DIVINATION AMONG THE UMUEBU PEOPLE IN UKWANI LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF DELTA STATE: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Thesis Overview

1.0   ï»¿INTRODUCTION1.1   BACKGROUND OF THE STUDYAfrica as a whole, construe suffering as punishment for offence and health and prosperity as blessing from the gods and not merely fate. Thus suffering of any kind, whether associated with sickness, misfortune or death was seen as reflecting some faults either from the individual, parents, community or some acts of wickedness from malevolent spirits or from witches. This view is not peculiar to Africans. In line with this thought pattern, Kenneth (1984) writes; “in the early stage of existence, Israel like any other Semitic people interpreted suffering as divine punishment for sin…” This notion is also true of Umuebu people who like every other African society hold the same view concerning illnesses and misfortunes. The Umuebu society in an attempt to find out who or what is the cause of their problems and the solution to these problems adopted a method of inquiry called or known as divination or divinatory rituals. Divination is the religious art of consulting the divinities, or spiritual entities with primary aim of knowing the cause of the problem, and, to find the solution to the problem, and to prevent an impending doom or propel the expected blessings through sacrificial rituals.According to Mr Nicholas., this method of acquiring the knowledge, solution and prevention could be done either through consulting with the specialist diviners or through direct revelation or (dreams) to individuals whom the divine chooses and reveals the unknown to. This method of knowing the mind of the divine through consultation, or dreams persisted until it became a vital part of the indigenous practices, and today, it is a very important part of the religion. Nabofa is of similar view when he said this about divination; “it is an important element in sacred duties because the devotee is always eager to know the wishes of the divine…’’Nabofa, (1981). The people of Umuebu believe that divination is as old as the religion itself. It could even be said to predate the religion, if one goes by the divination by dream theory. That is, knowing the cause as well as the solution to one’s problems through dreams. This view is in parallel with the popular notion that “if you have even counted your fingers, recite a chant (songs), or throw a coin to make a decision based on the part of the coin that faces up, then you are or have been a practitioner of the divinatory system.However, popular among the Umuebu belief is the notion that divination as practiced today was not initiated by humans but by the divine, that is, God, divinities or ancestors. In the early times, these entities instructed their agents to relay messages to their subjects. Nevertheless, the practice gained popularity when subjects, no longer waited for the divine to pass message to them, but were eager to know the reason for their failings through consulting the seers. According to Mr Ossai it was at this stage that the method of casting objects by specialists with the aim of interpreting to arrive at an answer originated.In Umuebu community divination is one of the most significant indigenous practices, today however. divination is practiced by both A.T.R. adherents and some Christians (though secretly), and has been attested to by many to be a reliable means of obtaining answers to specific questions and solving some difficult problems. In ancient times, divination was used in virtually all areas of the people’s lives. E.g what practical course one should pursue, how to deal with difficult conditions, how to put an end to bad afflictions and dying, social conflicts, determining the most reliable candidates for sensitive position in leadership etc. But today, diviners are consulted only in trying situations. From the above, one gets the impression that divination occupies a vital position in the people live, both socio-religious, political and economic spheres 0f life, that is, divination is used in dealing with any condition that presents or seems to have spiritual dimension. However, looking at the practice of divination today, that is the diminished state of the practice despite its earlier wide patronage, one is bound to reflect on reason for the decline. Could it be as a result of the coming of the foreign religions or efficacious problems? And if it is from the efficacy of the practice, what is the cause?.This work therefore looks at the nature of divination, its characteristics or features, with emphasis on the problems associated with the efficacy of the practice, as regards the decline of divinatory practice today, specifically in Umuedu community.1.2    STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEMDivination as a method of inquiry in Umuebu had had very little written about it perhaps due to western and urban indifference to the practice or due to the view that the complexity of divinity rituals is mainly for outward effect to heighten impact on client. Nevertheless most scholars like, E.M. Zuesse, Mbitti, Awolalu, Pritchad, etc. have postulated many theories concerning divination. But most of these works fail to adequately capture the vitality of the practice and the place of interpretation in divinatory practices particularly with regard to the Umuebu community. This vacuum arouses a host of questions in one’s mind such as: does interpretation occupy a vital place in the practice, why are some divinatory predictions not reliable, why are sacrificial rituals (sometimes) not effective enough to prevent the predicted doom or enough to propel the expected fortune, could the fault be from the adherents or misinterpretation from the diviners? Or could the gods be manipulated? etc. As a result of these gaps, this research undertakes an investigation with a view to conceptualizing and interpreting the role of interpretation in the practice and to point out the factors that could hinder the efficacy of the practice within the socio-cultural context of Umuebu community in Delta State.1.3  PURPOSE OF THE STUDYResulting from the lack of published works on divination as it relates to the people of Umuebu as well as the lack of satisfactory explanation concerning the failure to obtain the expected results the prescribed rituals were meant to deal with, that is, to solve the problems, there is the need to further investigate and to clarify the seeming contradiction that the above problem presents.This research therefore aims at bringing to light the importance of adhering strictly to prescribed ritual patterns, the place of sincerity and accurate interpretation when dealing with the spiritual entities. This essay also seeks to correct the erroneous notions that divination is a part of magic and is practice solely by the fetish Africans in localized rural areas, as divination is prevalence today in the modernized and urban churches in the form of prophecies, prophetic utterances and ritualistic use of sacred texts.1.4   SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDYAt the end of this research, scholars will be well grounded on the concept of divination as the work throws light on the practice of divination and gives a holistic view on the divinatory rituals as practiced by the Umuebu people. In addition, this research also shows that what we call problems (as regards the efficacy of divination) are simply lack of understanding of the concept of the phenomenon and workings of the spiritual realm. The research also joins in laying the foundation to scholarly work on the subject and will serve as guide to tomorrow scholars who would want to research further on the topic.1.5   RESEARCH METHODOLOGYThis research work depends largely on primary and secondary sources. The primary sources include oral interviews, while the secondary sources include published and unpublished books, textbooks, articles and journal that pertains to this study.The research adopts historical, descriptive and analytical methods of data interpretation. In the historical perspective the research attempts a historical contextualization of the people, the descriptive method enables the researcher to describe the practice and belief of the people, while the analytical methods enables the research the analyse the findings within the Umuebu socio-cultural context.1.6   SCOPE AND LIMITATIONAs has been stated earlier, this essay focuses on the concept of divination as believed and practiced by the Umuebu people. The work therefore examines the historical background of the Umuebu people, there socio-religious, political and economic worldview, it also examines the place of divination among the people, its effect, its problem as well as the people’s response to these problems of divinatory practices.This research however suffered a number of setbacks; which includes paucity of written sources on the subject matter coupled with lack of adequate responses from the traditionalists.