Obichinyelu

Obichinyelu Exploring tradition, discipline & modern Igbo excellence by curating conversations on heritage and growth. For enquiry & brand collaboration - 08100134365
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In a Roman Catholic white wedding, there are roles a woman simply cannot take up or perform. Not because she lacks intel...
12/09/2026

In a Roman Catholic white wedding, there are roles a woman simply cannot take up or perform.

Not because she lacks intelligence or competence, but because the Church has assigned certain religious functions exclusively to men.

- A woman cannot officiate the Mass in place of a priest.
- She cannot consecrate the Eucharist.
- She cannot give the marriage blessing reserved for the priest.
- She cannot perform priestly functions simply because she believes she should have an equal right to them.
- She’s only allowed to give consent and participate in the wedding.

And so far Igbo women accept these rules without questioning the institution’s patriarchy.

But bring that same women into an Igbo traditional setting, and suddenly every male assigned cultural responsibility becomes a battle for equality.

You will accept restrictions imposed by a foreign religious institution without demanding that they be changed, but turn around and accuse Igbo culture of oppression whenever it maintains gender specific responsibilities.

You cannot demand that Igbo men surrender every culturally assigned responsibility to you in the name of equality, while happily accepting a foreign religious system that maintains same standard simply because you see it as being superior to your indigenous culture.

That isn’t equality but selective rebellion.

The real question isn’t whether Igbo culture should change to suit women. We should ask why are the women more comfortable challenging their ancestors than challenging their adopted institutions?

Some Igbo women have embraced feminism to the point where every cultural responsibility assigned to men is interpreted a...
11/09/2026

Some Igbo women have embraced feminism to the point where every cultural responsibility assigned to men is interpreted as oppression, patriarchy or evidence that women are considered inferior.

But sometimes, before we condemn a practice, we should first understand why the practice exists within Igbo society.

In an Igbo marriage, after the ritual where the bride identifies her husband with a cup of palm wine, there is a point where the woman is formally handed over to the man’s side. In many communities, the person who receives her on behalf of the groom is an older or more senior man from the groom’s lineage. He may be the father, but he could also be an uncle, elder brother or another respected senior relative.

It is not because the groom is incapable of receiving his own wife.

It is because, traditionally, every lineage and household has a recognised leader, protector and overseer. The elder receiving the woman represents the family structure into which she is being welcomed.

More importantly, if the husband begins to seriously misbehave or fails in his responsibilities, the person who received the woman on the marriage day can be called upon to intervene. He is not merely performing a ceremony, he is accepting a measure of responsibility for the marriage and representing the authority of the lineage.

The same principle applies when it’s required for a man to bless or give the final words over a marriage.

It does not automatically mean that women are incapable of blessing a marriage, nor does it mean that women are spiritually or intellectually inferior to men.

It reflects an important traditional principle, a household is expected to have a recognised head whose responsibility includes making decisions and providing direction for the family irrespective of his age.

We need to stop interpreting every difference between the responsibilities of men and women in Igbo culture through the modern lens of oppression.

Equality does not necessarily mean identical roles.

10/09/2026

Igbo Traditional Marriage ❎
Igbo Traditional Wedding ❎
Igbo Marriage ✅

The word “Igbo” already tells you where the marriage comes from and identifies it as our indigenous institution.

We don’t have two types of marriage in Igbo land. There is Igbo Marriage, our indigenous marriage, with its customs, rites, family involvement and ancestral significance.

Calling it traditional is not necessarily wrong, but it can create the impression that there is another form of Igbo marriage.

Before i drop my opinion video on the trending case of a Mother pouring & handing palm wine over to her daughter to iden...
08/09/2026

Before i drop my opinion video on the trending case of a Mother pouring & handing palm wine over to her daughter to identify the husband, i want to ask our Elders & tittled Men.

Why do you all feel so comfortable being at events where Igbo Culture is desecrated without speaking up or defending a tradition you swore allegiance to, simply because the host of the event or the family is wealthy?

Once its an event of a Rich man, you all suddenly become deaf-mute to such desecration until its it gets to an event of a low class or poor man, then you all will wake from your slumber, dust your red caps and force him to do the right thing.

Is your defense of Igbo culture limited to only poor families?

Our loyalty to Money is eating into our sacred culture, I’ve never seen other tribes in Nigeria desecrate their tradition the way we Igbos do.

As if pouring wine of the ground isn’t enough, they started giving water & empty cups, and now, a woman performing a man’s right.

This isn’t the end, more will follow if our elders don’t speak up, people are watching.

03/09/2026

Is Generational Curse Real?

03/09/2026

I noticed todaythat this Video has surpassed 1 Million Views, I’m happy at the impact it made and the eulogies I’ve received through it.

Odinani Igbo ga adi

I received this minute book in January when I became the Secretary of my kinsmen.When i carefully studied it, i found ou...
02/09/2026

I received this minute book in January when I became the Secretary of my kinsmen.

When i carefully studied it, i found out this is not just an ordinary old book. This book has passed through the hands of several generations of our people before it eventually found its way into my hands. You can see it has minutes from 41 years ago (private information was blurred out).

Inside these pages are records of meetings, decisions, agreements, contributions and events that happened decades before I was born & necessitated the development of the land i call home.

Things that could easily have been forgotten if somebody, at some point, had not taken the time to write them down.

I have now started the process of converting this book & other documents that accompanied it into a modern e-book, because I understand what it could mean to a young person from our family or community 50, 100 or even 200 years from now.

They will open that digital archive and see the handwriting, decisions and activities of their forefathers. And someday, I too will become one of those forefathers whose actions & contributions they will read about.

This is why I keep talking about documenting our ancestral journey as Ndị Igbo.

It is not only about telling stories.

Document your minute books.
Document your family trees and lineages.
Preserve old photographs and letters.
Record oral histories.
Preserve traditional artifacts.
Document ancestral homes and monumental sites.
Record our customs, festivals, titles, institutions and important community decisions.

A people without records are forced to depend on memories. And memories fade, people die, and stories can become distorted with time.

But when we document, we leave our descendants something more powerful than stories, we leave them evidence.

One day our future generations will ask, “What did our forefathers do?”Let us make sure they won’t have to guess.

Ihe e dere n’akwụkwọ anaghị anwụ anwụ.

Before his demise, my late father would always cultivate moulds where he plants only yams at our backyard.Despite not be...
28/08/2026

Before his demise, my late father would always cultivate moulds where he plants only yams at our backyard.

Despite not being a farmer and not having enough lands for proper agriculture, he always made sure he planted few seedlings that he harvested during the New yam festival.

I questioned the rationale behind his actions despite not planting enough that can even sustain one person for two months, after all we always ended up buying yam from the market, untill i became a full fledged Onye Odinani.

But despite subsequently buying yam from the market, he’d always eat his own first.

The significance of his action is on the purpose of “Aka aja aja na ebute onu mmanu mmanu & Onye ruo orie”. He knew the impact of harvesting your produce and asking God to bless the works of your hands, through what you did which would also influence other parts of your endeavors.

On that reason, i decided to suspend celebrating my personal new yam festival untill i plant and harvest mine, like my father. Even if its one tuber. When i do “Ilo mmuo”, i want to feed my Ezumezu with the portion from my farm, my efforts and work of my hands. And then charge them to do their part, as I’ve done mine.

It will also be an opportunity to encourage those around me to farm, no matter how little.

However, this is a personal decision and doesn’t in anyway downplay the significance of celebrating new yam festival despite not cultivating yam. Modernization is upon us and people have other means of survival apart from farming, they’re culturally right to celebrate new yam festival with tubers bought from the market.

The priority is on the age long tradition and its significance not on the process alone.

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