Culture

Extracted is a piece of information from the paper by Dr. Izeogu. (please read the full text: more info. Every Ali-Ogba person  belongs to a politico-cultural organization (Onuobdo) and every Onuobdo occupies a traditional position in the political organization of Ali-Ogba which has been preserved to this day, such as kindred groups, titles and  greeting address. Every Onuobdo has its own distinct titles which have political, social and economic implications.

The membership of Onuobdo and its associated title or “praise name” is expressed in one of the most important aspect of Ali-Ogba cultural and political legacies: the traditional greeting (Idu Isiali). When a member of an Onuobdo bows in the traditional greeting (Idu Isiali), he or she is praised with the appropriate title of his or her Onuobdo. The ‘Idu-Isiali’ or traditional greeting is an important cultural obligation of a full-fledged indigene of Ali-Ogba. To perform the greeting properly, you must know the Onuobdo of the person you are about to greet as well as the appropriate praise name or title of distinction for his or her Onuobdo. In addition, you must know the age-grade of the person to be greeted because a younger age-grade should initiate the greeting with the following exceptions:

• Whatever may be a person’s age, he or she will initiate the   greeting or “bow” to every member of his or her mother’s Onuobdo, except the very young persons
• A man and his agnatic relatives will initiate the greeting or “bow” to the agnatic relatives of his wife or wives
• A man will “bow’ to the wife or wives of an elder member of his own Onuobdo.
• All female members of  an Onuobdo should “bow” to all members of the same Onuobdo irrespective of age, except those from their own immediate extended family
• Members of the same age-grade bow indiscriminately among themselves.

In Egi section of Ali-Ogba, the traditional greeting (Idu-Isiali) by persons versed in the traditional  greeting ceremony in a gathering is embellished with a rap depicting the philosophies of the person who initiated the greeting.  A traditional ruler or “king” in Ali-Ogba does not respond to “Isiali”. Instead, the greeter praises the traditional ruler with his royal title bowing or genuflecting slowly while the ruler responds by praising the greeter with his “Onuobdo” traditional title.

Table 1: Ali-Ogba: Some Kindred groups, titles and greeting address