Igboism: The Religion of the Igbo (Ndigbo)

By
Ticha Akuma-Kalu Njoku
This paper should be seen as a contribution to the current discussion
on the revitalization of Igboismthe religion of the Igbo (Ndigbo). After
much deep reflection thinking Igbo, I have tried to provide a framework for
the consideration an idea of Igbo cosmology and theological imagination in a
way that will make sense to Ndiigbo.
It is important at the outset to state the sense in which I use the term
religion and the designation Igbo in this paper.

Religion refers to various

kinds of communal expression of awe, wonder, reverence, and ideas about

the universe and creation, about life and death, and even hereafter, and the
belief that forces greater than human beings are in control and could be
influenced in the affairs of the living. The religious expressions of the living
acknowledging the activities of the gods, spirits, divinities and deities in the
life of the group of believers include individual and communal utterances,
customary practices, observances, rituals and ceremonies.

Igbo people

(Ndiigbo) express their religious and theological imaginations in verbal,

customary, and material forms.

The designation Igbo refers1 to a linguistic and cultural group

numbering about 30 million people in present-day Nigeria.2 The Igbo
primordial homeland lies astride the Niger River where their language
originated and still remains the language of the effective settlement. Most
Igbo people living on the eastern bank of the Niger River believe that their
domicile home is Alaigbo (Igboland).3 And in their mythology, Alaigbo is a
part of a greater mysterious universe or world (uwa di egwu). The entire
physical world and Igbo personhoods are integral parts of creation (okike).
Even though they have a metaphysical spatial relation with the universe and
connection with creation, the Igbo never cease to wonder about their place
in the world, and about life and death; even about hereafter. The hereafter
in Igbo ontology is the abode of revered ancestors. Those who die before
they are able to join the ancestors, pass through an imagined space known
as Ala Mmuo (spirit world) for regeneration and reincarnation.
Thus, death is a process that leads to life that never ends. The Igbo
express this idea of eternal life during funeral rites when they enjoin the
dead as he passes to the spirit world to vengeance and change misfortunes.
This expression shows that even though death is a passage to a place where
1

The term Igbo in broader West African (Togo, Benin, Nigeriaamong the Yoruba and Onicha Igbo) context refers
to forest. The Onicha Igbo in Nigeria use it as a derogatory term for other Igbo speaking people as people residing
in the bush. Even among the Igbo in general, a timid person is often referred to as onye ime ofia (deep jungle
person).
2
The two other languages are Hausa and Yoruba. Yoruba language, which is lingua franca of Western Nigeria, is
also spoken in the Republic of Benin, in Togo, and a few other countries in West Africa. Hausa is the language of
the northern part of Nigeria. Like Yoruba Hausa is spoken in many countries in West Africa.
3
Although the Igbo language is the primary marker of Igbo territory in the Bight of Biafra, some Igbo speaking
people in that region contest the idea of being Igbo.

one can negotiate ones destiny, which opens up the possibility for the living,
in certain situations, to wish himself dead because that would end the
boredoms of the physical life (Obilo, 1991, p. 8).4 The idea of death as a
state of transition to freedom in relation to Igbo collective memories of
resistance, escape, and journeying back manifested itself during the transAtlantic slave trade. Many took their lives rather remain slaves. And it
believed that many flew back to Africa. Thus, in life and in death and at all
times, Ndiigbo are a homebound people; with a definite and metaphysical
ideas of their location, home, and territory.
Ndiigbo do not claim and are not known to claim lands outside
the Igbo heartland by subjugating the aboriginal inhabitants. Rather,
they endeavor to make wherever they settle, home-away-from home
that always is.

Even at that, the effective settlements of Igbo

speaking communities in the Cross River, Rivers, and Delta states in

Nigeria live as their own independent polities. Clan and lineage leaders
of the pioneer settlements outside of Alaigbo do not pay tributes to the
heads of their ancestral homes. Igbo communities outside of the
mainland do not owe allegiance to clans, villages, and towns in the
Igbo heartland. Studies by M. D. Jeffrey (1931-1932) showed that
even clans around the town of Agukwu, Nri do not demand allegiance

Obilo, 1991, p. 6 in Igbo Concept of Death. Papers presented at the 1991 Ahiajoku Lecture [Onugaotu] Colloquium
Published by the Directorate of Information and Culture Printed by the Government Printer, Owerri)

from their Diaspora communities. Nevertheless, the High Priest (Onye

Isi Nchuaja) or Divine King in Agu Ukwu Nri, did send priests to other
Igbo towns, and some the priests became rulers (Eze).5 Basden in his
book History of the Niger Igbo (1922), observed that Nri had
prerogative over coronation of kings and purification ceremonies. For
that reason, it can be concluded that there was a kind of theocracy in
Igboland.6

According to Nnamdi Azikiwes 1956 speech, P. Amaury

Talbot gave a lot of reliable information about the Aru theocracy and
the spiritual potentates of Agukwu Nri whose civil supremacy was
acknowledged in Awka and Udi Divisions and which was a holy city
that was comparable to Ile Ife in its hey days. Aruchukwu is widely
known as a clan with a Diaspora community held together by a
religious force. Aruchukwu has a sacred grove known as Ovia Chukwu
(Forest of God) that arguably more influential than the Agukwu Nri.
At a certain point in the life of Ndiigbo, Ovia Chukwu was the
place to which most people clans went for final judgment, to know the
secret, for knowledge or, to seek for the truth. Some people still go
Ovia Chukwu for the same reasons. To access the truth one has to go
through a prophetic medium or oracle known as Ibin Ukpabi in Ovia
Chukwu. Obeahs or Dibias of Aruchukwu (Aru [the body/people] of
5

C.K. Meek. An Anthropological Report on the people of the Nsukka Division, Onitsha .p.6. Lagos 1921 Cited from a
lecture by Eze Nri ****.
6
See Basen (1922: 115, 251)

Chukwu [God]) are the augurs who perform divinations, oblations and
propitiation rites for Chukwu.

The authoritative augurs who get the

words of Chukwu through the medium of Ibin UIkpabi are exclusively

Aru. They are the custodians of the shrine objects in the Temple
Complex.
Before the British colonization of Igboland, the Ibin Ukpabi was
decidedly the source of the religious and political influence that the Aru had
over the Igboland. So influential were the Aru that the British carried out a
military expedition to destroy Oracular Shrine of Ibin Ukpabi, which they
called the Long Juju. The British did actually claim that they destroyed the
Oracle and that claim drastically reduced Aru influence. Thinking that the
shrine of Ibin Ukpabi was indeed destroyed by the British soldiers, Igbo
people stopped taking cases to the Oracle.

But the truth is that the Aru,

using their surpassing diplomacy and extraordinary tact, led the British
soldiers to bomb a different cave. And from 1902 to 2002, the Aru barred
even Aruchukwu indigenes from entering the Okonto Ovia Chukwu. Today,
the shrine of Ibin Ukpabi still exists in the section of the rainforest named
Ovia Chukwu. Thus, the Aru has helped to preserve one of the most ethnic
religious forests in Igboland. Today, Ovia Chukwu, Agu Ukwu, and Eke
Igbere are markers of religionIgboismas a primary institution of culture

in Igboland. Sheridan and Nyanweru (2008: 23) make similar observations

in other countries situated in the rainforest range of West Africa.7
In pre-Atlantic slave trade days when people from all over Igboland
went to Chukwu Abiaama to hear judgments through Ibin Ukpabi (the
Oracle), those that the Oracle pronounced guilty were either sold on to
slavery or put to death depending upon the degree of their offences and the
judgments of Chukwu. Those who received the death penalty were ritually
processed

and

thus

legitimately

killed

and

their

blood

colored

the

meandering stream stream in the cave, red. Relatives waited by the

riverside to receive judgment on the fate of the accused, by the subsequent
coloring, or not, of this stream.
With the advent of the Atlantic slave trade in West Africa during the
17th century, the Aru exploited the Oracle in a very remarkable wayby
turning it into a major secret slave dealing location. The Aru took captured
victims to Ovia Chukwu in what appeared to be the same ritual that had been
undertaken since before memory. But the victims disappeared into the cave
tunnels, and the Aru would falsely color the stream red giving the impression that
the condemned had died; the red water flowing from the cave served as a signal to
the relatives that the victims were dead. In reality, some of the tunnels into which
victims disappeared led to at least two exits at the edge of Ovia Chukwu. One of

See Michael Sheridans The Dynamics of African Sacred Groves: Ecological, Social and Symbolic Processes, in
African Sacred Groves: Ecological Dynamics and Social Change edited by Michael J. Sheridan and Celia Nyanweru.
Unsa Press, 2008

the outlets eventually led to a point where the enslaved, now blindfolded, were led
to Onu Abu Bekee, or European Beach in Ito. From there, waiting boats took the
slaves to Calabar and Bonny for onward transmission to the New World and slavery.

By the turn of the 20th century, with an uncontested monopoly of the

hinterland trade, an unmatched economic power, and complete monopoly of
the hinterland slave trade, the Aru had an imperial authority over a wide
area of the Igboland. They engaged the prowess of the Ohafia and Abam
warriors to police and command their imperial territory making penetration
of the Igbo interior by non-Igbo speaking groups, the missionaries, and
colonial masters, almost impossible or hazardous. That was the case until
the British military expedition of 1901 to 1902 claimed to have destroyed
the Long Juju and stopped the Aru economic control of the previously
impermeable Igbo interior. Today, the Long Juju or, indeed, Ibin Ukpabi is
both a myth and a legend in the minds of many Igbo people. Until recently,
when people to Aruchukwu to retrace the routes of Igbo slave journeys, Aru
escorts, either because they were forbidden from doing so or as a part of
their traditional know-nothing mechanism of secrecy, simply would not talk
to scholars about the so-called Long Juju. For some reason scholars have
the tacit assumption that nobody dares to ask.

To the rest of the Igbo

people of Nigeria, including the Aru indigenes in the Aru Diaspora, the Oracle
of Ibin Ukpabi or Long Juju has remained (and still remains) a mystery.

A six-foot gully now covered by a thicket leads into the cave Temple of
Chukwu where the main shrine of Ibin Ukpabi exists.

Close by the oracle

shrine stands a cult statue of Kamalu as if on guard at the Temple Complex.

Other parts of this Temple Complex include an altar (the kitchen area), the
throne of judgment, and a hill of ragsthe shrine of nakedness, which is the
place where the condemned were required to undress and leave their
clothes.8

Adjacent to the shrine of nakedness are tunnels into which the

victims disappeared. A waterfall (the loud sound which is regarded as the

prophetic voice of Ibin Ukpabi) rends the air.
From the foregoing we see that over many centuries, the Igbo have
developed systems of reverent thought and action indigenous; including the
belief that Chukwu Okikethe great force of creationcontrols the sequence
of events in the universe. Chukwu Okike works with other spiritual gods,
divinities, deities, and ancestors in the affairs of Ndiigbo anywhere. As we
shall see, Ndiigbo do not traditionally build a house for Chukwu Okike.
Rather, like their neighbors and other peoples in the rainforest region,
Ndiigbo domesticate groves for Chukwu. Igbo people do not even begin to
contemplate building a house for him or her. It is important to note at this
point that adjacent to the section of the rainforest in the Ovia Chukwu where
the Dark Chamber Presence of Chukwu is, there is another preserved section
known by the Ututu people as Ihu Nne Chukwu (the Ambience of Great

According to a Chief Kanu of Atani, those who come to consult Ibin Ukpabi still leave their dresses. ADD MORE.

Goddess).9 In relation to the other divinities, spiritual entities and gods,

Chukwu Okike is so incomprehensively huge in size and incredibly
multidimensional. One Igbo panegyric likens the multifaceted feature of
Okike to the palm tree, which has branches pointing to many different
directions.
It is probably because of the perceived magnitude and multifaceted
nature of Okike that one hardly finds a building built specifically for it. Yet,
in every village or town one easily finds traditional structures built and trees
dedicated to clan deities, village tutelary and protective spirits, and
mediums.

There is cave chamber that is believed to be the shrine of

Chukwu Abiama in Ovia Chukwu. In the same vicinity is Ihu Nne Chukwu
(the ambience of Mother God or Great Goddess) Chukwu 10 The peoples of
Alayi and Imenyi have caves which they refer to as Uhu Chukwuthe abode
of God. Many scholars have written about these and other sacred places and
customary practices around them in traditional Igbo society.11 And we know
from their works that divinities, deities, and ancestral spirits are a part of
individual and communal life.
9

The Igbo do not know whether Okike the great spirit of all creation is male or female. Speaking as Igbo myself, I
think to know that is to exhaust knowledge. It is a mystery that just remains what it is. It is the wonder that makes
Igbo religion still dynamic.
10
See Aguwas Agwu, Ogbonnas Okwukwu, the Arochukwu page in www.wku.edu/~johnston.njoku/intro for a
sample of the material culture of the Temple Complex of Chukwu in Aruchukwu. At the of writing the Aru cave
was listed and being considered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site
11
See Igbo Concept of Death: Papers presented at the 1991 Ahaijoku Lecture (Onugaotu) Colloquium. Published by
the Directorate of Information and Culture and Printed by the Government Printer, Owerri. Also instructive is Igbo
Jurisprudence: Law and Order in Traditional Igbo Society. Papers presented at the 1986 Ahaijoku Lecture
(Onugaotu) Colloquium. Published by the Directorate of Information and Culture and Printed by the Government
Printer, Owerri.

Customary practices also take place in traditional Igbo villages and

homes. Some elders and titled men in traditional homes begin their days
with the verbal expression of Igbo religious thought and moral principles
(Ogu ututu). At any gathering of significance, Igbo affirmations (Igbo
Kwenu) reflect Igbo belief systems and moral mandates. Okike is always a
part of Igbo sense of place, consciousness and custom. Chukwu Okike lives
in Igbo hearts and minds and is constantly acknowledged in Igbo customary
practices. Libation sequences suggest that Chukwu Okike or Chukwu Onye
Okike (One with Creation), is the greatest force and the biggest spiritual God
(Chiukwu). Ranking directly below Chukwu Okike is Chineke, whose abode
most Igbo believe is be above the sky (ime elu igwe). ADD MORE.
The name Chineke itself is a concatenation of Chi and Eke; coined to
expresses the father cum mother divine duality of the first parents. The Chi
component of the compound word Chineke is the vital source of life (ndu)
and Eke the source of Goodness (nma). Chinke pass on their basic character
of Goodness (Mma) and Life (Ndu) to human beings. Interestingly, the Igbo
word for the human being is mmandu or mmadu, derived from a
combination of mma and ndu that reflects the couplet nature of Chineke; the
filial deity of Ndiigbo.

Furthermore, proper names such as Chijindu (chi ji

ndu) for a male and Ekejimma (Eke ji mma) for female12 as well as Mma
(female name) and Ndu (male name) are, perhaps, the best articulations of
12

Other female proper names expressing the idea of Goodness include Erinma, Nwanyinma, and Onyenma.

Goodness and Life as the divine nature of Chineke in igbo theological

imagination. ADD MORE.
Sacred Caves Believed to be the Abode of Chukwu

Entrance to the Uhuchukwu Cave in Alayi

The Cave Dark Chamber Presence of Chukwu in Aruchukwu

The Oracular Shrine of Ibin Ukpabi

Part 2
The Cardinal Doctrines of Ndiigbo: Goodness, Order, Life, Tact, and Service
(Mma, Ma Osu, Ndu, Ako, na Igbo Mkpa)
The doctrines of goodness of goodness, order, life, tact, and service
are recurrent motifs in many forms of heightened speech such as oracular
verses, traditional invocations, shrine incantations, and ceremonies. Mma,
Ndu (mmadu) is the crown jewel of humanity.

Goodness, life and service

manifest themselves in affirmations of Ndiigbo (Igbo Kwenu), which one

almost invariably never fails to hear when the Igbo gather. Above all, life
service constitutes the basic character of the personhood. Every living

individual has a service to provide, a duty to perform, a purpose to fulfill.

Ndiigbo express their fundamental belief about ndu as an indispensable part
of the human being even in the simple act of responding to sneezing. When
Ndiigbo hear a person sneeze, they speedily say to the sneezer, Ndu gi
(your life), wishing a speedy return of ndu (the breath life) to him or her.
The sneezer in return would say Ndu mu na gi (The life you and I share in
common). Behind the sneezers response is the Igbo belief that all human
beings share in common the breath of life.

The cultural reasoning here

being that one momentarily stops breathing when one sneezes. Not only do
the Igbo understand that without the breath of life (ume ndu) one ceases to
exist, they believe that wishing a person who sneezes ndu gi can restore
normal breathing, and thus life.
Oracular Verses:
The shrine of Ibin Ukpabi and the Dark Chamber Presence in the Cave
Temple Complex are two different entities. The latter is the shrine to which
one gets the word and will of Chukwu. But to learn this esoteric knowledge,
one has to go through a prophetic mediumIbin Ukpabi. There, the augurs
or diviners translate the oracle to make known hidden facts. In one of the
oracular verses the augur address Ibin Ukpabi as Okuko no nakpa na-avu

nkwo13 (The hen that sees hawk while she (the hen) is inside of a bag.
Thus, contrary to general belief, Ibin Ukpabi is not Chukwu. The Ibin Ukpabi
shrine found before the Dark Chamber Presence in the Aruchukwu rainforest
is a forest oracular medium. People still go there, just like they go to the
shrines of other prophetic oracles like Agwu and Agbala, to hear the words of
Chukwu, which is then interpreted by the human agencies. The forest
shrines and grooves of major mediums and deities are important spaces for
rites, fests, ritual offerings and sacrifices to honor, propitiate, and thank
Igbo divinitiesChukwu Okike, Chineke, Igwe, Ala/Ana, Agwu, Agbala, and
revered ancestors.
Ogu:
Kwenu:
Kola-nut Invocation and Wine Pouring Libation
Emerging from the customary practices, verbal expression, and
material

culture

so

far

considered

is

the

following

outline

of

the

acknowledged supreme entities, deities, and spiritual gods.

A. Supreme Beings and Divinities
1. Chukwu Okike, (Great Spirit Force of Creation), Obasi di nelu
(Obasi in the heaven)

13

As we approached the shrine of Ibin Ukpabi, Otusis voice was soaring above the gong and water fall chanting
Okuko no nakpa na-avu nkwo, nde avia abiane o (The hen that while in a bag still sees the hawk, clients are
here) symbolizing the power of Ibin Ukpabi to penetrate and reveal secrets.

2. Chineke (the Spiritual Father/Mother God) the filial deity of all

human beings.
B. Divinities (Godlike entities ranking below Okike and Chukwu)
1. Igwe/Elu (Sky the boundary of the abode of the )
2. Ala (Earth)the Ground of Being
C. Mediums
1. Agwu (The Oracle of Agwu with human agencies)
2. Ibinam Ukpabi (The Aru Oracle with human agencies)
3. Agbala (The Oracle of Awka with human agencies)
D. Tutelary Spirits (Arunsi/Alusi/Agbara)
1. Ikwan (Thicket)
2. Haba
3. Ide (in Idemmili)
4. Ogwugwu
5. Kamalu (in Ozuzu, Ekpekwum, Akanu)
6. Onye a maa ama (Ututu)
7. Ojukwu Diobu
E. Ancestral

Spirits/Spiritual

Ancestors)
1. Ndi Nnanna Ochie
2. Ndi Nnenne Ochie

Gods

and

Goddesses

(Revered

This

paper

has

attempted

to

provide

the

framework

for

the

consideration of Igbo cosmology and theological imagination in ways that

will make sense to Ndiigbo.