In the May 4th 2013 Edition of the Saturday Sun Newspaper (p.38), in the section devoted to Literary Review, Tunde Okanlawon wrote a tribute to Chinua Achebe titled What Achebe did not know. In the essay he tried to trace the history of literary output in Nigeria. He noted how Pita Nwanna had published Omenuko in Igbo language in 1934, the very year that Wole Soyinka the Nigerian literary Nobel Laureate was born. However, given its historical significance, it was surprising that Mutanda Oyom Namondo, the first Award-winning indigenous literary text in 1933 was omitted. The purpose of this essay therefore is to place on record the proper order of literary output in Nigeria’s literary history.
The year was 1933. The British colonial government in Nigeria, in an attempt to encourage the use and writing in the indigenous languages, instituted the first indigenous Literary written competition ever in Nigeria. Many entries were made. But the text, Mutanda Oyom Namondo by E.E. Nka ña, emerged as the first Award-winning novel in Nigeria in 1933. It’s being written in the indigenous language remained a blessing and a disadvantage. A disadvantage, because not many people who could not read or speak the Efik-Ibibio language, could have access to the rich classic heritage that the book presented. The subsequent African novels like Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe (1958), Gabriel Okara’s The Voice, (1964) and others that were published in English received national and international acclaim because of easy accessibility. But still, the blessing of indigenous language remained,because Mutanda Oyom Namondo, for being written in the indigenous language preserved its originality and its cultural content for posterity. In 1967, the text was adopted nationally for use in schools as a text for the study of Efik-Ibibio language and culture, and examinations at the West African Examination Council level on Efik-Ibibio language and culture were based on this text. In the year 1984, the first ever English version of the text was translated and published by Sam Eyo-Abidua.
It must be noted from the very beginning that as of the time that the text was written, there was no difference between Efik and Ibibio groups of people. They lived together for centuries as a people from one stock. All the anthropological, linguistic and cultural traits show that they are a people of common ancestry. But with the creation of two separate states in 1989 for Efik and Ibibio respectively, Efik people assumed a new and distinct political identity as the Cross River people while the Ibibio people also acquired a new and a heightened self-identity as Akwa Ibom people. Yet, the culture in question as depicted by the sayings, proverbs and songs; the council of elders and judicial proceedings are very common to both Efik and Ibibio. For example, some of the names, either of the gods or of the people or of places mentioned in the text are still today located among the Ibibio of Akwa Ibom. What is more, a careful study of the text shows that the story is very male-dominated which is more of an Ibibio cultural trait than the Efik which is a more female-dominated culture (matrilineal or matriarchal). The insistence of Mutanda that he must leave behind a son in the family is again something that is peculiar to Ibibio culture. In the Efik peculiar culture, a female child is even more preferred to a male child because of the matrilineal and matriarchal system. However it is viewed, the text of Mutanda Oyom Namondo has some common cultural traits which belong to both Efiks and Ibibios.
On why the text had remained for so long before attempts were made to have it translated into other languages, some people have alluded to political manipulations but it seems to me that the answer is to be found in the fact that Efik-Ibibio people are a proud custodian of their rich cultural heritage. The belief and conviction that to try to translate the text would make it lose its originality and cultural richness served as an obstacle. The proverbs, idioms, songs and incantations are not really translatable. Yet today we have come to know that any body of knowledge that cannot be shared at least in a limited way if not completely, remains impotent, sterile and only a myth. It is in this respect that the recent translation of the text of Mutanda Oyom Namondo into the French language by Professor P. J. Okon (Published in France, 2008), is a window opening to the popularization of the rich Efik-Ibibio cultural heritage. Perhaps when the text is read by more and more literary experts, it might come to assume its place as a primary epic story that carries a cultural heritage of a people.
Unlike most other early African Novels like Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart,(1958) Gabriel Okara’s The Voice (1964) (with the exception of Elechi Amadi’s The Concubine, 1966), which have their plot against the background of the encounter and conflict between the African culture and the Western culture, Mutanda Oyom Namondo is a pure and an unadulterated cultural masterpiece. Because it was a pre-independence movement text, it was not written as a political response to a perceived colonial influence. It has autonomy of thought; it recounts the culture of the Efik-Ibibio people without the temptation of contrasting it with that of the West.
The text begins within the context of a national tragedy. The only son of Mutanda the King of Bokondo disappeared in a village stream. Why did this have to happen? The gods must have been responsible, the people believed. This event was like a challenge to the whole community. The King and his people were determined at all cost to recover the corpse if not able to find Namondo alive. In this context, the text could be read as a story of the contest for supremacy between the gods and the humans.
The inability to recover the corpse from the water heightened the conviction that perhaps he (Namondo) was not dead, rather that he had been captured by some water spirit and taken to the spirit world. With this new conviction, King Mutanda and the people of Bokondo were even more determined to search even in the spirit world for their son. Hence the title of the Book: Mutanda Oyom Namondo (Mutanda searches for Namondo). Namondo was a priceless only child of the father. Not only the father but the whole community would do anything to bring him back to life. The thought of Mutanda not leaving a male issue behind when he dies made it impossible for him to accept the impending disaster if Namondo was not recovered. He was determined to do whatever it would take to have his son back alive.
Mutanda was a good king who was worth dying for. So we find the citizens at the risk of their personal lives venturing to go to the spirit world in search of Namondo. This idea of kindness giving birth to kindness is a recurring theme in the text. The people would do anything for Mutanda because he was kind. And the kindness of Mutanda himself resounds on every chapter of the text and is culminated in his generosity to a strange beggar who was Atim Okpoebot (the goddess messenger of Ndem Efik) in disguise. His generosity to the strange cripple beggar resulted in his having access to the most difficult items for the sacrifice the gods demanded as a condition for the return of Namondo.
The encounter between Ekpo Mosufe (the great hunter) and Atim Okpoebot and the ensuing conflict was to serve as the context for the revelation of the seven close to impossible items which Mutanda needed for the sacrifice to Ndem Efik (Efik goddess) for the release of Namondo. Through the resoluteness of the courageous sons of Bokondo out of love for their beloved king Mutanda they risked their lives and successfully brought back the needed items of sacrifice. The sacrifice was performed and Namondo was reunited with his father and the whole people of Bokondo.
The artistry and the lucidity with which the author describes the various scenes enliven the real life situation of the Efik-Ibibio people. The reader cannot but be enwrapped in the anxiety of the anticipation of what is to be expected next. The text draws the reader to itself and renders him/her an active participant in the search for Namondo such that he/she would not stop reading until he/she has reached the end of the story. In this way, the text exhibits the artistic mastery of the endearing culture of the Efik-Ibibio people. Reading it is simply irresistible.
What makes the text very endearing is its moral focus. Emphases are laid on such themes as the virtues of a King or good leader, the value of justice, the role of admissible evidence in the judicial system, Goodness as virtue, kindness and generosity as virtues of a well-ordered person. Resoluteness and determination are presented as necessary psychological dispositions that are needed for success in life. Emphasis on patriotism, selflessness and self-sacrifice for the sake of the other is presented as essential ingredients of a united community. Perhaps if the Nigerian leaders of today would read Mutanda Oyom Namondo, they might come to learn about the value of sacrifice as a virtue in governance.
The personalities of Ekpo Mosufe and Mutanda portray certain elements of African humanism. Ekpo Mosufe defies Atim Okpoebot, the goddess and messenger of Ndem Efik that sought to torture and make life miserable for the people of Bokondo kingdom. The persistence of Ekpo Mosufe in fighting the gods and Mutanda’s resoluteness in believing in his will to have his son Namondo back from the world of the spirits served as a communal will and a saving grace for the Bokondo people. That Namondo was recovered alive signified the human victory over the spirit world. Thus the story which began as a national tragedy ended as a success story for the Bokondo nation.
Sylvanus Iniobong Udoidem is a retired Professor of Philosophy
