Opinion
Appraising Kingship In Ndoni (11)
For instance, the Aboh and Ndoni ancient towns were
first founded by the Igbo-speaking elements from Nri or Awka zone. For Aboh, they were the Akala or Akalai party whose eponymous ancestor was Ogidi who magically invoked down an imposing rock (salvivic water deity) that aided his party to cross the Niger from Isala axis, a reason why the ancestors of Akili never drowned in the river. In Ndoni, they were the Obonya elements, whose ancestor was Awka, father of Aguukwu to Ezenwocha and Anyaogwu. Both Ogidi and the Awka were reputed to have arrived at the banks of the lower Niger about the 10th century or before. History has it that the Onya siblings among the Akalai elements moved downstream and founded the Onya town before Aboh conquered the Akalai people and dispersed them into founding the Akalai Obodo, Akalai-etiti, Akili Ogidi and Akili-Ozizor area of Ogbaru – spreading to Delta and Anambra States. Among the Onya siblings, are those in Onikwu, Atani, Engeni, Okpai and Onuabor, etc. As the Igwe culture follows them along, it is wrong to relate the aborigines of this group to Benin without any linguistic and cultural evidences. The name “Akalai or Akili” originated from “akala” or tattoo-marked ichi faces of the ancient Igbo elements at Aboh axis. The word “akala” got corrupted to Akalai, Akarai or Akili with time, movement and linguistic associations of stranger elements in the midst of the people at various locations. Indeed, Ndoni axis was the focal point for the crossing of the then narrow Niger to the Aboh complex by the first Igbo immigrants that enculturated the Aboh-Benin elements with Igbo language. It was as a result of this language that King Boy of Brass in the 18th century, described the Obi Ossai of Aboh as the king of Ibos during the slave trade. Moreso, from Ndoni axis, the group noted as Aguukwu descent moved to found the Odugili town near Ndoni in the 16th century. Historical trend also proved that a descent group noted as uchi elements (umu-nshi or Umu-nri) also came from Nri, crossing the Niger from Ossomala axis to settle in the west bank, which a fractional group (Umu-uchi or Umu-nri) still settled in Ossomala and Odekpe towns first before the Igala immigrants arrived around the 16th century A. D.
For the fact that “Ndoni town” is a place of larger population and wider recognition in the district/area, the name is used to benchmark other smaller neighboring communities in Ndoni District as in Rivers State, hence the former Midwestern state of Nigeria named the district “Ndoni Area” and also called it “A special Area”, meaning (a district across the Niger with petroleum, gas and other natural resources). Ndoni area by 1976 became a district Headquarters administratively headed by an Assistant Divisional Officer (ADO). Despite the fact that the present Councils do not take proper care of the area, it is still one of the Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni or ONELGA outpost headquarters under the surveillance of the Awoh of Ndoni.
According to the Oxford Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary by A. S. Hornby, “Revolution is any attempt to change a system of government, especially by force. It is also defined as any attempt to change any system or condition. Does the traditional coronation ceremony of 23rd November, 2013 represent a systematic subversion of the power of the Awoh or a revolution of the system of kingship in Ndoni District? Either of these may be saturated with sedition, anarchy and cultural hopelessness. In pursuit of the anthropological history of Ndoni Kingdom, the Igwe title of the extinct, ancient and acephalous Obonyan society of the early Igbo stock, was a gerontocratic patriarch (not king) of Obonya, who after the political and military conquest of the Obonya by the Ndoni royal stock in the 15th century, became the title of the Eze –Agana Juju priest, below the Awoh in the entire Ndoni Kingdom, as established by the first Igwe Ezenwocha in the 17th century, just the same way as the Igwe title became of the Onikwu patriarch leader and priest of the Onite (Iguana) deity till date. How then can anybody in Ndoni Kingdom per se, take this priestly title as kingship? At least the Ndoni historians should be consulted before this arrangements; even though kingship in Ndoni must follow the ancestral divine right as all dictionaries of politics cover.
The reigning Awoh kingship in Ndoni kingdom originated with Omeke aborigines of Ndoni who migrated from Benin City through the modern-day Bayelsa State in the 15th Century. The kingship did not originate from Onikwu village either. The title of Igwe Akkah, however, has no cultural empiricism that can be traced back to the past as any existed kingship in the entire Ndoni Kingdom. It only represents ethnical degradation in Ndoni culture, if it sustains.
As for the personality of Chief Victor Odili, he is a figure to reckon with as far as the socio-political history of Ndoni Town and the entire Ndoni area is concerned. However, my contention is that the Awoh of Ndoni kingdom, who is already recognised and coupled with the famous standard of Ndoni in Rivers state and Nigeria, should have been the rightful king to bestow whatever title to him in order to legitimize it, given the ancientness and royalty of Ndoni Kingship, socio-political achievements and personalities that have so far risen from such a kingdom Akwe-Obodo is yet a patriarchal chiefdom, not a kingdom. How can an elder from a non-royal family of a chiefdom crown a person in an existing royal kingdom or is it a cultural bastardization and desecration that may sound ridiculous in history? As an Ndoni anthropologist and historian, I remember that on 14 June, 2006, I interviewed HRH Dr. Gabriel Okeya Obi X, Awoh of Ndoni about the recognition of other Ndoni district traditional rulers, which he said he had advised them to install their rulers and introduce to him, the Awoh, for confirmation.
As for the right whatsoever to raise any assistant ruler of Ndoni District, it is the place of the Awoh or for any urgent need, the Okpala-ukwu (odua) of Ndoni to do so. If the Odua does it, the Awoh confirms it on the throne later. The Oldest man in Ndoni district outside the royalty cannot be determined from the blues by political and egoistic randomization engendered by a revolutionary intent. This is because it is an extreme view to canvass for social horizontalism (non-hierarchy), in any African society. The oldest man in Ndoni district outside the royalty cannot be determined by Oracle or by skin wrinkles any longer, but by the early intellectual exposure of the Ndoni district people
Two days after the interment or enthronement of the king, Mmanwu may be invited later for benediction and spiritual biography of the king. The Mmanwu amidst prayers for long life of the king recounts the Mmanwu anthem which is “Igo Ofor and goes away after one (1) hour. For the king’s invitation of the Mmanwu, cows and fees for logistics are heavily sponsored, depending on the number of Mmanwu bands invited. Any other reason for inviting sacred Mmanwu to enthronement feat amounts to cultural cynicism against the traditional statusquo, otherwise it is unnecessary.
From the view point of a writer and social commentator, the only way the Ndoni people may not be sniggered for vested interest and opportunism is to come together, close ranks and arrange things traditionally and conventionally for the world not to see this trend as a dynastic revolution and expediency, arising from a cross-sectional intransigence of some elements.
Concluded.
Ikwuazom is an Ndoni historian and anthropologist.
Charles Ikwuazom
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