According to one source, the Igbo world consists of four levels; the highest level, the Chineke, is the animating spirit of the world and embodies a male and female spirit, the chi and the eke (Cole 1982). Agbara, the land of spirits, is the level between chi and eke and human beings (ibid.). In addition,

[t]he two most important Agbara spirits are Ala and Amadioha. Ala is female and the god of the land; as such she controls the earth's fertility, she is the judge of land ownership disputes, and she is the source of morality and laws. She is feared more than any other Agbara. She is the queen of the earth; her counterpart, Amadioha, is the king of the sky. Although associated with thunder, he tends to be remote from human affairs and a rather cool spirit, not tempestuous like Ala (ibid.).

An Associate Professor of Anthropology at Frank and Marshall College provided the following description of Agbara:

Agbala means "old woman," ... or "powerful/scary old woman," and there are shrines to aspects of this deity all over northern Igbo. Just like every Igbo town has its own version of Ala/Ani (the Earth Goddess), almost every northern one has a shrine to an Agbala figure, usually said to be a local matron who sacrificed herself to save the town in some past crisis (25 Oct. 2002).

Additional information on Agbara, the God of the Oba cult or religion, as practised among the Igbo in Abia State could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

Associate Professor of Anthropology, Frank and Marshall College, Lancaster. 25 October 2002. Correspondence.

Cole, Herbert. 1982. "The Architecture of the Gods: The Igbo Mbari." http://ux1.eiu.edu/~cfrb/mbarishrines.htm [Accessed 24 Oct. 2002]

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