Nd’ishi tradition and marital infidelity in Igbo Nsukka

Have you noticed the rampant increase in the number of mad people roaming the streets of Nsukka especially married women? Do you know that most of the madness are actually avoidable if the women involved had had a proper understanding of the tradition of the land they’re married into? Do you know that a good number of this madness is as a result of the ladies involved having slept with men other than their husbands? What are those things a married woman must do to avoid falling into this dangerous trap in Nsukka?

Among the cultural zones of Igboland, the Nsukka Igbos (Igbo Nsukka) seem to have the most revered marriage institutions. This is informed by the zero tolerance of the people’s tradition towards adultery especially on the part of the married women having extra-marital affairs. A good number of reports abound concerning women who either ran mad or died mysteriously on account of cheating on their husbands. This part of tradition where adulterous wives face mysterious consequences is what the Nsukka Igbos call “Nd’ishi” or “Nna Di” making reference to the ancestors whose eyes are believed to be watchful on the ladies married into the land. A lot of women who fell victim of this tradition did so mostly as a result of ignorance of the consequences of their actions and how this aspect of the people’s tradition works.

This book is a detailed explanation on the concept of Nd’ishi/Nna Di in Igbo Nsukka cosmology. The book goes into details on the origin of the tradition and goes deeper into explaining its mysteries and mode of operations. Different Igbo Nsukka communities are highlighted and how this tradition works in each of the respective communities with Enugu Ezike coming at the forefront in terms of zero tolerance. The book goes into details to analyse situations of exception and the ritual of appeasement for the woman that transgressed. Also captured in the book are the paternity of a child in Igbo Nsukka where the ownership of a child is established either by the man or the woman; woman to woman marriage is also elucidated as well as all those nuances that inform the marital institutions in Igbo Nsukka.

The book is quite rich in in-depth analysis of marriage institutions among the Nsukka Igbos and recommended especially for the ladies that may marry an Nsukka man as it will go a long way in opening their eyes on how to fall into the trap of Nd’ishi/Nna Di.