By Ezeobi Abuchi
These two sets of people are one of the most misunderstood, in Igbo societies. It is mostly because we were told by different foreign religious groups that these people are possessed by evil spirits and demons. It is normal in today’s society, to look at these people and relate with them from a safe distance. This is because of fear that they will harm us or misconception that they are not normal.
But who are these people and why are they viewed with such fear, mistrust and disdain today? First before I go on, I want to make it clear that these two sets of people are different. Again, care must be taken to separate them from people, who has other spiritual or mental problems. It is because it is common to lump all of them together as one and the same people.
Mmuo mmiri or mammy water: as some use to call them, are groups of people that has water or marine spirits. In the water like in any other thing in this world, there is good and bad spirits. It depends on the one which the person is aligned to. This will determine whether he or she is good or bad.
People have different spirits in them, so it is not everybody that comes from the marine world. These people from marine world are required to perform certain rituals, to harmonize themselves or separate themselves from marine world so that they can go on with the kind of life they choose to live.
But recently due to our religious inclinations, they are largely left to the mercy of these powers. If the person is not steadfast to their obligations, they can do some damage to the person. By denying their influences or existence on the lives of those who are born this way, some religious groups see it as devilish. This has resulted in some very expensive consequences in the lives of these people and their families.
Normally in a typical African community, when a child is born, the parents usually go to the Afa (Divination) to find out about the child: where the child comes from, who reincarnated him or her and destiny of the child. But Christianity has virtually wiped out these traditions, and this has resulted in the chaos we are living with today. Normally when parents’ finds out about their child, they are prepared to do the necessary things for the child as this will help make things easy for the child.
This is largely the reason today in Igbo land; many people hardly see any success in whatever they are doing until the age of 30 some people only finds out very late in their lives. Through many difficulties and experiences, they are forced to look for solutions. And this is when they are told what to do, but many of them because of fear of what people will say keeps these things as secret because they belong to one religious sect or another.
And the younger ones will be looking up to them as examples, without knowing that these people have secrets which they do not want people to know.
Ogbanje are different kind of people from ndi mmuo mmiri, they are people with extra sensory perceptions from infra world. They communicate between the physical world and spiritual world, they are gifted people. Most of them end up as Dibia (native doctors) or Ezenwanyi (marine spirit consultants), and their lives in most cases are slightly different from normal people. They see, do things and behave differently from normal people, because of their nature.
The adopted foreign religion in Igbo land designated these people as being possessed by demons. People started seeing them and treating them as such. Today anybody labeled as an Ogbanje is treated with suspicion. There cases of children who are born and they died early, and their parents at a point decided to give them mark at birth so that they can stay. The belief is that if they are not complete that they will not be accepted back in the spirit world.
They myth and superstition surrounding Ogbanje, can be understood if we remove the information given through indoctrination and religious bias associated with these people. We may understand one or two things very useful about these people, but many parents has subjected their children to numerous suffering.
They take them from one church to the other, where they are promised that they will drive out the evil spirit that possessed their child. In most cases these things results in the child been rebellious and the parents will interpret the change in behaviour as signs of possession. All over the world there are Ogbanje people, they are known as mediums.
They sense, see, touch, smell and communicate with the things outside this world which an ordinary person will not see. But because in Africa we are indoctrinated and told that they are evil, we see and treat them as such. But most of us feel comfortable when we watch, those that appear on television channels as mediums only because they are whites.
Who is a medium and how are they different from Ogbanje?
Ogbanje is a medium who has the ability to communicate with the two worlds, but sometimes bullying and our social outcast systems we normally subject these people to has resulted in harms to their spirit and gifts.
This post is not about religion or paganism, as some people will think. But it is about how we had allowed others to define us and weaken us by distancing us from the things that made us strong. When you see majority of people today in Igbo land, they fill religious gathering to the brim. Looking for solutions to their problems, these religious fraudster feeds on their ignorance.
Making money out of their misery and ignorance, they end up living lives of miserliness. Only very few are lucky enough to find solution to their problem and ignoring what the society will say. They keep it as their secrets. This has resulted in many people engaging in horrific human rituals to succeed financially. And in most case they pay higher prices with their lives and it is fact that they never live a happy life. It is important to note that, if one lives according to the ordinance of our Omenani (traditions) and Odinani (spirituality) such a person does not need to engage in any fetish rituals to succeed in life.
It is important here to note that today in Igbo land, just like we have fake pastors all over the land; there are fake Dibias (native doctors) too. Most of the people today who claim to be Dibia are people who had gone through many difficulties in life and as last resort they opted for Dibia. Some are people who belong to some occult group and they use their occultism to deceive people. They are interested in money and nothing else and they have contributed to a large extent to the hatred towards our culture.
Dibia is a gift; it is in the lineage of some people. A Dibia is led in knowledge; he or she does not need teaching. When you meet a good and natural Dibia, his works and the way he does his things will tell you whether he is real or fake.
Finally, I believe that if we can understand Ogbanje and mmuo mmiri and stop seeing them as being possessed by evil spirits, help them instead of running away from them, we can harness their gifts and nature to the benefits of all.
