A FORGIVENESS STORY: ABBA COMMUNITY AND THE ABOLITION/ ABROGATION OF THE OSU CASTE SYSTEM
In December of 2019, after not being home for a very long time, I decided to visit the village where my roots and ancestry can be traced. I was shocked when asked if I would attend an abolition and abrogation ceremony of the Osu caste system of the Abba clan a village comprised of four communities in Imo state located in the Eastern part of Nigeria. They had finally decided to abolish the Osu caste system holding them back. From time immemorial spanning from the existence and emergence of our forefathers and great ancestors, the space called Africa and Africans have by nature and nurture exuded some outrageous atavistic, and tortuous culture that has impeded the development and affected the moving forward of certain group of people who practiced this culture and created a great perennial chasm amongst them. One of such specific culture is the Osu-caste system of the Igbo tribe in the Eastern region of Nigeria known by some in parts of the country and even some parts of Africa and the world because I believe there are literature and works of art detailing the demeaning and barbaric ways people of the caste system are treated by mainly “free-born” Igbo folks that live amongst them. This culture endeavors to relegate fellow human beings into being peevish because of labeling, insinuations, and man-made laws. The Osu people in some places and communities not necessarily Abba are referred to as slaves because they were captured either in communal clashes/war or must have committed grave atrocities against the laws of the land and people. The Osu people were/are considered to be the property of the gods (before the advent of religion such as Christianity or Islam, the Igbo’s worshipped and some still practice a different kind of religion local to their community and villages and had their gods). The Osu people were not allowed to intermarry with those from outside their caste system otherwise called free-born, they can only marry themselves or outside their region where questions cannot be asked about their lineage and ancestry. They could not hold certain positions like the kingship of the village or air their views at village meetings. If you slept, ate, and drank from the same plate and cup, you would be termed unclean, avoided, ostracized, and excommunicated by immediate and extended families and the whole village depending on the harshness of the village meting out the retribution on behalf of the gods and traditions of the land in those days. In recent times, and with the advent of Christianity, education, modernization, and development, ostracizing reduced and people of the community now related with the Osu people and go to their homes but they could never marry from amongst themselves and among certain Igbo folks. My first encounter with this Osu caste system was in 1996. There is this unwritten rule of traveling home down East every Christmas holiday typical in most Igbo homes no matter what part of the continent you resided and especially if you could afford to make the trip down to Nigeria. On one of these visits, I was in the company of some of my relatives with whom I spent the Christmas holiday. I accompanied an uncle with some of my cousins to visit a family some walking distance from their own home. When we arrived, we were offered some traditional snacks and palm wine for the elderly among us. The setting was a happy one, I sat at a corner of the house as I enjoyed the beautiful scene when a lady playfully walked in and hugged my uncle and took a sip of drink from his cup, there was this unexplainable silence and our host got up and quickly threw away the contents of the cup, washed it thoroughly in the kitchen sink while shaking his and muttering underneath his breath. We all could see this because the kitchen and the sitting room were divided by a half wall. He poured another drink for my uncle and handed it over to him. The lady who drank from my uncle’s cup some minutes ago shook her head in anger and left as quickly as she came. The look of confusion stayed on for a long time and I heard them discuss in hush tones and whispers. On our way back, I asked my uncle if all the performance was necessary just because a lady drank from his cup or did she have a communicable disease of some sort that everyone was aware of and he said and I quote; “She is an Osu and knew not to do that publicly to him especially where others were watching and did she want to put him in trouble?’’ I was even more confused than before. I have a retentive memory stored with facts, passed down to me by my ancestors so I recalled in primary school that we were taught the Osu caste system practiced by the Igbos under a subject called social studies but we were only given superficial lessons as the teacher then found it uncomfortable teaching us that subject. I decided to research for myself and question my relatives and some villagers. What I was told made no sense at all because I had just finished reading “The Animal Farm” by George Orwell and I believed no human being should be higher than anybody or should be allowed to do things differently while others were banned from doing the same. I never went back to the village for a very long time after that incident. A decade later, I attended a traditional marriage ceremony of a dear female friend, and just as the marriage rites were about to be finalized, the aged grandmother of the bride in her late 90’s who was very sick and confined to her bed managed to make an appearance at the ceremony of her grand-daughter. My friend was excited to see her loving grandmother. She hugged her excitedly and told everyone present that she had prayed the night before that her grandmother would make it to her marriage ceremony and celebrate with her. An elderly man from the groom’s family walked towards my friend’s grandmother, peered into her face, and became angry. He quickly drew the attention of his kinsmen and I could not believe my ears when it was announced lousily that the marriage rites and ceremony were called off till further notice. It was said later that the grandmother of the bride was an Osu. The family of the groom who was almost done with marriage rites and was about to head home with their bride called off the marriage ceremony and demanded that the bride price (a specific amount of money given traditionally to the parents and community of the bride) they paid be handed back to them immediately. The manner this whole scene played out was embarrassing for lack of words without even any consideration for the feelings and emotions of the bride or her family. This goes to show how savage this culture was and still is as I am very sure it is still practiced in some villages. The ability to make such harsh decisions just because a person has an “Osu” parent in their ancestry was cruel. I could not believe my eyes and I thought everyone was acting but then the scene was not a beautiful one. My mind flashed back to the first encounter I had as a child but this time the wickedness that was unearthed was worse or maybe because I could see the effect on someone I hold dear. It’s funny how man-made laws can affect a group of people negatively just because we allowed it out of fear. My friend left the village and the country and emigrated overseas. I was angry for a long time that people allowed themselves to be ruled by backward traditions and let them affect their lives and the ones they loved. Fast forward to December 2019, was I happy to hear of this abolition and abrogation ceremony of the Osu caste system in my village? Of course yes even though I was still shocked that such was still being practiced? I made my way down to the Central football field Abba. The venue for this epoch-making ceremony to find out what was about to go down. Ritual rites were performed in and off camera, church leaders, traditional prime minister, indigenes of the village, performed these traditional rites to remove whatever ancestral curses and labeling proclaimed on those referred to as Osu by their ancestors. Everyone was asked to forgive and treat each other as the same. The Catholic Bishop of the capital city of Imo state gave a lesson on forgiveness and denounced anyone who would refer to their fellow indigene of the village as Osu either in whispers or publicly, and it was accepted by all. Traditional dances were performed for entertainment purposes. Christian prayers were held to round off the ceremony and there was plenty to eat and drink.
(Names on the banner were blurred for privacy). The constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is against these practices and one would have expected educated and exposed folks to know this as the laws of Nigeria supersedes any savage laws but I guess it is easy to make laws but hard to enforce them and make sure people are not choosing what favorable parts of the law to obey. The past should remain in the past but most times it is good to probe it and learn how our actions can affect us as a people. Hopefully, this savage culture remains outdated only to be discussed in traditional history books of the community, and may we see positive results from this abolishing, abrogation, and elimination of this barbaric culture. May we never subjugate any human being to such practices again. Forward ever Abba community!
Sally Bonn-Ohiaeriaku
