Erosion of values: Threat to Igbo’s strength – Anya

PERSPECTIVE

My discoveries as a philosophy student in the Unical years back opened my mind to research, which I have found intriguing. The Ika/Igbo civilization is beyond what imagination can capture.

Our forebears could be likened to the most intelligent species of human beings in history.. the Igbo area covers the larger part of Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Imo, Ebonyi, Enugu, Abia, Rivers, Benin, Anambra, Kogi, and Benue.. the nsibidi language was one of the foremost indigenous languages ever known to man.. the findings of the Igbo Ukwu archealogical excavations give credence to this fact.

Trust me, when i look at the topography of old bende, especially the valleys of ohafia, the landscapes of Alayi, and the mangroves of Aro, I can’t help but imagine what secrets lie beneath the earth.. forget about archeological diggings in Egypt, si ka egwu tu godi ebe ndia mkporo aha.. the world will learn a lot. When I ponder where the disconnect happened, I can’t but think about the present day Nigeria, where aru has become a norm and something to be celebrated.. there has to be a connection between the current celebration of misnomer by a people who were once highly cerebral and the mystery of how we lost our way centuries ago. Do you know that the Igbos were known or rather are the progenitors of democracy?

Before Plato, Socrates, and co began their dialectics of government/governance and its forms, our forebears were civilized enough to know that every man has a right to be heard and that a group decision supercedes that of one man.. The Igwe and Elders in Council, who were representatives of all the clans in every community is a signpost to that fact. Before feminism ever became a fad, our forefathers knew and understood the essence of femininity.

The titles Eze Nwanyi, Ugoeze and the fact that some communities in Old Bende are matrilineal are core evidence of how highly placed women were in our culture. It was the early Caucasian race that didnt value the true essence of women. We some how borrowed that culture or rather, we became indoctrinated with that farce..it wasn’t an Igbo thing ab initio. Our forebears understood astrology and cosmology. They knew the planets, the sun, and the moon and were able to count days using the divine four market days. Eke, Orie, Afor, and Nkwo. How did we miss our way? Where and when did the disjoint happen? These questions and more are what we, scholars, and pretty much everyone else should be asking, but unfortunately, we are deliberating in hushed tones the dishonesty of Supreme Court justices who, in the real sense of fear wouldn’t dare mispronounce judgement if we had evolved as we should because amadioha will strike them in murderous instant…We have become so attached and enchanted by the voluptuous bum bums of women. We gasp when they the loose cheeks of bumbum slap each other under light clothing and sheepishly chase them to the point of no return.

We have become a race who celebrates wealth no matter how ill it was gotten. We have become adept at cheating and anyone who seem not to be chained by the shackles of lascivious shenanigans are looked upon as foolish and harebrained. Anyi na aru na mpu have become siamese twins that even the best skilled surgeons will find daunting to separate even if they travel through the pores of the anthill to the world beyond to seek the metaphysical assistance of Mma-Onwu/Mmanwu(Masquerade)

Things Fall Apart, can the center ever hold?

Ikenna Anya is a public affairs analyst and an advocate of “Igbonness”