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ODO, CYRIL IKECHUKWU REG. NO. PG/MA/08/48571

PROLIFERATION OF CHRISTIAN VISIONARIES: A STUDY OF ITS EFFECTS ON DIVINATION IN UDENU LOCAL

GOVERNMENT AREA OF ENUGU STATE

Religion

A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF RELIGION, FACULTY OF SOCIAL

SCIENCES, UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA, NSUKKA

Webmaster Digitally Signed by Webmaster’s Name

DN : CN = Webmaster’s name O= University of Nigeria, Nsukka

OU = Innovation Centre

2011

UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA

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PROLIFERATION OF CHRISTIAN VISIONARIES: A

STUDY OF ITS EFFECTS ON DIVINATION IN UDENU

LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF ENUGU STATE

BY

ODO, CYRIL IKECHUKWU

REG. NO. PG/MA/08/48571

DEPARTMENT OF RELIGION

UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA NSUKKA ENUGU STATE

FEBRUARY 2011

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Approval Page

This is to certify that Odo, Cyril Ikechukwu, Reg. No. PG/MA/08/48571 has written this project under my guidance and supervision and that, to the best of my knowledge all secondary information and materials contained therein have been duly acknowledged. This work is therefore approved for the Department of Religion, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. ____________________ __________________ (Supervisor) (Head of Department) ___________________ ____________________ (External Examiner) (Dean of Faculty)

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Dedication

This project work is dedicated to my dear mother Late Mrs Theresa Odo (Nee Mama).

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Acknowledgements

May God Almighty be blessed for eternity. His benevolence,

mercy and forgiveness leave my eyes wet in appreciation. To

Him be the glory, both now and forever.

From the depth of my heart I say that I cannot thank

enough my academic mentor and supervisor, Prof. C.O.T.

Ugwu. He is more than a mentor to me. His patience with me,

understanding and brotherly care out-weigh my ability to say

thank you. If not his intervention I would have abandoned M.A.

programme. May God bless him and his family. I equally

appreciate other lecturers in the Department of Religion,

University of Nigeria, Nsukka. They all contributed in no small

measure to the success of this work. They are: Dr H.C.

Achunike, the Head of the Department, Prof. M.I. Okwueze,

Prof. Agha U. Agha, Dr E.A. Ituma, Mr F.U. Nnadi and many

others. I appreciate them.

I bow low in appreciation to the numerous authors whose

works I used in this project. I give them credit for all their

numerous ideas that shaped my submissions in the course of

this research work. I also extend my warm appreciation to the

management and staff of the Diocesan Library, Catholic Diocese

of Nsukka. Really, the library provided me a haven for this

work. I cannot thank enough the number of persons that

granted me interview. I thank them.

I thank the members of my family. They continued to

encourage me to aspire for higher academic achievement even

though we had little savings to continue putting food on table.

May God bless all of them.

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It beats my heart down to remember that I am to

acknowledge my mother, Late Mrs Theresa Odo, who actually

sowed the seed but never waited for the fruit. She passed away

on 25th August 2010, against her wish. She always prayed to

see me climb the high academic ladder. Yet, death did not allow

her. May God bless her with eternal life.

My numerous friends and well-wishers stand

acknowledged. My classmates are as well appreciated. I thank

you all.

Odo, Cyril Ikechukwu Department of Religion University of Nigeria Nsukka February 2011

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Preface

Africa is a continent blessed with diverse tribes and

cultures with one unifying religion, African Traditional Religion.

This was before the advent of alien religions – Islam and

Christianity. The religion of the people was a practical one. The

people saw the need to maintain amity with the invisible

realities and so used divination for obtaining information on the

mind of the gods. This practice was so common and held at

high esteem. It solved the people’s socio-religious problems. But

the advent of the new faith, especially Christianity, brought

about abolition of some of the traditional practices among the

people. This also affected divination. A move to make the foreign

faith purely relevant to the people’s life led to the emergence of

African Independent Churches. These churches laid emphasis

on visions and dreams, and so relegated divination to the

background.

This work is an attempt to study the effects of proliferation

of Christian visionaries on divination in Udenu Local

Government Area of Enugu State. It elicits clearly the concepts

of the practices – visionaries and divination, their origins, types

and relevance to the people, and shows the extent of the effects

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visionaries’ proliferation in Christianity has on the traditional

divination of the people.

Finally, because every problem has some key issues to

address, the work also tried to make some recommendations

that would help to salvage the traditional practice of the people,

divination.

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Table of Contents

Title Page - - - - - - - - - i

Approval Page - - - - - - - - ii

Dedication - - - - - - - - iii

Acknowledgements - - - - - - - iv

Preface - - - - - - - - - vi

Abstract - - - - - - - - - xi

CHAPTER ONE - INTRODUCTION

1:1 Statement of Problem - - - - - - 3

1:2 Aims of the Study - - - - - - 4

1:3 Scope of Study - - - - - - - 5

1:4 Significance of the Study - - - - - 6

1:5 Methodology - - - - - - - 7

1:6 Definition of Terms - - - - - - 7

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW

2:1 Survey of Traditional Religious Life and

Belief system in Pre-colonial/Pre-missionary

Era in Udenu Local Government Area - - 21

2:2 Former Place of Visionary in the Traditional

Religion of Udenu People - - - - 24

2:3 The Advent of Christianity in Udenu

Local Government Area - - - - - 33

2:4 Attitude of the Natives to the New Faith - - 38

2:5 The Emergence of Non-Orthodox

Churches in the Area - - - - - 49

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2:6 Attitude of Some Christians to Divination: - - 42

2:7 Why the People’s Traditional

Divination should Survive - - - - - 47

CHAPTER THREE: ORIGIN, TYPES, FUNCTIONS AND MODERN INFLUENCES OF VISIONARIES ON NON- ORTHODOX CHURCHES

3:1 Concept of Visionaries - - - - - - 53

3:2 Origin of Visionaries - - - - - - 54

3:3 Types of Visionaries - - - - - - 57

3:4 Functions of Visionaries - - - - - 61

3:5 Modern Influence of Visionaries on the Belief

System of Udenu People - - - - - 62

CHAPTER FOUR: THE PRACTICE OF DIVINATION

4:1 The Concept of Divination - - - - - 66

4:2 Origin of Divination - - - - - - 69

4:3 Types of Divination - - - - - - 70

4:4 Functions of Divination - - - - - 73

4:5 The Influence of Divination on the Traditional Belief

System of Udenu People -- - - - - 74

CHAPTER FIVE: EFFECTS OF VISIONARIES ON TRADITIONAL DIVINATION IN UDENU L.G.A.

5:1 Decline in the Number of Diviners - - - 79

5:2 Religious Effects - - - - - - - 81

5:3 Socio-Economic Effects - - - - - 82

5:4 Loss of Traditional Moral Values - - - - 84

CHAPTER SIX: SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

6:1 Summary - - - - - - - - 88

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6:2 Recommendation - - - - - - 90

6:3 Suggestions for Further Study - - - - 93

References - - - - - - - 94

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Abstract

Divination is a means of finding out the whys of things, especially with regard to Man – Spiritual Beings relationship. It is an art that helped the traditional Udenu man to maintain cordial relationship with powers more than his. The people that specialised in this art are diviners. Yet, the introduction of Christianity suppressed this art. The emergence of African Independent Churches trapped it; the springing up of visionaries in these new churches has decided to send the art into limbo. An attempt is then made in this research work to unravel the place of divination due to the proliferation of visionaries. This is done using both descriptive and analytical methods. Through oral interview as well, it was discovered that the emergence of visionaries in Christianity has been a serious threat to the continuation of divination as these visionaries seemingly play all the roles diviners play in the lives of the people. Coupled with this is the dying off of traditional diviners and the dearth of those who want to learn the art. However, recommendations are made as to what the diviners, the church, government and other well meaning people of Udenu in particular and Igbo in general should do to salvage this ugly development.

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CHAPTER ONE

1:1 Introduction:

African Traditional Religion is one of the religions of the

world that is fast loosing grip of the people’s heart – a people

that collectively saw it as a true means of reaching the invisible

realities. As the religion becomes less practised by the people,

so are some beliefs and practices in the religion gradually giving

way to the modern ways of life, divination inclusive.

Divination is a practice of attempting to acquire hidden

knowledge and insight into events – past, present, and future –

through the direct or indirect contact, Saliba (2008). It is a

practice that is indigenous to African Traditional Religion, just

like in some other religions. The African believes that any

coincidence of events (and every other events of life, for that

matter) must have a cause. To maintain good relationship with

the invisible realities he goes for divination. This practice

flourished for so long a time, until the advent of Christianity in

general, and the growth of African Independent Churches in

particular. Since the church frowns at some (if not all) the

traditional practices of the Africans, divination was also

affected. In its place was vision/visionary. Both divination and

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vision came to be means through which man seeks to find out

the mind of God or gods and other divine realities. As divination

appeared traditional; visionaries appeared predominantly

Christian. The questions then are: What are the effects of vision

on divination, especially as the number of Christian visionaries

is on the increase? Will divination still survive? What are the

measures that will re-awaken the people’s interest in

divination?

From the beginning of this research, efforts are made to

identify answers to these questions. And so, this research work

is presented in six chapters. Each chapter focuses on specific

part of the work. Chapter one for instance introduces the work.

Chapter two reviewed the literature. In chapter three, the

concept of vision was presented whereas the concept of

divination can be found contained in chapter four. While

chapter five looked at the influences of visionary on divination

chapter six concludes the work.

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1:2 Statement of Problem:

In many parts of Africa, most of the beliefs and practices of

African Traditional Religion seem to be fast losing their position

in the lives and livings of the Africans. The advent of Islam and

Christianity has brought foreign beliefs and practices that are

gradually but constantly replacing tho-+se native to Africa. The

most worrisome part of it all being that prior to the infiltration

of these foreign religious practices, Africans were quite

comfortable with their ways of life – their beliefs and practices

worked for them, solved their problems, gave them adequate

adjustment in the maintenance of their relationship with the

supreme being. But today, things are no longer the same. In the

words of Mbefo (1989),

‘… modern Africans have become an adulterated type. Their experience of western education has weakened their allegiance to their traditional heritage. After over a century of European adventurism and missionary activity, very little remain of the original and traditional institutions that gave security and confidence to our ancestors.’(p.25)

Analysing the position of a typical African society at the advent

of these foreign religions, Achebe (1958) made Obierika cry out

in the following words:

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‘The white man is very clever. He came quietly and peaceably with his religion. We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. Now he has won our brothers, and our clan can no longer act like one. He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart.’ (p.124)

The above clearly pictures the main things that have happened

to Africa and her practices. Her real beliefs fade with reckless

abandon. Her pride is no longer with her. Her ways of solving

her problems are fast eluding her. Through divination, the

African finds solutions and answers to the puzzles of life that

confront him. But as Christianity has led to the emergence, and

consequently proliferation, of a group, the visionaries, this

research work seeks to find out the effects of this new

development on divination with an attempt to discovering

solutions that will help to sustain the art of divination, at least

in Udenu L.G.A. of Enugu State.

1:3 Aims of the Study:

It is obvious judging from the available literature that

much work has not be done on vision in Christianity and its

proliferation, and the effects it has on the continuity of African

Traditional Religion as a whole and on divination as an art

native to the religion. As a result of this, the researcher aims at

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finding out the effects of proliferation of Christian visionaries on

divination in Udenu L.G.A. of Enugu State. Specifically, the

research work intends to:

1. discover reasons why the constant emergence of

Christian visionaries affect divination.

2. find out measures that should be taken to reduce the

effects mushrooming of Christian visionaries have on

divination.

3. examine ways that divination can confidently co-exist

with visionary

4. discover measures that will re-awaken people’s

interest on divination

5. discover the influences of modernity on divination

1:4 Scope of Study:

The scope of this research work covers finding out the

effects of proliferation of Christian visionaries on divination in

Udenu L.G.A. of Enugu State only. However, it would have been

the wish of the researcher to cover a state but time and

financial constraints have limited the geographical scope to only

the local government, an area that the researcher is familiar

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with and has easy access to. There are still some other western

beliefs and practices that challenge some traditional beliefs and

practices in Udenu that will be mentioned in this work, for

purposes of illustration and comparative analysis.

1:5 Significance of the Study:

This study is designed to find out the effects of

proliferation of Christian visionaries on divination in Udenu

L.G.A. It follows that the beneficiaries of this work are

Africans and others who are interested in the promotion

and preservation of African heritage. It is also of immense

benefit to scholars of African Traditional Religion, Sociology

and Anthropology. It will be of great help to other

researchers who intend to do work on some traditional

beliefs and practices in Udenu L.G.A. in particular and Igbo

land in general. Indeed, the work is of immeasurable value

to Udenu local government people as it will help to draw

their attention to an aspect of their traditional religion that

needs to be salvaged from total collapse, for people’s

traditional beliefs and practices give them identity.

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1:6 Methodology:

The methods used in this work are descriptive and

analytical. The primary source of information was oral

interview. Oral interview was employed in gathering

information. The researcher, through oral interview had the

opportunity of interacting and obtaining data from Christian

visionaries, diviners and some other elderly indigenes of the

local government. The researcher relied and depended more on

oral sources so as to justify the need to achieve and maintain

originality as opposed to adulterated information.

The researcher also used secondary data which came from

books, journals, seminar papers, dissertations, lecture notes,

etc.

It is also necessary to mention the researcher’s advantaged

position of the people’s culture as a true son of the soil and also

as one who looked at the issue from an objective point of view.

1:7 Definition of Terms:

It is imperative that some operational concepts that make

up the topic of this study be defined, especially in the context in

which they are used, to enhance better understanding.

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Proliferation:

Proliferation, according to Hornby (2001:933) is a noun

which denotes the sudden increase in the number or amount of

something; a large number of a particular thing, be it concepts,

ideas, practices or any other phenomenon for that matter.

Looking at proliferation (and as it concerns churches in

particular, however) Ugwu (2002:29) writes that it refers to the

multiplicity and constant emergence of churches in society.

Onah (1996:40) sees the term proliferation (of sects) as

something that has become very common and even native to the

language of religion.

Christianity:

Christianity (Christian Religion) is a religion founded by

Jesus Christ. Christians are the adherents of this religion.

Christianity is a religion which, according to Ugwu and Onah

(2008:32) sees Jesus Christ as the Son of God, Saviour, and a

Social Liberator.

This religion started in the first century AD, although no

particular date can be given here. Inability to strictly say the

precise time and date the religion started stems from the

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numerous events that actually characterised its beginning. In

this vein Anyacho (2005) states that:

The religion that was established in Palestine through the person and activities of Jesus of Nazareth is what is popularly known as Christianity. It is not easy to set an exact date when Christianity began. Some people have suggested that historic visit of the Holy Ghost to the apostles to be the official date for the beginning of the church. This view neglects the fact that the beginning of Christianity cannot be removed from the ministry of Jesus Christ. It is therefore, safer to say that Christianity arose out of the person and works of Jesus Christ. (p.180)

It may be as a result of this postulation that Hardon (1985)

earlier stated that Christianity is

The religion of Jesus Christ. It is a composite of the faith he inspired, the teachings and moral practices he communicated, the spirituality he urged on his followers, and the consequent form of civilization which for two millennia have been called Christian. It is above all the objective principles of belief, worship, and human conducts that give substance to this civilization, which is only as Christian as these principles are known and put into practice. (p.75)

‘Christian churches have an estimated world membership

of about one billion – more than twice the membership of any

other religion’ (Ugwu, 2002:10). It has a Holy Book, The Bible.

The adherents of Christianity were first called Christian at

Antioch. (cf. Acts of the Apostles 11:26). The beginning of the

religion was characterised by a lot of crises, both internally and

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externally. The internal crises the religion had were as a result

of some misrepresentations of the teachings of Jesus Christ

himself and those of the apostles. Externally, the religion was

persecuted by the adherents of Judaism and

government/people of neighbouring nations. The beliefs of the

religion were in sharp contrast with other religious beliefs before

them, and so, the disciples faced external opposition. The

religion entered Nigeria through the coast, seconding Islam that

came through the Sahara desert. It has many denominations.

Visionaries:

Visionaries, ‘an adjective, is

original and showing the ability to think about or plan the

future with great imagination and intelligence.

relating to dreams or strange experiences, especially of a

religious kind.

As noun, a visionary is a person who has the ability to think

about or plan the future in an intelligent, imaginative way.’

Hornby (2001:1333). Therefore, people who are able to think

about or plan the future in an intelligent, imaginative way are

the visionaries. Generally, visionaries are people that see vision

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– ‘a supernatural visual manifestation, which also involves the

aura that serves as a divine revelation of something otherwise

secret’ Yusufu (2001:164). Visionaries exist in every religion,

ancient or modern. They are seen as holy men or women.

One of the concepts which will be used interchangeably with

visionary here is Prophecy. Prophecy, according to Saliba

(2008) is a religious phenomenon in which a message is sent by

God (or by a god) to human beings through an intermediary, or

prophet. The message may contain a reference to future events,

but it is often simply a warning, encouragement, or a piece of

information. Prophecy in its fullest sense thus includes augury,

divination, and oracles, which are techniques by which, it is

believed, the will of the gods can be learned. Prophets have

often spoken in ecstasy, a state that may be induced by various

methods, including dance or music. Prophecy therefore is

the certain prediction of future events that cannot be known by natural means. However the biblical meaning of the Hebrew hozeh (prophecy) is more general, namely ‘vision’ or ‘revelation interpreted’. Those who are called upon to prophecy did, indeed, on occasion also foretell future events, but these predictions fulfilled were divine confirmations of an authentic vision rather than the vision itself. Prophecies as predictions are consequently part of God’s supernatural providence. God, in whose sight all things future are ever present, is able to communicate to his creatures the knowledge that he

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has. He alone finally has this power, because certain foreknowledge of the contingent future is possessed by God. Prophecies are the works of his prescience, just as miracles are the works of his omnipotence. (Hardon, 1985:351)

It is difficult to clearly differentiate between a Prophet and a

Visionary. Since both have the same targets, apply the same

methods, have the same messages and exist in both Judaism

and Christianity, they will be considered one and the same, at

least in this discussion. This position is supported by the claim

of some visionaries interviewed, that they are prophets (perhaps

modern ones).

Divination:

Mbiti (1975:157) opines that divination is a method of

finding out the unknown, by means of pebbles, numbers, water,

animal entrails, reading the palms, throwing dice, and many

other methods. Quarcoopome (1987:82) defines it as a method

of finding out the unknown or hidden secrets by means of

mediums, oracles, being possessed, divination objects, etc.

Awolalu and Dopamu in Anyacho (2005:255) agree with the

definitions above when they stated that divination can simply

be described as ‘a means of foretelling the future, revealing the

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unknown or finding out the wish of a divinity or a spirit.’ In fact,

divination can be summed up in the attempt and ability of man

to convey to the visible world and man what happens or is

hidden in the invisible world, the things that affect man or that

man needs, often through some mediums, cultic objects or the

likes. It is the art of knowing and declaring future events or

hidden things by means of communication with occult forces. It

is always an act of religious nature. Diviners are those that

engage in the art of divination. They belong to the rank and file

of medicine men and are synonymous with visionaries.

African Traditional Religion:

Divination is a practice as well as an art in African

Traditional Religion – a religion that is native and diffused into

the socio-cultural, economic and political lives of Africans. Prior

to the advent of Christianity and Islam, the religion has been

with the people. Leonard (1906) opined that

They (the Africans) are in the strict and natural sense of the word a truly and a deeply religious people, of whom it can be said … that they eat religiously, drink religiously, bathe religiously, dress religiously and sin religiously. In a few words, the religion of these as I have all along endeavoured to point out is their existence and their existence is their religion (p.429)

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Mbiti (1969) echoed the same thought when he made it clear

that

Wherever the African is, there is his religion: he carries it to the fields where he is sowing seeds or harvesting a new crop; he takes it with him to the beer party or to attend a funeral ceremony; and if he is educated, he takes religion with him to the examination room at school or in the university; if he is a politician, he takes it to the house of parliament. (p. 2)

Writing on African Traditional Religion, Ugwu and Ugwueye

(2004) stated that:

it is an aboriginal and fundamental thing, which is handed down from generation to generation and is still practised by living people today. It is the thing that connects the present people, more than anything else, with their past till eternity, including their fears and hopes. It is a religion that originated from the people’s environment and on their soil. It is neither preached to them. It evolved from their ecosystem. Africans are not converted to it; they are born into it. (p. 6)

African Traditional Religion has no founder and is based

on oral tradition. The religion evolved gradually through the

years from the practices and experiences of the forebears.

According to Idowu (1973) the religion is structured thus: belief

in God (Supreme Being), belief in divinities, belief in spirits,

belief in ancestors, and belief in the practice of magic and

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medicine. Onunwa (1990:8) said that Chukwu or Chineke

(Obasi di n’elu) is a central idea of belief in all Igbo (Africa)

societies, even though the distribution of its cult now is not

even.

One outstanding feature of the traditional religion… is its refusal to impose itself on any one. No one is converted to it. No village ever attempted to impose its religion on another. Even war captives were allowed to practice their own religion in their master’s home. It is only the traditional religion that understands and practises the fundamental principle of individual rights and freedom of worship. (p.9)

The traditional religion is probably confident in itself because it

defined and under-girded the cosmology of the people.

1:8 Historical Background of Udenu Local Government

Area:

Udenu Local Government Area was created out of Isi-

Uzo Local Government Area on October 1st, 1996. This was

during General Sani Abacha’s regime of military rule. It belongs

to Enugu North Senatorial Zone and is one of the seventeen (17)

Local Government Areas of Enugu State. Geographically, it is

located in the boundaries of Enugu and Benue State. Udenu

Local Government is bounded in the North by Ogbadigbo Local

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Government in Benue State, in the East by Isi-Uzo/Nsukka

Local Government, in the West by Igbo-Eze North/South Local

Government and in the South by Nsukka Local Government

Area, all from Enugu State. The Local Government Area has a

wide expanse of land mass and the topography is mainly

characterised by the abundant physical presence of hills, rivers

and several link roads connecting the communities that make

up the Local Government. Many other cultural similarities unite

Udenu people. They have a common language called Nsukka

dialect. However, minor differences appear in each town’s

accent. Similarly, the historical origin of each town in Udenu

makes some references to Igala tribe, in the present Kogi State.

Some towns see Igala as a powerful kingdom that provided

them some political asylum in the past (example, Orba town),

whereas others trace their migration to Igala land (example,

Imilike town). This gives credence to the predominance of some

Igala words and names in Udenu. Examples of such

words/names are Attah, Attama, Igala, Idenyi, etc. This goes to

show that the people have many things that unite them.

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Udenu Local Government Area has three (3) Development

Centres/Areas. The three Development Areas and their

Headquarters are shown in the table on the following page.

State boundary: . __ . __ . __ .

L.G.A. boundary: __ .. __ .. __

Source: Udenu Local Government Town Planning Authority

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Table I

S/n Development Centres Headquarters

1 Orba Development Centre Ohom Orba

2 Udunedem Development Centre Ezimo-uno

3 Udenu Development Area Ohulor, Obollo-

Afor

Udenu Local Government has many of autonomous

communities. The autonomous communities are shown in the

table below:

Table II

S/n

1

Community

Umu Egali

Autonomous

Community

Udenu

Development

Area

S/n

14

Community

Ohom

Autonomous

Community

Orba

Autonomous

Community

2 Umu Enachi 15 Ajuona

3 Ifruoka 16 Agu-Orba

4 Obollo-Afor 17 Orba

5 UmuEkwenu 18 Umundu

Udunedem

Autonomous

Community

6 Iheakpu 19 Ogbodu-

Aba

7 Obollo-Nkwo 20 Igugu

8 Ibenda 21 Ezimo-Agu

9 Obollo-Etiti 22 Ezimo-Uno

10 Obollo Eke 23 Imilike Etiti

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11 Ogwu/Ugbabe

Uwani

24 Imilike Agu

12 Isi-Enu 25 Imilike-

Enu

13 Ajorogwu 26 Imilike-Ani

Udenu Local Government is predominantly inhibited by people

known for their industrious and unlimited mobility. It is a local

government blessed with rich and diverse cultural heritage.

According to 2003 census, Udenu Local Government has a

population of about one hundred and seventy-eight thousand,

six hundred and eighty seven (178, 687). The breakdown is

shown in the table below:

Table III

Males 88, 381

Females 90, 306

Total 178, 687

The people of Udenu Local Government are predominantly

farmers and more than 75% of the inhabitants live in rural

areas and engage in labour intensive agriculture, although at

Source: Udenu Local Government Medium Term Development Plan ( 2010 – 2013)

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subsistent level. Obollo – Afor is the headquarters of Udenu

Local Government Area.’ (Udenu Local Government Medium

Term Development Plan, 2010 – 201: p. 4 – 8)

The people of Udenu also travel a lot. Their willingness to

move to other lands makes them play leading roles in seeking

integration, peaceful co-existence and the opportunity to learn

new languages. These among other qualities make them ready

to imbibe new ideas from their hosts or even from the strangers

in their midst. That in turn shows why they are able to accept

in their midst strangers and incorporate them into their group.

Because they move freely to other places, they are hospitable to

strangers and visitors to their own home probably in

anticipation of similar kind gesture when they travel out

(Onunwa, 1990:149). Udenu people belong to the Nsukka-

speaking people of Northern Igbo sub-group.

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CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter looks at previous research works done on

related issues, which are considered necessary in this

discussion.

2:1 Survey of Traditional Religious Life and Belief System

in Pre-Colonial/Pre-Missionary Era in Udenu Local

Government:

According to Nnadi (1991:4), ‘Some misguided western

scholars like Emile Ludwig, has in the past erroneously

asserted that Africans had no concept of the Supreme Being.’

Anyway, that was so to them since in their thinking deity is a

philosophical concept which the Africans were incapable of

framing very well. Nevertheless, many other scholars of African

culture and religion like Ifesieh (1988), were able to refute such

erroneous claims. According to him,

… all the races of Africa experience God in their culture and there are different names of God, which show the mental image they have of God. It is therefore a wide claim by Africans that nobody teaches them about God. (p.82)

34

He went further to assert that:

In fact this pivotal belief in Chineke, the creator is something one knows without being taught. One only needs to come to the age of reason and observe the world around one. The belief in the Supreme Being in Igbo religious as well as African religious is simply axiomatic because He is the focal point of Igbo theology (1983:115)

Nnadi further maintained that similar stand was taken by

Metuh who posited that Africans are quite capable of forming

and do form abstract concept. Abstract concept, he wrote can

be expressed in concrete terms, hence the concept of God is

native to Africa, the basis of all things that exist and the author

of life. In consonance with the above, Anene (1966) had this to

say:

No study of the Igbo (of which Udenu Local Government Area is a part) is intelligible without a clear appreciation of the pervasive reality of the supernatural world. Among the Igbo, the religion, law, justice and politics were inextricately bound up. Law and custom were believed to have been handed down from the spirit world, from time immemorial, from ancestor to ancestor. The spirit world comprised a hierarchy of gods… (p.12-13)

In Africa, of which Udenu Local Government is a part, the

concept of the Supreme Being is crystal clear and his attributes

are seen from the different names of natives, proverbs, folk

tales, wise sayings and idioms. The Supreme Being (Chukwu)

35

was recognised as the creator (Chineke) of the world and every

thing in it, and the controller of all things in heaven and on

earth.

Udenu people’s cosmology is similar to that of the Igbo and

other peoples in Africa. The universe, as the people know it, is

full of spirits. Their world therefore is not limited to the material

world of visible things (Ụwa Mmadu). The invisible world exists

and is the Ani-Mmụọ (Spirit World). Spirit is Mụọ. There are two

types of spirits namely Ndi Mmụọ (Human Spirit) and non-

human spirits (Ibenwa, 2004:4). According to Metuh (1985:38),

spirits can be grouped into four broad categories: Chukwu (the

Creator), Mmụọ (deities), Arusi (spirit forces) and Ndi Mmụọ (the

living dead). Ibenwa summarised this thus:

In fact, outbreak of natural calamities such as drought, famine and epidemic were explained in terms of natural anger of the Supreme Being as a result of violation of one or the other of His commandments committed either openly or in secret. The myriad of earth deities, spirits and ancestors were made to superintend the affairs of man here on earth. The ancestors also act as custodians of morality. More so, there are ‘forces’ of ‘spirit powers’ or dynamism controlling life fortune, and daily issues of existence. A man is lucky, if he knows how to control or channel to his advantage this life force both for individual as well as for effective community well being and maintenance of harmony between the living and the dead and successful pursuit of the traditionally accepted goals of the good life.(p.5)

36

At this juncture, it is pertinent to state that man knows

how to control this life force if only he knows the force.

Attempts man made to know this force and be able to control

the force to his advantage brought him to divination – a practice

that was prevalent among the people of Udenu in particular and

Africa at large, before the coming of the Whiteman, his religion

and consequently the confusion that the natives found

themselves in.

2:2 Former place of Visionaries in the Traditional Religion

of Udenu people:

According to Onunwa (1990:58) prophets (visionaries)

occupy important position in African Traditional Religion just as

priest, medicine men, diviners and other religious specialists

do. Yet they have not been given close study and in-depth

interpretation by many who had undertaken the study of the

traditional religion as an academic discipline. Worse still, only a

few knowledgeable votaries of the religion can give a vivid

account of the prophetic ministry in the traditional religion.

Prophets had appeared in the past particularly in

circumstances of social stress. Since the history of the

37

traditional religion has not been written, it has not been

possible to record the developments and rules of the prophetic

ministry in the faith. A reconstruction of the ministry of

prophecy in the traditional religion may not necessarily fit into

the Biblical or Islamic concepts and understanding of prophecy.

The recession of the ministry of the prophets in the

traditional religion seems to have been caused by a number of

factors. One of them is the nature of the religion itself. It is a

religion that is basically a community affair. Individual

prostitution of the faith was rare. Any one who conformed to the

normative ethical principles of the society could hold any

doctrinal views without necessarily incurring the anger of the

charismatic figures that zealously stood in defence of the

orthodox faith. Conversion from one’s traditional faith to belief

in the gods of another community was not common. Even war

captives were allowed to maintain their own faith. Religious and

cultural borrowings were, however, going on in such a subtle

way that they did not disrupt the traditional religious structure.

This is not to say that the religion or the society was static. As a

religion of the community rather than that of an individual, the

traditional religion was such that no one could detach himself

38

from the religion of his people, for to do so is to be severed from

his roots, his foundation, the context of his security, his kinship

and the entire group of those who make him aware of his

existence (Onunwa,1990:59). Therefore, to be without his own

religion amounts to self-excommunication from the entire life of

the society (Mbiti, 1969:2). If the votaries remained faithful to

the ethical principles of the society, there would be no need for

any violent condemnation of other puritanical and zealous

adherents.

Besides, since the traditional religion is not primarily a

missionary or evangelic faith, its liturgy is more of ritual

performance than a proclamation of well-articulated and

systemic doctrine to non-members. Because the religious

expression is full of ritual offerings, the place of the priest

becomes very conspicuous in the eyes of many observers. Open

air preaching or long sermon are not particular features of

African Traditional Religion. This may be one of the reasons

why Onunwa (1990:59) said that Mbiti stated that in the strict

biblical sense, there are no prophets in African societies.

Although he had denied any knowledge of the existence of any

religious reformers, missionaries or official propagators of

39

traditional religion and philosophy, he has, however, admitted

that there had been leaders who in their own time introduced

innovations, new cultural ideas, changes or moves which had

religious implications.

If the term ‘prophet’ is understood in its normative sense,

he should be seen as a man or woman who ‘claimed to be

inspired by God, and to speak in his name and whose claim is

confirmed by the spiritual vitality and permanent worth of his

work’ (Fern, 1945:614). This could not be an exclusive claim of

men and women who lived in Palestine or Arabia. A man or

woman can be called prophet or prophetess, a religious herald

in general sense, if the one is the accredited witness of God’s

revelation in such a way that the one not only experienced

God’s gracious self-revelation (in traditional religion of Africa, it

may be the one’s local patron deity) but declared it perfectly to

man with divine guidance and manner. The one expands it in a

manner appropriate to the concrete and existential situation

facing the one and one’s audience.

The whole theme of prophecy seems to have suffered a set

back in all world religions. Even during the New Testament

period, prophecy did not occupy such a conspicuous place as it

40

did during the Hebrew period. Yet, men and women were being

inspired and sent out to declare God’s message to people. The

same global recession affected African Traditional Religion in

general and Igbo religion in particular. The scholars of African

Religion and some of the votaries of the faith have therefore

come to conclude that there were no prophets in the traditional

religion. They occasionally made a passing mention of the whole

theme and regarded it as part of the divinatory process which

spread wide and came into prominence. But this position is

erroneous.

Onunwa (1990:60) wrote that the Igbo word for a prophet

is Onye-Amụma and that of prophecy is Amụma. The word

Amụma is both the art of knowing and that of projecting or

proclaiming a view point. The last syllable of the word Ma

stands as its root and symbolizes ‘to know’. It is from this ma

root that such verbal nouns like Amamihe (wisdom, knowledge),

Imaizu (to be sensible or knowledgeable) are derived. Besides,

the ma root may mean ‘to proclaim’, to ‘announce’, ‘to publish’

(e.g. a Bann of marriage or to give an announcement – ima-

ọkwa). However, unlike the rest of the Igbos, Udenu people have

a different register for visionary. They call it ih -ọh , which can

41

be transliterated to be ‘seeing vision’. Ọh is vision whereas ih

stands for seeing, viewing, peering, witnessing or observing. The

visionary, to the people, is Onye ọhụ ọh or Onye na-ah ọh .

These translate to The Man of Vision or The Man that sees

Vision. In short the summary of what the people know as a

prophet/visionary is one who knows what has happened in the

past, and what will happen in the future and proclaims them as

they relate to the present with authority and boldness given by

his patron deity and mentor whose spokesman he claims to be

or is. Only a few are given the privilege to ‘see’, ‘peer’ into what

is unknown to the public or what is yet to happen. This ability

to know is obtained through the agency of ‘spirits’ who are only

visible to the ‘seer’ or ‘visionary’. Ordinary people who are not

given this special power described those who have it as ‘those

who see beyond what the human eye can see or who peer into

the invisible universe to obtain message to man on earth.

As a preliterate society, the people do not have a clearly set

out historical explanation of the beginning of visionary in their

religion. Like many other aspects of Igbo religious life, visionary

has been mythically explained by some learned Igbo traditional

religious philosophers. The old votaries of the faith claim that it

42

is quite old in the religion. An evidence to support this exists.

The term Ọh is clearly indigenous to the people. When

Christianity came, it did not battle with the problem of

translating visionary because it has been with the people.

Prophetic figures had been identified in many societies in

the past. Their influence was so limited to their communities

that many outside their immediate environs did not take note of

them and besides, since no one had ever thought of writing

down anything about them, their activities seemed to have been

forgotten. One of the distinctive features of these men and

women who served as prophetic figures was their conscious

attachment to a deity in whose name they claimed to speak.

Such a deity was a local one within their immediate environ. It

is such a local attachment that worsened their chances to be

popular outside their locality. Unlike diviners who had clients

from outside their local communities, those who carried out

purely ‘prophetic’ ministry did not have clients from places

outside their homes. Those prophets who did not combine

prophecy with Affa Divinatory practices and sooth-saying saw

themselves most of the time as advocates of moral rectitude and

crusaders of social justice within the community. Consequently,

43

they did not attract clients because their condemnation of the

social evils made them enemies of those who were indulging in

the evils. As some of them were peasants, they did not impress

many of their hearers who often taunted them. Some of the

utterances of those prophets were fulfilled several years after

they had died.

There seems to be a complete disappearance of models of

the prophets discussed above. They seem to be virtually absent

from the traditional religion practised in many parts of the

society. Consequently, many researchers would get other

religious specialists who perform such functions in the

traditional religious system in recent times.

The apparent ‘disappearance’ of the prophets in the

traditional religion is no problem, to the devotees of the faith.

They still believe that the deities speak to them in diverse ways.

Although the Afa divination system is not prophecy per se, the

diviner’s work is no longer regarded only as that of moral

interpreter of the past events but also as comprising that of

‘prophecy’ as he can peer into the future and interprete the

present. This is a subtle phenomenon which a casual

researcher may not decipher.

44

Secondly, the emergence of the new prophetic movements’

in African Independent Churches is not necessarily part of the

Biblical Christianity which they claim to be. Incidentally some

of the Independent religious and prophetic movements in Africa

started as forces against the missionary Christianity and

colonial administration, but have openly and indirectly

absorbed many features of the traditional African religious faith.

The new ‘prophetic movements’ are not peculiar to the Igbo of

Nigeria nor are they confined to this part of the world. They

have grown to be a pan-African feature in the quest for

liberation and African theology. The rate at which the number of

the new movements is increasing has been a cause for concern

to not only scholars of African traditional religion and historians

of religion in particular, but also to the leaders of the Christian

churches and votaries of traditional religion themselves. The

founders of the new religious movements have incorporated

‘prophecy’ as part of their liturgy and this has been one of the

features attracting Africans in the ‘missionary churches’ to

them (Onunwa, 1990:76). Africans, irrespective of their status

in attainment of Western education, still want answers to many

personal fundamental problems of life. Most of the answers are

45

not available in the ‘historic missionary churches’ to which they

are members. They therefore patronise the ‘new movements’

secretly.

2:3 The Advent of Christianity in Udenu Local Government

Area:

It seems very pertinent to first look at the advent of

Christianity in Nigeria before turning to the coming of

Christianity in Udenu Local Government Area, which is the

geographical scope of this work. Ugwueze (2008:58) wrote that

the first Christian contact in Nigeria occurred in the fifteenth

century when Catholic missionaries from Portugal came to

evangelize Benin. Benin was a large kingdom with great power.

The Oba had many chiefs and petty rulers under his authority.

The missionaries did everything to convert the Oba on the

premise that with his influence, the lives of his subjects would

be affected. To some extent, however, the Oba subjected himself

to Christianity which was seen in his sending one of his sons

with the sons of some chiefs, in 1516, to be baptized by the

missionaries. He also permitted the Christians to construct a

46

church in Benin City. However, there is no evidence to confirm

that the church was built (Agha, 1997:34 in Ugwueze, 2008:58).

Onah (2000:1) further stated that however, around the

15th – 16th centuries an attempt to introduce a ‘foreign’ religion

was made by the Catholic Church. This was spearheaded by the

Portuguese Catholic Mission which explored many areas in

West African Coast starting from North-West African Coast

through Cape Verde down to the Nigerian Coast with particular

reference and emphasis on the Bight of Benin. The Portuguese

came to Benin and environs in the sixteenth century at the

invitation of the king of Benin Kingdom – Oba Esiji. Onah made

it clear that this mission created much impact but did not quite

establish the Christian Religion firmly. Later another

congregation made a more successful attempt. This time it was

a Holy Ghost congregation known as Sacra Congregazione de

Propaganda Fide which took off from Rome. Their emphasis

was on Warri. From Benin and Warri the established impact

infiltrated to the Niger Delta area. All these efforts started

dwindling gradually, although awareness of a new religion had

been created because some individuals had under this influence

47

been taken overseas whereas some intermarriages had taken

place.

By the nineteenth century some missionaries directed

attention to West Africa. Their effort was directed to the

abolition of slave Trade and to the introduction of Christianity.

Sooner or later the Christian missionary activity resumed in the

Nigerian area. Precisely in the mid-nineteenth century

Christianity was reintroduced into West Africa spearheaded by

the Charitable Missionary and Philanthropic organisation under

the auspices of the Church Missionary Society (C.M.S.). With

this and many other efforts, Christianity was introduced into

West Africa of which Nigeria belongs to – an area well-known for

its strong stand in traditional worship system.

In the late 19th century, Christianity became established

in southern Nigeria. In the Yoruba Southwest, it was

propagated by the Church of England, while in the Igbo

Southeast, the Roman Catholic Church dominated. Today, close

to half of the southwestern peoples and far more than half of

the southeastern peoples are Christians, divided into Roman

Catholic, Anglican, Methodist, Lutheran, and Baptist sects.

Christianity is also widespread in the middle belt, but it is

48

virtually absent in the far north except among migrant

populations. In recent years, Protestant fundamentalism has

grown, particularly in the middle belt. Nigeria also has many

independent African churches, such as Cherubim and

Seraphim, which incorporate African cultural practices such as

drumming, dancing, and polygamy (multiple wives) into

Christianity. (Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2008. © 1993-2007)

Quoting Isichei, Nnadi (1991) showed that the history of

missionary endeavour among the Igbo falls into two contrasting

and socially determined phases.

In the first encounter, the missionaries won their converts only from the rejects of tribal society; witches, slaves and mothers of twins. Both the missionary records and the recollection of elderly Igbo confirm this picture. The second phase of the encounter was necessitated by the introduction of British administration, which created a demand for interpreters to bridge the gap created by language barriers.

In the case of Udenu Local Government Area, the first

missionary group to arrive was the Church Missionary Society

in 1917. The Church Missionary Society arrived at the Late

Chief Ugwu Abonyi Asogwa’s compound at Obollo-Afor and was

confined to the Chief’s compound alone; hence it failed to

establish successfully, Chukwu, et al in Eneasato, et al (1985:

49

205). Three years later, in 1920, The Roman Catholic Mission

arrived from Eke Parish (in the present Udi Local Government

Area of Enugu State) brought by the first Catholic Missionary,

Rev. Fr. Maxcel Graudin. However, the first parish to be

established in this local government was St. Martin de Porres

Parish Obollo-Eke in 1948 by Arch Bishop Charles Heery (the

then Arch-bishop of Onitsha Province) with Rev. Father P.

Grogan as the first Parish Priest. From Obollo-Eke, the mission

spread to other surrounding villages.

On the other hand, Orba, Imilike and Ezimo got the light

of Christianity through the activities of Christian missionaries

that established in Isienu in early 1920s; the first mission also

being Church Missionary Society under the auspices of a

Church Missionary Society teacher from Awka (in the present

Anambra State) by name Nnato Diribe who established a

mission at Eha-Alumona in late 1911, Akanigwo (1985:122).

Ezugwu Ikpo of Amaeduna Agu helped to keep the mission

alive. Church Missionary Society later co-existed with Catholic

Church which Late Chief Attama Nwamba, through his contact

with Eke, had brought in early 1919 to Eha-Alumona. Thus,

there was Ezugwu Ikpo’s Church Missionary Society and

50

Attama Nwamba’s Roman Catholic Mission. From these periods

onward, evangelising of the natives and hinterlands continued

and reached the corners of the entire area.

2:4 Attitude of the Natives to the New faith:

The attitude of the natives to the new faith was not that of

swallowing everything hook, line and sinker. To a great extent,

the people were surprised, impressed, depressed and confused.

The lamentations of Bewes (1953) captured the situation very

clearly, thus:

Before the Whiteman came we were a united nation or tribe, United by our land, united by our religion. We were all children of Mumbi, the mother of Kikuyu. When the Whiteman came, two things happened. Some of our land was taken by government or settlers. Then the Whiteman brought a new religion, Christianity, to keep us quiet about our lands. If we want them back, we must get rid of both of the religion which keeps us quiet (and condemned our practices) and the Whiteman who sits on our land. (p.206)

Achebe (1964) also reflected on the same issue as he made

Moses Unachukwu, in Arrow of God, quip that

… there is no escape from the white man. He has come. When suffering knocks at your door and you say there is no seat left for him, he tells you not to worry because he has brought his own stool. The white man is like that…. As daylight chases away darkness so will the white man drive away all our

51

customs…. The white man, the new religion, … are all part of the same thing. (p.84-85)

The lamentation of Unachukwu above was touchy. The Igbo did

not know exactly what to do. Similarly, Achunike (1993)

maintained that:

Initially, Igbo communities received Christianity because it appeared peaceful and quiet. But the Igbo later found out that it rejected their customs that were not Christian and authentic in outlook but which harmonized with some Christian tenets. The Igbo then did not accept Christianity as a wholesale package. The Igbo were reluctant. They had their misgivings or reservations. They felt challenged and threatened. (p.2).

The submissions quoted above show that the emergence of

Christianity did not, in all angle, appeal to the natives. But

since they found themselves in a state of duress, they allowed it

to stay, with the attendant consequences they continued to

face.

2:5 The Emergence of Non-Orthodox Churches in the Area:

The emergence of other churches in the area, especially

Pentecostals and African Independent Churches started after

Nigeria’s Independence. Obiefuna (2002) agrees with this when

he stated that:

52

The reason for this state of affairs could be traced to uncertainty experienced in Nigeria during the war years, 1967 – 1960, the years immediately after the dictatorial regime of the military…. Those periods brought to Nigeria …insecurity – personal, social, marriage, economic, and political. For some of these reasons, or all of them, revivals and crusades are organised … to reassure people of hope that God is the answer to insecurity problem. (p. 115)

Isichei (1969:131) made it clear that ‘the introduction of

Christianity was a breach not only with the past, but with the

relatives and fellow townsmen in present. It implied a rejection

of many aspects of Igbo society and form of authority which

could produce nothing but disunion.’ Ekechi (1977:4) agreed

with this when he wrote that ‘that encounter (the coming of

missionaries) has remained an event of focal significance in the

history of the Igbo. It marked the dramatic break of the

ideological unity of Igbo society’. Instead of the one traditional

religion whose prescription, prohibition and sanctions applied

to every member of the society, the planting of a foreign religion,

with a different set of beliefs and values as well as sanctions,

served as a harbinger of divided loyalty (Nnadi, 1991:15). The

disunion Isichei talks about seems even to be affecting the

Christians greatly as well now. The present day Christianity in

Udenu Local Government Area has witnessed a tremendous rise

53

in the number of churches. Proliferation of visionaries cannot

be successfully divorced from the proliferation of churches.

Quoting Onah, Obiefuna also went ahead to give several other

reasons why this proliferation occurs. According to him,

These include religious enthusiasm, commercialization or ‘quick money’, quest for social status, frustration, inability to adhere to doctrine/dogma and scandal. To these must be added the end of the millennium prophecies for the end of the world and individualism experienced in Nigeria …

Just as the above stated, some people felt that the orthodox

churches were not doing enough in alleviating people’s

sufferings. Some other churches were founded by the indigenes

whereas some were introduced into the local government. This

has resulted in the multiplicity of many and varied churches in

the area.

According to Chirenje (1985)

The African Independent Churches are so numerous and so diverse in origin, characteristics, and manner of development that it is not possible to make any broad generalization which can be accurately applied to individual churches. Each has a uniqueness of its own which can only be appreciated through detailed empirical research and analysis (p.76)

Most of these churches however are characterised by the

activities of visionaries who are there to give spiritual help to

54

the members of the churches and those that consult the church

in certain situations.

2:6 Attitudes of Some Udenu Christians to Divination:

In the history of Christianity, every form of divination has

been condemned by the church (Hardon, 1985:112). From every

indication, it seems that present day Christians, as well, are

hell-bent on destroying divination as a practice. They see

nothing good in it and try as much as they can to abolish it.

According to Hardon

The occult forces in divination are always created rational powers that the church identifies as diabolic. Implicit in this judgement is the belief that neither God nor the spiritual powers friendly to God would lend themselves to frivolous practices or subject themselves to any evoking human force. Hence, evoking these powers, whether explicitly or even implicitly, is considered an appeal to Satan’s aid. It is therefore a grave offence against God to attribute to the devil a sure knowledge of the contingent future, which, as depending on free will, is known to God alone. (p.112)

The quotation above is absolute in attributing everything about

divination to the works of Satan. This is erroneous. Divination

stems from God’s will to make His wills known to man. It is

neither diabolic nor an art contrary to God’s command.

Unfortunately, even the Proceedings of the National Seminar on

55

New Era of Evangelism sponsored by the Catholic Bishop

Conference of Nigeria (1 - 3 may, 1984) had this to say:

The only positive aspects of our traditional religion are: Belief in God, spirits (good and bad), life after death, immortality to some extent, helping the dead, in the sacred, sacrifice, prayer, shrines, confession of sins and expiation, participation in sacrificial meals, organised worship, religious feasts and months, reward or punishment after death, forces above man, strong community aspect of religion, and the priesthood (p.75)

Though the bishops were liberal enough to accept belief in

forces above man, they (and every other Christian church in

Udenu Local Government Area) strongly oppose divination as a

means of getting in contact with these forces above men.

Onyeidu (2004:35) quoted Bishop Crowther, the founding father

of the Niger Mission as having observed that ‘Christianity is the

Religion of God established in the world through Jesus Christ to

whom all power is given in heaven and earth; therefore the law

(and perhaps the beliefs and the practices) of any country can

never stand against it, as God is the owner of heaven and earth

and all that are in them.’ However, it appears that such stand is

not maintained by Nigeria Christians alone but the whole of

Africa for

The colonialists left behind some schools and roads, some post offices and bureaucrats. But their cruellest

56

legacy on the African continent was a lingering inferiority complex, a confused sense of identity. After all, when people are told for a century that they are not as clever or capable as their master, they eventually start to believe it. (Lamp, 1986:140)

Lamp went on to describe an African with his inferiority

complex in another style

It is rare that he will reveal his inner emotions or talk about his belief in more than superficial terms. As often as not, he will tell you what he thinks you want to hear rather than risk offending you with an opinionated view. He does not often defy authority and he will follow anyone who asserts himself as master. (p.235)

Even though the above paint piteous pictures of Africans, it is

time to wake up to the realities of the fact that cultural heritage

should be maintained. A people without a culture lose every

identity they have.

We present-day Africans are the products of two heritages, the one foreign, and the other indigenous. Our wholesomeness rests on our ability to handle both valid inheritances with maturity and creativity. (Mbefo, 1989:25)

So, it is a general belief among the Christians in the area that

the practice of divination is evil, bad, archaic, satanic and

reserved for ‘pagans’ and other ‘agents of Satan.

57

On the other hand, it is pertinent to state that there seems

to be a little confusion in the lives of some Christians in Udenu

Local Government Area. Though the churches they attend

openly condemn the art of divination, they really find it difficult

to cope without it. They frequently consult diviners secretly

when crises of life engulf them. Eze (an informant) of All

Christian Practical Praying Band Orba, a visionary, lamented

that the problem was that ‘the same people who come to you to

get help from God still resort to wrong ways after you must have

advised them. They still visit diviners; so one is often compelled

to ask why. They often say that they went for divination due to

pressure from their people; pressure from people who do not in

any way ‘know God’. It is really disturbing.’ This view was

corroborated by a diviner himself, Ogwu Nwa Ugwuanyi of

Imilike-Ani, who made it clear that the greatest number of

people who consult him were the ‘people who go to church.’

Reverend Father G. Onah, former assistant Parish Priest of St.

Patrick’s Parish Obollo-Afor also lent his voice to the syncretism

of the Christians. According to him, ‘it is worrisome that the

same group of people you give Holy Communion everyday are

the people that diviners make out a living from their pockets.

58

Some times you may be surprised to notice this from the way

they talk about certain evils that befall them. Yet when you

want to probe them further they begin to check their words. But

go and ask their neighbours, you find out the mess they subject

themselves to just in a bid to know the why’s of life. God did not

say that the world will be trouble free after the coming of His

son. We know that His plan for us is of good not of evil. But it

does not follow that any misfortune one encounters comes from

evil or evil people. It could just be a natural event of life. So, I

see no basis for such syncretism in the lives of the Christians.’

The responses of the trio confess the fact that Christians still

patronise divination, yet they are not ready to do it in public.

This agrees entirely with the work of Nnadi (1991). According to

his findings,

When the Christians are faced with certain problems, e.g. barrenness, they consult oracles. When a new baby is born, they consult oracle or diviners to know which ancestor has come back. Even when they do not go themselves, they send people to go for them. (p.82)

The situation, no matter what, is neither a healthy development

for divination as an art of the people nor Christians as people

who seem confused.

59

2:7 Why the People’s Traditional Divination Should Survive:

An instruction given to missionaries in China and Indo-

China, which as well implies that divination, a practice and

belief in Africa in general and Igbo land in particular should

survive, and which seems to have eluded present day churches

states that:

Never try, never in anyway demand for your people, that they should alter their customs, rites and manners, so long, at any rate, as they are not clearly contrary to religion and morality. For what is more absurd than to bring France, Spain, or Italy or any other part of Europe into China? Never compare the customs you left behind in Europe; rather you must, with all diligence, accustom yourself to the new manners of your new people. Nothing so provokes hatred and aversion as the overthrow of a country’s customs, especially when these customs are immemorial ones handed down from father to sons; it is worse still when you have overthrown these customs, to replace them with your own. St. De Propaganda Fide (1657) in Odiegwu (1998:46)

Onunwa (1990:132) quoted Bishop J. Shanahan, an

outstanding missionary to Igbo land as having advised his

fellow white missionaries and African indigenous theologians

alike that what the Igbo traditional religion needed was

transformation and not destruction. Even Pope John Paul II in

his Foreword in the Apostolic Constitution Sapienta Christiana,

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on Ecclesiastical Universities and Faculties (1979) points out

that:

The cultural atmosphere in which a human being lives has a great influence upon his or her way of thinking and thus of acting. Therefore a division between faith and culture is more than a small impediment to evangelisation, while a culture penetrated with the Christian spirit is an instrument that favours the spreading of the good news.

The above quotations point out clearly that it should be the

policy of the Christian church not to destroy whatever any

nation or a people may have in their traditional way of life that

is naturally good, just or beautiful. Christian church should

make use of them in the work of evangelism.

… as one watches the daily lives and activities of the people (Igbo in general and Udenu people in particular) , and takes account of the rites connected with marriage, birth, widowhood, harvest or installations to traditional office, one learns that a great deal of the normal communal activities of the converts lie outside their Christian activities and that for all their influence, the Christian Churches are still alien institutions intruding upon but not integrated with social institutions (Onunwa, 1990:133)

It may be facts like the above that forced Ezeanya (1990) to

quote Vatican II as stating that:

She (the church) respects and fosters the spiritual adornments and gifts of the various races and people’s. Anything in their way of life that is not indissolubly bound up with superstition and error

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she studies with sympathy and, if possible, preserves intact. Sometimes in fact, she admits such things into the liturgy itself, as long as they harmonize with true and authentic spirit. (p.21)

Divination is not bound up with superstition and error. It has

something to offer to the people and therefore the church. It

helps the people to see their relationship with the invisible

world as a way of life – an indispensable element in a person’s

way of life. From conception until death, the individual finds

himself in an atmosphere that is essentially religious. Every

moment of a person’s life is lived in union with and under the

special care of God, the good spirit and the ancestors. Since the

spirits and the ancestors especially the earth deity are watching

the moral behaviour of human beings for reward or

punishment, everyone tries to live his day to day life in a way

pleasing to the spiritual powers watching him. This state of

amity is to a large extent achieved among the natives through

constant divination to know the minds of the invisible realities.

The fact remains that

In general, our traditionalists believe with awareness of their dependence on the spiritual powers, all the more so because, they are afraid that once they offend, the offended spirit would strike the offender with deserving punishment at once. It is also obvious that in the traditional religious set-up of our people, the individual sees himself as a creature always

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dependent on the powers above him and in need of their help. He is aware of his obligation to pay them due homage by sacrifice and other offerings (p.22)

Divination helps to maintain public and personal morality.

Should a person offend, for instance, by committing an

abomination (nsọ ala) Ezeanya said that he quickly represents

and performs the prescribed ritual, often public and

humiliating. It is through divination that such punishments are

gotten. The priest (eze – mọọ) then reconciles him with the

ancestors or the particular divinity that has been offended. One

of the reasons why he must not delay his reconciliation is that

should he die suddenly, he is lost forever and so will not be

admitted in the life hereafter. Consequent on this, he is denied

formal burial – the worst misfortune that could befall any Igbo

man.

In addition to the above reasons,

… we are in an age of global awareness which includes the awareness of cultural diversity (and practices). This diversity or pluralism is seen both within one nation …. Education, literature, and the mass media make us more aware than ever of the rich and basic differences between cultures…. One has to in some way de-westernize Christianity, strip it down to the essentials, in order to creatively inculturate gospel values into Nigeria. (Peter Schineller, 1990:7-11)

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Therefore, to meet up with modern trends of things,

cultural/traditional practices are supposed to be revived.

Summarily, it has been seen that Udenu people had a

religion before the coming of Christianity. They also had the

concept of Supreme God. Their world view was just like those of

other tribes in Igbo land. The people strongly believed in

divination as an art that helped them reach and maintain

healthy relationship with the spiritual realities and neighbours.

It was of immense value to them and to a great extent

determined where, how and when they carried out things in

their day to day living. But when Christianity came, the practice

was condemned. This situation of sidetracking the people’s

practice came to climax with the emergence of Pentecostal

churches and African Independent Churches that brought

about tremendous rise in the number of visionaries. These

visionaries now became so zealous that the practice of

divination began to suffer. Upon that, the church still seems to

have vowed that the practice must die, be buried and be

forgotten. Yet it still appears confusing how the same members

of the churches that condemn the practice still go secretly to

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patronise the practice. In the face of this syncretism however,

what then is the fate of divination?

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CHAPTER THREE

ORIGIN, TYPES, FUNCTIONS AND MODERN INFLUENCES OF

VISIONARIES ON NON-ORTHODOX CHURCHES

At this stage of the discussion, it seems pertinent that the

concept, origin, types, relevance and stage of proliferation of

visionaries in Christianity be discussed.

3:1 Concept of Visionaries

Visionaries are the people that see vision. The term

visionary refers to a wide range of religious phenomena that

have been manifested from ancient to modern times. In

antiquity it was commonly believed that gods controlled events

in the world and made their intentions known to human beings

in various ways. ‘The earliest written records tell of religious

functionaries whose responsibility it was to interpret or deliver

messages from the gods in order to supply information useful in

the conduct of human affairs.’ Eliade (1987:8) in this vein wrote

as follows:

In early tribal societies the clan leader often carried out these duties, or perhaps some other individuals who used a variety of divinatory or visionary techniques to gain access to special knowledge about divine intentions. These activities usually included intercessory functions, whereby the leader or visionary petitioned spirits or a god or gods for special favours for their group. (p.8)

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Five things characterise these visionaries. These are:

i. They all conceived of their activity as the result of a

personal divine commission.

ii. They form some religious traditions among their

followers.

iii. Though the content of their messages often

differs significantly from one visionary to the next,

depending on historical circumstance and inherited

tradition, all of them proclaim the religious tradition

they do form as universal truth.

iv. In their individualistic ways, they are often social

critics.

v. They find it difficult to adhere strictly to the religious

traditions of the religious denomination they emerge

from.

3:2 Origin of Visionaries:

One of the hydra-headed problems surrounding

visionaries is tracing their origin. Visionaries abound in

different religions of the world, ancient or modern. They have

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appeared throughout history and in virtually all society. Given

this backdrop, coupled with the uncertainty as to which religion

started first, it becomes imperative that one takes the origin of

visionaries back to the origin of man on earth – man that sees

himself in a scene of inexplicable complexities and, from the

very first, tries to demystify the mysteries surrounding him.

Biblically (since our discussion centres on visionaries in

Christianity) one traces the origin of visionary to the personages

in the Garden of Eden – when God personally and constantly

revealed Himself to Adam and Eve, exposing to them His wills

and acts (cf. Genesis 1:28-30). ‘Prophecy was elevated to an

unprecedented religious significance in Judaism and

Christianity. According to the Old Testament, the prophet is an

individual chosen by God, often against his will, to reveal God’s

intentions and plans to the people. As a bearer of divine

revelation, he often experiences God’s overwhelming presence

and receives the strength to communicate to others what God

has said, even though this may lead to persecution, suffering,

and death’ (Saliba, 2008). The prophets of ancient Israel (major

and minor prophets inclusive) were all visionaries. Some of the

kings of Israel and priests also acted as visionaries. (cf. I

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Samuel 9:11; 10:11; 3:1-18; Genesis 28:12-17; 12:19; I kings

3:5-15; etc)

In the New Testament, visionaries and their activities

punctuate the pages of the New Testament. The story of the visit

of an angel of God to Mary is best described as a vision. And so,

Mary, Joseph and Zachariah stand as the first visionaries of the

New Testament. (cf. Matthew 1:18-25; Luke 1:5-80). The Magi,

the shepherds, Simeon, John the Baptist and Anna are as well

some of the visionaries at the time of the birth and early

boyhood of Jesus. In fact, it is evident throughout the gospel

passages that vision and visionaries played a lot of roles in the

lives of the people and in the works of Jesus Christ. Jesus

Christ himself cannot be fully exonerated from the list of

visionaries in his days. (cf. Matthew 3:16-17; 4:1-11; Luke 4:1-

13). He fore-saw how he was to be sold, Peter’s denial and his

eventual death. The apostles of Jesus followed suit, beginning

with the events of transfiguration (cf. Matthew 17:1-13; Mark

9:2-13; Luke 9:28-36), Mary Magdalene’s encounter with angels

at Jesus’ tomb (cf. John 20:11-18), Stephen’s vision of God and

His Son (cf. 7:55 and 56) to many other innumerable visionaries

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of the New Testament. In fact, the last book of the Bible,

Revelation, is a compendium of visionary’s vision.

3:3 Types of Visionaries:

Visionaries in Udenu Local Government Area can be

categorised into different groups. Yusufu (2001:164) categorised

visionaries by using the kind of visions they have. Based on his

categorisation, they are:

Throne visions (Isaiah 6; Revelation 4:2-11)

Visions of a heavenly or earthly reality (Amos 8:1-3; Ezekiel

40-48)

Vision based on a symbol (Amos 7:7-9; Ezekiel 37:1-14)

Allegorical visions, in which each element has a

corresponding element in reality (Daniel 8:1-14; Revelation

12)

Composite revelations combining two or more of these

elements (Daniel 7; Revelation 17)

Today, however, there are two types of visionaries in Udenu

Local Government Area. These are Inherited Visionaries and

Acquired Visionaries. Some of the visionaries claim that they

inherited the skills from their father or fore-fathers. Their

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forebears, they claim, were great diviners and passed it to them.

But being ‘born again’ they now know the mind of God by

mainly ‘reminding God of His Words in the Bible’ (I chetara

Chineke okwu ya n’akwụkwọ ñsọ). That is to say, they now act

as visionaries in the Christendom. These types of visionaries,

the researcher groups under inherited visionaries.

The second group is made up of visionaries who claim the

Spirit of God ‘entered’ them so that they will ‘talk to the children

of the world’ (I gwa ụmụ ụwa okwu). A deeper observation of the

activities and rapt attentiveness to the utterances of the people

in this group reveal that they got the ‘power’ to know God’s

mind in crusades or during revival or after a dream or after

mysterious sickness (often mentally related illness). Casual

observation, on the course of this study, shows that visionaries

in this last group are patronised more than visionaries in the

first group. They even go to the extent of organising prayers

(ime ekpere) for their followers. Some of them have large

spaces/praying-ground where weekly prayers are organised,

especially over the weekends. They also take their followers to

‘desert’ as they call it, for prayers. They also sell sacramental

(e.g. holy oil, incense, salt and candles). The more radical ones

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among them are members of African Independent Churches.

Though some of these visionaries exist among the Catholic

Charismatic Renewal of Nigeria (C.C.R.N.) in Roman Catholic

Church (R.C.M.) they appear calmer and more reserved than

those who are ‘on their own’. The same is evident among

Evangelical Fellowship of Anglican Communion (E.F.A.C.), a

group in the Church of Nigeria Anglican Communion otherwise

called Anglican Church. Many visionaries in Udenu Local

Government Area exist among the members of a prayer

group/church called All Christian Practical Praying Band

(A.C.P.P.B) and Sabbath of God Mission.

Photographs of one of the praying grounds of visionaries in this

second group are presented in the following page.

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One of the visionaries’ praying centres (Bro. Nnaemeka Ogbenne – Spiritual Director, Divine

Favour Ministry of the Holy Spirit, Ohom Orba in Udenu L.G.A. of Enugu State. – 06/11/2010

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3:4 Functions of Visionaries:

The functions of these visionaries, just like other religious

functionaries, are many and varied. They help their clients to

explain the cause(s) of negative events in their lives. A man

whose businesses flopped finds ‘succour’ in the interpretations

which they give as reason(s) for such business set-back.

Spinsters troupe to them to get reasons why they are yet

unmarried, and why the prospective suitor(s) that visited last

year left for other girl(s) barren women meet them in search of

‘fruits of the womb’. The jobless go for some prayers to be

prescribed (I nye ekpere) for him/her so that he/she gets a job.

They also pray for mentally retarded people and often go to the

extent of administering drugs (sometimes orthodox; other times

traditional). They also act as rain makers, withholding rain or

causing it fall, according to the wish of their clients(s). In fact,

they act as messengers and servants of God, spiritual guardians

of their clients, custodians of ‘the mind of God’ and

intermediaries between the spiritual world and the physical

world, using their spiritual eyes (anya nke ime mọọ). According

to Elder Laz Ugwuanyi, a visionary with all Christian Practical

Praying Band, Obollo-Afor branch, the essence of visionaries

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are: ‘it edifies the congregation, it strengthens the weak, it

comforts the afflicted, it encourages the troubled mind (I

Corinthians 14: 3 – 5) and then, as a word of God, it corrects

erring believers and warns of the impending wrath of God

against sinners.’ Summarily, the functions of these visionaries

are found in what O’Dea has in Onah (1996) as functionalistic

theory of the roles of religion. According to him, the roles

include:

Assisting man to adjust to the three brute facts of contingency, powerlessness and scarcity (and, consequently, frustration and deprivation). All these would boil down to the mechanism of adjustment. One is talking of adjustment here in the sense that the human mind and body that harbours it need real adjustment just as engines, telescopes, etc. are adjusted to suit temperature or light. (p.39)

3.5 Modern Influence of Visionaries on the Belief System of

Udenu People:

The influence the activities of visionaries now have on the

belief system of the people is enormous. Just as the people

previously held tenaciously to the message or messages of

diviners, so they have transferred the same practice to

visionaries. According to Rev. Fr. Makata (oral communication)

‘it is disheartening that the trends of events have changed so

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much so that both our traditional religion and the doctrines of

the orthodox churches have been bastardized. No one knows

the faith of this duo, looking at what happens these days. We

are no longer traditionalists, at least religiously. Yet, I will not

say that we are purely converted Christians; or put in another

way, we have derailed from what the missionaries handed over

to us. The practices of these so called visionaries are in

contradiction to the teachings of the church. And it is most

worrisome that most members of our congregation believe in

what they (visionaries) say than in what we (the priests) teach.’

The level of patronage visionaries have is great; those that

patronise them range from adults to youths, men and women

alike. Many people have resorted to consulting them before they

embark on any project. Visionaries are also consulted in times

of misfortunes and in times of mysterious events that happen in

the lives of the people.

While interacting with the natives in the course of this

research work, the researcher discovered that many claimed

that they were ‘doing prayers’. These prayers, on further

probing, were prescribed to the people by one visionary or the

other. It was also discovered that any church, apart from

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Roman Catholic Mission and Church Missionary Society, which

had no visionary in the area was scarcely ‘patronised’. The

churches that have visionaries are largely recognised by the

natives; people attend them either as permanent members or

just to get answers/solutions to their problems. Attempt is here

made to illustrate how visionaries have proliferated in the three

development centres in Udenu Local Government Area, at least

for the past decade.

Table IV.

Development

Centre

Years

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

Orba 4 5 5 5 5 8 10 10 13 16

Udunedem 3 3 3 3 6 6 4 7 9 9

Udenu 7 7 8 8 10 10 13 17 20 23

The table above shows continuous increase of the number of

visionaries in the three autonomous communities in Udenu

Local Government Area. It is worthy to state here that some

approximations are made in the numbers above. The reasons

for this are (a) there is no record that contains the names of the

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visionaries as they are not registered; it was only by counting

the visionaries in each area that the number was gotten. (b)

Some people claimed to be visionaries but are not patronized.

Such people were not included in the census. (c) There is the

tendency of a visionary that exists that was not counted since

they were not well organised.

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CHAPTER FOUR

CONCEPT, ORIGIN, TYPES AND FUNCTIONS OF DIVINATION

Having discussed many things about visionary, attention

is shifted to the concept, origin, types and functions of

divination in this chapter.

4:1 The Concept of Divination:

Divination is a practice of attempting to acquire hidden

knowledge and insight into events – past, present, and future –

through the direct or indirect contact of human intelligence

with the supernatural. It is the practice of foretelling the future

by various natural, psychological, and other techniques. It is

found in all civilization – ancient and modern, primitive and

sophisticated – and in all areas, it is known in the Western

world primarily in form of horoscopic astrology (The New

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1998:132). No scientific evidence has

been produced showing that divination can indeed foretell the

future. A person who engages in this art of divination is called a

diviner. According to Parrinder (1949),

He is not necessarily a priest, serving the shrine of a god, though he often is one. He is generally an expert

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in medicine and herbs, in addition to his work as a seer. Diviners accumulate a vast store of secret knowledge, and have a deep acquaintance with human nature. The diviner is the wise man of the village, and although his practices are open to abuse, in general, his profession is honourable and highly respected. (p.137)

Quarcopoome (1987:83) has it that among the Yoruba the

diviner is known as Father of Mysteries and the divination

practised is known as the Ifa system. It is connected with

Orunmila, the divinity of divination. He went on to state that:

Diviners are trained privately by other diviners and work as apprentices for a period ranging from three to seven years. Training involves learning the names and signs of divination, figures, the proverbs and stories connected with them and the use of divination stones, gourds, numbers, palm reading, ‘forming’ images or using images in pots of water, interpreting sounds and using séances by means of which the mediums get in touch with the spirit world. (p. 83)

The Igbo people have divination as afa. There are some popular

divination shrines or villages, which are known for their

foretelling power. e.g. Ibinuikpabi of Arochukwu, Abia State, the

Igwekala of Umunneoha in Imo State. The Fon, the Ewe and

Edo also have similar divination oracles (Anyacho, 2005:256).

Some of the objects used in divination are presented in the

following page

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Yoruba divining board

Tanzanian Divining Bowel

Source: Microsoft ®

Student 2008 [DVD]

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4:2 Origin of Divination:

The origin of divination can be traced back to the origin of

man on earth. Just like some other activities of man, like

religion, thinking/reasoning, and breathing, which cannot be

dated is divination. On earth, man found himself in a midst of

mysteries, problems and confusion. He also recognised that

there must be forces acting under everything he sees, including

himself. This force he considered a superior reality. He therefore

began to be submissive to it. It was in a bid to maintain good

relationship with the being in this cosmic sphere that he came

by religion. In turn, man needed to know the mind of this being

higher than him. The only way to know this, brought about

divination and vision. So, it is safer to say that divination

started just when man became a living being and conscious of

his environment.

4:3 Types of Divination:

The different types of divination can be located in the

divination methods, which can be classified as inductive,

interpretative and intuitive (The New Encyclopaedia Britannica,

1998: 132). Inductive and interpretative divinations are

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performed by inference from external facts. Manipulated

accident is the essential dramatic element of interpretative

divination. In a classic example, a diviner randomly tosses a

bunch of selected objects on the ground and foretells the future

by interpreting the final alignment of the objects where they fell.

This approach has been used in a great variety of cultures. The

casting of lots for instance, was common in classical antiquity

and survives in the throwing of dice. The use of lots and

numbers lore directs consultation of the I Ching in Chinese

tradition. The diviner whose photograph appeared on the

following page uses interpretative divination.

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Ogwu Nwa Ugwanyi of Imilike-Ani, Udenu L.G.A. Enugu State in the art of divination, with cowries

(with the researcher, Odo Cyril Ik. and a colleague) 04/11/2010

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In haruspication (the inspection of entrails), in

scapulimancy (divination by spealbone, or shoulder blade), and

in divination by footprints in ashes, the diviner foretells the

future by interpreting the visual appearance or condition of a

particular object or objects. In the case of augury and omens,

the behaviour and cries of birds, encounters with ominous

animals, and so on are interpreted. Astrology, based upon

observation of the heavenly bodies, is an inductive divining

method of great antiquity. Other phenomena commonly subject

to such interpretation include dreams, weather, and sequences

of cards (e.g. -Tarot cards). (The New Encyclopaedia Britannica,

1998: 132)

Intuitive divination depends for its result on sensory or

motor automatisms or mental impressions. The prototype of the

intuitive diviner is Shaman who employs trance states – either

spontaneous, self-induced, or drug-induced – to achieve contact

with superior nonhuman forces and thereby gain insight into

the future. (Micro Soft Encarta, 2008)

‘Among sensory automatisms, crystal gazing is used to

induce visions of future events. The Ouja board is a popular

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approach to divination using motor automatism’ (The New

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1998:132).

4:4 Functions of Divination:

The functions of divination are many and varied. ‘The

diviner (and therefore divination, for that matter), according to

Parrinder (1949:137) seeks to interpret the mysteries of life, to

convey the messages of the gods, to give guidance in daily

affairs, and settle disputes, to uncover the past and look into

the future’. People resort to divination in all the crises of life,

betrothals, marriages, before and at the birth of children, at the

appointment of a chief or king, before a journey, in time of

sickness, in time of loss or theft, and at any time for guidance

and comfort. Through divination, interpretation and explanation

of the mysteries of life, message of God, divinities and the

ancestors and other spirits are given.

In short, the relevance of diviners and divination cannot be

over emphasized. The Africans believe that ‘there is no smoke

without fire’ – every effect has a cause, which must be unveiled

for the delicate equilibrium between the visible and the invisible

worlds to be maintained. To this end, diviners

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… deal with the question of finding out why something has gone wrong. They tell who may have worked evil magic, sorcery or witchcraft against the sick or the barren. They find out which spirit may be troubling a possessed person, what it wants and what should be done to stop the trouble. (Mbiti, 1975:157)

Diviners deal with the living-dead unlike medicine men.

They act as a link between man and God, ancestors, deities and

spirits. They interpret and follow the instruction of mediums.

They also act as custodians of societal customs and tradition

and help in instilling and maintaining societal morality. ‘They

are consulted in times of epidemics; when people loose their

personal effects; when a child is born; during an undertaking;

in time of inexplicable disease or frequent death.’ Anyacho

(2005:255)

4:5 The Influence of Divination on the Belief System of

Udenu People:

Just like most African tribes of pre-missionary time,

Udenu people were predominantly African traditionalists. ‘Their

lives were governed by their religion. They farmed religiously;

they ate religiously; they danced religiously; marriage,

childbirth, death and every other festival called for religious

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expression of the people’ (Leonard, 1906). These practices were

officiated by religious functionaries, priests, diviners, etc.

According to Ugwoke Odo (oral communication on 5/12/2011),

the people ranked diviners very high as divination was the

propeller which controlled the actions of the people so that they

were in amity with the spiritual world and the beings that

inhabit it. The people believed so much in divination that

diviners were consulted every now and then. Often times, a

whole village would consult a diviner when serious issues were

involved. People publicly and proudly consulted them regularly.

It is worthy to state that the number of diviners then was many.

The diviners had many trainees as well under them. The

functions of the diviners to the people are just the same with

the functions of diviners discussed in 4:4. Therefore it is very

clear that diviners exerted great influence on the lives of Udenu

people. People really went against their advice.

This influence of diviners on the people began to dwindle

on the advent of Christianity. The church condemned most

traditional practices, including divination. The culture of the

people was called barbaric and pagan. Their belief was said to

be primitive, idolatrous, and was given all sorts of derogatory

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names. The church knows what it has done to the traditional

beliefs of the people, yet it is still ever-ready to see that the

people’s beliefs do not resurrect in any way. According to 2010

Catechetical Week Programme of the Roman Catholic Church in

Nigeria,

Without prejudice, the missionaries laboured strenuously to plant the seed of faith. Now, communicants are on the increase. Catechumens are not really reducing. There are churches in almost every street …. True enough, there is a vacuum where the traditional religion has lost validity on account of Christian onslaught …. However, we must continue to strive (p.14)

Yes, the church must continue to strive; striving to see that the

traditional beliefs of the people die a natural death. It is at this

striving of the church to crucify the traditional practices of the

natives that divination began to suffer. So, generally, divination

is no longer practised as widely as it was before the emergence

of Christianity and the proliferation of Christian Visionaries.

On the other hand, it is good to state that although

Christianity has taken root in the local government, some

Christians still resort to divination secretly. According to Ogwu

Nwa Ugwanyi, a diviner, ‘people who go to church (Christians)

come to me. Even some pastors come to me when people begin

to run away from their church. When I tell them what to do,

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they go home and do it. They do come back here to thank me.

Many of them like that.’ This boils down to syncretism. May be

this was what made Obiefuna (1985) to cry out:

The bare fact is that Christians get what we call the religious sense and satisfaction from such practices and that these practices inevitably draw them away from Christianity. We see they trust in charms, talisman; they go to shrines as opposed to Christian altars. They go to non-believers who are diviners instead of going to the catholic pastors. If Christians in their inner selves do not know they are doing the wrong thing in these idolatrous practices, then there is something wrong with our catechesis. (p.97)

Obiefuna’s comments above raises some facts and some

misrepresentations. In the first place, the writer is right for

admitting that the traditional practices he enlisted give the

natives real religious sense and satisfaction. It implies that the

people are strongly attached to their tradition. But it is not true

that such practices are idolatrous. Idolatry means

image or phantom. i.e. things used to represent other things as symbols or emblems. It also means a conceptualisation of an image in the mind, an idea, a vision, illusion, fancy or imagination…. It is an element of religion and an element of religion is not necessarily false (Ugwu & Ugwueye, 2004:15)

If we should regard the natives as idolatrous then the

Christians should still get the same badge; after all what of the

use of cross, crucifix, Bible, statue and the likes in the church.

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It is the position of the present researcher that the

traditionalists are not idolatrous at any rate. More still, they

cannot be labelled idolatrous people because of their divinatory

practices either. The people are not idolatrous. They are just

trying to maintain the amity that should exist between them

and the invisible world; a practice handed down to them by

their fore fathers; a practice that gives them comfort. In this

regard, Achunike (1993) quotes Ejizu as saying that:

The annual liturgical calendar continues to be strictly lived out from cycle to cycle, with a good number that had joined Christianity participating in certain instances, like Ifejioku Festival and Ilo-muo, Ikwu-aru, etc. Divination, oracular consultation, charms and other protective ritual performances associated with the major events of life, are practised to maintain the harmony that is believed to exist between the world of men and the spirit-world. (p.7)

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CHAPTER FIVE

EFFECTS OF PROLIFERATION OF VISIONARIES ON

DIVINATION IN UDENU L.G.A.

Most of the beliefs and practices in African Traditional

Religion (and the religion itself), just like most religions of the

world, have experienced some shifts by sheding off some

practices and adopting some new ones. One of the contentious

questions most religious scholars face is the probable continuity

or otherwise of African Traditional Religion. The advent of

Christianity and Islam has exerted a lot of influences on the

beliefs and practices of the traditional African. No wonder then

the emergence of numerous visionaries has also affected

divination. In Udenu Local Government Area, the art of

divination is scarcely patronised. This is as a result of some

factors.

5:1 Decline in the number of Diviners:

One of the most significant reasons why divination seems

to be ‘dancing the music’ of extinction is the fact that most

diviners are dying off whereas no (if any) persons wish to learn

the skill. This is a serious challenge to the continuity of

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divination since the number of people wishing to be visionaries

are more than the number of people who will be diviners. The

number of existing diviners as at the time of this research work

in some towns of Udenu Local Government Area is presented

below:

Town Number of

diviners.

2009

upwards

Number of

apprentices

Estimated

number

around past

ten years

Imilike –Enu

and Imilike

Ani

3 1 13

Orba 2 - 11

Obollo Afor 2 - 12

Ezimo 1 - 7

Obollo Etiti

and Obollo

Eke

6 2 15

Iheakpu 2 - 6

The numbers are gotten through interviews conducted among

some elderly natives of the towns. The table above did not cover

all the communities in Udenu but a sample of some

communities in each autonomous community. It remains an

approximation. However, it shows that the number of diviners is

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declining and a very negligible number of people want to learn

the art.

5:2 Religious Effects:

Divination is so practised for man to adjust very well in his

relationship with the super-sensible realities. Vision plays the

same role. Most people in Udenu Local Government people

seem to be Christians; majority fancy visionaries than diviners,

who are traditional practitioners. Most Christians shy away

from being seen in a diviner’s house but will proudly testify that

‘Bro.’ this or ‘Sis’ that told him/her (vision). It often appears to

be a mark of a spiritually minded Christian among the natives.

Because of this it even becomes a serious challenge to African

Traditional Religion itself. Most of the visionaries are socio-

religious critics. Mostly, African traditional religious practices

come handy for them to criticise. Though a close attention to

their practices presents one with a clear picture of the

traditional practices that they constantly combine; with some

new western dimensions to punctuate it. Really, it boils down to

syncretism, even though they deny it. Obianyido (1993)

observes that

94

A number of these churches conveniently practice traditional divination under the cover of the cross, the Bible and the white cassock. They provide the Christian counterparts of the dibias and in some cases oracles. Indeed, it is shocking to note how openly these cults or churches practise all that had been declared fraudulent and criminal in the primitive version of traditional divination (p.viii)

Commenting on the piteous sight of the continuity of some of

these traditional practices, like divination, Ugwu and Ugwueye

(2004) opine that:

Independent African Churches have largely taken over many of the ancient practices and customs…. The functions of the magicians, diviners and the medicine men have been largely taken over by them…. They claim to give oracles and perform miracles. Prophets among them give visions and interpret dreams. They accept the traditional worldview about evil spirits and their devastating effect on human life and thus reach the fundamental needs of the Africans both spiritually and mentally. (p. 136)

What the above suggests is a clear picture of the devastating

blow of the proliferation of visionaries on divination.

5.3 Socio-Economic Effects:

Most divination objects look fetish, dirty and unkempt.

This is in sharp contrast with modern ways of living. African

Independent Churches get there features from African

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traditional religion and blend them in such a way that they look

more attractive. They talk about witchcraft, sorcery, magic,

ogbanje, vision, just as in traditional religion. This has been a

big temptation to Udenu people who run into them as means of

seeking practical solutions to their problems. The traditional

means of finding the causes and why of events in Udenu

cosmology has been affected greatly as a result of this.

According to Nnadi (1991), in the years past,

before a man got married, he must go through preliminary divination by which the young man who sought a wife was enabled to find out from what clan or lineage his ‘Chi’ (guardian spirit) permitted him to take ‘a wife of fortune.’ When the diviner pronounced the clan and lineage from where the future wife would be found, he also prescribed sacrifice to be offered to the ancestors to the young man and to help him find a ‘good’ wife, which invariably, meant a child bearing woman. When the girl was found, her own parents consulted the diviner to make sure that her own ancestral spirit would permit her to marry the young man. (p.63)

Such was the beautiful way of instituting a marriage in the

past. But these days, visionaries have taken over and are too

willing to advise intending couples to marry or not to marry; yet

there are the attendant cases of divorce among the people.

On the other hand, divination often recommends

sacrifice(s) while some visionaries mainly ‘prescribe’ prayers

96

that their clients see as solution to the perceived or actual

problems they have. This often appears cheaper for an average

Udenu man, and so, patronage to divination continues to

decline.

For the fact that most visionaries often recommend

orthodox medicines, the success of divination will continue to

be slimmer. Diviners hardly recommend orthodox medicine.

Some of the diviners that double play as medicine men go

purely traditional. Civilization and westernisation support

orthodox medicine than traditional medicine and so it seems

really hard that divination will continue to flourish.

5:4 Loss of Traditional Moral Values:

According to Nwala (1980:295) ‘moral values refers to

those things in human character, conduct and social relations

which we judge as good or bad, right or wrong, progress or

reaction, noble and ignoble,’ etc. It also means ‘a set of social

rules and norms intended to guide the conduct of people in a

society. The rules and norms emerge from and are anchored in

people’s belief about right and wrong conduct and good and bad

character’ (Gyekye, 1996:55). Ugwu (2004) opines:

97

Moral values are used to refer to those social and moral behaviours dealing with both right and wrong. This reflects not only the horizontal dimension in which those moral elements that serve as links between man and man in society are considered but also the vertical perspective in which the conditions of relationship between God and man are highlighted (p.288)

The above presupposes that moral values are product of religion

– hence the horizontal (man and man) and vertical (God and

man) relationships. Nnadi (2007: 134) agrees with this when he

wrote that ‘speaking in Marxian language, not the economy, is

the superstructure. Every structure in traditional society –

political, economic, social and cultural-wars is dependent on

and informed by religion, the superstructure.’

Udenu people are Igbo and so share many moral values

with the rest of the Igbo people. The sayings/names – égbé belu

ugo belu (live and let live), ibe bụ ike (united we stand)

nwanneka ego (a brother is more valuable than wealth),

nwanne di na mba (brotherhood in Diaspora), etc. show the

high esteem the people cherish human relationship. In the

olden days, people worked hard to maintain this relationship.

Often times, diviners would ask people who consult them to

cook and eat ritual meals with their neighbours (I mee saraka or

98

ọshataka, in the people’s language). Such meals were not only

to feed the stomach but to unite the people and spirits. In fact,

it bridged the gap between the world of men and the world of

spirits. But the emergence of Christian visionaries has led a lot

of people into ‘being on their own’. Visionaries often tell those

that consult them to maintain individualistic life. They often

acclaim the relatives and neighbours of their clients as solely

responsible for the problems and misfortunes of their clients.

This often triggers off hatred, acrimony and quarrels. Cases

abound where brothers, friends, kinsmen, etc. troop to

churches to make covenant with Bible these days. This is a

clear contradiction of what people’s traditional values dictated.

Similarly, many years ago, people who committed social

vices and taboos were quickly fished out through divination and

punished accordingly. This checked adultery, incest, murder,

theft, arson, etc. and therefore promoted morality among the

people. But since a shift has been made such that most people

now believe visionaries more than diviners, a lot of social vices

go unchecked. People now commit abominations with reckless

abandon since no one unveils what they do. This situation

seems to encourage immorality.

99

Lamenting on what the emergence of this situation has

resulted to, Nnadi (1991) wrote that

This strange ways of life created a new image, especially among the modern generation with respect to morals. A new era began which made inroads into the customary ways of life and completely changed the notion of everything traditional. The youths in particular started feeling emancipation from the traditional customs especially those in township where they have alienated themselves from their homes and live free from parental control. (p.16)

Ilogu (1974) earlier on cried out on the situation when he wrote

that

The situation under which collective behaviour expressed itself is changing, habitual and traditional actions are becoming more difficult because their basis in custom, social ethos and expectation is being destroyed. New responses are seeking new bases on which to build themselves. (p.7)

Onyeidu (2004:41) gave his own support to the discussion when

he said that with the planting of Christianity (and the

emergence of visionaries in the new religion)… most people have

forgotten the observation of traditional taboos. The consequence

is the attendant moral decay of our societies.

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CHAPTER SIX

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

6:1 Summary:

The stand of this project is that no aspect of cultural

behaviour and practice is in a state of permanent stability.

Change is the only thing that does not change. There is

therefore frequent meeting of different cultural practices borne

out of different beliefs and orientations, during which borrowing

and adaptation take place.

The traditional religious heritage (and practices) has shown remarkable versatility in its history and development for in spite of the onslaught of several external change-agents as well as internal factors, it has survived up to the present time and is assuming new forms. (Opoku, 1978:170)

Divination in Udenu Local Government Area is faced with

a lot of possibilities, modification, adaptation or even extinction.

In recognition of this, Idowu (1973:203) asserted that, one or

two things has happened to man’s religion (and therefore

practices in the religion) in any given situation; modification

with adaptation or extinction. For divination in Udenu Local

Government Area, the case is a little of modification and

adaptation and largely of extinction.

101

Divination practised by the people formed the basis of

behaviour that guided the conduct of an individual in the

society as it concerns his relationship with Supreme Being.

Social and religious values were clearly understood and

principles of socialization transpired from the elder generation

to subsequent ones. Seeking the minds of spiritual realities

through divination before any undertaking was paramount. And

so, people were in constant amity with the gods. But the

emergence of visionaries in Christendom has brought along

with it a very big wind of change.

The concept and functions of divination have been

discussed, especially as it relates to Africans in general and

Udenu Local Government people in particular. However, vision –

that religious phenomenon in which a message is sent by God

(or by a god) to human beings through an intermediary, or a

visionary – has actually affected the practice of divination. But

just like some of African traditional practices that are being

revived, divination can be made not to die a natural death. It is

a practice that helps to identify and solve problems; it is in

culture and therefore one of the stamps of identity.

102

In trying to make it survive, diviners should modernize the

practice; young people should be encouraged to take up the

vocation; fake diviners should be flushed out of the practice and

genuine ones be allowed to operate. Nevertheless, diviners have

to be gregarious in search of clients and as well ensure that

they have other means of livelihood so that they do not just end

up being peasants such that their clients look at them with

disdain. Government should also try to play some roles in the

continuity of this art for it has far reaching benefits to the

nation. On a more serious note, hence most diviners in Udenu

claim that Christians patronise them although secretly, it seems

right that the church takes a better look on how to encourage

divination. If there is any aspect of it that strongly contradicts

their teachings, they should just struggle for the removal of the

part –hence a part is not a whole. This will make their members

go for divination with no regret of syncretism

6.2 Recommendations:

Every problem has solution(s). It is true that the future of

divination seems oblique; yet, certain measures should be taken

to ensure its continuity.

103

No one wants to be identified with what is archaic in this

modern world. Therefore, diviners should ensure that their cult

objects, which are dirty and fetish be made clean and modern.

When such objects are kept clean, the researcher hopes that

they will not lose their potency. This will make the practice look

modern.

For divination to continue, it is necessary that the diviners

become gregarious in their search for clients. Many people who

claim to be visionaries often walk up to a person, be it along the

road, in the market, in a hospital, bus or in a meeting to tell

him/her of impending doom looming over him/her. Such a

person on whose account the vision is made often ends up

visiting the visionary to get clearer understanding of his/her

problems and possible solution. It is no longer fashionable for

one to only sit back at home hoping to be looked for. When they

move out in search of clients, they will be patronised.

It is good that diviners acquire great skills in medicine. In

an attempt to be treated of one sickness or the other, divination

will be patronised. Similar to getting such skill is a march for

industry. A diviner that has no other means of livelihood may

likely suffer from lack of patronage. If diviners have other

104

sources of income and are comfortable financially, many people

will be attracted to his art than a poor and unenlightened

fellow.

Effort should also be made to flush out the quacks from

the vocation. If only genuine diviners operate, there will be

awakened confidence and interest in divination – since one will

be certain that his/her problem will be discovered, analysed

and solution provided by a diviner.

The church should accept divination because although

divination is condemned openly by the church, some of her

members troupe to diviners in the night.

Government should as well come in to help and see to the

continuity of divination by organising occasions like Festival of

Arts and Culture where such skills should be displayed and

people made aware of the existence of the art.

Government should also encourage divination by

consulting diviners during policy making and implementation.

Diviners can help policy makers to fore-cast every challenge,

pros and cons of any policy.

Divination should also be incorporated into the learning

experiences children are exposed to in the primary/post

105

primary schools. This will create early awareness of the art in

the children’s mind. It should also be adequately taught in

tertiary institutions, and especially as a general study course.

When these measures are adopted, divination will definitely

survive.

6:3 Suggestions for Further Study:

A problem solved has the capacity of generating another

problem. Similarly, no research work will say it all as far as

academic work is concerned. Therefore, for further study, the

following suggestions are made:

i. The place of Women in Divination in Igbo Land.

ii. Re-interpreting the Functions of Divination in Igbo

Land in the 21st Century.

iii. The Role of Diviners in the Implementation of

Vision 20 2020

iv. The Relevance of Divination In Nigerian Democracy

106

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