Thursday 20 January 2022

WHY I’M NOT ASHAMED OF MY RELATIONSHIP WITH NATIVE DOCTORS

ikenga ezenwegbu
 Anayo Nwosu
 
I know that many of my friends will cringe upon reading this revelation. Does it matter? I need not pretend. What for? Native doctors known as Dibias and their medicine were part and parcel of my people's existence even before the arrival of whiteman and his brand of medicine. My favourite dibia was Late Dr. Nwakobe of Umuanuka Otolo Nnewi. Dibias are also called Ogbuebunu, which literally means ram slayer.
 
Ogbuebunu Nwakobe was a pole taller than Nsofor of Umuicheke Otolo and Madubuobi, my neighbour. While the last two mixed their practice with "aja aghugho" or "iku nsi", meaning "shelling out evil missiles," Nwakobe was a focused physician curing both man-made and natural ailments. Dr. Nwakobe was in the same mould as Dr. Anizor of Odida Nnewichi; a specialist native orthopaedic surgeon called a "bonesetter."
 
Growing up in my village in the early 70s, consultation of native doctors or dibias for medicare was normal. Nwakobe was the best and greatest dibia in the whole of Otolo Nnewi up till his death a few years ago. He practised ethical medicine. As a child, I would be sent by elders in our compound to buy preparations to treat malaria, hepatitis, migraine and cough from Nwakobe's place. Nwakobe was the best doctor for gas gangrene, otherwise known as enyiule.
 
Patients came from far towns in Imo, Abia and Enugu states. He also had accommodation or wards for resident patients. It was to Nwakobe's expertise that my elder sister owes the use of her legs. She had unfortunately stepped on an enyiule trap set for someone else, Dr. Nwakobe would later reveal. The evil bullet to afflict someone with enyiule was openly and cheaply sold at Afor market in Nnobi, a neighbouring town.
 
I loved visiting Dr Nwakobe as a teenager. I learned a lot from the great man who was always ready to answer my questions ranging from innocent to ridiculous about the source of his medical knowledge and prowess. During one of my visits to Ogbuebunu Nwokobe's hospital (yes, hospital), I asked him to tell me how he got to know the preparation that cured diseases; whether he attended any herbal medical school. The man laughed at the curious small boy. But he did not want to leave me baffled. The revered dibia was impressed with my bravado and inquisitive spirit. Perhaps he guessed that I would one day pay tribute to him with my writings.
 
Nwa Obiukwu, which means the son of Obiukwu, Dr. Nwakobe, started. "The question you just asked me is older than you; not even your dead father would dare ask me such a question."
 
He then muttered, "egwu adighizi umuazi kitaa n'anya," which means "those children of nowadays do not have fear for anything anymore."
 
"Nnanyi, please answer me; I want to know," I persisted, pretending not to have noticed his subtle admonition that I should stop.
 
Nwakobe drew a breath, looked me intently in the eyes and nodded his head as if an invisible master countered his decision not to answer me. He then started the story of his life.
 
"My son, nobody but the spirits teaches me the effective drug or preparation for any disease," the great Nwakobe started. "Though my father practised this trade, but I never planned to tow his line." I was told. "As a child, I took to Christianity like my age mates as we enrolled in primary school at Akwunweke. My baptismal name is Augustine, and I still attend masses on Sundays," my host said with pride.
 
Upon the death of my father, I was instructed by unseen people or voices to return home to replace him, to cure people,” Nwakobe said with a forlorn face. "Nobody, not even my father, taught me any panacea or remedy; be it plant, leaves, roots or mixture to cure any ailments," he emphasized.
 
"I received dictations or directives from invisibles voices on which drugs to administer to patients as no two ailments are the same. Some ailments are human-made afflictions, while others are natural. I would always consult the invisibles to reveal antidotes or medications to neutralise man-made sicknesses. I promptly receive responses as long as I do not contradict the do not’s. Sometimes, I would find myself in the bush at night. As I passed, plants and grasses would be announcing their uses and the illnesses they cure.
 
"Even though I am told the cause and the person behind the afflictions of my patients, I refrain from naming the culprits, even under severe pressure, but focus on neutralizing the potency of their juju and curing their victims. You should also know that every dibia who can cure illnesses can also afflict or prepare sickness affliction charms; it is a choice. But I choose the path of honour, that is, to heal. My son, it is a gift and an assignment from our ancestors given only to the chosen who is required to abstain from prescribed power-diminishing acts which I cannot tell you now," my host concluded.
 
Nobody has ever doubted the potency of Nwakobe's medications. In his time, the drug-resistant malaria parasite was unheard of. Ogwu iba Nwakobe, Nwakobe's malarial drug, was the only cure for malaria we knew. Till he died, Nwakobe did not taint his name, unlike my mother's cousin, Dr. Ezennaya, who started well but later transformed into an enabler or provider of evil bullets instead of the healer his father was. Nwakobe was never accused of jazzing or afflicting anyone with spiritual missiles or illness. He used his God-given gift to heal and not to curse or cause harm.
 
My readers need to know that it was also customary for great dibias to have masquerades. A dibia could have an Okanga, Ijele, Odogwu, Nwansi, Ajofia, Ebuebu or Ogbungwu. A masquerade's popularity is determined by how fast or effective it can shell out "nsi" or "evil bullets;" or how it could earthen or neutralize potent evil darts.
 
Nwakobe named his masquerade Onede. The Onede masquerade was never blamed for being the first to project evil missiles at another masquerade. It maintained great restraint even under provocation by other troublesome masquerades owned by other dibias. But, Onede would dispense mild dizziness or aju to incorrigible youthful masquerades after several warnings conveyed in songs. It is worth noting that Onede was enamoured with a potent obialu egbu m gbuo onwe ya meaning spiritual boomerang or back to the sender in double measures. I was so much a fan of Onede that I would often escape from school on a weekday to follow the masquerade to burial ceremonies or our traditional ruler's yearly Ofala festival.
 
I had longed to be like Nwakobe, but I do not know how I lost track. Perhaps I was not called to that office. As I grew older and was being contaminated by western education, my orientation towards Nwakobe and all that he represented started drifting until I became utterly alienated.
 
Something must have been responsible for that. Yes, I remember. I was debriefed or brainwashed by a reverend gentleman to believe that Nwakobe and other native doctors were satanic agents. How come both pagans and Christians in my village depended on Nwokobe to cure ailments the orthodox doctors could not handle or treat? It remains a puzzle to me to date why some title holding members of the church would visit Dr. Nwakobe to cure their ailments in the night. But, Nwakobe understood.

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