CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
Man as an intellectual being has always questioned the origin, sustenance and existence of the universe. In a like manner, these numerous questions on the mysteries of life have led to the discovery of religion; hence man is regarded as a religious being. Unlike other religions namely like Judaism, Christianity and Islam that have known origins, African Traditional Religion has no specific founder. Christianity for instance, according to the Bible in the second book of Luke popularly known as the Acts of Apostles chapter 11:26 points to Antioch as the place of origin of the word Christians. In other words Christ was the founder and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch. In the case of Islam, it was Mohammed who founded it. Contrasts to this, Africans have no recorded founder(s) or initiator(s) of their religion. Yahweh’s (Judaism) according to Okwueze (1998:51) is suggested to have been founded by Moses .African Religion is as old as the continent itself. This has contributed immensely to the nature of the religion with multivariate practices of this religion all over the continent.
That is why there is a lot of variations from one smallest indivisible society of Africa to another. In this vein, Isichei (1977:13-14) posits that:
One should not neglect to mention the value of tradition religion …West African religion tend to hold that the supreme God is benevolent but that he stays remote from affairs of men. It is therefore believed that worshippers should give most of their devotion to many lesser spirits…Because they did not write; their wisdom has usually died with them.
All things being equal, African Traditional Religion concept of the divine ultimate or transcendent being revolves around the belief in the supreme being, the belief in divinities, Belief in spirits, Belief in Ancestors and practice of magic and medicine (Ugwu and Ugwueye 2004:32-49). From this, we can understand the belief pattern of other nations or societies in Africa irrespective of their languages and cultures like the Igbo nation or society, and other sub-regions or sections within the Igbo world like the Akpo people of Anambra State.According to Ogugua (2005:68), between the supreme being and man is a region inhabited by spirits. Onunwa (2005:35) places African Traditional Religion (human being), in a triangular form with man at the center where God