Could Akwa Okuko In Anambra Be The Jesus Of The Igbos ?

Written by: Nze Tobe Osigwe (Ezeikolomuo)

Between Akwa Okuko and Soludo

When Akwa Okuko Tiwara Aki was arrested by the Anambra State Government, the Governor of the state, His Excellency, Prof. Charles Chukwuma Soludo boldly stated, “if Akwa Okuko is as powerful as he claims, let him prove it by disappearing from their custody”.

Many used Akwa’s inability to disappear to mock Igbo tradition and metaphysics as scam.

Akwa Okuko

Now, what these people who are majorly Christians, the governor inclusive, choose to forget is, when Jesus the founder of Christianity was arrested and crucified by the political powers of the day, he was also mocked on the cross to prove himself as the self acclaimed son of God by freeing himself from captivity.

A Bible scholar may argue thus, “what Jesus went through was fated. He was destined to be crucified. This was why he accepted his fate and refused to perform any magic that will necessitate his escape”.

Well, if the above line of argument is valid for Jesus, what makes it invalid for Akwa? Is there remotely no possibility that the political persecution Akwa is going through is also an act of fate, and like Jesus, he has accepted his destined role as a sacrificial lamb?

If you are reading this and you are a bit unsettled with the comparison between Akwa Okuko and Jesus, I need to remind you that several scholars, mystics and adepts also find the accounts of biblical Jesus unsettling.

In fact, many reputable and distinguished scholars believe the biblical Jesus was a creation of Alexandrian monks who were largely credited for writing and documenting the New testament three hundred years after ‘Jesus’ existed.

Now picture this, three hundred years after Akwa Okuko, some Igbo scholars may decide to write about the life and times of Akwa Okuko, a powerful Igbo Dibia who suffered political persecution.

What do you think these scholars who are bent on creating and building a divine figure worthy of veneration will do to Akwa Okuko if they choose him as the cornerstone of their deification?

I am persuaded they will write about how he raised the dead and made many poor people to become rich. How he fed one hundred thousand people at a go in one of his Agwu festivals. They will write about how he started performing miracles at the young age of three breaking stones with fresh eggs.

These scholars will explain how the young Akwa Okuko’s miracle and fame were becoming so popular that the priests and politicians of the day plotted and had him arrested. However, he refused to disappear and surrendered to fate based on divine instruction from Agwu.

You see, if you find the comparison of Jesus with Akwa a bit unsettling, the problem is with you who is comparing the Akwa Okuko you know now with the Akwa historians may likely present to the unborn generation three hundred years from now.

Now, you understand why it may be too early to mock Akwa Okuko Tiwara Aki’s travail in the hands of today’s Herod. Or why it may be amiss to use his inability to disappear from his captors to deride Ndi Odinani.

Tomorrow saviour’s are not necessarily today’s saints. Tomorrow’s Saints and Saviours are today’s political Martyrs, in some cases, charlatans.

Normal and ordinary people who brilliant writers through the stroke of their pen and deep knowledge of philosophy amplifies the stories of their life suffering into magnificent and divine orchestration.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is how God, Gods, Saviours, Saints we all pray to today were made by men! No exemption!

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