By CHIEDU UCHE OKOYE

The inability of the priests and custodians of the Igbo variant of the African traditional religion to inculcate good morals into our youths has contributed in no small way to the erosion of moral and family values in Igbo society.

Before the advent of Christianity in the Igbo nation, the Igbo people who lived in Igbo land at that time were practitioners of the Igbo variant of the African traditional religion. The foundational teachings of that religion are/were premised on honesty, truthfulness, love of people, and hard work. So the aforementioned virtues shaped the personalities of those Igbo people who lived in the pre-colonial period.

Later, the British imperialists brought Christianity to Nigeria and used it as a tool for extracting obedience from Nigerians. Christianity made inroads into the southeast of Nigeria, which led to countless Igbo people proselytizing to Christianity. The survival of the Igbo people's type of African traditional religion is a proof that the Igbo people accepted their own variant of the African traditional religion.

Today, a great majority of the practitioners of the Igbo variant of the African traditional religion are native doctors, who possess the powers of divination and healing. They have shrines where they make sacrifices to their gods and pour libation to them, too. Their form of worship is incantatory chants. And worship of ancestors is one of the religious performances, which are carried out by native doctors and other adherents of that religion in today's Igbo nation.

A native doctor is believed to be a psychic or medium, who communes with spirit beings and communicates messages from them to us when we visit the native doctors for divination. They give herbal therapies to people whose illnesses have defied orthodox cures. And they inquire in the spiritual realm to ascertain if a person's illness has spiritual origins.

In addition to being the moral compass and arbiter of the people, native doctors are also exponents and propagators of Igbo people's religious beliefs, especially the one about reincarnation. For example, when it is discovered that a child had lived in his or her current family in his or her past earth life, a native doctor would be invited to perform rites for the child.

In the past, native doctors would speak the truth, live morally upright life, use their psychic gifts for the public good, and abhor perpetration of evil deeds in order not to incur the wrath of the gods. At that time, native doctors were not stupendously rich.

But with tempus fugit, things have changed for the worse in Igbo land nay Nigeria. The family, school, and religion, which are agents of socialization, had failed to stop the erosion of family values in our society. Consequently, our positive morality code has turned topsy turvy.

Sadly, and surprisingly, too, the practitioners of our Igbo variant of the African traditional religion, of which native doctors are members, are complicit in the upturning of our moral order. They do make claims that they can prepare charms (Oke-ite) for people to become rich. And they boast that they can fortify people with charms and amulets, which are capable of preventing bullets from piercing their bodies.

However, human parts are required for the preparation of those charms so as to make them potent. The use of human parts for the preparation of charms and juju is one of the causes of the spike in the number of cases of abductions and homicidal deeds in Igbo land. The foot soldiers of the native doctors are hunting for people whom they will seize and kill them for money making rituals.

Some weeks ago, a well-known native doctor, Obi Obieze, was apprehended in Seme border while trying to escape on a motor bike to Benin republic. Decomposing body of a pregnant woman was found in a soak away in his compound. And a 13-year old girl shackled with ropes and cast in a pit in his compound was rescued by security operatives, who acted on a tip-off. Mr. Obieze is infamous for his ostentatious display of wealth.

To think that our society has sunk to this nadir of savagery and barbarism in the 21st century beggars belief and is heart-breaking. Our youths’ inordinate and insatiable quest for money, which is caused by the erosion of moral values in our society, has given rise to this ugly and abominable state of things. So we have regressed to the Stone Age, and we are in the Hobbesian state where life is short, nasty, and brutish.

So nobody can gainsay the fact that the failure of the practitioners and custodians of the Igbo variant of the African traditional religion to safeguard their religion from being put to bad use has given rise to the practice of the abduction and murder of people for money making rituals.

It is high time the native doctors and practitioners of the Igbo variant of the African traditional religion retraced their steps, turned a new leaf, and started playing the roles expected of them.

• Chiedu Uche Okoye is a staff of Anambra State Ministry of Information. He can be reached via 08062220654 and 09125204141.