Telling Our-story, Not His-Story

Our fore-parents said ‘Igbo bu mmuo – Igbo are spirits’, they also said that it is
impossible to tell the ‘Igbo story’.
We, the members of Ekwe Nche Research Institute/Organization do realize that we
attempt to do the impossible, but since it is important that “the Igbo story” be told, by no
other but Ndi Igbo, we have taken on this most important challenge.

Nno nu (welcome to you all).

Igbo Kweenu – Yah!
Igbo Kweenu – Yah!
Igbo Kweezuonu – Yah!
All Praise and Glory to Chi Ukwu (The Supreme Being), the Mighty Yah.

Using a series of quotations from the writing of the few who have attempted to study the
Igbo, we shall try to paint a picture of the Igbo.
One of the questions that we, the members of Ekwe Nche Research Institute/
Organizations will try to answer at the onset is, how far does written record trace The
Igbo?
As our research digs up more written information, this page will be updated.
One of the early mentions of the Igbo is in Babylonia, regarding the contributions of Igbo
sages in the writing of the “Talmud”, this strengthens and puts to rest any doubt about
one of the claimed heritage (by members of Ekwe Nche Research Institute) of Igbo, the
Hebraic Heritage of the Igbo.
It is important that we stress and be reminded that the Hebraic Heritage (worldwide)
come out of the “Omenala (of Igbo)”, as we shall eventually prove from our research.

What is the Torah or Talmud?

”The purpose of the Talmud is Talmud Torab (literally study of Torah) in the widest
sense of the word, that is, acquisition of wisdom, understanding, and knowledge, since
Torah is regarded as encompassing everything contained in the world. An allegory in the
Talmud and the commentaries depicts the Torah as a kind of blueprint for the
construction of the world. … The concept of Torah is immeasurably wider than the
concept of religious law, and while Jewish religious jurisprudence encompasses all
spheres of life and overlooks almost nothing, the scope of the Torah is even wider.
Habits, customs, occupational hints, medical advice, examinations of human nature,
linguistic questions, ethical problems – all these are Torah and as such are touched upon
in the Talmud.”
…..
“IF THE BIBLE is the cornerstone of Judaism, then the Talmud is the central pillar,
soaring up from the foundations and supporting the entire spiritual and intellectual
edifice. In many ways the Talmud is the most important book in Jewish culture, the
backbone of creativity and of national life….
The formal definition of the Talmud is the summary of oral law that evolved after
centuries of scholarly effort by sages who lived in Palestine and Babylonia until the
beginning of the Middle Ages. …
The Talmud is the repository of thousands of years of Jewish wisdom, and the oral law,
WHICH IS AS ANCIENT AND SIGNIFICANT AS THE WRITTEN LAW (THE
TORAH), finds expression therein. It is a conglomerate of law, legend, and philosophy, a
blend of unique logic and shrewd pragmatism, of history and science, anecdotes and
humor. ….”
THE ESSENTIAL TALMUD
By Adin Steinsaltz
And to think that the father of the Babylonia Talmud – R. Abba Ben Ibo, the more
complete and more quoted Talmud, of the Two Talmud – was Igbo. Interestingly, Abba
Ben Ibo's lineage is traced back to the House of David.
Some of the Igbo sages who played very prominent roles in the writing of the TALMUD:
1.) R. Abba Ben Ibo (known as Arikha)
2.) R. Hiya (Iya, correct Igbo spelling) – Uncle of Abba Ben Ibo
3.) R. Huna (Una, correct Igbo spelling) – disciple of Abba Ben Ibo
4.) Rabba (uprooter of mountains) – name of his father is Nahmani (Nnamani, correct
Igbo spelling)
5.) Abbaye or Nahmani Ben Kaylil – nephew of Rabba
6.) Rava or Abba Ben Rav Hamma (Amma, correct Igbo spelling)
“As the importance of the Palestine center diminished, the great amora R. Abba Ben Ibo
(known as Abba Arikha – Abba the tall one) was confronted with the task of establishing
a spiritual center in Babylonia (it eventually overshadowed the center in Palestine). In his
youth R. Abba traveled from Babylonia to Palestine with his uncle and teacher, R. Hiya,
a disciple and colleague of R. Judah. R. Abba himself had completed most of his
education under Rabbi Judah and was one of the members of the Sanhedrin. He lived in
Palestine for many years, though apparently he returned to Babylonia on occasion, and in
the end he went back to the country of his birth for personal reasons. There he found a
number of eminent scholars but discovered that scholarship was only imperfectly
organized and standards were lower than in Palestine. R. Abba was acknowledged to be
one of the outstanding Palestine scholars, ordained by R. Judah himself, a compiler of
mishnayot and an expert on the traditions of both Palestine and Babylonia. To avoid
offending the existing communal leadership of Babylonia, he settled in the small town of
Sura, rather than in one of the main centers of scholarship, and established an academy
there. Babylonian scholars were soon attracted to the new center and thousands of
disciples flocked to study there. R. Abba exerted such a strong influence over the
Babylonian community that he began to be referred to simply as Rav, the name he is
known by to this day. The authority of the Sura center over most of Jewish Babylonia
was recognized, and the Sura academy survived in various forms for 700 years.
Renowned as a pious and noble man, Rav succeeded by his own personal example, aid,
and encouragement, in raising Babylonian standards of scholarship. One of his younger
contemporaries, the Babylonian sage Samuel, established a second center in the town of
Nehardea. Although this academy later moved, it remained the partner and friendly rival
of Sura as long as Babylonia flourished as a Torah center.
Rav and Samuel together constituted the first generation of Babylonian amoraim who
cast the mold of Torah scholarship in that country for generations to come. They were
close personal friends, although completely unalike in character. Rav’s family traced its
lineage back to the House of David, and he was connected by marriage with the resh
gulut (exilarch, or hereditary leader of the Babylonian Jewry). He was well versed in the
Palestinian tradition of study and edited several collections of mishnayot. It was in his
academy that the definitive commentary on the Book of Leviticus (known as Sifra Debei
Rav) was composed, and several of the main New Year prayers are attributed to him.
Samuel was a totally different personality, not only in outward appearance but also in
occupation. Whereas Rav engaged in trade on an international scale, Samuel was one of
the outstanding physicians of his day, a great astronomer, and head of the court of the
exilarch.
…
In the following generations many Babylonian sages made their way to Palestine and
became prominent there, but the Babylonian academies were already so large and
important that they evolved their own independent methods of study and schools of
thought. Rav was succeeded at Sura by his disciple R. Huna, while Samuel’s heir was R.
Judah, who had also studied under Rav and who transferred the academy from Nehardea
to Pumbedita, where it remained. The scholars of this period include R. Hisda, who lived
to a ripe old age; blind R. Sheshet, one of the most erudite men of his age, who had a
sharp tongue and very definite views, “a man harder than iron”; and R. nahman, the son-
in-law of the exilarch, who was a scintillating judge in the tradition of Samuel.
The third generation of Babylonian amoraim boasted two outstanding personalities:
Rabba (short for R. Abba), a brilliant man (“uprooter of mountains,” according to his
contemporaries) who became an academy head at a very early age; and R. Yosef, the
great expert on the Torah. R. Yosef went blind in his old age but maintained his
congeniality and warm relationships with his disciples, eventually replacing his friend
Rabba as academy head. The debates between these two men became part of the regular
curriculum of the academies. There were scholars who brought summaries of Palestinian
scholarship to Babylonia, and this renewed contact inspired two sages who are regarded
as the central pillars of Babylonian learning, Abbaye and Rava. Abbaye was the
nickname that Rabba gave his nephew, Nahmani Ben Kaylil (the word apparently means
“little father,” since he was named after Rabba’s father, Nahmani. An orphan, he was
brought up by his uncle and lived like him, in penury, farming for a living and studing by
night and during the slack agricultural season. He was a favorite disciple but also a sharp
critic of R. Yosef, and he learned from both mentors, becoming academy head after R.
Yosef. Rava, whose full name was Abba Ben Rav Hamma, was the follower of another
school, that of R. Nahman and R. Hisda. A very rich merchant who was on close terms
with the Persian royal house, he lived in the important and prosperous commercial center
of Mehoza. Rava was apparently younger than Abbaye, but they were friends from youth
despite their conflicting opinions. Hundreds of debates between them are quoted in the
Babylonian Talmud, and the discussions which they and their disciples held are classic
examples of the methods of the Babylonian Talmud. Both had incisive minds, but
Abbaye tended somewhat to formalism, while his colleague generally represented a more
realistic outlook. Abbaye was more moderate in his conclusions and preferred simple
solutions, while Rava’s decisions were clearer, although his halakhic method was more
complex. In numerous areas they were in accord, and many important halakhic elements
are the fruit of their joint efforts.
THE ESSENTIAL TALMUD
By Adin Steinsaltz (1976)

Origin

“The history of many peoples begins with a migration, and a founding father. But the
available evidence suggests that the Igbo and their forbears have lived in much their
present homes from the dawn of human history.”
The IBO People and the Europeans
The Genesis of a Relationship – 1906
By ELIZABETH ISICHEI
“For what are called lgbo we now are told to us by historians, archeologists and linguists
to be remnants of a wider spread of autochthonous people, by the same name, who
become the raw materials for the empires of immigrant empire-builders since 900 AD.
They tell us the Igbo have been around for tens of thousands of years. And the ‘Great-
Yam-Experiment that established the lgbo as an Agricultural civilization is said to have
occurred about 3000 BC. Parallel civilizations were developing in Africa’s Niger-Congo
and Nile Basins. The lgbo before 900AD, we can call ancient or paleo-lgbo for the
purpose of this discussion and that would include many people who are no longer called
lgbo, like the Ekiti or ljesha of western Nigeria. And exclude some called lgbo now, who
came to lgboland after 900AD. A worldwide hundred-year drought between 900-1000
AD, we are told, resulted in the collapse of empires, including the Mayan and peri-
Saharan ones. And a flood of empire-builders, some with the cobra-clad headgear of the
Egyptian pharaoh and obelisk, poured into the forest zones of Africa, both the city-state
of Kano and Ile-ife date from that period, for example.
The Three Great lgbo Disasters
Three major disasters have hit the Igbo in the last one thousand years. They are:
· The great world drought of 900-1000AD
· The Trans-Atlantic slave trade
· British Colonialism
The great world drought (900-1000AD) resulted in further desiccation and expansion of
the Sahara desert. Societies that were in former grasslands collapsed. Affected people
poured into the forests seawards. So came Eri and his people to the Anambra valley,
Oduduwa and his people to Igbomokun and Ogiso and his people to Iduu. They came,
like all myth-making empire-builders, with complicated stories, which the autochthonous
Igbo concluded were fairy tales. Till today, therefore, the alternative lgbo terms for fairy
tales are:
i. Akuko Nd’Eri = Eri peoples tales
ii. Akuko Iduu N’oba = Edo and Oba tales
iii. Akuko Ife = Ife tales
iv. Akuko Mbe N’Agu = Tortoise and Leopard tales.”

‘World Struggles for a Just World.’

By Maazi Chidi G. Osuagwu, PhD.
From Eri, and the waves of Hebraic immigrants returning home to Ala Igbo (Igbo Land),
who came before and after Eri, came the Hebrew heritage of the Igbo; From Edo
returned our brethren who had gone to build the Benin empire, due to the many pogroms
against Igbo in Benin, and started Onitsha, Oguta... Igbo who remained in Ife - our
brethren who had been conquered by the Yoruba and remained in present day Yoruba
land became Yoruba; but the most interesting and least investigated of all would be
"Akuko Mbe N'Agu", further investigation will prove that this is where Igbo scientific
heritage came from - from the greatest and oldest civilization that the world has ever
known.
Biafara:
“And he shall judge the Gentiles, and rebuke many people: and they shall turn their
swords into ploughshares, and their spears into sickles: nation shall not lift up sword
against nation, neither shall they be exercised any more to war.”

Isaiah 2: 4.
The most recent Igbo Hebraic civilization, which existed for many centuries in Africa, up
to the 15 th century, was Biafara. It was the only nation in recent memory that as far as
we know actually practiced what was prophesied in Isaiah 2:4.
“Many communities, to the west and to the east of the Niger have sectors which were
founded by Nri men. During the era of the slave trade, when human sacrifice became
common, the Nri continued to avoid it, bearing steadfast testimony to the sacredness of
human life. Ewenetem was an Eze Nri who died in about 1820, and who is remembered
for his clear teaching ‘that a slave was a human being and to kill one was
abomination’…. They turned the weapons of aggression into the ritual implements of
purification and peace. The spear became the staff of peace, otonsi, or the staff of
political authority, alo. The club became the ofor, symbol of truth and justice. The cutlass
was used in the yam cult."
The IBO People and the Europeans
The Genesis of a Relationship – 1906
By ELIZABETH ISICHEI

Archaeology:
“Archaeological findings in Iboland go back as far as four thousand years. But
archaeology in the area is still in its infancy, and its flourishing growth was sadly
disrupted by the events of the recent years, one of the lesser casualties of war. Only a few
sites have been excavated , but these have yielded material of enormous significance,
which has, in some respects, transformed our knowledge of the Ibo past. It seems likely
that the systematic archaeological work in Iboland in the future will add greatly to our
understanding of its history, though there are, of course, major limitations to the kind of
information which the remains of material cultures can supply.”

The IBO People and the Europeans

The Genesis of a Relationship – 1906
By ELIZABETH ISICHEI

Democracy:
“These spring largely from the fact that Iboland was not a centralized state, but consisted
of a very large number of independent and relatively small polities. Their number makes
the scientific study and collation of their traditions difficult, and their complicated and
democratic systems of government were not particularly conducive to the systematic
preservation of knowledge about the past.”

The IBO People and the Europeans

The Genesis of a Relationship – 1906
By ELIZABETH ISICHEI

Ohacracy – The oldest and purest form of Democracy:

“The Igbo faction of the aboriginal group, looking on those in the city who had
succumbed to the ideas perpetrated by the Oduduwa groups as traitors, continued their
raids over the settlement.
We underline the reason the Igbo were fighting a thousand years ago at Igbomokun (Ile-
Ife): IDEAS. Unacceptable ideas! They were engaged in an ideological struggle against a
perceived unjust and un-natural system. Struggle for a just world!
Writing in the same book, Isola Olomola had recorded that “in Ife tradition, also,
reference is made to ‘Kutukutu, Oba lgbo’, that is, ‘Early morning, the king of Igbo’ -
What this means is that the dawn assembly of the people ruled the lgbo (talk of lgbo
enwe eze debate a thousand years ago!) The people, assembled, is king of the people,
which the lgbo held, would be contradicted by the ‘ILE” system introducedby the
Oduduwa group. What “ILE” means is House (ulo in modem lgbo). Same thing as OBl 1
(Great Hall) or IGWE (Great Roof). This is precisely what the Egyptian term “Per aa”,
corrupted to Pharaoh, means: GREAT HOUSE. The lgbo, a thousand years ago,
struggled against a system of government where oneman’s housewas the house of all -
One man who controlled the economy by monopolizing bead-making and owing the
market as OLOJA. It is like one person today controlling the petroleum industry in
Nigeria, as Olupetro’, as well as the Central Bank.
The lgbo believed a thousands ago, and today, that political power and the economy
should be controlled by “all the people”, to avoid injustice. No one man can be father of
all - OTU ONYE ANAGHI AWU NNAM OHA! It was and is a struggle for a just world,
by the Igbo, a thousand years ago and later. The idea of the people as king still exists in
those parts of lgboland that did not come under the direct hegemony of immigrant
monarchists. One such is Obowu, from where the writer comes. The popular expression
still is “ Ohanawueze!” ‘The people who are the king’. Exactly the idea at lgbomokun a
thousand years earlier! No well-groomed Obowu person fails to address the people
assembled as Ohanawueze, as preamble to a public speech.”

‘World Struggles for a Just World.’

By Maazi Chidi G. Osuagwu, PhD.

Spirituality:
“The traditional philosophy and religious beliefs of the Nri like that of other Igbo
peoples, are interwoven and centered on five interdependent major concepts which are as
follows: Chukwu, Alusi, Uwa, and Ike Mmadu.”
“Chukwu is the Great Creator of all things. The Great Creator has four major aspects
which are manifestations of his existence. First, Chukwu is Anyanwu, in the symbolic
meaning of “the sun”. Nri believe that as the sun’s light is everywhere so is the presence
of Chukwu manifested everywhere; as the sun is all powerful so is Chukwu all powerful
and as the sun is the light that reveals things so is Chukwu the source of knowledge.
Secondly, Chukwu is Agbala, manifested in the fertility of the earth and the beings that
inhabit it. Thirdly, Chukwu is Chi, manifested in the power and ability of living things to
procreate themselves from generation to generation. Fourthly, Chukwu is Okike,
manifested in the creation of everything visible and the invisible. Chukwu as Okike
creates the laws that govern the visible and the invisible. These laws are neither good nor
bad. They are simple laws that enable things to work. Both good and evil are the products
of the invisible “beings” and “forces”, the Alusi.”

Nri Kingdom and Hegemony, A.D. 994 to Present

By Maazi M. A. Onwuejeogwu (Prof.)

The Hebraic Heritage of Igbo:

“In tracing the sources of many Ibo customs, the investigator cannot help being struck
with the similitude between them and some of the ideas and practices of the Levitical
code. The people are intensely religious. A casual observer might pronounce them
superstitious, but the fact is, the belief in the spiritual exercises a profound influence over
every detail of their lives. Their religion is not an idolatrous one as that term is commonly
interpreted, the idols, so called, being merely tangible symbols to assist them in the
service and worship of the invisible.…
In language some of the idioms met approximate very closely the Hebrew tongue.”

Notes on the Ibo Country and the Ibo People, Southern Nigeria
By the Rev. George T. Basden, M.A.
The Geographical Journal
Vol. XXXIX. No. 3. March 1912.

The Igbo in a Nutshell!

“Among the Egboes, women hold a superior rank in the social scale; they are not
regarded, as among other tribes, as inferior creation and doomed to perpetual
degradation, but occupy their 'rightful status in society.
The Egboes are considered the most imitative and emulative people in the whole of
Western Africa; place them where you will, or introduce to them any manners and
customs, you will find that they very easily adapt themselves to them. Stout-hearted, or,
to use the more common phraseology, big-hearted, they always posses a desire of
superiority, and make attempts to attain it, or excel in what is praiseworthy, without a
desire of depressing others. To them we may apply the language of Dryden - A noble
emulation beats their breasts.
Place an Egboe man in a comfortable position, and he will never rest satisfied until he
sees others occupying the same or a similar position.
It is a peculiar law among the Ibos, that when the inhabitants of one town are at war with
another, and one part or division of the town will not join in the war, they can, without
molestation, visit their relatives in the town which is at war with a division of their own,
whether men or women, no person touching them. Strangers living in the country might
visit the belligerent towns freely, without apprehension, because they are said not to have
a hand in their quarrels. Should there be an intermediate town between the two
contending towns, neither the one nor the other can step over the intermediate one to
attack his enemies without a due notice and permission from the intermediate one, unless
they beat their way in a roundabout direction to affect their purpose.
The religion of the Egboes is Judaism intermixed with numerous pagan rites and
ceremonies.
The Egboes cannot be driven to an act; they become most stubborn and bull-headed; but
with kindness they could be made to do anything, even to deny themselves of their
comforts. They would not, as a rule, allow anyone to act superior over, nor sway their
conscience, by coercion, to the performance of any act, whether good or bad, when they
have not the inclination to do so; hence there is not that unity among them that is found
among other tribes; in fact everyone likes to be his own master. As a rule, they like to see
every African prosper.
Among their own tribe, be they ever so rich, they feel no ill-will toward them. A poor
man or woman of that tribe, if they meet with a rising young person of the same
nationality, are ready to render him the utmost service in their power. They give him
gratuitous advice, and 'embrace him as their child', but if he is arrogant and overbearing,
they regard him with scorn and disdain wherever he is met.”

West African Countries and Peoples

By James Africanus Horton (1868)
*************
 Below is an interesting piece from Maazi Mbonu Ojike, an Igbo patriot and genius, he
used the term African but we have taken the liberty of substituting Igbo for African since
he was primarily writing from his experience as an Igbo. It comes from the passage
‘Religious Life’:
“ 1. Is there a God?
GOD, As A CONCEPT, is as old and universal as the word man; the idea of God is
inseparable from the fact that there is man. Whether God made man in His own image or
it is the other way around, the Igbo have always believed that there is God, the Being to
whom he attributes all creation.
In my state, He is Chineke, God the Creator. In other parts of Africa He is known by
some other names as Olisa, Leza, Allah, Osebuluwa, Eke. Everywhere in IgboLand
man’s life is very much conditioned by his relation to God. When, therefore, one uses the
word “Heathen” in describing Igbo, one makes a great philosophical blunder indeed. If
there is one thing that is homogeneous in Igbo culture, it is religion. If there is one phase
of Igbo thought that should have commanded universal respect, it is religion. But it is not
the religion of one hero, of one humanitarian, or of one saint. Igbo religion respects
virtues, ancestors, or the souls of the dead, but it does not make one human being or
character the centre of religious philosophy.
2. Concepts of God
The religion of the Igbo is not founded upon man but for man: he does not make attempts
to equate God to man. No man, we believe, is so good that he should be deified,
considered God, or even worshipped as a special son or prophet of God. Consequently,
you cannot find a human in Igbo religion who is a prototype of Jesus Christ, Buddha, or
Bahai. All of these were humans whose character ranked higher in their respective and
contemporary communities. Igbo has produced men and women of similar noble lives,
but they were never deified, because a real God is invisible and superhuman.
If it is necessary to give a name to the Igbo religious system so that it may be more
clearly understood by those who like definitions, the word is Omenana . It is a system
which holds that man’s activities are limitable by what is good for all. The name comes
from the word ana, which,…,means the earth, the soil, the land, and also custom,
tradition, law, constitution. Doing things in conformity with the constitution of the land
or the good of all is called Omenala.
For us, religion and law are unalterably interdependent. Religion establishes the social
reason for an ideal, while law or government regulates how the ideal can be attained.
Stealing is evil because it is contrary to the general social aim, namely, that a man is
entitled to the possession and use of his own property. The thief has not conducted
himself in accordance with what is good for all. God, under whom the community set up
the Omenana system, does not sanction theft. Thus the action is both sin and offence. To
God, it is a sin; to the man robbed, it is an offence. The thief must, therefore, cleanse
himself and his family of double guilt. First, he must perform sacrifice to God; and
second, he must recompense his neighbour twofold or tenfold, depending upon the
custom prevailing in the community where the loser lives.
Broadly speaking, there are two related concepts of God:
 Chineke, and Chi. The first idea is the Supreme Being, God the Creator, the universal
God. He is the same for all persons and races and nations. He has no angels or holy
messengers because He needs none. He can do everything. He created the whole cosmos
alone and without fatigue. He is not human and does not possess an animal nature that
would need food and drink; our sacrifices are symbolic. No one has ever seen Him
physically and no artist dare portray Him in wood, bronze, or painting. He is a spirit and
communicates to man not in body but in spirit.
We believe that man is different from lower animals only in one primary sense: God left
in every man a portion of His breath. When this element leaves the edifice called man,
the residue is mere matter. From this belief we derive our idea of personal gods, called
Chi in the Ibo language. There are many such Chi as there are personalities. No one Chi
is like another, because no two persons are identical. A rich man’s Chi is rich and a poor
man’s Chi is poor. A man’s Chi is masculine while a woman’s Chi is feminine. A man’s
Chi is equal to that man. This personal God does not leave its master until death. It is a
personal guard to which God entrusted every human being.
It is a common saying that a man is as great as his Chi. Thus in art, the personal god of a
baby is represented as a baby. This god is visible through the individual persons. Hence it
is not an invisible being, although it cannot be separated from the person without causing
death to the individual. This is the concept of Igbo religion which has been most seriously
misunderstood and misrepresented both by foreigners and by some Igbo who are trying to
interpret its relation to the social order.
My Africa
By Maazi Mbonu Ojike (1955)