Table 3 and those that follow represent the opinions of the respondents to variables raised in the questionnaire. There are three options given to each question. The first option which is
“Yes” is an affirmation of the issue raised, the second which is “No” is a rebuttal of the same, while the third option which is “Don‟t know” is an indication of non-committal on the issues, which the respondent is not particularly convinced about.
100 Table 3 Showing Resondents’ Perception about Afterlife
Death is not the end of man’s existence
There is another life after death
The Spirit of man cannot die (immortality of the soul)
Opinions Freq % Freq % Freq %
Yes 714 91.5 606 77.7 711 91.2
No 45 5.8 144 18.5 69 8.8
Don‟t Know 21 2.7 30 3.8 0 0
Total 780 100 780 100 780 100
Source: Field Survey September 2014-April 2016
Table 3 above presents an analysis of data about respondents‟ perceptions regarding the belief in afterlife under the variables. The proposition of the first variable on the table is that death cannot write „finis‟ to man‟s life. Those who affirm this proposition are seven hundred and fourteen, which represent 91.5%; those who say “No” to this are forty-five, constituting 5.8% and those who are not sure are only twenty-one people constituting 2.7%. A sweeping majority of 91.5% agree with this proposition.
The second variable on the table holds that there is another life after death and that death is only a passage to the hereafter. Those who affirm this by saying “Yes” make a total of six hundred and six people, constituting 77.7% of the respondents. Those who say “No” to this constitute 18.5%, numbering one hundred and forty-four and those who are not very sure are only thirty, which make only 3.8% of the respondents.
The third variable on the table claims that the spirit of man cannot die (immortality of the soul). Those who agree to this are the majority, constituting 91.2%, numbering seven hundred and eleven people. Those who disagree with the proposition by choosing “No” are sixty-nine, which constitute 8.8% of the respondents. No one is non-committal.
101 An assessment of the aforestated statistics shows that the belief in the continuation of life after death is profound. This implies the belief that death cannot put an end to the existence of man‟s life. This belief has also led to respondents‟ opinion that man‟s soul cannot die. Rather, it is believed that it takes up a new form and continues its existence in another world, while sometimes, coming back to the present world through reincarnation or in the spirit, which may not be made known to everybody except those for whom it is meant or those who have magical power to see things that could not be seen with ordinary eyes like traditional Igbo diviners (dịbịa afa).
The position of the respondents to the questionnaire on the concept of life after death can be corroborated by the interviews that were conducted in Agulu, Alor, Mbaukwu, Mgbakwu, Nri, Ogidi and Ukpo towns. Almost every interviewee affirmed that Igbo people believe strongly in life after death and that the dead people are not dead at all, but only change their place of living. As such, everybody looks forward to dying someday, after attaining a “good”
old age. According to Okpala (personal communication, December 21 2014), everyone prays fervently to die a good death so that he will return home, join the ancestors and be reincarnated. For Okpala, ọnwụ bụ ịna ụnọ (death is returning home) or ịna ala nna nna anyị ha (returning to the land of our ancestors).
Okonkwo (personal communication, March 28 2015) said mmadụ nile ji ọnwụ ụgwọ; mmadụ nile ga-anwụ (we are all debtors to death, and we shall all die). Abana (personal communication, February 20 2015) claimed that the land of the ancestors, ala nna nna anyị, is the most important place; we must lead a good life and die at a good old age. Further to this, Okoye (personal communication, March 30 2015) said mkpụrụ obi mmadụ adị anwụ- anwụ that is, (the soul of man cannot die), but continues to live either in ala-mmụọ (abode of the dead) or returns to the world shortly after through reincarnation. According to
102 Osinomumu (personal communication, May 5 2015) the idea of reincarnation does not mean that the Igbo people believe that everybody who dies returns to the world as a new child. But it is thought that the deceased can have certain influence on the personality and destiny of the child. For Osinomumu, all the deceased are still fully intact in the ancestral world, and this is why the living can pray to them always. He also added that it proves that though the relative is dead, some link is still maintained through birth of the child.
Azoka (personal communication, February 14 2016) said that ihe ana-eme n’ ụwa yiri ihe ana-eme n’ala mmụọ (what is done here on earth is similar to what is done in the spirit world). For Azoka, many learn their trade and skill in the ancestral world before coming into this physical world. For him, this explains why some people are so good. Ezudu (personal communication, October 27 2015) said that anyị bụ ọbịa n’ ụwa, that is, we are visitors in this world; at birth, the newborn child is welcomed with the greeting: nwa bịara ije, nnọọ n’ ụwa (welcome into the world, newly born child and visitor to the world). Man has no enduring place here on earth, because ụwa bụ ahịa, onye zụchaa, ọnaa (the world is like a marketplace where one goes to purchase things and goes home at the end). That is why Okoye (personal communication, March 30 2015) said that at death, a person is said to have returned home (ọ nara ụnọ).
Some of the interviewees (Okeke, Enue, Ofodile, personal communications, February 20 2015), however, objected to the opinion that there is a continuation of life after death. To them, at death, man‟s life and activities will cease, and his soul only awaits judgment by God in heaven. It was observed by the researcher that those who object to the position were basically younger people with western influence.
The following inference can be deduced from the data above. Igbo people of Agulu, Alor, Mbaukwu, Mgbakwu, Ogidi, Nri and Ukpo believe in life after death. They also believe in
103 the immortality of man‟s soul, and for this death is viewed only as a passage to another life. It is a separation of the body from the soul and spirit. Although the body will decay and return to dust, yet a bodiless soul is foreign to Igbo thought. That is why in the understanding of Igbo both the living and the dead are referred to as persons.
The Igbo people believe that there is a state of existence, attainable by human beings, beyond the limits of our present mortal lifespan. That there is existence after death is attested to by the actions and practices of the people, such as veneration of the ancestors, ancestral festivals, concept of the “living dead”, belief in spiritual superintendents of family affairs and punishment of moral offenders by the cult of ancestors.
It is of note that it is yet to be empirically established that there is ultimate survival after death; many old people believe that there should not be any anxiety over death. Death is simply a means of returning home, the final destination of every human. When the aged dies therefore, there are funeral rites performed to prepare him or her for the new journey home.
In other words, to the people, death opens another door, the door to new life. The aged, therefore, do not face death as cowards, but with courage. There is absolutely no evidence that the soul is a complete human being in the ancestral world before coming into the world.
On the contrary, the concepts which the people have of the soul are not possible without some bodily form.