Now That Umunri Buife of Agukwu-Ugbene Through P. N. Mebuge Have Agreed That Prof Onwuejjeogwu Lied: A Case of Confusion of Lies among Agukwu-Ugbene

Now That Umunri Buife of Agukwu-Ugbene Through P. N. Mebuge Have Agreed That Prof Onwuejjeogwu Lied: A Case of Confusion of Lies among Agukwu-Ugbene

Part Seven

By Nwankwo T. Nwaezeigwe

Professor Michael Onwuejeogwu lied in his accounts of Nri history. Agukwu-Ugbene lied in their accounts of Nri history. Even in the process of adopting the lies of Professor Onwuejeogwu in order to historically legitimize their obnoxious lies, Agukwu-Ugbene often run into conflicts with the same Onwuejeogwu, either by contradicting him or accusing him of lying against them (Agukwu-Ugbene).

One example is the case where Onwuejeogwu placed the fictitious Nri Ifikuanim as the first Eze-Nri and Nri Namoke as the second Eze-Nri, which Agukwu-Ugbene contradicted by claiming that both the fictitious Nri Ifikuanim and Nri Namoke reigned concurrently. In other words, both Ifikuanim and Namoke reigned as Eze-Nri at the same time in their different kingdoms. Which do we accept here as the truth? Do we accept Onwuejeogwu’s account or Agukwu-Ugbene account?

Agukwu-Ugbene are yet to inform us who crowned their fictitious Nri Ifikuanim if the present Adama-Nri Kindred were the same kingmakers who crowned all the succeeding Eze-Nri from Nri Namoke through Nri Buife to Nri Jiofo II Tabansi Udene and the succeeding Nri Namoke VIII, Chukwukadibia Ogbunmo?

The Igbo as a people conscious of their past and primordial identity cannot continue without questioning these blatant mythical and fictional fabrications of historical falsehoods by Agukwu-Ugbene. This is because not doing so will impinge on the collective integrity and facts of Igbo history and culture. So, the current crisis in Nri should not be viewed by Anambra State Government and other Igbo subgroups as a mere localized kingship dispute which impacts only the people of Nri town.

It is a conflict that impacts the totality of Igbo history, because for a long time Agukwu-Ugbene people have been parading the false garb of “Nri Bu Isi Igbo” (The Nri are the head of the Igbo), whereas if there is any kindred in that Nri town that merits that primacy of heirloom among the Igbo, it is the Adama-Nri kindred of Ekwenanyika Village in Akamkpisi-Nri, in conjunction with their kinsmen— Adama in Nnukwu Village of Adazi-Nnukwu, and Adama in Umuokpala Village of Oraeri.

It is therefore caustically important for the Igbo to treat any claim of primacy by Agukwu-Ugbene as a case of impostor-primacy driven by calculated but indefensible historical forgeries oiled over the years by devious political propaganda anchored on despicable subjugation of their autochthonous Umudiana Adama-Nri masters.

This explains why one of the foundation-Presidents of the United States of America, Thomas Jefferson stated that: “He who knows nothing is closer to the truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods and errors.” This is the case of Agukwu-Ugbene today. Both Professor Onwuejeogwu and Agukwu-Ugbene that hired him were filled with falsehoods, hence the errors in their conflicting historical accounts.

In furtherance to the same philosophy of truth, David Foster Wallace made us to understand that: “The truth will set you free. But not until it is finished with you.” Today we are in the mission of finishing Agukwu-Ugbene in their falsehoods and putrid fabrications before they are eventually set free by the truth of their history.

In continuation of this propaganda of caustic lies about Agukwu-Ugbene history and fictitious Igbo ancestry, one P. N. Mebuge, a self-styled “African Director of Igbo History Foundation, LLC, USA who sarcastically adorns himself with the multiple traditional titles of “NwaEzeNriBuife”, “Prince”, “Mebuge-Obaa II”, and “Okpala-Eze-Nri Royal Dynasty”, constructed another magnetic field of falsehoods and counter-falsehoods not only against Professor Onwuejeogwu but his Agukwu-Ugbene kinsmen. Mebuge’s account clearly reveals that Agukwu-Ugbene people are not even in one accord in their plethora of fabrications and lies.

 

  1. N. Mebuge in his wobbly and uncoordinated essay titled: “Annotation on Abo Nwaro: Initiation, Making and Installation of Divine EzeNri of Nri”, in a further bid to prove in his contemptible imagination that Adama-Nri— their customary landlord and creator and custodian of Eze-Nri throne have been ignominiously relegated to the status of servants to their once Agukwu-Ugbene customary and historical servants, attempted to ignorantly create another hypothesis of Eze-Nri coronation rituals called “Abo Nwaro.”

 

It is important to bring to the understanding of P. N. Mebuge that “Abo Nwaro” was not exclusive to Eze-Nri initiation rituals but significantly associated with the final purification ceremony of anyone initiating into the final stage of Ozo title; which many Eze-Nri contestants never attained before indicating their interests for the throne. In some Igbo communities, Abo Nwaro is variously known as Ogboli sacred and Udo sacred forests. This explains why such a person goes into the purification ritual with his first wife (Anasi); otherwise, if it was exclusive to the Eze-Nri then his first wife has no business joining him in the ritual. The reason is obvious.

 

An Eze-Nri dies (ritually) and is buried and mourned in full customary sense by his wives who are at once declared “Ajadu” (Widows). His children by his wives before coronation will no longer be treated as his children. He is required to take another wife or wives who will then beget him new children who will be called children of Eze-Nri.

 

Thus, even Reuben Nwofo Tabansi and all the children begotten by Eze-Nri Jiofo II Tabansi Udene before his coronation with their children, by such customary provision were not supposed to be addressed as Princes and Princesses. Only Augustine Tabansi Udene and his siblings have the customary right to bear the title of Princes and Princesses. People who claim to be custodians of Igbo culture should begin by adhering to the norms and practices of their native home customs and tradition.

 

  1. N. Mebuge has attempted to present accounts of falsification of Nri history by Professor Onwuejeogwu in detailed instances. But in doing so he forgot that Professor Onwuejeogwu was paid to write such falsifications of Nri history, especially the Nri Mebuge Okpoko angle by the son of the man who contested and usurped the Eze-Nri throne from him, Nri Jiofo II Tabansi Udene. So, what would he have expected Onwuejeogwu to write outside what he wrote?

First, let us begin with what he said about Professor Onwuejeogwu’s opinion on Nri history and claims by his Agukwu-Ugbene kinsmen. In his penultimate paragraph to conclusion, P. N. Mebuge wrote:

“I like the energy in the person of Professor M.A. Onwuejeogwu, who have tried to create a niche but shouldn’t be at the detriment of others. However, I cherish the few flourishing reports he had written down in his two books of 1980 and 1981, about my grandfather though from a distance. He would have written more credible stories if he had gone closer to the source, than staying away and solely relied on incredible hearsay and rumors.”

The above position coming from a member of a prominent lineage in Agukwu-Ugbene clearly allies with my view on Onwuejeogwu’s proclivity to historical fabrications. But before then Mebuge had detailed some instances of Onwuejeogwu’s lies in Nri history which for clarity purposes need to be quoted at length in each instance.

In his rebuttal to Agukwu-Ugbene account of Nri Mebuge Okpoko’s (his grandfather’s) fate in his dispute over Eze-Nri throne with Nri Jiofo II Tabansi Udene, Mebuge described Onwuejeogwu’s opinion as false in the following words:

“To make matters worst, (sic) our highly revered Professor M.A. Onwuejeogwu, also bought into that cheap blackmail and reported the falsehoods in his books: Nri Kingdom and Hegemony 1980 and An Igbo Civilization 1981. In his 1981 book, he stated on pp. 29 thus: ‘But before the expiry of the interregnum in about 1931, Okpoko of the maximal lineage of Obeagu declared himself ritually inspired and he performed the coronation ceremonies of becoming EzeNri’.”

On Nri Progress Union which has from its inception in 1936 as Nri Cooperative Society (NCS) remained an instrument of Agukwu-Ugbene oppression against Akamkpisi-Nri, Mebuge stated:

“To add salt to the bruises, Nri Progress Union (NPU) at that time was in its formative stage bought into the same blackmail too. NPU was reported to have made an unconfirmed preposterous pronouncement based on the existing falsehoods without verification, justification, authority and jurisdiction.”

 

Although I might not totally disagree with Mebuge on the stance of Nri Cooperative Society (NCS), which was the name of Nri Progress Union at the time of the dispute, but evidence abounds to show that the union did not overtly support either Mebuge Okpoko or Tabansi Udene. During their December 30, 1942 General Meeting, the delegates mandated the Secretary:

 

“To write all the branches of the union asking them to say by votes whether Okpoko or Tabansi should be supported and recognized as Eze-Nri of Agukwu. It was also agreed upon that whoever loses should receive £30 as a consolation from the union.”

However, the resolution could not be implemented because Mebuge Okpoko died shortly afterwards. With Okpoko’s death Tabansi Udene was left to assume the throne.

Further accusing Onwuejeogwu together with the Adama-Nri and Professor IK N. T. Ogbukagu of Adazi-Nnukwu, Mebuge further stated:

 

“In addition to the legion of conspirators, the dissident UmuDiana-Adama lineage was not left out of the contrived imbroglio including one Ik N.T.Ogbukagu 1997. The same falsehood was repeated and reinforced in the same book by M.A. Onwuejeogwu, 1981 pp.154.”

 

The question here is between the Adama-Nri and Umu Nri Buife kindred who should better be described as dissidents? Umu Nri Buife betrayed the trust reposed on them by Akamkpisi-Nri by colluding with their Agukwu-Nri kinsmen to usurp the Eze-Nri throne—the same throne they have consistently been denied to ascend over the centuries by their same Agukwu-Ugbene kinsmen.

 

Professor Onwuejeogwu was accused by P. N. Mebuge of deliberately refusing to interview any relative of Eze-Nri Okpoko throughout the course of his field-research in Agukwu-Ugbene, possibly through the instigation of Tabansi Udene family. To quote Mebuge at length:

 

“In 1966 -1972, when the apparatus and data for the publication of the above books by Onwuejeogwu were been gathered and setup, then Oba Hon. Prince M.A.Mebuge (1916-1980),was the honorary member of the foremost branch of Nri Urban Unions in Enugu (Nri Progressive  Union) as it was then called. Hon. Prince Mebuge was a congressman/parliamentarian in Enugu Provincial Assembly between 1959-1965 (contemporary of M. I. Okpara and Sir Akanu Ibiam), with seat No.52, out of 76 members of the House. He served out his tenure a year before the takeoff of the 7 years research project in Nri. Hon. Mebuge was one of the leading founders of Odinani Museum Nri, in terms of funds, artifacts donations and ideas as an experienced international and Nigeria nationalist. With all these yet, Professor Onwuejeogwu didn’t deem it necessary to see and consult the linear descendants of Nri and the custodian of EzeNri cultural patrimony for interview or crosscheck data from them as one would expect from an expert on cultural studies.”

 

  1. N. Mebuge in further accusing Onwuejeogwu of premeditated forgery wrote:

 

“Hon M.A. Mebuge’s siblings were Prince Chief Gilbert Okpoko (a registered health practitioner), Prince Chief Sylvester Muoneto Okpoko ( WW II veteran), Nze Prince Pius Okpoko (Police detective and Law, Wakefield, England),Prince Chief Martin Mebuge,Prince Cyril Oramonueze  Mebuge (1938-2007), Princess Ozobialu Josephine Okoye-Mbuba (1927_ 2024),amongst other siblings. Also, Nri Mebuge Okpoko’s nephews were not consulted nor interviewed namely: Chief Martin Okoye (Idejiogwugwu), Timothy Ezeani (British constabulary & Shell BP staff), Anago Michael Okoye (Okpatu age grade,1912-2002, craftsman who until his death rose to the post of Isi-nze of Nri, an all-time high leader of UmuNri Obeagu). In addition, NriMebuge Okpoko had so many wives and was survived by five wives namely; Matagu Ilikwu, Onuaku, Nwanagu,Akuofala (Nwakubeze) and Adaeze (NriMebuge Okpoko’s midget). None of the Crown Princes nor the royalties were worth to be interviewed by Professor Onwuejeogwu to crosscheck his stories.”

 

In his conclusion, Mebuge wrote:

“In summary, this is one of the many errors and falsehoods perpetuated in Nri against a people (UmuNri Obeagu) who are the inheritors of the Divine EzeNri. This falsehoods and errors need to be addressed scholarly, customarily, socio-politically and lawfully, in order to present Nri history systematically and in the right perspective. This is a moment of truth in Nri and if we must live in accordance with the dreams of our ancestors, then we would need to uphold the truth at all times.”

There is no gainsaying the fact that Odogwu Nwankwo Nwaezeigwe is gradually being vindicated by the Agukwu-Ugbene themselves. While commending P. N. Mebuge for boldly revealing the incontrovertible evidence of forgeries in Nri historical accounts as advanced by his Agukwu-Ugbene kinsmen and Professor Onwuejeogwu, it remains for the same P. N. Mebuge to equally collaborate the fact of usurpation of Eze-Nri throne by Agukwu-Ugbene from Akamkpisi-Nri. This is sacredly necessary in order to exorcise the spirit of Afonja betrayal from Umu Nri Buife (Mebuge’s lineage).

Nri Buife descendants of which P. N. Mebuge belongs and, not Eze-Nri Buife himself, betrayed Nri Namoke lineage by allying with their Agukwu-Ugbene to usurp the Eze-Nri throne, thereby biting the finger that fed them. It was for this reason of Afonja spirit that Nri Mebuge Okpoko eventually lost the throne to a man with little pedigree to Eze-Nri throne—Tabansi Udene.

When Aare Afonja allied with Usman dan Fodio’s co-Fulani lieutenant Alimi to undermine and eventually destroy the political heritage of his fathers, Old Oyo Kingdom, little did he know that the same Alimi would kill him and not only eventually take over his new-won Ilorin Kingdom from him but subject his descendants to oppressive status of slaves and second-class citizens in the present Ilorin Emirate.

This is the current predicament of Umu Nri Buife kindred of Obeagu Village, Agukwu-Ugbene in the hands of their now wide-mouthed usurper-kindred of the same Agukwu-Ugbene. It is indeed on this predicament that the usurpation of the Eze-Nri throne by Agukwu-Ugbene is predicated and by extension the current crisis.

Umu Nribuife played Afonja against Akamkpisi-Nri, colluding with their Agukwu-Ugbene kinsmen to usurp the throne; hence they are treated today as second-class citizens in Agukwu-Ugbene in the same manner Afonja descendants are treated today by descendants of his Fulani co-conspirator Alimi. What a pity for a lineage of quislings, conspirators, betrayers, and saboteurs?

 

Nwankwo T. Nwaezeigwe, PhD, Odogwu of Ibusa is the of President, International Coalition against Christian Genocide in Nigeria, Pioneer Director, Centre for Igbo Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He can be reached on Email: Nwaezeigwe.genocideafrica@gmail.com

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