A Study of Ilo Nmor, the Ibusa Form of Religion and Practice

 

A Study of Ilo Nmor, the Ibusa Form of Religion and Practice  

By Emeka Esogbue

BRIEF INTRODUCTION OF RELIGION

For the scholars of religious studies, defining religion has never been a simple or easy task but that which strives on controversies. Incidentally, this is also associated with the usual slipshod attitude of writers on the subject who inaccurately assume that everybody knows what religion defines and for this reason, there is no need to delineate the subject. Many scholars agree that religion is not an easy task for the students of the subject but they also think that it is necessary to define it and that the subject should be well-defined as a prelude to showing adequate understanding of the area under discussion.  

Philip A Pecorino agrees with the complexity of defining religion but goes on to adequately explicate that there are many definitions of religion that are necessary. He however, introduced another dimension to the topic on definition when he said: "It is not that easy to pin down exactly what religion is and to ensure that the definition distinguishes religion from magic and from cults and sects. Many people offer these definitions without much knowledge of the wide range of religious phenomena and the many different cultural manifestations of religion. It is a rather common misconception to think that religion has to do with god, or gods and supernatural beings or a supernatural or spiritual dimension or greater reality."

One key point that follows the mind from the above argument of Pecorino is that religion includes magic and cult contrary to the supposition of students of the subject. Laymen studying this issue  often fail to understand this. Certainly, magicians and members of cults are also religious bodies if one goes by the theoretical definition offered by Philip Pecorino.

From the definition offered by Philip Pecorino, adequate knowledge of religion should lead to adequate definition to the extent that magic, cult and sect are not separated from religion. Fundamentally, for him, sect, which is evenly defined in Word Dictionary as followers of an unorthodox, extremist or false religions who often live outside of conventional society  and under the direction of a charismatic leader are categories of religion. It gets more bewildering from this aspect of Pecorino's definition to think that "members of a false religion" are chosen bodies of religion. This also raises questions: Do religious activities operate in the dark? Are there ever hideous religions?

Whether members of false religions can be classified as religionists as now proposed by Pecorino or not is a content of hypothesis since true religionists may not place his analysis side by side the dictates of religion. Perhaps, further studies in this work will help to ascertain how convincing this proposal appears to be outside the personal judgment of Pecorino.

Another writer of religion, Richard Gombrich, in his famous book, "Precept and Practice: Traditional Buddhism in Rural Highlands of Ceylon," fell victim of the unwillingness to define subject properly when he propagated the needless task in defining religion whereas later writers on the subject now share the belief that operational definition of religion is a necessary tool to fittingly convey the meaning of the theme to the mind. Richard Gombrich may have felt that it was unnecessary to define religion for certain reasons.

In the book, "Religion Study and Practice," By Gbolade Aderibigbe and Deji Aiyegboyin (Ed) conveys the view of Gbolade Aderibigbe in "What is Religion?" Aderibigbe believes that the task of defining religion is not only possible but desirable and absolutely necessary. He went ahead to render the mechanism for achieving it pointing to what he described as normative and substantive approach as a necessary tool to reveal to the mind the very essence of religion. Religion in this way, is to be properly defined by authors working on the subject. However, he is of the opinion that there are attendant problems and implications for approaching the definition.

From the entire arguments presented above, religion not only finds definitions but viewed as "the belief in and worship of a superhuman power or powers, especially a God or gods," according to the Oxford Languages Dictionary but it is Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia that sums it up as "a range of socio-cultural systems, including designated behaviours and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations that generally relate humanity to supernatural, transcendental and spiritual elements."    

 

BRIEF HISTORY OF IBUSA

A brief history of Ibusa which lies in Anioma is necessary at this juncture to give an understanding of the background of the people's religion. The settlement is one of the important communities that make up Anioma and the Anioma area is composed of peoples who by migration trace their origins to different Nigerian ethnic groups in Nigeria. Surrounded by Anambra, Imo, Rivers, Bayelsa, Isoko, Urhobo, Edo and Kogi State, Okoh Ejime Samuel, whose work titled "Underrepresentation of Women in Leadership Position: A Study of Anioma, Delta State," published in "Igwebuike: An African Journal of Arts and Humanities, Vol 6, No. 9, 2020, is led by this geographical development to conclude that there are few Nigerian communities that are as communicable to so many immediate neighbours as Anioma. Indeed, it is doubtful if any Nigerian region is as contiguous as Anioma.

 

One geographical gain of Anioma's contiguity is peace. The people of Anioma that includes Ibusa are known to be peaceful, almost without a record of internal and external skirmishes within and outside with their neighbours, which is the beauty of the region. A heterogonous share of ancestral, cultural and geographical space with other Nigerian ethnic groups across the Igbo, Benin, Yoruba, Igala, Isoko, Ishan and the people of Rivers State appears to have prepared the people to enjoy peaceful co-existence with their neighbours. This is because not only are the Anioma people peaceful but they also possess decent internal peace and records of peaceful co-existence with their neighbouring communities.    

 

That the present Anioma area is the home of Igbo, Benin, Igala, Yoruba and others makes the area a receptor of people with different ethnic background and from different Nigerian ethnic background. This is the reason the Anioma region is considered the nation's melting pot of cultures constituting a confluence of different ethnic groups  and cultures that renders the region a mini-Nigeria. Despite this development, a synchronization of the people's culture has occurred in the preliminary stage of their history, causing their culture to become homogenous. Consequently, the Anioma people have become culturally unified to share a common culture of destiny in their existence as a unit of people and also politically tied in terms of administration as constituting Delta North in Delta State. As a consequence, culture, politics and economics regard the region as homogenous.

 

Ibusa falls within the category of the Anioma communities that claims Igbo origin by migration from Isu and Nri. Located about six miles from Asaba, the state capital and surrounded by other communities such as Ogwashi-Uku, Okpanam, Ubulu-Uku, Issele-Azagba, Ebu and others, Ibusa is not only one of the most contiguous settlements but has become heavily influenced in its cultural practices. In other words, the culture of the people of Ibusa, is the culture of the Enuani people of Anioma and the culture of Enuani is the culture of Ibusa. The Enuani communities enjoy a uniform of cultures and practices having co-existed for long on the present Anioma site. This is reflective in the celebration of major festivals in the community, all of which are borrowed and they include the Iwu Festival, Ine Festival, Ulor Festival and Ichu Ekwensu. All of these feasts are also celebrated by other Enuani communities. The Ibusa religious belief is not also different from those of surrounding Enuani communities.

 

What now stands out is that the people of Ibusa are proudly part of the Anioma nation.

 

BEGINNING OF RELIGION IN IBUSA

 

The Ibusa community in Delta State, a member of Enuani, another subgroup of the Anioma nation does not arrogate to itself the undue claim of the earliest form of religion. This is because religion has always existed throughout the history of man as far as the man's earliest cultures that came to existence. Religion has been a major vital and persuasive instruments of the socio-cultural life of man in his society with Ibusa exclusive. Deji Aiyegboyin in his contribution, "The Origin and Development of Religion" was not far from this argument when he posited that "the evolutionary theory of Charles Darwin led other scholars and anthropologists like Herbert Spencer and James Frazer to suggest that there is a sequence of stages in religion, from the lower to higher with the highest form of faith being monotheism.

The Ibusa religion is as old as the Ibusa society so that no one can tell exactly when it started and being a generational belief often handed down from father to son, it has always remained with the people since their existence. The implication is that the religion of the Ibusa people is meant to be practised today, tomorrow and forever, a derivable proverbial phrase in "Odinani ama gwu agwu, nke di na Igbuzo bu ofu obi." There may be continuing shift to other aspects of religion, causing gradual decrease in the number of adherents as already observed in the vacuum created by the loss of the Ohene of Oboshi deity since 2009 but this original religion of Ibusa will remain for them. From time immemorial, the people of Ibusa have been united by shared ancestral worship, a communality that also guides the way of life of the people. The generational belief of the Ibusa people further finds expression in Omosade Awolalu's theory of "olden," implying foundational heritage handed down from generation to generation and that which is meant to be upheld and preserved forever as previously discussed here.

 

Although the people of Ibusa are heavily Christianized today, with nearly every family claiming belief in the Abrahamic religion, the people's religious belief and ideas did not originate from Christianity. The earliest form of religion of the people of Ibusa remains the African Religion or what the early European visitors to Africa labeled animism. Any deep study of the subject by a student of religion without the propagation of the argument on which was the first belief to exist between monotheism and polytheism is incomplete. Monotheism implies the belief in one God while polytheism is the belief in multiple gods. From David Hume, we hear the propagation that "many gods" was man's earliest concept as against monotheism which evolved much later but Volitaire would raise an argument against Hume's conviction in his work, "Dictionaire Philosophique," stating that man started by knowing and believing in a single God but took up the belief in many gods due to his weakness.

 

The argument on which was the earliest form of Ibusa belief between monotheism and polytheism is pertinent to this intellectual discourse without which the dissertation would be rendered incomplete. Like all other African societies, the people of Ibusa had prior to the arrival of Europeans had the knowledge of the 'universal God.' The people had incontrovertibly developed the belief in the existence of God, maker of heaven and earth and the controller of all things.

 

Despite the development above, the earliest form of Ibusa religious belief between monotheism and polytheism, one is liable to believe that the earliest form of religion of Ibusa has always been polytheism - the belief in multiple gods and there are no availability of written documents indicating an evolution or revolution from the belief in one God to the belief in many gods at any point possible in the socio-cultural or religious history of the people. The people in believe in supreme God but he is rather approached through many gods.

 

EVIDENCE OF IBUSA BELIEF IN GOD PRIOR TO THE ARRIVAL OF THE EUROPEANS     

 

As one has repeatedly seen in this particular work, the people of Ibusa have always believed in God as the creator of heaven and earth. Despite the African concept of God having fallen under the serious scrutiny of European commentators and anthropologists who found little or no understanding in the religion, evidences abound that like other African societies, the Ibusa people have always had idea about God and also developed the system through which he was worshipped. The Ibusa people believed in God, honoured and worshipped him but this happens through other smaller gods.

 

It was Danoye Oguntola-Laguda in his book, "African Concept of God" who noted that "the real meaning of God and his influence in the life of an African, from cradle to grave' could be found in their culture and beliefs. Although we might judge and interpret some of the evidences, but (sic) it should be not be based on our own theory and set mind. We should also agree to the fact that people's idea about God, due to maturity could inevitably undergoes (sic) some modification by way 'of enrichment and correction.' This is not to say that God has never revealed Himself to this (sic) people at all..."

 

The Ibusa people knew God before they knew the Europeans and this phenomenally reflected in the names that the people bear. A further reflection of this is seen in the expression of Bolaji Idowu as quoted by Danoye Oguntola-Laguda who said:

 

"Everyone of the names is almost invariably a sentence, or a clause or an abbreviation of a sentence, which can be broken into component parts besides, the name must tell some clear story whether it be of the circumstances surrounding the child's birth, the state of the parent's or family affairs when it is born, or a remarkable event in the town or the general world."  

 

The name, "Chukwudumebi" is one of the commonest names borne by the Ibusa people. It expresses the belief that God is the guide or protector that determines the life of a man. In other words, the people find submission in the will of God as a determinant force of their fate. This explains why the average Ibusa man holds a supreme conceptualization of the God who he has never seen. The reality of the existence of God and not the abstract resides with the Ibusa man. The early Europeans, on arriving the Ibusa settlement did not introduce the people to the existence of the Supreme Being. The Ibusa people already knew God as the author and finisher of their fate. The Ibusa concept of God includes the consideration of God as the owner and giver of life. He is the one who lives in heaven from which he supervises everything on earth.        

 

IBUSA FORM OF RELIGION AND PRACTICES EXPLAINED

 

The Ibusa form of religion is known as "Ilo Nmor" and this was the traditional form of religion practised by the people before the arrival of the European missionaries who introduced Christianity to the people of the settlement. This form of religion may have been imported by the migrants from their original Isu home with later adulteration with the practices of other Enuani communities around them. Whether the religion is involved Ogwa, water, Igbe or any other form, the collective name is Ilo Nmor. Ilo Nmor, in practice, contrasts Christianity, Islam and other religions that are strange to them.  

 

Like the mother African Traditional Religion from which it branches out, Ilo Nmor lacks cathedral and is also not the religion of the book. This form of religion is not scriptural because it is passed down from one generation to the other through folk tales, songs, and festivals. It is also by these means that the religion is preserved. The practitioners regard the doctrine or system of belief as religion through which the God can be reached. By the dictate of this religion, God is best approached through smaller gods. The Ibusa Religion already identified as Ilo Nmor also relates to ancestral worship or ancestor veneration, an alternative name generally given the African Traditional Religion by the Europeans.

 

It was due to the introduction of Christianity to the Ibusa community in 1898 when the first church, St. Augustine's Catholic Church was built in the community that a new kind of religion arrived the community. Before this time, there had been Christianity in neighbouring Asaba community due to the people's proximity to the majestic River Niger. The religion would later arrive Ibusa after several attempts by the European missionaries and consequent resistance by Ibusa elders before the breakthrough was recorded by the 'desperate' Europeans who were determined to convert the 'pagans' as they were known at the time.

 

THE ILO NMOR METHOD AND PRACTICE OF THE IBUSA

 

For the Ibusa man, there are different forms of worship, but typically Ilo Nmor was the major religion. The religion entailed standing before the one's Ozalla (a deity) and while holding the kola nut, the worshipper calls on his God prayerfully and this is done inside the Ogwa. The "ogwa," is a sort of shrine usually located beside the house. It contains some hallowed articles of worship. It is inside here that worshipping activities take place. It is important to emphasize here that the Ibusa core doing word for worship is "kpele" and not "ikpe ekpele" or "ime ekpele" as now modernly known and given currency in Christendom.

 

The Ogwa also contains the Ikenga and Okwesilo deities. The Ikenga was a human being believed to be powerful with prayer hence, he is now depicted as raising his hands as an intermediary through which God is reached for answered prayers. The worshipper petitions the Ikenga and the Ikenga petitions God and his wish is granted. The raised hands are also symbolically observed in the mode of prayer of the Abrahamic religions - first by Judaism and later adopted by Christianity then Islam, the last of the Abrahamic religions to be formed. It is the belief that of the Ibusa people that Ikenga once lived as a human being but later became unseen. It is as a result of this that he is seen as a channel of prayer to God.

 

For the Okwesilo, the worshipper calls on his ancestors, mentioning their names one after the other based on far his memory capacity can carry him, prayerfully asking for favour from them. For the unknown ancestors or the ones that one becomes unable to remember, he is bound to mention the Okwesilo, asking him to assist him. One will discover that it was from this system of worship that the European missionaries etymologically derived the phrase, "ancestral worship," believing that ancestors were what was worshipped.

 

The Ogwa of the Ibusa man also contains the okpulukpu, a wooden container for holding the kola nut, alor and Ikenga. The alor is a symbol of office, similar to the swords handed the knights in Catholicism. The Ibusa people also worship the Ani deity and indeed, it would seem that the entire religions of the human race either express belief in Ani deity or reverence it. This is symbolized in the hitting of the head on the ground during worship in the Abrahamic religions and religion. Like other societies of the world, the people of Ibusa also belief in the supremacy of Ani, the reason the deity is embraced. The reverence of Ani in Ibusa religion is expressed in the name, "Anikamgbolu," borne by the people or "Ani nbaa," two expressions of "I embrace the ground." Mgbolu is the shortened form of Anikamgbolu while Ogbolu means "Egbolumani," meaning "I have embraced the ground."

 

The worship of the Ibusa people also extends to Oboshi, a river in the community held as a goddess by the people. Oboshi is also held in several legends of the people to be the guardian and protector of the people. There are folk tales retained in the myth of the people in which it is claimed that the river fought the Nigerian and Biafran soldiers during the war, impregnating them for consuming the fish forbidden from consumption and killing some of them.             

 

CONCLUSION

 

The Ibusa people are very spiritual. They expressed strong belief in supernatural power and also believe that a strong power or force controlled the destiny of man. The religion of the people was a highly complex animistic belief interwoven in the their culture. It includes belief in the Supreme Being and other lower gods, spirits and ancestors since ancestors are believed to occupy higher spiritual spaces than human beings. The Ilo Nmor religion helped them to venerate these powerful forces. As one has seen, the religious belief of the Ibusa people were polytheistic and pantheistic in nature, following the lines already mentioned in the work. There are also some elements of life after death beliefs. There is the itu uni rites in which the burial of an individual demands certain articles from the younger married sisters and nieces. Demised Obi and Omu (who is also an Obi) being a female traditional leader is sometimes also buried in a seating position with the anklets of the female Obi removed and buried with her husband.  

 

In all, the essence of this work is to show that the Ibusa has a systemized religion which though is facing neglect in the hand of the people. An example is found in Oboshi River of the people already explained here. Although some indigenes of Ibusa go as far as Israel to collect water from other rivers, the Oboshi water, something the people once believed in now suffers neglect. This is due to the presence of Christianity and other overwhelming influence of the Western nations.