Ofo na Ogu

- Ofo — the sacred staff of truth, office, authority, justice, fair play. Without Ofo (actual or implied), the Dibia cannot be or perform. Proverb cluster:
- Ofo ka idide ji-awa ana — Ofo is what the earthworm burrows the ground with.
- Aso soo na udene ejiro ike eli aja — the vulture eats the sacrifice by forbearance/respect, not by power.
- Otulukpokpo ejiro ike atu ogwe; o bu ngugo Ofo — the woodpecker carves the trunk by Ofo-prayer, not strength.
- Oji Ofo ada-ato n'ije — the truthful/just holder of Ofo is never lost on a journey.
- Ofo ka nsi — Ofo is greater than poison/evil ogwu.

- Ogu — the complementary principle of clean hands earned by forbearance: four formal warnings/forbearances to an offender (direct; via parents; via kin; via maternal grandparents' line — ichi ichi) are required before retaliation is spiritually justified. I jikwo Ofo na Ogu? — "Do you hold Ofo and Ogu?" is the standing moral audit.

- The acephalous achievement: without police, courts, or clergy, Igbo society ran "strictly regulated on Ofo and Ogu divine principles" into a humane, spiritual order of keepers of brothers, strangers, animals, trees. [p.49]

- [T2] Ofo as inherited contract: the lineage staff ("staff of justice") embodying rights passed down; Igu/Igo Ofo Ututu — the morning prayer calling ancestors and guardians into the day's affairs (compared favorably to Western affirmations: Igbo "goals" are inherited duties, not arbitrary wishes; the Okpara (first son) carries them).

- Okwu Mbu — the First Word: the first word out reaches Chukwu first and is granted (the death-origin story turns on it); hence deep caution with careless speech, hasty curses and blessings — retraction is nearly impossible; the Dibia's speech doubly potent through Ndi Okwu Otu Onu, the spirit-agents "of the First Word." [T1, p.52]

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