Igbo History Hebrew Exiles of Eri. Omabala Aguleri
as the descendants of Eri.
In a reception held in Aguleri, the Israeli Jews told Aguleri people that they were on a mission to trace their relationship with Eri whom they were told is the founder of Igbo race. They told the delighted Aguleri people that some archeologists who guided their tour of the country wanted them to end their search of Igbo Ukwu where the museum gave them some information about Eri, but they insisted that they must be shown the settlement of Eri. After much pressure, they were brought to Aguleri to see things for themselves.
After the grand reception, Aguleri assigned some people who took the visitors to Eri-Aka, where Eri and his followers settled and lived until their death. Aguleri people explained that Eri-Aka was the settlement camp near Odanduli Stream between Ivite and Igboezunu villages in Aguleri. They saw that Eri -Aka still retained the vestiges of the early settlement of Eri. They saw the overgrown
Ogilisi tree marling the burial sites of Eri and Nri. These researchers were also taken round the three villages of Aguleri; namely, Ivite, Igboezunu and Ugwunadegbe (comprising Eziagulu and Enugu Aguleri) where they took video shots of ancient shrines and the sacred temples of Eri Kingdom including “Obu ga” i.e. the home of Gad named after Gad, the father of Eri (Genesis 46: 16). They requested the chief juju priest, some elders, women and children present on the occasion to perform some traditional ceremonies, which were acknowledged to be identical with those of the Hebrew people. The ceremonies included religious child circumcision, the custom of confining their women for a specific period after childbirth and naming of children after specific events and experiences. They filmed these events for study at home.
The only feature of similarity on which a paper was presented was the propensity of the Igbo to trade. The paper described the Jews as being endowed with special qualities and talents for which they are known and secretly admired by their detractors and those who conspired against them. They show such extraordinary intelligence in their approach and attitude to business that they are branded world-class merchants. They are known to have migrated to many parts of the world where most of them rose from grass to grace to become the wealthy class, to the envy of their host nations.
Similarly, the Igbo are adventurers. They are not only merchants and traders but are also capable of transacting business in virgin and dangerous areas. The Igbo have equally not escaped the envy of those around them.
Before their departure, the five researchers signed a relationship pact with the people of Aguleri and agreed on cultural exchange programme between Aguleri community and their counterparts in Israel. They went home satisfied that they found the settlement of their tribes men.
The interesting thing about their visit is that they confirmed the age-long speculation that the Igbo are related to the Jews and gave a credibility stamp to the school of thought that strongly believes that the Igbo have their origin in the Hebrew kingdom of Israel.
During his pilgrimage to the holy land, the author visited Dimona, called the village of Peace, which has a settlement of African Hebrew Israelites. The history of these Israelites reveals that they left Jerusalem during their captivity in Babylon, Assyria and Egypt and from thence migrated to West Africa where they once again were carried away captives, this time, by Europeans on slave ships to the Americas along with other Africans. In 1969, about 400 of them were led by one Ben Ammi back to the holy land, the land of their origin. Dimona is four hours drive from Jerusalem.
The history of the African Hebrew Israelites corroborates the accounts given by historians earlier mentioned in this book. These have proved by biblical evidence that Gad the father of Eri, is from one of the twelve tribes of Israel. Biblical account states that Jacob and his sons migrated to Egypt when his son Joseph the dreamer was a chieftain in Pharaoh’s court. This evidence from the Christian Bible agrees with the archaeological evidence enunciated by Professor Onwuejeogu which revealed that Eri and Oduduwa migrated from south of the Nile to Nigeria. Oduduwa went to Yorubaland while Eri migrated to Igboland, where he established the Igbo race.
Eri of The House of Jacob
We have read from this chapter of how some Israeli Jews who are anthropologist came to Aguleri in search of one of the lost tribes of Israel. We have also read that Eri had the attributes of someone who could belong to the house of the chosen ones of God. For instance, Igbo mythology described Eri as a king from the sky. Coming from the sky means coming from, God because there is the general belief that lives in heaven. Above it is the Sky. Aguleri folklore described Eri as a king who derived his legitimacy from God and who was destined to build the Igbo race. Another relevant pointer to this view is that Eri was deeply religious. He established the Igbo traditional religion and used the doctrines of Igbo religion to enhance the administration of the early settlement. For instance, the sacred temple of Obu-ga presently exposed in Aguleri is regarded by the descendants of Eri as the collective temple, which binds them to their common ancestor, Eri. Further Obu ga is a temple dedicated to the memory of Gad, the father of Eri. It will interest my readers to know that Obu ga means ‘the home of ga’. Obu means home and Ga is the name of the owner of the home. It cannot be ruled out that the word GA is a mispronunciation of Gad. Gad is one of the twelve sons of Jacob. It therefore stands to reason that the right pronunciation of Obu ga is Obu Gad. Obu Gad means the home of Gad. I would not like to believe that this is a mere coincidence when one considers that Eri was the son of Gad who was the son of Jacob. Furthermore, we all know that in Igbo tradition, fathers’ names are affixed to children’s names to ensure continuity and are named after places in memory of someone that needs to be remembered.
This is why the name Gad is given to a collective temple which binds the descendants of Eri to their common ancestor.
Furthermore, it may well be that Eri initially established the Jewish religion of his forefathers in Igboland but it became misinterpreted and misrepresented in time. The basic doctrine of Igbo religion is hinged on the unwritten commandments of God issued to Moses as found in the Jewish religion. Along the line there may be distortions here and there but the doctrines in both religions remain the same. I do not believe that it is a coincidence that the Igbo people in Nigeria are in the forefront of Christian religion, which traces its root to Jesus of the house of David and back to the house of Jacob. I equally do not believe that it is a mere coincidence that the first saint in the making in the person of Blessed Father Tansi is from Aguleri, which is the settlement of Eri and the ancestral home of all Igbo people.
As if these proofs are not sufficient, the author has driven his argument home when he discovered that there are African Hebrew Israelites who have practically claimed their root in Israel and are physically living in Israel in Peace Village in Dimona. He also discovered that there are African Palestinian Jews who live in Jerusalem Israel and claim citizenship.
There has been the argument that all Hebrew are light-skinned. Therefore, it is wrong to talk of Nigerian Igbo Hebrews since there were no original white or light-skinned Igbo. This is not true. An allusion to dark-skinned African Hebrews was made in Alaezi (1999) when he discussed the eventual return to Israel of all Jews scattered all over the world, including those from Africa. He commented that “Most of the African Jews or Hebrews are dark-skinned, maybe more dark-skinned than Zipporah, the African wife of Moses from the African town of Median, or the dark-skinned lover in King Solomon’s own SONG OF SOLOMON (1:5-6). She might represent other black women who went to Israel, the homeland of the Hebrews and slept with or married the Hebrews, and by extension of the argument begot black or dark-skinned Hebrews. “Dark am I, yet so lovely O daughters of Jerusalem… Do not stare at me because I am dark”. Before now, Keturah, the African woman whom Abraham took as wife after the death Sarah, had already begot for the Jewish world a generation of dark-skinned Hebrews. It is true that the emphasis was on the Hebrews not marrying foreigners. The reason was religious, not racial. In fact, when foreigners were willing to serve the God of Israel, they were welcomed”. This was the case where (see also the book of Ruth) the dark-skinned Hebrews also came into existence out of marriage between the Hebrews and dark-skinned Egyptians when the former were in slavery in Egypt. Therefore the assertion of Donin (1977.8), a renowned Jewish scholar, that the people of Israel