Obot Akara And Its Neglected Name
By Da Daniel Effiong
It may surprise many that the etymology of where is now referred to as Obot Akara Local Government Area in Akwa Ibom State is Andibot Akara, meaning, who created, rules. This invariably means that it is the Creator who rules and dominates (Gen.1: 1:26-28; Jer.10:12).
What people should know is that the name of the area was ab initio, Andibot Akara, and not Obot Akara, which might have been deliberately corrupted from the original name. The People of Obot Akara, because of their love for the Almighty God who made the heaven and the earth, named the place after God. As the name changes, it did not occur to them that appellation was no longer meant for the Almighty God (Andibot) but for an individual’s personal spirit (obot or obot emana). It should be noted here that obot emana is a name for a personal spirit which is equivalent to Igbo’s version called chi as mentioned in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. Those that indulged themselves in the traditional religious practices use Obot Emana (which is itself a creation of God) to name a geographical location which has now evolved to become a local government area called Obot Akara.
In the light of the word of God, Obot is not God the maker and the possessor of the heavens and the earth as seen in the word of God, but a creature. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Gen.1:1). The Lord made the earth by his power, and by his wisdom he created the world (Jer.10:12 GNB). Therefore it is a proven fact that God is the creator of the heaven and the earth and he alone is worthy of worship. God is not only the Creator but the Ruler of the universe and not obot emana whose name was adopted to describe a location that is now called Obot Akara Local Government Area.
Looking at Obot Akara, the name strongly links to the Garden of Eden even though it is a corruption away from the original term, Andibot Akara. In all, the name is revolving around creation that happened in the Garden of Eden. In this connection, Andibot Akara or the Creator rules, takes origin from what happened in Eden where the first man (Adam) was created by God or the Creator (Andibot). In Annang, Efik, and Ibibio dialects, the word, Andibot, means the same thing as creator; “Andibot Akara”, and not, Obot Akara, means the Creator governs/dominates/rules.
Again, Andibot Akara can be theorized etymologically towards the creative feat of God, which by extension, portrays that God created the first man and woman and then handed them power to dominate all creatures under the sun. In Eden, the first man was created by the Creator; it was not a creature (obot emana) that created him (Gen1:27). If Adam was created by God in Eden to dominate and subdue the whole earth, it therefore means that the first man was dominating and subduing everything that God had created. When God created man in his image and likeness in the Garden of Eden, he mandated him to subdue, dominates and rule the earth and when man sinned against God, at this point obot emana, which supposed to be a guarding spirit to humans, took over the dominance of human affairs, and man started worshiping Obot Emana the creature rather than the Creator (the Almighty God).
However, God the creator, through his image and likeness, Jesus Christ, still remains the dominant force that subdues and controls all creation according to his words. For the bible says “by him were all things created." Jesus is the redemptive force to recover the power of dominance lost to obot emana through Adam. On September 27, 2011, I saw in a dream a power coming in a human form and dressed in a white garment, and then it bowed. I said in that dream, “Obot, you have finally come to bow to Jesus Christ.” (Phil. 2:10-11; Rom. 14:11). This shows that the power of obot emana that some traditional worshippers in our land usually invoke in their daily religious rites is now under the dominance of Jesus Christ. It could be said here that if the power that governed, dominated and ruled Obot Akara was Obot as the name implies, now obot has surrendered to Jesus Christ. The original idea of the name must manifest having become clear that Obot is not God the creator of the heaven and the earth but the creature. Now it is Andibot Akara: it is the Creator that has taken over the reign.
Now, the Spirit of God is in Obot Akara Local Government Area to alter all the structures of obot emana and established the structure of Andibot. We should know that every name has meaning, and as God has revealed to us by his Spirit the real meaning of the name of the local government as Andibot Akara, we should understand that God is the sole ruler. He rules through man he made in his image and likeness to dominate, subdue control other created things including obot emana.
Sponsored by Altar of Virgin Generation Ministry a.k.a. African Holy Land in Abiakpo Ikot Abasi Inyang, Obot Akara Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria.
Comments
Post a Comment