Foreign Religions in Avhianwu – By Aha Idokpesi Okhaishe N’ Avhianwu (a) Islam in Avhianwu Muhammed, the founder of Islam was born of ‘Abdallah and Aminah between 570 and 580 A. D. Islam, the religion founded and taught by Muhammed, is said to be the religion of Peace and literally y means’ Absolute submission to Allah.’ Islam began about 610 A. D. when Muhammad claimed to have received a vision through Angel Gabriel to preach Islam to the world. The Qur’an, the book of Islam, is said to have been brought from heaven to Muhammad by an angel. Islam was introduced to West Africa from North Africa and the Jihad of Uthman danFoIio of 1804 gave impetus to the spread of Islam in Nigeria. As no religion will, under any pretense, encourage slavery, the Nupes and the Hausas did not have, no doubt, the spread of Islam in mind during their slave-raiding expeditions in Kukuruku land. They did, however, carry the Islamic religion with them during the expeditions. Although no one would align oneself with the religion of brigands, slave raiders and traffickers in humans at the time of their presence, the Nupes and the Hausas did however have some successes as they had opened the way for Islam in Avhianwu. Those Avhianwu people who later had the opportunity to cross the River Niger to Idah and beyond were converted to the Islamic religion. Ogie Aduku Etsemobor who ruled Ivhiarua from 1908 to 1911 was known to have practiced the Islamic religion long before he ascended the throne and until his death. The impact of the Islamic religion was not however felt in Avhianwu until about 1925 when Chief Momoh Idaeo, then the Otaru and District Head of Auchi, sought to impose his religion-Islam-on all the people in Auchi District. Chief Momoh in 1925 sent a team of Mallams to Avhianwu with a mandate to destroy all shrines and declare a general worship of Allah. He also abolished Okhe Cult in Avhianwu and stationed Mallams in the Courts of the traditional rulers to teach the doctrines of Islam. Warrant Chief Alemoh ruled all Avhianwu at the time. His contemporary traditional rulers in Avhianwu had been Itsueli Atua, Imiegbha and Okozi who ruled Ivhiarua, Ivhiraokhor and Ogbona respectively. No doubt, Chief Momoh idaeo had sought to follow the footsteps of his predecessor, Chief Momodu Ikharo, who in 1914 burnt all the idols in Auchi and ordered a campaign for Allah worship. One Mallam Ismaila, popularly known in Avhianwu as Mallam Ayomoga (Ayomoga was the name of his wife), was a devout propagator and responsible for the spread of Islam in Avhianwu. He converted many to the Islamic faith. Many of the Islamic converts did not however keep long to the faith as most of them reverted to traditional religion and others were converted to Christianity. It does not however matter how many there are in the Islamic faith today; suffice it to say that Islam has come to stay in Avhianwu. (b) Christianity in Avhianwu (i) Roman Catholic Church Christianity in general was unknown in Etsako until the last decade of the 19th century when European missionaries under the leadership of Father Carlo Zappa arrived Etsako from Asaba. Their first place of stop was Agenegbode from where they established contacts with other Etsako towns and villages. They had come in a bid to propagate Jesus and his teachings. The white missionaries had a bleak beginning in matters of evangelization. The people did not welcome the new religion as its teachings and practices are diametrically opposed to their way of life. Christianity was a religion, unlike the Islamic religion, that attacked and sought to wipe off the beliefs, customs and practices of the people. The first followers of the missionaries had been the slaves they had acquired from slave owners in exchange for ransoms. The slaves were caused to live in mission houses. They were assured by their white missionary masters that they would be free as long as they accepted and professed Christianity and Catholism. In this way were they made to escape from one form of slavery into another. They exchanged black masters for white masters. What a high price (mental and religious slavery) to pay for freedom (from social disability). But then it had been a giant step, and in the right direction, towards total mental and religious emancipation. The missionaries however had thus introduced Christianity to Weppa-Wano and was being practiced. New areas were sought for evangelization drive and one obvious choice was Avhianwu, a close door neighbour of Weppa-Wano, whose people had hitherto known only Traditional Religion which was, as a matter of course, the life they lived out. The introduction in Avhianwu of the Catholic faith in particular and Christianity in general and its consequent acceptance dates back to the first decade of the 20th century. White Roman Catholic Missionaries arrived Avhianwu for any meaningful evangelization for the first time as early as about 1908. Those who came to Avhianwu came from Ivhianokpodi. The new faith survived with time and had grown by leaps and bounds. The white missionaries made up for the deficiencies in Western Education first introduced by their colleagues, the British colonial masters. The first Roman Catholic resident religious minister had been Father Aselm Ojierua, a Nigerian. Father Ojiefua (now Late Abbot Abraham Ojierua, a monk) had come primarily to lay the foundation of a Secondary Grammar School at Fugar in 1961. School house always served as Church house until 1968 when Father (now Bishop) Anthony A. Gbuji built the first separate house for the Church. (ii) Anglican Church The Church of England, commonly known as the Anglican Church or Church Missionary Society (C.M.S.) as the evangelization group was called, was not denied entry in Avhianwu either. The new Christian denomination was dogged by an educational institution which certainly served as a useful tool for the propagation of the Anglican faith. In the case of the Anglican Church it was not a
