WHY NO IGBO PERSON WOULD EVER BE A SUICIDE
BOMBER
By Anayo Nwosu
A natural Igbo man is a born rebel even to his own God. The
stubbornness of the Igbos to their various deities and to
even the christian God is very legendary if not more defiant
than that of any other race I know.
Igbo's continuous worship of a deity or a supernatural force
is chiefly based on the deity's performance and not entirely
out of fear.
Therefore, it's a common saying in Igbo land that "Arusi
nyebe nsogbo egosi ya osisi ejiri pia ya" meaning that "if a
deity becomes unreasonable, it will be told the wood from
which its symbol was carved".
It is an age-long practice in Igboland to "dis-God" a deity by
a general consensus or acclamation in a properly
constituted meeting of all members or the natural
representatives of a village or town .
Once a sentence of "no more worship" or "sack" is passed
on a deity in a general meeting of the worshippers or
citizens of a community, the shrine of the dis-goded deity is
destroyed and the deity is expected to take flight and leave
the community.
The same goes for the evil forests owned by powerful
deities.
Nnewi people captures this by a saying that "o bu madu siri
Edo nwelu Nkwo" meaning " that Edo deity owns Nkwo
market land and the adjoining thick forest was because it
was so given by Nnewi people" and that the same citizens
could as well repossess their property from the deity at
anytime if they so wish.
Edo is the supreme and most powerful deity of the Nnewi
people.
The power of Igbos in abridging the influence of their gods
was proven in the 1980s at Nnewi, when the town agreed to
clear the dreaded Edo evil forest to build the Agbo Edo
International Market.
The initial attempts by the state government's contractors to
clear the forest were resisted and frustrated by the deity as
powerful snakes, bees and mysterious birds openly chased
the workers away even with their earthmoving equipment.
They were too hasty.
It wasn't until all the Ndi Isiobi (or village heads) led by the
traditional ruler of the town, Igwe KON Orizu, assembled at
the precinct of forest and announced to the deity, the
decision of the Nnewi people to repossess their land, that
the clearing of the forest became possible.
The Igwe symbolically felled a shrub and all other village
heads followed suit, one after the other. By this single act,
the supreme deity had been properly served a notice of
repossession. Edo had to comply.
The contractor who was asked to commence clearing after
this important ritual was surprised that none of those
dangerous animals or spiritual soldiers opposed or harmed
their workers until the entire evil forest was cleared and a
modern market erected.
There is a long list of many deities in Igbo land sacked for
either demanding more expensive sacrifices or acting
against the interests of the general populace or their
worshippers.
It is noteworthy that no one person, not even the chief priest
of a deity can summarily sack or de-god a community deity.
Due process must be followed. There must be a consensus
otherwise the action is severely punished by the deity itself.
Many ignorant converts of new religions have gone mad or
their children seriously afflicted because they single-
handedly destroyed shrines of their community gods or
appropriated property belonging to a deity without first
securing the permission of the family or community
members.
Igbo men and women wonder how a deity, called God or
Allah would expect mere humans to help it punish its
enemies. Such abdication of duty by a supreme being is
incomprehensible to an Igbo man or woman.
In Igbo land, a deity worth its reverence or worship,
demonstrates its ability to fight its own battles. Why would
an entity be worshipped if it relies on a man to subdue
human beings or elements to its glory?
The tested power to strike dead (as Amadioha deity does) or
bloating the stomach of offenders (as Udo deity does) are
the marketing tools employed by the Igbo deities to awe
their worshippers.
It is by routing miserable diseases and misfortunes on
enemies and showing instant justice to the supplicants that
the obeisance, trust and greater worship are obtained from
Igbo followers of a spiritual being.
Igbos believe that the job of a drummer should be separated
from that of a dancer. Hence, they would never obey the
instruction from any deity that asks them to the beat drums
and at the same time expect them to do the dancing. A god
should fight its own popularity fight.
For an Igbo, it smacks of a high fraud for a spiritual being to
recruit him or her to kill and coerce unbelievers to worship it
when simple miracles or signs and wonders which should be
the hallmarks of such a deity, Allah or God, can do the job.
If an Igbo man must kill a fellow human being, it is must be
for an earthly gain or an instant benefit, not for a reward
that would be received elsewhere.
This is the belief of the Igbos; the very same reason why
they fear no human authority because by their nature they
can and do fearlessly disinherit, banish and even sack their
own gods.
If you are in search of a suicide bomber, count an Igbo out.
They see it as a spiritual fraud
