Lost Between Two Worlds By Okenwa R. Nwosu, M.D. The chilling
report about 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, BBC, 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 civilize 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. 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 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 is 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
belaboring the issue, shrine priests have unwittingly been given de
facto judicial powers that should otherwise belong with the police and
our courts of law. Is justice then better served by going this route?
Certainly, not. As 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. Savage 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,
stealing or surreptitious ill will to neighbors, relatives 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 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 dehumanizing
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 Igbo 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 Igbo. As many have now
corroborated, the Okija shrine is but only one of many of its kind that
exist today in Alaigbo. 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 parts of Alaigbo 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 neutralized
the "poison" willed into the patients' body by imagined
enemies. The
osu issue lingers in Alaigbo because the overwhelming majority of
Ndiigbo 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 Alaigbo 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.
Ndiigbo 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
Ndiigbo. 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 Ndiigbo face in
this era. Some have correctly pointed out that the Igbo are not the only
group in 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 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
priest; 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 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, Ndiigbo
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 many 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 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 anymore. But based on the reality in Alaigbo
today, such a day shall not come anytime soon. Okenwa
R. Nwosu, M.D. Upper
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