Nsukka, Nigeria — Since early childhood, Chidi Nwaohia’s life has swung like a pendulum between two religious paths: Christianity and African conventional faith.
His life was at all times marked by thriller, says the 59-year-old who was raised a religious nondenominational Christian in Amachi Nsulu, close to Aba in southeast Nigeria.
Earlier than he had turned a yr outdated, he strayed in a single day and went lacking. “I used to be discovered the subsequent morning in the identical trench they searched the day before today,” he mentioned.
Three days later, he had a sudden match and fell gravely unwell. His dad and mom took him to a hospital, however when his situation didn’t enhance, they approached a conventional healer for solutions. The dibia (priest and drugs man) attributed his sickness to the gods, saying it was an indication of Nwaohia’s inescapable future to steer his individuals within the historic traditions of the Igbo individuals.
“The dibia mentioned I used to be the reincarnation of my grandfather,” Nwaohia mentioned. “His return to the earth as a strong conventional priest was foretold [before he died].”
Such doctrine will not be unusual in cultures and religious practices throughout West Africa. However Nwaohia’s mom, on account of her deep Christian religion, acquired the prophecy with doubt and saved it from her son.
When Nwaohia turned 17 in 1983, he was baptised. However on the day of the baptism, he had an accident. “Whereas driving my motorcycle house with the person who baptised me, I all of the sudden veered into the bush and sustained fleshly accidents, however my co-rider was unscathed,” he mentioned, later coming to the conclusion that it was an indication he was on the improper path.
However again then, Nwaohia was nonetheless blind to the prophecy, so at age 18, he grew to become a Bible trainer at a church in his hometown.
After one other street accident – a automobile crash in 1987 – left him with a limp and leg accidents he mentioned wouldn’t heal regardless of years of hospital care, he took a buddy’s recommendation and went to a drugs man for assist. The injuries, the dibia advised him, had been indicators that Nwaohia’s calling to the priesthood within the African conventional religion was due.
Nwaohia, then 23, advised his mom what the dibia mentioned. She lastly revealed the prophecy she acquired about him a few years in the past. Though she was hesitant about it, he felt his path was now clearer, and step by step, he accepted his new religious function.
“Individuals who determine and observe their true path will thrive, whereas those that stray will face difficulties till they discover their method again,” mentioned Nwaohia, who claims his leg damage healed by itself after he embraced his calling.
He was formally ordained a dibia in 1993, in an elaborate ceremony that included prayers, rituals of purification and imaginative and prescient, in addition to frenzied dances, drumming and initiations. Different spiritualists supplied Igbo prayers to Chukwu (the supreme being), Ndi Ichie (the ancestors), and the gods and spirits that management the bodily and religious worlds, asking for acceptance, steerage, safety and blessings.
Christianity is the primary faith in Nigeria, a rustic of greater than 200 million individuals. However within the years since Nwaohia modified his religious path, a rising variety of younger individuals have been shifting away from monotheistic faiths in the direction of Indigenous African beliefs, in line with non secular leaders and observers Al Jazeera spoke to.
There’s a dearth of knowledge and analysis on the difficulty, observers mentioned, however they began noticing the pattern within the early 2000s. Many attribute it to rising apathy in the direction of Christianity, however some say pastors specializing in materials wealth over religious wellbeing – one thing opposite to the Bible’s teachings – leads individuals to contemplate various non secular choices.
Coexistence or irreconcilable variations?
Christianity was first dropped at Nigeria by Portuguese merchants and slavers within the fifteenth century. Nevertheless, the religion was restricted to the coastal areas of the nation the place they had been based mostly. It remained so till the arrival of British colonialists within the nineteenth century. The Christian religion then unfold to numerous components of Nigeria by means of the efforts of missionaries and a few emancipated slaves.
However earlier than the introduction of Christianity and different monotheistic faiths like Islam, Nigerians had a non secular perception system centered on deep connections with the ancestors, the bodily and religious worlds, and community-specific deities.
At present, many converts leaving Christianity face opposition at house. Nwaohia’s mom, for one, was initially sad about his choice to turn into a dibia, seeing his conversion as an affront to her beliefs.
Households of converts additionally worry the social stigma related to conventional beliefs. Many communities view ancestors, divination and different religious rites with distrust. Worshippers can face extreme discrimination, with beliefs branded “pagan”, “demonic” or “witchcraft”. This displays colonial missionaries’ affect, which portrayed Indigenous religion as archaic and spiritually perilous, observers say.
Nevertheless, for adherents of African conventional faith, each beliefs usually coexist.
Some individuals attend church on Sundays whereas looking for recommendation from a dibia at different occasions, all of the whereas collaborating in each Christian and conventional rituals like naming ceremonies or funerals.
The adherents of conventional religion interviewed by Al Jazeera say all non secular divinity is captured of their pantheon, together with the Christian God. Because of this, many mix Christian and Indigenous practices.
This strategy to faith has turn into enticing in a society the place non secular zealotry has brought about division and violence, together with battle between Christians and Muslims.
Echezona Obiagbaosogu, 49, a former Catholic priest who now practises each Christian and conventional faiths, recounted the story of a person who remained each a loyal Christian and a rainmaker, even serving on the parish council till his dying. Nevertheless, regardless of such examples of harmonious coexistence, he famous that some zealous preachers say the faiths are incompatible.
The seek for private conviction is inspiring a return to the type of religion many Africans hyperlink to their roots. Obiagbaosogu, at one level in his journey as a priest, discovered himself questioning whether or not his religious path was really in sync together with his internal convictions.
“I felt that possibly my private relationship with God wanted one thing extra from me,” he mentioned, with out elaborating on what he felt was lacking. After seven years of inside battle and discovering no aid in Christianity, he embraced conventional faith in 2022, his sixteenth yr as a priest.
He had additionally confronted comparable challenges within the seminary the place he studied, main him to start out a society for African tradition together with his colleagues to discover African non secular ideas or practices and their place in Christianity.
Obiagbaosogu believes each conventional and Christian non secular practices provide totally different views on understanding the supernatural.
“People crown realities and create ideas, and we turn into slaves to the ideas we create. Nothing occurs if you determine to recuse your self from the ideas,” he mentioned.
‘Straightforward cash’
Past the religious facets, some say flawed perceptions and the seek for straightforward wealth have additionally contributed to the rising pattern of younger individuals shifting from Christianity to African conventional faith.
Many younger individuals embrace conventional beliefs pondering it is going to result in wealth, some clergy say, because of the perception that alignment with the deities and spirits can grant blessings, monetary breakthroughs or supernatural assist in private and financial endeavours.
“They’re very fascinated by cash, and the African conventional faith provides them a straightforward method to make some,” mentioned Anthony Oluba, a Catholic priest.
However some argue that it’s in reality Christian church buildings’ emphasis on materials wealth that has brought about them to wish to depart the faith.
Kingsley Akunwafor, 31, a tailor and former Catholic, mentioned the commercialisation of some Christian church buildings and their desire for rich people undermines non secular credibility and has led to rising apathy in the direction of Christianity.
Clerics demand choices for miracles and blessings, distracting the Christian church from core obligations, together with the religious welfare of members, mentioned Akunwafor, who requested a pseudonym as he now practises conventional beliefs in secret.
Some clergy are additionally accused of desirous to earn money off the church for private achieve.
Joel Ugwoke, an Anglican priest, advised Al Jazeera he is aware of a businessman who misplaced confidence within the establishment after he bought a Pentecostal pastor an influence generator for the church. The pastor requested the businessman to inflate the worth on invoices to the church in order that he might pocket the distinction with out arousing suspicion.
Chinedu Oshaba, 37, one other former Catholic, embraced conventional religion greater than a decade in the past after witnessing the Church prioritising cash over empathy.
A faithful member was denied a church burial due to unpaid levies. With nobody to settle her debt, one other church of a distinct denomination finally carried out her funeral. “They stripped her of her membership, throwing away all her years of dedication,” Oshaba mentioned.
Many orthodox church buildings acquire month-to-month or annual levies from members, together with to feed clergymen and bishops, preserve church buildings, and assist bury members. Nevertheless, in Indigenous religion, burial rites are granted to all members no matter monetary standing. Oshaba sees this as a bonus over Christian church buildings, the place the bereaved are charged for funeral providers, together with charges for officiating clerics and church services.
Some Christian clerics have noticed the pattern of extra individuals seemingly shifting in the direction of African spirituality. There are ongoing reforms and conversations throughout various denominations on learn how to attraction to worshippers, non secular leaders mentioned.
Oluba’s Catholic congregation, as an illustration, appeals to individuals by offering help with agriculture, by means of coaching alternatives and grants, whereas Anglican priest Ugwoke says he’s cautious about his strategy to church doctrine and the way he teaches it.
“I practise what I preach as a result of they [the congregation] focus extra on me than what I preach,” Ugwoke advised Al Jazeera.
‘Christianity could also be dislodged’
Christianity by means of colonialism grew to become outstanding in Nigeria within the twentieth century, shortly being launched in faculties within the southern a part of the nation. The unfold was typically marked by violence, which killed individuals and displaced the Indigenous peoples who survived.
“Whenever you deceive or conquer one, two, or three generations of a individuals, there’ll at all times be the descendant generations that may defy you, having recognized the reality by themselves and for themselves,” mentioned Chijioke Ngobili, a historian.
Now, as social media empowers free speech, extra younger individuals are talking up in regards to the colonial atrocities in Nigeria. This, some observers say, is making a risk to the dominance of Christianity.
“With younger adherents of Indigenous spirituality doubtlessly changing into future intellectuals, politicians, capitalists and policymakers, Christianity could also be dislodged,” mentioned Ngobili, who can also be an adherent of conventional religion.
Some church buildings have reported a shortage of younger members, who are sometimes those to steer music and singing throughout church classes. “One church even stopped utilizing musical devices as a result of its younger male members left for Indigenous religion,” mentioned Oluba, the Catholic priest.
With extra younger individuals leaving, Oluba worries in regards to the church shedding its function as a beacon of morality and conscience in society. In the meantime, different clerics fear in regards to the younger individuals embracing conventional religion to make use of it to realize wealth and energy by means of black magic.
Nevertheless, historian Ngobili argues that darkish forces will not be inherent to conventional religion, however quite introduced in by these with unfavorable intentions.
“The dangerous ones take their vices – corresponding to greed, need for wealth with out work, on the spot gratification, violence, amongst others – into the follow of Indigenous faiths,” he mentioned.
The misuse of sure highly effective practices and processes is what tarnishes the picture of conventional religion, he mentioned, resulting in societal distrust and reinforcing unfavorable stereotypes.
African method of worship
At sundown on a day in January, in his hometown of Amachi Nsulu, Nwaohia gathered outside on the grounds of his shrine, making ready to invoke the gods.
Along with his index finger, he marked the outer sides of his eyes with a white kaolin earlier than gulping a mouthful of gin from a bottle. Then, with a pinch of kola nut between his fingers, he moved slowly between the assorted collectible figurines of his oracles, adorned in animal blood.
“Our ancestors ate kola. Spirits drink,” he mentioned, pouring droplets of the gin.
Since changing, Nwaohia has been absorbed deeply in what he believes is the true religion that pulls him nearer to the spirits of his ancestry, and the goodwill of his forefathers, diligently following the principles of rituals he has discovered.
The African method of worship sees prayers happen within the morning and at sundown, usually accompanied by libations, with sizzling drinks, kola nut and kaolin. Stones, carved photos and bushes are thought of houses for the gods, and are sometimes used because the illustration of their presence.
Then there are annual and seasonal festivals to mark the harvest seasons, in addition to masquerade ceremonies. Choices, together with kola nut, yams, different meals or sacrificial animals, are made at shrines to hunt blessings, safety or steerage. Blood sacrifices of fowls or goats are carried out to appease spirits or mark occasions.
However there isn’t a written legislation to information adherents into particular acts.
Worshippers consider that there’s a connection between people and pure parts just like the earth, water, vegetation and animals, and that sure wrongdoings – together with homicide, adultery and injustice – will not be simply an offence in opposition to people however the entirety of nature.
As a substitute of gathering in a standard meeting, like church buildings, members largely spend quiet occasions in reflection and looking for fact and equity in their very own actions.
However for converts, this may current a problem: a scarcity of mentors. For a religion based mostly on private meditation, with out leaders who information and provides sermons in church buildings, new worshippers can wallow in confusion.
This, when added to the shrouded nature of sure ritualistic practices within the religion, offers a much less organised construction for studying and understanding key doctrines.
Younger adherents from Christian houses usually bear the brunt, as there isn’t a generational switch of information.
“Once I left the church, my father arrange my shrine for me and taught me the whole lot,” mentioned Oshaba, whose father had transformed to African conventional faith earlier than he was born. However most others do not need a information.
In excessive circumstances, stigma causes household and mates to ostracise new converts. Because of this, Akunwafor says he is compelled to sometimes attend the Catholic Church to keep away from being sidelined by his mates and kinfolk.
The tailor has practised his conventional religion secretly since he transformed about 5 years in the past.
“I’m very bothered by my incapacity to practise my religion overtly due to improper perceptions about it, however I’m hopeful that my God will give me confidence finally,” he mentioned.
Equally, Obiagbaosogu didn’t have a straightforward transition. “I misplaced mates,” he advised Al Jazeera. “My relationship with others could not have been clean, however we’re shifting ahead and I’m constructing new connections.”
Nevertheless, on uncommon events, family members do come round. In Nwaohia’s case, though his mom was initially displeased, finally the entire household welcomed his new life as a conventional priest.
“My God has prospered me,” Nwaohia mentioned. “I’ve not had any cause to cry since I grew to become a dibia.”
