Chi nà Ekè

Interior of Chi shrine at Nkarahia, an Isiokpo Ikwere settlement. Photo: P. Amaury Talbot, early 1910s.

An interview of an Urata man about the High God:

“Chineke molded the world; then Eke divided the world. Eke came out of the hands of Chi, so they became the same. They are the same mother. It is like the creation of the world: the world is one. That is the way Eke came out of the hands of Chineke. But they are the same.

If it were only for the hands of Chineke no one would die a violent death. It is Eke who divided the world and after that people died in power [probably transliterated from ‘ọ́nwụ́ íké’, literally meaning "powerful death”, but metaphorically a painful suffering death]. Eke is the tricky one who portioned out these things. Chineke is straight and long, and he [no gendered pro-nouns in Igbo] made the lives of the people upright and good. Eke played this trick we are now inside.“ [in notes: (Parts of creation stories related by the cult priest of Afo at Umuoye Etche)] [Igbo group in southern Imo, northern Rivers states of Nigeria].

[Cole:]

Chineke (or Chukwu) [in notes: (In many parts of Igboland, as in Owerri, the high god is also called Chukwu, an ellision of chi and ukwu ("great”), but in Owerri Chineke is the more common usage.)] is the creator, the high god. Though distant and not the object of images or direct sacrifices in Owerri, he is often addressed by name in prayer and does receive offerings indirectly. He knows what people are doing but does not himself intervene or punish. The etymology of his name suggests that he is both a deity and a concept, for “Chineke” is a contraction of chi, na (“and”), eke: chi apparently meaning “god” or “soul”, with eke approximating “creation” or “division”. Chi and eke are also personifications, as suggested by the quotations above and the words of another informant: “Chi and Eke represent male and female. Chineke—I don’t know if he is a man or a woman. He is up, up, up, and we don’t see him.”

– Herbert M. Cole. MBARI: Art and Life among the Owerri Igbo (1982). p. 54. Indiana University Press.

The significance of Igbo groups in the Ibo Union, c. 1958.

Photo: Diobu Ikwere leaders protesting the 1958 (Willink) Minorities Commission (probably protesting the decision not to create a Rivers State and other states considered 'minority' states outside of the larger ethnic groups like the Igbo). August 27, 1958. National Archives UK.

Among the Ibo, as among other Nigerian nationalities, numerous tribal sections and sub-sections have their particular customs and traditions which inspire local or sectional loyalties. The Nnewi, the Mba-ise, the Ohafia, the Ngwa, the Ikwerri, etc., exemplify that remarkable "strength of Ibo clan feeling"' which sustains the vigor of the ubiquitous Ibo improvement associations and the enthusiasm with which programs of community development based on voluntary communal labor have been pursued. …

While the Ibo State Executive has not been amenable to facile manipulation by the NCNC leadership, the lower echelons of the Union—i.e., the town, village, district, and clan unions—work virtually without direction to identify the NCNC with the cause of Ibo welfare. In many instances, town and clan unions affiliated with the Ibo State Union have made up for the organizational failings of the official party organization. For example, the ground swell of mass support for Azikiwe in the summer of 1958, during his struggle with Dr. Mbadiwe, was generated largely by local units of the Ibo State Union. In addition, certain branches of the party, including the strong NCNC organization in Port Harcourt, derive their strength from sub-nationality associations affiliated with the Ibo State Union.

[In notes:] In 1958 numerous ethnic group associations affiliated with the Port Harcourt Ibo Union were represented informally within the official structure of the Port Harcourt NCNC by influential members of the branch executive committee and the executive committee of the Port Harcourt NCNC Youth Association. Among them were the following: the Nnewi Patriotic Union, the Orlu Divisional Union, the Orlu Youth League, the Oguta Union, the Owerri Divisional Union, the Mbasi Clan Union, the Bende Divisional Union, the Ikwerri Development Union, the Okigwe Union, and the Abiriba Improvement Union. The Ibo Union of Port Harcourt, comprising representatives of these and other Ibo associations, co-ordinates certain of the activities of its affiliates but has no power of direction over them. It does not constitute an effective alternative power structure to the NCNC branch, inasmuch as the latter draws its popular support directly from the people and indirectly from their sub-nationality associations.

– Robert L. Sklar (1963). “Nigerian Political Parties: Power in an Emergent African Nation.” pp. 147, 463.

Wrestling at Elele

Wrestling at Elele described by P. A. Talbot as "[w]restling to make the yams grow. Chief Eleche's place, Elele" in "Some Nigerian Fertility Cults," 1927.