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On Odinani, the Igbo Religion By My ears were dragged on both sides, by a Reverend Father on one ear, and Prof. M. O. Ene on another, when I obviously touched off a firestorm by saying that the Igbo did not have a religion. About four months ago, I had had a spirited kitchen symposium with the Rev. Fr. regarding the nature of Igbo spirituality. What the ready availability of telephone in this country has accomplished for me is that it helps me greatly to fish out with relative ease, who and who can answer my now many inquiries. The priest is an authority on Igbo Theosophy or Theology, and a professor at the prestigious Catholic Seminary in Enugu. He insisted that the Igbo have a religion, but he was not prepared to name the religion, saying that name or no name, there was a religion. I was not satisfied. Then I took my case to cyberspace and bang! Prof. Ene weighs in.
After the priest read my posting on Gamji.com, he called me to once again tell me that the Igbo have a religion, and asked if I had read a response posted on Gamji. I was excited, so I raced to Gamji and saw it was Prof. Ene waving his authority on the subject with menacing finality. He did not mince words. "Odinani: Igbo Religion," his banner headline screamed. I discovered Prof. Ene about four-five years ago and have since gobbled up whatever he writes. This professor of Automobile Engineering, is, arguably one of the most brilliant human beings I have ever met. Why engineers turn out great writers is a subject somebody should explore. And, not to disappoint, reading Prof. Ene's rejoinder to my piece, you'd be left in no doubt as to the thoroughness, erudition, authoritativeness of his submission. His article, which by the way, I had read before, threw enormous illumination into the question of Igbo traditional religion.
But, there is a problem. After reading the article and convinced that he might be right, I began to call some of our Igbo anthropology and sociology professors I know. I asked them what was the name of Igbo traditional religion. None knew. I asked them what "Odinani" was, one of them said that it was the same as Omenala, another said that it had nothing to do with religion exclusively, and two others said that Igbo traditional religion had no name and did not require a name. So, how did Prof. Ene come up with "Odinani?"
To me there lies his genuis. I am willing to accommodate myself within Prof, Ene's name inventions or identifications. Afterall, human society is dynamic, we can add or subtract. Reading Prof. Ene defining culture, to include religion as a component of culture, one begins to wonder: "which one is the people's way of life; culture in which religion is a part, or religion which does not stand on its own?" I had at one time disputed a gentleman who claimed that "Islam was a way of life" when I argued that what really is the way of life of any people is their culture, since religion was a part of culture. I buttressed my argument by saying that before Islam came to the people of Northern Nigeria, they had their culture, that they simply added Islamic practices to their culture. If Islam was a total way of life, how come all the countries of the world who practise Islam do not have a monoculture? Is the culture of the people of Pakistan the same as that of the Hausa of Nigeria, the Yoruba Muslims of Nigeria as well, etc.? My point is that culture is the umbrella which shelters the people's total way of life.
I had also argued in the last article that no language is complete in and of itself. Every language continues to arrange and rearrange in ongoing structural evolution. When the argument ensued as to what the Igbo should call university it was finally agreed to call it "mahadum." As well, we agreed to call technology "teknuzu" by that, Igbo language was undergoing "metamorphosis of a kind," for lack of proper terminology.
This kind of symposium is good for our souls. We should do more of this. I encourage everybody to join. No idea is cast in concrete. And nobody knows everything. A Yoruba gentleman wrote to ask me if there was Yoruba 101. Fact is that the Yoruba are by far ahead of the Igbo in this subject of self awareness. The Hausa are even better. But by engaging in these ethnic knowledge excursions, we enrich our understanding of who we are, and who others are. Ogaranya Uju Nkwocha Afulezi, Ph.D Duru Akwukwo III Ndi Umuohiagu December 2001
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