THE IGBOS HAVE COME OF AGE

(OSU CASTE TO DIE A NATURAL DEATH)

BY THE  RT. REV. S. C. A. C.HUKUKA

(Bishop Emeritus, Anglican Diocese of Isuikwuato-Umunneochi)

It is on record that the gospel came to lgbo land more than one hundred and fifty years ago. Today we can boast of cardinals who are lgbos capable of standing for the office of the Pope. The Anglicans have produced a primate and many denominations, have several Arch bishops, Bishops, whereas others have general Superintendents/Overseers and such high ecclesiastical offices.  In the academic world, we have world class professors and consultants; some are even advisers to the president of America. Legal Luminaries and medical practitioners of international repute abound. I n business world, our people have taken immeasurable strides.  All these are evidences of civilization.  Thatched buildings have disappeared so much so that some of our children do not k now what they looked like.    

The abolition of slavery was in our favor. The "white man'' fought the abolition and enforcement of abolition on our behalf. They have since become history. Such vices like nudity and killing of twins have also been a historic event. But one idolatrous, barbaric and wicked practice still throws mud of shame to our faces - the Osu caste in Igbo land. Barbaric, because some people who are regarded as Osu don't even know what it is? They just inherited the stigma. Idolatrous, because its origin is from idol worship - the ancient belief of our ignorant forefathers. Wicked, because it castigates and outlaws people who have committed no offence – legal offences are not hereditary or transferable .

WHAT IS OSU

This is a very important question - what is an Osu? A young man asked his father that question and the father could not explain. The young man retorted, “Are you advising me not to marry an Osu girl yet you do not k now what it is. This is wicked.” The father softly told him t hat he grew hearing that they do not marry from Osu family and so they took it as a norm. Hopefully many readers may understand the origin of Osu from this write up. A few books and seminar papers have been written on this subject. What you will read from this write up is my  personal research and extract from such books written by personalities like Chinua Achebe, Ezeala Jol, Ogbalu F C, Arinze Francis, Obi Sebastine, Okafor Favour, Okigbo and Manessehs  Okere to mention but a few.

ORIGIN:

From every point of view Osu emerged from traditional religion. Somebody can become an Osu by dedication willingly or unwillingly to an idol. Prisoners of war, slaves or kidnapped people may be dedicated to appease an angry god to remove calamity from the land while some are dedicated as punishment for an offence they may have committed in the community. Others, in order to escape maltreatments, including being turned into slaves from powerful relations, dedicated themselves willingly by running into the shrine for protection. Those people become agents of the gods with marks and their hair uncared for.  There are still others who committed crimes punishable by death from the community, such people run to the protection of the deity and so lose every right of the society and serve the deity instead.

Others  became  Osu  by  marrying  or sleeping  on  beds slept by Osu or having  sexual relationship with an Osu. In some societies when one uses the same razor for barbing or eating with an Osu or helping to carry the corpse of Osu or cross the leg of an Osu, they automatically become Osu . There are still others who became an Osu through suspicions and gossips. For example, if two women are quarrelling and one calls the other Osu or even Ozu (death) which sounds like Osu; at later date, people will begin to associate that person with the Osu, and that's it. In some communities females born on Eke day (Mgbeke) or on Orie day (Mgborie) become Osu by traditional belief.  

NATURE AND CHALLENGES OF OSU CASTE

From what has been noted so far, generations who are ignorant of these cultural and idolatrous practices are today suffering from the stigma; whether their forefathers willingly or unwillingly became Osu. It is wicked and very unfortunate. Moreover all those stories are antiquated and heathenish. In some lgbo land these people are not even today allowed to participate in government elections, much less town union elections. In other places, they don't intermarry with those who are not. The later appears to be general in Igbo land

I  make  bold  to  say  with  deep  disappointment  that  this  practice  is  a challenge to the enlightened  in  the  society  - the educated,  the travelled,  the

Church as a whole, our leaders in the governments, our Chiefs, Obis and Ezes, our legal luminaries, our senators and House of Representative members. What are we standing for? What is the church preaching? The "white man'' fought against slavery and our fore fathers were liberated. Early Christians (still the whites) fought against killing of twins. Today many twins who would have been

killed are making t heir marks in the society. The Americans have voted a black to become their president, thereby removing t he past obnoxious segregation of the blacks.  Why  should  we come  back  to  our  land  to  enslave  our  brothers  and sisters?  I  call   upon   t he  church,  the  human   right  activists,  the  youth,  the government  and  all  that  abhor  victimization   to  rise  in  every  quarters  to  act. Remember,   that   in   some   communities   they   are called Oru, Uchu, Ume. Whatever name, caste is caste and should be abrogated.  In some communities it is an abomination for a wife/husband to see the corpse of his or her spouse. Our government abolished it officially since 1956 and put it into law. We want this law to be enforced. I call on all those authors who had written  against  it to now join us to see t he total eradication of Osu  in  our  society  through  legal  procedures  and  whatever possible  means within  the  law  and  human  right  procedures.  May I congratulate some town unions that have abolished it in their towns.  Let the youth  rise  up, ignore  wicked  uncouth  advices  and  marry  whoever  t hey  love  and ignore the societal pressure not to do so. When the youths do so Osu will become a thing of the past sooner than later. God will be glorified and our generation blessed.

The whole world acclaims Nelson Mandela for fighting and ending apartheid, and so bringing freedom and enfranchisement to the blacks in South Africa. What apartheid is greater than the Osu Caste System in Igboland, where the Igboman makes his fellow Igbo a humiliated slave? Terrible!

We, the Igbos have come of age. We cannot continue to listen to fables. We cannot continue to dance to the wimps and caprices of the ignorant and barbaric cultures. We are known to be pragmatic, contributors of developments and advancements in diverse societies and enterprises. We cannot be associated with people who wash their outside cups whereas the inside is full of dirt. This is the time to show that we have fully come of age. Osu caste system and the like must go. Let’s embrace liberty, freedom and enfranchisement for all.