|
New Page 2
Lost between two worlds
OKENWA NWOSU
THE chilling
report of the police findings at Ogwugwu Okija shrine is only a premonition of
the confusion and disorientation that has permeated the psyche of the
contemporary African. No doubt, the CNN, BCC, AP, Reuters, UPI and a host
of other foreign media groups are already making their way to Okija, Ihiala
local government of Anambra State, to record this gruesome site for their
worldwide audience. Exposure of the worst about us gives great pleasure and a
sense of relevance to many who would seize upon any opportunity to showcase the
African, and in this case the Igbo, as someone entrapped in a psychological
abyss from which he cannot rescue himself. But before anyone of us hops on the
bandwagon of those who have always longed to civilise us, we must first pause,
take a deep breath and exhale slowly.
Yes, indeed, the reported account of
police raid in Ogwugwu Okija is real, and unfortunately not new in Alaigbo
or Igboland and indeed in all other parts of Nigeria. Acts like the one
reported is not confined to Okija shrine nor is it a fetish practice that is
confined to non-believers in Christ, rural folks or impoverished kith and kin.
Sites similar to the Okija shrine can be found in, at least, two locations in
Enugu State, for example and also in many other states in Nigeria. During the
abortive Third Republic electioneering politics of the early 90s, political
operatives in a faction of National Republican Convention (NRC) in the old
Anambra State were routinely sent to one of such shrines in Oji River local
government area to swear allegiance to one of the party’s financiers of the
time. The incumbent governor of Anambra State was alleged to have been a guest
of the Okija shrine priests before he was sanctioned as PDP gubernatorial
candidate in 2003 elections. Another news account of the police raid at Okija
shrine suggested that one of the decomposing bodies found there was that of a
wealthy Igbo Lagos-based businessman named Chief Okafor. It is no secret that
the preponderance of sponsors of the likes of Okija shrines in Alaigbo
and elsewhere in the country are mostly professed and practising Christians.
What has gone wrong, one would ask? Many
things have indeed gone awry. The masses of our people are trapped between two
worlds; the new one that they haven’t fully understood and thus unable to
appreciate and the old one which they have been persuaded to abandon and
disdain. When superimposed upon uncertainty about future prospects in our
decrepit environment and widespread economic decline, many regular folks have
incrementally lost faith in the so-called new way to modernity and are willing
to give the past methods a try. If the police cannot successfully investigate
and prosecute crimes with punitive sanctions meted to well known offenders, the
hapless villager would not mind to resort the likes of Ogwugwu Okija oracle to
seek retribution. Furthermore, since swearing by the Holy Bible has not been
shown to elicit compliance in a predictable manner nowadays, the firm hand of
Ogwugwu Okija priest has become a better choice for parties that are intent on
entering into solemn undertaking that must not be broken. Nature allows no
vacuum to exist under normal circumstances. That the likes of Ogwugwu Okija are
thriving and doing hectic business today in an admission and clear evidence that
those charged with leading us in the new way, after we have been de-linked from
our past, have failed woefully in delivering expected results.
Without belabouring the issue, shrine
priests have unwittingly been given de facto judicial powers that should
otherwise belong to the police and our courts of law. Is justice then better
served by going this route? Certainly, not. So further investigation on this
matter shall uncover before too long, we shall learn how lethal potions are
routinely administered to oath takers who flock to that shrine, sometimes based
on underhand information provided beforehand regarding potential suspects or
just by random pickings. Salvage and horrifying, isn’t it? I had a close-up view
of an incident decades ago which began to make more sense to me since acquiring
my medical education. A typical oath was given to prove one’s innocence or guilt
in a given case, for example, sterling or surreptitious ill will to neighbours,
relative and friends popularly termed witchcraft. Adult members of an entire
village often volunteer en masse to visit the shrine to eat the Okija shrine’s
chalk as means of self-exculpation. The wily priests of Ogwugwu Okija
usually prepare parcels of powdery stuff for each person to chew and swallow
completely. The gullible oath takers never suspect that these priests
selectively spike some parcels with potentially lethal concoctions while leaving
the rest to function as placebo. The unlucky ones who get the spiked powder
usually begin to hallucinate shortly afterward thereby publicly demonstrate
their "guilt" for all to see.
Some folks end up dying acutely from
complications of these potions while others could die slowly over weeks and
months as their organ system functions sequentially shut down. In recent years,
Ogwugwu Okija oracle has extended its claim to include the remains of its dead
"guilty" clients as well as all their lifetime belongings. The majority of human
remains found during police raid of the Okija shrine sites could belong to the
deity’s victims whose corpses were taken to the oracle out of fear of possible
retribution to the rest of the household and extended family. Those who manage
to recover from the ordeal usually live out their lives tainted in the eyes of
even their loved ones. Maintaining a regular stream of casualties amongst those
who throng the shrine for oath taking is a sure way of sustaining the fear and
deep reverence which the populace has for such shrines. Before delving into
possible solutions to this shameful and dehumanising scourge inflicted on our
people in this day and age, it is important to first obtain greater insight into
what’s actually happening. A better and fuller understanding of this phenomenon
is a crucial first step in finding lasting solutions.
The average Nigerian lives concurrently in
two spiritual worlds that are anchored in both the authentic indigenous and the
imported religious belief systems. If the assertion quoted above is true, then
it is easier to comprehend why the revelations from Ogwugwu Okija shrine should
be seen as a realistic depiction of the dichotomous spiritual world of the
average contemporary Nigerian including the Igbo. As many have now corroborated,
the Okija shrine is but only one of many of its kind that exist today in
Igboland and the rest of Nigeria. The greed and excesses shown by the oracle of
Ogwugwu Okija have drawn public attention to that particular shrine but other
deities in Alaigbo operate in ways that are not remarkably different.
Quite often during my extended period of medical practice in Nigeria, some of my
sick patients’ relatives would plead with me to permit them to consult with
oracles about the patients’ illnesses so as to facilitate the healing process.
The most popular destinations in most cases are the nail removers who are
usually renowned traditional healers or oracles. On occasions, I had to
reschedule surgery because patients’ relatives were extremely reluctant to
cooperate until the nail removers have had their input. Some of them
firmly believed that operative intervention for diagnosed intestinal blockage,
for example, could turn out badly unless the sorcerers first neutralised the
poison willed into the patients’ body by imagined enemies.
The osu issue lingers in Igboland because
the overwhelming majority of Ndigbo still fear that meddling with rights
of people whose ancestors were dedicated to the service of deities was simply a
potentially dangerous act. The Igbo ruling elite and intelligentsia have instead
preferred to adopt a see-nothing hear-nothing attitude toward the most important
human rights issue that confronts their society today. The common excuses
proffered are that such issues should die a natural death with passage of time
and that the combination of Christianity and modernity through Western education
are well on course to obliterating the last vestiges of an antiquated practice
that only meant anything in a bygone era. These lame excuses provide essential
comfort zones for contemporary Igbo elite, the cream of who have since gone into
voluntary exile overseas in search of greener pastures. Ndigbo talk so
emotionally about advancement of the lot of our kith and kin but, as we speak,
this generation of Igbo elite and intelligentsia have no coherent means of
re-investing their intellect, skills and financial resources into enhancing a
cultural heritage that we profess to love very much. Just like partisan
politics, commerce and entrepreneurship in Alaigbo have virtually been
abandoned to the Igbo 2nd-eleven personnel, spiritual life of the average
Igbo, both ancient and modern, is now also in the hands of the less endowed
amongst us. Those who are keen on apportioning blames should first spend a few
moments in front of the mirror.
Foreign conquest has made a zombie of the
authentic Igbo value system, particularly indigenous religious belief and
practices. Our mindset has been reprogrammed, through our upbringing, to feel
that Western education and profound understanding of our indigenous value system
are mortally opposed to each other. This has led to a scenario where little or
none of the best minds that the Igbo can produce for the past several decades
are engaged in any meaningful intellectual foray into the Igbo value system,
particularly in realms of religious belief and cultural practices. Alaigbo
has ample numbers of seminaries that undertake profound studies in many aspects
of Christian faith, for example, but our indigenous Igbo religion and cultural
practices are left to the whims and caprices of village upstarts who, because of
illiteracy and immobility, have little or no knowledge of the world that exists
outside their places of birth. Something as important as the belief system that
inspired Igbo culture for thousands of years has now been abandoned in the hands
of the likes of the notorious oracle of Ogwugwu Okija. What do we expect when we
are not willing to re-invest our talents and resources in pursuit of enlightened
study and understanding of a belief system and practices that have defined Igbo
cultural heritage as we know it today?
There have been a lot of reactions to the
Ogwugwu Okija revelations. Most are outraged and would like to see precipitous
action to cleanse the mess while some assume a defensive mode in what they see
as a deliberate orchestration to demean the Igbo culture by those who have no
business meddling in indigenous religious belief and practices of Ndigbo.
But up till now, little more new information has been provided beyond the
breaking news that reported the initial police raid at the Okija shrine sites.
These reactions or lack of them, have helped to further shed some light on the
quandary that Ndigbo face in this era. Some have correctly pointed out
that the Igbo are not the only group in Nigeria that have ever engaged in
ritualising death of fellow humans. This fact notwithstanding, it is extremely
difficult for one to find a rational basis for mitigating the widespread
revulsion that many have shown since the report that indigenous religious
shrines of Alaigbo are now being converted into warehouses for unburied
human remains.
Just as the modern ways and methods are
open to abuse, indigenous practices are equally vulnerable. This is a situation
where the belief system of traditional Igbo society has been corrupted and
exploited for purposes that are irreligious and immoral, to say the least.
Before the arrival of European colonialism in Nigeria, the indigenous Igbo
society was defined by strong religious belief system and practices that bind
the individual in a dynamic relationship with the land, ancestral spirits and
the Supreme Being, Chukwu/Chineke. Deities, which could be in the forms of
animate and inanimate things, including rivers, lakes, streams, hills, caves,
creatures and even renowned ancestors, functioned as intermediaries between the
mundane realm inhabited by mortal humans and the spirit world of our ancestors
and the Supreme Being. There is hierachical order amongst deities which is
determined mostly by their scope of influence in the society. Priests are mere
messengers who assist individuals and society, at large, to better utilise the
intercessory functions of their respective deities. The high priest also
functions as an oracle who sometimes becomes the mouthpiece and chief executive
officer of the deity’s shrine.
In indigenous Igbo religion, the
individual has no reason to fear the powers of any deity unless one has clearly
committed an abomination. Even after committing an obvious abomination, the
individual can still negotiate to have his deeds cleansed by undergoing well
delineated rituals that are usually overseen by a deity’s high priest. A mere
disagreement between two individuals has never been regarded as an abomination
in Alaigbo. The Umunna which is the paternal extended family,
deliberate upon and resolve most of such disputes. In complex cases, the wider
community could be involved. That the oracle of Ogwugwu Okija was converted into
the police and court of law for handling sundry cases, both civil and criminal,
is a gross bastardization of the role of deities in an authentic Igbo society.
It is sacrilegious for a genuine Igbo oracle to claim one’s head because one is
presumed culpable in a business dispute or social crime. What we presently
behold in the Okija shrine is a blatant abuse of people’s trust in the deity’s
high priests; an act which, by itself, ought to be seen as an abomination. In
the indigenous Igbo belief system, Ogwugwu Okija and its high priest are subject
to reproach by superior deities and the society at large. Where the extent of
violations is deemed to be extremely damaging, the deity could be obliterated as
a minimum price to cleanse Alaigbo of such a heinous abomination.
Unfortunately Igbo indigenous religious
practices have been in relative decline even though the belief system still
thrives in the heart and mind of the average Igbo. Furthermore, the Igbo lost
their sovereign authority over Alaigbo with colonial conquest. The
British eventually transferred this authority to the Federal Government of
Nigeria at Independence. The federal government thus has a legitimate right to
play a leading role in dealing with reported findings at the Okija shrine
according to the laws of Nigeria since it is likely that capital crimes could
have been committed by those involved. I have strong doubt that the
law-enforcement and legal system, as presently operated in Nigeria, shall alone
be capable of providing satisfactory answers to all aspects of this conundrum.
There is a clear role for Ndigbo to play in this, starting with indigenes
of Okija community and surrounding area. There is a great temptation to
politicise this matter as shown by reported pronouncements by the Ohanaeze
chief scribe. The Ohanaeze, even though it was originally designed to
function as an apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, has since charted a course
that portrays it as a quasi-political outfit. This fact should disqualify it
from playing any leading role in resolving this intricate matter. I support the
view that Ohanaeze scribe’s approach to this unfolding case is wrong and
any statements made by him so far on behalf of this apex body on this matter
ought to be rescinded.
There are no easy answers to the dilemma
posed by discoveries at the Ogwugwu Okija shrine. Even after the potential
criminal aspect of this bizarre matter must have been disposed of in coming
weeks and months, Ndigbo and rest of their compatriots must come to terms
with stark reality of the conflicting belief systems that compete for the heart
and mind of the average 21st Century Nigerian. Foreign religions, including
Islam that arrived centuries ago, have yet to fully penetrate the superficial
layers of the typical African mindset. As the legendary reggae superstar, Bob
Marley, sang in one of his hit songs, "the rain a fall but a touch the top".
Paraphrased: the rain may have fallen but only superficial layer of the topsoil
is barely soaked. Nigerian political and intellectual elite are presently
consumed with the illusion that the average compatriot is constrained to evolve
into the models predetermined by our conquerors from Arabian peninsular or
Western Europe. This generation of Nigerian elite have failed in their
responsibility to usher our society into modernity through layering of the new
way to dovetail with our indigenous African value system. The average African is
presently launched on an evolutionary trajectory in which alien value systems
are expected to completely obliterate the indigenous one.
Contemporary African elite have become
willing accomplices in this grand scheme to remake the African in other people’s
image. Perhaps, just as willed by our proselytizers, we are all holding our
breath waiting anxiously for the day when our indigenous value system must have
died completely, never to rise any more. But based on the reality across Nigeria
today, such a day shall not come any time soon.
•Nwosu, M.D., lives in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, U.S.A.
|
