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Photo: Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain via Wikimedia Commons
Ibini Ukpabi, commonly called the Long Juju, is Arochukwu's most important historical attraction. The site is a cave-temple complex associated with the Aro oracle. UNESCO's description records a gully leading to the ancient cave temple, an altar, a waterfall, a judgement area and tunnels associated with the historic complex. The site is historically associated with the religious and political system of the Aro people and with the history of the slave trade in the region. Nigeria submitted the site to UNESCO's Tentative List in 2007 under cultural criteria (iii) and (vi). It is not yet a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The Ibini Ukpabi was an oracle of the Aro Confederacy of what is now Southeastern Nigeria. It was known among the British as the 'Long Ju-ju'. Ibini Ukpabi was used to settle cases, particularly those of murder, witchcraft, poisoning and family disputes. The oracle was paramount throughout the Niger Delta; the losing party of a case was traditionally destroyed by the oracle, but the priests of Ibini Ukpabi developed a preference in selling the losing party into slavery instead. As the system continued, it was alleged that the priests of Ibini Ukpabi falsified some of the verdicts of the oracle in order to procure victims to be sold into slavery. Hundreds of people visited Ibini Ukpabi and many did not return; their communities usually believed that the oracle had devoured anybody that visited it.