Africa’s Lost Civilizations: With Prof. Acholonu (Pt 2)

Rediscovering Africa’s Forgotten Legacy: A Conversation with Professor Catherine Acholonu

At FeelNubia, our mission is to amplify the voices that shape Africa’s intellectual and spiritual renaissance. In this exclusive interview, we sit down with the late Professor Catherine Obianuju Acholonu—acclaimed author, researcher, and cultural revivalist—whose groundbreaking work repositions Africa at the heart of human civilization.

She speaks with passion and divine conviction about her trilogy of works that rewrite Africa’s role in prehistory:
Book 1: The Gram Code of African Adam
Book 2: They Lived Before Adam
Book 3: The Lost Testament of the Ancestors of Adam

These books form a trinity of research that challenges Western narratives and reveals Africa’s pivotal place in human origins.

The Awakening: How Professor Catherine Acholonu Discovered Africa’s Hidden Past

FeelNubia – Professor Acholonu, I’m so excited to speak with you today about your groundbreaking research. (Laughter) Truly, I want to hear everything—how you began, what you discovered, and what it all means for Africa and the world.

Prof. Catherine Acholonu – (Smiling) Well, the journey is told across three major books. They are parts of one evolving revelation—book one is The Gram Code of African Adam, which focuses on the Ikom Monoliths. Book two is They Lived Before Adam, and the third is The Lost Testament of the Ancestors of Adam. Together, they form a trilogy of truth that rewrites the story of human origins through an African lens.

FeelNubia – How did you make the initial connection that led to such a bold claim?

Prof. Acholonu – It started with an inner knowing. I sensed there was something deeply wrong—or missing—in the story of the Ikom Monoliths. Something wasn’t adding up. Like most people of my generation, I was raised in missionary schools. We were conditioned to believe that Africa had contributed nothing of value to humanity—that we needed Western validation to be fully human. But something in me kept pushing back against that narrative.

When I was a Fulbright scholar in the United States, I began to notice something unusual. Whenever I gave a lecture, the room would fall silent—you could literally hear a pin drop. And when I finished speaking, no one wanted to leave. My audience, mostly Westerners, seemed entranced. I began to ask myself: Why? What is it that I’m saying as a Black African woman that resonates so deeply with them, if Africa supposedly has nothing to offer?

That was my awakening. I realized that the source of my power—the reason people listened—was because I was carrying something ancient, something true, from my African roots. And if there was something there that could hold the West so captivated, then Africa’s story wasn’t missing—it had just been buried.

So I wrote a letter to God. A real letter. I said, “Dear God, I know that something vital about Africa has been lost—something we need to become whole again, to heal, to remember who we are. I don’t know where to start, but I know that nothing is ever truly lost. Please help me find it.” I signed the letter, placed it in my Bible, and that was the beginning of the quest.

Not long after, I was led—spiritually led—to the Yale University library in 1990. A former student of mine, who was now teaching at Manhattan College, took me there. While browsing, I was drawn to the New Age section and stumbled upon the works of an Oriental scholar named Zecharia Sitchin. His research was centered on Sumerian inscriptions, and what he found was explosive: the Genesis story in the Bible—the creation story—was actually derived from Sumerian mythology.

Abraham, after all, came from Ur in Babylon. Sitchin had discovered that the Sumerians had recorded the Genesis story in far greater detail than the Bible itself. Line by line. Day by day. What actually happened at creation. The names. The places. The divine beings involved. And as I read through his translations, I had goosebumps.

Because I recognized something: the geography described wasn’t Mesopotamia. It was West Africa. I could identify the terrain, the river patterns, the sacred places. He referred to a place called the Abzu, which he said was the “abyss.” But even he noted that the Sumerian word Abzu referred to Sub-Saharan Africa—and yet he still tried to place everything in the Middle East.

That’s when I realized something else: Western scholars shut down when Africa enters the picture. They don’t do it consciously—it’s more like a mental block. When something ancient and profound turns out to be African, the brain says, “No, that can’t be,” and moves on. But the truth is, the evidence was pointing here—to Nigeria, to our rivers, our myths, our stones.

Sitchin’s books—there are eight of them, called The Earth Chronicles—became my foundation. I devoured every word. But I didn’t stop there. I began cross-referencing his claims with African oral traditions, rock art, and indigenous cosmologies. I asked, Where do Africans fit into this global story of human origins? Were we absent from the stage of history until slavery? Impossible.

I discovered that the earliest events of humanity—creation, the Fall, the migrations of the gods—were all set in Africa. The Sumerians themselves admitted their knowledge was brought from elsewhere—engraved tablets and technologies that had no known origin in their land. That “elsewhere” was never named. But I began to see clearly that “elsewhere” is Sub-Saharan Africa. It always was.

So my work became a kind of spiritual archaeology. Whenever Western academia says “this cannot be found,” I know instinctively: it’s in Africa. When they say “origin unknown,” I dig, and I find. And when I do, I bring not just speculation—I bring evidence, proof beyond reasonable doubt.

FeelNubia – That’s powerful. And I love the way you’ve always been able to take something spiritual—something deeply intuitive—and ground it in real, academic research. That’s rare.

Prof. Acholonu – That’s because I was led. I told God, “Show me,” and He did. It was never just me. Even today, I’ll go to sleep and have dreams, revelations—my research doesn’t end when I close the books. Sometimes, I’ll conclude and go to bed, and in the night, something within says, “You stopped too soon. Did you consider this? Look again at that.” I wake up and write it down immediately.

FeelNubia – That makes perfect sense.

Prof. Acholonu – When you’re guided by the Divine, your work takes on a different weight. I’ve gone into places that others fear to tread—dangerous terrain, even spiritually dark places—and I’ve come out whole. Why? Because I’m not walking alone. This work is not mine. I am simply the vessel.

FeelNubia – You’re uncovering things that were deliberately hidden.

Prof. Acholonu – And not just hidden—guarded. There are sacred things people touch and never come back from. I have. Because someone is going ahead of me. And when I enter a community and tell them their true history—their pre-history—their souls remember. That’s when the healing begins.

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Read the introduction to this interview and part 1 here.

The interview continues in part three