Burial: Necromancy And Its Efficacy In Ika Culture (I)

By Paul Nwayalani

Ignorance is not only a disease; it must be regarded as a sin on our part, if we allow it to be perpetrated.” – Olusegun Obasanjo.
Ika nation comprises of Ika South and Ika North East Local Government Areas of Delta State Nigeria, and does not only have rich cultural heritage, but highly dreaded, respected and some traditional die-hards admire them for their consistency and cultural faith and belief in the act of carrying or questioning of corpse with a spiritual dance on the street which is known as Necromancy or ‘IMA OZUN’ in Ika dialect and culture.
This practice takes place in most villages throughout Ika land, mainly when the death of a person is suspicious and there was a general belief that the dead person must have been spiritually killed by witches or wizards in the area from the perspectives of the Ika core traditionalists, spiritualists discover the true cause of death of any person, whether it was from the family, lineage, or village and through this ancient method of Ima Ozun, it has proven that a corpse can promptly answer all relevant questions about the death and goes beyond to respond to questions from or to the public in a gathering to the astonishment of the people there. Investigations by the writer have indicated that in some years past and until recently, most communities such as Okpe in Abavo, Agbor and Owa, among others, may not just bury any corpse in their place, without carrying it, or performing the ‘Ima Ozun’ rites. But one fascinating aspect of the exercise is that necromancy or ima ozun may be applied in the case of children who died without teeth, and in order to carry out the act, spiritualist in charge, will put some corn seeds in the dead child’s mouth, which represent his/her teeth and the spirit would function and perform like that of an adult effectively.
An elder who does not want his name in print at Akumazi disclosed that it is usually not their practice to question the cause of death in that kingdom, ‘except where they suspected that such death was caused by unusual forces.”
According to a renowned educationist and author, Chief (Dr.) F. A. Onyekpeze who hails from Oyoko village, Abavo, Ika South Local Government Area. “In 1970’s AD, a revealing instance of a corpse carried happened in Isube town in Akumazi kingdom, a man died very mysteriously. The man, a carpenter, returned from his day’s job hale and hearty, on that fateful day. Having taken his bath, he strolled to a nearby shop to purchase a cigarette. His wife informed him that she had passed his dinner when he came back home. But he complained that he could not describe how his body was reacting. He sent his wife to go for one of his brothers. His brother had hardly come when he gave up the ghost. His death sent a strange signal to, and raised a lot of dust in the kingdom, so much so that the reigning Obi caused the Isube elders to question the man’s corpse. They carried the corpse and it confessed that a witch from Akumazi kingdom killed him at the end of which they dropped the coffin.”
In a reply to the emissary sent by the monarch, “he further ordered the Isube elders to carry the man’s corpse to search for, and locate his killer. This was done and the corpse had hardly been carried when it headed for and hit a hut at a quarter in Odugan town and stopped. An old woman emerged from the hut. She was to be manhandled by the irate crowd when the elders prevailed over their anger.”
The summary was that the old woman boldly admitted that, “I killed the man and whether the crowd beat me or not, I am still prepared to extend the attack to the late man’s children because the late man was the first to hurt me, set my house ablaze as I was suspected to be a witch when my husband died; and had to ran away to Odugan to meet my kindred where the Odugan elders had to settle me and my children.”
Also as enumerated based on real life experience by Edward Paul in the book, “The Witch, West African Narrative,” it was reported that the chief mate, Mr. Mansfield and some crew members on shore witnessed the burial of a suspected poisoned Negro girl. Severally, they have seen the corpse bearers performing, but have often viewed it as the trick of the corpse bearers to deceive the public. During the occasion, “the mates, therefore, desired two of the sailors to take up the coffin, and carry it to the grave. The Sailors who were all who were all of the opinion, readily obeyed, but they had scarcely raised it to their shoulder before they began to run furiously about, quite unable to direct themselves, till at last without intention, they came to a hut and damaged part of the wall.”
Consequently, the sailors experience vividly corroborated the age-long Ika culture of Necromancy and therefore, took to custody the owner of the hut who later confessed that he poisoned the late Negro girl. Also, like the case of the old woman in Odugan in Akumazi kingdom, the old woman apart from admitting that she actually killed the man, she told the crowd that even in the presence of those threatening to kill her in reprisal and this shows that “this incident was a proof of the authenticity of corpse carrying or Necromancy in Ika land.”