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Journalist Okorie Uguru recently visited the famous Arochukwu shrine and below is his experience narrated in his own words
Getting to Arochukwu town is like a trip to the land of the spirits where one has to pass through the proverbial seven rivers and seven hills.
Although less than 100 kilometres from the Abia State capital, getting to Arochukwu from Umuahia can take between three to four hours. This is simply as a result of a bad road. From Umuahia to Ohafia, the road is bad, especially through Bende. From Ohafia to Arochukwu, after the Goodluck Ebele Jonathan Army Cantonment Ohafia, the road becomes hell.
From the perspective of tourism, Arochukwu is a town with many interesting tourist sites. The most interesting thing for this reporter is Ibini Ukpabi better known as the Arochukwu Long Juju. It is a deity that transformed Arochukwu to a place where major issues and conflicts were adjudicated at the shrine of Ibini Ukpabi.
Ibini Ukpabi, at the height of the its powers, during the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade was the most powerful deity in Igboland. It was a kind of supreme court whose judgment was final. There was no appeal.
The guilty paid with their lives, while victims of the crime returned back to their communities with the sense of getting justice. No community would oppose the judgment of Ibini Ukpabi for the fear of being invaded by either Ohafia or Abam warriors.
Ibini Ukpabi, coupled with the strategic location of Arochukwu town, made the Aros serve as a kind middlemen in the trading between the whitemen and the Ibo in hinterland. The Aros travelled to virtually every part of Iboland to buy goods they sold to the whitemen, including slaves.
The reputation of Ibini Ukpabi was based on its ability to deliver swift judgments. Once a person entered the shrine, if found guilty, the person never returned. The relations would only see blood flowing out form the shrine and then would know the person was guilty and had been killed by the deity. But many said it was all a ruse as the priests would never kill. Animal blood was poured out, while the person was taken through a door to a secret location to be sold as slave.
The oracle was destroyed during the military expedition to Arochukwu in 1901 and 1902. It was after the punitive expedition that historical figures like Mary Slessor, the Scottish missionary, moved into Arochukwu to stop the killing of twins.
Ibini Ukpabi or the Long Juju ought to be a major tourist site in Abia State, but the bad road and the reluctance to take people to the historical site have robbed the people of Arochukwu the huge benefits they ought to be enjoying by having such site in the community. Ibini Ukpabi, rather than being a tourist site, is shrouded in secrecy.
On getting to Arochukwu, the writer was tossed from one elder to the other. Finally, I met the Eze Ibomisii of Aro. The Aros operate a kind of triumvirate royalty with three paramount kings, all with their areas of jurisdiction. Ibini Ukpabi falls under the Eze Ibomisii, Eze Kanu Okereke. Eze Ibomisii is tall and regal. There was not much in the palace except the throne and chairs for meetings. Some of his children were playing around.
When told of the purpose of the trip, the king allowed a kind of wry smile to play on his face. He initially refused any form of interview. He demanded for the sum of N7,000 and a bottle of St. Remy drink.
After much pleading, he decided to lower the price and then waived the drink.
The amount was just for an interview. If the reporter insisted on going to the Ibini Ukpabi shrine, he would have to cough up N35,000 for certain sacrifices.
He talked about Ibini Ukpabi: “It is as old as Aro and Arochukwu is more than 1000 years. It served as a supreme court. If you committed an offence, you would be tried. If your offence was severe, you would not go free. If it was a minor offence, the Long Juju would set that person free. It depended on the offences”.
Asked at what point the diety became the deity for the whole of Iboland, he said: “Even before the time of our colonial masters. You know they fought the Aros from 1901 to 1902. The British military expedition to Arochukwu was led by a colonel. It was after the war that its influence started to drop.
“As the population grew, they started moving to different places to develop. People started coming from these places with one request or the other. If something good happens to you, you will tell others. That was how the influence started. Its popularity increased because of the positive news from the people who had visited the shrine.
“It acted as the appellate court, meaning that the decision of the deity was final. Whatever decision it took was final and before such decision was taken, the matter must have been examined very well. If you committed an offence in those days, for example, you took a knife, pursued and killed somebody, you would be brought here to be tried. I believe that the practice of Court of Justice was inherited from that long Juju. If you killed somebody, you were going for it. There were offences that attracted imprisonment. There were others that attracted exile. It happens today. That was the work of the Long Juju. It secured lives.”
Many believe the Aros used the deity to perpetuate their dominance in Igboland and get slaves for the slave dealers.
The king disagreed: “No, that is not true. As I told you, the Long Juju served different functions: function of trading ; function of securing lives; function of worship and others. We did not invite anybody. People were bringing people here. We did not force them. In fact, the Aros took a very big risk to accommodate different kinds of people. Aro did not go anywhere to bring people. It was the families of these people that brought them. Aros saved many communities. They forgot the risk that the Aros took to admit a bad person, sometimes the strongest person from that village.”
The shrine of Ibini Ukpabi is located deep inside the forest. It is after Hon. Mao Ohuanbunwa Street in Arochukwu. The difficult conditions set by the keepers of the shrine have made it difficult for tourists to visit the site. The gate to the shrine has overgrown weeds to show that it has not been seeing much of visitors. According to our tour guide, the journey required crossing a river but was not ready to continue. The farthest one could get was the point of no return before being told the required amount one had to pay and the sacrifices to be performed.
Arochukwu ought to be a popular destination, but needs efforts from the state government and the community.
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