Walter I. ANIEROBI, Bsc, Hons, LL.B Hons in View

Faculty of Law, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, Igbariam

anierobiwalter@gmail.com

Introduction

The art of storytelling is common and highly revered across Igbo communities, Omor Igulube is not an exception. Epic stories are not mere imaginations of writers. It is often a record of great people and event as they occurred in the day-by-day life of communities and societies. As I welcome you to the 2020 OMOR-in-Focus and Ofala festival of HRH IGWE (DR.) ORANU CHRIS CHIDIUME, Eze Igulube, Eze Anaukwu, let me tell you one of the uncommon but very interesting stories of one of the legends of the Kingdom which was handed down to me by my father and to him by the generation before him.

You must have heard stories about Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Niccolo Machiavelli among others in the history of intellectual tradition of classical western philosophers due to proper documentation by the Whiteman. Today, Omor-in-Focus of Igulube Kingdom, you will learn about another outstanding personality called Okpanadili. This piece presents a brief background of the revered wise man and traditional philosopher. It discusses lessons from his wisdom and depiction of knowledge.

Birth and Family Background

The birth and lineage of the wise man ‘Okpanadili‘ could be traced to Isiamagulu kindred in Isiekenabor village, Aturia quarter of Omor, Igulube Kingdom. Okpanadili is well known by both the young and the old throughout the 20 villages and 4 quarters of Omor, the 8 communities of Ayamelum Clan (now Local Government) and even beyond for his high sense of reasoning, upright character and depth of knowledge.

As a great farmer with several lines of barn stocked with yam tubers, he was a wealthy titled man of honour and blessed with many children who still live in the present time. Some of whom are the popular families of Anesi, Anaobu (Anierobi anglicized), Okagbue, Nwalieji, Ilegbua, Asado, Okonkwo, Ndumuanya, Muria (female) in Isiekenabo village of Aturia quarter of Omor. In contemporary period, descendants of Okpanadili include but are not limited to some of these reputable titled family heads such as Hon Chief Joseph U. Anierobi, Chief Okafor Anesi, Chief Vincent Nwalieji, Chief Okoye and Okonkwo Okagbue (Late), Chief Anango and Elias Okagbue, Chief Peter Chukwuemeka, Nze Okolugo, Chikasi, Osebe, etc. The entire family is well known for their industry, hardworking, farming and wisdom. However, as a result of Okpanadili’s revered wisdom, individuals, kings, elders and entire community always consulted him for advice and guidance in solving their day to day life problems.

Okpanadili loves the unity and progress of his family, his neighbours and the community at large. As a wealthy titled chief, he had a large farmland where he cultivated varieties of crops such as yam, rice, maize, melon, etc. Hence, his teachings and philosophies ranges from importance of wisdom through the unity of families and communities.

Philosophies of Okpanadili

Okpanadili held key believes that constitute his major quotes in contemporary life:

• Ako na uche bu onyinye kachasi onyinye. Sense is the greatest gift in life that determines one’s status in the society
• A united family brings about success while there is failure in a family where there is no unity
• The essence of law of crime in any society is to punish, deter, and correct wrong but not to bring an end to human race
• Wisdom or sense cannot be taught because issues must come first before one knows what to answer or respond about it. Different event occurs every day in life and it requires different answer.
• The stomach does not reveal what was eaten but a lazy man does the most difficult part of the work
• Telling a person the truth about his nature or bad character is not an insult but helping the person to know and correct his ugly behaviour.

Importance of Unity in the Family and Community

As a man with many children, Okpanadili was worried about how to teach members of his immediate family the benefits of unity as a family. One faithful day, he took his entire family members to the farm in order to teach them the lesson. While the family members were farming, he went into the bush and gathered logs of wood and tied it together with rope. Some of the sticks tied with the logs of wood were intended to be used to tend to his yam’s tendrils. When he came out from the bush to his farmland, he called his eldest son and sent him to bring the bundle of woods. His son went to the place where the log of woods was tied but could not carry it alone. He returned and told his father that it is too heavy for him to carry. His father felt very unhappy and sent another of his sons. The second son was not able to carry the log of woods either. He sent all of them one after another but none of them was able to lift the log of woods. Okpanadili told his children to go together, untie the rope and carry the logs of wood separately. When they got there, they untied the bundle of woods and were able to carry the logs and sticks separately as each person got one out of it. The children returned to the farm and Okpanadili assembled them. He told them that the family represents the logs of woods tied together in a bundle, that if they can be in unity, nobody or other families can defeat them in life but if they are not united like the untied log of woods, they will be weak and can be defeated by even an individual. Interestingly, his family members have spread into the present Isiemeagulu Kindred. Okpanadili was able to keep his large family together and they cooked with one pot and were using one mortar and pestle which is still in Okpanadili’s abode in Isiemeagulu today. See the image below;

The lesson from this teaching transcends beyond family ties to community and even nation building and development. Omor Igulube Kingdom is well depicted by this lesson. As large as the quarters that make up the Kingdom, namely; Orenja, Akanator, Aturia and Amikwe (in their order of seniority), the bond of unity and love is unbreakable. The Kingdom is tied together by bonds of unity ever knitting the quarters as invisible whole. Okpanadili’s thought, life and wisdom are in understanding the remarkable harmony, progress and unity manifesting in Igulubelism of Omor Kingdom. A lot of derivations could be made from this lesson in understanding socio-political integration in multiple societies, Nigeria inclusive where the concept and practice of federalism is tied to some factors including to ensure security, economic for the units in the form of unity in diversity.

Community Versus Individual Freedom

In those days, Ikedi the hunter in the far away Mbanta village was sentenced to death for killing Udenze the only son of Ogbuefi Ebenebe of Isiagu village. It was gathered that Ikedi mistook Udenze for a wild animal at Ugwu Okorie forest during midnight hunting and he shot him. Alas! The supposed wild animal turned out to be a human being. The intensity of the act strained the relationship between Mbanta and Isiagu villages. On several occasions the elders of both villages deliberated on how to resolve the case but to no avail. They agreed that the only remedy to placate the soul of the deceased was for Ikedi to commit suicide for killing his fellow man while others disagreed. The decision rang terror to the ears of the villagers that war might ensue between the two villages.

During one of the meetings to determine the fate of Ikedi, one elder sprang to his feet and greeted everyone, he suggested that he knew a certain wise man by name “Okpanadili” in the far away Isiekenabor kindred in Omor Igulube Kingdom who could give the best solution to the murder case. Both villages agreed to seek the advice of Okpanadili to avoid inter-community war.

However, the day was gloaming as Okpanadili came out from his hut with a wooden stool trailed with one hand. He walked to the oval shaped hibiscus flower ornaments in his compound and sat on the chair. He brought out a small mirror from his side goat bag which was hanging on his arms. He took the mirror with his left hand stretched such that his face shown in the mirror. A dark but handsome old man in his late 70s, his body stature nicely built that he appeared younger than his real age. He clinched aapkee (a razor blade) firmly in his right hand and was grading and shaving his beard like a bulldozer working on a new road. It was very early morning and the sun was yet covered by the cloud’s labyrinths as visible mass of water droplets suspended on the air. The delegated elders from Mbanta and Isiagu villages arrived in his compound and were received with warmth. Okpanadili led them into his hut, offered them kola nuts supported it with 20 cowries as usual in welcoming visitors/guests in Igbo tradition. The eldest of the delegates took the kola and offered prayer to Chukwu Okike Abiama and the revered Aja-anaukwu in Omor Kingdom. It was after the prayers and the sharing of the kola that one of the elders narrated the incident that brought them to Okpanadili and concluded that it should be customary that the price to be paid for murder is suicide. ‘We are here to seek your advice the wise one,’ the elder ended.

Okpandili gathered three stones into a wooden bowel and kept it outside the hut. He asked an elder from Mbanta and Isiagu to go and pick one stone each from the wooden bowel. When the elders collected one stone each, Okpanadili went and picked the remaining one. He asked them to go and pick a stone from the wooden bowel for the second time. Both of them came and told him that there was no stone to be collected any longer. Okpanadili the wise man began: ‘This is the lesson, if you kill Ikedi for mistakenly killing Udenze, the families, the villages and humanity will lose two human beings at once and enmity will linger among yourselves. He thus stated that the essence of law of crime in any society is to punish, deter and correct wrong but not to end humanity. My suggestion is for Mbanta village to marry Ikedi’s sister to Ogbuefi Ebenebe. It may be against the sister’s wish but individual freedom is not superior to community freedom. It averts war and encourages unity through inter-communal/tribal marriage.

In conclusion of his suggestion, Okpanadili observed that, in period, “we have small human population to be able to pay murder with murder’, and all the elders nodded in agreement. The two villages were satisfied by this suggestion and they left happily. Many native story tellers affirmed that this ruling by Okpanadili is the foundation of Igbo tradition and custom which marries a relative of a murderer to the deceased family in what is referred to as Nkechi-madu. This tradition and custom sustained most of the Igbo society until the coming of the white man with his complicated and sometimes unending litigation in the court of law.

Wisdom is not Taught

On hearing the classical ruling on murder and exchange of female relative in marriage to assuage the family of the deceased at the time, one elder man later came to Okpanadili to teach him wisdom. The man wanted to be wise in order to make placating verdicts in situations of family and communal challenges like Okpanadili. Unfortunately, the sage did not share his views. He replied the man that “wisdom or being sensible cannot be thought because issues must come first before one knows what to answer or respond about it. Invariably, Okpanadili alluded to his firm belief that sense if the greatest gift and cannot be taught. Different events occur every day in life but they require different answers and solutions”. The elderly man marvelled and thanked him that he has learnt new thing in his entire life.    

God Answers Prays according to Prayer Requests

Omor Igulube Kingdom was and is well known for Aja-anaukwu festival celebration annually. Ajaanaukwu is one of the biggest festivals celebrated in Igulube Kingdom. It is usually followed by other such festivals like Uta Nne Mulu Nne, Akwali, Eri-ochana, Utakigbagwu among others. Wealthy families celebrate Aja-anukwu festival with cows, some with goats and others with chicken. Most elders who could not buy cow or any other meat for such festivals usually hide their plates and pot of soup from their neighbours. It is customary that the festival is celebrated with pounded yam, nsala (white soup) or ofe egwusi garnished with assorted meats.

It happened that ‘Idaboh’, one of the laziest men in the village could not provide the special food delicacies for his family members on one of the festival days. He was restless and did not know what to do. His greatest worry was that many villagers would come to his compound in the evening to share in the joy of the season.

He decided to seek advice from Okpanadili to avoid the pending embarrassment. It was on his way that he met Okpanadili going to the village square to join other titled chiefs to perform some customary rites for the festival celebration.

‘Nze Okpanadili, the wise one, I greet you Sir!’ ‘Idaboh, the lazy man, greeted revealing his teeth as he was smiling. Okpanadili responded to the greetings with a corresponding gesture. Idaboh did not hesitate to ask for advice on what to do to avoid such embarrassment; having no meat, pounded yam or nsala soup for such revered festival. Okpanadili cleared his throat, asked him about the size of his family members and he replied. Okpanadili told Idaboh that he would have given him (the lazy man) food and meat if he had asked for it but God (Chukwu Okike Abiama) always answers prayer according to each individual’s prayer request. He thus advised Idaboh to get sufficient toothpick for all his family members and that when the villagers ask him why his family members have toothpicks; they should reply that they have eaten too much meat for the festival which is causing despair (please, ensure better grammar here – I do not think that the word despair is appropriate here) in between the gaps in their teeth. The lazy man nodded in agreement and asked what if the villagers found out that his family members did not eat any yam or nsala soup. Okpanadili answered that the stomach does not reveal what was eaten but a lazy man does the most difficult part of the work. There is no art that reveals the meal eaten anybody by merely looking at the stomach.     

Telling the Truth about a Person’s Nature or Bad Character is no Insult but Deterrent

When Okpanadili got to the village square, the elders were resolving dispute between two persons. What happened was that one of them was denied audience during an age grade meeting on account that he was caught two years ago for stealing a person’s property. He was paraded round the village as the custom demands. So when he argued about his right of audience, his age mates told him that criminals have nothing good to suggest for the progress of the age grade. Fight ensued and they were brought before the elders. Okpanadili in his usual wisdom told them that telling a person the truth about his nature or bad character is not an insult but helping the person to know and correct his ugly behaviour. Speaking the truth in dire times could be deterrent to bad character and behaviour. By extension, Okpanadili believes that integrity and dishonesty cannot be attributed to one person at same time. In sane societies, irresponsible and persons with questionable characters should not meddle into leadership. The criminal deserves his name and should be addressed in his real form and character.

In another occasion when the villagers agreed that anyone keeping domestic animals should give it mark for ease of identification and recognition, Okpanadili submitted that his own mark of identity and recognition to his animals is that all the animals without a mark belongs to him. He exhibited similar knowledge during one of the moonlight stories. Many people gathered in his compound as usual with their respective corncobs (cob of maize) to enjoy the night. His wife was to cook the corncobs for them but the problem was how everyone would identify and recognize their own particular corncobs after the cooking. They agreed that everyone should give their corncobs certain mark in order to recognize it after the cooking. Okpanadili plucked out his own and put into the cooking pot without marks while other people made certain marks on their respective corncobs. It was after the cooking that people realized that some of their corncobs maize seed fell into the pot during the boiling and they cannot find it because the only person that plucked out his own maize seedling as a mark of recognition was Okpanadili.

In Igulube Kingdom and its environs, the name Okpanadili is associated with wisdom and knowledge. Intelligent persons are metaphorically called Okpanadili. The name is therefore a working definition of knowledge, smartness and everything associated with respect and reputation. Omor people generally are known for their intelligent, honesty, dedication, trust, generosity, kindness and brotherly love. They are their brother’s keeper.  Okpanadili is a sage that lives in many persons today and would continue to live on with the coming of intelligent people.