Esan people were polyetheists, believing in the gods
of the things in their environment, for example, god of earth, god of iron, god of medicine, god of fruition, god
of trees etc, but
believed in a supreme being, omnipotent and perfectly just, without whose
blessings none of the requests to any of the lesser gods could be granted. This
Almighty they called OSE.NOBULUA or OGHODUA or OGHENAN. He was accorded no
particular form of worship, had no particular shrine in most places - but his name was on the lips of all.
Ancestral Worship:
Fear of the departed ancestors played a great part in
the molding of Esan custom, moral code and the general law of ordered life. For
example: (a) It was the cement of goodwill and fear that kept the family as a
unit and the village as a distinct community group.
(b) It made the married women of a community afraid of
adulterous acts, ranging
from mere handshaking through touch of clothes to the actual sexual act, and it was the one
big deterrent for men of the same family or village of same patrikin, indulging
in promiscuous sexual life. Any man who had even looked adulterously at his relative's
wife sooner or later would be found out either when he fell sick or had to
confess his sins or the woman, even if she did not yield to the adulterous
man's attempts would have to confess, when she herself was ill or her child or
even her husband became ill.
(c) No human being is born just - people try to be
just for fear of God, fear of being found out if they were deliberately
otherwise and, in Esan, when everybody believed in the powers of the departed
ancestors, people
tried to be just for fear of offending the all - seeing 'Spirits. Even where
the ancestors were known to have led the most unjust and riotous lives, once
they had passed to the great beyond, they demanded honesty and brotherly love
from the children and relatives they left behind: in fact, their retributive
RELIGION
Esan people were polyetheists, believing in the gods
of the things in their environment, for example, god of earth, god of iron, god of medicine, god of fruition, god
of trees etc, but
believed in a supreme being, omnipotent and perfectly just, without whose
blessings none of the requests to any of the lesser gods could be granted. This
Almighty they called OSE.NOBULUA or OGHODUA or OGHENAN. He was accorded no
particular form of worship, had no particular shrine in most places - but hiname
was on the lips of all.
Ancestral Worship:
Fear of the departed ancestors played a great part in the molding of Esan custom, moral code and the general law of ordered life. For example:
(a) It was the cement of goodwill and fear that kept the family
as a unit and the village as a distinct community group.
(b) It made the married women of a community afraid of
adulterous acts, ranging
from mere handshaking through touch of clothes to the actual sexual act, and it was the one
big deterrent for men of the same family or village of same patrikin, indulging
in promiscuous sexual life. Any man who had even looked adulterously at his relative's
wife sooner or later would be found out either when he fell sick or had to
confess his sins or the woman, even if she did not yield to the adulterous
man's attempts would have to confess, when she herself was ill or her child or
even her husband became.
(c) No human being is born just - people try to be just for fear of God, fear of being found out if they were deliberately otherwise and, in Esan, when everybody believed in the powers of the departed ancestors, people tried to be just for fear of offending the all - seeing 'Spirits. Even where the ancestors were known to have led the most unjust and riotous lives, once they had passed to the great beyond, they emended honesty and brotherly love from the children and relatives they left behind: in fact, their retributive.
In the same way the Okoven system brought people of
two neighboring villages to almost the same degree of relationship; they forbade the same
things practically as they did for their owrl Kith and Kins. For fear of
offending the god or Oath which they took, they lived in peace, respected each
other's rights, property, custom and laws. If one cheated a man from such a
neighboring village the consequences were as grave as those that would follow
sins against one's blood.
Thus though educated people now believe that ancestral
worship and juju beliefs were paganish, it must be admitted
that they had their good part.Today, with the growth of Christianity and other
religions which are ill understood and many practise with partial beliefs in
juju to which they have recourse during time of stress, ancestral worship and
our way of social life is being forgotten and relegated to the background.
The family unit with its spiritual binding is disintegrating, Esan people are
becoming more individualistic, the proverbial respect for parents, elders and family
heads is disappearing, crimes like adultery, cheating etc are
certainly on the rise,the woman's fear and respect for her husband is almost
a thing of the past,brotherly tolerance is as good as gone and everywhere,
community bodies rise and break up in the absence of any traditional
foundations. The nuclearfamily itself has been equally affected with children
no longer acknowledging or respecting their parents.
Many present day Court Members would admit that it was
easier to get honest testimonies in Courts or at village councils when people
still had beliefs in and fear of local deities which criminals believed were
swifter, more devilishly thorough than the Almighty who was more loving, more painstaking
and hence slower to pronounce judgement or inflict His just punishments. (This
is expressed in Esan as Opia Elinrnin Imun - the matchet of departed spirits
which to Esan is God, is blunt!).
It is convenient here to appeal to our educated Esan
people and modern religious leaders. It is a sign of greatness not to condemn
what you do not know. Catholic Priests for instance have an all-round
education; some of them are versed in other religions like Islam. Now that we are on our
own, should it not be patriotic if not necessary to study our traditional religion?
In Matthew Chapter 5, verses 17 to 37 our Lord Jesus Christ said, “Do not
imagine I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I havecome not to
abolish but to complete them....”and indeed in his infinite wisdom he did not come to abolish all the laws he met.
He used some of them to teach and to build upon. It is tragically unpatriotic
for any Nigerian Priests to condemn ALL OUR LAWS AND CUSTOM. For instance, there was
a time some Priests condemned our burial ceremonies wholesale not knowing that
the only way.to
validate inheritance among the Edos and so, our own Esan, is by performing the
burial ceremonies of one's father. Esan, Christians or not, do believe in God
who they pray to through their departed ancestors. Esan year ends almost
December 24th; thereafter they set out to select their new farm sites. Before
doing that they pray to the Supreme Being through ever loving departed parents
to thank him for helping them survive the year just ending, to have good health and
fruitful harvest at their new farms. This is ancestral worship which some
Christian religious leaders have condemned wholesale as pagan. In many Esan
villages there are shrines which on close study one fmds to be of deified men
and women who led the community to victory, saved them from some destruction
etc. These are
people who actually lived. Every year they remember these past leaders in the
same sense the Catholics remember and pray through some great Christian men and
women, some canonized as Saints and yearly they are commemorated during their
feasts.
Must a Christian be an alien in his community? If God
preserves the life of a Christian or a Moslem and he lives to be the Odionwele
of his village must he be denied the privilege of leading his people? Indeed
some customary practices are incompatible with Christianity; discard these and build
on what the people are already used to. Do this and you will find the Christian or Islamic
religions are not so alien to Esan traditional religion. If you do otherwise
and seek to transpose completely alien practices on Esanmor Nigerian community, you will end up with myriads of AFRICAN
CHURCHES.
Islam is luckier in this sense. In the main it fitted
into the jacket of the reasonable aspect of the African culture. It neither
sought to abolish the.political and economic system nor condemned like the
Catholics, our marital and communal lives. It neither condemned our mode of
dressing nor asked us to change our pattern of marriage. I have no doubt
in my mind that it is this modification of African Culture as it were, that
made it readily acceptable to a vast number of our people allover the country –
North and South.
Throughout all my writings, I have pleaded for a study
and understanding of our culture, it is only when you understand a culture that
you can tell what is good or bad about it. When you understand it then you will
know which is bad and eliminate it and guard and build on those that are good.
I do not see the fear of Christians over the people's culture, did St Augustine
not say "What is good is already Christian"?
METHOD OF WORSHIP:
Ancestral worship was universal in Esan. Everybody had
to remember and worship the spirits of his departed parents, particularly his father,
at the very least, once a year. In reality the living appealed to God Almighty
through the dead parents; they knew that they really had not the power of God
or even of any god, but they believed that being in the other world
where all inhabitants could see what went on here down-below, they could direct
their off-springs they had left behind in this sinful and dangerous world.
Secondly, they believed all dead people could see and speak to God.
All children worshipped their father when dead,
through the most senior brother who was the man's first surviving son. He had
the custody of the family representative in this world of the dead man - Esan
call UKHURE - a short stick of about two feet in length with cowries tied round
it just
as it is easier to imagine and keep close to a person
looking at his picture or effigy, the Ukhure represents the spirit of the dead
father. The first son alone could touch this Ukhure and use it to bless the
family as he had always watched his father do. Thus, if any of his junior
brothers or sisters had to appease the spirit of their dead father, they had to
come to ask their senior brother or oldest male child of the dead to perform
the worship for them. The goat or fowl or whatever the native doctor had told
them would tum their father's spirit to their direction, would be brought to
the first son. He slaughtered the animal and the family or Uelen was called to witness
the rite. Such members shared the food that was cooked for the occasion, and
all blessed and prayed for the person for whom the worship was done. This acted
as a binding force bringing together brothers, sisters and cousins who might
have been drifting apart as when children lose the binding force when they lose
their father and mother.
When the first son died, his own first son took up the
custody of the ancestral stick and now had to perform the rite not only for his
own brothers but for his uncles and aunts if he succeeded to the Ominjiogbe
position of the family.
As I have said already in some places the custody of
the family Ukhure did not pass from father to son but from the eldest male to
the next. Our forefathers who started ancestral worship, as could be seen, were
directed by the belief that dead people could see God face to face and also
that they had the power of seeing and knowing what went on in the world they
had left. This belief explained the reason for a man who had no children
appealing to his dead father to help him get an issue: he knew his father could
not create a child but through his supernatural sight in the great beyond, he
might direct him to a wife who might be destined to bear him a son. At the end
of the year when a man wanted to chose a site for his next world where all
inhabitants could see what went on here down-below, they could direct their
off-springs they had left behind in this sinful and dangerous world. Secondly,
they believed all dead people could see and speak to God.
All children worshipped their father when dead,
through the most senior brother who was the man's first surviving son. He had
the custody of the family representative in this world of the dead man - Esan
call UKHURE - a short stick of about two feet in length with cowries tied round
it j~st
as it is easier to imagine and keep close to a person
looking at his picture or effigy, the Ukhure represents the spirit of the dead
father. The first son alone could touch this Ukhure and use it to bless the
family as he had always watched his father do. Thus, if any of his junior
brothers or sisters had to appease the spirit of their dead father, they had to
come to ask their senior brother or oldest male child of the dead to perform
the worship for them. The goat or fowl or whatever the native doctor had told
them would tum their father's spirit to their direction, would be brought to
the first son. He slaughtered the animal and the family or Uelen was called to witness
the rite. Such members shared the food that was cooked for the occasion, and
all blessed and prayed for the person for whom the worship was done. This acted
as a binding force bringing together brothers, sisters and cousins who might
have been drifting apart as when children lose the binding force when they lose
their father and mother.
When the first son died, his own first son took up the
custody of the ancestral stick and now had to perform the rite not only for his
own brothers but for his uncles and aunts if he succeeded to the Ominjiogbe
position of the family.
As I have said already in some places the custody of
the family Ukhure did not pass from father to son but from the eldest male to
the next. Our forefathers who started ancestral worship, as could be seen, were
directed by the belief that dead people could see God face to face and also
that they had the power of seeing and knowing what went on in the world they
had left. This belief explained the reason for a man who had no children
appealing to his dead father to help him get an issue: he knew his father could
not create a child but through his supernatural sight in the great beyond, he
might direct him to a wife who might be destined to bear him a son. At the end
of the year when a man wanted to chose a site for his next farm, he worshipped at the ancestral shrine, not
because he believed his dead father could create bigger yams, but all he was
doing was seeking the guiding spirit of his father to direct him to a place
where he could farm in peace and prosperity. The actual power of making bigger
yams and getting greater yield from the soil belonged to Osenobulua - God
Almighty. He knew
that much. Thus basically the ancestral worship was trying TO REACH GOD in a
dubious way which he thought in his simple mind, was straight: "if all
dead men could see God who else could be a greater intercessor than
one's dead father?".
The so called pagan religion surrounding ancestral
worship, therefore manated not so much from the idea of interposing an
intercessor between man and his Creator but from the way the worshipper invited
the intercessor's attention! He believed nothing could more easily attract the spirits
of our ancestors than fresh blood. THEY FOUND GOAT BLOOD IRRESISTIBLE! Whatever changes a
man wanted to effect in his family, he sought the sanction of his ancestors:
once he split goat blood they were bound to listen whether he sought their
attention, guarded by reason or anger: thus to purify and forgive an adulterous woman, he
slaughtered a goat at the ancestral shrine, to inherit a dead father's or
senior brother's wife he
needed to spill goat blood to be sure the ancestors bore him witness; to renounce
a wife or give her license to seek issues outside, the ancestors demanded goat
blood and to dis-inherit any of his children who was giving him grey hairs
before his time, he was
sure to claim his dead parents' attention and acquiescence by provision of
fresh goat blood! Their love for goat flesh and blood was such that there were
very few demands a son could not get his dead ancestors to accede to!
Remove this sacrifice of a goat at the shrine where
the dead ancestors were represented by a carved stick and we would have a
simple man's concept of praying to God through intercession! That was the
essence of ancestral worship! Even in the Catholic Church there are visual representations
of Jesus, the crucifix, saints etc. No true Catholic will accept he is
worshipping these representations.
Hero Worship:
Esan people were great hero worshippers, particularly
if that hero was a strangerI A man who led his people to victory in the
ravaging intertribal wars, a man who sacrificed himself in order to save his
village, a man who started a settlement or a man who
performed great feats in his life time; all these usually at their death, were
deified and became the common juju - EBO of their respective communities. Each
town of Esan had its own great men who today are represented by shrines. But
for these shrines and the yearly commemoration of their lives and feats, the
history of Esan land could have passed into oblivion.
Examples? Igueben and Ugboha had ENQWl? the great
warrior; Uhiele Ekpoma EREMEINU had the
man who went into Esan proverb as the man who built a house for his wife but
had no roof over his own head! Ekpoma had UDA, the builder of the Second
Dynasty of Ekpoma royal family. Irrua had AMESE, the cantankerous and devilish
second son, who but for the tact and foresight of his father, EKPEREUIE, could
have altered the history of Irrua, Uromi deified the warrior and
self-sacrificing Onojie - AGBA. Uzea mortalized its founder, ASUKPODUDU, just
as Ubiaja honoured their first ruler, OGHOMIGHON, who prided himself in attempting
the impossible: he lined up men from Ubiaja to IIlushi to bring him water from
the Niger with a CUP, he had wanted to dress the trunk of a tall palm tree from
bottom to the top, with strings of the then prohibitively expensive CORAL BEADS
- but he died before he got half-way! Ewohimi made a god of ALLAN, the first
Onojie of ORIKHIMI, and ODU, the man who gave them water; Ewu swear on OKHIANRANLEN, the great warrior who died for his people while EIGBIDIONNMQN was the honoured warrior who gave everything he had to
uphold the prestige of Emu and, at his death, he was buried on the road for his
spirit to continue defending his people he had been separated from.
These shrines are today the only reminder of
illustrious Esan men and women who lived and died for their towns or did things
which brought honour and fame to the land of their birth. Similarly, they tell
the story of the very first Onojie of each town, and in fact, all the leaders
deified as exemplified by EKPEREIJIE of Irrua,
ICHESAN of Uromi, OGHOMIGHON of Ubiaja, ONO of Ugboha, ALLAN of Ewohimi, UWAGBO
of Emu etc.
Geography and the
Gods.
The geography and environment also decided the types
of gods people
worshipped. Thus, in Esan, with no hills and stones, there were no gods of MOUNTAINS or ROCKS. Uromi for instance, that
had no water other than intermittent ponds, knew no river gods; the scarcity of
water particularly on the Esan Plateau, gave extra importance to comparatively small
sources of water. For example, Irma had OBIENMEN - the goddess of the lake;
this, until the introduction of the OSENUWEGBE CULT, was a much dreaded juju.
What was strictly forbidden for this goddess was sexual relations during day
light. Emu had, like Ohordua, ILAA, while Ugboha worshipped the goddess of OHA
and Ewohimi paid yearly respects to ODU. Ewu had DMOOBO. As could be seen these
districts that worshipped rivers are all iutside the water-less plateau.
There were sporadic shrines of ONOKUN the goddess of
the sea. This was certainly not a ' native' god of an
area where the largest expanse of water was the perennial POND! The cult of
Onokun was confined to the women and was introduced from Benin. The emblem
consisted of a mud alter attached to the front wall of a house, and on this were
placed small pots, cowries,
a piece of white cloth, pieces of chalk and the whole mud work was painted
white. Once a
while the women worshippers worked themselves into a frenzy and for a time,
were possessed and quite irresponsible for their actions.
To introduce Onokun to a house,the applicant had to
pay certain dues to the Ohen Onokun (priestess); these dues consisted of a
white goat a white fowl,a piece of
white cloth etc,all the articles being characterized by the colour white. The Ohen
then came to the compound and for fourteen days there was dancing and a general
entertainment for the Ohen and her assistants. It was a most expensive business
for the applicant not Only initially but as long as she owned an Onokun shrine.
Frequently the goddess (through an oracle demanded a white cock for
appeasement!
Iron worship:
The god of Iron called IDIGUN was worshipped allover
Esan. The
chief priest was the OGUN (Blacksmith). Oaths were
frequently taken on it and was much dreaded since it was difficult for a man to
go through the whole day without coming into contact with a metal article.
Tree worship:
Few trees in an area heavily forested had this honour
in Esan. The universally
respected tree, though not a god, was the UKHIMIN (Neubodia leavis) of the BIGNONACAE
family. It was a symbolic tree said to be particularly
blessed by Osenobulua. It was
planted i~
the farm, as the caretaker of crops; then it went 'by the name of UTUN.
It had to be planted in a new
compound and then was known as IHIANLOTO: planted in a line in front of the
main house.it was called OGBIODIN, the protector of the compound and all it
contained; planted at the inter-village boundary, it marked the ALU-OKOVEN. ALU
ERELE, the site
at which the jealousies of one's companions were warded off, was not a separate
entity; the worship was usually done at the IHIANLOTO of the compound, and all
the women and children used this tree in common for this purpose.
The only other tree that was worshipped as a god was
the UNOKO (lROKO). In a few places typified by Idumebo, Irma, it was the god
of the whole village and its annual worship
replaced the yearly feast of the community, repleat with the ever popular
INIKPUKPJ; at which all unmarried girls go on a procession over a distance of
one mile from Idumebo to Onojie's Eguare, naked! If you are a bachelor, you
will find yourself returning to the village after this ceremony!
The Goddess of Earth:
If there had been a poor yield from the whole
community and if the ceremony involved the whole district under one Onojie the
collection was done by the IHAZA, for the purchase of the necessary things
prescribed by the oracle for the appeasement of the goddess of EARTH. This type
of worship meant to increase the next year's yield was performed strictly according
to custom by the people of the first settlement of the district. The goddess of
EARTH was all powerful and hence was the simplest but most dreaded oath for any
suspect to take. A small hole was made on the ground, some water poured into
this and into it were dropped bits of kolanuts. The terms of the oath were
recited and the accused picked up a piece of the nut which he ate. The
psychological end of the oath taking "MAY YOUR LIFE BE MISERABLE AT THE
SIGHT OF THE EARTH! ", the
accused if guilty, could be imagined to be really a man afflicted by the pangs of his conscience, for there
was nowhere he could go without seeing the earth: in his farm, on the road or
in his house, he was in contact with the earth! This reminds one of the Esan
proverb which suggests the hopelessness of the bird who perches on an anthill
making enmity with the earth!
Osun:
This was the god of medicine and hence not all men had
OSUN as a juju. This god was the embodiment of cunning, the art of healing,
magic etc. It was
worshipped after UBOMIN or consultation of the native doctor's oracle; he was
worshipped with a he-goat, mashed yams with oil (Aha), and a piece of black
cloth. Native doctors, medicine men or people the native doctor had prepared an
OSUN pot for, worshipped this protective deity. In most cases it was handed
down from father to son. The staff of this god was the OSUNJOJO.
Ojiuu:
Ojiuu was the king of death, and was not worshipped in
Esan but was much dreaded; he was not strictly a go~ but God's
chief messenger for recalling men by death under such speedy
despatch as by thunder and lightening. The usual way God recalls men is by
illness but where he wanted a man rather urgently he sent his chief - OJIUU - a
more rapid killer than lighteningor thunder cannot be imagined!
The Osenuwegbe
Religion(lYAYI):
In 1926 a prophet arose in Ogba - Benin; his name was
IDUBOR: he claimed he had a message from God who asked him to tell the world to
do away with fetish and all outward symbols of the pagan religion. He asked) all his hearers and
adherents to destroy all their idols and shrines, live a clean life, wear clean clothes - the whiter the
better, must not cook or eat in an unclean house, placed a taboo on harvesting
of unripe fruits and crops and must hurt no one, that including animals. He established a day
of absolute rest for glory of God only, every nine days. On this day adherents
gathered round him or the Priest known as OGA, he appointed later, to have sins
confessed to messengers known as IGBE who could forgive these sins, dance and pray for
the sick and the needy etc. These adherents were identified with wearing of
white dresses with leather fans (Ezuzu) in their hands; do not take any
medicine but used UDEEN (palm kernel oil) for everything.
The influence of this movement spread around rapidly
and from all parts of Benin and the Esan country people flocked to Ogba to hear
this man who dispelled the fear of jujus and spirits, setting the people free.
Those made Oga (priests) went home to spread the gospel according to Idubor. (This movement, a new
religion, which forbade the worshipping of idols, use of native medicines other than Udeen reached Esan with
headquarters in Agwa Irrua where Umane and Owegbe had "risen" as
Chief Priests in 1928, after the
arrest of
Idubor. So too "arose" many new priests like Agboinlolo of Ihonmidunmun
- Ekpoma and Imaah of Akbo Irmua Imaah is of particular interest. He it was
who told his followers not to bury him after his
death as he was going to resurrect on the third day of his death. The people
shouldjust keep dancing until his resurrection. Truly when he died he was kept in his room with all
Osenuwegbe adherents dancing themselves to a state of exhaustion. First day, second day, Imaah lay
dead. By the third day Imaah's body was all blue and beginning to smell. The dancing continued
with more vigor and on the fourth day things started oozing from everywhere in
Imaah's body. No one could enter the room
anymore; on the fifth day only the boldest of the Egbonughele grade were able
to enter to scoop out what was left of the prophet, for burial. It was a sad
commentary on the movement!
Having stopped the worshipping of idols, destroyed all
idols and shrines, these people had no more recourse to native doctors,
herbalists and juju priests who were at the head of the healing art and
orthodox religion. In most places these men and women, respected and feared,
had the traditional rulers as their sacred perimeter, cried out loudly to the
natural rulers who took up the matter with the British Administrative Officers.
Esan Enojie under pressure from the powerful native doctors and juju priests
made strong representations to the British Administration and demanded the
Osenuwegbe movement be declared an illegal religion. Then followed a period of
victimization, unwarranted arrests and general deprivation of liberty at home,
in the villages and everywhere there were Osenuwegbe adherents who were now
said to belong to "OSENUWEGBE
CULTil with a vengeance! A purely religious movement
got twisted to become a dangerous political organization designed to
make its adherents throw off their allegiance to the Chiefs!
When Idubor himself arrived Ekpoma in 1928 making
Egoro his noisy and busy headquarters, he was already a man the authorities
wanted to fry and he went to rub oil on himself by going into a Catholic school
compound; he was arrested and charged with resisting arrest, fighting court messengers
and assault!
He was -quickly tried in the Provinced Court and sentenced to
five years’ imprisonment which he served in Enugu. No one was spared. Chief Okojie
of Ugboha, tired of being duped by native doctors and juju priests, came out
fiercely in defence of Osenuwegbe followers, recognized the false propaganda
and manoeuvre of vested interests for what they were and suffered a lot of humiliation in the hands of his royal
brothers in the Ishan Council of 1931. They could not understand how Okojiean Onojie, did not
realise the Osenuwegbe assault on juju, native doctors and idols was the beginning of a death
blow on the Onojie's autocratic authority in Esan land. He was charged
according to suit No. 27/31. Native Authority versus Chief Okojie (m) of
Ugboha, D.H., Ubiaja: "Disobedience of Native Authority by carrying out
forbidden practice". Chief Momodu, D.H. Irrua with whom Chief Okojie was
perpetually fighting the chairmanship of the Council with, was the prosecutor; he ended his accusation with "we have
investigated with the District Officer (D.O.) and found that it was D.H.,
Ubiaja (aced) who is
helping the Ishan in general to practice and disobey the Native Authority;
hence the prosecution." In self defence Chief Okojie stated, "I am the D. H., Ubiaja: to say the
fact I have been to Agwa to join the Osenuwegbe practices, when I found the
Resident and the District Officer had warned me very strongly so I left
Osenuwegbe to become a Christian. Since I left native jujus I am getting well
from ill-health - I am now a Christian of which Church members of Ubiaja are
quite aware. I am no
more in Osenuwegbe Society". Chief's finding:
Accused guilty, sentence reserved for discussion with District Officer
(D.O.).
(Sgd.) Momodu, Madojemu, Ifevor, Ahimie, Oribabor and Uwagbale" 3/2/31
The District Officer minuted:
"Re case 27/31: the matter discussed with Council
... I agree with sentenceand will report to the Resident for his approval and
remarks. 9/2/31" The District Officer on 3/3/31 wrote to the Resident as
follows "I
subjoin for your information please a copy of a minute reached at council
meeting on February 2, 1931. The Council say and they wish to impress upon the
District Officer that Iyayi Society is the Osenuwegbe movement in another cloak
and that it is being used to AGITATE AGAINST TAX
PAYMENT.
They say the intention of the individuals at the head
of the movement is to USURP THE AUTHORITY FROM THE VILLAGE HEADS and it is
purely political and a damage to the good order of peace of the Division Each
member of the council associates himself with this information to the District
Officer 3/2/31 "
Earlier the district Officer, V.C.M. Kelsy had on 26/1131
visited Agwa "with all the District Heads (D. Hs) (except Ubiaja i.e Chief
Okojie of Ugboha) with the most influential Enojies of Esan tribe who came with
reference to the juju". But by the time a telegram of disapproval came
from the Resident, Chief Okojie of
Ugboha had died on 14/2/31 of a broken heart. Extracts
from File1634/104 ended: I am to add that His Honour considers that in order
made under section 9(c) of Chapter 73, the native Authority stretched the terms
of that section too far and that any such order should have prior sanction of
his Excellency. Steps are being taken to prevent the repetition of such action.
His Honour has instructed the Resident that there must be no persecution by an
Administrative Officer or Native Authority of Ishan Christian Iyayi either as
such or as practicing rites identical with those of Usanughegbe movement.
(Sgd.) G.B. Williams Secretary,Southern Provinces.
Followed by:
No. SF. 7164/1/100, Secretary's Office, Southern
Provinces, Enugu, Nigeria. 28/9/35
"The Resident, Benin Province, Benin City.
Isha" Christian
Iyan· Society
With reference to your confidential letter No. BPC:
146/89 of 14th August, 1935 I am directed by the Acting Lieutenant
Governor to point out that the implication of the District Officer's letter
quoted by you' is that while members of the Ishan Christian Iyayi Society are
not prosecuted as such they are prosecuted for practicing Osenuwegbe rites. His
Honour directs a definite assurance if it can
be given from the District Officer that there has been and will be no
persecution by Administrative Officers or the Native Authorities of the Ishan
Christian Iyayi Society either as such or as pract icing rites identical with
those of the Osanuwegbe movement.
2. I am to add that if members of the Society break
the law they can be prosecuted but they must not be interfered with in any
other way.
(Sgd.) G.B. Williams, Acting Secretary, Southern
Provinces.
By May, 1931 District officer Kelsy had turned on the other end of the
Ishan power axis - Okojie and Momodu the two most powerful Enijie in Ishan who
fought for the unrecognized Chairmanship of the Ishan Council. Using the same
simple weapon - Osenuwegbe which masqueraded in the District Officer's file as
movement, Society, prophet
cult, political group used to agitate against tax (the most heinous crime any
Nigerian could be accused ot) and at other times as juju, the British
Administration effectively decimated the authority of these two powerful
Natural Rulers, humiliated them and set their people against them.
Momodu, the Ojirrua, was soon full up to the neck with
suborned cases against him. On the 13th of May, 1931, V.C.M. Kelsy minuted gleefully: "Many people
coming up asking to take action against the Ojirrua for various sums of money
owing. I allowed action in the Council for them all". Momodu, the
erstwhile prosecutor of his arch-rival Okojie, was accused of extorting money
in order to permit Osenuwegbe rites and had actually allowed them dance in his
palace. He was accused of deprivation of liberty of Umane, Owegbe and their
followers in Agwa. He now found himself before the very Ishan Council that a
few months ago sent Okojie to an untimely grave. As an enlightened man, unlike Okojie, he
riggled out by applying for his case to be transferred to the High Court. This
was granted and he was charged with Deprivation of liberty and Extortion. After
many' months of
anxious moments and almost reduced to penury a plea of Nolle prosecui was
subsequently entered. Even so,
the British Administrative Officers, V.C.M. Kelsyand Momodu's arch-enemy H. Maddocks , pursued him
relentlessly until he was suspended as District Head (D.H. Irrua - Ewu) and his authority restricted to the Otouruwa group.
They even toyed with the idea of making Ohen Amese of Unogbo, the Ojirrua until
they realised, "Akha gbe Abhiele, Akhuen Obo" (If you beat a coward
you end up fracturing your hand). It was an anathema to all Irrua suggesting
Ohen Amese of Unugbo had any claim to the Irrua throne. There was a limit to what
political dominoes British Administrators could play with this bastardized
religion of Osenuwegbe. It turned out that nearly all the witnesses that gave
evidence against Momodu in all his trials were the ring leaders of the
movement. Thus the British Administrative officer had a simple but effective
tool in the Osenuwegbe religion and with it persecuted Okoiie for beinr: its
advocate and persecuted Momodu for himself persecuting its adherents.
With this background information on this new religion,
certainly not idol worship but not Christian either, those interested in
justice and politics might ask, "what really was Osenuwegbe that irked the
Enijie and District Officers so much?" Chief Okojie of Ugboha facing
inquisition at the Ishan Council was asked by Momodu of Irrua, "why is it
that despite the prohibition of Osenuwegbe you are still dancing?" Chief
Okojie answered simply, "Since I no longer believe in fetish and jujus I
have no more use for native doctors and sacrifices; I am now a happier and
healthier man: unhappy and sick men do not dance".
