Ofor-na-Ogu, as Igbo ontological term, is used to describe certain traditional authority and justice principles that contribute to ensure there is sanity and discipline in Igbo communities. Some of the principles in practice may involve making some petitions to the ancestors of the land or Ndi Iche for some actions and interventions on some issues; or to stake claims on any subject matter of interest. The system comes with some justice consequences.
Ofor na Ogu lay emphasizes on Igbo natural justice mantras such as: ‘Obiara egbum, gbuo onwe-ya’. Ometara, buru’. ‘Onye si naya ji ofor, jidekwa Ogu’. Live and let Live. Those who plot to destroy others should destroy themselves. Do unto others as you would want others to do unto you. Let people face consequences of their choices and actions. Let the law of retribution ensure that the guilty is punished, the innocent protected, and the societal balance restored after being disrupted by some criminal actions of some irresponsible people. Let justice, integrity and honesty prevail. People are expected to hold themselves accountable to ethical standards regardless of difficulties. Deviance may still abound despite available evidences of retributions and repercussion consequences. However Ndi Igbo will continue to talk about ‘Ofor-na-Ogu’ as part of the natural Justice principles that guide their actions and behaviors in everyday life. The purpose is to ensure there is a traditional system that justly sanitizes the community, punishes the guilty, absolves the innocent of any alleged wrongdoing, and also keeps the system going forward for better.
‘Ofor, as a word, may be written or pronounced as Ofo, Ovor or Ovo by different people. But they all mean the same thing. And so, we may use them interchangeably. ‘Ofor’ and ‘Ogu’, as separate issues, relate to each other quite closely, but they don’t mean the same thing. Ofor may be an object which you can see, touch and hold. But Ogu is purely a metaphysical concept. Ofor may be described as a sacred staff of authority and justice with powerful spirits that can answer honest prayers or petitions made to it; especially when the persons making the prayers are responsible, honest and upright. Ofor demands that the holder or the user should be a man of integrity and responsibility. Originally you cannot safely hold any ofor, if you are not responsible. Ofor na Ogu’ abhor injustice, dishonesty and irresponsibility.
Ofor may be a sacred staff of office given to traditional leaders and some male heads of traditional families to keep reminding them of the need to always serve and lead responsibly. Ofor holders are expected to be upright in managing authority and power in the process of delivering justice to all; and to always act righteously based on the spirit of ‘Ogu’, the key principle of justice and good conscience. Ofor may mean traditional prayers in form of ‘Igo ofor’; including pouring of libations to the ancestors of the land, who are Ndi Iche. Some Ofor staff or sticks may form part of the sacred artifacts found in some shrines. Ofor may therefore symbolize a deity having characteristics of divinity, or an oracle having features of a shrine, or their representations. That is why Ofor is often used for swearing to an oath to affirm or approve certain cases of interest, or over some issues in controversy, or to stake claims such as claims of innocence and ascertain them. Ofor may also be used to convict people who have done some wrong things; or to prove claim of innocence, or otherwise, of some people over some accusations or allegations. Usually anyone who swears to an oath with ofor or a deity for whatever reason may be convicted or vindicated within a timeframe of one year. But if after one year of swearing to the oath, and the person survives the wrath of the deity, then the person who had sworn to the oath is deemed or declared innocent and vindicated. Ofor does not judge unjustly to destroy or punish anyone who is innocent. Rather ofor absolves the just. It haunts and harms the guilty whose hands and conscience are not clean. Therefore anyone seeking to engage Ofor for any purpose must do so with clean conscience. Otherwise, the ofor may turn and force him to face the ‘repercussion consequences’ of his irresponsibility; the Ofor may haunt and harm him. Ofor na Ogu’ work together to convict the guilty, vindicate the innocent and uphold justice, integrity and uprightness.
‘Ogu’ is a metaphysical concept that symbolizes the spirit of natural justice, equity and good conscience in every action of the people and the ancestors in all matters of interest. It religiously guides every action of Ofor, Ndi Iche and the people to ensure justice, peace and progress prevail. ‘Ogu’ serves as a guide to the conscience of the people, especially of those who hold Ofor as a symbol of authority and justice in the office they occupy. ‘Ogu’ consciously guides Ndi Iche in taking right actions in all petitions made to them. Ofor judges wisely and Ogu vindicates justly. While Ofor may be physical in nature, Ogu may not necessarily be a physical object. But some Igbo have tried to represent Ogu in a physical form by tying a certain sacred stick with some fresh palm fronds as a symbol of justice, peace and innocence. However in Arochukwu kingdom, ‘Ogu’ remains ontological concept which ensures that justice, fairness, uprightness and integrity prevail in the community; including vindication of the innocent in all traditional and socio-cultural matters.
Most often people hear some people say: “Onye ji Ofor; jide-kwa Ogu”. Meaning: He who holds ‘Ofor’ should also possess ‘Ogu’ as a discipline of justice and fairness. He who does not possess the discipline of ‘Ogu’ in him, cannot seek any help from ‘Ofor’; or effectively handle any Ofor spiritual matters. While Ofor is authority, justice and power personified, Ogu is justice, integrity and discipline personified. And both work together in love with truth, honesty, peace and progress. That is why ‘Ofor and Ogu’ are applied conjunctively to produce desired results in the exercise of authority and justice, and proof of innocence in any matter brought before Ndi Iche or a deity.
In Arochukwu, Ovo or Ofor work with ancestors who are responsible Ndi Iche Aro. Unless you have the spirit of Ogu in you, you may not effectively hold or manage any Ofor related matters. That is why nobody with guilty conscience can successfully litigate or take any case to any Ofor, deity or shrine against some others whose conscience are cleaner. And you cannot truly perform acceptable sacrifices at any Ofor or deity and expect good results, if you are not upright with clean hands and good conscience. You may be surprised that the same deity you approached to harm others unjustly, may turn around to haunt you and harm you for your insincerity and unclean conscience. Therefore nobody can successfully approach any Ofor without possessing Ogu as a discipline of moral ethics in him. It is a matter of good conscience. Whoever seeks justice, vengeance or redress from any Ofor or deity must do so with clean hands. Whoever thinks about ofor must also think about Ogu.
Ndi Igbo also say: “Onye ji ofor, jiri Ogu, nwe mmeri”. He who holds ‘Ofor and Ogu’ will always overcome his detractors and every evil charge falsely made against him before any deity. ‘Ofor na Ogu’ are supernatural defenders and supporters of justice and fairness. They stand together to defend anybody against any evil plotted against him. And the God almighty, the supreme commander of the universe is always with the humble innocent, the just, and the upright.
Ofor is also a special tree with branches that most are naturally joined together in pieces of parts that can easily be separated with hands into some short pieces of about a foot long each. A piece of the branch part of an ofor tree is used to make Ofor staff which is prepared with some spiritual stuff, activated with some powerful traditional prayers. You can speak spiritual powers into any object and it becomes ‘powerful and sacred’. It is not permitted to cut any ofor tree branch that would be used to make Ofor staff with a knife. Ofor trees are perennial in nature and some can live for about over a thousand years. Ofor trees are rare and sacred especially in Arochukwu area. But there is one prominent ancient sacred Ofor tree by the front gate to the palace of Eze Aro at Oror village in Arochukwu. It has been there for several centuries now. It is known as Ukwu Ovor Aro. Special sacrifices, prayers and libations are often made there. Corpses of some prominent and responsible Aro statesmen are received there for special traditional blessings as a mark of honour before they are taken to their different family homes for burial.
Ukwu Ovor
Ndi Iche Aro are really the different Aro ancestors to whom sacrifices and petitions are made. The spirits of Ndi Iche are often in every ofor staff and in some other artifacts in every traditional family Inyama Avia or Awada at various Aro traditional compounds. Consequently Ndi Iche Aro have their respective individual family homes in their ancestral traditional compounds in Arochukwu. That is why Ndi Aro will always say: “Onwegi Ikwukwu uno na-aba ibeya nime”. Meaning: “No traditional home can swallow other traditional homes’. That is also the reason Ndi Aro burry their responsible elder statesmen who joined their ancestors inside their respective traditional family homes or compounds. The idea is to ensure that the spirits of their beloved departed elders and leaders dwell with them and rest in peace at their respective family homes. The eyes of Ndi Iche Aro are always watching over their own family people to defend and protect them as their worthy ambassadors still on earth.
The Ndi Iche Aro are composed of all the responsible ancestors from all the different ancestral traditional families from about one hundred and twenty six traditional compounds in nineteen Arochukwu villages. Therefore there is no single family, or compound, village or kindred, or anybody for that matter that can claim monopoly of control over the entire Ndi Iche Aro. Every Aro traditional family has a fair share in the composition of what constitutes Ndi Iche Aro. Nobody or a group of Aro can therefore evoke the powers of Ndi Iche Aro to destroy some Aro people unjustly. Any attempt to do so may mean calling for a spiritual war among the different Ndi Iche Aro from various different traditional homes in the spirit world. Fortunately Ndi Iche Aro are very responsible spiritual beings. They don’t accept worthless appeals and petitions. They don’t fight against themselves. They adjudicate wisely every matter that is put before them; they convict and punish only the guilty appropriately; they absolve the innocent freely; they guide and protect their own people from any unjust plot made against them. Ndi Iche Aro don’t destroy people recklessly.
Therefore it is an outright stupidity at its peak for anybody or any group of people to embark upon futile attempts to command Ndi Iche Aro to destroy for them some people they perceive as their enemies, or being in opposition to their wrong desires; or not being in support of their views on any issues in Arochukwu kingdom. It is not even the business of anybody to tell Ndi Iche Aro who have offended them. Ndi iche are knowledgeable enough to know who have or have not offended them. Some people forget that every Aro man has his own family ancestors as members of the entire Ndi Iche Aro. And no responsible Ndi Iche Aro will ever allow any Ndi Iche from other families to destroy their own family people who are actively representing them here on earth. Ndi Iche may even turn around to haunt and harm those dishonest and irresponsible people who go about denigrating and disparaging others unjustly. It is instructive to remember that there are consequences for every action and choice people make.
Ndi Iche are responsible male figure Igbo ancestors who had contributed positively to the progress of their family and community when they were alive. They had lived decently and died without blemishes of any known abomination on them. Though Ndi Iche now live in the spirit world as gods of the land, they are believed to see and know everything that happens in the physical world especially around their family and community. As responsible divine spirit beings, Ndi Iche want people to behave responsibly and to respect the rules and due processes of doing things in their community to ensure order and sanity prevail.
‘Ndi Ochie Oche’ are not the same thing as Ndiche. Ndi Ochie Oche are mostly the elder statesmen who are sixty five years and above. They are respected and responsible elders who have served the family and community well in some different ways. Some of them are knowledgeable in community affairs. However they are not Ndiche in the real sense of being among the dead responsible elder statesmen of the land. But they are somewhat close to Ndiche. Such people may decree certain things on earth and those things are considered as so decreed in the spirit world. There is power in their tongues and in the tongue of every responsible person of the land. Whatever that is good and just that they decree to be a norm becomes a norm; and whatever they decree as an aberration becomes a taboo. Ndi Aro often say: “Nso Aro di Aro na Onu”. Whatever Ndi Aro declare and accept as being norm becomes acceptable by Ndi Iche. Every culture and tradition change as time and circumstances change and dictate for the good of the people.
In the past, having twins were seen and treated as a taboo in most parts of Igboland, including Arochukwu. Rejection and killing of twins were seen as part of the tradition. But when time and things changed and having twins became normal things, twins were no longer seen as a taboo. The people and Ndi Iche had to accept the reality of the change, even after some bits of resistance. Twins and their mothers are now welcomed and celebrated even in many traditional homes. Ofor na Ogu saw it and quickly accepted the changes as justifiable. The lesson to learn from this, is that things change. That certain things which were considered as abnormal yesterday may become normal and acceptable today and tomorrow. Ndi Aro and Ndi Iche Aro recognize and accept positive changes that come with civilizations in the life of the people. But those who choose to live in the world of the past 17th century in the present 21st century world would have themselves to blame. They will likely face the consequences of their wrong choices and decisions. ‘Ofor na Ogu’ follow positive changes that come with civilizations that are in line with natural justice and justifiable progress. Ofor na Ogu will surely abandon behind those who refuse to accept the trends of positive changes of the times.
‘Onye ji Ofor, jidekwa Ogu’. He holds ofor as a symbol of authority and justice, should also possess Ogu as a discipline of justice, truth and integrity. He who believes in ‘Ofo na Ogu’ should also believe that things change with time. That Ofo na ogu is not rigidly tied to the things of the past alone; they are also connected and related with culture and tradition of the people which change with times. Ofo na ogu recognize the dynamics of changes that civilizations bring to the culture and traditions of Igbo communities. Everybody may claim to hold Ofor; but Ofor na Ogu know who really possess them in truth and in spirit. You can’t claim Ofor na Ogu on your side with guilty conscience. Live and let live. The just will eat the better part of the land. Chukwu Okike Abiama, the almighty God, the author of Ofor na Ogu, will surely continue to ensure that justice, truth, integrity, uprightness and progress reign in Igboland, including Arochukwu kingdom.
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