Anthony Kenuhwoh Godfred Buma

COVENANT KEEPING IN THE IGBO CULTURE

INTRODUCTION
The African tradition has a variety of cultural norms. These different norms in their
particularities have the primary aim of helping each member of the community to live in
harmony with himself, other members of the community, with nature and with the ancestors and
divinities. Failing to maintain this harmony (by going against the norms) leads to severe
consequences that involve death or terrible natural disasters. Among the many cultural norms in
the African tradition is covenant keeping in the Igbo culture 1. Though with slight variations, this
norm can be found in practically all African cultures. The question this work seeks to answer is:
what moral authority does covenant keeping possess in the Igbo culture? In an attempt to
respond to this question, we shall be demonstrating and defending the thesis that covenant
keeping being an important norm in the Igbo culture possesses a strong moral authority.
DEFINITION AND TYPES OF COVENANTS
The Igbo word for covenant is Igha-ndu which means “joining lives together”, pointing
out the idea that a covenant creates a unifying force, binding parties together. 2 As such, a
covenant can be said to be a contract under seal, as well as a solemn promise to do or not to do
certain acts, or that a given state of things shall not exist or shall exist, with its benefits if kept,
and bad consequences if broken.3 Covenant keeping is considered a very important cultural
norm, and so every covenant made is meant to be kept. Whoever transgresses it will bear very
serious and sometimes irrevocable consequences.
In general, we can note two major types of covenants in the Igbo culture:
 Parity Covenants: These are covenants between two men or groups of men. In this case,
it is a covenant among equals.
 Suzerainty Covenants: These are covenants made between man and a deity. In this case,
it is not one between equals but between a superior and an inferior being.4
It is important to note that even in covenants between men, as Perpetua Waapela notes,
once the spirits have accepted the covenant; they automatically accept the role of guardianship of

1
Igbo is the name of a large ethnic group in the Eastern part of Nigeria. Their language is known as Igbo language,
which has up to six different dialects.
2
Cf. Ignatius OBINWA, “The Covenant Rituals in Exodus 24:1-11 and the African-Igbo Cultural Concept of Igba-
ndu: Their Theological Implications for World Peace”, in Cultural and Religious Studies, 7, 8(2019), 448-449.
3
Cf. Aniekan ETIM, “Covenant: A Socio-Cultural Practice in African Society”, A Journal of Contemporary
Research 20, 1(2023), 232.
4
Cf. Awolalu OMOSADE and Dopamu ADELUMU, West African Traditional Religion, Ibadan, Macmillan, 2005,
233-234.

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 Anthony Kenuhwoh Godfred Buma
COVENANT KEEPING IN THE IGBO CULTURE
the covenant. This implies that they take charge of blessing the party that keeps it and of
seriously harming the party that breaks it.5
Origin and Reason for the Promulgation of the Norm of Covenant Keeping
The Igbo people are said to have come from Eri (sky being), sent by Chukwu (God).6
They made covenants with their God in a bid to keep the relationship between themselves and
their God intact. Thus the keeping of these covenants became an imperative for them as it is tied
with their very existence and identity. Not keeping the covenant on the other hand meant they
wanted to cut their links with their very source of life and existence. It is because of this that the
norm of covenant keeping is very important in the Ibgo culture: it is based on the reason and
context within which the norm was developed and promulgated. This is corroborated by Aniekan
Etim, who argues that covenants prevent unfaithfulness in African traditional societies, not just
because of the benefits one gains if keeping them, but sometimes even more because of fear, of
the consequences, if not keeping them.7 Today, covenants have been extended to several forms,
not only between the people and their God but also between people of different clans, for
different forms of agreeable and long lasting relationships.8
Despite the importance that the norm of covenant keeping still holds among the Igbo
people today, respect for the norm has dropped compared to earlier times. There is no doubt that
it gives meaning and cohesion to society and enhances man’s sense of seeking for the good of
others and the community in its totality. 9 But due to the influence of modernism, the terror and
fear attributed or linked to the breaking of covenants has been reduced. This is also partly
because in some cases, very frightful myths were describing the consequences of breaking some
covenants. But with the passage of time, these consequences have been proven not to occur.
Irrespective of this reduction in adherence, the norm of covenant keeping still has an important
place in the Igbo culture.

5
Cf. Perpetua WAAPELA, “Covenant as a Means of Enhancing Social Relationships in African Religion” in Swem:
Journal of Religion and Philosophy, 2008, 120.
6
Cf. Elizabeth ISICHEI, A History of African Societies to 1870, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1997,
512.
7
Cf. Aniekan ETIM, “Covenant: A Socio-Cultural Practice in African Society”, 231.
8
Cf. Iwuchukwu A. C., Christian and Traditional Oath Taking among Ndigbo: A comparative Analysis, Abuja, Rex
Charles & Patrick, 2002, 11.
9
Cf. Aniekan ETIM, “Covenant: A Socio-Cultural Practice in African Society”, 231.

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 Anthony Kenuhwoh Godfred Buma
COVENANT KEEPING IN THE IGBO CULTURE
Covenant Keeping vis-à-vis the Demands of Biblical Morality
The norm of covenant keeping is one which exists as well in biblical morality both in the
Old and New Testaments. In the same way that the Igbo people have as a norm to remain faithful
to the covenant made with Eri and Chukwu, otherwise they will have serious consequences to
deal with, so too were the Israelites in the Old Testament with regards to the covenant with God
and the entire Christian people in the New Testament. But there is an important difference to
point out here. A particularity about the conception and keeping of covenants in the African
Tradition and more particularly among the Igbos is that the God of the covenant is simply the
covenant giver. After establishing it, his next serious occupation seems to be to avenge
transgressions squarely.10 In this light, the covenant giver, God, is not known as one who gives
the necessary means to help keep the covenant, or who will go out of his way to support the
adherent in his endeavor to keep it.11 Conversely in biblical morality, we see various ways in
which “God goes out of his way” and helps man through different means for him to be able to
keep the covenant sealed between them.
CONCLUSION
The importance of the norm of covenant keeping in the African tradition in general and in
the Igbo culture in particular cannot be ignored. In this light, Laurenti Magesa notes that
covenants in Africa stress the major areas of ethical concerns in the life of the individual and
society, both with regard to domestic and social values. 12 Thus a norm such as covenant keeping
possesses a strong moral authority as it orders right action in keeping with the good and harmony
of the community in all its dimensions. But as has been highlighted earlier, it has a high
possibility of favoring what Father Paulinus Odozor calls “the Morality of fear.” This is because
in many instances, the keeping of the covenant is motivated more by the fear of the malevolent
forces and spirits that will react harshly on the person in case of failure, than because of a
genuine desire to live by good moral standards within the community.13

10
Cf. Aniekan ETIM, “Covenant: A Socio-Cultural Practice in African Society, 232.
11
Cf. Aniekan ETIM, “Covenant: A Socio-Cultural Practice in African Society”, 232.
12
Cf. Laurenti MAGESA, African Religion: The Moral Tradition of Abundant life, New York, Mary Knoll, 1997,
97.
13
Cf. Michel ISTAS, Lecture Notes: Biblical Sources of Morality, ITCJ, Unpublished, 2023.