-tive of his/her biological age.

Another important group of leaders in the traditional sense, were the Umuada (women council). These are the women born in a given village or community, who were also married within and outside the community. Immediately a person was married, she would be initiated into the society by performing certain rites. She then took her rightful place in the council, which was also compartmentalized according to age. The most senior members of the council functioned in similar fashion as the appeal court in modern times. They review the decisions of all groups within their paternal community espe-cially such decisions that remained under dispute. Their responsibility was to review such issues to the benefit of the village or the community. Their decisions were expected to be just, fair and probably, final. However, they are rarely called upon except on ex-treme emergencies. In all village functions including burials, these council was usually accorded the highest honor after the titled men. Their opinion and decisions on matters were always respected.

7.5 Initiation and Conferment of Traditional Titles:

One of the major leadership groups of Igbo people was titled man. There were several societies that confer recognizable titles to the men of Igbo land. There were therefore, several varieties of such titles available for taking. Some of such societies include Ezeji, Okonko, Ekpe and Ozo etc. In recent times, Chieftaincy titles, belonging to no specific society, had been conferred on some personalities. Most titled men belonged to the cabi-net of individual traditional Eze (King). The general symbol of all titles, except the Chieftaincy, was red cap, and ankle rope or string of a title. All the societies and their members were respected in all Igbo land irrespective of where they were initiated. Ozo, however, was the most prestigious of all the societies. Not all of these titles are available for taking in all sub-tribes of Igbo nation. Ezeji for instance, was popular among the people of Umuahia and Bende division while people of Arochukwu; Abriba, Item, Ohafia etc mostly took Okonko and Ekpe. Ozo, on the other hand, was very popular among the communities in the old Orlu and Aguata divisions of Imo and Anambra States of Nigeria. Aro-people that are scattered all over Igbo land were not allowed to take certain titles.

7.6 Ozo Title:

Like all Igbo society titles, the symbol of membership of the prestigious Ozo society was a redcap generally and ankle rope for members of certain rank. A person who had been conferred with the title was called Nze. There were several steps to be achieved in title taking. Those who were initiated into the beginning steps were referred to as small Nze (Nze-Nta) while those who have moved beyond the second steps were called big Nze (Nze-Ukwu). In some communities, Ozo title was conferred in four stages including Onozie, Ajaro, Ikeji and Ichi in that ascending order. In the four stage ranking, only Onozie was considered as Nze-nta while the three others were called big Nze. The high-est class of the title in the old Orlu Division or Aguata was ‘Ichi’, which was also not available for taking in many communities because of the nature and process of initiation. Ichi holder was considered as the spiritual commander-in-chief or a generalist. Usually, rivalries and petty jealousies may have hindered so many people from achieving this title. There had been many stories of where people who were initiated into the rank, did not live to enjoy their special privileges or command the society as expected. So, either out of fear or cautions, people had carefully avoided that level of initiation no matter how rich they may have been. Among people of the same rank, seniority was also recognized. That is, no matter the biological age differences, those who were initiated first became seniors and they deserved the right and privileges of senior members of the society.

In the Onozie classification (Nze-nta), the holder could only wear the redcap to identify himself as a member of Ozo society. However, in most gathering, in absence of non-members of the society (Akpukpaa), the Onozie holder became the messenger of all the assembly. The services they could render included breaking and distribution of items of entertainment including the kola nut. The rank of Onozie was used to establish the citi-zenship of an individual within a community. Immediately a person was admitted, every other person would now recognize that he was actually a son of the soil (Nwafo). Among the qualifications for this initial entry into the Ozo society was the ability for the appli-cant to recite oral history of his specific ancestors. He would also be able to give in a chronological order, his seventh ancestral generations including his immediate father and grandfathers. The reason was that outcast (Osu or Ohu) as well as strangers (Mbiaram-bia) were prohibited from taking any of the titles of a clan.

COLONIZATION OF IGBO PEOPLE IN NIGERIA

7.0 Introduction:

A British empire builder called Sir George Goldie formed the United African Company (UAC) during the European scramble for Africa. UAC later became a commercial con-cern designed to promote the British influence in the Niger River regions. In 1886, the British parliament granted a charter to Goldie’s enterprise, renaming UAC to the ‘Royal Niger Company’. The company obtained extensive administrative powers in the area they later named Nigeria. Sir Goldie became the governor of the Company in 1895. In 1900, the company’s territory passed under the direct British colonial control. The Royal Niger Company accomplished much of the British acquisition of Nigeria. The British claim to the Niger basins were recognized by other European countries at the conference of Berlin in 1885. Earlier, in 1884, the colony and the protectorate of Nigeria were es-tablished with Sir Frederick Lugard as the governor-general. Colonial rule itself brought some changes that would ultimately lead to independence and subsequent conflicts among the ethnic groups brought together by the British. Igbo nation was one of the groups that came under the southern protectorate.

8.1 Igbo People in British Nigeria

In 1914, the southern and northern Niger protectorates were united or amalgamated to become a country called Nigeria. Before the two sides of Nigeria were united, Igbo peo-ple had been everywhere in the northern side as well as Lagos protectorate, trading and doing other human activities. In the northern part, they were responsible for the success of the indirect rule because they acted as intermediaries between the Europeans and the local population. They spoke the languages of various natives as well as the English, the language of the colonial masters. They were thus used by the British to further and achieve their territorial interest. Igbo people were employed in the new civil service sys-tem. In fact, Igbo indigenes constituted more that 70% of all public work forces in Northern Nigeria in the 19th and early 20th centuries. They became court clerks, court messengers (Kotma), interpreters (Nwelekebe) especially as they were able to speak other local languages besides there own language. Their children populated the newly estab-lished British type school systems while they eventually became highly educated in the British values, culture and religions. Most educated people attracted white and blue-collar jobs in colonial administration. When the West African Frontier Force was created to aid the Royal Army in the world wars, the relatively educated Igbo people were drafted while they formed the backbone of the force.

8.2 Effect of Colonialism on Igbo Cultural Values:

Upon the unification of different West African kingdoms to form Nigeria, the British tampered with various cultures especially Igbo culture including their representative ad-ministrative system. The amalgamation really destroyed the model of democracy that had worked for centuries. The colonialists designed the indirect rule system, which ne-cessitated appointment of chiefs where they did not exist previously. They created the chiefdoms for purposes of taxation, which was unknown in Igbo land. While Igbo people settled in all parts of Nigeria, driven by their entrepreneur skills and proclaiming nation-alism, other ethnic people held tight to their traditional values. In fact, no other tribe em-braced Nigeria as Igbo people did. And non-of those tribes lost so much of their cultural values as Igbo people did. Igbo people threw their religion and its doctrines overboard and accepted entirely the various shades of European religion. Many Christian religious sects took it upon themselves to destroy the original sanctuaries of worship of Igbo peo-ple. They allowed the British scavengers to steal all the symbols of their spirits. It how-ever brought what may be considered modernization and urbanization. Their commercial activities intensified and many new industries were established.

8.3 Agitation for Nigerian Independence:

It took several years and the leadership of Zik for Igbo people to realize that they were not equal partners with British people in Nigeria. In 1945 however, the agitation for in-dependence started. These agitation, ironically, were spearheaded by Igbo nationalist in-cluding Mbonu Ojike, Zik, Okpara etc. One of the highlights of the agitation was a gen-eral strike called by the coal miners at Enugu, the Igbo capital city. Train services were disrupted to the Northern parts of Nigeria. Movements of general goods including food commodities were restricted as a result. Food became scarce, realizing the actions may soon render Nigeria ungovernable by the British, the district office representing colonial administration blamed Igbo people while whipping the sentiments of other tribes against Igbo people. Igbo people were subsequently attacked in their homes and their market stalls at Jos, Kaduna, Kano and Zaria.

On March of 1953, when these Igbo nationalist in the house of representatives at Lagos tabled a motion for Nigeria independence for 1956, the British angered by such motion engineered the Northern members to make counter motion of “Independence for Nigeria as soon as possible”. This counter motion, which was defeated, was designed to give British the opportunity to continue to colonize the country. Because of the defeat of this motion Igbo people again were attacked in all parts of Northern Nigeria.

8.4 Igbo Leadership Up to Independence:

Because of the agitation spearheaded by Igbo nationalists, British tried to compromise by granting Eastern Nigerian self-government in 1952. As Eastern protectorate, the region was divided into 20 provinces with provincial administrators at the helm of affairs. Enugu was established as the capital of the Igbo dominated protectorate. A bicameral parliamentary system of government was established with executive branch consisting of Premier, Governor and ministers, who as a matter of fact were elected members of the house of assembly. The two body of the legislature includes the house of chiefs and the general assembly. The members of the house of chiefs were nominated from among the traditional rulers some of who were appointed by the British. However, traditional stools like ‘Amanyarabo, Obi, Igwe, Jaja etc. were accorded the right of permanent member-ship of house of chiefs. Few other communities Ezes were nominated to boost the num-ber in the house of chiefs. The assembly of chiefs was supposed to be the superior house to that of general assembly. The members of the general assembly were elected from in-dividual constituencies within the provinces.

IGBO PEOPLE IN NIGERIAN CRISIS

9.0 Introduction:

Nigeria gained independence in 1960 through the efforts of Zik and other Igbo national-ist. The new country was composed of three regions – Northern, Western and Eastern-, each of which was represented in the central government. In 1963, it proclaimed itself a republic and established the fourth region – Midwestern. With the help of British espe-cially angered by potential loss of the oil revenue engineered by Igbo people, the North continued to dominate the country politically. However, there was no significant prog-ress in the economic and social sectors. Friction developed between the southern people including Igbo people and the Northern people. Unfortunately, Igbo people taught that because they fought and drove the British out of Nigeria, the country was theirs. They were therefore caught in the middle of ethnic envy and jealousy.

9.1 Igbo People in National Council for Nigeria and Cameroon:

One of the effects of colonialism on Igbo people was the loss of their system of govern-ment that worked for them for several centuries. Another was bringing them from Cam-eroon into West Africa because of the important role they played in formation of Nigeria. They however, did not forget their origin and when they were allowed to form political parties in colonial Nigeria, they organized a party known as “National Council for Nige-ria and Cameroon (NCNC)”. In the same way other parties were formed including the ‘Action Group (AG) and Northern Peoples Congress (NPC)”. The AG and NPC were more or less tribal affiliations for the Yoruba West and the Hausa Fulani North, respec-tively. NCNC, on the other hand was a more nationalistic political grouping of people from all over the country. Various ethnic groups including Cameroon, Ibibio, Nupe, Chamba, Tiv, Idoma, Igala, Ijaw, Efik, Calabari etc belonged to NCNC probably be-cause of their cultural similarities. The founder of the party was Herbert MaCauly who in recent time was honored with his face in one of the Nigeria currency. Some of the party leaders were non-Igbos including Professor Eyo Ita from Ibibio tribe, Margaret Ekpo from Calabari including some prominent individuals from both South West such as Adelebu (The Penklemesi) and the Middle Belt regions of Northern Nigeria such as Jo-seph Tarka. However, important Igbo leaders wielded very strong influence in NCNC were Alvan Ikokwu, Zik, M. I. Okpara, Nwafo Orizu, Mbonu Ojike etc.

NCNC therefore, was a broad-based political organization, which had more national outlook than the NPC or the AG. It was probably branded Igbo peoples party by those other organizations, which were actually jealous or envious of their wide appeal. Politi-cal intolerance became rampant as interests differed among the rival parties. Individual voters from Yoruba speaking as well as Hausa-Fulani speaking areas were forcibly pre-vented from joining the NCNC. After independence, the NPC who controlled the central government developed a strategy of reducing the size and spread of NCNC and even the AG, including using the national resources to create additional region in the south and ceding part of East to Cameroon Republic. They went further to promise an autonomous state to the Riverrine areas of the East, whose citizens later started to foment troubles which were never nipped by the Alhaji Abubakar’s government. A regional status was granted to Mid West. Although, NPC actively proposed and supported policies that di-vided the south, they used the entire national might to subdue agitation for the creation of Middle Belt region in the North.

The attitude of the Yoruba members of AG, including outright and open intimidation of Yoruba members of NCNC ensured the permanent disunity of the south, which the NPC fully exploited. The demonstration of this fact was the NCNC winning of the 1954 elec-tion in Western Nigeria under the leadership of Zik. However, after the meeting of ‘Egbe Omo Oduduwa’ (Yoruba cultural organization), several Yoruba speaking NCNC legisla-tors suddenly resigned their membership of NCNC, thus, “Crossing Carpet” to AG. These move effectively prevented Zik from becoming the first premier of Western Nige-ria. This was not only the beginning but also the height of tribalism in Nigerian politics.

9.2 Western Nigerian Crisis: The Price of Tribalism:

After the 1954 carpet crossing fiasco in the Western Region, the leaders of NCNC lost faith in the southern unity. Soon after independence therefore, the NCNC formed an alli-ance with the NPC to form the central government. The AG then became the opposition party in the house of parliament. The leader of the AG, Chief Obafemi Awolowo then became the opposition leader. Before he left to lead the opposition in Lagos, Chief Awolowo relinquished his premiership to his assistant, Dr. Ladoko Akintola. Although he was in Lagos, Chief Awolowo tried to control the government of western region re-motely. However, Dr. Akintola, who effectively took over as the premier resigned his membership of AG to form his own party which later aligned with the NPC. The new alliance became “Nigerian National Alliance”(NNA). He justified it by claiming that he wanted to move the Yoruba ethnic group to the main stream of Nigerian politics contrary to the opposition ideology of Chief Awolowo. In 1965 however, the ‘New National Democratic Party (NNDP)’ of Dr. Akintola won the regional elections amidst the accu-sation of rigging by the AG members and leadership. However, Akintola eventually formed the government but violence ensued afterwards. There were riots and bloodshed throughout the Western Region, which soon became known as the “Wild West”. People, mostly the Yoruba’s were killed indiscriminately. Arson was committed while law and order completely broke down. War was unofficially declared between the supporters of Awolowo and Akintola. The notorious slogan, “Operation Weh-tie” became the mob sentence for any known supporters of the opposing party. Human bodies were strewn in the streets throughout the region.

9.3 The Effect of the Yoruba Crisis on the Republic:

The national Prime Minister, Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa was not seen to have done enough to contain the riot and protect human life. Life generally came to a halt in Ibadan and other areas of the Western Nigeria. The President, Zik, was on vacation on the Car-ibbean Islands while the West was burning. In the absence of any significant actions from these two leaders to restore law and order, some members of the armed forces car-ried out the first military coup in Nigeria on January 15, 1966. The coup was code named “Exercise Damissa II. The primary aim of the coup, the people were told, was to restore law and order and to subsequently rid the nation of all corruption and nepotism. The coup attempt failed, having been suppressed in its final stages by forces loyal to the Federal government. However, the civil authority surrendered their government to the military, voluntarily after the death of several government functionaries including the Prime Minister, the Premier of Northern Region, Sir Ahmadu Bello, and the Finance Minister, Mr. Okotiebo. In fact, the entire leadership of the “NNA alliance” was com-pletely decimated.

Although, Major General John Thomas Aguiyi-Ironsi, the GOC of Nigerian Army, took over the government, the coup was still regarded as having failed. It was in fact, mis-managed from onset and such mismanagement almost caused the demise of the five-year-old country. Exercise Damissa II was planned and executed by the famous or infamous five majors mainly to stop bloodshed in the Western Nigeria, and only secondarily to sweep out the corruption that had eaten deep into the fabrics of the new country. In fact, that coup was a Yoruba coup if it should be ascribed to any ethnic group in Nigeria. Ironically however, the coup leader was Major Chukwuma Nzeogwu who was born and bred in Kaduna, the capital of Northern Nigeria. His parents however, were Igbo people who originated from Okpanam community near Agbo in the former Benin Kingdom. The basic error was the sparing of politicians within the NCNC and AG political organi-zations. In fact, no Igbo born politician was killed in the coup and therefore, it was termed Igbo coup even by the Yoruba people whose riot the coup was meant to stop. Non-Igbos including the Yoruba people interpreted the coup as a design by the Igbo peo-ple to dominate the rest of the tribes. The assumption of power by General JTU Ironsi, an Igbo officer from Umuahia, did not help matters.

9.4 After-math of the Coup: Igbo Massacre:

Although, General Ironsi moved to restore law and order in the West, he was killed less than six months after his assumption of office as head of state of Nigeria. Hausa-Fulani soldiers carried out his assassination mainly, as a revenge for the assassination of the NNA leaders in the civilian dispensation. However, he was accused of proposing and instituting a unitary government, a system that was fully exploited by the Hausa-Fulani oligarchy several years after. The July 29, 1966 counter coup was very catastrophic to Igbos generally. Northern civilians and soldiers massacred Igbo people living in the West and North. In fact, some of the January coup plotters who were Igbos, such as, Major Don Okafor and Chris Anuforo were abducted from their prison cells in Western Nigeria and killed by their northern colleagues under the nose of the Yoruba people. The counter coup therefore caused major ethnic friction especially between the Hausa/Fulani in the North and the Igbos. During these upheavals, many Igbo people living outside eastern Nigeria, military or civilians were killed and consequently, many fled to their homeland in the East.

THE DECLARATION OF BIAFRA

10.0 Introduction:

Frightened Igbo refugees from all corners of Nigeria streamed to the East on daily basis. The newly appointed head of Nigeria, Lt. Colonel Yakubu Gowon made only a frail ef-fort to stop the Igbo massacre through a half-hearted speech. The real fact was that he had no power to actually stop the mayhem. The entire world watched while a nation of people was being exterminated. Not even the former colonial master, Britain, had the courage to reprimand Nigeria. However, the head of state of Ghana, General Ankra in-vited both Gowon and Emeka Ojukwu, two former pals, for a peace conference. The conference was held at a town called Aburi. In that conference, both leaders agreed on several issues some of which were: -
a) To stop the butchering of Igbo people;
b) Call the Hausa soldiers back to barracks;
c) Compensate the refugees;
d) Return the civil servants under the federal civil service to their previous positions; and
e) Grant limited autonomy to the East, in other words for the Easterners to manage their affairs within the federation of Nigeria, thus, a “Confederate arrangement”.

These and other agreements were never implemented. However, rumor had it that the British government advised Gowon against their implementations, especially on the con-federacy issues. By disregarding these agreements, East was not given further alternative than to secede or to work out some defensive arrangements within Nigeria, as war was imminent.

10.1 The Secession:

After the failed Aburi conference, demonstrations were held in various eastern provinces while people urged the military governor to take action or be removed. He was particu-larly asked to declare a republic, that is, an independent nation from Nigeria. It was ob-vious from the actions of all other ethnic groups that Igbo people are no more needed in Nigeria. On May 29, 1967, the chant “Nigeria is Dead, We are Biafrans” ran through the streets of major Eastern towns. On the midnight of that faithful day, the military gover-nor of the East, Lt. Colonel Emeka Ojukwu, 33 announced the steps for secession and subsequently unfurled the banner of the “Republic of Biafra”. Gowon however, de-nounced the secession as an act of rebellion, which he hoped to crush within 48 hours. He actually ordered the mobilization of Nigeria forces and sent about two army battalions to the borders of the new nation. He also ordered the naval blockade of Biafran coasts to choke off the new nation economy. In other words, he declared war on Biafra.

10.13 The Biafran Administration:

Although, Biafra remained in the state of emergency until its demise in 1970, the new nation was managed in the Igbo political philosophy. There was a constituent assembly of elders as well as military high command necessitated by the state of emergency. While the military high command managed the security efforts, the assembly was charged with some form of legislative functions. The assembly, which was divided into commissions and the chairman of the assembly, was Dr. Alvan Ikokwu. Each of the commissions including ‘Atrocities, Rehabilitation, Development, Food Directorate, Housing etc., were headed by commissioners. Other commissioners were appointed to take charge of labor, rural development, education, transport, communication, health and home affairs. Major (Dr.) Albert Okonkwo was appointed to head the republic of Benin, which was liberated as the immediate task, to secure the life of Igbo people West of Ni-ger.

Many international communities recognized Biafra. However, the initial recognition was by those countries that share common ancestry with Igbo people. They are - Tanzania, April 13, 1968; Gabon, May 8, 1968; Ivory Coast (Cote d’Ivoire), May 14, 1968; Zam-bia, May 20, 1968; Haiti, March 22, 1969 as well as others. Some of these countries shared same cultural heritage. Biafra maintained the previous 20 provinces of eastern Nigeria while the constituent assembly appointed provincial administrators to oversee the affairs of each province. Below are the provinces and their respective administrators: -
Provinces Administrators Provinces Administrators
1. Aba Moses Onwuma, 2. Oji River G. O. Odenigwe
3. Abakaliki Samuel Mgbada, 4. Okigwe S. O. Mbakwe
5. Annang Ekukinam Bassey, 6. Onitsha R. I. Iweka
7. Awka Paul Nwokedi, 8. Opobo S. J. Cookey
9. Calabar Eyo Bassey Ndem , 10. Orlu R. I. Uzoma
11. Degema S. N. Dikibo, 12. Owerri Duke Njiribeako
13. Eket S. J. Edoho, 14. Port Harcourt Emmanuel Aguma
15. Enugu C. C. Onoh, 16. Umuahia Semeon Ojukwu
17. Nsukka Frank Onyeke, 18. Uyo J. Udoh Affiah
19. Ogoja Frank Ugbut, 20. Yenegoa Frank Opigo

The entity known as Biafra consisted of the Nine states existing in the present day South Eastern states of Nigeria, including Abia (Umuahia), Akwa-Ibom (Uyo), Anambra (Awka), Bayelsa (Yenegoa), Cross River (Calabar), Ebonyi (Abakaliki), Enugu (Enugu), Imo (Owerri), and Rivers (Port Harcourt). Within these nine states there are about 30 tribes consisting of Adaada, Agbaja, and Wawa in Enugu state; Bende, Ebonyi, Egbema, Ihiala, Ika, Izza, Nri, Oka, Onicha, Owerri, Ngwa known as central Igbo. Others are An-donni, Anang, Abanyom, Anyima, Akajuk, Adun, Boki, Ikwerre, Degema, Igbani, Ejagham, Eket, Ekoi, Efik, Etche, Ibibio, Ibeno, Izon, Ikom, Iyala, Kana, Mbembe, Mbube, Nkum, Ogoni, Okobo, Oron, Kwa, Ukale, Uyanga etc. The Biafran national an-them titled “The Rising Sun” is given below: -
Land of rising sun we love and cherish,
Beloved homeland of our brave heroes,
We must defend our lives or we shall perish,
We shall protect our hearts from all our foes,
But if the price is death for all we hold dear,
Then let us die without a shred of fear.

Hail to Biafra, consecrated nation,
Oh father land, this be our solemn pledge,
The waving standard which emboldens the free
Shall always be our flag of liberty.

We shall emerge triumphant from this ordeal,
And though the crucible unscathed we’ll pass,
When we are poised the wounds of battle to heal,
We shall remember those who died in mass,
Then shall our trumpet peal the glorious song?
Of victory we scored o’er might and wrong.

Oh God protect us from the hidden pitfall,
Guide all our movements’ lets we go astray,
Give us the strength to heed the humanistic call,
‘To give and not count the cost each day’,
Bless those who rule to serve with resoluteness,
To make this clime a land of righteousness.

10.14 The War of Survival:

To defend themselves, Biafrans started massive military draft unknown previously. Every young man or women showed up for the draft. The wake up call had been “He who is surrounded by enemies must always be on guard, Biafrans do not sleep” and peo-ple believed that they shall die but for a just cause. Literally, the people did not sleep for the next 35 months. Although armed with only local weapons and ammunitions, the war, which Gowon declared on the people, lasted for three years. The war was sustained on the fear of genocide, which had already occurred without a declared war. The fighting spirit was very high. However, diplomatic successes and the world’s sympathy were counted on to win the war. Unfortunately, British were on the side of Nigeria and con-vinced her allies to go along with them. Malnutrition and outright starvation killed more people in Biafra than the firepower of the vandals as the Nigerian army was called. Workers of some international relief agencies reported then that as many as three thou-sand children and elderly were dying daily and the total death may have reached about four million at the end of hostilities.

10.15 The Tragic Loss of Biafra and the Aftermath:

By early 1970, Nigerian troops and some mercenaries fighting on their side encircled Biafra while occupying major cities. The Biafran capital was moved to Umuahia while Orlu was one other province free of Nigeria vandals. About eight million people were killed, while more than 6 million homes in various villages were destroyed. The leader of Biafra, General Odumegwu Ojukwu went into exile in Ivory Coast while his military assistant, General Philip Effiong surrendered to the vandals on 12 January 1970. It should be recalled that in the first republic, the north had labored to separate the people of Rivers and Delta from Eastern region. While the war was raging, Gowon divided Nigeria into 12 states including the territories of Biafra. All the tribes within the central Igbo land was clumped together as ‘East Central State’ while the Delta region was divided into Rivers and Cross River States. At Lagos and Ibadan axis, Gowon sought out some young men, especially from the Universities, who were trapped by the war, who came originally from these Rivers and Cross River State. They were convinced that such sepa-ration from Igbo central would ensure better life and prosperity of their people. Addition-ally, the entire Igbo wealth in their domain was to be confiscated with the aid of Nigeria army and handed over to them. Young people like Isaac Boro, Tam David West, Ken-neth Saro Wiwa etc., jumped to the bandwagon and took up arms against their own peo-ple. Fortunately for them, the war was lost mainly due to the sabotage of their cohort.

The initial actions of these people were to advise their people on the change of people’s and town names especially those that sounded Igbo. Those who bore names like Nwachukwu, changed to Wachuku, Nwali became Wali etc. Towns names were also changed such as Umuokoroshi to Rumukorosi, or Umuogba to Rumuogba etc. Fifteen years after the physical hostilities, they held tight to those names and prevented the peo-ple of the central to return to their homes in Port Harcourt and Calabar. Ironically, all Igbo properties in the Northern Nigeria were promptly returned to the owners immedi-ately after the war. In fact, some of their friends collected rents on some properties dur-ing the war and these monies were given the property owners as soon as they were able to come back. In 1982, Emeka Ojukwu was pardoned and he came back from exile amidst a tumultuous welcome by his people. He subsequently went to the supreme court of Ni-geria in an attempt to reclaim his property at Queens Drive in Lagos which was hitherto declared abandoned property, like other Igbo properties in various parts of East and Western Nigeria. He won the battle, which opened a floodgate of litigation, which to the reclamation of several thousand of houses owned by the people who were declared aban-don. Unfortunately, several houses had been badly damaged and abused by those who inherited them after the war. For all those number of years, Port Harcourt, a once beauti-ful garden city became an eye-sour. The harbor became clogged, while the Nigerian military that promised them prosperity, did nothing to improve these facilities until the true owners of Port Harcourt came back.

10.16 The Yoruba Nemesis and Igbo Marginalization:

During that war, Chief Awolowo, the father of political tribalism, who denied the great Zik the opportunity to form the government of Western region in 1954, became the high-est-ranking civilian in Gowon’s cabinet. He declared that hunger and starvation were le-gitimate weapons of war. He made Gowon to use such weapon against Igbo children vi-ciously. In addition, Awolowo used his Yoruba brothers to replace the highly skilled Igbo technocrats in the Nigeria government. This was the principal reason why he sup-ported abrogation of the Aburi agreement.

When the hostilities ended, the positions were not returned to the Igbos and as Federal Commissioner of finance, Awolowo decreed that any Biafran, who so much deposited any amount in Nigerian bank, would be entitled to twenty pounds only. This was legis-lated irrespective of how much money each depositor had in such banks. He subse-quently banned trade in some commodities such as stockfish and second hand clothing where Igbo people excelled. To finally seal the economic faith of Igbo people, he ad-vised on the indegenization decree, a legislation to nationalize all foreign holdings in the Nigerian economy and stock market, when the average cash owned by most Igbo people was equivalent to US $40.

Up until 1990s, several years after the war, the Igbos was still being discriminated against in appointments and promotions in public and military services. In fact, it became so ir-ritating that in July of 1998, the Ohaneze Ndigbo, pan-Igbo umbrella organization of Igbo unions criticized severely the appointments made by the head of state of Nigeria, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, into the vacant positions in the armed forces. They warned that if those appointment were not reversed, it will become clear that the Marginalization of the Igbos was and still is the deliberate policies of the Nigerian military. They noticed that it was inconsistent with the posture of reconciliation, which that administration was presenting.

10.17 The Price of Sabotage:

Ironically, although the deprivations and denials against Igbo people were astronomic, those who collaborated with the vandals to vanquish Biafra did not fair better. They seemed to have paid greater price for peace as much as the rest suffered in the war. At the end of it all, what the Riverrine Igbos who denied their brothers did, came back to haunt them. Several years after the civil war the facilities in those two states remained in state of disrepair as much as those in the hinter land. However, because greatest of Ni-geria crude came from these areas, their environment became highly polluted with crude oil spills. No resources were allocated to clean the environment or ameliorate the general poverty of the people. With time, the promise of Igbo property became hoarse and what ever they were able to inherited before returning them to the owners were not enough to upgrade their level of life. When Igbo people came, they slowly but steadily rebuilt Port Harcourt. They eventually prospered beyond the imaginations of all other Nigerians.

On the human angle, Isaac Boro did not live to share in the inheritance of Igbo properties. He died while fighting Biafra and killing his own people in Bonny sector of the war. In fact the blood of his people was avenged. Ken Saro Wiwa got the rope in the late 1980s from general Abacha for killing or masterminding the killing of 12 of his clan chiefs. Tam David West was jailed several times because of his demand for fair treatment of his people and the fulfillment of the military promise of better life to his people. The oil money source from their areas went mostly into the pockets of northern military officers and their cohorts. Few amount that was used for public services went to the Petroleum Trust Fund which concentrated in reconstruction of northern roads and social services. Meanwhile, no passable and paved roads in the whole of eastern Nigeria, including those areas that helped them the destroy Biafra.

10.18 Leadership of Balkanized Igbo Land:

As mentioned above, the division of Igbo land into three states aided in disaffection in the war effort. Particularly significant was that the place removed from the Igbo heartland were the areas containing oil wells and other mineral resources including natural gas. Igbo people in those areas denied their heritage and in order not to be discriminated against. In the East Central State proper, one Mr. Ukpabi Asika was appointed from La-gos to be the administrator of the now, land locked state. He was a post graduate student at the University of Ibadan when the war broke out. Him and few others were either vol-untarily or otherwise trapped in the Western Nigeria. The Lagos junta sorted out these individuals in order to form the government of the East Central State. At the end of the war in 1970, Mr. Asika collected handful of these people and returned to Enugu. Be-cause of the circumstances surrounding their appointments, the administration of Mr. Asika became so unpopular. One reason was that the people could not immediately trust the decisions of the Nigerian junta and secondly, because the people were not given chance to decide on who should look after their affairs. Another reason for the unpopu-larity was also because that most members of the administration were those whom the people considered to be saboteur i.e. those who betrayed the people of Biafra. The peo-ple therefore viewed Mr. Asika’s administration as improper and illegal while so many people refused appointment in his government. Even the legendary Zik disapproved of him and his government, although, it was said that Zik actually went to Lagos and ar-ranged for the end of war.

When Mr. Asika was removed few months after his appointment, Colonel Anthony Ochefu, a native of Idoma land of Benue State, was appointed to govern the state. Ochefu’s tribe is the immediate neighbor and possibly, relatives of Igbo people. For that and many other reasons, the army officer was sympathetic to the cause of Igbo people, although he participated, as adjunct general of Nigerian army, to fight Biafra. His sym-pathy to the people of East Central State brought problems to him and to the people of the state. It seemed that he was not fulfilling the agenda of the military against Igbo people as demanded in Lagos. He set out to repair and rebuild structures destroyed during the war including roads and schools in urban centers at least. What they actually wanted him to do was to further punish the people, which he was not doing. Few months after his appointment, Colonel Ochefu was recalled to Lagos, stripped of his army rank and re-moved from the army. Brigadier Murtala Mohammed never obliged the nation an expla-nation for his actions in this respect.

Atom Kpera, a corrupt army colonel who later plundered his own native state of Benue, was appointed to replace Ochefu as the military governor of the land locked state. He was probably directed to ensure that the faith of the people they were unable to seal in active war, was final sealed. People like Wole Shoinka suggested that the entire nation of Igbo be subjected to become nothing more than farmers, when he was interviewed by BBC on the treatment meted to the people. So it became obvious that the agenda to con-tinue to deprive Igbo people was a collective one, not just of the Nigerian military. Atom Kpera therefore collaborated with some infidels and greedy politicians to exploit the war torn people. Their resources were carted away to Benue State and he, Mr. Kpera, was rewarded with another promotion to the rank of Brigadier.

When Murtala Mohammed was assassinated in February of 1976, the East Central State was further split into Anambra and Imo States with Enugu and Owerri as their capitals respectively. Fortunately, two navy officers of Igbo origin were selected to govern the two states. Navy Commodore Ndubuisi Kanu from Ovim Isikwuato was the military governor of Imo while Navy Captain Alison Madueke from Inyi near Achi, was the gov-ernor of Anambra. Both tried, to the limits of their resources, to create administrative and social structures as well as motivating the people’s participation through self-help efforts. The people became mobilized in order to rebuild the war damages. Although, the psy-chological war was still raging, Onitsha, which was burnt to ashes during the war, as well as Aba, which was a war sector for a period of 11 months, were all refurbished to some extent. When General Obasanjo, the head of state of Nigeria, visited these states, he be-came marveled at the rate of reconstruction going on without the input of the central gov-ernment. He was particularly startled at Onitsha, which he knew was burnt to ashes be-cause he did himself as a battalion commander in the Nigerian army in 1969. Beside bad roads, the place was more bustling than anywhere else in Nigeria was and there were very few signs that the place was a war zone.

10.19 Political Activities Leading to 2nd Republic:

In 1978, as new constitution was fashioned for Nigeria, people were allowed to form po-litical parties. Igbo people resurrected the NCNC but called it Nigerian Peoples Party (NPP). After all they were the people who actually wanted Nigeria among all the major tribes. That constitution was prepared in the United States systems of government and the legendary Zik again led his people. After the election, his party won the two Igbo Central States, in addition to their one time ancestral home in Plateau State. The party also had significant showings in all the states in central Nigeria including Niger State where Zik was born. For four years, Zik boys, Dee Sam Mbakwe (Imo) and Mr. Jim Nwobodo (Anambra) transformed their various places while creating new industries along with some social structures including rural electrification’s. They built new schools including institutions of higher learning, which was previously, the domain of the Federal Government. Onitsha and Aba became the center of international trade in Nige-ria. Igbo people started to take pride in their existence and they started playing leadership role in many spheres of life except in the military.

10.20 Further Balkanization of Igbo Land:

In December 1983, soon after Alhaji Shehu Shagari and Dr. Alexander Ekwueme were reelected for another four years, they were overthrown in a coup led by Maj. General Mohammed Buhari. The ruling military council named some civilians to many key posi-tions and said it had seized power to end corruption and solve the economic crisis height-ened by the dramatic drop in oil revenues. Nigerian economic problems continued, how-ever, and Buhari was overthrown in August of 1985 in a bloodless coup led by the army chief of staff, General Ibrahim Babangida. He started the effort of economic restructuring while promising the return to civilian rule by January 1993 under new federal constitu-tion he was to fashion out in 1989. Local elections under a two-party system were held in 1990. In an unsuccessful effort to ease continuing religious and ethnic tensions, nine new states were created in August 1991. Igbo states were further split into Abia (Umuahia), Enugu (Enugu), Anambra (Awka), and Imo (Owerri). State elections were held in De-cember, while the national assembly elections were held in July of 1992. Four separate individuals were elected in Igbo land as the Governors. They were Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife (Anambra), Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu (Abia), Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo (Enugu) and Nze Evans Enwerem (Imo). Widespread fraud was alleged during the September 1992 presi-dential primaries. In October, the government suspended political activities pending an investigation, and in November, Babangida announced that the transfer to civilian rule would de delayed until August 1993. In June the National Electoral Commission headed by Dr. Humphrey Nwosu, an Igbo person and political science professor at the University of Nigeria Nsukka conducted an election, which was annulled by the military. In 1994, the acclaimed winner of that inconclusive presidential election, Chief Moshood Abiola was arrested for declaring himself president of Nigeria.

In May of the same year, a constitutional conference was convened to discuss the devel-opment of a democratic government but progress was slowed down by personal ambition of Gen. Sanni Abacha, the then minister of defense who overthrew the head of interim government Ernest Shonikan. Not contempt with being the military head of state, Sanni Abacha wanted to perpetuate himself as life president of Nigeria. Apparently, in 1998 both Abacha and Abiola died mysteriously. Abubakar, a kin to Babangida was horridly promoted to the rank of general in the Nigerian Army, before he assumed the position of the head of state. He remained the head of state until election was held when Dr. Ek-wueme’s political organization, “People Democratic Party, (PDP)” produced the majority members in the national assembly and appointed one of their leaders, Olusegun Oba-sanjo, as the President.

THE SUMMARY

“Adventures of Ojemba” is a story of Igbo people. It has not chosen to dwell on any particular issue or episode affecting Igbo people. It rather gave a general overview of ‘Who they are, What they do, their traditions and culture that sets them apart from their neighbors, as well as some problems they had faced in recent times’. The information contained in the book came from about 40% of oral literature, which most historians may classify as myth. The rest of the book’s content came from various documents consulted including Bibles, encyclopedias and Igbo literatures such as Omenuko, ‘Things Fall Apart’ etc. The specific motivation for writing this book was the realization that certain basic questions that could be asked about Igbo people or people of any culture for that matter, were after all, not so basic. In specifics, questions like “Who are the Igbo Peo-ple?” does not really provide a simple explanation or an answer. However, this book tried to provide some probable answers by developing a theory along the part of Igbo people being part of the black Jews, which had been a common view of most historians. They were therefore the group that developed empires of Aksum, Cush, Nubia and Sheba etc., which existed in the horn of Africa in ancient times.

Based on cultural similarities and activities likely of Igbo traditions in those ancient kingdoms, and because the tomb of the Queen of Sheba was finally found in Igbo land, this book developed a theory of the people being the descendants of Adwa, the queen of Sheba. The great queen on her part, was also the descendant of Abraham through Kedema the last child of Ishmael. These people were adventurers while they developed considerable knowledge and skills relevant for creating empires and kingdoms without them being absorbed. They produced several kings and emperor including Pharaohs of Egypt such as Ptolemy and Cleopatra whose African name was Iputu. Cleopatra was given to her when she lived in Rome, as the mistress of Caesar while her stepfather was Piankhy (Oku-Paleke) who ruled the greater Nubian Empire, which included Egypt. They had moved to central and then to West Africa because these various kingdoms de-clined and because they remained strangers in such lands amongst indigenous people whom they had ruled. This book also tried to imply that some of such movements were really ordained so that they could find their Promised Land. On arriving to the area, East of River Niger and North of Atlantic Ocean, where they inhabited for about 500 years without external aggression, they proclaimed that they had reached the Promised Land.

“What is the philosophy of the people regarding life?” The traditional religion of the people was unique while appeared strange to the people surrounding them. They be-lieved that religious faith and philosophical understanding are complementary. However, in the ancient times, while still in the horn of Africa, they accepted the “Coptic Christi-anity”, although without much understanding. They believed in one Supreme Being, which they called Chineke, God of creation. They combined ethical and supernatural be-liefs into a spiritualistic view of life basing such beliefs on the fact that souls are prison-ers of the body. That these souls are freed at death, and reincarnated in a higher or lower form of life, depending on the degree of virtues achieved.

“How did they develop their Promised Land?” This book highlighted their occupational successes and their participation in the founding of modern day Nigeria. The colonial-ism, although destroyed some important elements of their culture, provided avenues for urbanization, modernization and new ways of life. Aba and Onitsha, two most important commercial cities in Africa were created out of their interaction with Europeans. They also lost a lot of their people to the New World. However, the greatness of the United States of America was partly as a result of the people working the farms of the New World. Before the Europeans came to the homeland of Igbo people, the people main-tained their culture used such culture to maintain law and order in their clans and villages. They constructed their mud brick houses in the fashion of the ancient Egyptian culture, hunted, fished and farmed. They made pottery at Okigwe and Umunze, they built fire-arms at Nkwere, they wove cotton garments at Akwette, they mined salt at Ishiagu and Uburu etc. They operated a simple but effective government system where elders held sway, which was the envy of the world of the ancient times. There were no separation between government and religion while the two functioned to maintain some traditional institutions.