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•Renowned anthropologist, Ezeh, debunks Ndigbo’s ancestral links with Jews
From Felix Ikem, Nsukka
There is this popular view that the Igbo have Jewish ancestry such that many people of Igbo origin see themselves as ‘Jews.’
Some years ago, unconfirmed reports claimed that some DNA tests showed that the Igbo had Jewish origin. But such claims were debunked in 2017.
Nonetheless, a renowned anthropologist, Prof. Peter-Jazzy Ezeh, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), Enugu State, has asserted that the Igbo are not Jews, even as he said that the Igbo language bears little semblance with the Hebrew language.
The scholar made the revelation during his valedictory lecture at the UNN, titled: “Researching human sociality in these post-truth days.”
Dignitaries at the event included former Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof. Benjamin Ozumba; pioneer Vice Chancellor, Coal City University, Enugu, Prof. Malachy Okwueze; first female director, Institute of African Studies (IAS), UNN, Prof. Florence Orabueze; president, Ebonyi State Staff Welfare Association UNN, Prof. Agwu Eke Agwu; wife of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Prof. Uche Azikiwe; director, IAS, Prof. Ozioma Onuzulike; and chairman, Senate Ceremonials Committee, Prof. Chikelue Ofuebe.
To Ezeh, those propagating such unfounded views regarding Igbo ancestary are either narrow-minded or pursuing some superficial interests.
He insisted that the Igbo have no ancestral connection with the Jews, highlighting that the Igbo hold the world’s record for equity in home-grown gender relations: “The Igbo do not have anything whatsoever to do with Jewish ancestry. The most laughable is the suggestion that proofs have been found in the languages of both peoples. Fallacy number two. That the autochthonous institutions of the Igbo are skewed against the distaff side. They weren’t. Instead in all those cases where trained heads, foreign or local, in the relevant disciplines, have investigated the subject, the Igbo come out as holding the world’s record for equity in home-grown gender relations. The sources of such misinformation mis-portray, or even traducement of the Igbo, are two: deliberate sectarian agitprop, and shallow scholarship that is designed to serve exogenous interests.”
Illuminating further on his assertion, Ezeh dwelled on the seeming similarities or otherwise between Igbo language and Hebrew language: “You do not just look at how things are written, something called orthography. You also look at how things are pronounced or articulated, something called phonology. Ada means daughter in Igbo, while Adah means ornament to the Jews. So, they are not the same. In 2017, the Jews came to Anambra State to report that the results of the DNA study they had carried out had shown that Igbo were not Jews. The study was conducted in one of the best laboratories for the purpose in the United States, using molecular samples. The finding was straightforward: the result of the samples taken from Nigeria randomly on some people in Igboland bears no semblance to the ones in the database of the laboratory.”
The scholar dropped the bombshell: “The Igbo belong to the Niger-Congo language phylum while the Hebrew belong to the Afro-Asiatic phylum. You will be surprised that the only language in Nigeria that is related to the Hebrew is the Hausa, which is also Afro-Asiatic.”
He also revealed that the first President of Nigeria, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, was also the country’s first anthropologist.
Ezeh bemoaned the situation of Azikiwe’s master’s dissertation on the oral traditional literature of the Onitsha Igbo not having been published and widely circulated as that of the second Nigerian anthropologist, Nathaniel Fadipe, whose Ph.D thesis was titled- “The sociology of the Yoruba”.
The very creative anthropologist held the audience spellbound as he tutored them on a new word he invented- “xenomania,” which he derived from the Greek word, “Xenos,” meaning “foreign” and “mania” meaning “frenzy, madness.”
He said that xenomania is “over-fascination with things that are foreign” explaining that “xenomania and ethnocentricism are subjective and can lead to errors and problems in anyone’s perspective or beliefs about his or her ethnic origins and standing in the world.”
Acting Vice-Chancelor, UNN, Prof. Oguejiofo Ujam, who was represented by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Academics, Prof. Kamoru Usman, said that the valedictory lecture marked Ezeh’s retirement from the service of the institution.
Ujam disclosed that Ezeh was the 10th retiring professor to give a valedictory lecture in the university and the first from the Faculty of the Social Sciences.
He commended the towering scholar for his service and research works in the university and wished him well in his endeavours.
Similarly, the Dean, Faculty of the Social Sciences, UNN, Prof. Chidi Nzeadibe, described Ezeh as a global scholar who traversed the globe in the quest for his scholarship: “Prof Ezeh is a global scholar who has traversed the globe, visiting some remote sparsely populated locations such as the Arctic Circle in the quest for his scholarship. His scholarship has impacted positively on disadvantaged populations in Africa and elsewhere. The valedictory lecture is a fitting tribute to a man who has seen it all.
“He has had a wide-ranging impact on my faculty. As an anthropologist of global repute, he trained 20 Ph.D and over 20 M.Sc students many of whom are doing very well in their careers. He served as HOD of the Sociology and Anthropology Department, Coordinator of the Social Science Unit of the School of General Studies, long-standing editor of the faculty journal, chairman of the Faculty Ethics Committee and mentor to many faculty members including myself.
“As this distinguished professor and academic colossus retires, his scholarship and impact on society at large will continue to shine. Our faculty wishes him good health and good things of life, as well as the best in his future endeavours.”
Jeff Unaegbu, a prolific writer and research fellow at the Institute of African Studies, UNN, told Daily Sun that he was delighted learning a lot from Ezeh, who was his Ph.D supervisor. He described Ezeh was one of the finest scholars in the UNN in the humanities, noting that his pool of knowledge was always objective, without sentiments.
The honour to Ezeh was accentuated with the presentation of a festschrift at the event. It was titled: “Celebrating Ijele: A festschrift in honour of Peter-Jazzy Ezeh,” an anthology of writings, articles and views on Prof. Ezeh, edited by Chidi Ugwu, Ugochukwu Titus Ugwu and Chuu Krydz Ikwuemesi.
Prior to the valedictory lecture, a soiree was organised for the scholar on June 11, 2025, by Prof. Chuu Krydz Ikwuemesi and Prof. Chidi Ugwu.
