By Nwankwo T. Nwaezeigwe, PhD
It is not my intention to be drawn personally beyond the call of my professional duty as a historian into the on-going dispute over Eze-Nri (Nri Kingship) between Agukwu-Ugbene and Akamkpisi-Nri. However, since Mr. Chukwuemeka Onyesoh, the brother of the late embattled Igwe Agukwu-Ugbene, Engr. Obidiegwu Onyeso has decided to target my intellectual integrity I reserve the right to put the historical records straight.
Indeed, if not for the corrupted nature of Igbo history and abuse of the associated customs and tradition driven by the corrupted influence of Christianity and Westernization, the people of Agukwu-Ugbene should still be customarily subservient to their Akamkpisi-Nri aborigines. The historical and associated facts are clear and I am going to prove them seriatim.
The reason is that Anambra State is not only pivotal to the central theme of Igbo enterprising spirit but essentially unique as a core center of Igbo identity-definition founded on fundamental components of traditional Igbo values, customs and tradition.
It will therefore be intellectually and historically catastrophic to the Igbo if historical pariahs like Chukwuemeka Onyeso who feel because they have the money and connections with successive Anambra State Governments and the Judges, they can purchase falsehoods as historical facts, abuse the due process of customary laws with regard to Eze-Nri succession with unbridled impunity, and recklessly overturn established customary norms and traditional set of values of Nri people.
First, let me begin by stating that I refer to Mr. Chukwuemeka Onyso’s section of Nri town as Agukwu-Ugbene rather than Agukwu-Nri because that is their original name supported by evidence of their migratory history which revolves round the present town of Ugbene in Awka North Local Government Area of Anambra State.
Second, I refer to the late Engr. Obidiegwu Onyeso as Igwe Agukwu-Ugbene rather than Eze-Nri because with my expert knowledge and understanding of Umunri history and the associated coronation rites of an Eze-Nri, Obidiegwu Onyeso was never authentically an Eze-Nri both by historical and customary rights.
The office and title of Eze-Nri are more ritually and spiritually-inclined than political, such that any deviation from the fundamental ritual and religious characteristics of its selection, appointment and investiture processes clearly undermines its instituted rituo-political values and respectability.
Igwe Obidiegwu Onyeso was never crowned by the Adama kindred of Nri Clan as required by tradition, neither did he perform the established rites and roles of the office of Eze-Nri; the quantity of paper-recognition granted him by the customarily corrupt Anambra State Government notwithstanding. It is therefore very necessary that the truth about the seething conflict over Eze-Nri succession be brought to public knowledge for posterity to judge; even if the current Anambra State Government decides to do otherwise.
In his trending write-up on social media, Mr. Onyeso made several scathing falsehoods founded on both calculated and miscalculated ignorance that bother on comparative evaluation of my research as a historian with that of Prof Michael Angulu Onwuejeogwu, an anthropologist. He started by stating:
“Onwuejeogwu has several levels of research advantage over Nwezeigwe who writes on what pleases him or his sponsors, quite often in accord with his political dispositions.”
I wish to inform Mr. Onyeso that there is nothing like “several levels of advantage” over my research by that of Prof Onwuejeogwu except by the fact of periodic primacy. In scholarly research there is no biding law that the first person to carry out research on a given area produces more authentic result than the person who undertakes similar research after him.
Prof Onwuejeogwu wrote from anthropological standpoint which has many limitations in historical methodology. In matters of detailed accounts of history an anthropologist does not compete with a historian because their methodologies are quite different.
On my sponsors, as a professional historian I am entitled to sponsorship for my research and writings from any person or institution. I am also entitled to whatever interpretation whether political or cultural I deem factual in accordance with available historical evidence, to be assigned to such findings.
However, when we speak of the man who was actually paid by Agukwu-Ugbene people to propagate historical falsehoods and fabrications on their behalf, it was in fact Prof Michael Onwuejeogwu, my kinsman from Ibusa, although of Agukwu-Ugbene descent, while I am of Isu-Nnewi descent.
In the preface to his “An Igbo Civilization: Nri Kingdom and Hegemony”, Prof Onwuejeogwu thanked Prince Reuben Tabansi by expressly describing him as “a Nigerian philanthropist, Prince Reuben Tabansi, [who] through Tabansi Motors Limited, made funds available to the University of Benin for the publication of the book.”
Throughout the course of my tortuous fieldwork historical research on Nri that lasted from 1989 to 1993 when I eventually undertook the oral defense of my comprehensive master’s research degree in Igbo history before the then no-nonsense external examiner from Nigerian Defence Academy, Prof C. N. Ubah, the only people who attempted to offer me mouth-watering financial enticement to change the facts of history but which I vehemently rejected were the Agukwu-Ugbene.
I was first brought to Agukwu-Ugbene in the course of my research by Mr. F. O. Onuorah of Uruoji Village, Agukwu-Ugbene in late 1990. He was the younger brother of one of the richest Agukwu-Ugbene businessmen at that time, Chief Onuorah. Mr. Onuorah was a long-time popular Primary School teacher and Headmaster in my town. He was then living at Sir A. D. Okafor’s house in Umuekea quarters, a retired Secondary School Principal.
In what looked like an automated arrangement, Mr. Onuorah began by conducting me round the massive intimidating house of his elder brother and promising me bountiful financial support from his people if my research would be in their favor. I nodded with imprisoned approval. He thereafter conducted me to three other people who I interviewed and, subsequently ended my fieldwork at Agukwu-Ugbene. I was not convinced because each time I raised the issue of Adama and Umudiana he brushed me aside with the response that one of the men I interviewed was the Adama.
On December 7, 1991, I interviewed the then Regent, Prince Reuben Nwofor Tabansi (Orimili), the eldest son of Eze-Nri Jiofo Tabansi Udene at his Agbadana Village country-home, Agukwu-Ugbene. That was the man who sponsored all the historical fabrications Prof Michael Onwuejeogwu reeled out as Nri history and culture. That was the time his eldest daughter, Hon. Anthonia Tabansi was a member of the newly constituted Anambra State House of Assembly then hosted at Enugwu-Ukwu.
That was also during the period when there was an incest scandal among his kinsmen and the question arose whether Agukwu-Ugbene people had the ritual powers to undertake the Ikpu-alu (cleansing of abomination) for such a case, or the Adama according to long-standing customs and tradition?
It was in the course of that interview that Prince Reuben Tabansi promised to reward me with the publication of my research as a book as he did in the case of Prof Onwuejeogwu once I prove to him that the final result of my dissertation is in Agukwu-Ugbene favor. I did not go back to him because there was nothing new outside what Prof Onwuejeogwu wrote and what Mr. Onuorah and those he conducted me to told me.
In May 2014, I was in a book presentation at Awka with Igwe Obidiegwu Onyeso where we sat close to each other, in the course of which he invited me to his Palace at Agukwu-Ugbene to discuss how we could review my views on Nri history. See the attached photo. I agreed to come on the appointed date but of course I knew I would not be there because it could have amounted to my untimely death.
On the other hand, the Akamkpisi-Nri section of Nri town which is made up of Ekwenanyika, Uruofolo and the semi-independent Diodo Villages had no rich people to dictate the pendulum of my historical research, except that historical evidence was on their side. Indeed, at the time of my research, such a single person from Agukwu-Ugbene as Chief Dominic C. Nwosu, the CEO of Njikoka Transport Company Nigeria Limited was richer than the whole Akamkpisi-Nri combined. So there was no question of Akamkpisi-Nri people influencing the outcome of my research with money.
The other people involved in my study area were Aguleri town, which included Ivite, Ikenga (Igbezunu and Umunkete), and Enugwu and Ezi Quarters; Igbariam town (Nudu and Onogu Quarters); Enugwu-Ukwu; Enugwu-Agidi; Nawfia; Adazi-Nnukwu; Nnokwa; Oraeri; and Igbo-Ukwu.
Apart from Enugwu-Ukwu and Igbo-Ukwu, at the period of my research these towns were mostly dominated by below-average local income earners with very few above-average income earners politically naïve to take advantage of the historical importance of my research. Instead, I was the one providing the necessary financial inducements to my informants to extract relevant information. So, there was no question of financial inducements to twist the direction of my research findings to their advantages.
In Enugwu-Ukwu in particular, the two major villages of my research focus were the Umuokpara-Eri and Urunnebo Villages both of which were within the poverty index of Enugwu-Ukwu at the time. So, there was no question of financial inducements coming from them.
Igbo-Ukwu was not a significant factor in my field-research because Prof Thurstan Shaw’s three-site archaeological excavations provided all I needed at the time. The first democratically-elected Governor of Anambra State and Okwadike Igbo-Ukwu, Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife, wrote the major foreword to my book without any single dime given either by him or Igbo-Ukwu people for both the research and publication of the book.
If I should talk of financial support for the publication of my book, the credit goes to my god-father Nze (Prof) IK T. K. Ogbukagu of Adazi-Nnukwu, then of the Department of Geology and Geodesy, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, who took special interest in my research and subsequently mobilized the necessary fund for the publication of the book by SNAAP Press, Enugu in 2007.
Mr. Chukwuemeka Claims that:
“For 7 years Onwuejeogwu did nothing else than research & direct the Institute of African Studies of the University of Ibadan initiated NRI RESEARCH PROJECT, initiated under the Vice Chancellorship of Prof. Kenneth Dike, Nigeria’s first History Prof. He earned his Masters & PhD degrees from the University of London on Nri Research Project.”
First, let me inform Mr. Onyeso that Prof Onwuejeogwu’s research in Nri history and culture only ended with his Master’s degree and did not extend to his PhD. His PhD research was on Afa Divination, what is referred to as Ifa among the Yoruba.
Secondly, Prof Onwuejeogwu’s seven years stay at Agukwu-Ugbene where he was fed and accommodated by Orimili Prince Reuben Nwofor Tabansi was partly as a result of the Nigerian civil war which disrupted Prof Thurstan Shaw’s archaeological excavations at Igbo-Ukwu for which Prof Onwuejeogwu was specifically employed by the Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan as a follow-up anthropologist, but which he selfishly abandoned to exclusively focus on Agukwu-Ugbene study because of the money and unusual hospitality offered to him by Agukwu-Ugbene people.
Mr. Chukwuemeka Onyeso tells us that we should “Remember he also founded Nri Museum and Odinani Journal (now extinct)” The question is why did such noble historical venture go extinct if indeed it had authentic historical foundation?
Mr. Chukwuemeka Onyeso in assuming Prof Onwuejeogwu’s books on Nri as his historical Bible had stated;
“To understand the detailed link between Eze Nri Diodo, & Eze Nri throne as it continued from the 11th Century AD, one needs to read Onwuejeogwu’s 3 other books published after his 2981 work, “An Igbo Civilisation, Nri Kingdom & Hegemony,” between 1990 and 2007.”
Let me begin by attaching below the excerpt of a letter written to me and dated January 6, 1998 by the archaeological icon Prof Thurstan Shaw in which he soundly agreed with me that Prof Michael Onwuejeogwu fabricated his account of Nri history:
“Thurstan Shaw CBE FBA
26 Kingdale Court, Peacocks, Great Shelford, Cambride Cb2 5AT
0023 842283
16 January 1998
Dr. Tony Nwaezeigwe
Department of History
University of Nigeria Nsukka
Nigeria.
Dear Tony Nwaezeigwe
Thank you for your letter dated 7 October last, and the accompanying, copy of your paper “Recent Trends in the study of Igbo History and Culture”, which only reached me very recently.
I have read your paper with the greatest interest, and I am delighted you have addressed yourself to the problems you have. My excavations at Igbo-Ukwu, although constituting astonishing discoveries, raised so many questions, I have always been looking to succeeding colleagues, like yourself, to solve them. Perhaps you would care to have a few comments:
I agree entirely with what you say about the weaknesses in Onwuejeogwu’s work arising from his decision to undertake his investigations by basing himself and his research in Aguku-Nri, to the neglect of both Igbo-Ukwu and Oraeri. In fact I argued with Onwuejeogwu about this at the time and could never understand his reasons for centering his research on Nri. I knew that he came from Ibusa; but your information that he comes from Ogboli village, and that the Ogboli people trace their origins to Aguku-Nri, is very significant. By the way, what is your home town?… p.15 I agree that ‘Onwuejeogwu merely lifted Professor Shaw’s ninth century radiocarbon dating of Igbo-Ukwu archaeological finds and simply use it to construct the genealogy of Eri. I said the same thing to Onwuejeogwu himself at the time.”
The above account from the iconic Prof Thurstan Shaw soundly confirms who, between Dr. Nwankwo Nwaezeigwe and Prof Michael Onwuejeogwu is the authority in Nri history. Indeed, as I am writing this response today, there is yet no historical or anthropological book on Nri that has been able to intellectually and factually counter the empirical facts laid out in my book: “The Igbo and their Nri Neighbours.”
It is not a matter of bragging. But let me inform Mr. Chukwuemeka Onyeso that for now, I remain an authority in Igbo history and culture with special reference to Nri history and culture; and this is a fact which no historian or anthropologist in any Nigerian university today or abroad can question. Mr. Chukwuemeka Onyeso should go ahead and find out this fact from the nearby University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka.
Prof Onwuejeogwu read my book before his death and he could not provide any counter-opinion. I remember Prof Adiele Afigbo stating jokingly that Prof Onwuejeogwu died of heart-attack after reading my book. I first met Prof Michael Onwuejeogwu during the Seminar on Two Decades on Igbo-Ukwu Archaeological Excavations in 1991 at the Institute of African Studies, University of Nigeria, during which he challenged me to publish my own book for people to read, which I eventually did.
Mr. Chukwuemeka Onyeso in his putrid state of ignorance had stated that I:
“Maligned Nri as Igala as the title shows. This contradicts Profs. Kenneth Dike, Adiele Afigbo, Onwuejeogwu, Elizabeth Isichei, Ann Ekejiuba etc and Cardina Francis Arinze and a plethora of foreign writers on Igbo cultural history.”
I don’t know the educational level of this man called Chukwuemeka Onyeso, but I think it should be something terribly below Secondary School, judging by the infantile manner of his thinking. How can somebody who claims to be intellectually sound simply assume that I “maligned Nri as Igala as the title [of my book] shows?”
First let me begin by properly informing Chukwuemeka Onyeso that except M. D. W. Jeffreys and Michael Onwuejeogwu both of whom were anthropologists, none of the Igbo historians mentioned above was an expert Igbo historian on the Umunri.
Prof Kenneth Dike worked on Trade and Diplomacy in Eastern Niger Delta. Prof Adiele Afigbo worked on Warrant Chief System in Igboland. Prof Elizabeth Isichei worked on Victorian England and only interloped into general Igbo history which has no bearing with comprehensive research on the Nri. The Ann Ekejiuba he mentioned was indeed the anthropologist Prof Felicia Ekejiuba who wrote extensively on her Aro people. On the other hand, Cardinal Francis Arinze is only best known for his research on Igbo Sacrifices and Religion from Catholic theological angle.
For the information of Chukwuemeka Onyeso, I was not the first person to propound the Igala origin of not just the Nri but particularly Agukwu-Ugbene people like him. The son of the first traditional ruler of Aguleri M. C. M. Idigo in his book titled, “The History of Aguleri” published in Yaba, Lagos by Nicholas Printing and Publishing Company in 1955, stated in page 5:
“The Aguleri people originated from Igara (Sic) and migrated to the present abode about three or four centuries ago. The leader, Eri a warrior, took his people on a war expedition and after long travel and many fights established his camp at Eri-aka, near Odanduli stream, a place which lies between Ifite and Igbezunu Aguleri. Eri with his soldiers went out regularly from his settlement to Urada, Nnadi and other surrounding towns on war raids and captured many of the inhabitants. These were the Ibo speaking people and by mixing with them and inter-marriage the immigrants adopted the languages.”
Even Prof Onwuejeogwu in page 7 of his 1987 Ahiajoku Lecture acknowledged that Igbo people were already settled at Aguleri before the arrival of Eri. According to him:
“According to the myth Eri, on arriving Aguleri met an autochthonous group who had no living memory of their origin. Autochthony which is the claim of origin from the spot of present habitation by a maximal lineage generally named Umudiana (children of the earth) is found in many ancient Igbo towns such as the Umudiana in Nri town who claim they were there during migration to the present town called Nri. The Umudiana also claim ‘amnesia’ which means they recall nothing of their origin’.”
Even the people of Igbariam acknowledge that the Onogu section of the town who trace their origin to Eri were from Igala who met the indigenous Igbo people of Nudu section. May be Chukwuemeka Onyeso should tell us where Agukwu-Ugbene people settled before migrating to Ugbene and then to the present Agukwu-Ugbe section of Nri town. It is important for the likes of Chukwuemeka Onyeso who have no inkling knowledge of their history or know but decide to buy falsehoods with money to know that Igbo-Igala relations go far beyond Eri and Umunri history. Many Igbo towns in the present Delta, Anambra, Imo, Enugu and Rivers States claim Igala origin; in the same way many Igala towns today in Kogi State claim Igbo origins. It is on this basis that the concept of “Olu na Igbo bu nwanne” (Igala and Igbo are brothers) emerged.
In his ignoramus and confused state of mind, Chukwueka Onyeso concluded weirdly that:
“If you are not ready to research, or read researched documentations on Igbo cultural history, please do not join Nwaezeigwe in pandering to his Igboukwu supremacy theory. Igboukwu sponsored the publication of his said 2007 book. Conjectures can’t be history.”
Well, the facts have been stated clearly for the mind-discerning to comprehend and, as I stated earlier, Igbo-Ukwu people did not give me a dime for the publication of my book. However, all I am humbly challenging Chukwuemeka Onyeso to do is to provide any history book or article that has objectively challenged the intellectual contents of my book: “The Igbo and their Nri Neigbours” since its publication in 2007.
It is unfortunate and indeed recklessly unsavory for Mr. Chukwuemeka Onyeso in his disconnected intellectual medullae to think that I am the type of scholar he will just pick up his rusty pen to malign in his ignorance. The next part will further reveal the limits of the extent the people of Agukwu-Ugbene think they can use money to purchase falsehoods and fabricated myths as Igbo history.
Odogwu of Ibusa, N. T. Nwaezeigwe, Odogwu of Ibusa & President, International Coalition against Christian Genocide in Nigeria (ICAC-GEN)
Email: Nwaezeigwe.genocideafrica@gmail.com
Manila, Republic of Philippines
November 16, 2024
