Series 2, Part One
By Nwankwo T. Nwaezeigwe, PhD
nwaezeigwe.genocideafrica@gmail.com website: https://icac-gen.org
Introduction
It should be recalled that on August 1, 2023, the Anambra State Hon. Commissioner for Local Government, Chieftaincy and Community Affairs, Hon TonyCollins Nwabunwanne held a joint meeting with leaders of Akamkpisi-Nri and Agukwu-Ugbene at Government House, Awka, over the Eze-Nri dispute. Arising from the meeting the Hon. Commissioner adjourned the meeting to the next three months.
However, against that instruction by the Hon. Commissioner, in a letter addressed to the same Hon. Commissioner dated October 28, 2023, and signed by Justice P. N. C. Umeadi as Chairman, Pascal Mebuge as Secretary, and Oba Lawrence Nwagwu as Onye Isi Nze, the Agukwu-Ugbene blatantly decided to boycott the meeting. Relying on the same obnoxious Nri Political Constitution which has been at the root of the conflict, the letter stated:
“The Eze Nri Royal Families at its meeting held on Friday 20/10/2023 reviewed that meeting at Awka and is of the considered view that the matter relating to the impending vacant throne of Eze Nri is the exclusive preserve of the Eze Nri Royal Families of Agukwu Nri to determine. The attendance of Agukwu Nri at the meeting of 1/8/2023 at Awka was in error.”
It is against this background that we are going to look at how the above assertion of exclusive right to decide who becomes the Eze-Nri by Justice P. N. C. Umeadi and his Agukwu-Ugbene cohorts allies with not only with Nri tradition but Nri historical accounts as presented by Prof Michael Angulu Onwuejeogwu particularly in relation to the selection and crowning of Eze-Nri and the roles of Adama Kindred of Umudiana Akamkpisi-Nri as the time-honored customary kingmakers.
The need to use Prof Onwuejeogwu’s book as the historical baseline for interpreting these topical historical aspects of Nri is because that’s the book such pseudo-historians of Agukwu-Ugbene as Chukwuemeka Onyesoh, Charles Tabansi Udene and, Augustine Tabansi Udene among others have been anchoring their Nri historical hypotheses. Applying scientific historical methodology by the use of citation notes will in no small measures afford objective judgment.
May be we can stand by establishing the etymology of the word “Adama” and how it came to be applied to a section of Umudiana of both Nri and Adazi Nnukwu towns, as well as a section of Umuokpala Village in Oraeri town. From the etymology of the word, Adama is an Igala word meaning first-born of the land and, it was an honorific title given to the senior Kindred of the aboriginal Umudiana of Nri town by Agukwu-Ugbene Igala immigrants.
Adama is a common name among the Igala associated with such notable people as Hon. Theophilus Daruwana Adama, Current Executive Chairman, Bassa Local Government Area of Kogi State; Paul Adama, a Kogi State indigene and businessman in Plateau State whose over 160 hectares of Moringa farmland was set ablaze by Fulani herdsmen and bandits; Alhaji Abubakar Adama, former Kogi State Commissioner for Works and Housing; Alhaji Abu Adama, former Special Adviser to Kogi State Governor on Project Monitoring;
Alhaji Adama Ahmad Samari, former Member of Federal House of Representative who represented Ajaokuta Federal Constituency under the All People’s Party (APP) in 1999 and; Dr. Adama Francis Umoru of the Department of Economics, Kogi State University, Anyangba among others.
Among such prominent scholars of Nri history as Northcote W. Thomas, Percy Amoury Talbot, M. D. W. Jeffreys, Richard N. Henderson, Michael A. Onwuejeogwu, Emmanuel I. Ifesieh, and Nwankwo T. Nwaezeigwe, there is no contradiction as to the ritual supremacy of Adama-Nri over both the Eze-Nri and other sections of Nri town, namely: Diodo, Ekwenanyika, Uruofolo, Obeagu, Uruoji and, Agbadana. There is also consensus on the aboriginal status of Adama-Nri kindred and the associated wider kindred of Umudiana.
There is copious evidence that the customary relationship between these groups and the Adama-Nri goes beyond the case of primus inter pares (first among equals), rather it is a relationship defined not only in the sense of aborigines and immigrants but in the sense of master-servant equation; the Adama-Nri being the ritual masters and other sections of Nri led by Eze-Nri being their ritual servants. This relationship will be elaborated in a subsequent part.
There is also no disagreement over the incontrovertible fact studded with evidence that the Adama-Umudiana are the aboriginal settlers of not only the present town of Nri but also Adazi Nnukwu. In other words, these two towns were originally occupied and settled respectively by the present Umudiana Kindred of Ekwenanyika Village of Akamkpisi-Nri and Umudiana Kindred of Nnukwu Quarters, Adazi Nnukwu. Oral traditions of both communities are equally in agreement with this aboriginal status of Umudiana Kindred.
Supporting this assertion, an elder of Umudiana kindred of Adazi Nnukwu, Onyenaibeya Sylvester Iloabuchi, stated emphatically: “Umudiana has no known origin, we germinated from here.” In Adazi Nnukwu in particular, this aboriginal status of the Adama-Umudiana clearly explains why the town adopted Adama as the title of their traditional ruler. Beyond this commonality of status and origin between Umudiana Nri and Umudiana Adazi Nnukwu is the fact that both villages share common boundary and play roles in the coronation rituals so Eze-Nri.
The people of Ekwenanyika, Uruofolo and Diodo Villages of Akamkpisi-Nri like their Adazi Nnukwu counterparts are equally in agreement that the Umudiana kindred were already settled long before their ancestors migrated from Achalla town in the present Awka North Local Government Area of Anambra State to join them. B.I.O. Odinanwa, former Vice President General of Nri Progress Union (NPU) and an educationist from Akamkpisi-Nri in his book titled, The Foundations of Nri Kingdom and Hegemony, stated:
“The group of Nri people that settled at Achalla had an Eze Nri with them. It is not certain how long the settlement at Achalla lasted, but history had it that the king (Eze-Nri) fell in love and married an Achalla lady known as Odomma. The marriage was not supported by all the people and as such the opposing group decided to leave Achalla and continued the southward movement. The king and his faithful subjects remained in Achalla while the opposing group who formed the Akamkpisi bloc of Nri moved to the present lake city. They met a group of people who claimed to be the aborigines of the land. These people were engaged in perennial warfare.”
This is the official traditional position of the three Akamkpisi-Nri villages of Ekwenanyika, Uruofolo and Diodo. Thus among these later immigrants, the autochthony of Umudiana kindred of Nri is not debatable.
We should also note that the Umudiana or aboriginal settlers of a town, often referred to by historians as autochthonous groups are not limited to Nri and Adazi Nnukwu towns in Anambra State. In Awka, the Capital City of the State for instance, the Ifiteani Village represents the Umudiana group. The Awka-born historian Amanke Okafor affirmed this in the following word:
“When Oka [Awka] history began, that is, when account began to be given of their activities, these Ifiteana people were living in Oka town as three distinct groups, under the names of Urueri, Amanyiana, and Okpo, respectively. They had emerged by them from Primitive conditions, and had become a civilized and technological society. Who they were, where they came from (if they came from somewhere), who their ancestors were, are not known. Oka simply said of themselves that they were of Ifiteana stock-Ebe Anyi (Our stock). At the beginning of their [Awka] known history, the Ifiteani people had their existence in what is presently Oka town, whose boundaries have not changed over the years.”
In Achalla town, Headquarters of Awka North Local Government Area, the Umudiana again constitute the aboriginal settlers. According to Nwadigwe Agbamkpu of Achalla, the Umuakuma Kindred of Umudiana Quarter in Achalla stands for Adama-Umudiana in the present Nri town. As he put it:
“The Okokpa in Achalla is what is variously referred to as Okpala, Ezeana and Diokpa, which is the oldest surviving member of a given minimal or maximal lineage. The Umuakuma kindred being the oldest among the several kindreds of Umudiana quarters, produces the Okokpa of the quarter. Similarly, Umudiana quarter being the eldest among the nine quarters that make up the settlement, whoever becomes the Okokpa of the village consequently becomes that of the whole town.”
According to an Igbariam historian Joseph E. Ajakor, Igbariam is divided into two groups of people. These are the Nudu sub-clan which represents the aboriginal settlers and the Onogu sub-clan which traces its origin to Eri and considered as immigrant Igala settlers. Ajakor claimed that at one time the Onogu threatened to secede from the town and revert to their original name, “Onogu-Igala”, following dispute over the traditional calendar fixing ceremony (Igu-Aro) between the two groups
The same pattern of aboriginal and immigrant settlement applies to Aguleri and Umueri (Umuleri) towns, with Okpu-Ivite representing the aboriginal settlers of Aguleri and Umudiana Quarters representing the aboriginal settlers. Prof Onwuejeogwu agrees with this fact when he stated ipso facto in the cases of Aguleri and Nri towns:
“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.”
We can now look at what Onwuejeogwu further said in the context of the above statement of fact in respect of Umudiana aboriginality, especially putting into context the vicious attempts by some Agukwu-Ugbene writers to falsify the history of Nri to their advantage.
Michael A. Onwuejeogwu Position on the Primacy of Umudiana Settlement in Nri
But what did Prof Michael Onwuejeogwu say about the aboriginality of Umudiana kindred of Nri town or the origin of Nri people beyond the facts of his biases in favor of Agukwu-Ugbene and against Akamkpisi-Nri?
The fact that Onwuejeogwu was bound to be biased in favor of Agukwu-Ugbene is underscored by the fact that Tabansi family was instrumental to the publication of his two books on Nri history. His first and introductory book on the Nri history titled: An outline of An Igbo civilization was published in 1980 by Tabansi Press Ltd. His second mainline book on the Nri history titled: An Igbo Civilization: Nri Kingdom and Hegemony, was financed by Eze-Nri Tabansi’s second son Prince Reuben Nwofor Tabansi in the name of his transport company Tabansi Motors Limited.
Prof. Onwuejeogwu opened his dedication page with the following: “Eze Nri Nrijiofo II, 1891-1979, The Regent: Prince Ruben Tabansi, (Orinmili), Tabansi Motor’s Limited, Onitsha.” He further opened his preface with the following acknowledgement of the financial support of Tabansi Udene family for the publication of the book in the second paragraph:
“Economic considerations prevented certain publishers based in the United Kingdom and operating in Nigeria from publishing it. A Nigerian philanthropist, Prince Ruben Tabansi, through Tabansi Motors Limited, made funds available to the University of Benin for its publication and I am grateful to both Ethnographica, London and, Ethiope Publishing Corporation, Benin City, Nigeria, for the good job they have done.”
However, his third major publication on Nri history was the 1987 Ahiajoku Annual Lecture, held at Owerri Imo State titled: Evolutionary Trend in the History of the Development of the Igbo Civilization, in the Culture Theatre of Igboland in Southern Nigeria, was published by Culture Division of Imo State Ministry of Information and Culture.
The foundation of Onwuejeogwu’s bias and consequent falsification of some commanding elements of Nri history seems to have originated from the response of Eze-Nri Tabansi Udene, Nri Jiofo II during his 1971 Igu-Aro Ceremony to Chief S. O. N. Okafor’s opposition to the use of “Nri” as the name of the present town of Nri. Chief Okafor who hailed from Enugwu-Agidi had stated:
“It is important to mention for the historians to note that Nri is not a name of a particular town in Umunri clan. I consider it in this wise, that Enugwu-Agidi, Enugwu-Ukwu, Nawfia and Agukwu town could if decided be called Enugwu-Agidi Nri, Enugwu Ukwu Nri, Nawfia Nri, as Agukwu town has abandoned her name Agukwu and registered Nri. May be, this is just a way of changing the history of Umunri or there is political motive behind the change.”
In his response, Nri Jiofo II stated:
“Nri is the land occupied by the two male sons of Menri (later simply called Nri) namely Ifikwuanim (father of Agukwu) and Namoke (father of Akamikpisi). Their sister left behind at Nkpume Onyilenyi (mighty stone) later renamed Enugwu-Ukwu (hill top) had children the fathers of Enugwu-Ukwu, Nawfia and Enuggwu-Agidi.”
The foregoing statement of origin by an Eze-Nri was not just a clear indication of deep ignorance of his history but a clear evidence of his historical alienism in Nri town, which goes further to reinforce the assertion that his grandfather was an immigrant from Nimo. The irony of this fabrication is that he was the last Eze-Nri to be functionally crowned by the Adama-Nri in accordance with the customs and tradition of Nri. To Eze-Nri Tabansi Udene therefore, Namoke was not only the progenitor of the whole Akamkpisi-Nri but the progenitor of Umudiana.
In a further contradiction of Nri Jiofo II Tabansi Udene’s account, an elder from Umuokpala-Nri Village of Enugwu-Ukwu, Nze Simon Anika stated:
“Enugwu-Ukwu is the head of the Umunri. Enugwu- Ukwu is senior to Akamkpisi, then to Nawfia, then Enugwu-Agidi, Agukwu people are strangers from Ugbene who settled with our brothers Akamkpisi. Ofo- Nri got to Akamkpisi because of our high-headedness. When Agukwu came, they took it from them through tricks. Later Agwuna went and took the Ofo from the Agukwu.”
It is therefore evident from the foregoing that even among other Umunri towns the history of Agukwu-Ugbene among the comity of Umunri towns is cloudy. Indeed Prof Onwuejeogwu made us to understand that Agukwu is made up of strangers from other Igbo communities who committed one form of abomination or the other, or were runner-away slaves. In page 26 of his book, he wrote:
“Nri town was considered a sanctuary to all human beings who could come into it. Runaway slaves were considered free once they set foot on Nri soil. Persons who committed an abomination that involved hanging were freed and purified once they set foot on Nri soil.”
So from even Prof Onwuejeogwu’s view, majority of those in Agukwu claiming to be Umunri or members of their questionable Nri royal families have questionable origins. And it is indeed among this class of Nri indigenes that the attempt to abuse, desecrate, falsify and fabricate Nri history, customs and tradition is most evident. Take for instance what an Agukwu-Ugbene writer Ambrose Nnalue Okonkwo said about Agukwu-Ugbene relationship with Adama-Umudiana:
“The people from Umudiama are also called Adama. They are the people that are responsible for removing abomination (Nkpu alu) in Nri town. Their mother came from Agukwu Nri, a daughter of a king and that is the reason we from Agukwu call them Adama meaning “Umunwa di ana”.
But what did Onwuejeogwu say concerning the relationship between Adama-Umudiana and Agukwu compared to the above statement by Ambrose Okonkwo of Agukwu-Ugbene? On page 24 of his book, Onwuejeogwu wrote:
“But before the arrival of Nri Namoke and Nri Ifikuanim in this part of Igbo land, the present town of Nri was already inhabited by a people who claimed autochthony. They are now called Umu Dim or Umu Diana, that is, the children of the aboriginal inhabitants.”
Prof Onwuejeogwu went further to state in his 1987 Ahiajoku Lecture held at Owerri, Imo State:
“According to the myth, Eri on arriving Aguleri met an autochthonous group who had no living memory of their origins …. 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.”
Agukwu-Ugbene people might as well at this time choose between Prof Onwuejeogwu their historical tin-god and Ambrose Okonkwo their kinsman who stated the truth. On the same page 24 Onwuejeogwu went further to affirm that not only were the people of Akamkpisi-Nri not permitted by tradition to pay tribute to the Eze-Nri, it was the customary duty of the Eze-Nri to pay tribute to the Adama. In Prof Onwuejeogwu’s words:
“It was arranged that the Agukwu section of the settlement must always pay tribute to Eze Nri, while the Diodo and Akamkpisi sections must never pay tribute to Eze Nri, because of the special kinship relationship existing between Nribuife and Diodo people on the one hand and Agukwu and Umu Diana on the other hand. This practice is maintained to this day. Hence the saying ‘Tribute should be given to Eze Nri and Eze Nri should give tribute to the Adama.”
Prof Onwuejeogwu by the above summation clearly reaffirmed the popular adage among Nri people, Efee Nri, Nri efee Adama (when homage and tribute are paid to Eze-Nri, the Eze-Nri in turn pays same to the Adama). The statement equally allies with Northcote W. Thomas’ affirmation of the position of Adama as not only the aboriginal owners of the present Nri town but the lords of the land to whom both the Agukwu-Ugbene and Eze-Nri are obliged to pay both homage and tribute. Thomas wrote:
“As servants the Eze-Nri has boys of the Adama quarters, who are called his wives; as soon as they are of age, they must tie on a loincloth and leave his service. The king is compelled to carry out the burial rites of any of his servants who died. A price is paid to a servant exactly as for a wife, and if the servant runs away the price is not repaid. Adama people are said to eat the property of Nri because they are bigger than the king.”
From the foregoing we can decipher the reason why members of the Adama are often mistakenly or ignorantly referred to as women, and why these servants of Eze-Nri were entitled to waist part of animal slaughtered at the palace of Eze-Nri. Ironically, Prof Onwuejeogwu did not mention this aspect of relationship defining the status of these little Adama male servants as wives of Eze-Nri; rather he attempted to justify such relationship in terms of an unproven marriage relationship between Ezikanebo of Umudiana and the spurious Ifikuanim of Agukwu.
According to him:
“According to the Agukwu-Nri tradition, Nri Ifikuanim conferred the ozo title on Ezikanebo and gave him his daughter to marry. The duty of Eze Nri’s daughter, who had to be a virgin, was to serve the Eze Nri of Agukwu. The prerogative was transferred to the children of Eze Nri’s daughter. Thus the Umu Diana gained the right and privilege to be the only people on earth who can touch the Eze Nri and serve as palace officers in his inner chamber. To this day the Umu Diana people not only provide the palace officers who have the prerogative to touch the Eze Nri, but also receive the shares of a daughter when meat is served in the palace of Eze Nri. The Umu Diana also receive certain parts of the meat that indicate that they ‘own the land’, and perform the coronation and burial of any Eze Nri.”
The above account by Prof Onwuejeogwu not only created fundamental historical lacunas that clearly question the authenticity of his sources, but raises some fundamental questions that render such lacunas irredeemable. If Nri Ifikuanim conferred Ozo title on Ezikanebo, who conferred the Ozo titled on Nri Ifikuanim? Onwuejeogwu did not further inform us if the Ofo-Ozo Nri resides with Agukwu-Ugbene people, the supposed Ifikuanim’s descendants in Nri town today; and if not why?
Nri oral tradition generally agrees that just as the practice of Ikpu-alu (Cleansing of abomination) is the customary prerogative of Umudiana, so is the authority to confer Ozo title. The tradition further informs us that the first Nri man to be conferred Ozo title by Adama Umudiana was Okpobe of the present Uruofolo Villlage of Akamkpisi-Nri. According to B. I. O. Odinanwa in his book, The Foundations of Nri Kingdom and Hegemony: being an authenticated statement on the early days of Nri kingdom:
“The new arrivals were delighted to discover that ‘Ofo’ trees abound in Umudiana and that the people were using the ofo for the same purpose as they, the new comers. It was then possible for this batch of Nri people to continue the performance of the title of ‘Ichi’ ‘Ozo’. The Umudiana supplied the ‘Ofo’ while the new- comers supplied the ‘Alo’ with the Ofo and Alo, Chief Okpobe from Uruofolo was the first person to perform the ‘ozo’ title and earned for his village the name of ‘Uruofo-na-alo’ shortened as Uruofolo. Up to this date, anyone who wants to get the true staff of justice; ‘ofo Nri’ must get it from Umudiani. Ofo got from any other place is known as ofo isi (blind ofo)”.
Historically as even confirmed by Onwuejeogwu, Agukwu-Ugbene were the last of among the six sections of settlers to settle in the present Nri town. The order of settlement was Umudiana first, followed by Umunsekpe (Agnana), then Ekwenyika, Uruofolo, Diodo, and finally Agukwu-Ugbene. So Onwuejeogwu’s claim that one Ifikuanim conferred Ozo title on Ezikanebo of Umudiana was spurious and lacks historical substance.
Furthermore, Onwuejeogwu’s assertion that Umudiana are still entitled to a portion of meat as the aboriginal owners of Nri clearly renders the claim of their feminine status false and inapplicable within the context of patrimonial rights and privileges in Igboland. However, the next part will deal with the position of Ifikuanim as a historical personage and Agukwu-Ugbene claim to Eze-Nri stool.
***Dr. Nwankwo Tony Nwaezeigwe was formerly Director, Centre for Igbo Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and presently Odogwu of Ibusa and President, International Coalition against Christian Genocide in Nigeria (ICAC-GEN) He currently writes from exile in Metro-Manila, Philippines.