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THE TRAVAILS OF THE IGBO ETHNIC GROUP IN NIGERIA AND THE INDISPENSABILITY OF THE TRADITIONAL SOCIO-CULTURAL PRACTICES IN THE RESTORATION OF THE MUCH-NEEDED UNITY
Chidi Mike Amaechi Department of History and International Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka Enugu State, Nigeria.
Abstract The Igbo ethnic group in Nigeria has been groaning under the colossal weight of injustice, criminal neglect and institutional marginalization especially since the end of the Nigerian Civil War. This is more apparent in the composition of the military, political appointments, provision of social amenities and infrastructure, and choice of official policies. The psychological effect is even more traumatizing and debilitating. In a state of confusion, despair, and hopelessness, the average Igbo person is politically disoriented and manipulated and the age-long flaunted culture of ‘unity of purpose’ has been abandoned together with the traditional socio-cultural practices that anchored the people’s high moral standards and unsullied sense of dignity. Moreover, at the detriment of Igbo group interest, the political elite now revel in selfish individualism as a result of inferiority complex and have not been able to, early enough, analyze situations and take a firm stand on issues, as each situation demands. In support of the view that the marginalization of the Igbo stems largely from internal disunity, and in addition to other views on the solution to this problem of Igbo disunity, it is the position of this paper that the revival of those traditional socio-political cum cultural institutions and values which sustained the bonds of Igbo unity in the face of the seemingly acephalous and segmented nature of the people, would go a long way in restoring this much-needed unity. Key words:
Introduction Since Nigeria’s independence in 1960, the progression of the Igbo on the marginalization ladder and towards martyrdom has been a steady one. It is not surprising , therefore, that fifty years after the independence of the country, the Igbo, a major ethnic group, is ‘begging’ to be accommodated in the scheme of things, even behind the minority groups. The people have been groaning under the colossal weight of stupendous injustice, criminal neglect and institutional marginalization, and no longer see the Nigerian state as a refuge. No doubt, there have been cries of marginalization from virtually all the constituent parts of the country, as noted by Ikejiani-Clark,20 but it would be atrocious to attempt to confuse the gory state of the Igbo with such cries. While some of these ‘cries of marginalization’ are genuine, others are deceptive and emanate from the inability of such ‘devouring’ groups to find ‘preys’ as usual. Besides, the issue of marginalization, real or cloaked, generally goes further to reveal the inability of the Nigerian state to guarantee the attainment of the expectations of the various ethnic groups.21 Though all-pervading, the marginalization of the Igbo is more apparent in the composition of the military, political appointments, provision of social amenities and infrastructure, and choice of official policies. This gruesome treatment of the Igbo in Nigeria becomes more horrendous when weighed on the ’input and reward’ scale. This is because the Igbo, both individually and collectively, contributed more than any other ethnic group towards the independence of the country and have continued to make sacrifices towards its stability, in spite of all odds. From independence to the pre- civil war years, the Igbo dominated the political, economic, social and technological activities in Nigeria. They
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championed the struggle for self-determination. The entrance of Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe into the struggle blazed the trail of Nigerian nationalism. With his West African Pilot and other publications, he created much awareness on the evils of colonialism and the need for emancipation. Moreover, he mobilized his Igbo kinsmen like Mokwugo Okoye, Osita Agwuna, Dennis Osadebe, Mbonu Ojike, Akanu Ibiam, Alvan Ikoku, Nwafor Orizu, Michael Okpara, K. O. Mbadiwe and many others, who gave their ‘all’ without ethnic biases in order to achieve a free, strong and united Nigeria. Azikiwe eventually became the first Governor-general and later the ceremonial president while Nwafor Orizu became the first senate president. In the military, the Igbo held sway. They produced two out of every three commissioned officers in the Nigerian Army and eventually produced the first General in the person of J. T. U. Aguiyi Ironsi. In spite of the fact that the Igbo were the last to come into contact with Western and other external influences, they caught up and even overtook other groups in so many aspects of human endavour, to the advantage of the emerging nation. How else can one express their exploits in western education than to remind Nigerians that the Igbo produced the first indigenous Vice Chancellor in the country in the person of Professor Kenneth Onwuka Dike. In terms of human capacity, the Igbo produced the bulk of the personnel that powered the nation during the period. They were active in the railway stations, the mines, post offices, hospitals, government bureaucracy, public works departments etc., both in Lagos and every part of the country. Economically, the Igbo were not missing either. Their palm products initially sustained the economy of the country before the era of cocoa and groundnut. Besides, the Igbo penetrated every nook and cranny of Nigeria. Equipped with determination and good wishes, they established the economic foundation of their host communities. According to Ezima, “it is said and accepted without challenge that any village in Nigeria where there is no Igbo man will never see the light of development.”22 It could also be deduced from the above that the Igbo contributed to the unity of the country more than any other group. Their readiness to live in and develop any part of the country signified their acceptance of the historical reality of Nigeria. Unfortunately, instead of commendation, this has continued to attract envy and hatred from the other groups. The psychological effect of the marginalization of the Igbo is even more traumatizing and debilitating. In a state of confusion, despair, and hopelessness, the average Igbo person is politically disoriented at present and, as has been noted, the people “have all of a sudden, become an other- directed individual, whose locus of control is now externally located,”23 and the age-long flaunted culture of ‘unity of purpose’ has been abandoned. At the detriment of Igbo group interest, the political elite now revel in selfish individualism as a result of inferiority complex. Such renegades awfully believe that they must ‘eat’ or undo their brothers in order to succeed. In the 1979 elections, many notable Igbo politicians deliberately ‘worked’ against Igbo group interest in favour of either Alhaji Shehu Shagari or Chief Obafemi Awolowo. In 1983, Azikiwe lost even his own Anambra State to the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) in a humiliating manner. This was wholly actualized through the effort of his own brothers. At the 1999 PDP Convention in Jos, Dr Alex Ekwueme was ‘sacrificed’ by his own kinsmen on the altar of selfish individualism. The experiences of Evan Enwerem, Chuba Okadigbo, Pius Anyim, Adolphus Nwagbara and Ken Nnamani as Senate presidents between 1999 and 2007 are still fresh in our minds. The list is endless. Actually, especially by virtue of the republican nature of the Igbo, it is not wrong for the people to nurture different political ideologies, belong to different political parties or even pursue differing ambitions. What is worrisome is the inability of these Igbo political desperadoes to recognize where individual interest should end and
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where group interest commences. In the south-western part of the country, Yoruba group interest reigns supreme. When you see them in a different camp or political party, they are just there as ‘bench-warmers’. Some even join the ranks of their opponents in order to steer them towards pre- determined paths, to the ultimate advantage of their own kinsmen. Irrespective of the ill-feelings harboured against Chief M. K. O. Abiola by his kinsmen, as a result of the often drummed-up rift between him and Chief Awolowo, the Yoruba gave him all the needed support that led him to victory in 1993. When Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and Chief Olu Falae emerged as the presidential candidates of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and Alliance for Democracy (AD) respectively, both the conservative and militant factions of the hitherto irrepressible Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) repositioned the organization immediately. Instead of the earlier quest for a Sovereign National Conference and outright secession from the Nigerian federation, their mission statement was altered to accommodate the ethnic group’s insistence on ‘a Yoruba president’. It is also possible that the Yoruba deliberately allowed Chief Falae and Chief Obasanjo ‘alone’ to compete for the same position, being sure that the group interest is protected, either way. Upon the fact that their party’s (AD) candidate lost the election, the group threw its weight behind Obasanjo. In 2003, the Alliance for Democracy (AD), irrespective of its ‘progressive’ stance, resolved not to field a presidential candidate, in favour of Obasanjo’s second tenure. What else is ‘common sense’ and supremacy of group interest? In the case of the Igbo, old wounds hardly heal, and most Igbo politicians see their brother’s weakness, either real or cooked-up, as an opportunity to actualize their ambitions, as in the Senate presidency cases. It is quite unlike what obtains among other ethnic groups. Both Chuba Okadigbo, the then Senate President, and Ghali Na’ Abba, the then Speaker of the House of Representatives, were indicted by the same Kuta Panel. But while the Igbo facilitated the pushing-out of Okadigbo, the Hausa-Fulani stood firmly behind Na’ Abba and ensured that he was neither probed nor replaced before the end of his tenure.24 As observed by Prof. A. B. C. Nwosu, Ohanaeze Ndigbo is partly to blame for the disunity among the Igbo. As a ‘father’ and a rallying point, the leaders of the organization have not been able to, early enough, analyse situations, take a firm stand, and direct its ‘sons’ on the way forward, as each situation demands.25 It is to the credit of the Yoruba political sophistication, as earlier mentioned, that no Easterner or Northerner contested with Obasanjo in 1999 except his kinsman. At present, what we see are situations where the Ohanaeze is divided even against itself and where individual interests dictate the utterances and actions of the different factions and members. A case in point is the choice of the 2011 presidential candidate which at a point pitched members of the Ohanaeze who supported Goodluck Jonathan against those in favour of Ibrahim Babangida and Atiku Abubakar. This not only reveals the existent internal disunity but also the polarization of the Igbo political elite against themselves. It becomes easier, therefore, to understand in a better way the view of Eteng that, Traumatized by the disastrous civil war, the Igbo of modern Nigeria are apparently more like a community in commotion whose up-side down inhabitants are hysterically groping for a national sense of direction within a turbulent socio-political environment.26
The problem of individualism has also been manifesting in other forms. Unlike what obtained in other areas, some Igbo civil servants connived with the then military administrators to misappropriate their states’ share of revenue allocations just for minor personal gratifications after which they cared less about what happened to the rest of the money.27 Among the contractors, some
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usually collect the contract sum up-front and either refused to execute or executed the job hap- hazardly, without minding the fact that their kinsmen would be the direct beneficiaries. In their selfishness and inferiority complex, some even go to the extent of donating part of the money to other ethnic groups, especially the North, in order to continue to attract the favour of the ruling class. Where then do we go from here? Which way Ndigbo? As the 2004 Ahiajoku Lecture retorts, “onye ajuru aju anagh aju onwe ya”.28 In support of the view that the marginalization of the Igbo stems largely from internal disunity, and in addition to other views on the solution to this problem of Igbo disunity, it is the position of this paper that the revival of those traditional socio-political cum cultural institutions and values which sustained the bonds of Igbo unity in the face of the seemingly acephalous and segmented nature of the people, would go a long way in restoring this much-needed unity. But before delving into this proper, it is pertinent to briefly trace the roots of Igbo marginalization in the country, and to clarify some theoretical issues bordering on the right of the Igbo to existence and fair treatment as well as the legitimacy of improvising a survival course within the Nigerian state.
The Roots of Igbo Marginalization in Nigeria It is proper to look back in order to identify the forces that led to the present and may also be responsible for shaping the future. The marginalization of the Igbo in Nigeria is rooted in colonialism and ethnicity. Instead of welding the various ethnic groups together, and in order to satisfy their economic interest, the colonial authority in Nigeria adopted “disintegrative policies of ‘divide and rule’29 which promoted the idea of separate development for each of the ethno-linguistic groups”30 This gave rise to ethnic exclusiveness as well as mutual hatred, antagonism and unhealthy rivalry in their economic affairs, security considerations and ideology.31 Again, the failure of the Indirect Rule policy, the Aba Women Riot of 1929, and the vibrant and uncompromising stance of the Igbo nationalists gave the British colonial administration in Nigeria sleepless nights, hence their perceived resolve to ‘punish’ the Igbo. They accomplished this by giving the Hausa/Fulani ethnic group “an undeserved absolute advantage over the other ethnic groups, individually and collectively,”32 as shown in the consolidation of the earlier territorial delineation and the pre-1959 electoral constituency delimitation which gave the North a majority of 36 federal constituencies over the combined total of the East, West and Lagos.33 Thus, the Hausa/Fulani ethnic group has ever since that 1959 federal election to date employed the national political power to allocate the society’s resources in a manner not only exclusively favourable to themselves, but also in a manner destructive to the other ethnic groups especially the Igbo.34
The plight of the Igbo was exacerbated by the civil war, “which it fought for freedom from Nigeria’s internal colonialists personified in the Hausa/Fulani oligarchy.”35 More than ever before, “the Igbo began to be vilified and stigmatized as aggressive, arrogant, clannish, grasping and greedy, by the other ethnic groups”36 and were seen as the only problem confronting the nation, and so must be eliminated.37 As also observed by Ahamefule –Ofoeze, right from that date, the Igbo and their interest and rights have been denied protection through deliberate public policies and programmes of the federal governments formed by members of the other ethnic groups. The situation was in varying degrees made worse for the Igbo by all the successive military regimes that have ruled the
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country excluding Ironsi… Indeed, the situation is so bad that the Igbo have now been reduced to a ‘minority’ status with all the consequences that entails.38
The Biafrans had exhibited a high level of technological prowess during the war. Many had expected that after the war the federal government would do everything possible to re-enact and encourage the achievements for the technological development of Nigeria. Instead, the Gowon administration, upon its reconciliation, rehabilitation and reconstruction stance, chose to dismantle, demobilize and stifle both the spirit and the effort as a means of frustrating and caging the Igbo. As if that was not enough, the Nigerian government wholly adopted Chief Awolowo’s economic strangulation policy which handed out a paltry 20 pounds to Igbo depositors irrespective of their actual deposits. The fate of the Igbo was further aggravated by the abandoned property saga which dispossessed the people of the fruits of their past toiling. Most of those in the military were refused re-absorption. The few that succeeded were not only demoted in rank but were eventually stagnated out of service. The new entrants who were ostensibly recruited in order to conform to the Federal Character principle suffered similar fate, as they are usually retired or dismissed to ensure that they did not attain certain ranks. It is not surprising, therefore, that the appointment of Lt. Gen. Ihejirika, from one of the core Igbo states, as Chief of Army Staff by President Goodluck Jonathan seemed miraculous. Without their money and property, and standing face to face with a bleak future within Nigeria, majority of the Igbo leaders and the emergent ones inadvertently turned to ‘liars-for-hire’, dubious hangers-on of the new rich and greedy ones. In the same way, upholders and enforcers of moral order among them like the Umuada, were turned to inciters of moral disorder, all for the sake of individual survival.39 With this self-debasement, it became easier for the other groups to see Igboland as a fishing ground for cheap supporters and sacrificial lambs who can hardly come together to fight the cause of their brothers, even in the face of recurring massacres especially in the North. Gowon’s attitude towards the Igbo was towed by subsequent regimes, especially the military dictators, who made sure that federal government development efforts were not extended to the Igbo areas. This can easily be discerned from the siting of countless industrial plants such as steel rolling mills, dams, petrochemical plants, agro- industrial projects, machine tools and even oil palm plantations in parts of the country, except Igboland. This discriminatory attitude also influenced the siting of educational and financial institutions in various parts of the country. The hope that the civilian dispensation inaugurated in 1999 would correct the past mistakes was also dashed. In support of this view, Ikejiani-Clark has observed that “the predicament of the Igbo appears more bleak in the present dispensation where the Igbo are being systematically subjugated and , more than ever, disorganized and disunited,” and that following “the prevalence of politics of ethnic domination, the Obasanjo-led civilian administration has not done much to correct the past mistakes.”40 Instead, the administration “intensified the politics of selective application to the sustained disadvantage of the Igbo.”41 Today, fifty four years after the independence of the country the Igbo, one the three major ethnic groups, has been pushed away from the first four political leadership positions in the country – the Presidency, Vice Presidency, President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Representative. An editorial summed up the fate of the Igbo since after the Civil War thus: They have been roving around the margins of Nigeria all the while making frantic attempts to penetrate the iron barricades placed on their way to the centre. They have been told that they are peripheral people. Their oil fields are
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officially classified as peripheral fields. Their sons and daughters hold fringe political positions in governments. Their highly educated and capable persons labour as monkeys under Northern and Yoruba baboons in a civil service arrangement where ‘monkey de work baboon de chop.’ Their young people have been driven into fringe and strange businesses such as 419 and drug trafficking, hustling and hawking…Their leaders are infiltrated and balkanized, their kin loyalty terminally abridged via a wily application of pecuniary manoeuvres. They have no harmonized view about the destiny of their people because their mentality had been sneered by Northern and Yoruba political and economic Lords who protect their economic interests in their respective heartlands where the said Igbo leaders live. Now, nothing seems left except, perhaps, the indestructible spirit of the Igbo and their incurable determination to survive no matter the odds.42
Theoretical Clarification The forlorn condition of the Igbo in Nigeria evokes some vital questions. Do the Igbo have the right to existence and fair treatment like any other group in the country? Should the Igbo accept their present fate as ‘final’, especially considering the failed secession attempt, or devise other means and ways of taking their rightful position within the Nigerian state? Regardless of the often conflicting perceptions of some scholars, a state exists and serves to provide the enabling conditions for its citizens to fulfill themselves, individually and collectively. This conforms to the views of Aristotle that the state originated not only “for the sake of life” but also “for the sake of best life” for its citizens.43 Laski further explained that the state must see as its basic essence the need to ensure the necessary rights or social conditions without which the citizen can hardly be himself at his best,44 and that such rights should be applied to all citizens without distinction or not applicable to any at all.45 Incidentally, these rights are explicitly accommodated in successive Nigeria’s constitutions. It follows, therefore, that failure to guarantee these enabling rights and on equal basis would amount to injustice and leads to loss of moral authority by the state to demand loyalty from the citizens. Moving closer, the ability of the state to survive, like every political system, depends on its capacity to fulfill certain functional prerequisites which are essential to the maintenance and adaptation of the system. This simply refers to “the extent to which the system can cope with inputs” or challenges successfully.46 According to David Easton, “some demands can be challenging to the system and the system has to possess the necessary elements and mechanisms to meet them in order to survive.”47 Fundamentally, this system capability scheme is made up of five capabilities which are necessary for system adaptation, change and survival. These include the extractive, the regulative, the distributive, the symbolic, and the responsive.48 Though presumably quixotic, these system capabilities are easily attainable. The operators of the Nigerian state do not need to go to ‘Igwenga’ to procure them. They are in every ‘market’ and ‘shop’ and do not cost fortunes. They only require commitment, fairness, and equity from the operators of any political system. The extractive capability refers to the ability of the political system to obtain the relevant resources to sustain it.49 The regulative focuses on the ability of the system to exercise control over individuals and groups within the society, and to use the security forces to ensure the protection and defense of the society against threats, as well as the maintenance of law and order.50 The symbolic capability refers to the need and ability to create, develop and maintain relevant and adequate symbols with which to attract the support, loyalty and affection of the citizens. The responsive capability addresses the readiness of the
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system to respond adequately and vigorously to the demands from within and outside the system. The distributive capability concerns itself with the ability of the system to adequately distribute values among its citizens in a fair and equitable manner. It becomes easier to understand from this premise that the survival of the system, as observed by Easton, depends on the political system’s ability to maintain a minimal level of support for the system by the citizens … And when the input of support falls below this minimal level, the continued existence of the system is endangered. This support declines or gets eroded primarily on account of the failure of the system to deliver the expected values – goods and services.51
In all fairness, no state can actually meet all the demands of its citizens or constituent groups. What every group deserves is equity in the provision of the basic needs of life. Unfortunately, the Nigerian state has continued to manifest a high level of incapability towards this direction. As observed by an international research group, the Nigerian state “needs reconstruction” to consolidate democracy and minimize the dangers of tyranny since “consultations with Nigerians nationwide confirm that the image of the state is in tatters and its legitimacy undermined.”52 This picture of the Nigerian state is more perceptible to the Igbo whose experience in the system is filled with tales of exploitation, intimidation and domination, exclusion, apathy, and inequity. It is not surprising, therefore, that the sustenance of the situation has continued to generate feelings of dissatisfaction, disillusionment and the tendency by the dissatisfied groups to partially or completely withdraw their support, or to device means of getting their fair share from the system, which Rosebaum had earlier predicted.53 For the Igbo, internal unity remains a vital prerequisite.
Igbo Traditional Institutions and Unity From the foregoing, the indispensability of unity among the Igbo sub-groups and elite can no longer be disputed. The present extent of discordance becomes more baffling when it is compared with what obtained in the past, when the Igbo were held together in an unbreakable solidarity. Though the Igbo did not evolve centralized administrative systems as was the case among the Yoruba, Edo and Hausa/Fulani, they did not experience such major wars of domination, upheavals and vicissitudes that characterized the histories of the afore-mentioned groups before the coming of the Europeans. This is also in spite of the acephalous and segmented ascription to the Igbo. This relative unity and peace was as a result of the presence of a favourable worldview, traditional structures and associations whose existence and bridling influence transcended communal boundaries. Such integrating mechanisms, including the highly religious cosmology of the Igbo, the title and secret societies, pressure groups and festivals, imbued the Igbo group with unrivalled moral and religious consciousness which, in turn, held the people together in one spiritual and religious commonwealth. With the coming of the Europeans and the alien religions, however, these structures, where they still exist, have been watered down to mere past times, and the unity of the group, among others, has been the worse for it. As Chinua Achebe would say, the intruders put a knife to the things that held us together.54 Truly, it may not be out of place to suggest, as pointed out by Anyanwu that, Igbo ancestors may be restless or unhappy as they watch contemporary anti- solidarity or anti-Erima doctrines or principles which espouse rigid hostile blocs, anti-religion, dictatorship or authoritarianism, repression, bloodletting or murder and institutional enmity in the political process of the people.“55
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Traditional Igbo Religious Cosmology and Unity As observed by Ogbu Kalu,56 the traditional Igbo world-view is encapsulated in religious beliefs, ideas, values and practices which sustained their ordered vision of reality. From the beginning, according to him, the Igbo saw the universe as a three-tiered structure consisting of the sky above (Eluigwe), the solid earth (Ala), and the underworld Ala-mmuo). While the sky is the abode of the Supreme Being and the major divinities like Igwe, Anyanwu and Amadioha, the earth is the abode of men. The underworld is the abode of the minor deities, patron spirits, the ancestors and other cosmic forces. Man remains the focus of this worldview and the other structures work in tandem to control and enhance the life of man. Over-time, the Igbo achieved a clearer and ordered vision of the intricate and dynamic way in which forces from the other abodes control and determine man’s fortune, destiny, and life hereafter. It is also this cosmology that gave breath to the various traditional societies, festivals and divinations which the Igbo perform in partnership with the gods, ancestors and guardian spirit forces. This understanding harbored no gaps. It imbued the Igbo with impeccable religious and moral consciousness, as the thoughts, utterances and actions of even an individual were perceived to have bearings on the entire society, which he cannot separate himself from. Invariably, the traditional Igbo became fully conscious of his membership of a community and his roles in the network of ordered relationships with the other members of the social group. This arrangement assigned roles and authority which ‘’maintained the dynamic equilibrium between members of the corporate group, especially through the introduction of the necessary supernatural elements on values and norms of harmonious co-existence between the different segments of traditional Igbo society.’’57 As Eteng further observed, “the community thus assumes an aura of sacredness as an objective, external, eternal and pervasive moral reality which constrains individuals and groups to conform somewhat mechanically to normative expectations, at the pain of incurring severe penalties upon deviating.”58 This social control system held the Igbo community together, as moral misconducts or abominations were atoned for by acts of expatiation and retribution. “Ultimately, the traditional Igbo” wished “to be at peace with themselves, with Chukwu, with Ala, with the ancestral spirits, with their kingroup, with their Chi, with their community at large, in order to enjoy good fortunes and long life.”59 Unfortunately, this worldview was gradually but steadily dislocated and transformed as a result of the actions of the Christian missionaries and the British colonial administration. Today, the Igbo are overwhelmingly Christians and “many famous centres and objects of worship had been destroyed, many institutions have been allowed to die, and the organs of social and moral control abandoned.”60 Though the Igbo traditional religious order, being a natural part of the people, has remained resilient by retaining its vital signs, even among the strongest adherents of the Christian faith, it is “evidently wounded in combat with Christianity” and only waiting to be “’a last fall back in moments of crisis,” as Monsignor Okere rightly observed.61 To him, however, “both religions have failed to provide the basis of the fundamental and enduring moral ethos” to ensure the spiritual and socio-political unity of the Igbo people.
Traditional Associations and Igbo Unity As earlier stressed, the Igbo worldview harboured no gaps in the arrangement of things. The religious, socio-political and economic lives of the people were intertwined to ensure unity and stability. From the people’s cosmology flowed the various religious beliefs, structures and associations which
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sustained the entire system in the past. Prominent among these associations were the Nze na Ozo and the Umuada. The Nze na Ozo title institution was one of the prominent political and administrative structures that contributed immensely towards the unity of Igboland. It is variously known as Ozo, Ichie, Oha, Mazi, Ozioko, Nze, Diokpa etc., depending on the particular part or segment of Igboland one finds himself. Among some eastern and Cross River Igbo it is known as Ekpe. Though an open society, it was a rallying point for men of achievement in various aspects of life who could maintain such revered status. It was generally open only to men of distinction. In some places women were also initiated as Lolo, so long as they could meet the requirements. Although wealth and willingness to utilize it for the interest of the society were primary determinants or pre-conditions for its conferment, the community must first certify that the wealth was acquired through legitimate means, as contained in the society’s moral ‘codes’. Besides legitimate wealth, there were other requirements which bordered more on spiritual purification and rejuvenation. A title holder was not expected to eat certain foods or meat, enter certain places, tell lies, desecrate holy grounds, engage in dubious enterprises or work against the interest of the society. In other words, as Amucheazi pointed out, the purifications placed the title holders “close to the ancestors and the living” and they thus, became “the guardians of the society in every sense of the word.”62 They acted as law makers, judged or settled cases and regulated administrative behaviours and, “as custodians of the people’s conscience, customs and traditions, it was also their administrative responsibility to ensure that individuals and groups conformed to norms, ethos, traditions, and the taboos of their communities.”63 Beyond the roles enumerated above, the Nze na Ozo title institution contributed immensely towards supra-Igbo unity. Their influence and respect transcended their immediate communities and spanned through the length and breadth of Igboland. Their peculiar dressing pattern and sometimes facial marks (ichi) made them easily identifiable. The obligations that went with the title placed a high spiritual and moral burden on them, and the ability of the title holder to perseveringly keep the ‘oath’ made his person sacrosanct. He was not harmed during ‘wars’, regardless of the side he belonged and his appearance in between ‘cross-fires’ usually signaled a ceasefire and he was expected to always give unbiased advice and judgment. So, in the face of apparent geo-political segmentation, the Ozo title association with its appurtenances acted as an umbilical cord that held the Igbo together, even with their neighbours. In the words of Ogbu Kalu, Flexibility, checks and balances moderated the aggressive, competitive, freedom-loving aspects of Igbo political culture. The dignity and honesty of a titled man served as bulwark. The old ones among them enjoyed the status of patriarchal sages, guardians of the clan’s cultural heritage and venerable mentors who were expected to counsel and advise.64
Here again, the centre no longer holds at present. Though some communities and individuals still try to maintain the old ideals, men of questionable character have dominated the title ranks as money seems to be the only criterion for membership. Invariably, when and where they assume leadership positions their hitherto percipience and respect no longer go with them, even in their immediate communities. The Umuada constituted another uniting force in Igboland. Though from different perspectives, writers like Leith-Ross65, Green,66 and Van Allen67 etc. have made references to the place and roles of Igbo women in the past. But a closer look reveals that their description of the
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political, legal and social powers exercised by women generally referred mostly to the activities of the Umuada group of women. They are variously referred to as Umuada, Umungboto or Umuokpu, depending on the part of Igboland. The group constituted a veritable ligament for socio-political integration of the various segments especially before the coming of the Europeans.68 In the first place, the exogamous practice among the Igbo provided familial “linkages between a man and the village of his wife, that of his mother and those of his sister’s husbands” thereby producing “an intricate inter-village relationship” which facilitated inter-village visits and trading as well as “reduced incidences of inter-village wars.”69 Secondly, the Umuada, even after marriage were seen as active members of their patrilineal families and who must not allow their ‘father’s house’ to be in disarray. Without direct stake in the family’s inheritance, they were usually expected to be unbiased. Again, it was believed that the daughters, being symbols of fertility and procreation, retained a spiritual attachment to their places of birth hence the belief that whatever they utter in truth and fairness must be heeded by the gods and ancestors. Conversely, they incurred the wrath of their patrilineal gods and ancestors in the event of a biased judgment or action. This natural system of checks and balances prepared the Umuada to be fearless, daring, resolute and unbiased on serious issues affecting their patrilineal families, villages, towns, clans etc. These qualities attracted more roles to them and which they usually executed to the admiration and respect of their patrilineal kinsmen who, most times, saw them as “a part of the expansive notion of umunna.”70 “In this role” according to Amucheazi, ‘’they succeeded where men had failed for such was the respect accorded them that the community was never inclined to dispute their judgment.”71 Apart from their community development efforts, they waged ‘wars’ against injustice, oppression, divisive elements and moral laxity without minding whose ox was gored, hence the saying among the Igbo that ‘the fear of Umuada is the beginning of wisdom’. At present, however, the roles and the people’s perception of the Umuada have changed considerably for the worse. Actually, the Umuada now operate under a network of associations, still participate in community peace-building efforts, and are still accorded special recognitions by their patrilineal kinsmen through various titular awards. But the ‘spiritual’ and awe-inspiring perception of their existence has waned significantly thereby affecting their capacity to enforce compliance to communal centripetal order. Apart from the influence of Christianity, urbanization and the pursuit of economic well-being keep affecting the ability of the Umuada to easily converge and sustain their unbiased predisposition. So, without an ‘active’ Umuada the Igbo is on the verge of losing another traditional uniting force.
Conclusion: The Way Forward The struggle for power and resources among the constituent ethnic groups in Nigeria has become a matter of survival of the fittest. In this regard, the Igbo who were “once vibrant, enterprising and comparatively self-reliant” have been lingering “dangerously as a marginal group vis-à-vis their more rationally organized, and more powerful counterparts.”72 At the root of the inability of the Igbo to take their rightful position in the scheme of things in the country is traceable to internal disunity. This could be easily discerned at the individual, village, community and even state levels. It manifests in the inability of the Igbo political elite to come together and adopt a common stand on national issues. Often times, this individualism is attributed to the segmented and individualistic nature of the Igbo. Some have advocated a stronger and more involving pan-Igbo organization that could ‘force’ the people to speak with one voice, in view of the discordance currently exhibited by the Ohanaeze
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leaders. But considering the fact that the Igbo were more united during the pre-colonial period than now, even with the natural socio-political segmentation, it becomes imperative to ‘dig out and sieve’ our traditional institutions and associations, with a view to identifying those traditional structures that made for unity in the past. This paper has been able to show that though the Igbo did not evolve a centralized political leadership structure, the religious preponderance of the Igbo worldview ensured the institutionalization of ideologies, practices and structures that effectively united the people and made political interaction communalistic. The Igbo traditional religion, title associations and the Umuada formed part of this traditional Igbo setting. More than any other, the coming of the Europeans altered the scenario. Consequently, the Igbo suddenly found themselves in the middle of nowhere – neither in peace with the gods nor with their fellow human beings. Those life sustaining beliefs and practices with normative inclinations were brushed aside without minding the repercussions. Fearing neither the gods nor fellow men, everyday living for the average Igbo became more and more individualistic, trivialized, meaningless and costly. With the sin of going ‘astray’ came punishment because the people are still under the surveillance of the same Chukwu, thread on the same Ala, and still hear the voice of the divinities and ancestors but feign ignorant of the inseparable ties, in favour of alien practices that are yet to be adequately tailored into the people’s cultural milieu. As in the biblical experience of the Israelites, each of the times that the Israelites went astray, God gave them as an easy prey to their enemies until they realized their sin and made atonements. We are the cause of our problem. Ngwere gbawa oso hapu ukwu osisi aka akpara ya (the lizard that ignores the tree during flight is easily captured). The best escape route for the Igbo is for them to go back to their roots, to Chukwu ‘in truth and in spirit’. One is not actually advocating a complete reversion to the old practices or the abandonment of Christianity. What is urgently imperative is the ‘Africanization’ of the new religion. The Romans did it and it worked for them. As a way of anchoring and consolidating our Christian life on the fear of God, as in the past, the Igbo and indeed Africans need to be well-tutored to realize that we are talking of the same universe, the same God, the same divinities, the same ancestors or patriarchs and saints, and the same sin and punishment but from different perceptions, tongues and manners. In order to satisfy their ‘national’ interest, the early European missionaries created the wrong impression that the Christian God is a different one entirely. Invariably, we need to revive and adapt those good old traditional practices and institutions that guarded and guided the people’s sense of kinship and belief, in order to bring back the sense and feeling of oneness. Perhaps this was what Archbishop Obinna had in mind when he spoke of a “practical worry” which “bordered on how we can truly live as brothers and sisters of the same family, all children of one universe, or more specifically of one God.”73 This has been partly achieved in such areas as, use of vernacular and local instruments in Christian worship, choice of local names, new yam festivals, mourning period and purification among others. We can do more since the idea would help in building our faith in God, help us to be at peace with Him and our brothers as well as restore to us ‘what the locust has eaten’.
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