Syncretism As The Way To Enhance Good Governance And Justice In Igbo Land.
Sunday (Afor) 3rd August, 2025.
Long before the ‘invasion’ of Igbo land by the British and other Europeans in the 15th Century A D by way of trade and later by their Missionaries, who had arrived to prepare the grounds for a full military coercion and take-over of Igbo land, just as it was with other parts of Nigeria, the Igbo had a well established Traditional Religion which recognized God as Supreme Deity. They called Him Obasi, Chukwu or Chineke, meaning God of creation.
While believing that they could not relate directly with Chineke that had and still has His abode in the high heavens and so, by their belief system, had earthly deities such as Ala and Amadioha which they firmly believed were intermediaries between them and the Almighty God, they strongly believed in an inseparable Principle of Ofo na Ogu. Ofo na Ogu symbolize the Igbo Concept of Righteousness, Justice, and Innocence.
In Igbo Rraditional Religion, Justice occupies a prime position, and it naturally tilts towards the Innocent.
By the time, through ‘conquest’, the Igbo got assimilated in Christianity about 1857 following the establishment of a Station of Church Missionary Society, CMS, which is today’s Church of Nigeria, Anglican Comminion, by Bishop Ajayi Crowther, a liberated slave of Yoruba extraction, the Igbo Traditional Justice System of Ofo na Ogu almost became phased out, giving rise to the British Colonial Legal System, which did and does not place emphasis on innocence. Unlike in the Igbo Principle of Ofo na Ogu which emphasised and still emphasises Innocence, a Judicial System that guaranteed instant punishment, even by death, of the guilt or aggressor, the British Colonial Judicial System which Nigeria inherited thrived and still thrives in Legal Sophistry.
As a result of the attendant Intellectual cum Professional Sophistication associated with the alien British Colonial Judicial System, the innocent but poor seeker for Justice hardly gets Justice today in Nigeria. It is because of the complexities of the British Colonial Judicial System that Nigeria adopted that many in Igbo land and in some other parts of Southern Nigeria still seek Justice from such Shrines as Ala, Amadioha, Nnemiri, Igu Aza, and so on. The good thing about Justice before many of the Shrines is that the Strong and Mighty when summoned before them will not make the mistake of telling lies. If it is in the case of land dispute or monetary transaction, for instance, whoever that appears before the Oracle appreciates, ab initio, that it is extremely dangerous to deviate from telling the truth and just nothing but the truth. This is because whatever the plaintiff or defendant states before the Oracle will be on oath, and, of course, the consequences are always obvious.
In Nigeria’s Politics, there is a preponderance of Corruption and Looting because the oath administered on occupants of public positions is immaterial, inconsequential and, therefore, constitutes no threat and fear to the Public Officers. This is unlike what happens in a country like Benin Republic where ritual vipers are hung on the neck of any Public Officer as oath not to loot or abuse his or her office. In such a situation, the wife and children of such a Public Officer would take it as their responsibility to constantly remind their breadwinner to always make sure he does not take anything that does not belong to him. They will not like to lose him.
Many Nigerian Public Office holders who took oath, either using the Bible or Koran, ended up amassing Stupendous Wealth as a result of corruption and extreme looting, as many of them suffer from Poverty Mentality, which gives way to excessive greed and kleptomania. Though an oath taken on the Bible or Koran may not punish immediately, or as quickly as an oath taken in a shrine, the children of Looters of Public Wealth are never a source of good reference. If they are not drug addicts, they would be preoccupied in several engagements that cause evaporation of the looted wealth of their parents.
For purposes of Righteousness, Justice, Innocence, Good Governance and Moral Sanity in Igbo land, Equity Global Reporters Ltd strongly suggests that a Harmonious Amalgamation and Integration of the ‘New Faith of Christianity’ and that of Original Igbo Traditional Religion, as symbolized by the Principle of Ofo na Ogu, should be enunciated. In that case, the ideal way to go is Syncretism.
Sir Don ubani is the Managing-Editor and Publisher of Equity Global Reporters Ltd.
