u G I

A Band21

Special Volume

of the

Religion, Historical Semantics the Role of Perceptive Verbs

VERLAG · KOLN 2010

Sprache und Geschichte in Afrika 21: 81-93

Power

Igboland, Southeast Nigeria

Johannes Harnischfeger

Introduction

The invisible has become a crucial element in constructing new political

authorities. I will deal with techniques of visualizing occult forces that assume

political and judicial functions, starting with the example of oracles in Igboland.

Oracles are places where visible and invisible agents meet and exchange messages.

They are also business ventures, operated by priests who compete for customers

and advertise their services. Competition between religious entrepreneurs dates

back to precolonial times, yet it has intensified since charismatic churches seek a

direct confrontation with "paganism". Christian pastors and prophets who engage

in spiritual warfare against their traditionalist rivals have adopted similar strategies

to visualize their power. However, before describing how the power of deities is

made visible, I want to say a few words about the opposite process: how crucial

aspects of social life, such as the origin of wealth and power, have become

invisible.

forces in the sphere

With the decline of the state, power defies institutional regulations and grows out

of public control. It becomes unpredictable and appears to be linked to hidden

forces that may be manipulated by secret techniques. In all spheres of life it seems

advisable to take occult influences into consideration. At the universities, for

example, students seek the help of miracle doctors or (Christian) spirit mediums in

order to pass their exams. Government employees seeking promotion or

businessmen looking for customers arm themselves with amulets against the evil

magic of their opponents, and in politics too, the rise and fall of actors seem to

depend on invisible forces. Despite the introduction of "democracy", the use of

power has not become more transparent; rather, "power is located other than where

the law proclaims it to be".1 As in the period of military dictatorship, cliques of

politicians, rich businessmen, and (pensioned-off) army officers arrange among

1 ELLIS & TERHAAR 2004: 190.

-----------------------�-

JOHANNES HARNISCHFEGER 82

themselves who will fill which positions - a game of intrigues and swiftly

changing alliances. Whoever gains power, at whatever level, must defend it

tirelessly since its possession is no longer secured by institutions. Power attaches

itself to certain individuals and leaves them again, without clear criteria that would

make its use calculable.

The assumption that power is rooted in the realm of the occult is corroborated by

politicians who consult all sorts of spiritual and magical experts. The Governor of

Anambra State, Dr. Chris NGIGE, reported that he had to visit the dreaded shrine in

Okija, before he was given the governor's ticket of the ruling People's Democratic

Party. His godfather, a wealthy businessman, had forced him to swear to the deity

that he would not betray the pact they had agreed upon, namely that NGIGE would

be made governor, and in return he would help his patron to loot the state treasury.

In two neighbouring Igbo states, former ministers revealed that their governors had

forced the entire cabinet to swear oaths to some obscure deities. Notions of

witchcraft and other mystical forces have penetrated the heart of the state, as Peter

GESCHIERE observed more than a decade ago.2 This has severe consequences for

the future of democracy in Nigeria and other African countries. Politicians do not

feel responsible to the people; they are bound to spiritual pacts.

Governor NGIGE'S secret oath at the Okija oracle only became known when the

police raided the shrine and detected 83 corpses in its vicinity.3 According to the

priests, the dead bodies had been brought to the evil forest surrounding the shrine

because the deity residing there had killed these unfortunate people. It was a matter

of divine justice. Like other famous oracles in Igboland, the Okija deity acted,

among others, as a final court of appeal. When contending parties were unable to

settle their disputes, because each of them insisted on their claims, they could

travel to the shrine and take an oath, calling upon themselves the wrath of the deity

if they lied. By swearing falsely, the guilty person insulted the deity and would die.

The same punishment awaited businessmen and politicians who visited the shrine

in order to seal political pacts or business deals. Whenever a vow sworn at the

shrine was broken and the deity felt offended, it would take revenge, so that the

guilty party, wherever he or she was, would die within a certain period of time. The

corpses of the deceased were not allowed to be buried, but were handed over to the

priests who displayed them openly around the shrine as proof of the deity's

determination and strength.

GESCHIERE 1997: 200.

Newswatch [Lagos], October 11, 2004: 18-20; ELLIS 2008. -The sacred groves contained several

shrines, yet Nigeria's media referred to this complex of oracles in the singular: Okija oracle.

SPIRITUAL WARFARE IN IGBOLAND 83

Oracles as sovereign powers

In p�e�olonial West Africa, oracles had great influence in .

stratified societies. The Dente shrine in today's Gh segmentary as well as m

the kings of Ashanti In 1873 't d ' d h

ana .was regularly consulted by

. · , 1 pre 1cte t at the empire wo Id l 'f

·

m a war against the British, but its advice was not taken 4

uT

ose ' it engaged

estabhshed itself, and the shrine lost influence It still operat.

d

he colomal power

but in a social environment dominated b a c�lonial

e.

on � perso�al le�el,

to predicting the political futures The �ost f

bure�uc�acy, it was ill-smted

Ibinukpabi or Long Juju was �wned b amous orac e

. m southeast Nigeria,

Igboland. Colonial offic�rs described

/a

:h: ;;;r; fr:��le

y

:� :�e b�rderlands of

��gf;�� ��itmJ campaign again�t it. Before they started their con��est':����o�:��

, ey ynarmted the shrine and executed some f · t .· 6 · suggested that the clash between the indigenous peopl� �:/:�es�. �his

. strategy

had occurred on both levels, the physical and the s iri e ore1gn mvad�rs

confrontation with "pagan" d ·t· .

P tual. Today, the colomal ei ies is re-enacted by Christian pr h t d

who lead crusades against idol-worship and sometimes dest

op e s _an pasto�s

�ee1;s tha� oracular deities have regained some popularity in re:��t ;:r�e��:��� ec me

. o sta�e mst�tutions, violence has spread, and Nigerians lack

.

H f

m�c�amsms w�h which to settle disputes. Having no access to a neutral th�rd

e��:� ar 1 er mean

.s t at groups who get mvolved in a conflict are also burdened with

task of solvmg that conflict among themselves.7 Igbo politic1·ans 11'k G

the

NGIGE h f h h · · '

e overnor

human' i:t�or;�y ��d

e�u���: s

t�:i re:;;� r;o

��5i�= j:�::�:ia�; /!�e

c�:�:�::��1�5; declSlon� of pa�y executives and parhamentary meetings. A powerful shr·

. h

a reputation of impartiality'

may be the better option. me, wit

In �he p.ast, oracles were not as irrational as colonial officers claimed It is diff �o 1�ag1�e

h

thaUhousands. of sup pi icants travelled for hundreds of k i !�meters u�cd�;

ars an azai dous cond1t10ns JU St to meet some fraudulent priests. s The Aro, who

4 MAIER 1983: 38-39.

TONKIN 2004: 550.

DIKE & EKEJIUBA 1990: 311; Afigbo 197 l : 8.

KOPYTOFF 1987: 18; HORTON 1981: 85-86.

Colonial officers who destroyed the shrine re orted th l . .

actually killed but secre tly sold into sl PI d

at t 10se found gmlty by the oracle were not

avery. n or er to deceive the c ·

f .

who waited outside the shrine compound th .

ompamons o the victims,

emerged from the sacred grove Ho ' e

tl

pnes�s poured goat blood into the creek tha t

· wever, 1e existence of these r knowledge already half a cen tury ago whe W B

prac ices was common

European, gathered information on Aroch k

n ��LIAM AlKIE (196� [1856]: 313), as the first

h

u wu. seems the quarrelling parties wl d h .

way to t e Aro shrine preferred to ignore the element of human decept1'0 d t

10 ma e t elf

n an o surrender to the

JOHANNES HARNISCHFEGER 84

owned the oracle, had established a commercial empire with about 150 tr.ading settlements in Igboland and beyond, so they possessed enough 1

9ocal

. infor�ation to

pass well-informed judgments that no-one dared to challenge. It 1s u�l.1kely that today's oracles will regain such prominence. Under postm�dern co�d1t10ns, they

have to compete on a worldwide market of spiritual and magical services. Whether Nigerians turn to miracle pastors or shrine priests, to a Freemasonry lodge or a

Holy Grail centre has become an individual decision: anything goes. In a world .of

pick-and-mix religion, people cannot reach a consen�us o� how to deal with mystical forces. Born-again Christians and devout Muslims will not accept the old deities being given public recognition. However, oracles have so�e advanta�es which their priests can display. Before talking about the market1�g strate.g1es connected with shrines, I want to discuss how their invisible power is conceived and what features make it attractive.

From a European perspective, great oracles resembled the mortal god Lev�athan, as Thomas HOBBES designed it. They were sovereign in their decisions, with power over life and death. Against their verdicts, men had no protection, no possibility of appeal. Like HOBBES' absolutist state, they were artificial creations whose authority rested on a social contract signed by autonomous groups or persons who agreed to submit to an independent authority . Oracles gained prominence more than 200 years ago, when long-distance trade spread and trade routes had �o be secured. Allies in trade had no common ancestors to whom they could appeal m the event of conflict. So they established a common deity, who guarded their agreement by punishing any party that violated it. Spiritu

.al authorities t.hat

enforced contracts were in high demand. In the eighteenth and nmeteenth centunes, when wars and slave raids intensified, villages moved together and formed defensive alliances, which they placed under the protection of common deities. In Alor Uno, a town, or better an association of 31 villages close to my former university, people told me how their town deity, a famous oracle called Adoro, came into existence . When their ancestors moved to Alor Uno and settled on the land, they did not know Adorn, nor did they meet the deity there . Adoro was produced by a sorcerer from a neighbouring town as a protective "medici�e'.'. In order to strengthen it and charge it with knowledge, a human was sacnf1ced. Gradually the medicine turned into a deity, though it retained its impe.rsonal character. I learned that Adoro is female, but people often referred to her with the impersonal pronoun 'it'. She was not represented in pictures or scu�ptures, nor .was she integrated in a pantheon of gods or in mythical stories that lllight have given her some personal features. Like other oracles, she was expected to act automatically. As an abstract, anonymous force, she did not represent the

illusion that they were subjecting themselves to an impartial deity. As in today's postmodern

Nigeria, belief in the ability of certain deities was not absolute but mixed with scepticism.

Dn<E & EKEHUBA 1990: 136-138, 196.

SPIRITUAL WARFARE IN lGBOLAND 85

?ommunity �r any of its founding heroes. Though her influence was felt massively m all the villages, she was perceived as an alien force, set apart from human civilization. Her shrine was situated in a bad bush on the outskirts of town. In this patch of wilderness, the laws of human society were suspended. Murderers who manag�d to escape justice could feel safe, as soon as they reached the sanctuary of the shnne. As a force of the wilderness, Adoro played a paradoxical role. She was meant to domesticate and civilize society, but she was not domesticated herself. A similar paradox characterizes HOBBES' Leviathan. The sovereign, as the main agent of social pacification, is not bound by any law, as he has not signed the social contract. Being still in a state of nature, he can kill his subjects at will. The most dreaded oracles, such as the Long Juju, could kill any accused on the spot. When the stream that emerged from its sacred grove turned red, people knew that the god's verdict had been executed. Despite this ruthless use of power, the oracle attracted clients from far and wide who paid enormous fees to present their case. When litigants were embroiled in intractable disputes, say over ownership of land or succession to a chieftaincy, they had only two options: they could fight it out among themselves or let a third party decide. In the absence of state institutions, people imagined spiritual authorities which exercised a similar sovereignty. Great oracles, as the final arbiters, shared three basic features:

They were invested with overwhelming force, beyond all control. They were distant authorities.

They did not represent the people, but were alien, non-human agents whose decisions were shrouded in secrecy.

In short, oracular deities were the very opposite of a democratic authority. In order to understand what made them so attractive, let us look more closely at their features:

1. O�ly a sovereign power could enforce its judgments as final, thus ending conflicts before they escalated into a chain of violence and counter-violence. Moreover, since a sovereign power could not be put under pressure it had the chance to act impartially .

2 .. Local diviners were reluctant to accuse certain persons of a crime, since they might expose themselves to retaliation, whereas the priests of a far-away oracle were freer in their judgments as they did not have to live with the consequences of their verdicts.

3: �unishing alleged criminals was dangerous, as it might trigger a cycle of revenge killmgs. Segmentary groups had to defend their members against outside a?gression, so they were easily provoked when a clansman was declared guilty and killed. A verdict was more readily accepted, if it was not pronounced and executed by members of rival groups but by a non-human authority that transcended local

JOHANNES HARNISCHFEGER 86

disputes Parties that turned to a shrine believed, or pretended to b�ldieve, th�t t

thh

e ·

·

H y had to be hid en, as m e priests acted as instruments of the deity· uman agenc . .

M k d case of masquerades, which often acted on the �rders of secret soci�tles.

ff

asd

e s

men enforced law and order by exhorting, attacking, and even executmg 0 en h

e� at night. yet they did not provoke resistance, because they descen?ed upon � �r

victim in the guise of ancestors or local spirits that represented the mterests o t e

whole community.

Politics of intimidation

No oracle has ever established a monopoly in its area of operation. Peop�e l�o��g

for divine justice have always had a choice, so they assessed sceptica J

Y.

e

erformance of oracles, diviners and spirit mediums.10 How was the Long UJU or

fhe Adorn shrine able to win credibility and fame? The success of a �reat 07�le

that established its reputation for generations did not rest on the chansm� � t�s

priests nor on their trustworthiness. Most Igbo woul� probably agree t � .

e

riests in Okija or Arochukwu were mainly interested m mo.ney. Fam�us s nnes

�ere sometimes located in a dramatic or uncanny natural envuonment, m caves 0� ravines, but their physical structures were �ot i�press�v�. In terms �f s�c:�

s b ildings the old deities could not compete with theu Christian and Muslim nv

. ·

-;;_oreove;, as we have noted, oracular deities in Igbolan� we�e �ot embedded m a

m thology that might have provided motives for visuah�atlon. As abs�ract,

a:On mous forces, they were operated by ritual experts, . hidden �rom ordm�y

view� What mattered to those who were attracted by a shnne was its un�elentmg

power. yet there was no possibility of observing the dea�ly force� emanatmg fro; shrine. As there could be no direct evidence that a deity had kille? a person

. Y

:ending a disease or causing an accident, such spiritual murders remamedd

an �bJeC� of s eculation. Nevertheless, the cults of Adoro and

.at

.her oracles

. eve ope

strat�gies to demonstrate their power. When priests or divme�s ascertame? t?at a

Person had been killed by a certain deity, they urged the relative� of the vd

ictlm hto

h d ve At the shnne of A oro, t e bring the corpse (or severed head) to t e sacr� gro

. . .

. f d and corpses were covered by mounds of sand; m Okip they

. were

. murmm ie

openly displayed so that visitors to the shrine could see with theu own eyes how

many people had perished under the judgment of the oracle. The �?re corp:�.\�

deity had drawn to its abode, the more respect it could command: the pow

. . ,, 11 harm is the basis of their venerat10n .

The corpses scattered around a shrine carried yet another terrifying mes�ag�. !h�y

reminded everybody approaching the shrine that those who had offende t e ei Y

IO TONKIN 2004: 542.

11 HENDERSON 1972: 115.

... !

SPIRITUAL WARFARE IN lGBOLAND 87

could find no means of evading its judgment. No counter-magic had been strong enough to manipulate the verdict; no other deity had offered protection against

Adoro's wrath. Even the family of the deceased had to submit to her authority. They did not dare to bury their son or daughter at home in their own compound, but had to cast them away as though they had been cursed. Throwing them into an

evil forest was the customary way of dealing with people like witches or lepers, who had suffered a "bad death". Without the honour of a proper burial they could not turn into ancestors and were forever barred from being reincarnated in members of their family. Instead of being venerated by their descendants, they roamed the wilderness as dangerous, malevolent ghosts. Humans tried to avoid them, but Adoro and other deities drew them to their abodes. With each corpse brought to the shrine, the number of aggressive spirits associated with it increased.

In this way the deity could enhance her strength and fearsomeness. 12

Adoro displayed her impressive power not only in the evil forest surrounding the shrine, but also in far-away places. When she killed somebody, she claimed the

property of the dead, including his or her homestead. The houses had to be abandoned, and if Adorn did not hand back the immovable property to the family that used to live in it, then the buildings deteriorated and were eventually reclaimed

by the bush. Such an enclave of desolate wilderness in the midst of human habitation was an uncanny sight. The alien deity had conquered this patch of land and turned it into a medium to advertise her strength. It served as a constant reminder to those in the environs that nobody could touch what the deity claimed. By observing this taboo, villagers acknowledged Adorn' s supremacy and made her invisible power a social reality.

A final example of the marketing strategies of oracles is the institution of cult slaves, called Osu. When Adorn killed a person, the family of the victim had to appease her, lest she continued to haunt them with misfortune and more deaths. In order to pacify her, they sacrificed one of their members, in most cases a girl or a young woman. This human offering was not killed, however, but sent to live close to Adorn' s shrine as a cult slave. Unlike economic slaves, Osu could not be redeemed; they and their descendants remained forever the property of the god. In precolonial times, their right ear (or a part of it) was cut off, and they were not allowed to wash their body or cut their hair.13 Living on the fringes of the wilderness, cursed and defiled, they illustrated in a drastic way the ruthless power of their spiritual master. They had no chance of escaping, as nobody would grant them refuge. Even their former relatives were afraid of taking in somebody who belonged to a deity. Today in Alor Uno, where Adoro resides, there are thousands of Osu, or rather their descendants, living in separate quarters of the town. Since

12 HENDERSON 1972: 115, 176, 272.

13 OKEKE 1986: 38, 59-6, 64.

JOHANNES HARNISCHFEGER 88

colonial times it has been prohibited to call them Osu and to discriminat� �gai�st

them. They look like freeborn citizens, and their villages �av� .no distmctlve

features. Yet they are separated from their fellow-Igbo by an mvisible boundar�.

No freeborn would allow them to live in his vicinity or to marry one o� his

daughters. Though most Igbo are Christians, they are still afraid of contractmg a

curse if they come too close to the property of a deity. !he.

s�ell .of the old g�ds

cannot be broken by state legislation which outlaws discnmmatl�n. A. growmg

number of Christians is convinced that there is only one way of hberatmg those

whom the gods hold in bondage: spiritual warfare.

Iconoclasm

All over Igboland, Christian churches and their "traditionalist" rivals fight each

other by invisible means. The effects of these spiritual en�ounter� can ?� observed

in the material world, but it can never be stated with certamty which spmtual a?ent

has caused what. When the Okija shrine was raided by the police and 31 p�iests

were arrested, the Bishop and founder of the Overcomer Christian Mission claimed

spiritual responsibility. Two of his followers - he said - had been threatened by the

oracle, so he wrote a letter to the priests warning them: "In that letter I place�

curses upon them and commanded the Holy Ghost fire to destroy them and their

shrine" .14 Since the priests did not stop molesting his faithful, he went to see the1:1

in person and gave them an ultimatum: "I called on God to kill them �nd burn their

shrine to ashes if they refuse to repent after one year. That day the pnests gave me

seven days after which I would die, because they c�aim_ed I too� away what

belonged to their gods. But I gave them one year to pensh if they failed.

to repent.

Exactly one year after, August 4, 2004, God dealt with them accordmg to my

" 15 prayer .

When I met some of the Okija priests and asked them about their encounter w.ith

Bishop EKEWUBA, they were surprised. They did not know him,.

a�d the� dem�d

that their shrine had been burnt. It seems the Bishop had used his mterview with

Newswatch to inscribe his name into an event that had occurred without any effort

on his part at a remote shrine, some 50 kilometers away from the �ity where �e had

his church. For church owners like EKEWUBA it is crucial to acquire a reputation of

"demon destroyers" because they promise their clients spiritual fortification by

breaking the spell of occult powers. In the case of the Bi�hop, ther.e may have been

a further reason why he touted himself as a crusader agamst satamc forces: He had

to launder his image tainted by a scandal that had hit the news in No�emb�r 199�.

When citizens of his hometown Owerri rioted against a syndicate of ntual killers, it

14 Bishop ALEXANDER EKEWUBA, in Newswatch, September 6, 2004: 49.

15 ALEXANDER EKEWUBA, in Newswatch, September 6, 2004: 48.

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SPIRITUAL WARFARE IN lGBOLAND 89

became known that one of its members, a young millionaire, had regularly attended the church services of the Overcomer Christian Mission. So the crowd raided the church, detected two human skulls and burnt the building, together with the

Bis hop's residence. 16

�hile Bi.shop EKEWUBA may have invented or exaggerated the story about his

fight agamst the oracle, direct clashes between Christians and traditionalists do occur, for example in Alor Uno where a Christian prophetess destroyed the shrine

of Adoro. Prophetess NGOZI was a native of Alor Uno who had good reason to loathe the deity. It is said that Adoro killed her parents and that NGOZI was chosen

to be de�icate� as an Osu in order to appease the oracle. But she refused to accept

her Osu identity and ran away, staying for years far away from Alor Uno. When she returned in 1994, she was powerful enough to take revenge. Though she was a Christian, she did not doubt that Adorn possessed enormous powers. She therefore

fortified herself by praying and fasting, days before she attacked the shrine.

However, inner spiritual strength was not enough to confront the Adorn priests. In

order to raid the shrine facilities she needed supporters who were willing to expose themselves to physical and spiritual counter-attacks. How could she convince others to join her in fighting a deity that had a reputation of invincibility? After all,

NGOZI was not the first to risk an assault. Others had tried before, but they had either paid with their lives or become mad. Unlike her unfortunate predecessors,

how�ver, she was in a better position to win popular support as she had already

acquired some fame as a prophetess when she arrived in Alor Uno. And she soon

gave proof of her extraordinary spiritual gifts. A few weeks before she attacked the

shrine, she went to the house of a wealthy man, whom many suspected to be the

"president" of the local "witch club". She exhorted him to come out, kneel down before her and embrace Jesus. Of course, the man did not submit but thundered

back with a curse, declaring that NGOZI would be dead within a fortnight. Yet ten

days later, it was this self-assured man who dropped dead while walking to his farm. For those who had observed this spiritual showdown, it was obvious that NGOZI had killed him through the Holy Spirit, and this demonstration of strength

encouraged many to follow her.

When NGOZI and her adherents smashed the Adorn shrine, she documented her victory by taking away the sacred objects and displaying them in the central

�arket. In addition, she organised a "cleansing" campaign in order to purge the villages of Alor Uno from all remnants of "paganism". Surrounded by a crowd of

young men, some of them with axes, machetes and iron rods, she went from house

to house, destroying family shrines and searching the whole compound for jujus. 17

16 SMITH 2001: 587. 17 For Eur�pean observers it may be obvious that the destruction of "idols" must have been inspired

by the mtolerance of the Christian God who does not suffer any other deities beside him. However, Nooz1 did not believe in monotheism and she was not interested in theological

JOHANNES HARNISCHFEGER

90

What she collected was again carried to the market square and added to the shrine

paraphernalia. As her cleansing campaign went on for weeks, she brought toge�her

a huge heap of mysterious objects, which attracted spectators from far and wide.

People were curious to see all those hidden things that the prophetess had brought

into the open. The sheer number of charms was terrifying, as it _ re_vealed how much

mistrust and resentment existed between neighbours. For Chnstian observers, the

pile of religious and magical objects (which was lat�r burnt) �ooked like a moun­

tain of evil, yet it also served to symbolize NGOZI' S tnumph. Smee she had neutral­

lized the power of these dangerous objects, they lost their function and becam_e _part

of a well-staged publicity campaign, giving a most impressive proof of her spmtual

superiority.

The prestige which she gained by destroying a famous shrine and cleansing whole

villages was a valuable asset when furthering her religious career. It enabled he� to

establish a church which took over important functions of the destroyed shrme.

Victims of theft or poison came to her from far and wide in order to be told who

had attacked them or stolen their property. She also cured diseases and barrenness

or predicted the future. And for all these services she a�cept�d m?ney from her

customers. As a spiritual expert who could make rain and identify witches she :vas,

of course, suspected of being a witch herself. Her social sta�us remamed

precarious, and the only way to guard against possible accusations w�s _by

emphasizing the Christian character of her mission. All the emblems of Chn�tian

piety: the bibles, rosaries and the white garments of her _fo�lowers, served to dispel

rumours that she was in league with demonic forces. This is not to suggest that she

was not a sincere Christian. In her fight against forces whose power she could not

assess the Bible was a major source of encouragement, giving her strength and

self-c�nfidence. The stories of the old Hebrew prophets which she loved to quote

promised her that in the end she would triumph, eve� over the worst of �er

enemies. Yet she miscalculated. Her traditionalist antagomsts destroyed the healmg

centre which she was establishing in the market square. And on Christmas Day

1999 NGOZI died, just about 30 years old, leaving no children to mourn her. Her

followers were stunned. They could not believe that she was irretrievably dead, so

they did not bury her but waited for her to resurrect. Not until three days after her

distinctions between trne and false gods. She rather argued that Adoro served no useful purpo�e

for the community since her verdicts were manipulated by a clique of priests.

an� eld�rs. This

argument was in consonance with ancient religious attitudes. For the precolomal mhab1t�nts of

today's Igboland it was even legitimate to resort to iconoclasm. People reserved t�e nght.

to

discard useless or vicious deities and to destroy their shrines, though they had to act with caution

when dealing with a powerful deity: "[The lgbo] manifest the mos� utter.

negle.ct and even

contempt for many of their gods. On every side one sees ruins of shnnes e�ther simply left t� decay or from which the 'spirit' has been driven out" (BASDEN 1983: 214; cf. OKOROCHA 1987.

198). Another aspect of Nooz1's "crusade", the violent appropriation of sacred objects, was also

part of the religious tradition in Igboland ( cf. DIKE & EKEJIUBA 1990: 135).

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SPIRITUAL WARFARE IN lGBOLAND 91

death, when her body was decomposing, did they finally acknowledge their loss. Nev�rtheless, they vehemently denied that she had been killed by Adoro. Instead of handmg her corpse over to the shrine priests, they buried her in a fine grave in the

courtyard of her mission centre. Most observers, however, saw her sudden death as

evidence that Adoro had taken revenge. It was better not to quarrel with the goddess but to offer the sacrifices that were due to her.

Conclusion

Christian churches that engage in spiritual warfare have adopted many features of

their traditionalist rivals. They often resemble cults whose owners offer exclusive

access to spiritual powers. Despite their militant rejection of "heathenism", they share to a large extent the religious universe of their opponents. Thus the encounter between them is �ess a clash of religious doctrines than a contest of strength. Most Igbo are pragmatic when pondering which deity may offer them the best services.

They "judge by results", not by dogmatic considerations: People "pursue [spiritual]

power wherever it manifests itself'.18 This pragmatic attitude does not necessarily favour a "modern", universal religion like Christianity. In a world of intense

uncertainty where state institutions are no longer able to settle social conflicts it se�ms that the ancient gods are often better suited to provide protection and (le�al)

gm�ance:

The Adoro cult in Alor Uno, like many other cults that were expected to vamsh

. ':"ith �he spread of Christianity, is thriving today. And in Okija, where state

authonties nsked a massive confrontation, the police crackdown turned out to be just a temporary defeat for the shrine priests. Immediately after the raid, the council

of traditional chiefs in Anambra State "embarked on a seven-day fasting and prayers to evoke other deities in the state to fight the cause of the desecrated Okija

deity."19 And subsequent events proved to many observers that the oracle was able to outplay the state authorities. All the arrested priests were released while Nigeri

_a' s General Inspector of Police, who was ultimately responsible f�r their

detent10n, lost his job. The official reason given for his removal was an accusation of corruption, but every Nigerian knows that corruption has never been sufficient cause to sack a ci�il servant. The fall of the police boss corroborated what people have encountered m all spheres of public life: that crucial affairs are decided in a world hidden away from ordinary citizens, beyond democratic control.

18 BASDEN, in 0KOROCHA 1987: 213, 81. 19

Newswatch, August 30, 2004: 26.

92

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