THE CONCEPT OF OGBANJE IN IGBO TRADITION: FACT OR FICTION?

By Jude Thaddeus Osondu

Theology, Bigard Memorial Seminary, Enugu
October 20, 2012.

OVERTURE
Not so long ago, to the average African, particularly the Igbos and even the Yorubas, the concept of
Ogbanje was as real as the concept of child bearing. Today, however, due to a progressive inter-
cultural exposure, interaction and enlightenment, this enigma of Ogbanje, just like reincarnation,
osu, killing of twins and some other not-too-well-informed practices and ideologies of our forebears,
is fraught with so much debate as to its reality or stupidity. Nonetheless, we must bear in mind that
human understanding is dynamic and the beliefs of any given people are rooted in their experiences
and subjective interpretation, or perhaps misinterpretation as the case may be, of what is.

EXPOSITION
The phenomenon of Ogbanje is akin to the theory of reincarnation which is present in almost all the
cultures of the world, albeit with variations, from the Greek through the Egyptians, to the ancient
African cultures, and even the Oriental religions Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism, etc.
Some also see Ogbanje as an aspect of reincarnation (ilo uwa in Igbo language). Basically,
reincarnation, from the two Latin words re (= again) and incarnare (= to enter into the body), is a
belief that individuals are involved in a cyclic process of birth, death and rebirth. Notably, the Igbo
meaning of reincarnation, ilo uwa (= a return to the world) is commonly understood as referring to
deceased adults and is not taken as evil if the ancestor was good in the previous earthly existence. In
the case of children dying and coming back, the Igbos refer to it as Ogbanje (or Abiku as the Yorubas
call it). In other words, Ogbanje is a belief that some children are involved in a continuous cycle of
birth, death and rebirth. These children belong to a cult. The cult unleashes them as babies to
expectant mothers who give birth to them and endow them with the usual maternal care, only for
them to die at a preset young age, notwithstanding the parents efforts otherwise. When the mother
would be expecting another child, the same child-phantasm returns and is given birth to, only to
repeat the same diabolical process of coming and going, never staying on, never staying away. In
fact, the reincarnation of children (Ogbanje, Abiku) is regarded as evil. Needless to say, such kids are
usually very beautiful, fragile and attractive like mermaids and mermen.

MANIFESTATION
From the foregoing, one can only begin to imagine the terrible and often disastrous consequences of
this cycle of always desiring and acquiring but never really possessing. It is certainly painful and
heart-wrenching. A couple longing for the fruit of the womb, despite how long, finally conceives and
gives birth to a baby, showering it with all the love and care they can muster and with great
jubilation. Unfortunately, the evil incarnate of a child is not deterred by all these. Although some
couples may simply be unlucky to be bedeviled by the Ogbanje fate irrespective of their uprightness,
some posit that Ogbanje children visit people as retribution for deplorable offences. But one may
rebut by questioning the source, mode, as well as goal of this cruel being posing as an agent of
justice. Their mission is obviously to hurt, eat up and destroy. Whichever way you look at it, these
malevolent spirits are out to inflict punishment on the earthly family which they shortly belong to
until their malicious mission is accomplished. The biological, economic, emotional, social, domestic,
physical and matrimonial chasm they leave in their wake is unquantifiable and unjustifiable.
It is a truism that where there is life, there is hope. Be that as it may, one of the cruelest ways to
destroy life is to destroy hope. Likewise, one of the cruelest ways to make life miserable is to make
hope miserable. Naturally, when a couple loses their child, there is hope of having others. Gradually,
this hope degenerates into foreboding and misery and then hopelessness. Often, the optimistic ones
confer excessive love on the child to overcome the spirit-bond and make it stay. Some are believed to
have succeeded. In such cases, it is held, as Chinua Achebe vividly portrayed in the ninth chapter of
his Things fall Apart, that the child would reveal the position of a stone (the iyi uwa) or some symbol
buried under a tree or somewhere nearby which signifies its point of contact with the spirit world.
Once this is unearthed in accord with the requisite rituals, it is taken that the child has relented and
decided to stay on to lead a normal life, and of course, to the chagrin of the cult it came from. But
most times, the passionate pampering of the parents ends in futility as the child will still die after all,
to come back to haunt them again and again. For some, actually converting an Ogbanje is a will-o-
the-wisp. Thus, the parents had better resign themselves to their unenviable fate.

THESES
Now, one may rightly muse over what informed this enigmatic projection. Definitely, the concept of
Ogbanje was not built in the air. Arguments and evidences lend credence to this belief. The most
convincing of all is the fact that some children are born with mutilation marks made on a previously
dead person. Some people engrave marks on the corpses of suspected Ogbanje children during the
funeral rituals. So the congenital possession of identical body marks is proffered as a strong proof for
the Ogbanje syndrome. In addition, this belief is also anchored on the occurrence of child prodigies
(ebibi uwa).
Another baffling grenade thrust by the Ogbanje reincarnationists is a collection of certain biblical
passages like 2 Sam. 12:15-18; 1 Kgs 17:17-18; 2 Kgs 4:18-20, together with some New Testament
and Prophetic passages alluding to Elijah and John the Baptist, as confirming their belief in
reincarnation. Moreover, as some also conjecture, the resurrection of the body which is the goal of
Christianity is founded on the premise that the body will come back after death, with its previous
corporeal features, likened to Christ with the same scars. Therefore, the issue of bodily existence
after death, nay with previous bodily features, regardless of the persons age, is not a bushbaby
tale. Some of these reasons are based on real, empirical evidence, and despite their flaws, sound very
appealing. But then do they really prove the veracity of the Ogbanje theory?

ANTITHESES
On the other hand, nevertheless, arguments negating the Ogbanje phenomenon are rife and forceful
too. Arguments against Ogbanje concept are typically arguments against reincarnation. First of all,
there are variegated opinions and conflicting views among reincarnationists, but this point alone
cannot annul a fact because even Philosophy is beleaguered by such contradictions. Another problem
is the ubiquity of existence, i.e., the simultaneous existence of one and the same person as both a
dead child in the spiritual world and a newly born reincarnate in this world. This can be countered by
the fact of Christs dual existence both in heaven and on earth simultaneously when He became
incarnate.
Another problem raised is the body replica theory which questions the issue of personal identity,
whether the deceased is identified with his reincarnated self in mind and, or, in body. Here, one may
also rebut: What of bilocation (as recorded in the history of some saints like St Anthony, Padre Pio
etc)? Is the phenomenon identified with the persons mind or body or both? Further, the soul or vital-
force transmission theory creates a split-personality hypothesis. This is akin to the problem caused
by the memory theory explained away as hypnosis and as found always among children though it
fades as they grow.
Furthermore, in response to the biblical passages cited in favour of reincarnation as concerns the
Ogbanje issue, none outright propounds such theory. Rather, John the Baptist himself categorically
denied such connections (cf. Jn 1:20-21). Heb. 9:27 even emphasizes that everyone dies but once
and after that comes judgment by God. Consequently, belief in Ogbanje negates heaven and hell, as
persons die and return to earth.
If Ogbanje occurrences were true, existence itself becomes essentially evil, a curse. This theory lends
credence to determinism, defeatism, quietism and nullifies all ethical and moral values since we are
mere agents of an already ordained existence, preconditioned by a previous existence.
Above all, science has furnished an inescapable coffin for reincarnation, through the discovery of
genetic traits to explain resemblances between deceased members and one or several living relatives.
Similarly, sickle-cell anaemia, untreated venereal diseases (V.D.), tuberculosis and other diseases
fatal in infants born with them, correct unwarranted naive interpretations of recurrent infant
mortality. Utter neglect and abandonment of ailing children suspected of ogbanje as was the case of
little Ezinma in Chinua Achebes Things Fall Apart also contribute to death being ascribed to this
phenomenon. Poor sanitary and ventilation conditions in homes coupled with malnutrition increase
the rate of infant mortality in rural and primitive societies.
In the same vein, a renowned scholar, Eneh, E.S. (1987: Reincarnation: Fact or Fancy?) strongly
maintains that the psychological and emotional states of the mother before, during and even after
conception could explain the appearance of some acclaimed mutilation marks. Distress, upsets,
doubts and fears often result in ill health like ulcers as well as other psychosomatic disorders. He
draws a parallel with Jacob and Labans flock (cf. Gen. 30:25-43) to establish the power of the
imagination in effecting mutilation marks and other physical features. In all, these existential,
biblical, biological, psychological, socioeconomic, anthropological and logical reasons highlighted
above try to repudiate the inconsistencies, contradictions, misunderstandings and misinterpretations
of natural phenomena which are usually postulated as arguments pro-ogbanje.

RECAPITULATION
At this juncture, we have to note that neither arguments for or against ogbanje are entirely
conclusive. However, the voices of those speaking against it, mine inclusive, seem louder. Some see
it as intrinsically inadmissible and existentially and logically impossible for it breaks the principle of
identity. Still some mildly concede to it the caption of paranormal feature in the same category
with resurrection, metempsychosis and parapsychology, which encompasses issues like extra sensory
perception (E.S.P.), clairvoyance, soul travel, astral travel, and other deeply spiritual activities in
which people reportedly engage, although it is mostly esoteric and mysterious, often necessitating an
initiation. All these phenomena are tools in arguing for the immortality of the soul. But they are as
elusive as they are problematic because they invalidate known principles and axioms of life, and as
Protagoras would surmise, the factors preventing knowledge are many; the obscurity of the subject
and the shortness of human life. Quite dexterously, however, some African scholars like Prof.
Onyewuenyi, I. C. (1996: African Belief in Reincarnation: A Philosophical Appraisal) project the
issue as a problem of language. These refute the term reincarnation or ogbanje used in connection
with the African concept of rebirth or return of the dead to be as misleading as terms like ancestor
worship, polytheism, animism, etc, applied to African religions by early European anthropologists.
For the sake of clarity, we should also reiterate that in Igbo worldview, ogbanje and ilo uwa
reincarnation differ markedly. Reincarnation belongs to the realm of ancestors taking flesh and
dwelling among men, which, for traditionalists, is a good and gracious thing. Contrariwise, ogbanje
connotes the wicked but inexorable cycle of birth and early death as well as rebirth of apparently the
same child in the same immediate family, which obviously is condemned as evil.
More still, with regard to our Christian faith, ogbanje is not palatable with the doctrine of
resurrection as projected in the scriptures, which will occur at an appointed time for all, regardless of
age, race or gender.
Finally, much thanks to Darwin and to science in general for the advanced studies and knowledge of
genes, heredity and paediatrics, which our past generations unfortunately were not privy to. A better
understanding of sickle-cell anaemia, as a terminal tropical ailment, has in no small measure helped
dispel the mist surrounding couples repeatedly losing their kids at an early age. Hence, we now know
for sure that the ogbanje concept was an incidental misinterpretation of certain observed phenomena
as we have exposed herein.