About Remy Ilona
’Remy’ Chukwukaodinaka Ilona presently resides in Anambra State, Nigeria. He is from the Egbema sub-clan of Ozubulu clan, one of the main clans of the Igbo Jews.
Remy grew up in Igboland and Lagos in the years following the Nigeria-Biafra War. As such, he had first-hand knowledge of ‘old Igbo society,’ which is noticeably distinct from the ‘modern Igbo society.’ As a young man, Remy observed his people's suffering in the aftermath of the savage war. He saw mothers who searched refuse bins, hoping to find the remains their sons who fell in war. He saw Igbo girls and women who, because of hunger, followed ndi ami (Nigerian soldiers). He heard a Nigerian politician, Obafemi Awolowo, publically recommended that the Igbos be starved to submission. He saw how the Igbo Jews were almost exterminated by the peoples of Nigeria, Britain, the Soviet Union and its Eastern bloc allies, and some Arab client states of the Soviets - and how most of the world abandoned the Igbo Jews to their fate. Remy saw the ‘death’ of the Igbo Jews - and also saw their resurrection. In the years following the War, Remy saw the Igbos begin to view themselves as Igbos once again. It was this view and self-perception that held them together and pushed them to survive genocide.
Growing up, Remy had the opportunity to observe the Igbo world when it was still patently Igbo. He can point to a time when the Igbo Jews still celebrated festivals such as the New Yam Festival, the "ilo Chukwu" ("Mmuo"), "eke ukwu" (Shabbat), the "mgbiri" (the Jubilee), etc, and knew the reasons why they were celebrated. Remy saw the Igbo society when Igbo Jewish were still a community, when they still understood that if you don’t associate with "umu nna gi" (your kinsmen), that you are a scoundrel. Remy participated in communal activities like joining the youth dance group, cleaning the streams ("igwo mmiri"), etc. He saw that Igbo Jews were a happy people; they hadn’t much money but they shared whatever they had as a community. Leftovers from the harvests were left for the poor, there was almost no violent crime, no truly destitute families or individuals (save for the violent lunatics and few social miscreants). Stealing mere yams was regarded as abominable and invited serious reproach. Families recognized that they must never abandon weaker members, and sexual promiscuity invited scorn. These youthful observations of Igbo society made a lasting impression on Remy.
When it was time for school (Western education), Remy started in Lagos and continued in Igboland. Even then, the young Remy loved books. The Hebrew Bible (Genesis to Malachi) was one of his favorites, probably because the narratives contained therein reminded him of ana Igbo na ndi Igbo (the land and the Igbo people). Over the course of Remy's education in the primary and secondary schools it became clear that a scholar was developing. When it was time to proceed to a college/university, Remy first enrolled at the Institute of Management and Technology and studied journalism for a year, honing a prodigal literary talent. While in university, Remy would have preferred to study History but his father convinced him to pursue a degree in Law. At the Anambra State University of Technology (now Nnamdi Azikiwe University), Remy studied Law and graduated with honors. He progressed to the Nigeria Law School and passed the Bar Exam. Remy began his legal practice in Lagos with his friend Bobby Onwuka Johnson. After a few years he moved to Abuja, where he hoped for a quieter life of teaching at the satellite campuses of the Polytechnic Owo and the Federal University of Technology of Owerri.
It was in Abuja that Remy saw the full extent of the progressive decline and decay of Igbo society. By then, Igbo Jews had become an underclass in Nigeria. Igbo Jewish culture and values were being abandoned, because nobody taught from the Igbo standpoint or listened from the Igbo viewpoint. Instead, Remy found that everybody thirsted after foreign ideas; accordingly, charismatic individuals moved in, assimilating and subjecting millions of Igbos. After watching his people break up and fall apart, Remy went to work. Since 2002, Remy has achieved the seemingly unachievable. He has excavated the history of the Igbos and shown the world that the Igbos are part of the Israelite people, building the nucleus of a new Igbo society, the Igbo-Israel. He has helped the Igbo Jews become spiritually in-tune with their God; their ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and the Hebrew prophets, chief of whom was Moses. Remy has helped the Igbo Jews to not follow their neighbors and colonizers into idolatry, or into any of the modern-day cults that are popular in Nigeria. In a time when Igbo Jews are pushed to the margins of society as perpetual wanders, vendors, prostitutes, and marketers, Remy sees the answer in keeping the terms and conditions of the Sinaitic Covenant and thereby meriting God’s guaranteed protection.
Written by Uche Onwumelu Umeokolo.
