The Igbo man or woman is not Onye Igbo merely because of geographical allotment. Igboness is a spirit that transcends geography.
In one of my one-on-one encounters with Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, he recounted an experience he had in Haiti. He spoke of an elderly Haitian who was moved to pray for him, and he obliged. In the course of a prayer that lasted about five minutes, the elder appeared to move from the physical realm into another spiritual dimension, where he beckoned on Arobinagu to watch over their son.
Ojukwu recalled that even after closing his eyes in reverence, he was compelled to open them again as the man went further to invoke Agbanabo and Otutunzu, revered deities central to the spiritual heritage of Aguleri in Nigeria.
What does this tell us?
It simply means that even when physical demarcations are orchestrated by politics, the spiritual bond remains intact.
When one visits our brothers and sisters in Anioma, Ika, and the surrounding kingdoms whose worldview is still connected to the sacred cycle of the four market days, Eke, Orie, Afo, and Nkwo, one encounters the word Dein or Dei with remarkable frequency. The term is associated with the highest authority in royalty, the king.
Many have argued that the word is linked primarily to the ideas of heroism or warriorhood. I humbly submit that such an interpretation is incomplete.
The word is deeply connected to the sacred authority that animates the Ibobo within the masquerade institution. It invokes the spirit of awe and reverence, for all mortals are expected to tremble before the sovereign authority of the king. By referring to the king as Dei, the people ascribe to him the position of supreme custodian of the masquerade order and overseer of the principal spiritual forces within the kingdom.
The king is the one who understands which masquerade traditions should be abolished and which should be preserved. Government, being a structure of temporal men and women, has no natural place within the sacred administration of masquerade institutions. Yet military incursions into Nigerian politics disrupted ancient structures and eventually empowered politicians to influence matters that traditionally belonged to sacred authority. Having first undermined the rigorous cultural processes through which kings emerged, politicians now seek to determine the place and operation of masquerade traditions. In that sense, one may say that the country is cooked.
From my Metaphysical Garden, I humbly seek to posit that the time has come for us to dismantle the political barricades erected by people who neither understand nor are connected to the four cardinal forces represented by Eke, Orie, Afo, and Nkwo.
We must return to orientation and cultural reawakening if we are to salvage our future, for politics has done much to damage our past.
When a people whose ancestors secured their future through the sacred commerce of Eke, Orie, Afo, and Nkwo suddenly awaken and declare that they are no longer Ndigbo, it signals a fracture at the foundation. The consequences may not be immediately visible, but identity crises have a way of manifesting in future generations.
The blur may not be visible today, but it will emerge tomorrow when descendants begin to ask questions that their ancestors abandoned.
We are one people, and we can function as one people.
Nze Ukwu Ugezu J. Ugezu Writes
