University of Nigeria Research Publications

EMEZUE, Sydney Author PG/MA/81/1153

Warfare in Pre-Colonial Ohuhu Title

Arts Faculty

History Department

November, 1983

Date

Signature Signature

WARFARE IN PRE-COLONIAL OHUHU

BY

SYDNEY EMEZUE ~~/~~/81/1153

NOVEMBER 1983 APPROVAL PAGE

PROFESSOR CHIEKA IFEMESIA HEAD OF DEPARTMENT. WARFARE IN PRE-COLONIAL OHUHU

SYDNEY EMEZUE

PG/M~/81/1153

A PROJECT REPORT SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY, UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA, NSUKKA, IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF A MASTER OF ARTS DEGREE.

NOVEMBER, 1983. -. - --

DEDICATION

This work is dedicated to the memory of my grandmother, Ezenwanyi Ihudiya Onuoha, who departed this world on June 13 1980 as I was \ doing my final examination for the Bachelor of Arts Degree. TABLE OF CONTENT -PAGE ABSTRACT .. .. i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT .. .. iii PREFACE ..

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER TWO: CAUSES OF WARS IN PRE-COLONIAL OHUHU .. ..

CHAPTER THREE: SYSTEMS OF WARFARE IN PRE-COLONIAL OHUHU ..

CHAPTER FOUR: IQJDING OF HOSTILITIES AND THE CONSEQUENCES OF WARS ..

CHAPTER FIVE: SOME PRE-COLONIAL OHUHU WARS

CHAPTER SIX: CONCLUSION .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

APPENDIX A PARTICULARS OF INFORMANTS .. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

MAP I: Facing page 2 - Map of Ohuhu PLATE I: Facing page 20 - ofo, the Igbo staff of authority and jus-e.

PI,ATE 2: Facing page 21, Ihu nla Umuajameze, shrine of the earth deity of Umuajameze.

PLATE 3: Facing page 62, a Dane gun manufactured by an Nkwerre smith.

PLATE 4: Facing page 63 - a pistol manufactured by an Nkwerre smith early in the twentieth century

PLI'LTE 5: Facing page 66 - a gun made by an Awka smith PL,ITE 6: Facing page 69 - a locally made spear. PLATE 7: Facing page 73 - Akparaja (obejili)

MAP 2: Facing page 106 - Hap showing dispereal of Isingwu people. i& -ABSTRACT There were two kind8 of military engagements in pre-colonial Ohuhu. One of them - - was the type between groups that ehared one form of blood relationship or the other. In this type of encounter, the use of lethal weapons, especially gum i waa prohibited. because the spilliflg of blood among natally related groups war conaidered oifetilive to the earth deity - -ala -. Agha which was full-scale war involved gfoups that did not have any form of blood relationdRipr

The &pilling of blood was tolerated during this type of engagements.though a soldier who killed during a war had to perform some rites to clean~ehimself of the blood of his victim.

By far the single most important caube of ware in pre-colonial Ohuhu was land. This was due mainly to the great importance which the people attached to farming and also the type of agriculture - rotational burh fallow syatea * practised in the area which required an almost limitless supply of land to be effective. Dispute8 arising from control of markets, maltreatment of married daughters, and careless talk by people, were other common causer of wars.

Mo~tof the weapon8 used during wars were manufactured locally within Ohuhu by resident Awka and Nkwerre snithe using locally smelted iron. Communities and individuals ii. .. usually fortified themselveb with charme. Some of the

charms were believed to co~hterthe effects of those being

used by opponents. Others were believed to render their

$ 8- - ueare iqrxlaerable to enemy weapons.

Most wars ended throbgh mediation dnd negotiatioh

rather than the total conquest of one side bg another. Two

groups, married daughters a umu,.o& - and neighbours of I / belligerents were usually inbtrbrnental to bringing warring

communities to the conference table. Peace settlements

were, in most cases, solemnieed by the institution of an intepcommunity convenant - igba orikoro. Some settlements also led to the establi~hmentof deities jointly owned by

the communities involved in the war. Many people offered me invaluable help in the prepdation of thia work - for which I am very grateful. My greateat debt of gratitude goes to my supervisor Professor A.E. Afigbo who not only suggested the topic but also through his advice,.

suggestions but above all prompt attention saw this work

through. Dr. P.O. Esedebe rendered me highly valuable

advice and encouragement not only in the preparation of this

project but also in other aspects of my academic work.

I can not with words adequately express the depth of my gratitude to Mr. & Mrs. J.0 Ahazuem for their kindness to me

all through the preparation of thia work.

I also owe a &f, of gratitude to Mr. Ndubisi Azubike who accompanied me during most of my fieldwork - sometimes at

financial cost and great inconvenience to himself. Miss

~ugustinaChukwu also proved a very reliable companion not only during the search for materials on which this work Is baaed but also in its final preparation, My uncle Captain

Okwukaire Onuoha stood by me offering both moral and financial assistance for- which I will for ever remain grateful.

I owe my parents Mr. & Mrs. Gab. Emezue and my brothers - Onwuka and Uche and my sister Lucky - a debt of gratitude for

their forebearance and understanding all these long years of my education, iv.

Finally, I wish to express my deepest gratitude to my informants for their patience in supplying me with the information on which this work is based. I have to mention particularly Eze Chima Ndom - the Iboto of Itumbuzo for his hospitality and generosity. Eze Lawrence D.O. Nwankwo - the Ikpo I11 of Bende (now late) proved very helpful to me,

May his magnanimous SGQC rest in peace.

Sydney Erne zue . v. Preface

This work seeks to contribute to the study of one aspect of pre-colonial Igho history - warfare. Though it does not claim to have answered all questions relating to the topic, it presents an alternative to some earlier views relating to war and peace among the Igbo. One of the views which was built up hy colonial writers maintains that the Igbo man and indeed the /',f rican, prior to the coming of Europeans, lived not only in a state of permanent strife to the extent that life was morz or less unsafe but also brutish and short,

The proponents of these views advanced various reasons to explain the so-called high incidence of wars in pre-colonial

Igboland, One of the most favourable explanations is that the Igbo people took to warring constantly to fight-off the burden of idleness into which they usually fell after the planting season.

Rut as ,,f igbo has correctly pointed out,. Warfare is usually a continuation of politics by other means, This implies that warnwere usually not fought for the fun of it but only when they could not be avoided. The first of the six chapters of this work, thcreforc, takes a look at the land (0huh;) and its people. It examines the political system of khc area since it is often the inability or inadequacy of political systems to respond to and deal decisively with vonf lict situations that resulted into wars. Chapter two investigates the common causes of ~3. wals in pre-colonial Ohuhu, This was done mainly to see if the claim made by some authors regarding the so-called high incidence of wars and insecurity in the Igbo area can be sustained in the light of examples drawn from the Ohuhu area.

The third chapter takes a look at the systems of warfare in Ohuhu, Some of the important areas covered in this chapter include the various kinds of wars fought in pre-colonial Ohuhu, methods of recruitment of soldiers,, the command structure of armies and the weapons used and their sources of procurement, In this regard, some attention is paid to the role and importance of Awka and Nkwerrc blacksmiths in the manufacture of weapons used during wars in pre-colonial Ohuhu, This chapter also paid some attention to the role of medicines and medicine men in wars.

In chapter four, attention is paid to the ways in which

Ohuhu people ended their wars. The role of two groups of people who of ten intervened to make peace between warring communities - married daughters (umu okpu) and neighbours of belligerents also received due attention. Also covered in this chspter is the ccmmon motivation of the two groups mentioned earlier as intervening in wars. The common consequences of wars is another important area covered in chapter four. The fifth chapter is a recostruction, thouah on the basis of limited information, of some of the wars vii. fought in prc-colonial Ohuhu. Four examples in all wcr\- taken, Two of the wars described in this chapter rcsul-t..:' from the inv~.sic~nof parts of Ohuhu by the famed but dreaded jibam warriors and head hunters. The othcr two involved ccmmunitii;.~belonging to the same clan but wh did not share my close natal relationshipi Chapter six is a SUMMWJ~f the major finding~i of the work. CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION As shall be used in this work, Ohuhu refers to the area delimited and called so by Daryl Forde and G.1. Jones in their ethnographical survey of the Igbo-speaking area. 1 The group of villages or clan presently known as Ohuh~! shall, in this work, be referred to as Umuhu-na-Okaiuga. Thus,

Ohuhu will represent the entire area listed by the authors 2.s constituting (along with Ngwaland) the Ohuhu-Ngwa group of peoples. Z Ohuh. presently, is carved into the following local government areas of Imo State - Bende, Ikwuano, Odida Anyanwu, and IJmuahia urban. During the colonial period the area constituted the bulk of what was for sometime known as the Bende Division of Owerri Province. The only part of the defunct Bende Division that ir not Ohuhu is the area that Forde and Jones called Isu-Item group. 3 Ohuhu is bounded to the north, east and southeast by portions of the Isu-Item; to the south and southeast by the ~nnang/~bibiopeople of the Cross River State and to the

1, Daryl I. Forde & G.1, Jones, The Ibo anLI1ibi.o-spea_kin .Peoes-- of So-utheaskrn ~i~er-i.-To-n, Internationa Afrlcan Institute, 195m-i- pp+ 42 - 43. 1 2,. In enumerating the groups that make up Ohuhu, the authors \ made eotlze. glaring mistakes. One such error was the omission of Itumbuzo which has close affinity with Bende and which was not grouped under Isu-Item either. Another error was the omission of Oloko clan which together with ~riam-Usaka (Isuorgu) Oboro and Ibere constitute what is called Ikwuano 3. Forde 8i Jones, op.cit., pp, 44 - 45.

2. southwest by the Mgwa people, Obowo, Mbaise and Isu people, all across the Imo river are the western neighbours, Though the Imo river is generally regarded as forming the western boundary of Ohuhu, there are located on the western side of the river two tiny villages of Umuhu-na-Okaiuga clanr The two villages are Uhuala and UmulEgnwoke Almost the entire population estimated in 1963 at 136,171~are of Igbo stock. However, the dialects of the Igbo language spoken within the area vary to the extent that some of them are almost mutually unintelligible, In addition to this, there are parts of Ohuhu that are bi-lingual, The most glaring example of this is Itumbuzor Here, the Igbo and Ibibio languages enjoy almost equal currency as lingua francad In fact, so common is the use of Ibibio language within the Ohuhu area that some people have been tempted into believing that some Ohuhu villages are of Ibibio origin. One example of such viewsis that expressed by Forde and Jones that Mbinyang (in Ibere) and Mbiokpong (now called Isiala, in Oboru, are of Ibibio origin. The present researcher found that these names came into being as a result of mutual borrowing and informal acculturation between neighbouring Igbo and Ibibio people. In the case of Mbiokpong, the name has since been

- -I- -- .- _---- 4. Far from being located on the western side of the Imo river as wrongly indicated by Forde and Jones, the bulk of Ohuhu is located to the east of the river and north of Ngwaland. 5. Source: Population census for Eastern Nigeria (Lagos, The Government Statistician, Bulletin Hoe 8, 1963) , PPO 17 19, changed to conform with the ethnic origin of its people and to emphasize its position as the most senior village in Oboro - hence the name Isialal 6 It is also because of the common curpency that Igbo and Ibibio languages enjoy in Itumbuzo that some people havc prcsw that $he (Itumbuzo) is of Ibibio origin, It is, obviously as a result of this that some people have argued that the town should be part of the Cross River State, blbgt of my informants at Itumbuzo contended thnt their people who make the claim of Ibibio ethnicity are merely hirelings of the Cross River state government,7 Such pooplq- they contend. receive handsome rewards for playing that role. It was not possible for the present researcher to meet any of the people who make this claim of Ibibio origin for Iturnbuzod This problem arose mainly from the fact thnt people who hold such views are said to be living outside their homes (in fact they are said to be living in parts of the Cross River

state), They are also accused of being the brains behind tbp many skirmishes that have been fought between Itumbuzo and her Ibibio neighbours during which many lives havc been lost and valuable property destroyed. 8

6. This point was made by both Ghief Robert Okoro interviewed at Amawom-Oboro 15,12,82 and Nazi Ukandu Kamanu interviewed at Umugbalu-Oboro 15,12,82. 7. Eze Chima Ndom, the Iboto I of Itumbuzo, interviewcd at his Onun Iboto palace, Okopedi - Itumbuzo 4,12.82. 8. Mazi Elijah Isendom, interviewed at ??diwo Itumbuzo 7.12.82, 4. There are, scattered within Ohuhu, pockets of Aro settlements, These settlements, in some places constitute entire villages while in others they do not, In places where Aro settlements constitute ~eparcltevill8gesuch settlements bear the prefix - Aro - before the name of the village-group in which they are found. In Oboro, for example, there are such villages as Aro-Umudike (in Umudike) , Aro -Amawom (in Amawom) et cetera. What is true of Amnwom and Umudike is also true of almost the entire Ohuhu area, The only excep- tion would seem to be Umuopara where there is no Aro settle- ment, 'This absence of Aro settlement is attributed to the peoplefs distrust of the Aro whom they feared for their sweat tongue' and double-dealing' .' Part of this resent- ment of the Aro must have grown out of the knowledge that there was a symbiotic relationship between them and the much feared 'Abaml head-hunters. Umuopara people argue that to have allowed the Aro to found settlements amongst them would have been tantamount to condemning themsclves to a life of perpetual fear. This, according to them, is because in the past, the Aro did not hesitate to let loose Abam head- hunters on any community with whom they had a misunderstand- ing, Thiqaccording to niy inforrnant~~oftenhappened even when the Aro themselves live in or trade with such a commu- nity, The Obegu massacre early in this century is often

9. Nazi Gilbert I. Nwaubani, cd75 Enterviewed at Nwaubanils compound 1Jmuajmcze - Umuopara, 14.12.82, 5, mentioned as a concrete example of this kind of A~o treachery. 10 These Aro settlements were obviously established by the Aro uzo (the Aro who have gone abroad), Some of them are centuries old. The Aro uzo acted as agents and representa- tivest06 e Aro ulo (home-based ~ro)whose commercial interests spanned the entire Igbo area and beyond. They also acted as agents of the famed Ibibi-Ukpabi (long juju) oracle of Aro- chukwu whose influence spanned the whole Igbo area and a160 the western Ijo and parts of Igal5, Tiv and Idoma terribcry;'? It is partially as a result of the preponderance of Aro settlements and people in parts of Ohuhu that some conimen- tators have gone out of their way to postulate that many of the communities in which these settlements are found are indeed Aro colonies. Commenting on the great number of Aro people and settlements in Ibere, L.T, Chubb said: Almost as soon as the clan was established there was a heavy infiltration of the Aro. In two villages, Nkalunta and Obiuruo,,. the Aro popula- tion is greater than the indigenous and there is considerable colony of the Aro in every village, 12 Professor Anene also opined that Rende is one of the many i / settlements founded by the Aro outside their home - Aro~hukwu.E~

A.E: Afigbo, Ropes of Sand: Studies in Igbo IIisto_ry and Culture (Ibadan, University Press T,td/Univcrsity of Nigeria Press Ltd, L981), p. 240, L'T Chubb, llIntelligence Report on Ibere clan, Eende Division, Owerri Province1! Ep 9889 CSE 1/85/4961 National Archives, Enugu. J.C. Anene, So-uJhern Nigeria in Transition (London CEmWidgegaUniversity press, 1966) , p. 16. 6. Other such settlement.#, according to him are Okigwe, Arondi- zuogu, a& There can hardly be any gainsaying tho fact that there are within Bende as well as in many other parts of Ohuhu, ~og~siderableAro settlomcnts and people but to hold as Anene has done that such communitics as Bende werr? founded by the Aro would be driving the truth too far. According to Chief >ischa14 and Ezo 1kpo15 (both of Bende),? Bende was founded by people who, though they came I from somewhere near hrochukwu were not of Aro origin, They argue further that most of the Aro people presently living in

Cende came there during the twentieth century mainly as coca? farmers, According tb them, Aro people did not settle in Bende in great numbers before the twentieth century becauae the Aro who traded at the famed Bende market did not quits need the services of middlcnien since Arochukwu is not too fGar from Eende. As to the time of the establishment of the Aro settle- ments, Chubbts contention that it was almost as soon as the cornmunitics in which they exist were founded,cannot be sustained on the basis of empirical evaluation. This is so because the era of Aro dominance of parts of Igboland docs not date back in time as thc $oundation of the commu- nities concerned, T.O. Okoyc has dated the foundation of Aro

14. S. KO' Mccha - the Ezeji of Bendc, interviewed at Mcchals conpoungl Dande 4.12.82 1. Ezc Lawrence D;O, Nwnnkwo - The Ikpo 111 of Bcnde, interviewed in his palace at Bcnde 6412082r 7. settlements outside Arochukwu to the perdod ranging from the sevehtcenth to the nineteenth century. l6 BU~if ~artlcls date is anything to go by, Bcnde was already in existence sometime between the eighth and ninth centuries, 17 In marking out Ohuhu and Ngwaland as n group distinct (in some aspects) from other parts of Igbolnnd, Forde and Jones distinguished what they considered were distinct chara- cteristics of the land and peoplc, Whilc some of these distinguishing peculiarities can be said to be largely true, mono of them cannot be said to be entirely so (or at least need qualification), It would therefore be necessary to take a hard look at these so-called distinguishing peculiarities not only as a means of authenticating the author& claims but also as a means of reflecting on aspccts of the l'md and the lives of its people, One of the distinguishing peculiarities of the Ohuhu- Ngwa area, according to thcse authors, is the preponderance in the area, of an early ripening yam, This specie of yam i,

called (in the area) apu ji or ji oko, l8 True this specie of yam is dominant in the Ngwa area. It is also to be found

T.O. Okoyc, YJrbnnisntion in IgbolandfP paper presented at Workshop on Igbo culture, Institute of ,2frican ~tuTr6Zuniversity of bTigeria Nsukkn, 1977, pa 331. D.D, Hmtle 'iArchaeology in East ern hTigeriat' Nigeria Ma azine ( ~~0%Federal tiinistry of *ion, vol. 93, June 19671, P. 138 This spccie of yam is believed by some to be indigenous to the Ngwa aren. A stand of it can be harvested twice a year; first between July and August and secondly around November. The first harvest comcs in very handy to alleviate the hunger that usually prevails after the planting season. 8, in appreciable quantities in the Chuhu area especially around Ibeku, TJmuopara, Olokoro, Ur~luhu-na-Okaiuga, and Ubakala, Othcr pcculinr features of the area under discussion

(which were highlighted by Forde and o ones) is the nbundancc? of cassava and the production of garri thercfrom, It would appear that the preponderance of cassavz. in the Ohuhu-Ngwa area is cauacd by the soil in these places which tends to support the cultivation of cassava rathcr than yarn, Thc predominant use of the double climbing rope is another special f eclture of the Ohuhu-Ygwa area isolated by the authors, This climbing rope known It contrasts sharply with thc single-rope type - --Ete - in vogue in other parts of Igboland, It should be noted howeve;- that while mbnga is in common use in the Ohuhu area, .Lte ir also freely used in parts of Umuhu-na-Okaiuga clan. This ma:- in fact be a carry-ovcr from the Obowo and Isu areas where the people are said to have come from, In the two tiny UI,~ Umukanwoke na Okaiuga villages - - and Uhuala. located on the wcstern bank of the Imo river, is alliiost in exclusive wage* 3-s assertion by Forde and Jones that the double-clilubing rope i.~ of Ibibio origin is not acceptable to r~~ostOhuhu people into--, viewcd by tlic prcsent writer, It is generally believed. that \ the double-climbing royc was invented by Ohuhu pcoplc, 1t ?, in fact claimed that Bende was founded 2s a result of a search by a man for fresh supplics of (one of the important materials for the making of mbag?) . This was aftc supplies at the man's form$& abodc near (but nat in) Are- I 9. 'Ehe pyedmi.nart= of Faifla-palm wine in the Ohuhu- Ngwa area in contrast to the situation in some other parts of Igboland whereoil palm- urine predominates is another special feature of Ohuhu not~dby the authora in review. Within the Ohuhu-Ngwa area, such towns as Ariam, Ndoro, Ntigha and most importantly Umuoba (Omoba) arc highly reputed for the quality quantity of raffia palm wine produced in themr Such reputation can only be compared with that of Enugu Ezike as a centre for oil-palm wins, Two important reasons seew responsible for the preponderance of raffia palm wine in the Ohuhu-Ngwn area, First the soil seems to support the growth of raffia palm which thrives in conditions of relatively high humidity, The entirc area of falls within a distanceL100 - 140 kilometres from the coast, Thc area therefore receives enough rain for the growth of the raffia palm, Secondly, the high premium which tho people place on the production of palm oil (and otherty-products of the oil palm tree) makes it imperative that the tree must be preserved. This is so because the tapping of the oil palm for wine involves the destruction of the efflorescence of the tree, Any tree being tapped cannot therefore produce palm fruits; It shoul? however* be noted'that the oil palm tree started being a very important economic asset from the nineteenth century when the demand for palm oil fcw export overseas began to spiral4, 10. The claim by Porde and Jones that Ohuhu-Ngwa people do not have title systems cannot be sustained in the light of evidences collected by the present researcher; While it is true that such societies/tilles as -ozo (which predomina- tee in the Awka - Onitsha area) and aha and nzc (commonly found in the Owerri area) do not exist in the Ohuhu area, it is not altogether true to say thzit other title systems do not exist, Professor Afigbo has said that while some Igbo communities evolved highly developed title system, and place relatively little premium on secret societies, some emphasise the role of secret societies at the eXpea;se of title systems. 'O Pre-colonial Ohuhu would seam to have fallen among the group where the role of title societies was de-emphasised but not altogether lacking. The most important 'secretg society in pre-colonial

Ohuhu was the okonko society, It was at that time the executive arm of the assembly of adult males of a village - ;u;lcda As Onwuanaku puts it, okonko was a strong coercive force especially for the enforcement of traditional laws and customs. 21 Our interest here is not so much in the functions and inner workings of the society but in how it functioned not just as a society but as a statu~symbol.

20. A. E. Afigbo, Uesof Sand OF. cit,, pa 123,

21, V.0, Onwuanaku, Okonko sqci_ety_ in Orlu (unpyblished B,Aa Thesis, Department of ~ineniedArts, University of Nigeria, 3Tsukka 1976) , p.. 9. The society had four Merachicnlly arranged rjcngs. T4ovement fror;: one level to the other usually involved not only the ability to pay the necessary fees and feast invi- tees to one's initiation ceremony but also the possession of other qualifications including good character, The first ring in the society was the initiation stzge - iba ohia,

Next came ikpu ulo. . (entering the treasure house). The third stage was known as ida niri (bathing in the water),

The final, and most prestigious stage was known 2.s %a 2hia.r

Persons who had performed the idn miri 2nd _I.-.Tiza ahia rites for themselves and also initiated their children were highly Yespccted not only within their imlflediate comnunity but also beyond it, This was so, firstly, because of the enormous cost involved in performing these rites. Thus, before a person could undertake such an expensive venture he must be well above average in terms of wealth, Secondly people who had attained that stage also derived economic benefits from it. This was so because the initiation fe, paid by new members was shared among people who had taken the highest titles, In effect societies like the okonko served as mutual insurance societies enabling the socially ambitious to invest the savings he accurmlnted in his youth while guaranteeing him continued economic support and prestige during his old age. 22 These are among the two main functions of titles everywhere, ----- .------22. V,CL Uchendu, The I~boof-$o_utkast IJi e2i.n (New York, Holt, Rhinehart and ilinston, =5B, p, 82. Apart from prestige deriving from high attainment within the okonko society, other forms of title did exist, The most important of these was the onyima institution. Nembership of this select institution was a special pre- serve of people who had achieved a good rJeasurc of success in their economic and fa~iiilyendeavours, People were initiated into this select institution at old age. The onyima. . itself was a loop of bends each of which represented a son, daughter, grandson or grand-daughter of the recipient. People who had been initiated into onyiina were highly res- pected, It was always the wish of every elder to live up to the age and also be able to afford the cost of initiating into the onyimg (feasting invitees at the initiztion ceremony was very expensive). It should however be noted that while people who had initiated into onyima had no special titles, as was the case with titled men, the onyima bead can easily equate with the anklets worn by ozo members. Apart from onyima discussed above, there were other prestigious institutions, The most ir,iportant of these had to do with success in the cultivation of yam (by inen) and cocoym (by women). Successful yam farmers who had lgplanted the right type of yams and could boast of at least a certain quantity oi yarns (counted in units of --nnu - 400)~~~or the number of b,vns they kept took the Ezeji or &--titlc 24 While the prestige attached to the $ze,ii or Di-,ii titles be nay notLexactly equal to that of elsewhere in IgSo- land, it is, nevertheless importnnt to stress that the prestige was enormous. This becomes all the more clear when one appreciates the importance and prestige pre- colonial Ohuhu people attached not only to agriculture but to yam cultivation (and to a lesser extent, cocoym), In

Ohuhu as in m06t other parts of Igboland, agriculture was regarded as the staff of life, Other occupations/underta- kings complemented rather than supplanted it. Among the crops cultivated were cassava, maize, vegetables, cocoyam and .yam. The most important and prestigious of all was thc yam. As Uchendu has put it, liym production,., is liiore for prestige than for trade'!. 25 The importance attached to yam can be seen from the fact that its cultivation and indeed consumption was regulated by a deity - f\~,joku. Njoku forbade people from entering yarn barns with baskets, fighting or defacaet ing in farms, visiting or staying in yam fms after dusk and / most importantly, having sexual intercourse in farms. 2': \ ------. ------i 24, Chief Necha --cited. 25. V.C. Uchendu, OP. cit., p, 26. 26. Gilbert Nwaubani, ---cited. Women were obliged not to throw away yms in anger, an did act that offends oha niok4. But if they and subsequently t!dh yams without appeasing oha njoku, itW" believed that they have dysentry or cholera. 27 1t was also ae e w.hich the result of the high premium people placed on yams that L they instituted the new yam festival which event marked the beginning of the harvest season and only after which custo- dians of njoku were free to eat new yams. Many people I. interviewed by the present writer maii~t~ainedthat the present poor state of yam yield was caused by the peoples' inability to keep the regulations enmrr&ed above. There were however, no special festivals for the cocoym. Certain reasons were responsible for this.

First,- cocoyam was believed to be n woman's crop. Its cultivation(and to an extent consumption)was left to women. Secondly the cocoyam was harvested very late in the year when there we= many other festival! . the most important of which was Ekpe in Umuopara, Oboro and some parts of Ibek,. Umuopara and Ibeku celebrated Etswu during this period,. In Umuhu na Okaiuga this was the time for the A,jana festiva:. These festivals which were held preparatory to the beginninp of the planting season were deemed too important to be juxtaposed with a minor festival such as that relating to cocoyam.

-----I------. _ - 27. V.C. Uchendu, op. cit., p. 99. 15". Forde and Jones also held the erroneous view that the -osu caste system was absent in Ngwaland as well as in Ohuhu. This, according to them is one of the reasons why the Ohuhu and Ngwa constitute a group distinct from a11 other Igbo groups, Writing in the same vein Uchendu maintained that the -osu system has not yet diffused into the Ohuhu-Ngwa area from the Owerri-Okigwe region - its zone of highest persistence; 28 He dm opined that this phenomenon can be accounted for by the fact that the Ohuhu-Ngwn people must have left the Owerri-Okigwe zone for their present location before the emergence of the osu system, There can hardly be any doubting the fact that= does exist in the Ohuhu area, If the information given by Leith Ross is anything to go by, then one form of osu or the other must also have existed in Ngwa area, 29 One mistake people have often made while discussing the osu system in Igboland is to hold that there is only one type of osu (i.e, those who hitherto had been treated as outcasts). . ~enerallyspeaking, osu refers to any person (or descendants of such a person) who had been dedicated to the service of a deity4 This could be done either to appease the gods for an offence committed or to ward-off some impending calamities GL i\ m crop failure, child death or epidemic, There is also

28. V.C. Uchendu, op-. cit,, p. 89. He also made in "Patterns of ~gboSocid strrcture~~,Paper Pbgirt n ea at W:orkshop on Igbo culture, Institute of African Studies University of Nlgerla, ~sulfka,1977, pp. 347-3823 294 S. Leith-Ross, "Notes on the Osu System Among the Ibo of Ovaerri Province Yigeriav1, Africa: Journal of the International African Institute, vol, 10, \19m-pY208. the claim that in some places the osu system came into being through the activities of family heads who, tired of the burden of sacrificing to their family or lineage deities, acquired slaves who would do the job for them, People who ran for refuge to the shrine of powerful deities aftcr committing an offence were also regarded as m. S~meof the deities to which a person could run or take refuge in

included, O&, Chukwu, flla (thc earth deity) and Lm_o_. It was through the above mentioned processes that such names

as Osuala, Osunnuo, Osuchuk~etc emanated. But it is interesting to note that it was only those people who were dedicated to or took refuge at the shrine of the _Im_q deity (i.e, ~suimo)who became known and treated as outcasts, Such people never bore any names relating to w, Why they were treated the way they were, cannot be easily explained. Afterall the --Imo deity was not the most pmer- ful or important deity in Ohuhu or in Igboland for that matter, The fact that there were different forms of and that some variety of it might have existed in pre-colo- nial Ngwaland is borne out by Leith-Ross1 observation th2.t dth~udthe Ngwa had the traditfon of dedicating #slaves to the jujuf, such did not carry wy stigma nor did it cause my social problem. 30

30, Ibid., p, 212, It is not easy to determine the antiquity of the system in Ohuhu.. However Uchenduts contention that Ohuhu and Ngwa people must have left the Owerri-Okigwe zone before the systen originated in the Owerri-Okigwe area is not easy Tbis .c1 'm to substantiate. L ls%ubtful because the whole argument hinges on the assumption that 2%; does not exist in the Ohuhu-Ngwa area. The 9ssystem is, no doubt,of great antiquity. This claim is based on the fact of the size of a particular --osu family somewhere in Uniuopara, The family under reference constitutes nearly a third of the population of the village in which it is located., This village is estimated at some thousands, Since, according to information collected by the present researcher, this family grew from an ~SUnuclcar family it must have taken it some centuries to attain its present size, An osu-Imo in pre-colonial Ohuhu suffered a lot of disabilities, Marriage between him and an ---amadi (freeborn) was (and is still) forbidden. He could not build his house with the door facing directly to road, If he met an -arnadi or ---diala on a narrow path, he was obliged to clear into the bush to allow the ffrecbornl easy passagc, In the olden days an usually wore a thread round his neck for easy identifi~ntion.~~When he died, hc was not buried within the village but thrown away into an evil forest**t.. 18. In some villages they were banished to isolated 2nd almost inaccessible parts. This practice is typified by the bani- shment of a particular --.osu family in Umuajameze to an area alnost a mile nway from the village, Though legally abolished by an Eastern TJigerin law of 1956, discrimination against the osu is far from ended, Though it is now illegnl to refcr to a person as psu, equally derogctory nanes such as ndi okpueac9~di aka ik~a etc, are in vogue. Uchendu aptly summnrised the ~0dt~0n of the in Igbo society when he said th~~tthey are a subordinate category who are in Igbo society but not of it, 32 So far we have tried to take a second look at the reasons why Forde and Jones marked out the Ohuhu-Rgnc~ men as a distinct group, We have seen that the peculiarities of the area (though with some modificntions) are enough for such classification, The next and pertinent thing to do is to produce at least an overview of the political set up of the area, This is important since in most cases it was either the failure of a political system to work out necessary and acceptable compronises on issues or its inabi- lity to respond quickly 2nd decisively to conflict situations that resulted into wars (which is the main focus of this research). ------.------.- .-- 32. V.C. Uchendu, "Igbo social Structureii _QP._C%,, p. 356. Igboland, of which Ohuhu 1s part, is among the communities classified as stateless by Fort es and Evans- Pritchard in their study of f~fricanpolitical systems. 33

Societies classified as stateless by the authors are those which, among other things,are said to lack centralized authority, administrative machinery, and constituted judicial institutions: in short they are said to lack governnent, 34 Such societies are also said to hzve no sharp division as to rank, status or wealth, While this is not the place to look at the merits and demerits of the typology used by the authors, it is however important to concede that pre-colonial Ohuhu (or any part thereof) never constituted?nrgescale L empire or part of any such empire. Afigbo has tagged the

political system of pre-colonial Ohuhu and Ngwa ( vis-a-vis other Igbo groups) as type 111. According to him.this type of politic,d system was marked by the inter-play of secret societies and unship groups in the maintenance of the system, 35 The lowest political unit in pre-colonial Ohuhu was

the family 9ny obp. It consisted of 3 man, his wife or wives their children 2nd gr,mdchildren , Here the authority ---- -~------\ 33. PI. Fortes & E. Evans-Pritchard (eds), bfrica-r-Po1itica1 stems (London, International African Institute, hP.5.

35. A.E. Afigbo, '!The Indigenous Political systems of the IgbokZTarikh vol. 4, No. 2, (1973), p. 16. PLATE I: Qfp - the Igbo staff authority and justice. of the fnther who was also head of the gnuVobu was almost absolute as he commanded unquestionable loyalty from ~acubi-c of tho family. A number of families most of whom traced their ancestry to the same person but which sometines included absorded immigrants or slaves made up a sub- lineage or ikwu, The ikviu which, litorally translated me? )- - children of the same father, was the minimal politic31 un?t,

In parts of Ohuhu (especially Umuopara) some ikwu bore tho name of women, Thus such names as _u_mua?, and umunwnn;~;rln '-re common, V!ithin an -ikwu the oldest man, who often took tho title - opara was the political as well as the ritual he(v ::is position and power was strengthened by the fact thct 1 uiw the custodian of the groupPsgfo(thc . . Igbo symbol of authority and justice), This, it was believed, linked tha living, the dead and the unborn into a union, When nn 9x0. holder died he was succeeded not by his son but by the ne7'- eldest person in the sub-lineage .36 NO serious rite or ceremony could be performed without the -.ofo.. . Titles wers conferred with the ofq, Laws were ratified and consecrater: . . with the -ofo and none was valid without its being used, Njnkavs contention that -ofo allows each person to be his ow priest on possessing it, assures its holder of a great

6. M.0, TJkagwu, ects-o_f the--.? Pre-Colon_ial History of Lbeku. (unpubleEed R.s. -(~lstory)ThesvuE<- - 19781, P. 17. 7- Flechukwu Njaka, Igbo l?o,l~t..ll~ulture (Evar~ston~ Northwestern Universl ty Press, lqm,-$, 14, PLATE 2: Ihu-ala-Umuajameze - Shrine d the earth deity of Umuajameze- measure of individualism and yields him to a share of

authority,38 cannot be said to be true of Ohuhu. Here, ofo. . was a collective property, Rather than assure its custodian was of individual action or initiative, it L believed to unite the living with the dead and the unborn generation. Above the ikwu was the village or pnymara, It was a territorially distinct community having its own stream, farm- land and tracing its ancestry to a person or group of persons. It also had a common earth deity often called ihu ala whose keepen was one of the leaders of the village, Many villages had two distinct sections - thewtochthormw quarter often called okpuala ,and another (some times called obi ohuoo) . .. inhabited by later immigrants. The keeper of the shrine of the earth deity always came from the okpuala section. Within the village the highest political authority was exercised by the assembly of all adult males - amala. The were free to attend meetings of the analti, take part in its delibera- tions, mLke representations to it but could not hold inportcat positions within it, Before a man qualified to be treated as an adult and therefore free to attend meetings of the arnna.,L-., he must have attained an age of at least twenty, preferably i initiated into the okonko society and in some places he must of have qualified to take part in the harvestinglpalm trees owned L in common by his community - i~buiwu nkwu, Such a person was

38. Ibid. in addition, required to pay occasional levies imposed by the anala - utu arnala. 39 Meetings of the arnala were usually held at the village square, mbexa. Every adult male was free to express his views during neetines of ariia,la. However, in doing so: care was tnken not to go to the extent of insulting one's elder which was regarded as sacrilege - e. Elderg especially opnra who acted as lenders of their lineage were motivators of discussion and debate during meetings of the nmala. The authority exercised by elders was institutional rather than personal. So also was the respect accorded them. This ,.me not to their persons per se but to age which was almost f-nstitutionalized, Young people who.through their own hard- their Lqrk, ' attained wealth and or influence within L cornmu- nity were also highly respected. Their opinions carried some weight hence the popular saying nwata kwozie aka, ya

?'L-"-.----a ndi okeqyeerikotaa--.----- nri which rendered in English would equate with something like - if n child washed his hands well, he would dine with kings. As Njaka puts it, what a person can have in public is influence which he earns through hardwork. 40 Meetings of the --.amala usually took place in the mornings of the local market day. This was so because every

3 Gilbert Nwaubani, cited. 4. E. Njaka, op. cit,, p. 159. 23 ,dult male was expected to be home and to attend the

. ocal. iuarket which served the dual purposs of a place for :onornic exchange and that for social interaction,

If two people or groups were involved in n disputc,

L 3 , icy sometimes invited people from within and outside their

~.-yd.,. to help them settle it, This was especially true of a d ~:(ses involving theft, land,f divorce, This process

..,lawn as iku ikpe required the aggrieved party to notify the

,ther ( through his lineage head) of his intention to resort

I -iku ikpe. Sometimes resort to this form of settlement --s made when inediation of the arnala hz~dfailed, A person

. lviting people to an ikpe usually paid them some token 1-onsultntionq fee, either in cash or kind, He also feasted .'sm every day the case came up for mention, An ikpe usually took the form of a formal court -:~ssion. The hired 'wiscmenq usually cross-examined both

the plantiff and the defendant, There was usually, 110 single person who played the role of presiding judge. This role or what resembled it was played by an informal jury omsisting of equal number of vwisernenl representing the two sides. Their verdicts which more often thm not, were coin- .-?ro~!isesbetween the extreme positions adopted by the r1!smting parties were arrived at after a secrct session - b izVerdicts were announced by a giftcd orator who -unlly took great care to avoid heaping too much blase :n on the guilty side, If the verdict of a jury proved unhcceptnble to a party, resort was had to the swearing of an oath - i.du ishi by the dissenting side, for the other. %hoever accepted to swear to an oath was normally given custody of the material in dispute. It was generally believed thnt if a person swore to a false oath, he would within a calendar year of swearing to the oath be killed by the deity by which he swore. If this did not happen, he was deemed innocent. Such gproofs of innocence was taken as a moral victory for a person so vindi- cated. It was celebrated with a feast known 2s jFy nmyp.- Above the village, the next level of political action was the village group. The village-group was, in pre- colonial Ohuhu, as well as in some other parts of Igbolmd the highest level of effective governn~cnt, By village-group we refer to such units as Ezeleke and Ogbodi (both in Umu- opara), 0saa and Ndi.Um (in Ibeku), and ilriam and Usaka (in Arian-Usaka). A village.group consistecl of a nulxber of villages all of whom sharcd 3 common market, The ember villages of a village group were often located in such a manner th?t each of them had a major road - okporo anla hiakiq ib. with! the market, Certain factors made for unity within the village- group. First the village group provided the individual with the closest community within which he could marry. Endogamy within the village was (and is still) a taboo.' Secondly, there was in many places, the belief that most rne~iber villages of a village-group were founded by a common ancestor who was often an offspring of the famed founder of the larger community - the clan. In Umuopara, the belief that Ezeleke was founded by Eke, who himself was a son of Opara, the mythical founder of Uinuopnra has continucd to a serve as/uniting- force among Ezeleke people. Thirdly, the sharing by members of a village-group of a common market, helped in no small way to unite them, They also had the same market deity, and celebrated such importmt festivals as those of the new yam, okonko and ekpe, together, Also within the village-group the member villagee were ranked according famed to the senio$8%eL L founders of the villages. lloreover, inter- marriage between member villages reputed to have been founded by maternally-related persons was forbidden, In Ezeleke, for example, inter-marriage between Umuajameze and Umuba is not allowed. So also between Unuekwule, Amnchara and Amnnkwo.' Since the village-group vms by far bigger than the village, direct democracy a6 practised in the latter was not possible in the former. Thus, in place of direct democracy, the village-group practised what can be called representative 1 democracy, hother factor that made representation necessary k was the fact that matters discussed by the --amah of the \ village group were, more often than not, non-controversial issues,, This meant that individuals did not usually. have direct stakes in its decisions. Its meetings often dealt with such issues as the fixing of dates for the festivals 26. mentioned above, settle~entof quarrels among member villages, etc. Meetings of the mala of the village group were not frequent. Except in times of emergency, it met only twice a year - once at the beginning of the planting the season - to take decisiofi about/f- estivnls and rites associnted with the planting of new crops,. The other was during the harvest season when it also took decisions relating to the celebration of new crops Member-villages were represented by select people,

These included elders and leaders of the local ~113;,keepers of ---ihu nla (carth deity) and other persons mandated fror.1 tine to time to represent their ?mala on account of either their specialized knowledge of what was going to be discussed or because they had shown thenselves capable of understanding issues, Decision-making at the level of the vill2ge group took the shape adopted at the village level, i+&, involving secret consultations - igb?. izu - and the aniaouncment of the verdict by a tdentcd orator, Political organisation at the clan level w2s very weak. This was so becmse most clans were conglomerations of people deriving from different sources, Only i.n a few places such as Urnuoparn and Ibeku where there was the belief in a cormon ancestor did some measure of unity exist, Elsewhere in Umuhu-nz-Okaiugr, for example, the people derive themselves from different sources, political organisa- tion at this level was very weak indeed. However, there were 27. certain institutions though not political in nature that offered members of a clan forum for united action, The of most important/such- institutiore was the worship of common deities, These deities included 0.jam Umuopara in Umuopara; A,jana in Umuhu na Okaiuga; and Egwu in Ibeku. The universal currency enjoyed by the okonko society also served as an important uniting factor, Its general meetings which often cut across village-groupsialso helped to unite the people. So far we have highlighted the political systen of pre-colonial Ohuhu and have tended to stress the role of men to a total exclusion of role played by women within the system. We shall now briefly discuss the political organi, sation of the area as far as women were concerned, It is inportant to note at the onset th3.t women played but secondGary and minor roles in the political life of their community. This was mainly because women were, to a very large extent, regarded as people who should be seen but not(too often) heard. Generally, women in pre-colonial Ohuhu were divided into two broad categories, One category was made up of the married wives - ndiomi or ndi alu-alu.- The other category included lineage women who were married, divorccd or widowed. These were'called umuokpu or umuada. \ihile the former had influence among their husbands' people and area, the latter (who were sometimes part of the former), influenced situations in their places of birth. l4ost of the roles played by women had to do with the regulation of moral behaviour of both themselves and the younger generation - their children. Their influence however, ended within individual villages. Married women met at irregular intervals in assemblies known as ino na am:, If a young person behaved in n mnner that contravened acccpted norm, women invoked the wrath of the gods on such offender through the perforrmnce of a special invoca- tion called iku aka nfihu apatq, Th.83 nlso settled quamels among two or more of themselves if invited to do so through the shouting of olololo...- 41 Umuokpu did not have any formal organisation, Nembers . *r . could be summoned by one or more members if in the thinking of the sumnoneto there was a serious situation that needed their intervention, Matters over which they intervened were usually those relating to morality, divorce and intcr or intra village disputes, In cases involving moral issues and divorce they usually invoked the spirits of the ancestors of the village through the institution of ofo on any person they believe8 r 'torind guilty of wrongdoing. Their method of Frnlted intervention in wars will be discussed in a latter chapter dealing with the ending of hostilities,

41. Madam Janet Efughu, Interviewed at Efughu I s compound, Umuqjameze Urnuopara, 7/4/83, One prominent feature of political groupings of pre-colonial Ohuhu is that they displayed the characteris- tic Horton has described as political relati~itiy,~' By this is meant the tendency of political groupings to converge and act together at one point in time (especially in times of danger) only to disintegrate when the danger is over, Thus, people who co-operated at a point in time could, at the next turn be locked in combat. For the individual, the situation meant that there was no political grouping to which he felt permanently attached, Thus, for example a man may in a particular cir~unst~mce see himself as an Umuopara man who must unite with other kinsmen to beat back an attack on a section of the clan, could at the next turn see himself co-operating with kinsmen from a smaller unit to fight mother segment of Umuopara. This situation will become clearer when we come to the main focus of this work which is warfare,

42. Robin Horton, ' Stateless Societies in the History of West ~frica;J.F. Ade Ajayi, & M, Csowder (edq) History of West Africa vol. I, (Lon$or,~ongrnan, 1976) P, 83 - 84. CHAPTER TWO CAUSES OF WARS IN PRE-COLONIAL OHUHU Two views that are almost diametrically opposed to each other have been expressed with regard to the frequency of wars in pre-colonial Igboland of which Ohuhu is a part. It is therefore necessary to examine these views as a way of start- ing a discussion GB the causes of wars in the Ohuhu area, 1 One of the views is traceable to authors like Jeffreys , - and - 3asdend,~~quiano-). According to this view, wars were so fre- quent in pre-colonial Igboland that life and property were unsafe, The typical Igboman therefore led a short and brutish life, Equiano for example, opined that wars had become such a regular feature of life in his community in the eighteenth century that women became veritable fighters of the sort known as the famed Amazons of Dahomey, The other view which is expressed by people like Eze Lawrence ~wankwo~maintains that Ohuhu people never fought wars, Tha tiruth about the frequency of wars in pre-colonial Ohuhu lies somewhere between these two polar extremes, Pro- ponents of the first view are guilty of errors either of

1, M.D,lrJ. Jeffreys, "Ibo Warfare" Man: A Monthly Record of Anthropological Science, vol. 5% (l956), p, '19, 2. GOT. Basden, Among the Ibos (London, Frank Cass, 1966) ppm 202 a 203, 3, Quoted in A.E. Afigbo, Ro es of Sand: Studies in I bo viatory. and Culture (IbaaE an,llnlve= Press C+ nlverslty of Nigeria Press ~td., 198%), p. 156. 4. Eze Lawrence D.a Nwankwo, The Ikpo 111 of Bende interviewed at Bende 6,12,82, omission or commission, The proponent^ of this view failed to distinguish between what should really be called wars and what were mere affrays. Among Ohuhu people, there were two different kinds of conflicts, First there was ggy which, L- rendered in English,would refer to such things as an affray, a fight or a ~kirtnish.~This type of conflict often involved natally related groups, Such conflict^ never lasted long. They often resulted from spontaneous reactions to injury, insult or assault inflicted on an individual or srnall group,

I *I '"'8 I * I*. * * .. *, by another,, Spilling of blood during such conflicts was tatally prohibited. p I ' * 0 The other type of conflict - agha -.could be said to * 4 ? ' .. approxhate to full-scale wa, It often involved grpupc that either had no blood relationship at all or rx very distant one, Spilling of blood was tolerated during conflicts of this nature, The fxt that human casualtics could result from this

type of conflict made it much less frequent than the form,er, It would appear that most of the people who talked of high incidence of wars in pre-colonial Igboland failed to make the distinction between and =kt, This mistake is however pardonable for a person working in a second language or an througdinterpretor.

----*-- - -- ..------5. Njaka has identified three types of conflicts in we- colonial Akokwn, He classified them as Yker'egbe --tx type of hit-and-run tactic ;'Nwa ogu which was tx type of periodic raid of 3 weak community by a stronger one; ah --Ibuso A,a which could be called full-scale war, SeB Elechukwu fjnka Igbo Political Culture (Zvanston, PTorthwestern TJniversity Press, 197v), p;. 121 - 122. 32, Another comment that can be made on the views of most of the non-Igbo writers who have talked of a high incidence of wars in pre-colonial Igboland is that most of them came to or did thcir fieldwork in the area during or immediately after the late nineteenth or early in the twentieth century. The durirp- period immediately preceding that w LC~these writers did L their fieldwork must have seen some changes in Igbo warfare,

This, obviously, was due in part to n greater availability of firearms and other lethal weapons. liars fought with such weapons were bound to be (and were in fact) more bloody than those of earlier periods. Nemories of such wars must have been fresh in the minds of the people (including, possibly, some of the actors) when the ?i:uropean writers did their fieldwork, Given such a situation, the researchers must have met many stories of wars which they mistook as representative of the whole of pre--colonial Igbo history, The preponderance of stories of wars can also be accounted for by the fact that pre-literate societies tend to their remember two periods oflhistory - the earliest and the recent past, I1The former is important because it symbolizes the beginning of the people's history and the latter is remembered because it is recentue6 Moreover, "deeds of arms have a way of leaving a permanent impression in people's m places 6 MrS,PIa Kiwanulia, ElAfrican Pre-Colonial History R Challenge to the Historian's Craft1! Afrika Zanani No& 6 s( 7 (19771, p. 27. 7. S.C. Ukpabi, siIgbo Karf aref1Unpublished paper pre- sented at Workshon on Inbo Culture, Institute of African Studies, University of Uigeria, Nsukka, 1977,p.426. ,330

-..7 2..- .- Igboland where no written records existed during most of the peoplek history, far-reaching events such as wars were preserved in memory, and as the stories were told retold, little skirmishes could be exaggerated to look like major battles. Also wars which involved one or two battles could be przsented as having dragged on for a considerable period. It is not possible to rule out bias as bases of some of the comments highlighted earlier, This assertion comes out clearly when one considers the basis of Jeffreys' assertion, for example. Accordine to him, wars were important to the

Tzbo people because it helped to ease the lx-oblom of idleness into which the people usually fell after the planting sense?. Hut t1iis is not true. The farming cycle in pxe-colonial Ohuhu for eyqmple, covered almost the entire year - starting with bush- :lc~ringabout January "after the harmattan had opened up the b1sIu8 to the harvest season beginning around October. Tf tlere was any period of rest (not to talk of idleness), it was be- ween June and July, i.e, after the planting season but before the harvest, Nilitary campaigns were impossible to organise at this time because of heavy rz~ins, , During the months of June and July, the men usually busied themselves staking their yams while the women weeded their fnrms.. People also took advantage of the light work in

.0 V.C. Tjchendu, TheIgbo----- of Southeast l%eri~ (New York, IJolt, Rinehnrt and Winston, 1965), p. 24. 34. to farms at this timeLengage in long-distance trading. Moreover, it was usually during this period that people celebrated the festival new yam Land therefore observed absolute peace - the type Okonkwo was penalized for breaking.' It is therefore wrong to argue as Jeffreys had done that the Igbo people engaged in life during w2-s merely to break the monotony of/the- dry season; It is nee'less to add that Ohuhu people (and the Igbo, by extension) recognised that lswar is always evil and sanely can never be considered otherwisefl. 10 P.,s for the view that pre-colonial Ohuhu never fought

, ,, -s, there is one possible explanation. Most of the people

k hold this view went through the Biafrn expcrimsn*,. They iherefore went through the experience of a modern warfare - ---i%hmass killings, destruction and starvation, that go with

it. This, certainly was too much to be compared with whatever -:~fferingand destruction that accompanied the wars they and -~'?eirpeople hitherto knew of or experienced, It is against thp background of this sense of bewilderment that these clalms have to be assessed. A major problem encountered by the present writer in determining the causes of wars in pre-colonial Ohuhu was the

inability of most informants to isolate more than one cause for

go Chinua Achebe, Thin~sFall- Apart (London, Heinernann, 1958)p P* 21 '0. Basil Davidson; The Peo9les Cause:-A Histor ~u,eyrillnsin ~fE-~ondo?l, Longmi.7. 3% the conflicts they referred to.. Most of them were contented with identifying what look like immediate causes without making any reference to remote causes. Most of these immediate causes look so insignificant that considered alone, one would be tempted to accept the argument that the Igbo people went to wars at the slightest provocation. The immediate causes should, however, be seen as the precipitating events, as the point in a chain of events, trends and influences at which the effect of a long and simmering conflict begins to be visible, Most of them do not today seem strong enough to precipitate fighting. what happened was that (in most cases ) they provided the spmk that ignited major conflagrations that Ad been seething for long without being effectively resolved. Sor.~ewriters have given it as their view that the desire for slaves was one of the major causes of wars in pre-colonial Africa. Turney-High opined that "serious farming, a fortunate geography and a teeming population produced slavery and slavery meant waru, " While it is possible that the desire for captives (not only for sale as slaves but also for the burial of kings

+? and other notables and for dedication to deities as E) mu& have played some part in motivating people into going to war, it cannot be rightly argued that it was indeed a major cause.

11. See Robert Smith; Warfare and-- Di~lomacy--- in Pre-colonial \yest Africa (London, ~ethuec1976)p, 45.

-x. Some captives were used as porters who carried palm produce to T-kwc and other coastal markets, for export, This was during the ern of the so-called legitimate trade. Tihe view that most of the slaves sold in and around ohuhu during the pre-colonial era came from 'Obow01'~ enjoys very wide currency, According to people who hold this view, Obowo people were very fond of selling away their excess children in order to reduce the burden of caring for large families, This practiBe, this according to information collected by L researcher resulted from the fact that Obowo people were short of land and what 13 little land they had was infertile. According to ~dimoraEjiogu one of the reasons why Umuhu-na-Okaiuga people fled the Obowo area was the constant scarcity of food there. ~hings,according to him, were so bad that "'f you planted yams, another person went 14 and harvested some of it". 1t is also claimed that parents who wanted to sell their children brought them to the market and sold them to people who they were sure would neither maltreat nor sell them again, There would seem to be some truth in the above argument because apart from the Aro, 'Obowo' people constitute the greatest number of strangers settled in the ohuhu area, ~ostof these people (or their off-springs) still maintain effective links with their original families.

In Ohuhu, they also enjoy full citizenship rights,

12. The name Obowo is a blanket term for the two related groups of Isu and Obowo who are the Western neighbours of ohuhu,

13. J.O. Ahazuem, Origin, Migration and Inter-group Relations in i?re-6&onxal Ohuhu (Unpublished B .ii. Thesis, University of Nigeria Nsukka, 1975), p. 146. Ohuhu Most of theLP eo le who were sold to Are slave dealers and many. of whom later found thelilselves in the New world were guilty of such crimes as rape, adultery and theft, Any woman found wanting in her domestic oblig2tions to her husband also

ran the risk of being sold, There is the story of a woman from Onhia and married at Ehume who was sold to Aro slave dealers because her husband found her guilty of 'carelessness91-' According to the story, the woman in question had gone to the

bush to collect some firewood where she was beaten by an ant; I

She is said to have failed to notice the ant which later died leaving its head attached to her body, The husband is said to have noticed the dead ant's head on the womanqs body,

I the next day, When he found that the woman had carried the

ant s head for more than twenty-four hours, the man's husbh

promptly decided to sell her away. The sealing of people (especially married women) was one of the major causes of conflicts in pre-colonial Ohuhu. l'here

was a convention then, th~~tbefore any man sold his wife, he had to consult her people and convince them that nha had committed an offence for which enslavement was an appropriate

penalty.. As a precaution against abuse of this oonasntiw- r

a man who sold his wife was entitled to recover only the bride \ Wealth he paid on such a woman, In sone places, proceeds from

15. Ichie Adighimadu Ogbuehi - traditional medicineman and herbalist. Interviewed at Ogbuehi ' s compound, Umuoyime Ehurne - Unuopnra 5.4.83, such transaction was shared equally between the man and his inlaws. However, ninny people still abused this convention.

In n particular case, an Ehume rmn sold his wife without prior consultation with his inlnws and worse still, kept a11 the proceeds of the transncticn to himself. His in-laws (from affront Onhia) considered his action an L and proceeded to ccLpture an Ehume wom2.n who passed through their village on her way to Orie Ntigha market. Ehumels attempt to rescue the captive led to a skirmish in which a person was killed. This incident raised the conflict from its small dimension to an all-out war which lasted many months and in which many people were killed, 16 Maltreatment of married daughters was another issue that helped to cause conflicts between conmnities in pe-colonial Ohuhu. The most ini:ortant issue in this regard '=theL refusal of peo1:le to grant the request by a dead wonants relations to take away her corpse for burial among her ancestors. In many places refusal to grant such requests interpreted to mean an affront on the community so refused. Situations like this, if not handled with great tact often led to open conflict.

16 Mazi E. Ywanmuo, Villa~eelder, interviewcd at Ywanmuo s compound, 1J1,iunnara Ehume Umuopara 8.45830 Woman contributed in causing conflicts between commu- nities in other ways. Often they failed to heed warnings by the men not to visit or pass through cornnunities with which theirs was not on the best of relations. There wee many ins- tancem of cal-~tureand detention of women who failed to heed these warnings, As we have already seen, the nttemlzt by Ehume 1:eople to free one of their wives being held captive at Onhia was the immediate c2,use of the outbreak of hostilities between the two communities. Wonen also contributed to causing tension between communities by making unguarded stnte- 1 ments. According to Ohief Okoro 17, one of the cnuaes of a war between Amawonl and Amaoba (both in ( .t?oro) was soltlc dero- gatory statement made by an Amaoba woman at Nbaru market in Amrxwom. Infidelity on the part of women 2lso contributed in straining relations between communities in pe-colonial Ohuhu.

This could come about either as a result of violence meted out by a man on his wife for unfaithfulness or on another man for flirting with his wife, Some men also resorted to violence against other men whom they suspected of flirting with a widow with whom they had obtained permission to consort. In the past, it was a common yractice for a man to makc known his intention of maintaining fairly close relations with a widow. Permission to do so was obtained either frorc the family of the dead husb,md or that of the woman, Sone peolle took to

------.--- -.- ---- .- --a 17. Chief Robert Okoro, former traditional ruler, interviewed ;.'- Amawom Oboro, 15.12.82. violence if they found thatt n widow over whom they had

obtained necessary Pcle,arance~ to consort with was flirting 18 with mother man, Such violence often helyed strain rela- tions between communities and in many cases served as immediate causes of wars.

One other factor that helped in straining relations

between communities in pre-colonial Ohuhu was the sale of earlier domestic slaves, Though it has been argued/thclt- most of the slaves sold in the Ohuhu area during the pe-colonial era came

from Gbowo, quite n few were natives of Ohuhu. Most of this category of slaves were common crininnls. PL few were peolple whose parents presented as collaternls when they went to borrow money or when they failed to repay debts they owed. Such peofle were supposed to be kept as domestic servants until their arc able to meet their obligations. Information collected by the present researcher shows thcLt there were instances of peol>le who either out of dire need or sheer wickedcess sold these domestic servants. lqany villages

are known to have gone out to cayture z~eoplefrom the village of a person guilty of this offence. Situations like this often acted as immediate causes of hostilities.

18. Mazi Okorie Igbudu, vi lage elder, interviewed at Anuro mWi%, L4.12, +3 2- Careless talk by men also contributed causing conflict between cor!imunities, The imixcdiate cause of a war that engulfed Okopedi and Fldiwu both in Itumbuio, was a careless st2terl~eritmade by an NUm rmn. :'~ccordingto the story, one evening, an Okopedi man asked his friend from IJdiwo to escort him to his pnlmwine plantation to collect 'evenin2 wineP. When both men got to the 1,lant~tionthe Okopedi man climbed ul: while his Ndiwo friend waited on the sround for him. The a Ndiwo rmn is said to have mnde/derogatory stntcnent nbout Okoyedi (while conversing with his friend who had climbed ~1:)~~~-Other Okopedi pcorle who wsre around and overheard the conversation were enraged at the statenent made by the Ndiwo man, They are said to have beaten up and taken hin prisoner, I

Attempts by Rdiwo to free the captive led to 2~ major conflagration. I Another example of a war triggered-off by reactions to careless talk was one between Ehume and Umunwanwa, It is said that during a market session at Nkwo Ozu in lJlilunl~~anwz!,an Ehurne Dan called Ugwu Onerekpo, described Urmnwanwa people as

nm -.-Lbuba .ju ekete a gbaghi ar.uLU (i,e. worthless -i:cople). Umunwn- / nwn peo~lowho were naturally unpaged at this careloss stntemcnt, (

19. @ze Chima Ndom - the Iboto 111 of Iturnbuzo. Interviewed at his On~nIboto place 4.12.82. 20, Nazi Ibeleche Ohneri; Ex customary court judge, interviewed at Ohaeri s compound Wgodo Umunwanwa - lJrliuopnra 5.4.83. got hold of the man tied him to :I tree and poured urine and faeces over his body. When he was freed, he organized his people for an attack on Ununwmv,m. some ti-mea. Pmrkct s and market places were L alsc sources of disputes between communities in 1:re--colcnial Ohuhu.

Among Ohuhu peogle, the market place served not only as a 1:lace for economic exchan/;c but nlso as a centre for socid interaction as well as venue for the celebration of importnnt

festivals such as Ekl.,e (in ~ixuopara) (i.11 Ibeku), and $,,jana (in Umuhu-na-Okaiuga). The market also housed irnj~ortnnt deities of the land especially those of the market.

Another factor that x.de the market place a very important centre in pre-colonizl Ohuhu was the prestige which

I a. community that had n big narket enjoyed. Euch communities

as Bende, ,",rim, Ndoro, Ezelelre and Okaiuga that hc?d widely famed markets were deemed very prosperous. The prestige attached to owing markets can be seen from the fact that most

communities took important steps to rnaintnin the l,enceg of

the market; !!It is the functior of the villqe-group where the mmket is situated to niaintzlin the Fence of the m2rkot thus assuring the safety of the tradersu. ~ianycommunities

even went as far as eniploying the services of rain-riinkers who laboured to ensure that rain never disturbed 1.eople who visited their markets, ';There was often the market deity with an established reputation for killing undetectecl thievesv1,22

It was mainly as a rcsult of the high ~reniumplaced on markets and market plxes that many communities in pre- colonial Ohuhu often went to war to defend their claims to markets, A good example of this type of conflict is that which arose between Umuajaneze and Umuabali over their connon market. Sometime late in the nineteenth century, Unuabali village led by Chief Atulona initiated noves to shift the market from its location at Eke Udi to n more central placc .23 This &tempt led to the establishment of Nkwo Own by Fmezue of Umuajameze and Nkwo tiyara by ILtulona, Both markets held on Nkwo days as did the origin21 market, Tension between the two villages reached a crisis point when Unuajameze took steps to prevent Obowo and Xkenobizi pople from attending Ukwo 'LW~. This was made possible by the fact th2.t Obowo and Ekenobizi people nust pass through Umuajameze before reaching Nkwo Ayara. Umuabali did same to Ibeku and Umuhu-nn--Okaiuga people who intended to pass through her territory to Nkwo Ows, Violence eventually erupted in which rnmy people including one Uhegwu of

23, Gilbert Nwaubani - ex-councillor and viPlage elder - interviewed at fdwnubcmi cor,~pound, Urnuajnmeze-Urnuopara 14.12.82. Umuajaneze, were wounded. This tense situation was temporarily defused as a result of British intervention in the area early in this century .24 Roth sides resorted to violence soon after British occupation of the area, Settlement was however achieved by one of the British colonial administrators - 1;'rank Hives (nicknamed Ogbajinkn by the local peoplB~8fU~fshnby hands).

Finding himself at 3. loss in understandinc the issues involved in the dispute, Hives took what ~~ppcaredto be the easiest way out. He measured the distance l~etweenNkwo Ayara and TTkwo Qvir-2 an ti midway between the two he founded a now market which he L called ?!kwo Oha - (Ykwo 1mrkt.t for all), Disputes arAsing from markets xlso sparked-of f a war between Obuohia on the one hmd and a11 the othcr sections of Ibere on the other, The main cause of this conflict according to sources, was the attempt by Obuohia to elevate her market to a position of precedence over Ahia-- Orie market owned by the entire Ibore ~ornrmnit~.~~Thc other sections of Ibere sa~rthis attempt as unfair competition 2nd took steps to prcvenk people from attending the market any day it held. Obuohiavs reaction was to go to ncighbouring conmunities to give safe \ conduct to i3eople who intendcd to attend her rnarkct - espe- cially the Aro, During one such 'safety rides' a convoy of

25, Mazi Nwclbuisi Okoro - village elder, interviewed at Ngwugwuo Ibere 15.12.82,. 45. traders and their Obuohia guides were ambushed and attacked by people from other Ibere villages, This led to a war in which Obuohia was defeated and her market removed. Many communities in Ohuhu also went to war in the past either to advance the claims of a rich or notable person or in defence of such person(s). While Plazi Ohacril s26 asser- tion that rich and influential men always determined the type of relationship that existed between their conmunity anJ others may be regarded as extreme, it is however true to say that in the past many comlmnities did go to war pxtially to advance the cause of influential people, This is not to subtract from the fact thnt wars are, generally speaking, a away of furthering group interest through the use of force, It does however indicate thnt there was so much group feeling among the people thnt they were prepared to go to war just to defend the interest of tx~. Individu&.. Examples abound of conflicts that resulted from attempts by communities to advance the claim of totables, Osaa for instance, was for many months locked. in bloodycornbat a with Owa,,L result of rough treatment she gave to cmissa- ries sent by one Akoma Oriaku to recover a dcbt of twslua Nk~olaowed shim by nn OW man. Instead of being paid, the emissaries were bcnten up and told to go hoqe, !'Feeling thus

Nazi Ibeleche Ohaeri cite,d, affronted and insulted by Osaa people, the Onhia people declared war on the Osaa people and invaded thcir h0n1e.s~~.27 There were other underlying causes of tension between the two communities the most important of which was the refusal by Onhia people to return the land which they had received from Osaa people for settlement after they (Onhia ~eople)and other Isingwu pcople were expelled from their

former location at Okpu Isingviu, There was also the seething

tension caused by attempts by Onhia people to hke over the I land on which Ogwumabiri Nkwo Osaa is presently located. Thc maltreatment of Mnzi Akona's emissaries only exploded tension that had built up over other issues, 28 The role played by Umuajnneze in mitiah occupation of

parts of Ohuhu is another example of cases where the interest of one man plunged a whole community into war, Sometime in thc late nineteenth century, Nwnubnnl Ogogo, a successful long- distance trader was forcibly divorced of one of his wives - Lda Omelihu, She was given in marriage to another man - Nwosu Oyiridi - of Unuckwule flfugiri, TJwnubani was still brooding over the loss of his wife when the British intervened in Umuopara and made him one of their aides, One of the first things Nwaubani did in his new position was to convince the British that therc existed in Umuegwu (the home of his former

in-laws), a deity that was 2s strong and dangerous as the -L-.-----"-- -L-.-----"------27, J.O. Lhazuen~, op. cit, p, 39. 28. Mabel 0. Ukagwu, f~s~ectsof the Pre-colonial History of Ibeku .(UnFublished R.1. History Thesis, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, 1978), p. 64. dreaded ILi-ni TTkpabi of Arochukwu. The British who are said to have got instantly interested in thc vcnture of dcstroying the evil deity - )TJoku Uk=, gave Nwaubani the go-ahead t.o orgnnise his people for an assault on Umuegwu while they, the British.provided him with logistic support. Nwaubani and hi^ men attacked Uriuegwu unexpectedly at night. ,l former inlaw od and Nwaubani Ogogo, Uo~naba,~brother of his divorccd wif c were tortured and killed with sharp stakes pushed through their nostrils, 29

Refusal by people to kill n person in atoncmcnt for his killing of another person often resulted to wars. '.ccord-. ing to Mnzi ~keo~u,~'this was about the most important cnusr I of wars in pre-colonial Ibere, According to him, it was I customary for a person who killed another even accidentallyr to be surrendored to relations of his victim, to bc killed. In the alternative, a culprit could opt to perform very expensive cleansing rites to atone for ht8 crime, Many cormv- nities in Ibere, according to Mazi Ikeogu, often resorted to violence against people frov the villa-ge of a culprit if relations of n culprit refused to surrender him either to be i killed or for saf e-keeping until cleansing rite werc parfori?crl

29, J.0, Ahazuem, pj, cit. pa 78. 30. Mazi Jombo Ikeogu - village elder - interviewed at Ikeogu's compound Ihim-Ibere 14.12.02. By far the single most i1:iportant factor that deter- mined the state of relationship between comnunities in pre- colonial Ohuhu was land, Indications from the fieldwork of the present writer are thnt land or land-related issues lay at the heart of most if not all conflicts that occurred in pre-colonial Ohuhu. The importance of land to the Igbo people can hardly he over-emphasised. Being largely agricul- tural, the people treasured lancl' as their greatest heritage I and source of sustainmce, This sense of attachment was also spirit extended to the land deity-Ala,- !'The L world comprised a heirachy of gods; the most important was perhaps the god of thc small land - the unseen president of the~localizedcommunity. 31 It was mainly due to this connexion that most people i felt it was their sacred. duty to rise up in arms against any person or group of persons seen or thought to be infringing ,. the peoplers most valuable heritage - land, There was often the belief that with the help of the gods especially the earth goddess, victory would be achieved, This attitude, it can be said, accounts for the fact thnt while most conflicts result- ing from land were caused by injury suffered by a small group, they often engulfed their entire community, Ylnrs resulting from land and land-related issues can \ be divided into two broad categories - those fought over settlement . land atd those fought for farm land. Generally

31. J.C., Anene, Southern Nigeria in Transition (London, C.Uep, 1966), p.. 13. spe&ing, the former type of conflict occured much earlier than the latter. From what is presently known about the

4 history of thc Ohuhu nrca, founders/nnccstors of nost of the existing communities c'me to their present loc2tions via migrations different waves of migration. Most of these 1 ernan?.- ted from places west of the present Ohuhu area. 3' Groups such as Ibeku, Umuol;ara, Ubnkda and Olokoro, that arrived earlier occupied most of the land forcing the f!latecornersfF such as the Umuhu na Okaiuga to either fight or beg for most of the land they now occupy. The history of such 113tecorners' is replete with stories of wars fought mainly for settlement land, FL typical example of this is Unuhu na-Okaiugn who x-e said to have I arrived after most of their present ~e1,ghbours.~COCCUT:IL[A most of the land. First, they, the Umuhu na-0k::iuga had to fight and expel obanu-lbeku people from their former location t wev. They also had a prolonged war with TTl-qxL pcoplc,ogu nshii - which resulted in the siezure by the former (Umuhu na Okniuga) of the lnnd extending to the ~outh of the Nshii stream in the Ikpoto area ,33 They also siezed

32.. A,$, Afigbo, Ropes of -eLC'~nd.- .- :- -Studies - - in JI History and-C,-u~ture (Ibadrxn, University Press m'niversity of Nigeria Press Ltd., 1901.), pp* 12 - 13, 33. Ndudim E. Esobe: A._---.-- Pre-colonial --...... - IIistor- -.of -Ohuhu - -.. Clan, (Unpublished T3.A. History Thesis, ~nivcrsny migeria Nsukka, 1973), p. 29. settlement land from the Eziugwu-na-bnura people and the Ekwuru people both of Nkpa, Unuakwu (an Fgwa village) also fought a titanic battle against Azuiyi 2nd Usalra people in the attempt to excise the small piece of land they now occupy from Azuiyi and Usaka peoi~le. Urnuakwu is said to have been so dejperately in need of the land and fought so bitterlv for it that at a point Azuiyi and Usaka had to concede them some, 34 In many cases, lntecomers who were peacefully received and given settlement and or farmland by their hosts fell out with them. Conflicts often begm when the lntecomers started to assume permanent rights over the land or when the hosts began to impose new conditions and restrictions on them. Such situations were made even more conimon and volatile by khe f~ic, that in most cases, thcre were no :Landmarks such as streams, rivers, etc, to demarcate one comir~unity from the other, The remote cause of the war between Osaa and Onhia, for exaiiiple, was disagreement between the two ovcr the extent of land Osac., U bnkal a' Umuopara people gave Onhin for settlement after they and other Isingwu people were expelled frcm &&u_-Jg-ig~wu. Conflicts resulting from use of farlnlands began to clenifest nu'ch later than those over settlement land. This category conflicts resulted mainly from two inter-related factors. First, was the infertility of the land in many parts

34, Mazi A. Ukalike, Former customary court judge - interviewed at Ukalikevs compound Azuiyi Oloko 10.4e83. of Ohuhu. This paucity of parts of the land encouraged people to engage in grave strug~lesfor the few fertile c are as, Secondly, there was the high prenium which the people placed on agriculture. \.Vhile trading, craf ts-mking and wine- tapping were a11 respected vocations, farming towered above all of them. Ils Uchendu has stated ':to remind zn Igbc that he :is Ori mgbe------ahia loro f'one who eats when the market holds' is to humiliate him' .35 The type of agriculture (rotational bush fallow) practised in pre-colonial Ohuhu also contributed in generating conflicts over land. This system required an allilosf limitless supply of land to be very effective, This type of condition could not bc met by the area due to certain peculiar factors of geography and population increase. Faced with this 1 handicap, groups resorted to use of force in th~atteiiipt to acquire and keep as much of the arable land as possible. Wars fought in pre-colonial Ohuhu ovcr farmlands incluc\ that between Obanu and E~nede (both in Tbeku) over a piece of land known as Ala Uzuzu. Ohiaocha and Ehume (both in Unuopara) were for many years locked in dcadly struggle over 2. piece of

land known as Azij-.--A Ariarn Flu-Tlu also fought Pkwelu (in XJsaka) for many years as a result of disagreement ovcr the boundary of. their common farmland,

35. V.C. Uchendu, op. cit., p. 27. 52, C.HXFTER THREE SYSTEI\lS OF b'X?FA'L?EIN FP&--COLON1 AL OHUHJ

?Ls must have become clear from the precc3db.ng chapter, to pre-colonial Ohuhu people fi:;hting of wars was resarded as a last resort in inter-coininunity disputes., Before taking to arms, groups usually explored and exhaus- ted all avenues 2nd possiljilitics of amical~lcsettlement of $ssuea in dispute, The qencies throush which micable settlement ms usually attempted included noi~hl~oursand or groups of individuals related to any or both parties to a dispute. Often, neichl~ourswho did not Iinve any 'close relationship with any cr both parties to a dispute inter- I vened to prevent natally related groups from fzoin; to war, I This happened as recently as 1934 during the Umudn - :mafor affray (1:oth villages belong to the Isingwu villap-group of Umuhu-na-Okaiuga clan). Umuagu (a village in nei~hbour- ing Ibeku clan) made frantic efforts to prevent Unuda and

Amafor from going to war, "It w2.s also arranged that the surrounding Ibeku towns should call the disputins tovms toeether and arrive at a settlement".' Urnungu-Ibeku did in fact try the case and returned a verdict that Umuda wgs at fault in making a road through the land in disp~t%,

1. liUi?luda-!~mafor Affray, Bende Divisioni; File No, 0U 2321 Umprof 5/1/16 para 45 National Archives Enugu. She (Umuagu-Ibeku) was so interested in preventing blood- shed between Umuda and Lmafor that nine people from the villase (Umuagu) went as far as sv~earin~gto an oath that the land in dispute belonced to Urnucgu but th?.t it was given to Amafor on trusta2 Often, it was only when mediation from groups

(especially neighbours) failed or was overtalreri by events

(such as the molestation of people from one poup by those from another) that resort to fidhtinc becLme inevitable. In fact so much was the belief that peaceful settlement was still possible even at the eleventh hour thcLt a group intendins to take offensive action qainst another would ( usually make a declaration of war against her. ':The enemy I had the option of suing for peace or preparins for war. rs3 This practice of makins an open declaration of war - &u&mu.- was observed well into this century. During the Umuda- iimafor affray (already referred to ),U~iiuda people, after takinz up position on the piece of land in dispute, sent a message . to Amafor people challenging them to either come for a fight or relinquish all claims to tha land in disputeO4 It is important to remark that fitu ornu was not universally

- P - 2, Ibid, Ikenna Nzimiro, Ibo Politic& Systems:-,-Studies-- in Chieftaincy and politics in Four Nir;er I& State? (London, Frank Cass, 197'2Tx.134. 4. Umuda-Amafor Affray op, cit, para 48, practiced in Ohuhu, In some cases, people resorted to suprise attack as a means of shocking their opponents into makin3 concessions, Some communities that were termed weak mounted suprise attacks on reputedly stronger ones just to demonstrate that they were not so weak and also to show that the 4strongl community was not invincible, 5 Once relations between a community and another deteriorated to n point where the possibility of either an offensive war or a defensive one becane high, people in such community were placed on what could be called a state of emergency, This period was usually utilized for the mobilization of both men and materials, During such times, people never ventured too far from the safety of their homes without taking adequate precautionary measures, Precautions taken at this time included civing of armed escorts to women and children soing to markets, farrns,and streams. This type of precaution resembles that usually taken in Equianots days when, for fear of suprise attack, people went to their farms in groups, armed and ready to face any challenger, Dming times of emergency, little children were herded together at a place where they were sunrded,

5. !he ChimaNdom - the Iboto I11 of Itumbuzo, Interviewed at his Onun Iboto palace, Ituribuzo 4.12.82. 55. Vigilante groups at such times kept vigil over the community at night.

Men moved about at this time armed and ready to challenge any person who molested them,

It should be noted that the precautionary measures listed above were usually taken by both communities intending to take offensive action and those anticipating enemy attack. For those intending to take offensive action, such precautions were deemed necessary because of the fear that the enemy could carry out pre-emptive strikes. These measures were however, natural for people anticipating invasions because to do otherwise would give the enemy opportunity to rout them 7 in their homes,

It was probably situations such as this that usually existed during s 8 9 state-of emergency that Basden .and ottenberg misconceived as reprctsenta- tive of-the~~~%~alstate of affairs in the Ighu area. Basden for.example

It would however be wrong to say that it was only in times of actual wars or threats of wars that the defensive arrangements listed above were made, Communities surrounded by hostile neighbours with whom they had unresolved disputes lived in a state of permanent alert. his was especially true of Ekwelu-usaka which was surrounded by not- too-friendly neighbours - Ariam to the north and ~nnanghbibiopeople to the south and south-east. Ekwelu youths were consequently almost always under military training while the community ringed itself with a network of mcnts, Bridges were constructed across the moats but these were removed in times of danger thus giving the community a continuous defence network, This resembles the situation in Equiano's village which was protected from enemy invasion by Idriving sticks into the ground which were so sharp at one end as to pierce the foot and were generally dept -6ic7 - in poim*l.Se;t Olaudah Equibno -ibid. G.T. Basden, Among the Ibos of Nigeyia, (London, Frank Cass, l966), p. 202.

Simon Ottenberg Ybo Oracles and Inter-group Relationsv Southwestern Journal of Anthropology vole 14, No. 2, (19581, p. 296. 56 wrongly asserted that it was never safe to venture far onev beyond the confines of L Town nor was this done except by hands of men ready to defend themselves. Apart from efforts to secure their borders from enemy infiltrations, communities also spied on thcir opponents.

The favourite tactic was floodiny the rnarkct(s) of onePs enemy with women from One's side. Such women were usually given specific instructions to discuss the impending show- down between their conmunities with thcir fellows from tho other side. On coming back from the market such women usually assembled at a plxe where each revealed whatever information she was able to gather, It was mainly as a result of the dubious role played by these 'market womenq that some communities went as far as turning women from an enemy community from attendinc their market. Some warned their women against discussing with these women. In extreme cases men went out of their way to capture and detain or molest such women. The molestation of a market woman by Onhia, for example, was the final event that ~ecipitnteda war between Mem (0nhia) adEhume. Married daughters - -umu okm - also spied for their kinsmGn, They were especially active during wars involving \ their kinsmen and communities other than those to which they were married. It was mainly to forestall this type of spyinc that Umunwmwa restricted the movement of wornen married from 57. outside Umunwanwa in times of war. lo some communities also restricted the influx of aliens during periods of emersency. The group on whom this type of restriction fell most heavily on was the 1x0 whom most of the people dish 11 trusted for their 'sweet tongueq and double-dealing,

They were distrusted because they often exploited fluidq situations to settle old scores with communities and or individuals, 12 Vigilante sroups who maintained check- points on roads linking a beIRlgerent community with others, often had specific instructions to turn back any Aro man whose mission to the community was not adequately explained. Those whose mission looked dul~iouswere dctai-ned. The decision to go to war especially, offensive ones,. was usually taken by the asseml~lyof all adult males - 1 Gefore a final decision about zoinc to war ivas taken, every member of the ---Pmala -* was given n chance to air his views for or azainst taking to fichting, The need to obtain the consent of n majority of members of the --mala was desirable for two major reasons. First, it was reasoned that since every adult male would make one type of contribu- / tion or the other to the war effort, it was only fair that

--.-I_-_I__-N-PIU-.p,..-UIY i\ \ 10, ~aiiIbeleche Ohaeri, retired customary court judge interviewed at Qbgdta compound IJmunwanwa-Umuopara 5.4.e 3. 11. Mazi Elijah Isendom, village elder, interviewed at Ndiwo Itunil~uzo7.12.82. Ibeleche Ohaeri cited. 58 should all of them 1 -Part . in the decision-making process4 Secondly, even at the time of goinc into actual battles avenues for a peaceful settle~entof the issues in dispute usually remained open. It was therefore important that those who did not prefer ,soing to war should be convinced that a war was more honourable ,and desirable than an gignobles peace., Moreover, cormunities often sought and 'obtained1 the 'consentf of their ancestors and gods before finally deciding on going to war. Thus those sitting on the fence had to be reassured that the consent and help of their ancestors and gods had been secured and that victory was for sure, Once the decision to invade an enemy or to fight back in defence was taken, elaborate but quick preparations went under way. First, the soldiers had to be mo.bilized, Since there were no permanent armies in pre-colonial Ohuhu, commu- nities made use of all their able-bodied men. These men into usually belonged to the second of the three age-sets 1 which men in pre-colonial Ohuhu were divided, Thc first of the three age-sets consisted of young boys who had attained the age of .about fifteen. This group, because of their tender \ age,performed light duties for the community. These included sweeping the local market and or meeting place of the ---amcrla called --mbara and maintaining village path-ways and other utilities. They also helped to c'ater for agedp%ildless wid~wsand widowers. Some executive functions of the amalq 59. . included collection of fines for violations of rules and bringing offenders to the senior age-grades for trial, hey acted as police in the markets and as investigators in cases involvLng women such as adultery, '3 This was the stage at which the charaater of young boys began to be moulded in order to tmke them responsiblo citizens, One way of achieving this was through giving them jobs that were benefiaial to the entire community and aupervised by the age-set immediately above them, . People graduated into the second of the three nge- sets at about the age of twenty-two, This was usually after elaborate ceremonies which also launched them into manhood and full citizenship, -To prepare the youths for the ~rv~ous responsil~llitiesof this age- eretc, elaborate training sessions were orgmised for them. -In Ibeku, tho young men underwent rizorous training/initiation sessions in the bush. akvra This exercise which was called itu anya resembled .c*r..uciwa of neighbouring Obowo. Ztu anya normally, lasted about eight days, During this period of training, ,he boys were expected to mortify themselves by performing acts of endurance. They fed on leaves and roots and were ordered to co Id climb tall trees .I4 They also had what 2 be called solo

1- 13. Kenneth S, Carlston, Social Theory and lifrican ?.ribal Oraanisation (Urbnna, unive;sity of Illinois Press, 1968) p, 19~6 14. Mabel 0. Ukagwu Aspects of the Pre-colonial Histor of ~beku_(unpubhaedB.A. (History) Thesis dtSI of Nigcrln, Nsukka 1978) p. 21. 60, nights during which each person slept alone in the bush, far rernoved from others, Lectures on military tactics - including methods of offence and defence,use of cutlasses, guns, bows, arrows and spears (for military purposes) were also organised for them, l5 On the last day of itu any%, trainees went through the last test of endurance, This the included pricking Lbody with sharp thorns and puttinc very strong and painful medicinal herbs into the eyes, The latter, it was believed, fortified the eyes to withstand dreadful sichts especially during wars while the former toughened the body. Pipcart from group training given to the youths, indivi- dual parents also gave their sons toughening-up trainings and assignments, The most important of such training included Caking the young boys to hunting expeditions- e,~beohia or nta- during the day, and ambushing animals at night - nkere -*abnli Hunting was believed to bo ,an activity which enhanced a person's military skill, In Nsirirno ;in addition to siving their children tougheninpup tr=inings, parents also performed a special ritual $ma ~gwufor their children, This ritual, - -2 it was believed, gave the boys the extra protection of the gods of the'land, w16

1 Nazi Timothy Kanu, villace elder and ex-councillor, Interviewed at ICmu s compound Iyienyi-Ibeku 19,12.82, 16. Ichie Ukaforo Ukaegbu, village elder, interviewed at Ukaegbu 1 s compound Nsirimo-Ubakala l7,l2,82, While as we shall see later, military accomplishment (especially killing an opponent in battle) was not adored in pre-colonial Ohuhu as was the case in places like Ohafia, 17 it was generally regarded as a mark of weakness for a man to come home from battle with a wound which he was not able to avenge. It was partially to avoid such ,'shamefult intidents that parents gave their sons private trainings. Fathers who were warriors during their youth told their sans (real or imagined) stories of how they overcame difficulties at war fronts. Men also encoura~edtheir sons to take pcrt and possibly excel in wrestling matches organised both within and between villages. Such matches it was believed, helped youngmen acquire the necessary hardiness that the life of a fighter entailed.

People graduated into the third age-set about the age of forty-five. Membership of this grade also marked the end of one& active life as a fight.er. One at this point graduated into full membership of the ,?mala and therefore participated

17. Men in we-colonial Ohafia were stratified into five categories (a) uJg when a man had not cut a head in either a war or raid; (b) nwoke when he had brought home a head; (c) ufiem if he had gone to war or raid several times and brought home human heads; (d) okerenkwa status was accorded men who, in their lifetime, broucht home bleeding human heads and donated same to the club of head cutters; (e) ite odo status was accorded men who during solo raids cut many heads and also had many slaves whom they captured during wars or raids, See Oji Kalu Oji; A Study of Miffration and v!arfare in Pre Colonial Ohafia (unpublished B.A. (History) Thesis, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, 1974), 38. PLATE 3: A Dane gun manufactured in Ohuhu by an Nkwerre smith. 62, in taking major decisions including those relating to wars. of The onus of the declaration and endins/wars,- and making peace lay on them - the third ase-setr This privilege was left to them because it w2s believed th2t,l~eingelders, they were not susceptible to the s~medegree of rashness as the youths. l8 The conmunity also benefitted from the experience of members of this group who were great warriors during their youth. They often, were the tacticims who advised the field commanders as to how and when best to attack or resist the enemy, In Oboro, members of this age- grade prcvided some of the ammunition used during wars, Individual members usually bought gun powder which they brought to g-bara - the converginc and drillins point of the soldiers. They pls.ced such ammunition at the disposal of soldiers who needed them, This resemble P what happened during the Yoruba civil wars where a soldier would normally bring his own gun to war, but at least a part of tho powder was provided for him, 20

Apnrt from provisions made by elders, every fighter also provided for himself. Military acquisitions were not made only in times of and in response to emereencies. The

--.-I-- 18. Nazi Ibeleche Ohaeri - --•cited 19.' Chief Robert Okoro, former traditional ruler, interviewed at Amawom-Oboro 15.12.82,

20, J.E, flde Ajnyi & Robcrt Smith, Yorubn \!arfar- in the 19th centurz ( Ibndan, I badan University ~ress,mr P. 196 PLATE: 4: A pistol manufactured in Ohuhu Mkhverre smith early in the twen century. 63s normal practice was for people to make use of arms which they acquired in peace timc, Rowever, such thinss as sun powder, ipi tion caps - icu er:bek and bullets - were not# usually, stor,kgilcit because of thcir hizh cost and difficulty of storc1;e. In some places, comnunities co-opcrn- ted in peace time to procure the services of the famed Nkwerrc and Lwka blacksmiths, These made suns, knives, spears md. swords for inc1ividut:ls who nlso paid them, Some communities contril~utedto bring them clown (i,c. paid the consultation fees) during wars but individual soldiers pE~id for swvices rendered to thcri~. In n few places, the entire community paid for repairs ljut any person requiring ncw weapons pzld out of his own pocket, Smiths were nlso invited from !,gulcri to help make isnition caps- used for some suns. 21 Smiths from Nkwerre wsre highly rcputcd in Ohuhu 2nd other neighbourin!; communities for their competence as zun makerre, It was nninly duo to this thzt they bi:c?~ic known as Nkwerre qp$$ egl~e. In 1~;bcrethem was a saying/injuction --I__-- that ifwhen others are firinc and breaking their guns, break yours, for Nkwerre peo~ledo not live in thcir areau. 22 I I

21. Ibeleche Ohaeri - -cited. 22. r&otcd in Elizaiicth Icicho! . Iybo ir!orld.s: LG

;~n-t~o~-_ofOral -IP------C IIistories and Historical Macnillnn Education Ltd. 64- This then brings us to the claim by Jeffreys that before the whiteman c2me to the Icbo area and even as recently as 1930, iron was a peat rarity - even in Awka one of the main centres of blacksmith in^ in Icboland. 23 The effect of this scarcity according to Jeffreys included tho fact th9.t wenpons made of locnlly smelted iron never featured in the armoury of the Igbo soldier. The above claims made by Jeffreys cannot stand the test of enpirical evaluation. Contrary to JeffreysP claim,

Igboland has 2 long tradition of iron sncltine and working. Hartle for cxnmple found 'some ironv at the top layer during his excavation of the Ukpa Rock Shelter in !lfikpo. Iron s~mplesfrom this site have leon dated to "2100 years ag9 and vie rnisht take this to mean that iron tools were in use about this period in Lfikpo. 24 Unundu,n town in Fsukkn, also has a long tradition of iron smelting and working, .:nozie encountered an old man in the town whose father, pclndfather and great-srnndfzthcr were l~lncksmithswho made 2 wide range of iron goods f- locally smelted iron which they obtained from local smelters .25 The date ziven --- -"" ------.- -

M,D.\;, Jcf frcvs. rPIbo\iarfnrefl PUN. A Monthlv

F.F. Anozie "The Contribu.tion of drchneology to the study of Igbo culturef1Unpubli shed paper presented at Worksho~on-.--- -- Igbo Culture (Institutc of African Studies U4N.N., 1977)3;36 by Hartle should be regarded as tentative until it is confirmed by further research, Such confirmation will probably take the form of a detailed study of the tradition- al methods of iron' smelting in the Igbo area and comparing it with data obtained elsewhere. Afilybo has opined that: The Yorthern Igbo plateau and its extension to Bende fihich is part of 0huhg is rich in iron ore deposits, Amd it was here that smeltin~and iron' working were most highly developed in Igboland, The iron tools and implements produced on the plateau were in pent demand over the rest of Igbolnnd and even beyond. 16 This would seem to lend crodence to cl0aby Itumbuzo and Bende people that, in times of war, they inviaed smiths from Nkwerre who not only repaired their pns but manufactured new ones. 27 Talbot also said that there is evidence that such arms (those used in the Igbo area) were actually manufactured by the Igbo in parts of Enugu and Okigwe Divisions. 28 ------

2 f .E, Afigbo FiProle~sornenato the study of the 'Culture ist tory of- the ~gbu-s~eokin~-peoples of Nigeriaw F,C, Ogbalu & E,N, ECl~n&%ngo(eds) ,I& L2ny;uay;e and_ (Ibadan, Oxford University Press, 1975) p. 45. 27. Mazi Elijah Isendom - citd,

28. P,b. Talbot: The Pcople_ssoof~u,tJhern Nik;eria i;;w--vol 111 Tthnology (London, Frank Cass, 1923) PLATE 5: A gun made by an Awka smith. 66; It is clear from the $oregoing, that Jeffreyqs view regarding the antiquity of iron in the Igbo area is out of place. The only way of accounting for this view is by accepting ,.lnozieVs claiin th2t "from oral tradition, we can confidently say that iron sfielting wzs discontinued in Tgboland early in this ccntu2y"h 29 ~utthis explanation looks too simplistic 2nd difficult to accept as adequate* Sure, the import~~tionfrom overseas of better finished and cheaper iron implements must h2.w had some ncptive impact on iron smelting and smithing in Igboland; But it would be wrong to arpe that iron smeltins was discontinued

entirely in the Igbo area early in this century. The present writer observed some Lwka blacksr~lithswho lived in and practised their trnde in parts of Ohuhu as recently as the mid 1960s. One of them who was well over seventy, was, according to information, born in Umuopara. It is in fact

said that his crandfather came to Unuopara 3s a smith. Since, as we have already seen, Ghuhu is rich in iron ore, it is reasonable to hold that thc iron used Ly these smiths were initially smelted within the Ohuhu area, They may have started using scraps of ilnportec't iron goods wlien this became cheap and readily availafjle as to make the use of

locally smelted iron unecononiic. This EIUS~have happened well into the present century rather than the early part of it, as postulated by hozie.

F.W. imozie loc cit 67. While it is true to say that the gun had a long history in pre-coloni~J Ohuhu, it is however important to stress that it never become a very pogular weapon. This was duc rnninly to two inter-related reasons. First, people were often afraid of shootins others dead in wars especially those involving n~ttallyrclatcd peoples, In this type of war, the use of lethal weapons especially pns was highly prohibitecl. Jnong Ohuhu people thc spillins of blood of a person with whom one has even the remotest relationship was regarded as m, It was repugnant to the enrth deity- 91,, f~nyperson wlio killed another during n war was bound to perform very costly clcnnsing rites, Even in neighbourine; Ohafia where the cutting of human heads was regarded as a mark of manhood, any person who wcnt to a war or raid 2nd came back with a hend perfcrmed purification rites, "On return, warriors who h~.cl secured heads of victims werc ilmde to undergo purification rites before rejoining their fai..ilics and moving about freely in the communityl~.30 *he pgrfomance -af.cleawg *tos%bhan me sacredness with which human life was held by the people, 31

30. N. Ukn, 17,', Note on the afAbaml Varriors of Igbolandil, Jkensa. Journal of African Studies ,vole I, No, 2, (19721, pe 80. 68. In Ohuhu, n killer who did not have the wherewithal to perform the cleansin@ rite was kept in semi- solitary confinement until he was able to do so. Even after per- forming such rites such a person w:~s never fully accepted in society again. Every 'abnormalv l~ehnviourof his was attributed to mental problems caused by the blood of his victim,. The trc,~tmenthe received was often akin to that given to the Biblical Moses by his fellow Jew after he, Moses, had killed and covered tho body of an Egyptian with sand, It would be wrong to inf2r from thc conventions cnurnerated above th3.t wars were mere picnics and jamborees.

Far from it, Wars, especially those involving opponents that did not have any blood relationship often involved a. lot of bitterness resulting in the killing and maimin(; of many. The war between Ariam and Ekwelu was fousht with great bitterness ~ndthis resulted in the loss of many lives, The number of !ziam people killcd during one of the m~my battles of this war has been variously estimated at some- thing between forty and seventy. Ekwelu also sustained considera?~lehuman losses. : war between Ohinocha and Ehume (both in IJmuopnrn) proved equally costly in human lives to 1~0thsides. Some informants put the loss sust3inecl by each side in excess of thirty. Hard-pressed groups sometimes disregarclcd conventions governing thc conduct of -PLATE 6: A locally made spear. war between natally related groups. One way ,Ariarn demonstrated her determination to fight Ekwelu to a finish was throu~hthe kill in^ of 2 woman whose mother was from i~rinm. This, under norrml circumstanccs, would have been regardcd as a taboo - m. The second factor that inhibited large scale use of the gun wa6 its unreliability. This was especially true in of the two types of gun conimonly use in pre-colonial Ohuhu - ep;13e cham-- and adaka. Their unreliability would seem to have stemmed from their poor quality especially after Fkwcrre and Awka smiths started imnufactiuring than

(the guns). Descriptions of egbc char11 (in Ohuhu) would seem to tally with Davidsonls description of the mu~kct. The musket aiccordin~~to him is a Hl~all-firin~ smooth barrelled weapon fired by triggering a flint spark into a little 9panPof gun-powder at the rear end of the barreltt.32 The other weapon sdaka was of such poor - P quality thxt it often entlangcred its shootcr rather than his tnr~et, This was mainly because the gun when fired pro- duced two different explosions. The first explosion was produced by the trigger hitting the ignition cap-k~ic~r;be.

The second was caused by thc explosion of the gun powder in the gun which dso released the l..)ullets/pollets in the

32. Basil Davidson; The Peo leFs ause: A IIistor ee-iyillas in :~fri~Z~on,~man1.98Tef4 70 gun. The time la$ between the first and second explosions was so much that the tnr;;et had enouf;h time to either escn9e or tzke cover, F~@Mtliz safety '3f its cover, a targel; couli! turn round to hnrm the shooter. !!.'here is the story of an Ihirn - Ibere man v~howas disarmed by an opj:~oneiit while waiting for his -,.. adaka :;un to i;c off. 33 The unrelinb- ility of -adnkn --.- hns been -preserved in sorne now popular insExamples of' these are - Lnye a.ckaa-;i.!.g?untz &ru ya meanin,.;.thzt any person killec? by --adak~ must Le deaf. There is also a sayin[': that glpka ;~:b~.y:.Y:g-o~~i-c&im,,,_o-&~~ meanins that --aclakz kills only the u-nlucky. In addition to oh and adah already rncnt:ioned, other

cipuns in use in pre-colonial Ohuhu included $ce-,~)&k~ gp&a&

nr,d _e-r-?fere-4 The present researches WL-sunnt~le to 3e-t detnilecl descriptions of both g;ala!ja 2nd but they are said to ?-~emore efficient than Lcth whe cham zd--adaka. Erefere- is mid to he.~~bccn introc1.u.ct.d in thc niiicteenth +f !,e

conkury by/wliitc.l-. pcople, It waLs also cal.led p_zei.;liri:,:iri. becau.so of its boomins souncl, It was of very 1.imited ustise

because cf j.ts hi~hcost, A~otherfa.ctor that limited ibs

usnge was its weight 2nd the,; special skill sequisccl to lfian

it,34 *....--ErePere (i,c, ---.-ozc&si,yiri) ---.-...- is said to be so powerful that once fired, it instantly dispersed oneb enemies, This happened to Umuopara people early in this century. They had mobilized to face the British who crossed into their territory from Udo-1 ilmise. But Nwobilelu (as the commander of the British force was called) fired oze rj;iriziri which promptly dispersekl the people forcin!; many to take refuge in neighbouring communitics and in bushes, 35 ,Inother problem with pns is %hat they were very expensi-ve to obtain and maintain. For most of the time, the gun remained a status symbol rather than wenpon of war. E This was due mainly to the fact that only very few people could afford the cost of obtaininc and maintainin~one, Moreover, gunpowder was not only expensive but also very scxxe - so much so that only the rich could afford to buy and stockpile them for future use. Even the ;zo who used 9Abarn1 head-hunters to further their economic interest in Icboland and ljeyond,did not usually afford to arm them with suns, iFlirmswere provided by the individual warriors themselves... 36 The fisures given by M1m.eyi regarding the cost of nrms znd ammunitions in early nineteenth century Gold Coast testi- fies to the high cost of military hardware in !jest .:frica \

35, Ibeleche Ohaeri cited, 3 N* Uka, op, cite, p, 79, during this period. Lccording to him, pnpowder which was sold at the rate of f4 per barrel of 25 pounds weic;ht at

Cape Coast on the sen coast was retailed at 73d n charge of 16 nckies (3/4 of an ounce vreicht) at Jiumasi giving a profit margin of 400 percent .37 Iron bars for ammunition fetched profits of 75 percent at Kurnasi and 300 percent at

Salaga and Yahudi. These nmterinls could not have cost much less in Ohuhu. This assertion is based on thc fact that Ohuhu and Kumasi are nearly the same distance from the coast. In view of the foregoing, one cannot butL agree with hfi~bo

The great social significance of the gun wac perhaps as a symbol of manhood znd material success. In most parts, anybody who attained adulthood had in addition to doing such things as entering the secret societies and marrying n wife or more, to buy n Gun and a huntinz knife (ol~ejili)with which he adorned himself on ceremonial occasions ,38 The high cost and scarcity of guns often forced resorted to people to adopt frantic measures akin to those / by com- a batants durinc oqu mkpuru oka fought betvieen Obibi and her neighbours. According tc Vzewunwa, Obibi warriors on

37. P.A. hbaeyi, lll\rms and ?Lmmunitionsand their embar~o- in British Yiest African History 1823-1874 Iken~a,Journal --- of African-- Studies vol; 2, - IE~~JTTT,p. 20 PLATE 7: Akparaja (Obejili), This type of matchet was the most widely used weapon during encounterSbetween natally related cominunities. 73. running out of ammunition flexperimented with ersatz cun powder and with a variety of replacements for bullets - palm kernels, cowries and finally maize p-ainssTr39 Gun powder was also adultrated with pulverished charcoal, A typical Ohuhu soldier carried,in addition to the weapons mentioned above, some protective devices. These included a - a band made of tree bark, which he tied across the waist, This hand protected the stomach area from bows 2nd arrows fired by the enemy. It also facili- tated crawlin[;. The head was protected with a type of helmet - okpu a~ha-madeof either tree bark or grass, Talbotls claim that soldiers from Bende district (af which Ohuhu was part) "used okpu oc,qu - fizhting caps - made of red cloth4' during wars is a little out of place. Ohuhu soldiers, zs we have seen~didwe,v caps but it is most unlikely that they wore red ones which would have made them easy targets, It would appear Talbot was actually referrine to the red caps worn by dancers of the popular Bende war dance. Soldiers also carried shields - nkata which resemblesthose presently uscd by ,anti-riot policemcn. The shield was used mninly to protect the holder from clubs

39. Quoted in Elizabeth Isichei; d History of the 1,qho people (London, Macmillan, l976), pp. 76-77.

40. F.A. Talbot, op. cit,, p, 843, and pebbles which were the nost freely used weapons during wars involvin~;natally related groups. They also offered some protection from knives when soldiers foucht in close combnt, ,$n Ohuhu soldier also cnrricd n raffia bag where hc stored both provisions md ammunitions. These provisions usually included roasted yams and tobacco snuff which took soldiers usuallyL to keep awake at nicht. Some ate kolanuts as a stimulant, 'iEach fighting man from the chief down- wards feeds himself according tc his own taste and fancies or needsu. 41 Most of the people interviewed l~ythe present resear- cher affirmed that medicines and medicinemen played important roles in pre-colonial Ohuhu warfare, The importance attached to medicines and medicine men was so much thct it al~ost became n myth as can be seen from the saying that - alu~hn aujn aforo ndi dim. This sayins implies that if a war dragsed, it was bound to de~cnernteto a contest between medicine men, Some soldiers wore charms they believecq pro- tected them from gun shots while some, it was belie~cd~coulcl neutralize those (charms) worn by opponents, In parts of Ohuhu people somctimes used the supplement to bullets

41, Jd', Ade Ajayi & R, Smith; OP, cit; p. 22. mentioned by Nzewunwa to counter the effects of charms worn by opponents. 42 "Other medicines werc drunk to zive strenl;th and courage, ,143 Some communities cooperntell to preparc charms supposed to render the entire citizenry invulncral~leto l~ullets, This contrasts sharply with what hapl~encdin TJmueke - P-cbaja where, according to Green the person directly connected with the dispute thzt led to war would,,;f his own invite n medicine man to prepare charms for the soldiers and also paid the bi{:pst part of the cost of the charms prepared, "But those who used the medicine - it would be put into cuts in the skin - would contribute, The maf;ic or medicine was known as ufere ef:be - breeze of sung. 44 1n Ngwuswuo, there was a chmm kncwn as ufc which protected the entire community during attacks, The charm which tied to the top of a palm tree is said to have had the effect of directing a11 bullets fired ?~ythe enemy within the villase skywards, thus mnkin~it impossible for them to a harm any Nswugwuo citizen, 45 Xsirinio also had~powerful

42, There were charms which: reputedly, made their users invulnerable to bullcts. It is clnixed that people using such charms could only be harmed by such thinzs as maize grains and cuttings of trees like

43. Pa:\, ,Tnlbot, ope cit, p. 823, 44. I4.N . Green, _If;bo Villa;?e :Iff airs (London, Frank Chss? 1964), p* 64, 45, Nazi Okorie Nwabuisi, village elder, interviewed at N[:wugWo--Ibero, 15,12.82, charm which, it is clained, made its citizens invulneral~le to both matchets and bullets. 46 The charm was known as ..--nkpC

Apart from f fortifyiny ' soldiers with charms, medicine men sornctimes dictated battle stratei;ies to soldiers. Some of the charms also had tzbooes thzt must be kept if they-

the charm- were to be effective. :L war chnrm in Okopedi - Itumbuzo forbade soldiers usin[; it fron usinc . leal weapons on their opponents first, In TJmunwanwa, a particular charm refrnined. its users fron looting their opponentasprsperty. This t~.boowas once broken by one Ezinna Nvmnyioma durins

2 war between Ununwanwn and Mgbarakuma - Ul~aknla. Be is said to have killed and tnken hone the carcmsof a doc,

This treachery led to the routin5 of TJrnunwnnwa by their opponents. Many Umunwmwa lives were lost. Uhen Ezinnaqs betrayal was discovered, necessary rituals were performed after which Ununwanwn scored a decisive victory over M,ybarakuma. 47 Some chcrrna forbade their users from con- sortin;; with women for a numb. er of days before going to war. It would appear that Ohuhu did not have highly reputed medicine men and oracles. In most of Ohuhu, ( the deity associated with yarn cultivation) and (the earth deity) rcrmined tho most important deities in the pre- colonial era, FTonc of these deities had influence or - ----....I -- .-I-- I- - 1--- -- I - -- --* 46, Ichie Ewulonu Ezen!;wn, villaee elder, interviewed zit Umuerim-Msiriil~o, 17,12.82. 47. Nazi Ibeleche Ohaeri, --cited, 77 . reputation beyon& the immediate community of their owners as did i~we-ka-ala and ibini-ukpabi oracles of Umunneoha and Lrochukwu respectively. Infornintion collected by the present writer shows that Ohuhu people went as far a field as Urnunneoha (i.c. to i;yre-ka-ala) , Lrochukwu (i.e. ibihi- ukpabi), Waise, Obowo, and :fikpo in search of medicine men. Some communities used medicine men from the Ibibio area, In Unuopara the most popular war-charm maker was a mm called Onuoha Nwapiri from Udo in ~fbaise.~~Durin:; a war between PLriam and Ekwelu, the latter invited a medicine- rnan called Okpanebong fro171 ' l3ang in neighbouring 1bil~io is area, HeLsaid to have prepzred a charm which he save to a bird known as ikon^. The bird is said to have taken the charm to the house of the commander of Crinrn forces. There, the bird made a noise which attracted the commander from his house, He vas shot and killed by Fkwelu soldiers who were in ambush around his compound. The death of their conirnnnder so demoralised ,:rim soldiers th,:t they were easily defeated by Ekwclu, 49 So much was the belief in charms that communities took steps to ensure their efficacy and relial~ility, Stories abound of communities who killed their doctor after he had prepared charms for them. Urmnwanwa-Umuopara for

49. Chief Ezekiel Mwaulu, village elder, intorviewed at Nwaulu s compound-, Ekwelu-Usaka 10.12.82. example, did so when they suspected that their man - Onuoha Nwapiri was likely to prcpare charms that were ;>ntidote to those he YaVe to Umunwanwa, for other clients, In Ibere, r,icdicinc rncn wcre very well paid so as to prevent them from preparinl; stron[;er charms or antidotes for othcr people. xhim-Ibcre went as far as entering into blood pact - I,r.:bnndu - with hep doctors. To prevent being fooled by medicinemen, Okopcdi - Itumbuzo built n

permanent war shrine, ,211 battle-ready soldiers converged at the shrine of the was deity where they were sprinkled

with some concoctions includine n qspecialDwater. This shrine also served as the tactical headquarters of the army, J.11 wounded soldiers were taken to this shrine in the hope that the zods would cure them, 50 Before moving out to battle, driam soldicrs normally converged at a square known as Arua-nla-ala-ndi Okorie, It was there .. . . kithat final battle plans were drawn, To prevent being annihilated even before they took to the field, the square was well protected with charms. In Ndiwo, a medicineman hired from the Ibibio area usually led the people in battle, He is said to have had the power to reduce bullets to water,. 51

50. Eze Chima Ndom - .-cited,

51 Mazi Elijah Isendom - cited, 79.

AS we have alreddy mentioned, ohuhu did not have permanent armies,

All able-bodied men usually took to the field in times of war, Soldiers were grouped into regiments, In oboro, a regiment consisted of between a hundred and a hundred and fifty men, Some communities divided their soldiers into regiments each of which specialized in the use of a weapon, Umuopara, for example, had two regimcnts - -uke or ogbo-akparaja which was made up mainly of youngmen who wielded knives and swords, The other - uke-egbe comprised older members of the second age-set, It was only members of this regiment that were allowed to carry guns, This was so because bcing elders, they were, naturally, believed to be much more cautious in the use of this weapon than members of the other regimcnt who were mainly, younger people, In Ibeku, there was a deliberate policy of staggering people born wihin a calendar year into different regiments. This was done mainly in order to reduce the risk of many people born within the same calendar year being killed at the same timeo Such it was feared, could demoralise their surviving mates,

Each regimcnt was assigned to a particular sector or task, All soldiers did not usually go to war at the same time, Some came to relieve battle-weary ones, Regiments were commanded by people chosen on account of th2ir bravery in earlier battles or exploits as hunters or in the performance of other feats of bravery- The existence of commanders during wars helps to belie the claim by Carlston that in

Igboland, Warfare took place by the warriors of one side leaving their village or villages in a disorganised mass and killing all they 5 2 encountered,

52, KeS. Carlston 2. -cit. p, 203. Far froin being n haphazard, uncordinated affair a6 ccntended by asd den,^^ Igbo warfare involved n great deal of intricate planning and execution. Thc plans often involved not only tha human but also the spiritual resources of a community. Basdents observation that onc of the causes of the uncoordinated nature of Igbo warfnre was the fact that chiefs who, natu!-?,lly, should lead the people in war were often not there, is also not proper. In most of

Ohuhu there was hardly any community th(2t had a chief who wielded I strong executive or lcgislativc or judicial powers .I as was the case in some other ]-arts of Nigeria. The powers the mentioned above were wi@ldcd by6- rirnala whichpas we have already seen,constituted a type of joint military command in times of war. Even if there were the type of chiefs Basdcn had in ri~ind, it is doubtful if such pcrso~wouldhave their were taken direct command of t, forces, They Llikely to be too old to do so -they would certainly belong to the third they of the three nge-sets - which also neant that / coulcl not I go to war. In the Niger Igbo area where there were chiefs who enjoyed a good measure of power, command of the armed forces in times of mar wzs delesated to officers subordinate to the chief. In Onitsha for example, the army was divided into three main regiments ench cofiirnanded by the iyase, a,jie and 34 810 Far from beini; tho Amazons that ~~uiano~~tried to make of them, women in pre-colonial Ohuhu played roles other than those of combatants in times of war. l;!e have already seen th2t they were used as spies who collected valuable militnry intclliyence for the mensfolk. It was due mainly to their non-combatant roles that there was n convention that women should not bc killed durinc; wars.

In fact, it was re~z-rded,~s an act of cowardics for a n2n to kill n woman durinc a war, The worst that usually hap1;ened to women clurin;; wars was bein3 seized carried4 off. In the latter case they were either kept as slave wives, sold, or occasionally handed back to their husbands at the end of the war, 56 iL few of them were given as wives to male o.s_u_, Women cooked food which they sometimes took to the men in the battle fronts, In some places they acted as the rear pard of their community in times of war. They played this role by laying ambuah,.armecl with clubs viith which they clubbed and sometimes killed esca1;in~or wounded enemies. They lured enemies into their houses with assurances of providing then with security comfort. Such men were usually betrayed by the women. The role of women in help in^; gnd hostilities will be discusseci in a later chapter.

55. Olaudnh Equiano 013.cit. p, 25, 56. P.A. Talbot gp.cit, p. 824. Vie have said thnt people tried as much as possible to avoid bloodshed during wars (especially during wars involvin;; natally relzted croups). This is not, however, the samethin(; as sayin!; that wars were entirely bloodhss. People were for sure, killed and or maimed durins wars in pre-colonial Ohuhu. Thc conventions en~ncr~xtedearlier were meant to keep the casualty rate, low. Two other factors, as we have seen, also contributed to the low casualty rate of wars in pre-colonial Ohuhu. These W@E@, - the inefficiency of the weailons used and the hil52.1 cost of performin:; purific~~tionrites by a killer. Another factor that helped account for the low casualty rate of wars was the convention that human casualtics lnust be kept at l;ar between any two sides involvud in a civil^ war, 57 Thus, if a Fcrson killed another durins a civil war, he (thc killer) was hound to be hmded over to the othcr side to 11e killed in atonement. This convention made it possible for n soldicr who came into close contact with an opponent to l~ivehim only a slisht cut or any othcr injury that would not lead to death, Many soldiers preferred to physically overcome their opponentS 2nd take ,& home - if they could. ------57. It would ap1;ear that this re!;ulation was enacted as n result of two considerationsr First was the belief thzt any freeman's life was as valuable as nny other's hence the sayin:; thnt - isi nwoke ana,qhi aka ibe ya. Secondly there was the belief that unless such reparations were made, the achievement of a meanins- ful peace between two natally relnted beIli~crents v~ouldbe impossible. This was done mainly to c1enc;nstrate personal valour.

Captives were scarcely harmed or sold into slavery. Rather those retained ?~ytheir captors were dedicated to deities as _osu, This, however, happsned if the captivegs relations wasted too much time in cornin!; to redeem him,,

Only wcrthless persons- gJ,u&fg were left with their captors loni; enouch to 'he cledicatcc? tc deities.

A soldier who went out of his way to kill *an opponent durinll; a civil war, ms, if identified, forced to pay with his own life, 50 1n scma cases, such culprits were not killed. but sold into slavery. Part of the pro- ceeds from the sale of a killer was used to perform

cleansing rites for the dead while the family of the victim kept the rest, In TTmuoyara. a killer was usually handed over to the opponents who took him to their market square, There he wcs ziven a knife cut by a member of his victim's side. This was usually done in full view of some of the killerst colleagues. 59 After the knife cut, a person was

58. Nothin j happened to a person v~hv killed another during n war between sroups .that did riot have any blood relationship. Lll that h killer was required to do was to perform soroc rites to clcnnsu hirfisclf of the blood cf his victim ant,! ap:lcrxse the earth goddess - &la. This ritual was cdled &.KO_ aka or -i riapu aka lkc. 59. The resulation that sonic colleaL;ues of n person {yilty of killing another durinL; a gcivili vmr nust witness his beinc given the prenerj;J~B 1.unishment was enacted so as to prevent peoplc to wholn such culprits were handed over from usinc then for other things such as sde into slavery z.nd dedication to the f;od.s 2s ~9. 84c removed by his colleague who treated him for the wound

(if he was still Aive) or buried him (if he was dead). However, it was not always that pcople handed over killers to their opponents. This convention wm often broken if the culprit was a not:l.i.~l.c in society whom his collea(gues would not easily part with. However, refusal to hand over culprits often idrolon;;ed wars unduly. Xhume and

Ohiaocha (i. e. @p;hodinail~eand Umunwanwa) all in Umuopara fought themselves for many years becausi. of' the refusal of the latter to hmd over one J1kwacla who killed an cipponent durinc a war between the two communitios.60 Rather than hand over Akwnda, Ohinocha people challengccl Ehume to avenge themselves if they could. They were not able to do this in the battle that immediately followed but rather sustained more casualties. This strcn~.;theriecl their resolve to fight. When the wnr ended, hkwada was nicknamed onukar

There, a man who had not cut a head was re::;mded 2s n weaklins - and not many women would accept such a man's hand in marriase. 1\10 such prmtice existed in Ohuhu - not -- pa---- - Ibeleche Ohaeri cited. -<- -<- even in Bende which sliaresa common l~oundarywith parts of

Aham. Iiowcver, in :iriam there was o shrine known as !Lwcrrshi Oha to which a mnn who killed another durine a war usually went for cleansin;;, After the ritual, he was free to display the head of his victim durin;; importmt festivals such as Ekpe. There were not in Ohuhu any special clubs whose memLership was restricted to thosc who ha:: ,;one to war 2nd slain people. thc case communities. 63 Ohuhu people also did not hnvc the practice of eating the flesh of slain opponents. This is contrary to Tnlbot's clnis- that in the Eende district of I~bolnnd,(ofwhich Ohuhu was part;), the bodies of those killed rlurinf; wars were "cooked in native pots and oatvn and as many a6 possible shared in Chcm.,. Human flesh was priced above all other lrinds of Tnlbct went as for as holding that cannibalism was, definitely practised in places like

61. Refer to footnote 17 on page 61 for dctnils of stratification of pre-colonla1 Oli~fiamen according to their military achieve~nent. 62, Here there was a man-eating society known as ndi nkvm ike to which only men who had killed in ljattle beloii$?d. 7 See M.14. Grcen op.cit. 2p. 66-67. I \ 63. In the Fii;cr Igbo statcs, f5t was a mark of heroism to acquire the head of an enemy who had Lecn killed or captured in war or as a result of warlike action such as raiding and ani5ushin~. People who accomplished the feat belonzed to the society. See Ikenna Nzimiro op.cit, p, 34. 8 6'. Ohonhow Dhuhd Isi-kweatow LTsuikwuato7- and Eler all in Bende districtvf,65 Information collected by the present researcher shows that at nc time in the (remerubered) history of Ohuhu was cnnnii~alismpractised. For were wars and rxids undertaken for the purpose of obtaininr: human flesh for

eatin[;. In Ohuhu as in Oifbnja, when a person was killed in battle, a strug~.leusually cnsu.eG betwcen his col1en;ues and

opponents for the corpse, Accordin: to Green, in lq:bnj~~, the body of a man killed in battle could be captured znc! eaten by the opponents if the dead mnfls cclleqyes were slow in removin the c0r~so.66 In Ohuhu, stru:; les for bor'ies viere prompted by f~.ctorsother than the desire to inake meat oft-. First, it was considered a mark of weakness for a side to forfeit the bo(1y of ibs dead to oppcnents. Secondly, it was

believed that the spirit of the dead would for a very long time torment his ~olle3~;uesif they fniled to rescuc his body. It was even believed that since such a person was not sure of respite in the varld of syirits, hc could cause his community military reverses. There w:~also the common belicf that

every adult mzle must be buriecl vanon,:,.his ancestorsv hence the saying isi nwoke tin2i:hf ato na inbn. Ijoreover,

people whc; paid the supreme sacrifice while advancin:; the cause of their community were accorded heroest burial

- A L-WI------

65. Ibid. I?.834. 66. bl.FZ. Grcon, op. cit. p. 66. Y accompanied by the dancins of Nkwa- ike, Any person who qualified for this honcur but whose corpse was lost to enemies was inevitably denied this ~;rivile~e.such denial, it was believed, caul3 cause the dead mnnDs spirit to torment his people. ?ic saw in chapt:?~three tha.?; even at the t,i~aeof goirq; l~ltoactual ?!a.';t.:!e?, av:;l-li,tes for pr-:accfcl acttlemcnt of' the issues leading to v~ar.:; olten renaj.ncd open.

for somi: i;lti.ma.te reasons. First, tkrc SYS~LSCIof' exogamy practiaed in the C;l.iuhu ;we:J gave ri:,o to a sit..uation where there w.s hardly any c~m~i~;i:itythnt did not have onc f om of rnnrr-i~lge!-ink jii th the othcr. lTnter-niarri q;c crc>~i;csa. :ictuorli of I;ri.c.s by w11icll ceils oP boci.ety.. a are,. , inter-.li.v ked horizo~tqlly by the, soci~lbonds of inter- I rnar~iag(:~~.It was (and is cti.l.1) mainly due:: t.0 this

\;ide nc tnork of' c;rog:rmy that in Unuoparn, :'or example, if LL:C~ othcr two mc,v \rho 1~1~1not !rno7vil / before ~ctin mother 89. colonial Ohuhu after agricultune. Trade in pre- colonial Ohuhu can be divided into two broad and complimentary groups - the long distance or external trade znd the short distance or internal trade. While the former linked the Ohuhu area with such distant markets as those of TJkwa, Oharnbele, TJburu, and Okposi, the latter linkcd the various parts of Ohuhu with one included 2.fo.r- Eende, @wok, Nkwo Fdoro, TTlrwocgp, and Afor Uinuda, Uars disrupted this network of trade-route6 in many important aspects, First, as we havs already mentioned, one of the p~ecautionarymeasures taken by communities preparing for war was to restrict the influx of traders into !hci%arket.seL This type of situation af f ccted trade badly. Yorse still, war situations made it difficult for communities and individuals to continue rendering the traditi.ona1 hospitality which they;in peace time9extended to traders who either came to their markets or passed through their land 011 their way to distant markets. As Ukwu correctly observed,

Ph.e long d.istance trader relied on conveiiaiits at the personal level, abandu as the principal means of guaranteeing freedom of movement across the country and safety among strangers. By this the stranger established 90- a ritual kinship with an influential member of the village-group he was visiting or passing through ,2 To ensure safety of traders, neighbouring communities Afigbo has sometimes entered into blood pacts, AS / L correctly observed s'Between one clan and another a ritual brotherhood could be established by means of the id;a_nciu blood pactwe3 This intricate system of blood pacts on which the safety of the tradersdepended was often disrupted by wars. This co~~~pelledcommunities and individuals who otherwise, would not have been much peturbed by the wars to take steps to end them. The suffering of neutral communities was often prolonged by the fact that in most cases, it was difficult if not impossible for any one side to score a decisive victory over the other* \,Jarsoften dragged until they were reduced to protracted skirmishes which could only be broken by the intervention of peacemakers, The longer wars dragged, the more they (the neutral groups) suffered, The facu that wars often dragged for very long is attested

2. Ukwu, I. Ukwu; "The development of trade and marketing in ~gbolandfl Journal of the IJistorical Society~f. Nigeria vol. 111, No. 4, (1967), p. 650. 3. A.E. Afigbo; Ropes of Sand: Studies in I~boKistor and Culture (Xba~w.,IJniversity PublishersI_T_Y Ltd, University of Nigeria Press Ltd, 1981), p. 135 to by two inferences, First there was in most places a convention which forbade ~oldiersfrom pursuing their opponents into their homes even after breaking their defences. It was also unconventional to loot opponent communities, biars were therefore concentrated in the borders. Fighting was resumed by any side whenever it felt it had the means. The enemy would, if not ready for an offensive, resort to defensive tactics until the aggressive side was spent and a lull would exist a .4 Moreover fighting was often suspended when any side had an important festival such as Ekpe, Okonko, 0,jarn and Egwu, in Umuopara; F;gv~u, in Tbcku; Ajana in Umuhu-na- Okaiuga and Ekpe in Oboro, There, Oloko and Ariam. Truces were observed whenever there was a festival that was customary to the calendar of one side. Each side knew when the other observed its religious festivities and refrained from attacking, since deaths at such times resulting from attacks would have to be atoned for by heavy sacrifices .5 It is claimed by some informants that even while still a'-. war, people visited and drank with their friends from the !enemyf side during the festivals mentioned above.6 The conventions enumerated above pro- longed wars and--- the suffering of neutral groups by offering 4. Elizabeth Isichei: I~bo'iorlds: An Anthology of Oral Histories and Historical Descriptions (London, INacmillan Education Ltd. l97?), p. 102. 5. -Ibid. 6, Nazi A. E3onu , village elder, interviewed at 1Jmuoriehi-1singwu 7.4.83. 92., belligerents highly valuable time to strengthen

their defences. . inference One other -/ that would seem to eupporlt . the claim that wars ended on conference tables rather than on battle - fields is the fact that it is difficult, based on tradi-

tions collected during field works, to ascertain who vms victor or vanquished. Even informants from neutral comau- nities do not seem to agree over this. This disagreement would seem to have been caused by the fact that most wars ended through the intervention of outsiders rather than as a result of any side achieving decisive victory or the other suing for peace due to defeat. Only in very few cases do we have some form of general agreement as to who was victorious or vanquished in a war, One such example was the war between Unuhu-~a Okaiuga ane Obanu -. ~beku. ~ilost

informants agree that Umuhu-na-Okaiuga 'Idrove away the Obanu people from Nkwoegwu and occupied their This was when the form* moved into the Ohuhu area from Cbowo due to scarcity of land. Obanu people were thus forced to found a new settlement somewhere between Umuahia and Uzuakoli. Married daughters Emu okpu or --Umuada were the single most imp~-rtantand active group when it came to ending wars

in pre-colonial Ohuhu. On this flfigbo has written It... if

--- -. --I- .L.UIL --.------.-

7. J.C.. Ahazuem, Qrigins, Vi~rations------and -Inter- rou Relationships --in me-ccionial Ohuhu (unpubllsheI_EL6e D.A. 1Tstory ~hesis:TsTkkn, 1977, p, 19. 93e village A fell out with village E, women born in the latter village but married in the former would meet women born in village A but married in E and decide to impose peace.u8 The interest of Umuokpu-~. in making peace between their husbnndPs community md that of their fathers was dictated by two considerations, First wars often made it difficult for them to visit their fathers! homes, There was also the risk that their children could be killed by people from their (the women's) fathers homes. Any person guilty of this offence was severely ~unished, He also performed very expensive cleansing rites to placate the gods. In most parts of Ohuhu it was a taboo - ar_u_ - fo~ a person to be wounded by a person from his maternal side. It was even worse if that offence was committed within a person's maternal community, In Umuopara, a person was never buried within his maternal home not even if he lived his whole life there. The best that could be done was' to bury such a person in an evil forest - okata, It was mainly to avoid the incidence of a person killing a sister's son or vice-versa that in some places, people were not allowed to go to wars involving their paternal and maternal @6~%*$@& Uniu okpuVsmethod of intervention in wars was very

\ direct: Whati they usually did was to converge on the battle an field onL agreed date. There, they would move into the neutral

8, A, Em Afigbo, ope ~it.,p, 158, ground between the armies of the belligerents carrying tender palm fronds - qmu - which is a sign of peace, They would then begin to sing and shout on both ddesreaf firming that they were not going to leave the place until both sides had entered into an underhung . to call-off hosti- lities, They also sang fPsongson the evils of war and benefit of Their encampment often made it impo- ssible for both sides to exchange fire since it was feared that any weapons fired would harm either one's wife or daughter, or sister. This restraint stemmed from the understanding that "those women horn in one of the warring towns but married in the other as well as their off-springs must not be harmedlj. lo The lull thus created often forced the men to send delegates to the women. The women would then force the men to agree to go for a settlement at a place acceptable to both parties.

Children of married daughters i, e, gken_c, or umu-uin~, especially the males, also played very important roles in achieving peace between warring groups. !?The son of a woman who had been born in a hostile town was sent as herald when pence was desired", Okene or umu-umu often _UI

7. --Ibid. 10. S.C. Ukpabi, "Igbo VarfareU (unpublished paper presented at lf~&&~~gn_Jg&~,.~~,Institute of African Studies University of Figeria, Nsukka ,(1977)' P 433 11. P.A. Talbot, The Peo~lesof Southern Ni *eria vol, I11 E t hno 1- ( L ozo'c~r a~-arly~7~7A&7~---- 95. intervened with the aid of neighbouring communities. What they usually did was to solicit the aid of neighbouring and or related communities. When assurance of such aid had been obtained, they, &ek would move into the battle fronts in the same manner as --umuokpu do thereby forcing fighting to come to an end, During the ceasefire created by the physical presence of !mu-urnu, representatives of the commu- nities consulted would move in to join umu-umu in pleading with the combatants to lay down their arms and allow mu-umu and the consulted communities to arbitrate. Both sides would usually agree to talk peace after this type of inter- vention. In many places, people did not pull away their forces until some progress had been made in ths negotiation. In some cases, the arbitrators included people who had fought on the side of one of the belligerents. Tn a war involving Elemaga and Iberenta (both in Ibere) ,people from Abam who had fought on the side of Iberenta also took part in the peace settlement. The interest of the lbam people in this war stewed from the fact that Iberenta is closely related to Idima-!Lbam. The latt~rdid not want Iberenta to be exterminated by her hostile neighbours but she nevertheless realised that it L i%$ossible for her to continue to defend Iberenta a~ytico she was zttacked, So, even though they took part in a military action the i'lbm 96 were nevertheless interested in a peaceful P@~O~#'@&OP of the issues in dispute. Also a war between Obugwu and Ekwelu (both in Lriam-Usaka clan) was ended by the intervention of elders from the entire clan. This was inspite of the fact that all the villages in Usaka village-group fought on the side of Ekwelu while those from Ariam aided Obugwu, 13 Settlement of disputes usually took place at loca- tions agreed to by all parties concerned. This was usually at the border between belligerents, In some cases, the

borders were deemed too charged for such conferences and as a result people met at the mbara (i.e. meeting place of tho village council) of a neutral village. Yo arms were ufiualy allowed at settlement venues, In Ariam there were neither judge no jury during peace conferences .l4 But elsewhere in Umuhu-na-Okaiuga, negotiations were more protracted and sometimes involved tha swearing to an oath by any person or group of persons who after being found guilty of contribu- causin ting to , c6n?lagration between two communities insisted L on their innocence, This happened during the hafor - Umuda affray, When Umuagu-Ibeku wanted to end the dispute nine

12, Ichie Nkwa Eketa, village elder, interviewed at Eketnvs compound Eleniaga-lbere 12.12.82, 13. Tete Ukoha - village elder, interviewed at Obugwu Ariam 9,12,02. 14, --Ibid. 97 people from Uniuagu swore to an oath that the land in dispute belonged to >Lmafor.. Mediators were often very careful not to either blame a particular side or completely absolve another of guilt in causing a war. This was clone, mainly, as we shall see later, bccuusc most mediators did not have the executive power to enforcc their verdicW. The best they could do was to impose sanctions on any recalcitrant side, If the war was caused by land dispute (as many were) the elders undertook an on-the-spot asscssnent of the validity of the claims made by each group. C~unda~ieswere deter- mined ned new rules made to i;overn future use of the land. In drawing new boundaries they often resorted to using land- marks such as streams and rivers. \\!here such landmarks were lacking or brought the boundary too close to the homes of one of the contestants, perennial trees such as oirihi, +PO, aboshi an8 --obu were planted at intervals on the new boundary. 'The ncw bounclrxry was made sacrosanct by the slaughtering of animals for the performance of a special ritual known as igba---- orikoro. - ,$ good exauple of n boundary demarcated in this manner is thct between Obanu-

Ibeku and Uzuakoli. as The boundary known ogbugbandu came iZ into being after Obanu people were expelled from the Vkwoegwu area by Umuhu nz. Okaiuga. tho During the settleacnt of&kwelu - Obugwu dispute, already referred to, --Umuokpu, who convened the peace meeting,brought a deity from each of the warring communi- ties. The deities were used to solemnize a convenant entered into by the two co~muniticsduring the settler~ient. The solemnization involved a special sacrifice made by mixing equal volume of wine from pots of sine brought by the two communities, Ani.mals were slaughtered and part of their blood mixed with the wine. Each okene came to a central place where the mixture of wine and blood was kept, of the rnixt re took some L from t%e pot. drank some of it and pacsed the remaining to a man from his maternal side, It was after this settlement that a deity known as Mmogho uzo which is jointly owned by the two communities came into being, 15 However, settlement of the dispute between Ekwelu and Ariani did not involve any deities,. In that case, after the intervention of Uniuokpu, elders from both communities scheduled 2, pence conference at a rmjor rond junction between the two communities, Every elder coming for this meeting brought with him a jar of palm wine and a drinking \ gourd. 'The meeting was not formal, What happened was that -- --- 15. Mazi Ezekiel Nwaulu village elder, interviewed at Ekwelu-Usnka 9.15.82. 99. each elder on seeing a person (from the other side) known to him rushed to such person with a gourd of wine, Both men drank from the gourd at the same time - a type of convenant - --orikoro. After that they exch,mged pleasan- tries. l~Reconcilliationwas thus, general and complete 16 and implied a type of intcr-personal convenantfl. It was always difficult if not impossible to enforce verdicts agreed to during peace conferences (in cases where the issues in disputc were tried), This was mainly because most of the interest groups that intervened during wars did not have the executive capacity to enforce their verdicts, some groups therefore accepted such settlements as mere stop-gap arrangements only good enough to give them (the warring parties) some respite to re-organise themselves before taking to the field again. In some cases, people threw overboard agreements reached between their ancestors and another group, They often argued that since they did not take part in the negotiations, its provisions were not bincling on them. This type of thinlsing led to a situation where a pGarticulnr dispute exploded into open conflict several times. It was mainly as a result of this that m~wyof the disputes stretched into

16. John Ifenkwe, village elder, interviewed at Ekwelu-Usaka 9.12.82. 100. the colonial era and had to be decided by the lwhitemanvs court. The Umuda - ismfor dispute was 2, victim of this kind of situation. The 1334 flare-up was caused by thc dissatisfaction of latter generations with settlement agreed to Sy eLarlier generations. ,:,nother example was the intermittent fightings that occurred between Arnabn and Umugbalu both in Oboro, One of the mars lasted with occasional breaks, for seven years until it was finally tried and. resolved in a colonial court. This dispute con- tinued for many years after the advent of the Eritish. tills early as I4ay l92;',fl wrote a 13ritish colonial official "this land dispute had passed through ten different native court sf^, 17 It would, however, be wrong to say that settlements nade after wars were such useless things that any person could discard and disregard them without qualms. The purpose of &&g_du i.c. solemnization of settlemen.tswith blood pacts, was to make the gods and ancestors of both combntants witnesses to agreement6 rewcbsd. They were believed to be capable of punishing persorswho contravened such settlements. Tn some places, communities were coerced into accepting and keeping the terms of pence settleriients, Tn Ariain, the -----okonko society cooperated with

17. Reports on Urnuahia Division 0P.I 2751/16 - Umdiv 3/1/356. P. 21. 101. the -amah of mediating villages to enforce terms of peace accords, my group that refused to accept the verdict of arbitrators especially if the peace-makers were sent by their -amala was instantly cordoned-off by either the -Ekpe or Okonko society. This caused the people a lot of hardship, especially in the case of okonko, because only men who had initiated into the society could come out of their houses during the siege, Uninitiated men - -okpoo, women and children would thus be confined indoors. This type of siege often forced recalcitrant villages to sue for peace by accepting the terms of the agreement. 18

One prominent feature of settlement of wars in pre-colonial

Ohuhu was the reconciliation of a soldier who killed another in battle with the gods of the land. This was deemed very important because even though the killing may have been done in advancement of the cause of the community, the mere act of killing another person who deemed repugnant to the gods. SO serious was this taken that a person who killed another during a war was kept in some form of solitary confine- ment until he was able to afford the cost of performing the cleansing ritual - ikwo aka (ifhe did not have the money to do so immediately)o

It was mainly in order to avoid the hardship and cost involved in performing cleansing rites that in oboro, soldiers who inflicted disabling wounds on their victims were duty bound to shield them from being killed outright by other warriors as the consequences of the death (\ of the victim would be very grave on the assailant, l9 This is akin to what happened in Nimbo Nsukka where those wounded in

18. pius Chionuma, village elder, interviewed at Ariam 16012.82.

19. C. I. Hgomoh, Some Aspects of the pre-colonial ist tory of Oboro clan in ~kwuano-umuahia UD to 1910 (Unpublished BOA. ist tory Thesis, Nsukka, 1979), p038. 102". battle were allowed to be conveyed home by thcir comrades for treatment. 20 In Okopedi - ~tufnbuzoall soldiers rcturning from battle assenbled at a shrine cnllud Qlilc" a&?. a&?. It am here that their wives and sisters net them with songs and chalk - nzu_, the lnttcr being n sign of peace. Thc soldiers were not allowed to r11cet or have any form of contact with fordinaryP ptcoplc until they, the them soldiers, had bccn cleansed. This was to makclpure again because the spilling of human blood, even if it did not result in the victim~sdeath, was considered n crime agninst the earth deity - 31..

!!L?~s.in pre-colonial Ohuhu, like in other parts of tho world were regarded as very serious issues which had far-reaching consequences for the people - somc of them permanent. It is important to note that desp5tc conscious efforts to keep it very low, wars still involved a considerable loss of human lives. Figures given by infornnnts regarding death tolls during wars ranged from a minimum of five (on the side of 51nnba during the Arnaba - Uniugbalu war) to claims thnt whole rcgimcnts of invading enemies was annihilatcd. Examples of such claims include those rmde by Umuhu-na-Okniuga people thnt a whole army of Lban wafriors who invaded Umungu, many years bnck,was

22. A. 0. Okwcry, 'V/arfnre-.- -.. .-- in Fre-coloninl PTimbo TTsukk?. -- - .-a ----- (Unpublished C. !lo i!is=-ThesZ'F, university or Nigeria Psukka, 1980) p. 47. 103- completely decimated, So many were those killed that gPgraves,,. rnade with the heads of hbam soldiers extended from Uhuokwu to P'ibaraukw~l~~. This type of claim of complete annihilation of opponents (especially external invadcrs) is 21.~0widespread among Oboro people, Thore would seem to be soriic controversy over the casualty esti- mates in a war fought between lJmuokwo and .iUilnv~om on the one hand and :Lbam invadcrs on the other. While Agomoh holds the view that 'lone Abam warrior was killed while the rest returned home saf elyff, 22 Chief Okoro would have us believe that the entire band of ~,baminvaders was annihilated. 23

However, both ~'~gornohand Okoro agree that the present sparae population of Umuokwo was caused by a near-complete extermination of her people by Lbarn invaders during the war under reference. One other prominent consequence of wars in pre- colonial Ohuhu was the loss of land by defeated people, .As we saw in an earlier chapter, land constituted the single most important factor that sent one Ohuhu group against the other. 176 also .w.w that even where land or land-related i issues did not provide the imraediatc spark, it did however I

23. Chief 8. Okoro, former traditional ruler and now villxge elder interviewed at Ar,iawon Oboro 15.12.82. lie at the root of most wars. A good example of a people who suffered grave loss of land and general dislocation are the Obanu - Ibeku people. The Obanu people were formerly the occupants and owners of the land around the present

Nkwoegwu market, ITnfortunately they were too weak to stem the waves of in-coming, land hungry Umuhu-na-Okaiuga people who easily defeated and drove them to a near desolate part of Ohuhu. Osaa and Emede people also of Ibeku suffered the same fate at the hands of Isingwu people who founded the villages of Onhia, Umuoriehi and Umuda. One of the major consequences for the Ibibio of their defeat by a joint liriam l!A~-El;n. and Obugwu army was: the loss of a substantial part of their farmland to the victors. ltW""L as a result of this victory that Obugwu now has farmland in the border area between the Ibibio and Lriam Eb-Ehl even though Obugwu does not share a common boundary with the Ibibio. Ihim also expropriated Lmuro s land after defeating her in battle, 24 Wars often led to the formation of mutually benefi- cial alliances, Sometimes these alliances were forged between people who did not share any blood relationship, f1t other times they involved those who shared such relation- ship but did not have common boundaries, Examples abound of natally related groups that went to the aid of one

24, Lucky 0. Ekpo, Some ,isj,e_c-t,s of Pre-coloni a1 Historl of Ibere clan (Unpublished B.1. History Thesis, University of Nigeria I\Tsukka, 1903) pa 107 105. another in times of war. During a skirmish between Zhume and Ohinocha, each side received substantial aid from groups related to it. Ehun~c ( especially the Uliluoyi.me section) received substantial aid from Umuajnmeze who arc related to them, Umunwnnwa on the other hand was aided by

Ogbodinaibc and Ibee both of whom arc: relzted to her,

During n way botween Onhin 2nd Osm the Lattcr was amply aided by Eniede (which like Osnn is pnrt of 1beku) while other parts of the Isingwu villnze-group gclvc Onhia substantial aid, Communitic~invoLved in wars of ten suf fcred grave

economic setbacks. This was mainly in the form of reduced attendance to thcir rfiarkets, Knny people who must pass through enemy territory bcfore rcnching some narku t s often abandoned going to such imrkcts for fear for their personal safety, Econonic resources located in areas bordering enemy territory were often abandoned . This was mainly clue to fear for the safety of persons who go to exploit such resources, During the skirmish between IZhuue and Ogbodinaibc, two men - Ogbuehi and Nzeako' , both from Ehume were killed 2s they were tapping palriiwine in a bush on the border: between their community 2nd Ogboclinaibe,

Wars were also n sure source of supply of people who were dedicated to deities as m. The people who suffered this fate, as we hnvc already mentioned were f Scme Towns

FIG. : MAP SI-iOW1NG DISPERSAL OF ISftiGWU PEOPLE worthless people - efulefu.-... whose people refused to redeem when they were captured. A few of the captives were sold as slaves if they were decrned too worthless to be kept as domestic servants or even as o_s_u. fi few captives were also sold by thcir cnptorc. This often happened if the victimDs comn~unitywas deemed too weck to take any neaningful action to either rescue their person or in retaliation. Some people found guilty of killing an opponcnt during a 'civilt war and were handed over by their comrades were also sold into slavery if thcir victids colleagues so pref errecl, One of the major consequences of wars in pre- colonial Ohuhu was the explusion of defeated people from thcir land, The Obanu-lbeku, as already shown were forced to found a new settlement after they were overrun by Umuhu-na-Okaiugn, When the Isingwu village group of Umuhu- na-Okaiuga were expelled from their former homos at Okpuhu Isingwu, they scattered in different directions. Some founded the Isingwu villages of Amnfor, Umuda, TJrmoriehi and Onhia, - a11 to the south of their former location, One group moved northwards. There it was able to sandwich itself between Nunya and Umuirnenyi on a piece of land that had been a source of serious dispute and fighting, Flunya people were not getting the better of the exchanges when Isingwu people arrived, Isingwu forgctl a new alliance with 107. bTunya. The new alliance easily defeated Umuimenyi in a

subsequent battle. ks a mark of appreciation for their help, Nunyz allowed Isingwu people to take over the disputed land md thereby serve as a buffer between the two cornba- In Umuopara, Ammkwo had to move eastwards frou her former location at Umuekaule to sten the attacks of hro people who harassed the cocmunity from that wing. In

,'d-iarn, 'iriam Elu-Elu sucapped locations with Vim Ala- la when it became obviou-s th~tthe latter could not be trusted to stem the tide of Ibibio invasions from the south, Though there were no standing armies, military heroes did emerge in some pmts of Ohuhu, The single most important r~~ilitaryfeat for wliich most of the heroes wore acclninicd was the overpowering oppponncnt with physical force and bringing such victim home - alive. However many of these heroes, though they put their strength and experience at the disposal of their communities in times of war, were often distrusted. In Isingwu village- group a particular f ar~lilyof war heroes/conimanders is said to have grown so head-strong that they set themselves above the law. They are said to have been giants who had

extraordinary strength and courage. They were therefore nicknamed Urnuot~irnk~irimz..- --- They became such 3 terror that at a point the entire community was forced to prepare mme charms which -?re said to have sapped their super-humnn strength and also to have kept the size of their later generations within normal proportions. 25 In this chapter, we shall attempt a reconstruction of some of the illnny wars fought by sections of pre-colonial Ohuhu. It must be stressed, howevcr, thnt the inforn~~tion on which this reconstr~~.ctionis based is highly skcletal and this hns, to a largt? extent, limited the amount of details given in the succccding paragraphs. !'rh~~tthe present vriter has clone is to select those wars about which enough information to justify the writing, exist. Another shortcoming of the avnilnble inforrimtion is the complete absence of precise dates. To overcome this problem, the present writer has attmpted on the basis of estimates the given by informants to obtain some relative dates for~wnm

Until very recently the ibam' (of which Ohnfia is part) were regmdcd as a blood-thirsty people who, without provocation, would descend on any connunity they felt they

This war could be dated to sometime around 1860. This date is derivcd from information given by Mr, ,I,E8ODu of IJmuorehi that his grandfather was still unmarried when this war took place, Mr. so nu himself is over seventy-five. This means thnt he was born around 1900. Making allowance for a generation gap of thirty years, we find that his father was born about 1870, Afssurning again that this war took place ten years before his father was born, then we can tentatively date the war to 1860. 2. By Abam we refer to thc people that inhabit Ohafia, ban, Abiriba and Pkporo-Edda clans of Ino State. could easily over-run. In the Ohuhu nrea, they were called -_--ndi orbuishi - head-cuttcrs. 7'his stereotyped. impression definitely has somc truth in it as instancs abound of wars in which the Lbam played major roles. Tkir participation in these wars was oftcn at the bidding of the

Are who traverse2 the Ohuhu area and bzyond. 1' oftcn invited the I^,b~,rato rc?.id comnunitiea;- whcre they, the ac quirinz Aro, encountered probler,is either in respect of,settlc:~lient L land or in their business tracsnctions which spanned thc entire Igbo nrea and beyond.

One such war in which the fLharn took part and on which n good deal of valuable information exist is a.&~

I&uG.The war was fought betwecn TJmunii;u (2 village- group in Umuhu-nn-0kniu;a clan) and ?ham invac?ers from Ohafia. Two major causes of this war have been isolated. The firsf was the kidnapping of an ,"i.koli man at a market in in Umuagu.. This is said to have been done,retidiation for L the killing of an Umuhu uan at a market of Ugviu Fkpa in the hkoli nrca, It is said that Lkoli people could not muster an arny which they were confident could invade and conquer Umuagu and either liberate thcir kin or take an

Uinuagu person captive in atonement for their man bcini; held hostace. This fear would seen to have stemmed fron thcir earlier dcfent by n section of Umukabia villng~in a battle over a disputed fnrmland, There was 2.1~0 the fear among the Akoli about reprisals from Umuagu if they

(the Lkoli) took an Unuagu person cnptive during n suprise solitary raid, Feeling so weak, the Lkoli appealed to the Ohnfia -p?ople who wcre only too willing to take part in such a raid because of thc'pRrvest- of human heads which they believed it would yicld.3 The Ohafia rnidcrs obviously thought that things were going to be very e~y for them in view of the fact that they were to receive logistic help from the i.koli. The invaders may have been further encouraged into undertaking the venture by the fact that Umuagu is within striking distance of Akoli to which they (the Ohafia) could retire after carrying out a suprise attack,

The second probable cause of this war was an outra- geous action perpetrated by an Umuagu man against a man from Ohafia. !.ccording to information gathered by the present researcher the man who committed the crime was calitd uchegbu. He was a .native of UmuBgu. ' 'Thh3$bu'.waa repukddly,

3. Pre-colonial ti,bamv society was stratified into two broad groups - those who had cut human heads during wars or raids and those who had not, Nost of the raids 2nd wars in which the Pi~bnrn' people were involved were mainly aimed at enabling those who had not fulfilled this social obligation to do so. Umuagu. .s was customary in those days, Uchegbu 4.6 said to have invited a medicineman from Ghafia bnscd zt Uzuakoli to prcpare some charmwith which he - Uchegbu - hopcd to protect both himself and his wenlth, Uchegbu etllepclly killed the medicine innn after the latter had prepared the charms, It is clnilncd that Uchegbu did this because hc did not trust that the ncdicine man would not prepare eithe~stronger charms or antidotes for his (Uchegburs) enemies. Fews of lJchegbuqs treachery later reached the medicineman~sbase at vzuakoli and later his family at Ohnfia. This action is said to have so enraged Ohafia people th3.t they promptly decided to invxde IJnua-gu. Ohafia did not have much probleix convincing the Akoli to take part in an invasion of Umuagu in view of the strained relations between Umuagu and Akoli. Ohafia was to send an army while dkoli would provide logistic support, The army sent by Ohafia (but whose numerical strength could not be determined by the present rescarchcr) is said to have spent a night at Uzuakoli - specifically in the home of one Chukwu Anyaogu of iLmmba* In order not to expose themselves, the warriors disguised themselves as they entered ~z;akoli. Early the next morning, the disguised invaders were given a guide who took them to IJmuokoroala - a village in Umuhu-na-Okaiuga clan to which Urnuagu also belong. There, they were introduced by their guide to one Okoto who himself was a long distance trader. Since he did not know their- mission, Okoto extended to his ,;uests the traditional hospitdity offered visiting traders,

They, as was the usual practice, paid him n fee of two nkpola each. The 'traders' successfully tricked Okoto into his allowing them spead tha whole day inL house which was within striking distance from Umuagu - their target. The invaders left for Urnuagu very early the next morning. On getting there, they first struck at a house where young maldens were undergoing the traditional fattening rites preparatory to marriage, and slayed many of them in cold blood. The uproar caused by this act sent many TJmungu people fleeing into bushes thus giving the invaders a free hand to ravage the whole place, But being unf-miliar rith the land, and flushed in the enthusiasm of their success, the invad~resoon lost control of their formation and strategy and scattered a11 over the village each person seeking to cut as many heads as possible. This made it inpossible for them to coordin~tetheir offensiva and or withdraw when it was still expedient to do so. Thi~lack of coordinntion offered TJmuagu some rcspite to organise themselves to faca the invxicrs. Thcy soon managed to raise an army which kook the ficld ag2inst the 114. invaders. Two men who had earlier distinguished themselves in war - Nwosu Ugonma and Agucbi - commanded the Urnungu army. As this army took the field against the invaders, emissaries were sent to ncighbouring communities for help. Each community on receiving the call for help sounded its --ikoro drum which was an alarm for a11 able-bodied men to assemble at mbara for an cmergcncy. Before long, a large army of Umuhu-na-Okniuga soldiers had assembled and cordoned-off Umuagu leavinl? only one route open - that going south towards Uhuokwu.

The invaders, it must be stressed, had not envisaged spending a whole day not to think of a night at Umuagu. They were,as a result of the cordoning-off, forced to do so and worse still, move in a southerly direction instead of an easterly one - whence they came. Because they could no longer co-ordinate their movement, the invaders became panicky, It was in this confusion that they were coniplet ely routed by Umuhu-na-Okaiuga forces, 3ccounts of the number killed on the side of the invaders vary but it does not appear that many of them. escaped. A purported mass grave where the slain invaders were buried extends for more than half a kilometer in length: - from Mbaraukwu to Uhuokwu 115. The Ekwelu - brim War Ekwelu and tirian belong to what is prescntly known as Lrinm clan.4 Some people however, object to thc uoo 02 Ariam alone to refer to the ontire clan since the clan is made up of two different entities, .ilccorciing to Nazi

~hionuma,? Usaka people migrzt r:. Lo their -~--p~c.*ipA " 2Lll L J-GCCl--' tion from Usaka-Eleogu in the Ngwn area, This, according to him, is why Usakn (in the Ohuhu area) is known as

Usnka-Ukwu while that in the TTgwn area is known as TJsnka- Ntn. Lriam on the other hand was founded 5y people who migrnt ed from Idima-Abam. The founder of ;'irian, according to Mazi Chionuma, was a woman hence .!d.an pcoplc nre

sometimes referred to as U'J'nu-nwanyi-ukk.~. This dif f ercncc

in origin of the two groups that makc up what is presently referred to as 3riam clan, it shoulcl be noted, made it possible for the spilling of blood among the two groups during wars to be tolerated, The claim that .Lrim nigra-

ted from Idima-Abam would seem to be corwobc':rrted. by the fact that they, 3rinrn people, often reccivcd military

assistance from Abam duri.nc. .: wars.

4. Forde and Jones used Isuorgu to refer to Lriru- Usaka, See Daryl Forde (3.1. Jones; xh~J~JG and Southens-s ern IbiMo-s~akinzqcoples -.--%31"-L- of -- .--.m- . -.- -.-- . ~ih~~~ndo~nter~intional:friccn Ins~itutc, 1950) p. 43. 5. Mazi Pius Chionuma, village elder intervi.woi. at Ariam Elu-$.Eu l6.l2,82. Usaka people who now occupy the area to the south of Ariam are said to have arrived and settled the area before the former came, For n long time both groups- continued to exploit a particular area for farming purposes. Trouble began to brew as there were no clearly mz.rked boundaries between the farmlands claimed and used by 1~0th groups. This situation soon skirmishes in which many people were wounded. As the situation deteriorated, hiam gla-&la then located to the south of Ariam nu-@'lu moved north while the latter came to occupy their place. This re-arrangement was undertaken c:lztensi!,ly to make it possible for f~riamglu-glu which was reputedly stronger than Ariam &la-$la to stem the activities of Usaka and neighbouring Ibibio people who har~ssedthe community from the south. The combined harassment of both Usaka Ibibio people forced sections of ;xiam to migrate across the ~ch* stre~mthus leading to the founding of the section of ,\rim presently known as AZU nchai. The swapping of positions by Griam glu-~luand Ariam gla-41a did not help matters i-nuch. The een!drather their &n,f+-n$'r~edL pressure. Things, according to Mazi lJgboaja6 got 'so bad that an driarn man known as Okorie Ukwu who was reputed to be an accorj~plishedmilitary commander

6. Nazi 11, Ugboaja - retired school teacher, interviewed at Arian Elu-Blu, 19.12482, 113.. was forced to found a new settlement somewhere in the disputed farmland, He and his followers guarded Ariarn people as they worked in their farms and also gave them escort as they went home, As time went on, the situation degenerated into a three cornered affray involving hiam, Ekwelu-Usaka and the Ibibio people to the south, Fearing that she could not effectively face two opponents at the same time, Lriam made peace with one of her opponents - the Ibibio, She was thus free to face Usaka especially the section then known as Ibionu (now Ekwelu). The Il~ibio- AriLm accord was arranged by Okorie Ukwu and an intinerant Ibibio hunter, The two men are mid to have agreed and founded a new l~oundary between their communities, The-accord was solemnized with piha performed at the new l~oundary. The new boundary was called N.duru~be. Nobody violated this boundary until after the Nigerim civil war when there were some skirmishes there. 7 Having made peace with the Ibil~io,Ariarn decided to square-up with Usaka. Many border incidents, most of which resulted inloss of lives, took place before the situation exploded into open warfare. Some of the major incidents that precipibated the war included the killing by Ekwelu 118. people of an Ariarn man who had gone to Ekwelu to visit his friend during a feast. hiam is said to hzvc i-ctalinte2. with capturin@ and sclling Ek~i~cluysoplc who came to fctch water at .Nchai ----.- stream. Ehclu also killed an J.riam nedi-

cincrm.n lmoan as Enele 2.s hc ems consulting the orxle in his shrine. 8 Thc reaction of '..rimto this particul:~r

action v:as to movc to Ekv~eluwhere they killed u woIil~?.n whose nntcrnnl home was drim. This action shoclccd Ekwelu into makinc urgcnt preparationsfor war becnucc the killing

of the woman who, under normal circumstances, shoulc! not be harmed, drove the point home to them that their oppo- nents were prapnred for full scale war, The war that eventually erupted- was protrxtccl. Ekwelu-Usakn claim to havc ?)em victorious during the first

battle.' This victory, according to them, ans made possible by the enormous help they rcceivcd from an Il~ibiomedicine- .

man called Okpanebong from hbanc in nci!;hbouring Tkot Ekpene,2 10

Mazi Tete Ukoha - village elder, interviewed at UkohaDsconpound Obugwu-Lrinn 9.12.82. This battle must have takcn place somctine about 1840. This date is derived from Ilxzi Cliionuinrxls clai~which is supported by Ugboaja that his grand- father was yet a kid when this battlc wns fought, Mazi Chionuma himself is over eishty yenrs. Tf we make provision for a generation sap of thirty years, 'setween Chionuma and his father znd l~ctweenhis lather and grandfather we get a tentative dntc of 1840, Nazi Ezekiel Nwaulu, vil-lq;e elder, interviewed at Ekv~eluUsakn 9.12.82. He is said to have prepared a charm which he gave to a bird known as Ikong. The bird, it is claimed, took the charm to the house of the commander of !&am forces where it made a terrible noise which attracted the commander from his house only to be killed by enemies who were in anbush around his house, This incident it is claimed, a0 a demoralised .:rim soldiers that they put up onlyL hnlf- hearted showing at a battle foucht the next dcy and wer, . as a result, thoroughly defcated l~yLheir opponents,

But this claim of victory by Ekwelu is disputed by

Ariam people, They claim thzt no side scored n decisive victory in this as in many other battles of the war, !"hat, according to them hnppened, was that other se~tl~o~.nsofAriam (such as Obugwu) and also parts of Usaka which were not directly involved in the war intervened to riinkc peace among the combatants, This intervention was at the bidding of married daughters - -urnuok~ from both comrnunities invited elders from neighbouring tows to settle the dispute.

After the settlement, Ekwelu 2nd driam jointly est~~blished a deity which they called Mmoi.,ho uzo, For a long time, the people offered sacrifice jointly at the shrine during important gestival-s, 120. However, this settlement endured for only a few years hefore fighting erupted again. This time trouble arose from the conduct of some Ekwelu people who came to Ariain, climbed over the walls of a manqs compound and murdered him in cold blood. The people who perpetrated this action arsued thnt the fori:ier settlement was humilin- ting to their community - Ekwelu and that since they (the latter gcnerc.tions) did not take part in the convannnt thnt was part of the settlement, they were free to redress the situation, The fishtinc thnt followed was co bitter and lasted so long that Ekwclu had to ring herself with a net- work of monts. The fighting was still raging when tlis British intervened in the area - which event forced both parties to lay down their arms.

Fhume - Ohiaoc ha ll!ar Both Ehume and Ohiaocha lxlong to Urnuopara clan, Ohiaocha consists of two villase-groups - Urnunwanwa and Ogbodinaibe, It was not possible for the present researcher to determine the origin and mcanine; of Ohiaochn, Until very early in this century what is today known as Ununwnnnc was called The present conlrnunity Ly'Nwosuocha who was the first nzn from the area to encounter the white people 2nd which also led to his being appointed a warrant chief by the colonial authorities, The name of his mother was I\lwanwz. so TJmunwanvm literdly 121. means children of Nannwa, Ogboclinnibe on the other hand was founded by inIbe one of the sons of O~bocliwho broke 12 away from his 2clrerst group to found his own settler.~ei~t~~.

her il-~tirmtcrelationship and contact with thc latter, The bone of contention between Ohiaocha cmd X~LJ~IC was originnlly a piece of land known as -~,i.,It is located on the boundary bctween Il~eesection of Og1~0dinaibt?:~iid Eliume. It woulcl appear thnt ?:cforc Ibee pucplt? xoved to their present loc3tion from O[;'l_iodiukwu, the cntj-re land on both sldcs of the p~ij-omstretun which prcscntly marks the boundary ?~ctwt:cnZhurne 2nd Ohiaochr: i~elon~cdto the former. looking for a pbacc to settlc, Fliu~csurrendered some of the land on the other sicl.e of the ,oyim- river to Ibee for settlement and farming purposes, l3 The cxtent of the land given to Ilxc. was not properly dcri~:~rcatcdand ibee pcoplc took for grnntcd thnt it extended as far north as thc ,oxi.,rO stream which would seen to l~cn nc:turnl ljounckiry i.,etween the two co~nrnunities.

12. Anabaronye .3tulomah, The-.--.----. Estal~lishment .--a*--- --. ...-of :-- British-.-.- pule iii,,~~uop~'.~~-f,130~1~)(Unputlishad E.A. IIistory Thesis, University of Figeria, ?

some of the land across the stream, Ibee felt alarmed

1 and raised very strong objections. The misunderstanding that followed this incident was coiiipouncied by Ehun~e s action in moving across ao- to remove heads of palm fruits cut there and stored ,by Ibee people, The response of Ibee people to I, this flagrant abuse was to deploy a vigilante group don@

the same border. This deployment of forces led to tension which before long exploded into open combat between the two groups, The skirmish was quelled by the ir,tcrvention of groups related to the two combatants - Umuajnmeze (which is closely related to Umuoyime section of Ehume) and Ununwanwn

(on the part of 1bee).14 This mediation led to the cstn- blishment and acceptance of oyiyo as the boundary between the two communities, Uhnt this mediation manq~edto obtain for the warring parties was, as it turned out, an uneasy peace, Trouble soon started again. This time it was an incident at Nkwozu

market in Umunwnnwa that provided the spark, During a drink-

ing spree on ~ulNkwozu market day, an Ehurie man known as U~WU Qraerekpe . who shared drink with some Ununwanwa people jokingly c. challenged them to show that they were not worthlcss people -

-*--efulefu - by crossing the ,o.yiyo stream any time they were sure Ehuine people were on guard there, This challenge infuriated many Ohiaocha people who tied him to n tree and poured urine and feaces on him, They nlso left him tied to the tree to Se beaten by rz~in. He was later released and told to inforin his people that Ohiaochn was not full of ,-.-efulcfu - 2 after ,all. He was also told to inform his peoplc that Ohi~.ochawould bc rcady t alr e them any time they ccme for F~ fisht.

VJhen U~i;:.rwgot home 2nd told his story, Ehune decided at once to go to war against Ghinocha, Their mobilization also coincidcd with that of Ohinochn. Some-hoe Ohiaocha did not launch an open warfare 1;ut rather opted gv ?rrill;? for ... : warfare, This tactic worked well for then i because they were able to infiltrate enemy lines to harass and someti~oeskill innocent people, Two other incidents worked together to raise this skirinish into a ~injorconfln- gration, First was the attcmpt l~yEhuine people to poison Oliiaocha people who had gone to Ehumegs &kh-ia Eke rmrket as a gesture of peace, Some of the Ohiaocha people who were led to the market by a man known 2,s Nwosu Oleforo were forced by some Zhume people to drink poisoned wine, Two people - Nwosu Nwanyiekc and Akobundu Otuka actually drmk the wine under duress. A third person - Opoko - from ITmluodo-Ogl~odi- naibe had n bit;" scuffle with some Tzhume people who attemljted to force him to drink the poisoned wine.15 In the confusion

15* Nazi ILelechc Ohaeri, ex-customary court judge 2nd now village elder, interviewed at Urnunwanwa - Urnuopara 5e4.83. that ensu~d~.:between Oleforo~smen and their Ehume opponents, Oleforo snatched a knife frox an Ehume man and gave three people very serious cuts, tie afterwards dropped the knife and started running, hotly pursued Sy some people from Ehume,

They pursued him z.s far ns --.Eke Ala market in Ogbodinaihe, Th2 two sides did not immediately resort to pitched battles. Rather each side carried out hit-and-run attacks the other, Ohiaocha would seem to have the better of this type of exchange because she managed to kill two prominent Ehume people - Osbuehi and Kzeako. l6 This action w2s the find event that precipitated the war. Both sides took to open warfare along their common boundary, In the fighting Ehuli~e received substantial aid from Umuajmeze while Ohiaocha was aided by Abam-Ubakala and parts of Ogbodiukwu (the later sympathised with Lbee on whose soil the war w3.s being fought),

During the fighting one Achilefu from OgSodinaibe clknbed a tree from where he snipped Ehume soldiers. He was spotted and 2 titanic struggle ensued for the area around the tree which he had climbed. At a point Ehume almost

16. This war must have taken place sometime around 1890. This date is b$a&d~:l on the fact thzt the father of one Adighimndu OgLuchi who is presently well over ninety was killed during this war. Adighimadu himself is said to be n toddler when his father died, 125. captured the place but when Achilefu shouted on his fleeing colleagues especially his brother Nwnmara, they returned and r,~anagedto hold the ground long enough for

Achilefu to come down. The war was still raging when the British moved into Umunwanwa on their way to ;rochukv~u from Owerri. The day the Eritish arrived Umunwanwa was that of itu aka which preceded o,iam month during which absolute peace was observed in the whole of Umuopzra and Ibeku. l7 Surprisingly, Ehurne and other neishbouring commu- nities rdlied round Umunwanwa tocontain the threat of disruption of itu aka and am- by sending troops to aid Umunwanwa fight and defeat the intruders, The contest between this combined 2rmy and the British was short and decisive. The former were easily dispersed by the devasta- tion brought in their ranks by the British field guns, The aid received by Umunwnnwa from Ehume helped to settle the dispute temporarily. A few years later, however, there was another flare-up in which one Chukwu Nwagboso from Ogbodinaibe killed a man called Isiah who had just been converted to christianity, This caused the two sides to mobilize again for war but fear of repria~le from the British deterred them from resorting to actual fighting. \

17. Nazi A. Rwanmuo, village elder, interviewed at Nwanmuo's compound Umunnara-Ehume 8.4,83,

18, h, fitulomah op, cit, p. 18. 126. Nwagboso was taken to a court at Bende where he was tried and sentenced to life impr8sonement. He was however pardoned and released after serving about seven years, The I:r-'&-c~,.-Umuokwo Yar- There are two different versions of the story relating to the rause of this war, One version maintains that the Lbm warriors who invaded Umokwo were specifically

invited by the tire people from Okporocnyi and Isinkpu. The

same bro people are said to have caused Umuokwo people to leave their former homes in Okporoenyi and Isinkpu. When

Umuokwo fled their former homes as a result of this invasion they were given some settlement land at Apagu by :Lmavfom people, l9 The other version of the story is that it was Umuokwo people themselves who invited the Aham with whom

they have some blood relationship. 20 It is said that Umuokwo invited the Abam to ded with Amawom whom they - Umuokwo - envied because of her wealth and size* According tbi to 2 VCr8+0~hen. the Lbam found that they could not with the force they had, defeat Amawom (they found this out after they had done some reconnaissance on Amawom) they turned inwards to attack Umuokwo who invited them, They charged that sending them to attack a community as large as - -.--

19. Chief Robert Okoro, former traditional ruler and now village elder, intervizwed at /inawon~- Oboro 15,12,82, 20. Nazi Ukandu Kamanu, village elder, interviewed at Umugbalu Oboro, 15.12.82, 127. Amawom almost amounted to asking them to commit suicide. The Abam invaders also attacked Umugbalu which they thought

was not as strong as Amawom but were repulsed, ?dhen, however, Amawom found that the invaders had def ented Umuokwo, she became alarmed, Her fear was based on the conviction that if she allowed the "ro and !"!!lxm to settle down at n placeS%angerouslyb close to her borders, she would be under constant threat from -1ro slave catchers and 3bam head-hunters. She therefore decided to take steps to dislodge the invaders from Umuokwo, However, before .!imaworn could mobilize her forces for the assault on Urnuokwo, words reached her that the invaders had been receiving substantial reinforcemen' from home and that defeatsn~ them would be very difficult. She therefore appealed to other parts of 1kwuano21 to contribute men and~materials for the invasion, In the counter offensive which, according to some informnnts, lasted about five days non-stop, the invaders

were drivcii may from Umuokwo, However, most informants vwy as to their account of the human casmlty during this

21. Ikw.=.no refers to the four clans that make up wh,q.t is resently known as Ikwuano Local Government Arc?. of ?no State. TPr;e%&claim of bemg of the same group &&w~ is not easy to ascertain as each group c1xi.m to haxe come from an area different from the r~thcr, war. Agornoh for excunple maintains that om Abam warrior was killed while the rest returned home safely. 22 Chief 0kox-0~~on the other hand maintains that the entire invading force was decimated, This war left a major scar on Umuokwo, It is claimed that the present sparse population of the village was caused by the terrible depopulation caused by this war. This conse- quence would seem to have arisen out of the tendency among the Lban to adopt measures that were drastic to the extreme and which had no comparison '?with those adopted by the men of towns that quarrelled and fought without resort to aid from foreign sources, 24 Even after the repulsion of this invasion, Umuokwo found it unsafe to return to their former location near Okporoenyi, This was mainly due to fear of reprisal8 from both the I.ro and fibam, They have ever since continued to live in thB: restricted location given to them by Lmav~om, Claims that Umurbnlu was destroyed by the L"L1~am invaders does not seem to hnve much substance in it, Lccording to Kazi ~amanu,'~Urnugbalu did not suffer any major dislocation because she was neither directly involved in the war nor did the war in her territory last long, -- , ---W.--.-L----^4 -..--1)-\1&9_1--I.C.--CPI-.,-.----

C.I. Lgomoh, Some aspects of the Pre-colonial- History of Oboro clan in momahiaup to 3 n'l rr I.. - npublished E.L, History Thesis- Universi .* , .

23 a,, Chief Robert Okoro - -*cited 24, G,T. Basden, Ni,~erIbos - (London. Frank Cass, 1966) pa 244. 25. Mazi Ukandu Kamanu, cited, CHAPTER SIX CONCLUSION This work has attempted to do three thinss. First it has sought to identify the major cmses of wars in pre- colonial Ohuhu. In this regard it was found that disputes over markets and market places, maltreatment of married dau<:hters and careless talk by people were among factors that, in the past, strained relctions between groups in Ohuhu. However it was fcund that the single most import=% cause of wars was dispute arising from claims and counter claims to land. This was due mainly to the fact that being larcely farmers, Ohuhu people valued land more than any other material asset and therefore would go to any extent to advance or defend their claim to it. Another factor that contributed to making land the most important cause of friction amon{: pre-colonial Ohuhu people is the undulating topop-aphy of the area which rendered vast portions of land uninhztitable thus forcin;; people to crowd tozetherk the few areas suitable for habitation thus generating intense competition, The slave trade was not one of the major causes of wars in pre-colonial Ohuhu. There were however, a few instances of disputes that were hsjghtened by tension arising from the cashure and sale by one community, of persons from another. ,! goo~iexam~le of this was the war between Ehume and Onhin in which the final precipitating 130. event was the capture and sale of an Ehume woman by Onhia people as she passed through Onhia on her way to Orie Ntigha market, Even here, there was a remote cause which was a land dispute that had been long-standing between the two communities. The second aspect of warfare in pre-coloninl Ohuhu dealt with in this work is the manner in which the people organised and fought their wars. There were two main types of inter-group conflict in Ohuhu, Each type was soverned a by/different- set of conventions, The first was called a. This type of engagement was usually between people who some of blood relationship, this type of engagement, the spilling of blood was abhored because it was believed to be a taboo for people from natally-related communities to spill one another's blood. To avoid blood- shed during encounters of this nature, non-lethal weapons such as clubs, stones and pebbles were used. The other type of conflict - a~ha- often involved groups that did not have any form of blood relationship, Lethal weapons they such as guns; (when -/ became avLilable),knives, swords 3nd spears were freely used during a~ha, The spillinc of human blood was allowed during conflicts of this nature though a soldier who killed a person during a war was required to underso cleansins rites called ikwo aka or i napu aka ike. A person who killed another during a conflict between natally relation groups was bound to pay with his own life, Such a person (i,e. the killer) was usually handed-over to 131. colleagues or relations of his victim whose duty it was to kill him after performing necessary rites, In some communities, a person guilty of this type of offence was not killed but was either sold into slavery or adopted by the family of his victim, Some of the weapons used during wars were mmufac- tured locally by hired Nkwerre and Awka smiths using locally smelted iron. The major weapons manufactured by the smiths included knives, swords =md guns, There were no standing armies, Every able-bodied man who also belonged *to the second of the three nee-sets into which men were divided, turned to be a fighten in times of war. The fighting men were commanded by people chosen on account either of their bravery in earlier wars or of their fame as hunters, Medicines and medicine men were very freely used during wars, It was common for people to travel as far as Afikpo, Umunneoha, and Arochukwu to procure the services of competent charm-makers, Some of the chwms were believed to make their users invulnerable to knives and guns. Others gave strength and courage while a few were meant to counter the effects of charms worn by opponents, The third mzjor aspect of Ohuhu warfare covered in this work is the various ways in which wars were ended and the consequences of wars, Most pre-colonial Ohuhu wars ended through the intervention of interest groups and permns rather th3.n through the defeat and/or capitulation of one side to another, Two groups that often intervened to bring warring peoples to talk peace, were neighbours and married daughters - ynV okpy, The interest of neighbours was usually, the restoration of commercial relztion between communities which was often disruptecl in times of conflict,

Trading came n close second to agriculture as a source of livelihood in pre-colonial Ohuhu. It was through the net- work of long ancl short-distance trade routes and markets that people were able to exchanse their excess products for their needs especially salt which came from such far-off places as Uburu ancl Ukwa. This intricate network of exchange when disrupted by wars, caused people other than those directly involved grave hardships, Groups so affected naturally took steps to bring the feudins commu- nities to make peace, Narried daughters - ymy okp~- were naturally, interested in makin:; peace between their kinsmen and any other community with whom they had problems. This interest stmmed mainly from the fear that wars exposed their (ym~okpyrs) kinsmen to the risk of being killed. umu okpurs method of intervenub in wars was very direct, They often went to the battle field to occupy n neutral :?round between the armies of the two combatants, This tactic usually forced both sides to lay down their arms for fear of harming either their wives or sisters, f~fterachieving this type of stalemate, ymy okpy normally forced the bexgerents to talk peace. Peace settlements in Ohuhu were usually 133. followed by the performance of certain rituals. Such rituals, it was believed helped to reccncile the gods and nncestors of the warring communities, The settlement of the Lriani-Ekwelu war for example, led to the establishment of a shrine known as p~o~hoUZO which was jointly owned by the two communiti-es,

lims in pre-colonial Ohuhu naturally, had their impact on the ~eople,some of them permanent. Thouzh con- scious efforts were made to kecp carnaltics low, lives were inevitably ; lost in these wars. This was especially true of wars involving groups that did not have any blood relation- ship, There are instances of wns where the human casaa.lties

!L !L a were particularly high. I,(~ood example of war that was very expensive in terms of human lifc was f~,o:haUinua~r;u - the " * Ohafia invasi It is claimed that the entire * invasicn f'orcc estimated at some hundreds was com~letely destroyed, They, the invaders, also took a high toll of Umuap lives when they attncked and killed many maidens undergoing the traditional fattening prior to marriace,

Uars also caused n lot of human suffering, The sufferins was often caused by the disruption which trade and exchange and farming suffered durinf; wars. 1 In aX1, this study highlishts the need for us to have more micro studies of Igbo sccicty. In the area of warfare, for instance, it has shcwn how different reality was from the msy conclusions populariscd by the pnoramic studies of colonial apologists mc! Ijy those who subsequently depended on their works, --BIBLIOGRAPHY -Primary - Sources Oral Evidence collected from informants whose particulars are supplicd in Appendix A below: Archival Material-s-- - National Archives Enugu Allea, J. GoC. "Intelligence Report on Umuahia (1beku) Township" File NO. EP 25565 A (1937).

Chadwick, E. R. , "Intelligence Report on Olokoro Clan, Bcndc Division, Owerri Province", File No. 30823 CSE 1/1/8 (1936)-

Chubb, L.T., Intelligence Report on Ibere Clan, Bends Division, Owerri Provincefl File No. EP 9889~ CSE 1/85/4962.

Owen, WeFo (~nr~esident) "Intelligence Report on Ibere Clan, Bende Division, Owerri Province, EP 9889, CSE 1/85/4961

Please, M.C.J., Intelligence Report on Ibeku Clan Bende Division, Owerri Province EP 10969 1/85/5428 (1935) -- , Intelligence Report on Ibere Clan, Bende Division Owerri Province File No. EP 106244 CSE 5250 (1934).

Smith, J,S. to Secretary Eastern Provinces: "Okonko Society - Faith Terbanacle Disturbances, File, No. OW 8358, urnprof. Umuda - A mafor Affray Bende Division, File No. OW 2321 lii73.prof 5/1/16. Secondary So'urccs : --Books 1. Achebe, Chinua, Things Fall Apart ondo don, Heineman, 1958)

2, Af igbo, A.E. , Ropes of Sand: Studies in Igbo History and Culture (Nsukkn/~badan, University Publishers Ltd/ University of Nideria Press Ltd., 1981).

__W The Ageq;of Innocence: The Igbo and their 3 0 ,

--Neighbours An Ahiajoku Lecture, (Owerri,The Government _s - Printer, 1981). , The Warrant Chiefs ondo don, Longman, 1972)

Ajayi, J.F.AI and Smith Robapt, Yoruba Warfare in the Nineteenth, Century (cambridge University Press, 1964s.

Anene, J.C., Southern Nigeria in Transition ondo don, C.U.P. 1966).

Basden, G.T., Among the Ibos of Nigeria b ond don, Frank cass, 1966).

, Niger Ibos o on don, Frank Cass, 1966).

Butt-Thompson, F.W., West African Secret Societies (New York, Negro University Press, 1929).

Carlston, K.S. ,, Social Theory and African Tribal Organiza- -tion (Urbana, University of Illinois Press, 1968). Davidson, Basil, The People's Cause: A History of Guerrillas in Africa (London, Longman, 1981).

Ezeabasili, Nwankwo, African Science, Myth or Reality (New York, Mantage Press, 1977).

Forde Do & Jones G. I., The Ibo and Ibibio-Speaking Peoples of Southeastern Nigeria- (London, International African Institute, 1950).

Green, M.M.,I&bo Village Affairs o on don, Frank Cass,.1964)

Henderson RONo, The King in Every Man (~ew~eaven/~ew York,.Yale University Press, 1972).

Isichei, Elizabeth, A History of the Igbo People ondo don, Macmillan, 1976).

, Igbo Worlds: An Anthology of Oral Histories and Historical Descriptions (London, Macmillan Education Ltd., 1977).

Leonard A.G., The Lower Niger and Its Tribes (London, Frank Cass, 1968).

Lieber J.W., Ibo Village-Communities badan an, Institute of Education, University of bada an, 1971).

Meek., C-K., Law and Authority in a Nigerian Tribe ondo don, O.U.P. 1973). Njaka Elechukwu Igbo Politiaal qulture vanst st on, Northwestern Un 1vertiity Prese, 1974);

Nwabara , S. N. ; ~boltpd~i, Cen ury,,o,f C ct .wi,th Brkgain 1860-1960 (London, HoddeMbught&).

Nzimiro Ikennn, Studies in Ibo Political System; Chicftaincy and Politics in Four Niger States ondo don, Frank C?SS, 1972).

Smith, Robert: Warfare & Diplomacy in ?re-colonial West Africa v on don, Menthuen & Co. Ltd., 1976). --,- -- Talbot, P.A., The Peoples of Southern Nigeria - 3 volumes ondo don, Frank Cass , 1969).

Uchendu, V.C., The Igbo of Southeast Nigeria (New York, Holt Rinehart & Winston, 1965). --Articles : Afigbo, A.E., "Prolegomena to the Study of the Culture - History of Igbo Speaking Peoples of NigeriaH Ogbalu, F.C. & Emenanjo, E.N. (eds) Igbo Language and Culture ondo don, O.U.P. 1975), pp. 28-53. - ' flTowards A History of the Igbo Speaking Peopleafl, Ibid., pp. 11-27.

---, "The Indigenous Political System of the Igbo"

--.Tarikh -9 vol. 4, No. 2, (19721, pp. 13-24.

Ajayi, J.F.A., professional Warriors in Nineteenth Century Yoruba PoliticsM, Tarikh vol. 1, No. 1, (1965), pp. 72-83.

Ekejiuba, F.I., "The Aro System of Trade in the Nineteenth Century" Ikenga: Journal of African Studies vol. 1, (19721, pp. 11-26.

, '"The Aro System of Trade in the Nineteenth Century" pt 2 - Ibid. vol. I, No. 2,, 1972, pp. 10-21.

Fortes, M. & Evans-Pritchard E.E., introduction^ Fortes M. & Evans-Pritch~rd E.E. (eds), African Political Systems (London, International African Institute., 1940), pp. 1-23.

Hartle, DeD., "Archaeology in Eastern Nigeria", Nigeria Magazine vol. 93, (~une1967), pp. 37-54. ---.-a - Horton, Robin, ItStateles8 Societies in the History of West Africa! Ajayl, JI;P&A. & Crowder M. (eds) History of West Africa Val. I (L~ndon~Longrnan1976), pp. 72-113.

Jeffreys M.D.W. "Ibo Warfareu Maq: ,,A Monthly Record ,of Anthropological science vol. 56, (1456), $pa 77-79.

Kiwanuka, M.S. ItAfrican Pre-colonial History, A Challenge- to the ~istorian'scraftt1 Afrika Zamani 6 & 7 (1977) , PP* 23-35.

Leith-Ross, S., IINotes on the Osu System among the Ibo of Owerri Province Nigeriaf1 Africa: Journal of the Inter- national Africa Institute vol. 10(1937), pp. 206-220.

Mbaeyi, P.A. "Arms & Ammunitions and their Embargo in British West African Historylt Ikenga: Journal of African Studies vol. 2, No. 2, (1973), pp. 14-31.

Nzimiro Ikenna, "The Political System of the Ibo" African Notes (19621, pp. 4-8.

Ogot, B.A. llIntroductiontl Ogot B.A. (ed) War & Societ in Africa (London, Frank Cass,1972), pp. + Ottenberg, Simon", llIbo Oracles and Intergroup Relations" Southwestern Journal of Anthropology vol. 14, No. 3, (19% 1 , pp* 295-317. Smith, Robert, IIYoruba Armamentw Journal of African History VOL 111, NO. 1, (19671, pp. 87-106.

Uka, N., "A Note on the @AbamtWarriors of IgbolandM Ikenga ,.. vol. 1, No. 2, (19721, pp. 76-82. Ukwu, I. Ukwu, "The Development of Trade and Marketing in IgbolnndI1 Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria vole 111, No. 4, (19671, pp, 647-662.

Unpublished Materials: \ \ 1. ~foke,J.N., Ezza Warfare and Inter-group Relations (~npubli- shed BOA. ' History' Thesis University of Nigeria, ~sukkal, 1974.

2. Agashi, P.O., Pre-colonial Warfare in Enugu-Szike (B.A. History Thesis, University of Nigeria, Msukka 1979).

3- Agomoh, C.I., Some Aspects of the Pre-colonial History of Oboro Clan in Ikwuano-Umuahia up to 1910 (B.A. History Thesis, U.N*N., 1979). 4. Ahazuem, J.O., and Inter-group Relationships I in Pre-colonial Thesis, U.N.N., 1975)

5. Amajo, U.A.C., Old Umuahia Under British Rule, 1902-1929 (B.A. {History Thesis 1974).

6. Anozie, F.NO4 '!The Contributions of ~rchaeologyto the Study of Igbo Culture (Unpublished papei- Presented at Workshq~,,,on,Igbo Culture, Institute of African Studies, University of Nigeria, ---- .. .* Nsukka, 1975 ppo 65-92.

7. Atulomah, A.I., The Establishment of British Rule in Uminonarn (B.A. History Thesis, U.N.N., 1973). - .- -& -- .-- 8. Ekpo, LOOo, Some Aspects of the Pre-colonial History of -Ibere Clan (B.A. History Thesis, U.N.N., 1983). 9. Emezue, So, A Pre-colonial History of Umuopara (B.A. History Thesis, U.N.N., 1980).

10. Esobe, EoNo, P Pre-colonial History of Ohuhu Clan (B.A, History Thesis, U.N.N., 1973).

11. Esereonye, E., Slavery and Slave Trade in Bende Division Before 1902 (B.A. History Thesis, U.N.N., 1977).

12. Okoye, Too., TJrbanisation in Igboland" Workshop on -Iqbo Culture, pp. 324-346. 1. Okwery, A.O., Warfare in Pre-colonial Nimbo Nsukka (B,A, History Thesis, U.N.N., 1~~).

14. Onuigbo, Wo, Warfare in Pre-colonial Mgbowo (B.A. History Thesis, U.N.N., 1977).

15. Onwuanaku, V.O., Okonko Society in Orlu (Unpublished Ben. Fine & Applied Arts Thesis, University of Nigeria Nsukka, 1976).

16. Uchendu, V.C., "Patterns of Igbo Social Structureff - Workshop on Igbo Culture op. cit., pp. 347-382. I

17. Ukagwu, Moo., Aspects of the Pre-colonial History of Ibeku (B.A. isto tor^? Thesis, U.N.N., 1978).

18. Ukpabi, SoCo, ffIgbo Warfaref1, (unpublished paper presented at ---Workshop on Igbo Culture., Institute of African Studies University of Nigeria, Nsukka 1975, pp. 413-443. APPENDIX A PARTICULARS OF INFORMANTS

I Y-C-Y I N4liZOP i DA~OF : PLACE OF :MODEOF I s/No~ I OCCuPAToN STATUS ASSESSMENT I IXPGZM~'LNTS 1 AGE i INTERVIEW; INTERVIEW ;INTERVIEW,j I I v-= I ----A - I I I I 1. I S.L. Xecha I 65 I 4.12.82 1 Bende 1 Direct ;I Farmins I The Ezeji of Eeiic':e I Reliable ----f------I------+------* ,----+------?------I I I I 2. i Chim. Ndon 1 58 ; 4.12.82 1 Okopedi I I : Traditional X~ler- I I 1'. I II I (~boto)of It~buzo I ""7""-----""""I ,------+------1 r------+------+------+*------+------:Itumbuzo 11 I I 3 I Lawrence D.G. I 1 I I 1 Traditional Ruler -Ikp I 1 I I 1 : J------J------A---Z--:----L~~------A-----~---J------A------.------L------' Nwankwo 65 6 12 82 1 Bende I 11 I 11 1 111, of Bende I 11 ---- I I I I I I I I 4. 1 Elijsh Isendom ; 70 1 7.12.82 ;Ndivo I 1 Farmind I I Fairly I I I I I I I Itumbuzo I o : Tar Apcj I Village elder I Reliable -----I------4-----*+ &-----+------"------L------I I I I4 5 1 Pi- Shionuma I 84 I 7.12.82 1 Ariam I Retired Civil i I I I I I I I ----1------l------t------I I 11 Servant 1""""""""----1------*------1 Village elder Reliable 7------"f--""---ttt-t---t-t----:Elu-Elu I 6. John Ifenkwe 72 9/12/82 IEkwelu- I I I 1 : 1 I I I I I I I 1t -----J------4------+------+I ' Usaka I 11 ' Farming------4------.----- Village elder ---;------7. I Ezekiel Xwaulu I 60 1 9/12/82 I w I II I II I tt II I t t ,,--J--,---,----,,,,,, J------A------,--,,L------J------oA------J------L------I I I 1 I 1 I I 8. ; Tete Vroha 1 90 : 9.12.82 : bugn nu I I Retired I Okonko priest and I I I I I 11 I t 19 ----?------+------+------~----*------*------I I I I Ariarn I I ------+------b------tFarmer village elder I J I 9. : Nkwa 3keb I 90 I 11.12.82 :Elemaga- 1I r--: I I I I I 1 1 I ----1"---"--'""--"----1I ~--""T-.."""--- I r--"----"T"""'--tttttt----t-t--I f bere I,! I1 II Village--"--"--"---"--r------elder I II 10. : Gilbert Nwaubani 75 : f;Cuil~&&~muajameze I ]--Z;ounc illor now I I I I I Is; .,:- nara Umuo ara 1 11 Farming Village elder t I ----L------J------I I --,,,-,,._,+----E.----J------.----+------k------i I I 11. 1 Okorie Igbudu 1 80 14.12.82 ) Amuro- I I I I I I I I I I I II ----+------$------~------~------~------L------1 Ibere I II I Herbalist I Village elder I I I I I I I I 12. Robcrt Gkoro 1 90 ; 15.12.82 I mawom I I Formerly a trsd:Sioiial I I 4 I I I ruler but now blind- II' II I I I I Oboro I 11 I ----7------I +-----I 7------r------'"'1'----11------T-T------7------~.--.------~------t I I I f village elder I 13. 1 Uk~nduXamanu 1 70 1 15.12.82 Umugbalu- 1I I I I I I t I I I I I I I :~boro I I1 I Farming : Village eldcr ! II I --I-I_-- 1 ------A ------_- - I ' I - -- -* --