ORIGIN OF AFRICA - Onyeji Nnaji

ORIGIN OF THE BLACK RACE: THE BIRTH OF BIAFRAN FATHERS

copied:  from the book: REALITY AS MYTH; by Onyeji Nnaji

chapter two.

The difficulty encountered by researchers searching for the birthplace of the African father had been bedridden by two main factors. These factors are lack of proper attention given to the oral tradition of the various ancient communities in Africa, and the desire to favour oneself in the cause of one’s research work as found among early African historians. The attempts to rectify these matters took us nearly the whole book in our previous production. We have stressed the unquantifiable relevance of the various oral traditions in the different areas of the African continent. Stressing the importance of oral tradition in preserving history, we agree with J. Ki-Zerbo in the assertion that,

Oral tradition is not just a second-best source to be resorted to only when there is nothing else. It is a distinct source in itself, with a now well established methodology, and it lends the history of the African continent a marked originality (History, 11).

In Africa, oral tradition, folktales and cultural display of certain traditional features had been the most dependable source of the African history. Africa had been generally theosophical. The African life emanated from this theosophical structure in the realm when death was not invoked and later this ominous concept was assisted by theocratic principles. Theosophism formed the first foundation of African lifestyle and the part of Africa found with this uncommon system could be the place of the peopling of the African population. The Black fathers were autochthonous as Africans had always defended about themselves. There is this reference to Africa, the homeland and the inhabitants, sons of the soil. This reference is not found anywhere else but among the African populations. It is an assertion that points towards their origin and their point of beginning. Our trace of the Black father shall be dependent of the oral tradition information as held by different African communities of ancient reckoning.

Anytime the history of the Black communities is called to mind, attentions go straight to the peopling of the ancient Egypt, Nubia or Ethiopia because of their immeasurable contributions in giving definitions to the Black race. Little or no information was known about the Inner Africa until the need to trace the history of the civilizers of ancient Egypt became pressing. Nubia also became the centre of attraction when it became apparent that the civilization that had lasted in Egypt for years had first existed in Nubia. Ethiopia was without comparison their relevance in the history of the Black race, being the only African nation to surface in the current copy of the Christian Bible. From the surface of the relationship with the western communities which gave a little information about the origin of civilization in the world.  

Another thing historians had never given heed to about African history and the global as well is the underlying understanding of the simple word, god. All the people who still have knowledge about their history in Africa had always said that they came from the east. Those who also still remember their history had always said that their fathers have the nature of the gods. The Igbo and the Yoruba also have said that their fathers were gods. These stories are told through mouths, bothering the activities of people who existed in the beginning of things.

Nnaji also has this similar view in his essay on the origin of Africa.

History is history and can never be separated from real life stories told through mouths which must have certain evidence on the bearers’ culture, language, myths and other facets of life obtainable within the setting of the people. (www.ajuede.com).

The discussions under-page will disclose issues concerning this to us as we proceed. The problem in deciphering the real meaning embedded in oral tradition anywhere in the world is on the attempt to translate it through writing. In the search for the history of Nkalaha in the North-eastern Igbo land, the community’s theosophist, Nnaji nwa Nnaji made it clear to us that the history is not told as a story. According to him the African history is not realized in tales, rather in Afa which he referred to as the language of the gods. He said that he had to be in the proper mood before he could speak Afa. Translation is seen here as our problem in unearthing the beginning in its proper position, and oral tradition remains the one undisputable source. Through oral tradition we know the origin of the various ancient settlements in Africa. Through it we also know that Africa did not descend from the West. Diop Anta made the following expressions to show his position to this view.

From what we know about the archaeology of South Africa, where humanity seems to have been born; from what we know about Nubian civilization, probably the oldest of all, from what we know about the prehistory of the Nile Valley, we can legitimately assume that the “Great Waters” is none other than the Nile. No matter where we collect legend on the genesis of the Black African people, those who still remember their origins say they came from the east and their forbearers found pygmies in the country. Dogon and the Yoruba legends report that they came from the east, while those of the Fang, who as recently as the nineteenth century had not yet reached the Atlantic coast, indicates the northeast. Bakuba legends list the north as their provenance. For people living in the Nile, traditions suggest that they came from the north; this is true of the Batusti of Rwanda-Urundi (Civilization, 179).

We have identified the position of the east in the first chapter above. Our knowledge of the birth place of Africa can be sketched simply through Diop’s conclusion above. All the nations mentioned above had ancient records as people who had existed before others around them. Our understanding of this irrefutable fact opens ways toward deciphering the Black fathers.

(i) Black Fathers Unearthed

Nag Hammadi, a collection of untitled tablet stone scripts unearthed deep in the sand in the valley of the Nag Hammadi village in Egypt reveals issues concerning the people in the beginning. In the chapter titled Origworld (origin of the world) the tablet reveals that the cosmology of the first people is associated with the number four.

Then the saviour created […] of them all – and the spirits of these [are manifestly] superior, being blessed and varying in election – and also (he created) many other beings, which have no king and are superior to everyone that was before them. Consequently, four races exist. There are three that belong to the kings of the eighth heaven. But the fourth race is kingless and perfect, being the highest of all. (PP. 124-5).

Nag Hammadi makes us to know here that the African ancestors were four set of people who were created in different generations (time). According to the Igbo oral tradition, the Jewish Cabbala and the Nag Hammadi, they were not made like Adam from the dust of the ground; they descended from the sky. This is why in many oral tradition in Africa; there had been several references to the sky as the original home of the African father. In the cosmology of the Dogon, there is a reference to the eight heavens as the home of the human ancestors. But the Dogon was not clear about who these ancestors were. All that can be deduced from the Dogon cosmology was the fact that they descended from the ancestors who descended from the sky and lived in the east. Yoruba also share in the nuances that the first men were sent down from the sky by God. A version of Yoruba oral tradition insists that Obatala (whom Ifa called the father of the Igbo nation) was saddled with the responsibility to create the world.

Olorun threw down an iron chain from the sky and told Obatala, the eldest of his sons, to climb down and create land on the water below. On his way down, Obatala joined some other Gods who were having a party, and he later discovered that his younger brother, Oduduwa had created the world in his place…Obatala and Oduduwa quarelled and all the other Gods took sides. In the end, Olorun settled the dispute by giving Obatala the power to create mankind. Oduduwa was allowed to rule the land that he had created. Oduduwa became the first Yoruba king, ruler of the ancient city of Ile-Ife, the place where he was first believed to have climbed down from the sky.

Obatala is addressed here as the eldest among the gods who were sent to the earth course. The continuation of that same oral tale reveals the person of Obatala as the father of the African nations. Ruth Finnegan, in her research on Nigerian oral literature captured this aspect of the nation’s history thus:

The sky is immense, but grows no grass.

That is what the oracle said to Obatala,

To whom the great God gave the reins of the world.

God of the Igbo, I stretch out my hands.

Give the reins of the world to me (Oral Literature, 195).

Could these be enough evidence to prove that the African ancestors have been discovered? I think not. The Nag Hammadi, as quoted above is seen again in another page supporting the Dogon myth and also insisting that the people with the cosmology of four are the direct descents of the ancestors of the Black Race. In another page, it related thus,

There are four generations, three generations belong to the kings of the eighth heaven, and the fourth generation, which is the most exalted, is kingless and perfect … They are kings. They are the immortal within the mortal. (p. 219).

The Kingless Generation was glorious and without number, they are designated the generation over whom no kingdoms exist. And all the beings of the realm with no kingdom over it … are designated the children of the un-conceived Father (P. 277).

We found what seems like pinpointing information that created a clear cut idea and particularized the people meant by the ancient tablet in another page of the Nag Hammadi. Apart from the generations being remarkable with their kingless ideology, we found astounding point on page 722. It speaks of

A people among whom the three entities Father, Mother and Child exist as perceptible speech having within it three names abiding in three nnn.

From the citations above, we can draw apparent picture of the Black fathers. They are people that descended from the sky on different periods, having such features as:

(i) The first three ancestors descending in three different generations.

(ii) The fourth generation descending last, and being a perfect generation.

(iii) A people whose central ideology accommodates no king.

(iv) A people whose cosmology is centred on the number, four.

(v) A people whose father, mother and child have a basic letter, NNN.

Now, following the view expressed by Diop Anta above, notable ancient nations in Africa traced their origin to the east; the place of the rising sun. From our observation of the eastern horizon which points to the Igbo land in Nigeria, above every other pointers that traced the origin of different African nations to West Africa; Nigeria, the Igbo oral tradition embodies the entirety of the features we have identified above. At first, the Igbo speak of them having descended from four different ancestors. And in their explanations, the Igbo have the view that they descended from unborn fathers. A paper discussed in the International Conference on World History in Indonesia, 2016 reveals the information below:

According to the Igbo creation story, which eminently rests and is told by the priest king, Eze Nri, the Igbo belonged to four distinct set of people who descended from the sky in the period of creation; probably four generations before the birth of Adam. The first to descend from the sky was Eri. He could not land properly because the earth was waterlogged. He cried to Chukwu (God) who responded by sending another set of people, the Awka to dry the water with their blacksmith. When this was done, Eri could land well. Later, God sent the Umudiala. The Umudiala were custodians of cultural practices and moral tenets. The fourth generation was sent far much later. These four sets formed the ancestors of the Igbo nation that live in the east (P.6).

The above paper which was written by Oyeji Nnaji revealed that the fourth generation lives in the place reckoned with as the home of the gods. The same place was identified by the Egyptian Book of the Dead as the home of the Egyptian god (Osiri) known as Tuat. The ancient name of the city was Igbo Eze, translated to mean Igbo is king. The concept highlights the metaphysical reference and ideology which imping itself on the equality of man. Literally, it means that everyone is a king, therefore there is no king. This brought about the popular saying among all Igbo thus, Igbo Enwe Eze; Igbo does not have kings. This same philosophy made Northrop Thomas, after caring a detailed anthropological research in Igbo land in 1913, to choose to title his work, The King Is Everyone. The other three generations according to their elderly strata are Nri, Awka and Umudiala (popularly referred to as the heart land).  
   

The Igbo have different geometrical shapes associated with numbers whose meanings are decoded metaphysically. Significant among these numbers are three, four, five, seven and eight. All these figures and the geometries associated with them are discussed in chapter seven of the book, Aspects of the Ancient African Metaphysics. Relevant to our discussion here are the number three, four and eight. In the Igbo cosmology, four points to the ancestors who gave birth to the Igbo nations. This same idea assigned impetus to the adaptation of a peculiar market structure that stimulates curiosity on the symbol four. In every traditional practice that appears to involve the Igbo with the acts of the gods, ancestors or marriage, the colanut used is those with four lobs. Geometrically, the Igbo realize the number four in the use of a quadrangle divided into four equal parts to form an “X” shape. The following object reveals the symbol.

              

                   

The number three, as identified in the Nag Hammadi: the NNN, is realized in the Igbo as in Nne, Nna and Nwa. On the other hand, trying to represent these entities’ sexes, NNN still fits in thus: Nwoke, Nwanyi and Nwata. The NNN forms the Nag Hammadi Trinity. The Nag Hammadi calls this people the First Sons of the true God, and says of them, “the fourth generation, which is the most exalted, is kingless and perfect.” From our findings through the analysis of the languages of the ancient civilized nations around the globe, call it Egypt, Nubia, Ethiopia or Summer, there is no trace of any the nation whose language associates NNN with the term, mother, father and child. In no other language was or is the terms found  beginning with N. NNN is the principal of the Igbo axiomatic concept which holds its relevance on the survival of the Igbo race. The Igbo believe that everyone is a king. The Nag Hammadi affirmed thus, “They are kings” (P.219). The Igbo have self-confidence inherent in them. They do not prostrate before anyone in a bid to show respect or subordination of any kind. They are self-dependent. Page 277 of Nag Hammadi intoned that,

The Kingless Generation was glorious and without number, they are designated the generation over whom no kingdoms exist. And all the beings of the realm with no kingdom over it … are designated the children of the un-conceived Father.

Details of the Igbo pre-colonial system of government reveal a people without a king and without the intention to have any king. The Igbo nation was designated by the creator himself to have no king. The reason is simple. The Igbo believe and see themselves as gods. To them, each individual is a Chi, god; first to himself. As a chi, he is also a king to himself and his household. on this not, the only Chi an average Igbo believes should be esteemed above himself is the Chi Ukwu, the great Chi (the almighty) also called Chukwu Okike, the creator God. This only the Igbo believe is above everyone and should be respected as the king. What had prevailed in the ancient Igbo societies till the era of the Whiteman was Theosophism and theocracy. This was the reason behind the misconception between the Whiteman and the natives at the beginning Western civilization.  
   

Discussing the lifestyle of the four generations of the sons of God, The Great Book of the Sons of Fire, made the following remark, An anonymous book in the internet entitled The Book of Creation by the Son of Fire, said thus,

The forbears of all the nations of man were once one people, and they were the elect of God who delivered all the Earth over to them, all the people, the beasts of the field, the creatures of the wasteland and the things that grow. They dwelt through long ages in lands of peace and plenty. There were some who struggled harder, were more disciplined; because their forefathers had crossed the great dark void, their desires were turned Godward and they were called The Children of God". Their country was undulating and forested. It was fertile, having many rivers and marshes. There were great mountains to the East and to the West, and in the North was a vast stony plain.

The book speaks of a people who occupied the earth plane in the earliest time. They lived in a country made up of different geographical conditions. They were a people whom it refers to as the sons of God. Their land is generally “undulating and forested. It was fertile, having many rivers and marshes. The entire environment here explains Nigeria completely. We can practically find places associated with all these features in Nigeria than elsewhere in the world. The area concentrated by mountains is in the east called Enugu. The ecological analysis of Enugu simply shows that the mountains took over the entire land. We have another mountain concentrated area in the western part of Nigeria. The place is called Idonre, in Ondo State. But, Idonre hills are very few compared to the uncountable number of the mountains in Enugu.

Idonre is significant because the mountains were carefully arranged as though it was intended. It fenced the small town round, living an opening of the size of a large gate between two mountains. The vast stony plain of the Nigeria-Plateau is known to every ecologist that has studied the Nigeria ecosystem. The marshy soil and concentration of rivers here refers to the alluvial soil of the Niger Delta region. The book also reveals that the people were one people, but their identities differ among their different races or generations. These generations were referred to as people who lived in “The Land of the Little People and the Land of Giants, the Land of the Neckless Ones…” Here the three races or generations were classified according to their natures, not necessarily the time of their appearances. Details of these generations are discussed in chapters two and three of Reminiscence.

“Their country was undulating and forested.” Ifa, the mouth piece of the Yoruba tradition, culture and history revealed that the name of the Creator God is Igbo and also calls God Igbo Oludamari (God of the Igbo). Perhaps, as the first son of the living God (according to the Yoruba oral tales) the Igbo fathers decided to take the name Igbo. Yoruba oral tale is alone in this guise, in the modern Yoruba language, Igbo means forested area of land. The land was forested, having many rivers: the Delta region of the Niger River has been identified as the marshy soil as revealed bythe anonymous book, The Book of Creation by the Sons of Fire.