The Igbo of South-Eastern Nigeria
The Igbo, sometimes referred to as Ibo, are one of the largest single ethnic groups in Africa. Most
Igbo speakers are based in southeast Nigeria, where they make up almost 17% of the population;
they can also be found in significant numbers in Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea. Their language
is also called Igbo. The primary Igbo states in Nigeria are Anambra, Abia, Imo, Ebonyi, and Enugu
States. The Igbos also are more than 25% of the population in some Nigerian States like Delta
State and Rivers State. Traces of the Igbo Culture and language could be found in Cross River,
Akwa Ibom and Bayelsa States. Igbo language is predominant in such cities like Onitsha, Aba,
Owerri, Enugu, Nnewi, Nsukka, Awka, Umuahia, and Asaba, among others.
There have been postulations of different origins of the Igbo; however, studies have it that the Igbo
have lived in their present location millennia. The archeological finds at Ugwuele Okigwe make
an insightful proof of human activities in the theatre of Igbo civilization more than two hundred
and fifty thousand years ago. Evidence of man-made tools like axe, pottery and carved stones dug
up at the present day Enugu and Ebonyi states establish the credibility of the habitation of Igbo for
a very long time. In other words, traditions of Igbo origin favor Igbo genesis in Igboland. The Isu
group of the Igbo nation would appear to be the largest in population and seem to occupy a
contiguous stretch of land from the center of Igboland expanding to all directions. This implies
that the initial Igbo cultural and structural ideas likely evolved from the Isu. Their spread has
helped to harmonize the features of the Igbo Cultural Area. In the Orlu section of Isu that claim
autochthony for instance, a primogenitor was recollected of the name Igbo Ngidi, who was
spiritually and scientifically advanced. He founded Ama Igbo [The home of the Igbo].
From Ama Igbo in Orlu, he instituted various blacksmithing centers, agricultural practices,
commerce and religious oracles. He further established his ideas at a place he called Igbo Ukwu
[Igbo the Great] in praise of his success. It was from these places of initial causes (Ama Igbo and
Igbo Ukwu) that the Igbo multiplied and occupied the present-day Igboland. It is recollected that
Igbo people called themselves Umu Igbo Ngidi [Children of Igbo Ngidi], which was shortened to
Umu Igbo. Today, Igbo means the people, the language and the land. Etymologically, the word
"Igbo connotes "human community:
With regard to the genesis of the Igbo in relation to their original population stock and areas of
initial settlements and dispersals, four views are worth mentioning:
The Amaigbo View of Igbo Origin
There exists the speculation of settlement from antiquity among the Orlu and Isu group. Within
this zone, Amaigbo stands out with complex sophistication that ushers valid insight into Igbo
settlements of old as well as the evolution of the cultural, linguistic, behavioral and psychological
patterns that give the Igbo a distinct outlook. Some historians noted that with population explosion,
people from this region spread rapidly and founded other parts of Igboland. The axis in question
constitutes the upper half of the "Southern Igbo" involving the Isu, Orsu, Orlu and Ihiala group.
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The Owere View of Igbo Origin
This is shared by both indigenes and foreigners alike, who see the Owere region as the archetype
originality of Igbo. Critical insights into the height of linguistic and cultural evolution attained here
attest this standpoint. This region covers the stretch of land from Urata surroundings to Umuahia
areas. This view is held by Elizabeth Isichei, who suggests that Igbo origin has its root somewhere
in Owere-Umuahia axis. Hence, from here, there skyrocketed the outward radiation of Igbo
characteristic elan. In other words, the original population stock from this region expanded north,
south, east and west.
The Awka View of Igbo Origin
It suggests an earlier habitation of the Awka and Nri axis, whose people emerged as the first and
original Igbo group. After elapsing series of internal evolution, there was the need to expand due
to population pressures. There are claims of autochthony here, where migrations are just
remembered to be a few miles from the present abode. Igbo cultural thoughts could have developed
by this region around the Omambara and Ezu river basins being among the important elements of
civilization. Factors that fuel this view include the Awka smithery and the emergence of Nri ritual
functions.
The Owere-Awka View of Igbo Origin
The fourth satisfies the result of archaeological studies that noted the continuous inhabitation of
Igboland from prehistoric period. Regarding the complex dynamism involved in the question of
Igbo origin, K.O. Dike and P.A. Talbot argue that Awka and Owere form the focal foundation of
early Igbo dispersal. Chikezie Uchendu also holds this view that the area stretching from Awka to
Owere form the Igbo heartland belt. Botanical and anthropological evidence confirm a continuous
settlement of the Igbo in Igboland with a cultural continuum from the lithic periods to this day.
Uchendu elaborates that "the belt formed by Owerri, Awka, Orlu and Okigwe divisions constitute
this nuclear area" of Igbo evolution. People in this area have no tradition of coming from anywhere
else. Within this belt, villages are small in area but are very densely populated due to internal sub-
divisions over long period of habitation and group autonomy. Communities lying outside this core
belt make a sharp contrast, where villages are large in area but are scantly populated. In summary,
the Igbo are African people who have occupied their land for many millennia, splitting off from
other Africans and evolving a distinct system.
Igbo Before Foreign Colonization
Pre-colonial Igbo political organization was based on semiautonomous communities, devoid of
kings or governing chiefs. With the exception of towns such as Onitsha, which had kings called
Obis, and places like Nri and Arochukwu, which had priest kings known as Ezes, most Igbo village
governments were ruled solely by an assembly of the common people. Although titleholders were
respected because of their accomplishments, they were never revered as kings, but often performed
special functions given to them by such these assemblies. This way of governing was immensely
different from most other communities of Western Africa, and only shared by the Ewe of Ghana.
Igbo secret societies also had a ceremonial script called Nsibidi. Igbos had a calendar in which a
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week has four days. A month has seven weeks and thirteen months a year. The last month had an
extra day. They also had mathematics called Okwe and Mkpisi and a saving and loans bank system
called Isusu. They settled law matters by oath taking to a god. If that person died in a certain
amount of time, he was guilty. If not, he was free to go, but if guilty, that person could face exile
or servitude to a deity.
After The Colonization
The arrival of the British in the 1870s and increased encounters between the Igbo and other
Nigerians led to a deepening sense of a distinct Igbo ethnic identity. The Igbo also proved
remarkably decisive and enthusiastic in their embrace of Christianity and Western education.
Under British colonial rule, the diversity within each of Nigeria's major ethnic groups slowly
decreased and distinctions between the Igbo and other large ethnic groups, such as the Hausa and
the Yoruba became sharper.
The novel Things Fall Apart by Igbo author Chinua Achebe, is a fictional account of the clash
between the new influences of the British and the traditional life of the Igbo.
Instability and Biafra Secession
In 1966, a failed coup de'tat by Nigerian army officers led by an Igbo—Major Kaduna Nzeogwu—
resulted in the death of Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto, a prominent northern Nigerian
of the Hausa ethnic group. Although the coup was foiled primarily by another Igbo, Johnson
Aguiyi-Ironsi, the belief prevailed in northern Nigeria that Hausa leaders were singled out for
death. This situation gave rise to a retaliatory pogrom in which tens of thousands of Igbo were
murdered in northern Nigeria, which led to the headlong flight back to the Eastern Region of as
many as two million Igbos.
Eventually, the crisis reached an apex in May 1967 with the secession of the Igbo-dominated
Eastern Region from Nigeria to form the Republic of Biafra headed by the aforementioned Colonel
Ojukwu. The secession quickly led to civil war after talks between former Army colleagues,
Yakubu Gowon and Ojukwu broke down. The Republic of Biafra lasted only until January 1970
after a campaign of starvation by the Nigerian Army with the support of Egypt, Sudaqan and the
United Kingdom led to a decisive victory.
Indigenous Political System
Igbo society has described it as acephalous, segmentary or stateless. This classification is based on
the fact that the pre-colonial Igbo society consisted of autonomous villages and village groups
ruled via diffused authority without any sort of formalised, permanent or hereditary
leadership systems. The Igbos can be said to be republican by nature. They maintained a
decentralized and acephalous society. Igbo society was democratic and egalitarian to some
significant extent. An egalitarian society is characterized by the adjustment of the number of
valued statuses to the number of persons, or fixing or limiting of persons capable of
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exerting power. As many persons as can wield power, whether through personal strength,
influence or authority, can do so.
The traditional Igbo leadership system as an exercise in direct democracy on the village level
with a representative assembly on the level of the village group. Aside from the representative
assembly, some Igbo communities, especially trading cities along the Niger like Onitsha and
Oguta, and the Nri ancient kingdom had elaborated chieftaincy institutions in pre-colonial times.
In all, the Igbo political system, comprises of established ranks and positions of honour.
Political organisation is also markedly different. Thus there are Ezes/Igwes/Obis as well as other
honorary.
Ascendance to the top is open and free for any individual irrespective of age or family
background. Concerning the traditional Igbo society, the basic unit was the family, the most
operative unit being the kindred, then the village and the town. The village groups were
not organised in kingdoms. The function of government was carried on by a council of
elders who shared power in various levels of intensity with various other groups– age grades,
titled men, women, ritual priests, etc. Such a fragmented pattern of government is a
manifestation of egalitarianism, individualism, achievement motivation and the clear absence of
group solidarity.
The Igbos occupies the former Eastern Region (now South-East geo-political zone) and a part of
the former Mid-Western region. The Igbos, unlike the Yoruba and the Hausa–Fulani, had a
complex and complicated system of administration in pre-colonial era. Igbo society is
reputed to have had a more decentralized political structure than any other major group .
There is equally strong evidence of a cultural emphasis upon individual achievement affecting
rank status . The basic social unit among the Igbo has been a single extended family or
kindred composed of several such families and the largest political unit has normally been the
village group. The Igbo, generally had no kings or chiefs. They operated a democratic system of
government. The executive, legislative and judicial powers were vested in the Oha-na-eze, the
council of elders; the family; the Age –Grades and the Umuada. There are basically four
levels in Igbo Political System. These include the family (under the headship of the father
and comprises of nuclear members of the family which is usually large depending on the
number of wives a man married); the Kindred (a smaller social unit made up of the head
of the nuclear family–the Father or the Okpara); the Village (comprises of kindreds and cluster
of kindreds and headed by the Okpara of the most senior kindred by order of birth): and, the Town
(the highest political unit among the Igbo and is made up of villages which are collections of
kindreds with attachment to the land [Ala or Ani] as a common bond).
With regards to the sub-cultural area of Igboland to which reference is being made, there were
lineage headships, influential age groups, and powerful titled and secret societies. There
were also individuals carrying the title Eze or Obi, indicating a special degree of influence
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and power, though not independent of the person and, especially, the wealth it could
mobilize. The majority of such leadership positions were held by men. However, there were
also female assemblies and individual leaders, and female titles in some places, in what has been
described as a dual-sex political system‟ with gendered complementary structures. Some of the
leadership positions were restricted to elders, often of certain lineages only; others were based on
individually achieved status and purchasing power, especially the ozo-titles. Some authors
contend that as regards to these leadership positions, a common feature is their high degree of local
diversity, in two ways.
First, the rules by which an individual obtained a position differed from place to place.
Second, while certain Igbo communities (especially Nri and Arochukwu) exerted a certain
wide-range commercial or ritual influence, the leaders of these communities did not exert
direct power outside of their own community.
The structural organization of Igbo political system can be summed up as being premised on the
following grounds:
Village Administration:
A village is seen as inhabited by a group of related families. Each family head held the
Ofo title and all of them put together formed the council of Elders. The council governed
the village.
The Age Grade:
The age grade is an association of people that belong to the same age group. Members of
an age grade are selected based by virtue of being born within a particular period. Thus
while some Igbo societies select age group members based on those born in a particular
year, some memberships span two years. In Igbo traditional society, the age grades perform
the following functions:
1. Perform the public duties such as: clearing the paths, construction of roads, and
markets etc.
2. They were involved in the administration of the villages.
3. They served as army for the defence of the villages against external enemy.
4. They acted as the police force for the maintenance of law and order.
5. They helped in the implementation of policies made by the council of elders.
6. They assisted in checking abuse of powers by the paramount rulers and the
council of elders.
7. They also perform ceremonial and cultural functions during important ceremonies
in the village or communities.
The Age Grade System is among the Igbo the fundamental institution of government and
principle of traditional political organisation, which is also variedly developed in the cultures
of some other African nationalities. The Age Grade System is a manifestation of the republican
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way of life of the Igbos as well as their popular system of direct village democracy. The roles
played by the Age Grades has in recent times expanded to incorporate that of security,
military, economic development, policy making and policy implementation among several
others. As a multi-functional institution, the Age Grade System through the creation of
opportunities for systematic political participation by every member of the community strengthens
the popular democratic process as well as the stable development of the political and other
related institutions.
It is also pertinent to identify some general attributes of the Igbo traditional leadership
system. These are that the affairs of the village are discussed from time to time by family heads;
the villagers make laws for themselves and even the age-grades are empowered to enact
laws which the elders would accept based on its merit; succession to leadership position
was not hereditary in Igbo political system; the political system was of a Republican nature;
decisions were reached by consensus, different institutions played different important
roles in the administration and powers were shared by them; and, that wealthy and influential
men in the community or village are given the Ozo title. This title makes the holder to be
recognized in the society and could then preside over meetings about issues affecting the
community with elders.
The conferment of the Ozo title is often based on achievement. On the administration of justice,
minor disputes in the Igbo traditional society were settled by the family while major disputes
were handled by the council of elders or Amala. The final adjudication of cases was left to
the deities. Similarly, the age–grades resolved cases that are minor within themselves. The Earth
goddess (Ala) plays a great role in judicial functions, for example, offences such as
homicide, murder and birth of abnormal children are crimes against Ala. The Chief Priest
or native doctor (dibia) also takes part in judicial settlement; the whole village may equally
constitute itself into a court for the purpose of settling disputes.
By way of summary, certain salient features of the Igbo political system should be outlined. Firstly,
Igbo social structure is defined through blood line. This is traced by patrilineal linkage. The family
is the nucleus of Igbo society followed by the clan, village level and town. These blood
relations constitute the bedrock on which associations between people and their neighbours
are formed. The development of social organization is from the form of an extended family to a
kind of village government coupled with a strong tie to religion, trade and marriages. Consisting
of associations of age groups; men with titles, poor and rich citizens interact with one another in
war or in peace who jointly participate in community affairs, decision-making and all development
efforts the defining principle of Igbo culture is the emphasis placed on individual
achievement and initiatives, prestige and egalitarian leadership.
Secondly, Igbo traditional society equally recognises old age. The Igbo village is made up of
several compounds. Each compound is based on patrilineal relationships. Status is accorded to the
male in order of seniority in spite of whether the family is polygamous or not. In the family,
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therefore, the first son is the head and is entrusted with the family heirlooms like Ofo
naOgu, Chi, and Obi. The first son (known as Opara) holds the symbol of the family
authority. Within the family, there are two Igbo positions of esteem which are formally
institutionalized. These are Opara (first son) and Ada (first daughter). The first two male and
female children, namely Opara and Ada, are accorded higher status in the Igbo family. In a
monogamous family, the birth order follows. The younger is required to always give respect
to the older brother(s) or sister(s). This seniority and respect accorded to old age is one of the
fundamental beliefs among the Igbos.
Thirdly, Elders are generally respected and honoured. Elders are often approached in both good
and bad times for advice. A leader is always expected to speak the truth at all times. The
village head often combines the village priest. An elder may equally be a titled person who
presides over traditional functions in the family compound and in the village. To this end,
therefore, it is safe to conclude that the Igbo Political System is segmentary, a representative
democracy, and a bulwark of the entire members of the family or kindred against any
form of injustice.
