ADORO-ERO DOES NOT FORGIVE: THE CHIEF PRIEST REVEALS THE DANGER OF INVOKING ITS POWER

By Nkem Ossai (2)

“Arụsi kpakaria ike, egosi ya osisi ejiri pia ya”
Eng. Translation
“When an idol becomes too powerful and arrogant, we show him the wood it was carved from” (African saying).

In African tradition, or should I say in Igbo-Nsukka traditional beliefs, man is a triune. Before the arrival of the colonial Britain to our shores, the Nsukka man believed that it is a taboo to commune with Chukwu Okike Abiama direct. He first goes through divination to find out what his ‘Chi’ and the deities desire before “Chukwu Okike Abiama.” Furthermore, the ‘Chi’ (personal god), or guardian angel and of course the unseen spirits of the ephemeral being defines the Igbo man’s existence. It emphasizes the essence and the will-power of the Igbo person. Challenging your ‘Chi’ is considered as off bounds. It’s a moral as well as an existential danger. The Igbo also believes that his success and failure, is fully providential and dependent on his spiritual alignment with his ‘Chi’. He agrees that if one tries to go faster than his ‘Chi’, he will run until he dies.

However, irrespective of his belief in providence and his total surrender to the will of the supreme being – Chukwu Okike Abiama, that he will always provide, he goes all out to work hard to succeed. He will never wait for manas.

For the Igbo man, failure is anathema. In fact, it does not exist in his lexicon. That is why, failure is said io be an ophan as far as the Igbo nation is concerned.

According to one of the Chief Priest’s of the famed “Adoro-Ero” deity, those who seek justice, equity and fair play, from the deity will always have it. However, he warned that the deity’s justice is final: There is no second consideration after it’s justice is executed and no appeal.

In addition, it doesn’t also spare the accuser if it is found to be a lie. In other words, if the the offense complained of is a lie This is the real tragedy. There is no sorry until after the punishment has been executed especially after the Chief Priest has decreed the punishment. So, like Equity, those who seek it must go with clean hands. As the Priest emphasized, it is very important that those who seek her intervention in their matters first understand this fact. He further added that even the Chief Priest is not spared if he goes against the ancient defined, “no go areas.”

When asked whether Adoro-Ero kills Ero Nkpokodi people, the Priest retorted, “it kills Ero people more than others if they should go against it’s ancient defined rules or commit evil.” Then, I asked, “why”? He responded: “When the deity arrived Ero-Nkpokodi, there was nothing like police, court or army. There was indeed no form of security outfit. The deity was all in all. It was the police, the army and the court. Anyone who goes against the predefined offenses is punished without mercy. And the bitter part, his generations follow in this punishment until it’s anger is assuaged by placating.

In the Part 3, we shall talk about what happens to a person suspected to have been killed by the deity and how the deity is assuaged/placated. Keep in touch with easternechoesandnews.com