Onitsha of Yore Remembered

Sunday 13 March 2011
by HANK ESO

Those who lived in Onitsha or grew up there, still harbor a lot of nostalgia for the town, now a melancholic and dreaded ghost of its vibrant past. Onitsha of yore was a fun place to be. However, much has changed now. Onitsha has lost its groove, verve and much of its history. Onitsha remains as ever, the sardonic city of drudge and enterprise…That so much effort yields little in recompense and quality of life only conveys the infinite mockery and paradox of this some times feral city. Still Onitsha remains untranslatable, untransplantable and un-replicateable. You must visit to experience it.

Onitsha of yore is a town of many fables. Besides its renown for a behemoth open market and raunchy literature, Onitsha remains a chirpy, unceasingly bustling, and overpopulated city on the eastern bank of the great River Niger. Unbeknown to many, Onitsha led the Nigerian nation in the promotion of adult literacy and education. Many well-heeled traders in the town acquiesced to adult education and attended night school, in its five boroughs: Fegge, Odoapku, Otu, GRA, and Inland Town (Enu Onicha), just to learn how to read, write, and sign their checkbooks and documents, instead of thumb printing them.

One fable had it that one such man, while being given a pedicure by a mallam in front of his stall, in a bid to prove to his market companions that his night school was paying off, grabbed a copy of the local daily, The Mirror, and exclaimed: “Zik ekwukwa ka o si ekwu” – “Zik has spoken as he usually does.” Unbeknown to him, he had the paper upside down, a taleteller that he did not even know which way the alphabets ran, and if one read from right to left on the other way round. The story, nonetheless, underpinned the value attached to literacy in Onitsha.

Those who lived in Onitsha or grew up there still harbor a lot of nostalgia for the town, now a melancholic and dreaded ghost of its vibrant past. Modern-day Onitsha, with its rot and degradation, is very different from the lively and bustling city of the past. Truly, a mirror image of Milton’s Pandaemonium, Onitsha still beckons those lustful for sleaze and turpitude, those in quest of wealth as well as nefarious spivs and itinerant scoundrels looking to relieve the honest and unsuspecting of their cash and belongings. Onitsha also had another side: in the city, the world’s oldest profession also thrived and it was undisputedly the eminent domain for bootlegging, regardless of the prohibitions against violations of patent and intellectual property rights.

For many, a visit or drive now through the Onitsha is vested with trepidation. Night fall reigns with anxiety, yet Onitsha bustles as ever, having busted its infrastructural seams, as evidenced by spewing sewage, open gutters and mountains of garbage, the ever-present blot on its once sparkling landscape. The city, which had the population of fewer than 100,000 in 1960, has a teaming population of 2 million fifty years later. The evident decline of Onitsha city is a testimony to sustained absence of good governance. Formerly run by an efficient Urban County Council, Onitsha had merited a Mayor like Enugu and Port-Harcourt, but it would have taken a bigger-than-life persona to run this city of endless braggadocio and wealth-speaks (o ji ego na-ekwu) mindset.

Today, Onitsha indigenes, as opposed to inhabitants, feel sorely and decry the full brunt of their gradual alienation from the affairs of their hometown. They hardly hold local political offices and even their once off-limit suburbia homestead stand violated. Though they have fought back, selecting a cosmopolitan, HRH Igwe Alfred Achebe, to oversee their renaissance, their disenfranchisement concerns linger. However, they still find succor in the saying, “Ife eji abu, Onicha erika” – an allusion to the fact that Onitsha indigenes would never be divested of their heritage, no matter how hard the wishful usurpers try. Indeed, those who once dreamt and vouched to move the niche of Onitsha market to the hinterland have since realized that they could not transplant the River Niger. Yet Onitsha remains as ever, the sardonic city of drudge and enterprise. That so much effort yields little in recompense and quality of life, only conveys the infinite mockery and paradox of this sometimes feral city.

Those who knew Onitsha of yore - circa 1960s - cannot forget its hidden allure, mercantile exuberance, and unfeigned charm. Like Venice, Lagos, Las Palmas, New Orleans, or Mumbai, Onitsha had spirit and gravitas; it had culture, just as it had its seamy side and historical niche. Indeed, Onitsha was foremost, a City Kingdom, with nine clans (Ebo Itenani). Unquestionably, Onitsha had an eclectic citizenry. Among the indigenes, who placed high value on honor, decency and amity, and were mostly public servants, there were the so-called “assimilados,” descendants of Saro Creoles, notable for their English surnames. Historically, Onitsha was sufficiently enchanting for J. M. G. Le Clézio, the 2008 Nobel Laureate, to highlight it in his book titled, “Onitsha.” As the book’s translator Alison Anderson observed, Onitsha is remarkable for its “almost mythological evocation of local history and beliefs.”

Onitsha has a very rich heritage and history dating back to the reign of Eze Aroli. Its earlier encounter with Western civilization was not without costs. Already a well-established Kingdom that traced its ancestral roots through the Ado n’ Idu genealogy all the way back to Egypt, in the late 1700s, its women led by Omu Atagbusi resisted decreed commodity prices and imposed merchandize by British-owned Royal Niger Company (RNC). The conflict and strained relations that followed were made worse by a local commerce interdiction effort against Onitsha women traders in 1777 that also collapsed. Thereafter, Royal Niger Company relocated its operational base to the Asaba side of the Niger, only to return to Onitsha in the 1857 after British merchant William Baikei negotiated a status of trade agreement with the incumbent Obi.

If it was ever a dream from the time the Royal Niger Company and Christian missionaries respectively set shop in the 1880s on this riverbank town, Onitsha has never had its transformative and defining moment, not even during the Nigerian civil war. Nonetheless, Onitsha town has always held out much hope, some even utopist, from the very outset when it doubled in the early 1900s as the commercial, political, and educational headquarters of the Eastern region of Nigeria. Apropos commerce, its niche was unrivalled in West Africa and remains so.

Onitsha was a town where blue collar merchants long ago discovered that their commerce-induced wealth proved utterly insufficient to gain them access by membership-only enclaves like the Recreation and Sports Clubs, controlled by the white-collar and better-educated class of doctors, lawyers, civil servants, and expatriates. This latter lot, a mix of indigenes and non-indigenes, was unrepentant in maintaining that divide and social stratification. Such denials led some piqued Onitsha traders into forming their own club – the now ubiquitous People’s Club of Nigeria. Onitsha also had institutions that worked well – in both the public and private sectors. It boasted of good hospitals, a huge Cotton Mill Factory, various furniture, mattress, and tire-rethreading companies and an efficient Public Works Department (PWD). Most of these painfully have regressed or collapsed completely.

Despite its socio-cultural vagaries and idiosyncrasies, Onitsha was also a town that sought and had balance. Although predominantly an Igbo town, it had carved out portions of the city populated by non-indigenes: Hausa, Yoruba, Ijaw, and even had an enclave that was tagged "American Quarters." The essence was not to segregate, but to afford the sojourners the space to live in normalcy as they would in their own homes and culture. Naturally, Onitsha indigenes lived mostly in the homestead in Enu Onicha. Even those wealthy enough to own homes in Otu and GRA (Governments Reserved Area), still maintained family homes in the villages. But Onitsha was a market town – it had the Main market, Ose Okwiodu market and Ochanja market. Four more have since been added. Hence, one woke up in Onitsha to several distinct sounds: the call to prayers by both the Imams from the Mosques and the parochial Pastors who preached the need for repentance. Departing luxurious buses and clamoring early-rising traders added to the din. Waking up in Onitsha was always unique and remains so!



Another area of balance was in education: denominational and vocational balance flourished. Catholic and Protestant schools counterbalanced each other; competition and rivalry were so unbridled that it made the quest for excellence in academics, sports, and extra-curricular activities imperative. Such rivalry made elite and legacy schools like Dennis Memorial Grammar School (D.M.G.S) and Christ the King College (C.K.C.) household names and fierce adversaries. Inevitably, many prominent Igbo jurists, physicians, and public servants would emerge from the halls of these two schools. For eminent Onitsha families, and there were many, the choice was either C.K.C. or D.M.G.S for their children. The city’s other schools, mostly vocational, such as Zik’s Institute, Prince Commercial School, St. Augustine’s, Etukokwu School of Commerce, New Bethel College, and Washington Grammar School, provided trade and clerical manpower, training a slew of bookkeepers, typists, clerks and receptionists and low-level administrative staff for commercial outfits.



Artistically, Onitsha also had its distinctive niche and contribution to the world. Architecturally, Onitsha had strict zoning laws, favored Spanish and Brazilian type bungalows with bay windows. It also boasted of the oldest colonial, all-wood one-storey building in Eastern Nigeria, the Egbuna House that stood at the junction of Old Market Road and Court Road. The Gothic Holy Trinity Cathedral and the more futuristic All Saints Cathedral were astrictive historical sites.


Onitsha was the home and bastion of highlife music, second only perhaps to Lagos. But it had cornered the market unapologetically, thanks to CTO Records on Niger Drive, owned by Chief C.T. Onyekwelu, which gave primacy to promoting local musicians, and had in its family, masters such as E.C. Arinze, Osita Osadebe, Stephen Amechi, Eddie Okonta, Zeal Onyia, Joe Nez, and Emperor Eramus Jenewari, Celestine Ukwu, Rex Lawson, Eddy Okwuodi and others. Most of these artists played at sold-out joints like Dolphin Café on Venn Road South, Central Hotel at Ozomogala Street, Plaza Hotel opposite the Government Field on Zik Avenue in Fegge and Top 21 on New Market Road. Onitsha’s place as the incontrovertible home of Highlife became manifest, when Prince Nico Mbarga, a little known musician, who led the resident band Rockofil Jazz Band at the Plaza Hotel produced a seminal work titled "Sweet Mother." The hit went on to sell over 13 million copies and became Onitsha’s best export to the word and Africa’s best selling record ever.



Parallel to its music industry, Onitsha had its "Onitsha Market Literature" industry, which was widely acclaimed and remains a subject of board and intense academic study. Interestingly, Onitsha music, literature and, lately, Nollywood movies have as their home the famous and ever-kinetic commercial stretch of Iweka Road, which begins at the point where the road intersects with Moore Street and Venn Road and runs south through the Ochanja Market until it turns into Owerri Road after the notorious Upper Iweka Roundabout. Iweka Road, interestingly, was named after Dr. A.C. Iweka, an Obosi indigene, and a prominent Igbo politician who had a thriving private medical practice at the beginning of the road. Relatedly, a seemingly forgotten history of Onitsha is that the land area known now as Okpoko, part of which includes where the Niger Bridge and Head Bridge Market are located, was once subject to epic physical and court battles between Onitsha and Obosi indigenes. The resolution of that battle in favor of Onitsha, gave rise the often-heard admonishment, to always be mindful about what “O said to O.” ["Ife 'O' gwalu 'O'."]



A famous lore of the Onitsha market has remained in tandem with supply-sides economics. As the saying goes: “Those who visit Onitsha and agree with the market dictates will go home soon enough; but those who don’t and hang on to haggle for bargain prices will end up eating lunch in a local hotel (buka).” In this context, and despite lingering disputations and controversies, the renown of the Onitsha Market Traders (Ndi afia), has remained legendary resulting in several popular highlife songs – all in tribute.



With its fusion of people and commerce, it is understandable why Onitsha attracted so many visitors, even when those from the western parts of Nigeria could only get to Onitsha by crossing with the ferry from Asaba, a process that warranted two-days wait during rush periods. Such pilgrimage had commercial, cultural, and religious bent. Indeed, it would be tantamount to gross dereliction of educational and cultural obligation visit the town during the annual Ofala Festival in Onitsha and not witness the festivities.


Onitsha has not always been a filthy town and one averse to law and order. Yester years, it was not uncommon to see Health Inspectors decked out in helmets, khaki shirts and tunics seal off a premise, no questions asked. Neither was it a surprise to see a VIO (Vehicle Inspection Officer) on a motorbike cut off a vehicle that lacked roadworthiness and with a sticker slapped on its windshield, declaring it “off the road.” Equally, while there was petty crime, Onitsha was relatively a safe place to live in, thanks to effective community policing and a code of conduct maintained by Onitsha Market Traders Association (OMATA), which decreed instant justice, including death, for anyone caught stealing in the market area. OMATA was also a force in collective bargaining and keeping social order. However, those were years past and long gone.



Many other noteworthy events and factors still induce nostalgia in one about Onitsha. Quite in contrast to the broken concrete pavements, potholes, debris, and potopoto jungle Onitsha has now, trees lined the streets of the well-designed Fegge Layout, the GRA, and America Quarters. Even in the heart of the town, Oguta Road, Iboku Street, New and Old Market Roads as well as Edgerton, Court, and Okosi Roads were also lined with shady trees and even trimmed hedges. The marine roads that ran along the bank of the River Niger, Nkisi Road and Sokoto Road southward to Niger Drive were favorites for evening strollers and pleasure drivers, especially for those who wanted the best choice of suya (kebab). Bida Road was likewise renowned for its local brews of pito and burukutu and fresh fish pepper soup joints referred to as “St. Bottles.”


Sokoto Road suya aside, Onitsha had its other local delicacies too. Nni oka was a Sunday favorite for the indigenes. But for the occasional visitor, you could not leave town without a loaf of Saniez or Silas Ejidike bread. For the resilient and strong stomached, Ngwo-ngwo at any of the Amobi Street joints or isi-ewu and Congo-meat at Willie Opalagada’s was must.



Walking down the streets of Onitsha is to understand the full impact of noise pollution and cacophony. Music blared unrestrained; likewise, car horns and the inevitable scream of “Uzo! Uzo!” by truck pushers, who have since been replaced by wheelbarrow pushers, rented the air. The troubled and loonies had their place in the sun too: “Meko,” Zikodor, “Okpole,” and “Mathew Nwa Fada” were well-known local messhugas.



In Onitsha, locomotion was varied, ever-present, and unapologetic. Just as the black Morris Minor cabs and Kia-Kia ("ka o banye" buses dominated the earlier landscape, today, it is the Okada riders that hold sway. Onitsha was a traders’ town just as it was a transporter's dream. Four limited liability companies, Okoli & Sons Transport, Njikoka Transport, Tabansi Motors, and Armels Transport, dominated the field of heavy haulage; whilst Okogba Transport led in the field of luxurious busses, competing with the Umuahia-based Chi di Ebere Transport, well before Ekene Dili Chukwu joined the fray.



One essence of Onitsha that has gone completely missing, and painfully so, was the social-cum-commerce introspective center called the APZ Plaza or APZ Square. Memory fails me in recalling what exactly the acronym stood for. But to visit Onitsha in the fifties and sixties and not go to APZ would be like visiting New York and not going to Time Square. APZ was the vibrant soul of the city, if ever there was one. It was the inimitable confluence of affluence, plebianism, unfettered local rustiness and bonhomie. The plaza was situated at the juncture where Zik Avenue meshed with Port Harcourt Road and the sanguine underground spring that emptied into the lethargic canal, which fed the locally revered Otumoye Lake. Not too distant, was the beginning of Creek Road and tangential Bida Road. APZ was akin to a symphonic seven-point square, and in that sense and intensity, only comparable only to Ojuelegba Junction in Lagos.

APZ was the envied commercial business address – the place to own a stall. Straddled from all corners by huge billboards purveying Star Beer, Fanta, Mirinda, Bata shoes, SCAO Motors, Bounvita, Milo and Tomapep (which made master lick bottom pot), it was also there that the Silas Ejidike Bread factory was located. Local merchants and apprentices gravitated reflexively to the brightly lit APZ at the close of each day, just as the sweet aroma of freshly wood oven-baked bread wafted into the air and mingled with the smell of deep frying oil from akara vendors, and smoke from charcoal fire used corn roasters and mallams who sold “Kettle Tea” and three-pence loafs to passersby.

APZ Plaza was the melting point for travelers, revelers and for spivs who played craps or used glib talk, looped belts and legerdemain to swindle naive onlookers. However, the most memorable recall anyone can have of APZ is what it looked and felt like during festivities— Easter, Igbo Day, Independence Day, Christmas or New Year. It was the place to be, yet, a no go area for children and the weak. Parents warned their children and especially guests from out of town: “don’t go near APZ”! On any of those days, APZ became the hub of festivities, as would New York Time Square of New Year’s Eve.

Those bold enough to visit APZ had tales to tell, of the smoke haze that hung permanently in the air from a surfeit of pyrotechnics, named “Bandit”, “Knockout” and “Mohawk”, which detonated in uncoordinated clatter and rapid ear-shattering bangs that rented the air. There were also stories of unruly jostles, clinically picked pockets and lost children tossed is the air by strangers until a relative claimed them. APZ was not for the feint hearted. It was carnival and place to see masquerades of all shapes, sizes and colors; from the nimble Eji Onu, Otu Ichie, Ulaga, Agbugho Mmuo, Biggy Belle, to the gargantuan smoke spewing masquerade named Ochie Dike, and the tall one called “Ezeafulukwe” that banged its bushy head on hard concretes surfaces. Of all these, only the strongest masquerades survived a foray into APZ – some, the so-called “Muo ana akwa aka” were disrobed and sent on their way.

In geophysical terms, APZ was the bridged between the Ochanja Market mentality, cacophony, lawlessness, and city planning disorder and the beginning of civility and orderliness of urban planning that the colonial masters had put in place when they conceptualized the Fegge Layout. In that context, it was the critical juncture where the old and the new intersected. Nevertheless, APZ was more. Day and night, at its various corners, merchants on soapboxes with bullhorns and hawkers with shrill voices plied their wares. Their counterparts sold Ikan Power, Alabokun Baby Powder, ASPRO, Ogbu Nnu Oria, and other medicaments from the back of their vans, as the latest highlife music blared, and Ajasco dancers named “Skido”, “Ringo”, “King Pago” or “Methuselah” performed foot works that would shame Usher and Michael Jackson. On some days, crowds would gather to watch superman, Killiwe Nwachukwu perform his feat or listen to folk music by Twin Seven-Seven. There were preachers and doomsayers, and blind beggars singing “Babi Allah” too. APZ was a center for unceasing public display of crafts and artistic excellence. Every artist went there to show off. As they did so, pickpockets also had their field day.

On the other side of APZ Plaza, it was common to see members of the free readers association huddle around news stands to glean headline news from The Nigerian Outlook and other displayed papers, without being charged for it. At the far end were two stalls, one belonging to Sule the bike renter, who leased mini bikes popularly, called “orente” or “kekere” to those who needed to run hurried errands, while fixing flats or making repairs for those who could afford to own a bike. Next to him was “Nne ‘Biyi”, the ever-smiling and energetic mama-put food vendor, whose cuisine was as renowned as that of her up-town competitor, “Aunty Yor Yor”. Local eateries such as theirs were the salve that soothed many hungry Onitsha merchants and laborers.

Onitsha was a city of sounds, of sights, and of smells, the latter having become more pungent in recent times. But Onitsha remains untranslatable, untransplantable and un-replicateable. You must visit to experience it. Without schmaltz, Onitsha of yore was a fun place to be. However, much has changed now. Onitsha has lost its groove, verve and much of its history. Regrettably, one does not even find historical accounts of Onitsha of yore, that would inform readers that what is now an eyesore of Anambra State were once a vibrant, well run and bustling commercial city, that was full of live and potentialities. Even though cherished memories abound, Onitsha has lost its soul.

With neither anger nor partiality, until next time, keep the law, stay impartial, and observe closely.

[img]http://odinanilawsofnature.files./2010/08/15849_1209005030897_1401856767_30650539_2651265_n.jpg[/img]

I find that many people do not understand Libya. Libya is a very "tribal" country, where the various tribes have always fought for supremacy. Western Libya is very different from Eastern Libya. In Western Libya, Muammar al-Gaddafi gets most of his support from 3 main "tribes" including his own clan. Those 3 main tribes has controlled Libya ever since the coup led by Gaddafi to oust the king of Libya who was from Eastern Libya (Cyrene Coast). These power dynamics have not been explained to the world. Gaddafi does have supporters due to "tribal" allegiances.

This is a very misleading topic I must say. Just say a local diocese supports Buhari. Not the entire Catholic Church in Nigeria.

ifyalways:

Is that real the real picture of Amadioha
Does the image of Amadioha not vary from place to place or its same in the whole Alaigbo?

It varies my dear. I think the different representations of Amadioha are simply artistic expressions.

Ileke-Idi sure does like ranting about African men. You would think she has problems in past relationships with African men. Or could it be self-hate? I hope it is not self-hate. She needs to understand that we as African men are desired by many.

The above poster is a m0ron. Don't know where he got that information, but it can safely be assumed that he is missing a few chromosomes. Just learn to ignore people like the above poster.

ChinenyeN:

Is it just me, or do these numbers not add up?

You do bring up a good point. But oral traditions are sometimes hard to date. But I do see the problem.

[img]http://www.art-africain.fr/gallery/bigFormat/2cdc6784621bb1fabd5edaa37a78a0a9.jpg[/img]

Alusi magnificent statue with a beautiful dark red brown patina with touches of black and white. Among the Igbo, the statues with the palms facing up suggest a protective spirit called Alusi. These statues are placed on altars or in temples. They rarely go out to some festivals during which sacrifices are made in their honor. The statue bears the classic scars on his face and a beautiful crest on the head looking like the spine masks agbo mmaung (spirits of young girls).

I burn with so many emotions when I see the Biafran flag. The dream still burns bright.

ezeagu:

Thurstan Shaw (head of the excavation of Igbo Ukwu) said that the excavation at on of the Igbo's (Igbo Jonah or Igbo Isaiah, I can't remember) might be an Eze Nri (the reconstruction posted above). If that were true, then Nri's traditional founding date in the 9th century may be proven true through the carbon dating (the thing they use to test the age of wood, bronze, etc). People should know that the places where these 'Igbo Ukwu' pieces were rediscovered were peoples homes, and the site was actually part of the neighbouring Nri town of Oraeri before (I think, founded by one of Eri's grandon's by the same name). Most of the items seemed to have been buried on purpose. They found a skull but was too broken to do anything with. What if the man buried was Eri?

This is very interesting information. Personally, I would say that I am ignorant of Nri's influence on Igbo clans at the periphery of Igboland. Is Nri the birthplace of Igbo civilization? How come many Igbo clans are ignorant of Nri's influence and contributions?

ezeagu:

Do you mean if Igbo people borrowed the Kalabari style and the top hats. I'll say they didn't, what the Igbo got from the Ijaw probably is the crocodile and fish masks (the one they wear on the head) even then some of the original Igbo masquerades were shared with the Kalabari. Igbo people are more strict with spiritual matters and don't borrow too often if at all. The Igbo most borrowed from the Ibibio, then it will be the Edo and then the Ijaw (maybe).

Thank you for the answer. Your expertise is needed on the Nri thread as well my brother.

ezeagu:

From the style and they usually carve their ancestor on the wall hangings like that, I haven't seen Igbo people doing that, they don't usually carve their ancestors at all I don't think, there are exceptions. Here are other Kalabari ancestor shrines.

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Igbo people don't wear top hats.

What about neighboring Igbo communities? You know how we Igbos like to borrow from other cultures besides spreading our culture as well.

ezeagu:

This is Kalabari.


I know, same thing.

How do you know my brother?

[img]http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR0TrZkMDJ9zV5la_tVaD2G1z0Jsx1iugNxc1Cyzy5JEC0giUeWgA&t=1[/img]

Amadioha

Igbo Shrine Panel, Nigeria

Igbo Terracotta Sculpture of a Family Group - PF.4973
Origin: Southeastern Nigeria
Circa: 20 th Century AD
Dimensions: 12.75" (32.4cm) high x 10.5" (26.7cm) wide
Collection: African
Style: Igbo
Medium: Terracotta

Igbo Painted Shrine Sculpture (Alusi)

[img]http://3.bp..com/_QVW98iGMXHI/TN5Vh2yc3mI/AAAAAAAAMzA/oen6CQ5lamw/s400/igbo%2Bstatue.JPG[/img]

[img]http://content.lib.washington.edu/cgi-bin/showfile.exe?CISOROOT=/buildings&CISOPTR=6077[/img]

[img]http://content.lib.washington.edu/cgi-bin/showfile.exe?CISOROOT=/buildings&CISOPTR=6050[/img]

Mbari shrine house

To Ala. Ala is an Igbo spiritual force.

A magnificent, provenanced piece of Tribal Art. This exceptional Igbo people Ikenga Statue dates to the early 20th Century and originates from Nigeria.

The Igbo are a tribe of approximately eight million who occupy the northern part of the Niger River delta in the West African state of Nigeria. This is an area of forests and fertile swampland, exploited by the Igbo, who are skilled farmers. Power is concentrated in the hands of the Elders, but this is counter-balanced by secret societies.

The figure depicts a seated, horned male, his forehead scarred and his mouth open to reveal his teeth. In his right hand he holds a curved blade and in his left he holds a decapitated head, its eyes half closed and its forehead scarred centrally. He is nude with the exception of a shawl. He wears bangles on his arms and legs and a necklace around his neck. The theme is very clearly one of a 'headhunter'.

Ikenga figures such as this are some of the most well known and sought-after types of Tribal art. Not only are they of great artistic merit, but they are a fascinating and integral part of the Igbo Culture. Ikenga figures are kept on altars, hence their flat base, and receive prayers and libations before important events. They are used for protection, good luck and strength as well as to symbolize the power and courage that Igbo warriors aspire to.1 These qualities are particularly evident in this example, which is one of the finest such figures we have seen.

Height, mounted: 34 inches.

Provenance: Originally field collected in the 1960's by Josef Lagergren, Swedish missionary working in the Kongo and Benin. Subsequently sold in 1969 by Gallery Leger, Sodra Vagen, Gothenburg. Subsequently in the collection of architect, Kalle Jonsson. Ex Bonhams. Ex British Private collection.

Ikenga is the embodiment of traditional male leadership and power among the Igbo. The shrine expresses their personal spirit, chi, a source of strength and courage. Ikenga visualizes the authority of leadership; the ability to sit in judgement and be a warrior-chief. The horns refer to the powerful and agressive nature of the ram.

https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-618873.0.html

Can you change the name of this thread. It should read Ibibio instead of Igbo.

In addition, don't you think this belongs in the Culture section?

[img]http://mccoy.lib.siu.edu/jmccall/jones/igbo/ikenga9.JPG[/img]

Ikenga Nri-Awka Igbo

ifyalways:

^^^Ehen those last images,are they not (or represent) deities(arushi)  

Yes, they do represent deities.

[img]http://mccoy.lib.siu.edu/jmccall/jones/igbo/ikenga4.JPG[/img]

Three Ikenga Nimo, Nri-Awka Igbo

[img]http://mccoy.lib.siu.edu/jmccall/jones/igbo/ikenga8.JPG[/img]

Two Ikenga Nri-Awka Igbo

[img]http://mccoy.lib.siu.edu/jmccall/jones/igbo/ikenga7.JPG[/img]

Ikenga Nimo, Nri-Awka Igbo (Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford (1938 15 43)

[img]http://mccoy.lib.siu.edu/jmccall/jones/igbo/ikenga5.JPG[/img]

[img]http://mccoy.lib.siu.edu/jmccall/jones/igbo/ikenga6.JPG[/img]


Ikenga Achalla, Nri-Awka Igbo

[img]http://mccoy.lib.siu.edu/jmccall/jones/igbo/ikenga2.JPG[/img]

Ikenga Amobia, Nri-Awka Igbo (Now in Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford (1938 15 43)

[img]http://mccoy.lib.siu.edu/jmccall/jones/igbo/ikenga1.JPG[/img]

Ikenga Nri-Awka Igbo