Part Four
By Nwankwo T. Nwaezeigwe
I have read the wobbly responses of Dr. Charles Tabansi and his uncle Prince Augustine Tabansi Udene, and just few moments ago the usual presumptuous eccentric verbose emptiness of Mr. Chukwuemeka Onyesoh; and I have come to the conclusion that their rag-tag intellectual emptiness and rigorous propensity towards moronic fabrication of historical falsehoods are gradually descending precipitously to cataclysmic philistine despondency. For want of space I will take Mr. Chukwuemeka Onyesoh separately in the next part.
However, one vital question they have continued to avoid providing the answer is who crowned Nri Ifikuanim Eze-Nri, if he was not a fake Eze-Nri? And if he was the progenitor of the whole people defined as Agukwu-Ugbene today, which people were the subjects of his kingdom? In other words, which people did he rule over as Eze-Nri— his children?
Dr. Charles Tabansi I understand holds a doctorate degree in Engineering; but the science and art of history is not all about fixing bolts and nuts in machineries or designing equipment. He wants me to leave Nri history to his likes to continue bastardizing and by extension impair the sacrosanctity of the totality of Igbo history; because to him I am not an indigene of Nri. He forgot that safe for Prof Onwuejeogwu their forgery anchor-man who traced his remote ancestors to Agukwu-Ugbene, the rest scholars they are hastily quoting to contradict my works were not of Nri origin.
Prince Augustine Tabansi Udene I understand managed to acquire Ordinary National Diploma (OND) in Marketing from Federal Polytechnic, Idah, Kogi State. Mr. Chukwuemeka Onyesoh on the other hand managed to be granted G4 (Secondary School-attempted Statement of Result), after failure to complete his Secondary education. Ridiculously, these are the strong men of intellect in Agukwu-Ugbene challenging my Nri historical research. I think, with what I know about Agukwu-Ugbene within the realm of intellectual humanism, these three men pose a disaster to overall defence of Agukwu-Ugbene history in particular and serious danger to the overall history of the Igbo in general.
After much infantile rigmarole Charles Tabansi finally acknowledged that his father Prince Reuben Nwofor Tabansi actually sponsored Prof Michael Onwuejeogwu in the publication of his book, “An Igbo Civilization: Nri Kingdom and Hegemony.” To quote him point-blank:
“All Orimili did for him was to help him finance the publishing of his studies and thereafter help him set up a museum of his findings and collections, which was largely funded by the University of Ibadan and till today is still being funded and managed by them.”
Does the above statement not amount to self-moral crucifixion on the part of Charles Tabansi? Does it not occur to him that his father—Prince Reuben Nwofor Tabansi as the paymaster of the piper called Prof Michael Onwuejeogwu indeed dictated the tune of the book with historically unacceptable lies and ridiculous fabrications not just against Akamkpisi-Nri, but the totality of Igbo history and culture?
According to Charles Tabansi, he finds it difficult reading my articles because according to him, they “are always so disjointed and obviously with premeditated intentions and unnecessarily long.” Ofcourse my articles must always be disjointed for peddlers and fabricators of falsehoods in the subject matter of Igbo history and culture like him and his Agukwu-Ugbene cohorts.
Long articles studded with incontrovertible facts are what make a man a thorough-bred professional historian; and not brief accounts of fabricated mendacity. Odogwu Nwankwo Tony Nwaezeigwe is not fighting Agukwu-Ugbene people; rather he is correcting the plethora of disinformation, ridiculous lies and infantile fabrications of Nri history which by extension connects with Igbo history by half-baked Agukwu-Ugbene pseudo-historians like Charles Tabansi.
Charles Tabansi tried to find unarticulated fault in my reference to his father Prince Reuben Nwofor Tabansi Udene as the first son of Nri Jiofo II Tabansi Udene without looking at the angle of such application. It is a truism that Prince Reuben Nwofor Tabansi was the second son of Tabansi Udene, but against all customary norms using his vantage position as the richest son of Tabansi Udene, he usurped the status of first biological son from Festus Tabansi, and further usurped the status of first customary son from Prince Augustine Tabansi.
By virtue of Nri customs and tradition Prince Augustine Tabansi should have been the first son of Nri Jiofo II since he was the first son born after coronation. Indeed, he is the only person qualified to bear the title of “Prince” because Festus, Reuben, Francis, Gody, Victor and, Sylvester were children of a Tabansi Udene that died and was buried before resurrecting as a spirit to become Nri Jiofo II. But Reuben Nwofor jettisoned this time-honored custom and tradition and assumed the role of first-born.
Charles Tabansi should also tell us under which Nri custom and tradition his father Prince Reuben Nwofor Tabansi became the Regent to Eze-Nri after the demise of Nri Jiofo II? By subsisting customs and tradition of Nri, regency to Eze-Nri is reserved to the Isi-Nze Adama-Nri of Umudiana Kindred of Ekwenanyika Village in Akamkpisi-Nri. But Reuben Nwofor Tabansi used his money to impose himself on Nri people as a spurious regent; just the same way he used his money to assist Prof Onwuejeogwu in fabricating Nri history.
In his drunken state of psychopathic disorder, Charles Tabansi Udene went further to state:
“What he failed to understand is that Agukwu Nri people are very proud people and well-grounded in the knowledge of who they are, especially the men and women of our father’s generation and those before them. Why, may I ask, will Orimili, or anyone else in Agukwu Nri, for that matter, want to bribe an unknown author from Ibuzo to write favourably about Agukwu when his renowned towns man, a Professor of Anthropology, had done so more than 20 years earlier? What will an unknown quantity like him add to what had been extensively researched and written about for anyone to want to bribe him?”
In the first place, what makes Charles Tabansi think that Agukwu-Ugbene people are a proud people who know what they are? Pride in forgery of Nri history or pride in telling indefensible fabricated accounts of Nri history? Simple question: Tell us who crowned Eze-Nri Ifikuanim the purported first Eze-Nri and progenitor of Agukwu-Ugbene people, he cannot provide the answer. Yet he brands himself and his Agukwu-Ugbene people proud people; proud of ignorance of their history or proud of ignorance of who crowned their first Eze-Nri? Both the first Eze-Nri Nri Namoke Ogbuoduduakakonmee, and the last Eze-Nri who incidentally was his grandfather, Nri Jiofo II, Tabansi Udene were crowned by Adama-Nri of Umudiana in Ekwenanyika Village, Akamkpisi-Nri.
For the proper understanding of Charles Tabnnsi, the age of Methuselah has nothing to do with the Wisdom of Solomon. Professor Adiele Afigbo spent more than ten years of research experience in Igbo and the wider Nigerian history before Prof Onwuejeogwu an anthropologist for that matter, yet he acknowledged my research as a veritable advancement to knowledge in Igbo history and culture. The attached photo showing Prof Adiele Afigbo, Prof Catherine Acholonu-Olumba and myself with one other man I could not recollect his name during an International Conference will prove to the likes of Charles Tabansi that I started my historical research from a solid intellectual foundation at the Department of History and International Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
Charles Tabansi should have read a personal letter from the iconic archaeologist Prof Thurstan Shaw to me in which he clearly agreed with me on Prof Onwuejeogwu’s forgery predispositions. So, who was Prof Michael Onwuejeogwu that I should not review his lies about Nri history? If Odogwu Nwankwo Nwaezeigwe is an unknown quantity in historical research, why then is Charles Tabansi infected with historical dysentery from his expositions of the truth and lies of Nri history?
In his arduous attempt to escape from the lies he told and continues to tell, Charles Tabansi again stated:
“Some questions I would like to ask Odogwu of Ibuzo are, what propelled you to want to write about Nri in the first place? How did you come about the need to do so? What is propelling you now? Why are you spending so much effort to continuously write about Agukwu Nri, even to the rudiculous? We understand how and why Prof. Onwuejiogu came to Nri in the first place. No one from Nri was instrumental or even aware of his coming to Nri. When he came to Nri, he lived at the expense of the University of Ibadan that sent him for further research on the Igboukwu excavations.”
What propelled Odogwu of Igbuzo to research on the Nri and not just Agukwu-Ugbene was simply his habitual penchant for truth. Odogwu Igbuzo is spending so much effort to correct the falsity of Igbo history being criminally fabricated by Agukwu-Ugbene people because of the fundamental need to save Igbo history from being infested with historical scammers like Charles Tabansi.
Prof Onwuejeogwu was employed by the Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan as an anthropological assistant to Prof Thurstan Shaw for his archaeological excavations at Igbo-Ukwu. But did Prof Onwuejeogwu carry out any fieldwork at Igbo-Ukwu, the site of the excavations? The answer is no. Enticed with money by Prince Reuben Nwofor Tabansi he sat in the comfort of his free accommodation with mouth-watering financial inducement and concocted what he was paid to write. And the likes of Charles Tabansi want responsible professional historians to sleep over such ominous fabrication of Igbo history. It doesn’t work that way.
In his concluding part, Charles Tabansi wrote:
“What he has failed to understand, however, is that we, the Agukwu Nri people, know who we are and are very much in tune with our history and our culture and don’t need anyone to tell us who we are. We don’t struggle to show who we are. We don’t need to.”
There is no doubt that Agukwu-Ugbene people know who they are, just as other people know who Agukwu-Ugbene people are. This is not a new story. The lie here however is the claim that they don’t show who they are, otherwise this essay should not have been written in the first place. The truth is that Agukwu-Ugbene people know that what they currently claim to be and as their history are checkered with intolerable falsehoods and insurmountable fabrications.
In respect of the cacophonic presentation of Charles Tabansi’s suppressed uncle Prince Augustine Ejiofor Tabansi Udene, I need not waste my precious time repeating myself over the conceited propensity by Agukwu-Ugbene people to hold on to what are obvious lies of their history. But one aspect I will look into is the aspect relating to the fundamental place of the Adama-Nri in not just Nri town but the wider Igbo history and culture.
In what appeared like a man under a confused state of mind, Prince Augustine Tabansi Udene wrote”
“ADAMA UP AND ADAMA DOWN, WHO IS THE MOTHER OF THE KINDRED, ADAMA? WE KNOW THAT THE FATHER OF THE KINDRED IS A SON OF EZIKANEBO BUT THAT EZIKANEBO’S SON MARRIED FROM WHERE? HE MARRIED A DAUGHTER FROM AGUKWU SECTOR. AGAIN THE PURPOSE AND DUTIES OF ADAMA IN EZENRI PALACE COMPRISES OF WHAT AND HOW WAS IT CREATED AND PURPOSE?”
Prince Augustine Tabansi Udene in fabricating this aspect of Adama origin forgot that just across the Ezu Idemili (Agulu Lake) and Nnemili (Idemili) River lies the town of Adazi Nnukwu where their Adama shares common boundary with Adama-Nri and are recognized as not just the aborigines but the custodians of their customs and tradition. Augustine Tabansi Udene equally forgot that the same Adama is located in the town of Oraeri in Aguata Local Government Area where they are treated with customary respect as Umuokpala. May be Augustine Tabansi might have to educate us on the etymological meaning of Umuokpala.
Augustine Tabansi forgot that the same people living with the Adama-Nri in Akamkpisi-Nri, namely Ekwenanyika, Uruofolo and Diodo Villages are not contesting the primacy of Adama-Nri among them. How come it is only Agukwu-Ugbene, the strangers among all the people in Nri town and the last to settle in the present Nri town are contesting the rightful place of their master? This is ridiculous. Does the freedom of a slave amount to the enslavement of his master?
The Eze-Nri was created by the Adama, the original Igbo aborigines of Nri to serve as their agent in marketing their ritual services in Igboland. It only happened that the once unfertile landscape granted Agukwu-Ugbene people turned out to be an advantage by its strategic location, conveniently linking the town with other towns.
Indeed, the term “Umunri” was originally known as “Umundiozi Nri” (Nri or Eze-Nri messengers). This explains why M. D. W. Jeffreys used “Ndri” and “Umundri” respectively instead of “Nri” and “Umunri.” So Umunri does not stand for descendants of any eponymous father or progenitor of any group of people. Similarly, the term “Nri” stands for the title of Eze-Nri and not any group of people. In fact, it was on December 30, 1940, during the General Meeting of Nri Co-operative Society (NCS) that the adoption of “Nri” as the official name of the two unified communities was affected.
This explains why only the Adama touches the Eze-Nri and nobody from Agukwu-Ugbene is permitted to even come close to him. The Adama does not pay homage to Eze-Nri but Eze-Nri pays homage to the Adama. This is ritually established by the saying: “Efea Nri, Nri efea Adama” (After homage is paid to the Eze-Nri, the Eze-Nri in turn pays homage to the Adama).
As a ritual pawn to the Adama, when an Eze-Nri dies, nobody from Agukwu-Ugbene including his family members are permitted to inherit any of his property. Every property of Eze-Nri is inherited by the Adama, a custom ritualized by the say: “Adama na-eri Nri ekpe” (Adama the inheritor of the Nri). This time-honored custom was however abused and destroyed by Prince Reuben Tabansi after his father’s death because of greed.
The instruments of Eze-Nri authority known as “Ofo na Alo” are held by the Adama-Nri, which is often retrieved from the Palace once an Eze-Nri dies and handed over to the next Eze-Nri on coronation. In fact, there is nothing like “Ofo-Nri” which Agukwu-Ugbene and Enugwu-Ukwu have been fighting over for decades under the inspiration of Igwe Osita Agwuna. The concept of Ofo-Nri was the sole creation of Igwe Osita Agwuna to legitimatize his position of Igwe Umunri and Eze Enugwu-Ukwu created by Eastern Region.
The Adama-Nri is in-charge of Igu-Aro; not the Eze-Nri and not anybody from Agukwu-Ugbene. Indeed, within the town of Enugwu-Ukwu this authority of Igu-Aro was granted to Urunnebo Village by the Adama-Nri, before it was appropriated by Igwe Osita Agwuna.
The major ritual activities for which Nri people were known were the traditions of Ikpu-Alu (Cleansing of Abomination) including the Otonsi (Ritual Staff) and tying of ankle-cords on Ozo title holders. All these activities were and still under the custody of Adama-Nri, not only in Nri town but in both Adazi-Nnukwu and Oraeri. The Agukwu-Ugbene people cannot also claim custodian of the customary Ofo-Ozo for Nri people.
Today, in most cosmopolitan gathering of the Igbo, you will see Agukwu-Ugbene people wanting to break Kola-nut for the rest Igbo. But this is wrong from all Igbo customary ramifications. In Nri town, not even the Eze-Nri or any indigene of Agukwu-Ugbene has the customary authority to perform the ritual breaking of Kola-nuts. This is reserved for Adama-Nri. This is applicable in both Adazi-Nnukwu and Oraeri.
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Do Agukwu-Ugbene people have any basis or evidence to contradict these obvious facts which they have all along in the course of their fortuitous efforts to undermine the true course of Igbo history cleverly avoided? So why should Agukwu-Ugbene people think that they possess the sole power to overturn the facts Igbo history because they believe they have the money and connections with Anambra State Government agencies and Akamkpisi-Nri people don’t have? I can’t really understand.
Nwankwo T. Nwaezeigwe, PhD Odogwu of Ibusa is the President, International Coalition against Christian Genocide in Nigeria, Pioneer Director, Centre for Igbo Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka and can be reached through Email: Nwaezeigwe.genocideafrica@gmail.com
N/B: This Opinion is soley that of the Author not that of Portfolio Media Activities
