Proofs of Igbo Origin from Archive Records and Cave Libraries - Onyeji Nnaji

    

Coming to the more important issue, the origin of the Igbo race has been wrongly given by different people who for the similarity they found among the Igbo and the Israelites haves drawn conclusion that the Igbo descended from the linage of Jacob called Eri. Others suggested that Egypt is the home of the Igbo nation. But the Igbo had told their story as having emanated from nowhere except the sky. If these similarities stressed by these roadside writers should be considered, what would we say about the ancient Dravidian that had over 50 words belonging to the Igbo in their lexicon? Should we also suggest that the Igbo originated from the ancient Mesopotamian civilization since some heroes and kings of the ancient Babel bore Igbo names and spoke some words belonging to the Igbo language? What would we say then, having known that Egypt was older than Abraham the ancestor of the Israelites and hearing also that Egypt was founded by the Umudiala and civilized by the Nsude/Nsukka civilization? How would you feel when you hear that the oldest settlers in Ethiopia were Igbo bearing the name Kambata? What conclusion would any historian draw from the truth that Nubian civilization which was older than the Egyptian civilization with 1000 years and older than the Mesopotamian civilization with 2000 years only started at the third phase of iron production in Nsukka? Would such historians still stand up to say that the Igbo originate from any of these places? The problem is that these faulty historians had written without putting the Igbo oral tradition in considerations. But as Nnaji nated,

History is history and can never be separated from real life stories told through mouths which must have certain evidence on the bearers’ culture, language, myths and other facets of life obtainable within the setting of the people. (www.ajuede.com).

According to the Igbo creation story, which eminently rests and is told by the priest king, Eze Nri, the Igbo belonged to four distinct set of people who descended from the sky in the period of creation; probably four generations before the birth of Adam. The first to descend from the sky was Eri. He could not land properly because the earth was waterlogged. He cried to Chukwu (God) who responded by sending another set of people, the Awka to dry the water with their blacksmith. When this was done, Eri could land well. Later, God sent the Umudiala. The Umudiala were custodians of cultural practices and moral tenets. The fourth generation was sent far much later. These four sets formed the ancestors of the Igbo nation that live in the east and the end points of the Niger. This sense is explained by Afigbo succinctly thus,

From the very name and symbol (of the Igbo) there would appear to issue vibrations which induce in the average Igbo man the will to make efforts of the kind that can magnetize success in life’s different directions (Rope, 1).

This oral history was captured by different writers who had found time to meet with Eze Nri in the early twenty century. According to Onwuejiogwu, a Nigerian historian and archeologist, in the book, Igbo Civilization: Nri Hegemony,

Eri, father of Nri, and Nnamaku, his wife, were sent down by Chukwu, a sky God. When Eri came down from the sky, he had to stand on an ant heap as all the land was then a morass. He complained to Chukwu, who thereupon sent him an Awka blacksmith to dry up the land. While Eri lived, he and his descendants were fed by Chukwu and their food was Azu Igwe, Fish from heaven.

Onwuejiogwu was not alone in this oral version told by the priest king, Eze Nri. In 1913 Northcote Thomas had the opportunity to interact with Eze Nri. He also made the same remark about the Igbo being autochthonous (non-migrant descendants). While the two set of people (Eri and the Awka), Chukwu sent another set of people whom the oral tell called the Umudiala. The Umudiala comprised the third generation. You may call them the third race if you prefer that. They were called the Umudiala (the ground sons or people of the soil), otherwise translated to mean the autochthonous. Umudiala were significant with the formulation of moral tenet and the tradition that was dominant in the east. They were custodians of the divine norms, culture and tradition here on earth. They were assigned to the sole function of peopling the world. They set Ordinala, the sacred principles that enforced obedience on the earth as obtained in heaven. Onwuejiogwu remarked thus:

Chukwu (Chi-ukwu) is the Great Creator of all beings, forces and things both visible and invisible. The Great Creator has four major aspects which are manifestations of his existence. First, Chukwu is Anyanwu, which symbolically means the sun. As the sun’s light is everywhere so Chukwu is everywhere; as the sun is powerful so Chukwu is all-powerful; as the sun is the light that reveals things so Chukwu is the source of all knowledge. Secondly Chukwu is Agbala (Ani/Ala) which is manifested in the fertility of the earth and beings that inhabit it. Thirdly Chukwu is chi which is manifested in the power and ability of living beings to procreate themselves from generation to generation. Fourthly, Chukwu is Okike, that is creation, and is manifested in the creation of everything visible and invisible, which is a never-ending process. Chukwu as Okike created the laws that govern the visible and invisible (Nri Hegemony. 31).

The first and most sacred law in heaven is obedience. For the world to meet God’s purpose for creating it, the Umudiala became instrumental towards forestalling obedience on earth as it was in heaven. They had the task of making the earth another abode of Chukwu. Of course, it should be a surprise to anyone that had conducted a research in the east before the advent of the missionaries to find that, ever since creation, the Igbo of the east had been naturally patterned by the same rules and taboo contained in the Christian Bible. At least it is not farfetched for anyone who had had encounter with the Igbo to understand that circumcision of every male child had taken place on the eight day from birth. It was rather the fall of Adam and the destruction of the world that led to the retreatment of the circumcision topic to Abraham. Even without the earlier explanation, every prim mind should understand that the dominance of this same moral trait among these nations shows that there was probably a deviation somewhere among a people that shared common historical origin.

The relationship between Umudiala, the composite of the third generation and the two generations was dependent on the idea of their sources. All were god-men possessing similar energy for different functions in the creation act. Therefore, their relationship was glued via intermarriage. According to the creation story in the east, a god-man of the third generation married the daughter of Eze Nri. This unification conferred on the Umudiala the traditional right pertinent to the coronation and burial of Eze Nri. According to John Oriji, “Hence, up until the present time, Umudiala have continued to serve as the leading palace officers, playing key roles in the crowning and burial of Eze Nri”. After these three generations or races, there was the fourth generation of the sons of God.

Talking about the Awka and their roles, from the consideration of some historians like Onwuejiogwu, Afigbo, Catherine Acholonu and others, the Awka were suggested to belong to the first generation. They saw the Awka as people who had existed before Eri descended from the sky. It may not be true. Even a layman can see the situation clearly and decipher the generations of the earliest inhabitants. Therefore, the matters concerning which set of people occupied the respective generations are not supposed to still confuse us because the story was straight. From the account as cited above, the first generation was the Eri. It was his struggle to gain balance on the morass earth that led to the coming of the Awka. The same God who sent Eri knew already that the earth was morass and had ordained the Awka to respond to the task at the appointed time. Therefore, their functions had to wait for Eri to complain first. So when he did, the Awka had to come. We did not get the story anywhere saying that the Awka ascended to the sky after their assignment. They remained behind to form the second generation or race. Meanwhile Umudiala takes the third race or generation.

See also: Origin and History of Awka

To understand who the Awka were, there is need to understand the way creation is conceived in the east. The Igbo of the east are not so specific about Chukwu’s (God’s) role in the creation generally. Rather than subscribe to the absolutism of the almighty in the act of creation, the Igbo suggested a relatively delegation of power by Supreme Overlord to a lesser divinity. This sense had a profound influence on the accounts kept by Nag Hammadi. The only difference is that the Igbo appear to see the case of every act of creation as the work of a separate and individual agent, chi; a personified and unique manifestation of the creative essence. The Awka is clear here from all indications as the creative personalities of God. The Awka were exceptionally technocrats, they were craftsmen who were instrumental to the activities involved in the acts of creation. As the creative personalities of the divine creator, they were the people through whom creativity was born into the human world. Vested with the power to create, the Awka possessed greater energy than the first generation. Finally, in the fourth generation, the creator sent another set of people who became the fourth ancestors of the Igbo nation.

Put together, the Igbo believe that the Igbo ancestors had lasted for years before the creation of Adam. This was Professor Catherine Acholonu tag point to entitle her history book as They Lived Before Adam. Issues connected to the lives and survival of these four generations of beings and the identification of the possible ancestor of any particular Igbo settlement is the point where the Igbo child finds himself completely displaced. Eze Nri was not alone in the view that the Igbo had existed before the creation of Adam. The Christian Bible supported it in chapter six of the Genesis. Moses gave a succinct account of a people who came from the sky; a people whom he called the sons of God. An anonymous book in the internet entitled The Book of Creation by the Son of Fire, says,

The forbears of all the nations of man were once one people, and they were the elect of God who delivered all the Earth over to them, all the people, the beasts of the field, the creatures of the wasteland and the things that grow. They dwelt through long ages in lands of peace and plenty. There were some who struggled harder, were more disciplined; because their forefathers had crossed the great dark void, their desires were turned Godward and they were called The Children of God". Their country was undulating and forested. It was fertile, having many rivers and marshes. There were great mountains to the East and to the West, and in the North was a vast stony plain.

Another ancient tablet excavated in the Nag Hammadi village in Egypt gives a clear picture of these same four groups of beings who inhabited the earth before the creation of Adam. Nag Hammadi also associates these people with the Igbo, following the features explained about them. It speaks of a people that descended from the sky and inhabited this earth planet. On the chapter captioned “the Origin of the World”, the book noted thus:

Then the saviour created of them all – and the spirits of these [are manifestly] superior, being blessed and varying in election – and also (he created) many other beings, which have no king and are superior to everyone that was before them. Consequently, four races exist. There are three that belong to the kings of the eighth heaven. But the fourth race is kingless and perfect, being the highest of all (Hammadi, 124-5).

Nag Hammadi puts it straight for us to understand the position of the fourth generation or race, above the first three generations. They were the most glorious generation among the sons of God. At another page the position of the fourth generation is restated.

There are four generations, three generations belong to the kings of the eighth heaven, and the fourth generation, which is the most exalted, is kingless and perfect. These people will enter the holy place of their Father and they will reside in rest … They are kings. They are the immortal within the mortal  (P. 219).

They were differentiated from the previous generations because they were kingless. The first three generations belonged to the king of the eight heavens. This attracts the sense of a stratified heaven as maintained in the Egyptian mystery books. Also in the cosmology of the Dogon, it was established that the human race has eight ancestors. This, perhaps, may have certain relation to the kings of the generations that lived before the fourth generation. On page (277), the Nag Hammadi says that,

The Kingless Generation was glorious and without number, they are designated the generation over whom no kingdoms exist. And all the beings of the realm with no kingdom over it … are designated the children of the un-conceived Father.

Although it is not in the position of this paper to identify this race among men, but certain characters are obvious from various ancient records (including the Bible) which tend to point at the inhabitants of the Igbo in the east. The Igbo, for instance, refer to themselves as chi (god). The Igbo believes that he is a chi (god); first to himself and transcendently, to another person. The Igbo have the saying, “Nmadu bu chi Ibe ya” one is his colleague’s god. Drawing reference from this, it is apparent that the view by Eze Nri as explained above is reflected, not only in the historical conception of the Igbo, but also in their life generally.

The idea raise by The Nag Hammadi that “the Kingless Generation are designated the generation over whom no kingdoms exists” appears to speak of the reference the Igbo use to refer to their race. The Igbo speak of their race as “Igbo enwe eze”, translated to mean a generation with no king, or a kingless race. Kingless condition cannot be the only feature to identify the Igbo nation as belonging to the realm of eternal days, the language situation of the Igbo equally spoke of this proof. The Nag Hammadi also clarifies the whole thing beyond possible imaginary constraint when it makes a remark about the fore-existed generations thus,

A people among whom the three entities Father, Mother and Child exist as perceptible speech having within it three names abiding in three nnn (P.722).

NNN, as in Nne, Nna and Nwa. On the other hand, trying to represent these entities’ sexes, NNN still fits in thus: Nwoke, Nwanyi and Nwata. The NNN forms the Nag Hammadi Trinity. The Nag Hammadi calls this people the First Sons of the true God, and says of them, “the fourth generation, which is the most exalted, is kingless and perfect.” Any researcher can go on to trace of all the languages of the world where nnn is realized as a perceptible speech having within it three names; all beginning with N. NNN is the principal of the Igbo axiomatic concept which holds its relevance on the survival of the Igbo race.

The Igbo believe that everyone is a king. The Nag Hammadi affirmed thus, “They are kings” (P.219). The Igbo have self-confidence inherent in them. They do not prostrate before anyone in a bid to show respect or subordination of any kind. The Igbo have a curious religious practice of self-worship or self-deification, where an individual’s first god is himself and his very first shrine is a shrine constructed and dedicated to his personal spirit, his chi, whom he personally conjured to descend from the sun at a certain period of the day. We have discussed this in the first chapter. He venerates this god (whose physical manifestation is himself) along with his ancestors. This personal shrine is the only one at which he performs rights of worship. He may visit some other shrines at some points, but only to consult, never to worship, for the only god deserving of an Igbo man’s veneration is the god that he himself is. This shrine is tended through such acts as libation, incantations, prayers and petitions and feeding with food, without which the individual would be expected to fail in his life’s endeavours. This is the highest expression of individuality and is viewed by the Igbo as a fundamental aspect of Igbo ontological belief in the god-man.

Detailed explanation of this history and the connections it has to the Igbo nation is discussed in Nnaji’s book entitled, Reminiscence: A Comparative Study of Ancient Civilization, from Adam to the Peopling of Ancient Egypt. In chapter two which he captioned “Stages of Civilization in the Pre Deluge”, Nnaji gave a detailed account of the link between the four generations discussed above and the present Igbo settlement in the today eastern Nigeria. From his argument, we deduced that the population known today as Africa descended from these four generations, not from Adam. He, of course did not dispute issues concerning the creation of Adam as the first human from the dust of the earth; he only contends that the Igbo (and of course Africa) were not descents of Adam, and had existed for four generations before the birth (creation) of Adam. He cited various passages in the Christian Bible that supported this claim. The Igbo oral tradition states that the Igbo ancestors lived on earth until the day God summoned them to a meeting during which the first man was created, and his mane was Adama, not Adam. The Igbo was not alone in this belief, the Jews also share in the notion. The Jewish Cabbala gives us a supporting idea. It states thus:

Adamah, from the dust of the ground, dust, form within form (otherwise, from the most ethereal portion of the refined element of earth, one within the other (P.121).

Yoruba also share in the nuances that the first men were sent down from the sky by God. A version of Yoruba oral tradition insists that Obatala (whom Ifa called the father of the Igbo nation) was saddled with the responsibility to create the world. But while he was still preparing to set off, Oduduwa came down and created the world. There arose a misunderstanding between them. To resolve the matter, God then assigned the role of creating man to Obatala. Ruth Finnegan, in her research on Nigerian oral literature captured this aspect of the nation’s history.

The sky is immense, but grows no grass. That is what the oracle said to Obatala, To whom the great God gave the reins of the world. God of the Igbo, I stretch out my hands. Give the reins of the world to me (Oral Literature, 195).

Since Obatala was the creator of human, as Ifa intones, it stands to mean that Obatala could be the first to be created by the Oracle who gave him the injunction. He is in this poem addressed as the God (father) of the Igbo. From the assistance of this narrative poem, the relationship between the Yoruba and the Igbo is clear. All these may be too engrossing, but it is not. The issue with understanding the Igbo creation story is that the Igbo see creation as the duty of the almighty God, but delegated to lesser gods. Achebe puts it straight thus:

Since Igbo people did not construct a rigid and closely argued system of thought to explain the universe and the place of man in it, preferring the metaphor of myth and poetry, anyone seeking an insight into their world must seek it along their own way. Some of these ways are folks-tales, proverbs, proper names, rituals and festivals.

            Conclusion

This paper shall not forget the words of Nnaji which says that “history is history and can never be separated from real life stories told through mouths which must have certain evidence on the bearers’ culture, language, myths and other facets of life obtainable within the setting of the people.” Several ancient books spoke of a people who descended from the sky, and in their arguments, this set of people were the earliest population the earth ever had. One dicey situation was the dominant difficulties in identifying this population and associating them with issues connected to their origin which, of course, were believed to have been lost to time. Scholars’ research and archeological findings had pointed out that the route of the human genesis, even Africa, is the West Africa. We also found from the undisputable findings by Nnaji that ancient Egypt, Nubia and Ethiopia have links with Nigeria. The Igbo had found it difficult to explain his origin because he understands, even untutored, that he is autochthonous or aboriginal. This is why the Igbo call themselves “Nwadiala”, integral child or “Amala” child of the soil. The explanation above may not be holistically detailed to make a distant fellow understand the Igbo nation, but it offers a clearing point to the controversy of the Igbo origin and that of Africa.