Ödïnanï: The Igbo Religion

About the Book

The Igbo venerate or worship the God of the Earth and Its Hosts of spirits (Anï). Ödïnanï or Omenana describes this method of venerating or worshiping God. Note that worship of God describes the ways we choose to commune with the manifest God (Chineke) and, through It, with the Godhead (Chukwu) – the Source. Men worship God in diverse, but equivalent, ways. The God is the same – Spirit, Mmöö, Ndü – but the rituals or methods for approaching It differ.

Ödïnanï or Omenana is the religion or cult dedicated to the God of the Earth, in the same manner that Christianity is the religion or cult dedicated to the God of the Sun. Sun Day or Sunday is the day set aside by Christianity for the worship of the Sun God. In line with Igbo theogony, this book is dedicated to:

Chi Ukwu, Chukwu or Amaamaamachaamacha (the Great God, the Unknown Godhead), Chi na-eke, Chineke, Mmöö or Ndü (God the Creator, the Son and Word of the Godhead, Spirit, Life), Alüshï (the Gods and their Spirit Hosts), Ndï Otu (Spirit Guilds of the Elements: Earth, Water, Air and Fire), Chi m or Oke-Chukwu m (my personal God or my share of God and Life).

Ichie Ukwu na Ichie Nta, Ökpü Ukwu na Ökpü Nta (My male and female Parents, dead or alive); particularly my great grandfather Udoh Anaagö, high priest of the Earth-God Ana or Anï (whose shrine is Aja-Ana or Aja-Anï) of Agülü Öka (Agulu Awka), Nigeria; whose re-incarnation I am.

The entire Anïzöö Udoh family, holders of the Öfö na Alö (the symbols of power and authority) of the Anaagö Mmadüagwu lineage.

My village Ümübeele and my town Öka na-asö enwe (Awka, for which the monkey is sacred).

All lovers of Ödïnanï or Omenana, the Igbo religion.

About the Author

Born in 1945, Emmanuel K. Anizoba hails from a Christian family with strong Polytheistic ancestry, in Umubele village of the blacksmith town Awka, Anambra State, Nigeria. Son of a government teacher, he accompanied his father as the latter changed schools and attended government primary schools at Ajali, Awka and Afikpo. A turbulent youth, he attended secondary school at Okongwu Memorial Grammar School Nnewi (1960-63) and Igwebuike Grammar School Awka (1964). Having performed poorly at the end of his secondary school career (bagged a grade 3 school leaving certificate!), he entered the civil service in 1965 at Enugu as a finance clerk from where he joined the Biafran army (July 1967 - January 1970).

In June 1970, his eldest sister invited him to Geneva, Switzerland, to study French in order to gain admission to study economics at the University of Fribourg. At Fribourg, he got a Licence ès Sciences Economiques et Sociales in 1976 and in 1979 he got a PhD in Econometrics. He was on the Dean's list at the University of Fribourg and was appointed Teaching Assistant to the Econometrics Chair. In 1980 he returned to Nigeria, where he continued his brief teaching career at the University of Port Harcourt.

He joined the African Development Bank (AfDB) in 1981 as a Statistician Economist. At the AfDB he managed the Loan Accounting & Financial Statistics Division (1996 - 2001) before being appointed Advisor to AfDB's Financial Controller in 2002.

At the age of sixty years he retired from the AfDB in April 2005. He settled in his Awka home, where he is reviving the Polytheism of his ancestors. He is married and has five children.