Amadioha the Igbo Traditional God of Thunder

AMADIOHA (god of thunder) belongs to the category or group of divinities which is said to manifest the wrath of the Supreme Being, and they symbolize the thunderbolt or the meteorite stone with which God hurls to strike to death the wicked or evil doers. Thus, Amadioha falls into the class of gods known as war divinities often depicted in the Mbari house by a statue of man holding a gun. Like the Igbo peoples, other ethnic groups in Nigeria have their own local names for war divinities or gods of thunder as follows: Sokogba (Nupe) Ogiuwu (Edo); Eto, Itiri, Egba (Urhobo); Sango, Jakuta, Oramfe (Yoruba) etc. Amadioha is believed to be a god of great military might. It is described as the General of all the divinities in Igboland, a military engineer, a tactician and armiger.

Impending doom The Igbo believe that Omuma igwe(Lightning) associated with Amadioha is a sign of impending doom or evil from the gods, and they believe also that it has a track. Hence the natives normally avoid those tracks to be on the safe side. They too believe that Egbe elu-igwe (thunder) is the messenger of Amadioha which is normally sent to destroy the evil doers, or houses and trees in which evil things are hidden or buried such as poison etc. There are cases when the evil men and women are struck to death by thunder as they are returning from where they have gone to import some dangerous charms and poisons to kill their fellow neighbours, relations or friends because of disputed land or property.

Most farm-lands are also being destroyed by thunder because of the charms some evil people have buried there to harm or kill their opponents or enemies. In the belligerent days of our forebears when there were frequent occurrences of inter-tribal war, the Igbo people always revere and worship Amadioha for protection and victory in time of war. That is the main reason the cult of Amadioha is regnant in most parts of the defunct Owerri province and its environs, if not to the present. It is germane to reiterate that Mbari house is associated with gods of land such as: Ala (earth goddess); Amadioha (god of thunder) and Ota Miri (river god); a river god takes its name after the river of that locality or community. It is also of a paramount importance to note that wherever one sees an Mbari house, there is always a cult of Amadioha especially in places where people are affluent and moneyed enough to build for Amadioha cult. Amadioha is among the major gods of the land which receive sacrifice before an Mbari house is declared open after its completion by Mbari workers (Ndi mgbe). In some villages and communities of Igboland, people might not afford to build for Amadioha, hence they represent it by a forked stick which is found in front of the shrine. For a newlyerected Amadioha cult, a large white linen cloth is normally used as its emblem which is suspended by two strong long poles, one on each side. The white cloth does not contain any diagram or mark whatsoever, and it is never replaced, if it is dirty; or mended, if it is torn. It is also never brought down from the poles as long as the priest of the shrine is living. It is when the priest dies that a new one can be mounted during his burial ceremony. Building of the Amadioha cult is normally done at a very strategic place. However, in most certain areas, the front of the Amadioha occupies one or both sides of the main road that is a busy one for the natives like the road leading to their village stream or river or farmlands. There, a long bamboo pole is normally suspended horizontally in the air by two strong big forked sticks, one on each side. Some charms and medicinal grass are tied to the suspended pole, smeared by blood of a foul, and pasted with feathers. It is believed that any evil doer can never pass under it and go free without being struck to death or afflicted with an incurable disease. Big trees and thick bush normally surround the Amadioha shrine. Antiquated objects like broken pots, boxes, bottles, mirrors, iron pots and cups are found inside the Amadioha grove. There are special instruments in Amadioha grove which are represented in Mbari paintings. A few of them are:Ogu (hoe), Mpi Okpu(animal horn), Opi ele(antelope horn) , Igbugbo (metal gong)and Nma (knife). There are some animals that are sacred and dedicated to god of thunder(Amadioha). They are often regarded as the daughters and property of Amadioha. Nobody dares harm or kill them to avoid the wrath of Amadioha. Among them are: Ebulu Amadioha (ram of Amadioha).

Aturu Amadioha (sheep of Amadioha); Ehi Amadioha (cow of Amadioha). No man or woman can molest or harm them for any reason. They are also other animals like dogs and goats that are sacred and dedicated to Amadioha.

Terminology
Br is a Hausa noun, meaning the spiritual force which resides in physical things, and is related to the word for local distilled alcohol (borassa) as well the practice of medicine (boka).[1]

The Bori religion is both an institution to control these forces, and the performance of an "adoricism" (as opposed to exorcism) ritual, dance and music by which these spirits are controlled and by which illness is healed.[2]

Pre-Muslim Hausaland
An aspect of the traditional Maguzawa Hausa religious traditions, Bori became a state religion led by ruling class priestesses amongst some of the late pre-colonial Hausa States. Islam, present in Hausaland since the 14th century, was largely restricted to the region's rulers and their courts at the beginning of the 19th century. Rural areas generally retained their animist beliefs and their urban leaders thus drew on both Islamic and African traditions to legitimise their rule: the Bori spirit possession priestesses were one such mechanism. Priestesses communed with spirits through ecstatic dance ritual, hoping to guide and maintain the state's ruling houses. A corps of Bori priestesses and their helpers was led by royal priestess, titled the "Inna", or "Mother of us all".[3] The Inna oversaw this network, which was not only responsible for protecting society from malevolent forces through possession dances, but which provided healing and divination throughout the kingdom.

Post-Islamic and contemporary practice

Muslim scholars of the early nineteenth century disapproved of the hybrid religion practised in royal courts, and a desire for reform was a major motive behind the formation of the Sokoto Caliphate.[4] With the birth of the Caliphate, Bori practices were suppressed, and later outlawed by the British. Bori possession rituals survived in the Hausa refugee states such as Konni and Dogondutchi (in what is today southern Niger) and in some rural areas of Nigerian Hausaland. The powerful advisory roles of women, exemplified in the Bori priestesses, either disappeared or were transferred to Muslim women in scholarly, educational, and community leadership roles. British and French colonialism, though, offered little space for women in the official hierarchies of indirect rule, and the formal roles, like the Bori, for women in governance largely disappeared by the mid 20th century.[5] In modern Muslim Hausaland, Bori ritual survives in some places assimilated into syncretic practices. The pre-Muslim "babbaku" spirits of the Maguzaci have been added to over time with Muslim spirits ("farfaru"), and spirits of (or representing) other ethnic groups, even those of the European colonialists. The healing and "luck" aspects of Bori members performances, almost entirely women, give new social roles for their rituals and practitioners.[6] Bori ritual societies, separated from governing structures, provide a powerful corporate identity for the women who belong to them through the practice of traditional healing, as well as through the performance of Bori festival like the girka initiation ritual.[7]