Emeka Esogbue

  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 whe...

  A Brief History of Ibusa By Emeka Esogbue The Ibusa account of foundation depends on oral sources as continually handed down from generations, and also documented by the writers of the community’s history of origin. The community offers an example of a bipartite society, formed by two distinct movements from two dissimilar settlements that have now merged. Indeed, it is a federation of two autonomous communities considering that its major founders were from Nri and Isu of the Igbo outside the present Anioma enclave. Nevertheless, the modern community of Ibusa has the three founders being Edini (founder of Ogboli), Umejei (founder of Igbuzo) and Ishite (founder of Ezukwu).   Ibusa, an Igbo-speaking settlement as it exists today was founded in the 15 th century by two major migrations to the West of the River Niger Basin. The movements were by migrants from Nri and Isu, two ancient settlements that are located in today’s Southeast part of Nigeria. The Nri migration oc...

  Prince Umejei: Origin of the Ibusa Founder Deepens in Controversy By Emeka Esogbue The historians of Ibusa, a clan now located in Oshimili North Local Government Area of Delta State have been in historical struggle to ascertain the original homestead of Umejei, the major founder of the community. Although the legend of the settlement clearly indicated that the progenitor of the community is Umejei Nwa Eze Isu (Prince Umejei) who hailed from Isu of South East Nigeria, that particular Isu in Igboland is not retained by the legendary account. The attempt of the community’s historians to ascertain this part of Isu has been frustrated by this oral tradition and further hampered by lack of documented sources by early writers to unravel the historical challenge confronting the people. the Europeans who also visited the community did not take interest in digging into the history of the people despite the relations shared with them. For the reason presented above, researchers workin...