Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - News Release: Alaigbo Foundation Responds To Ooni Of Ife's Speech At Aje Festival

Wrong, Segun Ogungbemi. The Igbo do not believe that they were created by Obatala, Orisha Nla. Here is what the Igbo believe: that Obatala was a leader of the Igbo people in Igbo-Omoku (now known as Ife) whom the migrant Yoruba turned into a god after a war in which he had been displaced. The deification of Obatala, and his induction into the Yoruba pantheon of the gods is not an Igbo thing. I also think you're misreading the Ooni, who is actually traditionally  a high priest, more in the mold of EzeNri. His "Ofo" was once given to him by EzeNri, through his emissaries, the itinerant priests of Nri, who were endowed with sacred authority. If you pay attention closely, you'd see that the ritual of his ascension, down to the last ritual bath at the sacred river, Esimiri, mirrors almost exactly the Nri ritual. If you pay attention very closely, you'd also see that the scarification on the Ife bronzes are actually very clearly the copy of the Igbo "Ichi marks." The Ooni did say, that Obatala was Igbo. Not that Obatala "created" the Igbo. So, you're twisting and revising his words! He also has said that they in Ife still know exactly the ancient Igbo compounds in Ife, and at one point in another interview did say that the beads on the Ooni's head is still placed on his head by these Igbo. 

Some of these questions of creating a nationalist history that prove the historical connections of all Nigerian cultures were exactly the reason why Kenneth Dike started the National History Project in Ibadan, now known as "the Ibadan school," and recruited among his students like Jacob Ade-Ajayi, and others to lead that work. The civil war ruptured all that, and what we then have was the evolution of essentialist, triumphalist, exceptionalist historiography. The point is, it is reductionist to ask if the Igbo believe that they were "created by Obatala." No, the Igbo do not deify humans. There is God - the supreme duality captured in the rituals of the temple of the Sun god, Igwe Ka Ala, at Umuneoha, and there are the four divine emanations of God whose "alusi" reflect the elemental forces: Anyanwu (the sun) Ala (Earth), Osimiri/Oshimili/Esimiri/Ogwugwu,  Ime Muru Ochie (some call it Imo miri), (Water), and Agwu (the wind). When Kamalu of Ozuzu rose, and became a tyrant, made himself king and took the title Amadi-Oha, he displaced the temple of the sun god, and installed a shrine for himself, claiming a place amongst the gods. He is the closest in Igbo mythology of a man who deified himself, and that is why today he is still considered an "exemplar force." If you break the sacred laws of Ala, you will end up like Kamalu, destroyed by overreach. That is what the Igbo believe. I salute you.

Obi Nwakanma

 

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From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Segun Ogungbemi <seguno2013@gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, April 17, 2019 3:17 PM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - News Release: Alaigbo Foundation Responds To Ooni Of Ife's Speech At Aje Festival

 

Do the Igbos believe the historical content that they were created by Obatala, Orishanla? Are the Igbos interested solely in Aje festival as a way of cementing Igbo-Yoruba business and social relations? Is the whole story not opportunistic in its ramifications?
I am just wondering!!
Prof. Segun Ogungbemi.

Sent from my iPhone

On Apr 16, 2019, at 4:05 AM, 'chidi opara reports' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> wrote:

Link: https://chidioparareports.blogspot.com/2019/04/news-release-alaigbo-foundation.html


From chidi opara reports


chidi opara reports is published as a social service by PublicInformationProjects

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