A Madness That Should Be Totally Curbed Because of Its Effect on Human Right.
The Osu caste system is an age-old practice in South Eastern Nigeria that discourages social interaction and marriage with an ostracised group of persons. David aduge-ani, stanley uzoaru and okechukwu obeta write on the plight of the stigmatised individuals
The practice of the outcast system popularly known as the Osu tradition in Igbo land dates back to the era of slave trade and war in the eastern states where victors took away their enemies as slaves, some of the slaves in turn were sacrificed to the gods and later branded “Osu” in their new settlement.
The Osu caste system has prevented many young men and women from the South East from marrying people of their choice. This tradition has not only led to a high number of ladies and young men remaining unmarried, it has equally led to frustration among this group.
In 2012 for instance, Emeka a businessman who lives in Spain, through a friend, met a young lady called Amarachi who lives in Abuja on facebook and fell in love with her and their love kept growing day by day. They spoke every day on phone and exchanged messages and pictures on facebook.
The love they had for each other even increased when Emeka and Amarachi realised they are from the same state – Anambra and even from almost the same community. While Emeka is an indigene of Amichi town in Nnewi local government, Amarachi is an indigene of Igboukwu in Aguata local government area. ALAIGBO.COM gathered that Amichi is a stone throw from Igboukwu community and people in both communities go to each other’s markets.
“We had the interest of each other because of the closeness of our communities to each other. We courted for about seven to eight months before we finally agreed to marry each other,” Emeka told ALAIGBO.COM.
He said after months of courtship they arranged for a proper introduction in their family home. So he returned home from Spain while Amarachi travelled from Abuja to meet him in Lagos, so that they could travel to the village on the fixed date for the ceremony. Every necessary arrangement was made in the village of the wife-to-be for the marriage introduction. All her brothers and sisters equally returned to the village for the ceremony.
“We met in Lagos in my brother’s house; she actually travelled from Abuja to meet me. This was to enable us make all the arrangements and also for us to travel together to the village for the formal introduction. We also arranged on how the introduction was going to be conducted, including the payment of the dowry and other matters.
“However, on the fixed day, when my family members and I visited the home of my would-be in-laws, we noticed an unusual reception from the family members. When we asked for our would-be-wife, we were told that she went somewhere, which was unusual. My family members were not treated well during and even after our discussion on the marriage introduction; we were told not to worry about the marriage anymore but to go back home and wait for a feedback from them. Up till this moment, I tell you that feedback never came from the family of the wife I wanted to marry,” he narrated.
Amarachi told ALAIGBO.COM that even before the arrival of the family of her groom-to-be on the fixed date for the introduction, her family had already concluded that the marriage would not take place because the man who wanted to marry her is from an ‘Osu’ family.
“On our way home for the introduction ceremony, I received a call from one of my brothers to inform me that the marriage introduction was not going to work out, because my family discovered that the man in question is from the family of ‘Osu’ caste. So the kindred had already met and concluded that the marriage would not hold. On the scheduled date for the marriage introduction, I was locked inside a room in the family compound to prevent me from meeting the man who wanted to marry me or any member of his family during their visit,” she said.
After the incident, every effort made by both Amarachi and Emeka for the marriage to take place proved abortive.
“Because we loved each other and wanted the marriage to work out, we did everything possible. For instance, we visited a Rev Father in our village church and the traditional ruler of my village. Our Rev Father even advised us that the only way he could wed us in the church was for us to go to a court and pay the dowry there and then collect an evidence of payment that we are married. He said with that, he would have a reason to wed us. However, all the efforts we made did not yield any positive result,” she says. ALAIGBO.COM also gathered that there was a man in the same Igboukwu village who married a woman from an Osu family. Before the marriage, every effort to prevent him from marrying the woman was fruitless as the man went ahead and married the woman. What the family did after the marriage was to excommunicate the man from the family. They even gave him another surname different from that of the original family and was asked to pack out of the family compound to another land where the man lived with the wife till his death recently.
In Imo State, the practice still prevails as several efforts by both traditional and religious institutions to abolish it has remained unproductive.
However, efforts of the Catholic Archbishop of Owerri diocese, His Grace, Anthony Obinna who has been at the forefront of the eradication of the age-long practice through his annual Odenigbo lecture to sensitise the people of the state on the need to abandon the practice has recorded some positive results.
Some of those branded as Osu who do not intermarry with the freeborn known as “Diala” now do so after the annual lecture by the clergy. Nevertheless, majority of the residents of the state still believe in the outdated tradition.
When asked if he could marry an Osu, Mr Uchenna Obi from Amakohia in Owerri West local government area of the state said, “this is a difficult question, my people do not marry an Osu; even if I defy their tradition and marry such a person, I would be ostracised from the community.”
The tradition has made the act of marriage so rigorous as the intended couples have to embark on investigative journey to their different families to find out if they are not from Osu clan.
However, there seems to a good tiding about the Osu caste system in Anambra State as His Royal Majesty, the traditional ruler of Isseke kingdom, Igwe Emmanuel Nnabuife said, the system practiced in many communities in Igbo land long ago has been abolished in virtually all the communities in the state.
Nnabuife said the Osu caste system is primitive, retrogressive and does not conform with the “best international practice of human rights.”
Stating that the practice has already been abolished in all communities in Anambra State, Igwe Nnabuife who was a one-time presidential aspirant under the defunct National Republican Convention (NRC) disclosed that traditional rulers in Igbo land have already resolved to sponsor a bill to be passed by Houses of Assembly in all the South-East states of Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo to enact laws abolishing the practice of Osu caste system.
According to Nnabuife, all the forests in Anambra state where the deities existed had been destroyed in all communities.
Also, the traditional ruler of Nri Kingdom, the acclaimed ancestral home of the Igbos, His Majesty, Eze Obidigwe Onyesoh stated that Osu caste system no longer exists in most communities because it is discriminatory and does not encourage social cohesion among people.
The president-general of Nawgu community in Dunukofia local government area, Mr Chuks Ilozuo, stated that the culture is not practiced in his community but described Osu caste practice as a violation of human rights, adding that the practice is retrogressive.
