THE OSU CASTE SYSTEM IN NIGERIA AND AFRICA, AN INTERNAL APARTHEID AND A POLITICS OF UNREASON PART (1)

 
It is hypocritical for a person to hate discrimination in a distance society, while at the same time gently or not so gently embrace and propagate the same evil in his own country, or community.  If Nigerians are sincere in their profession of unity and oneness, they should haste and enfranchise this group.  Because "An injustice unresolved…burns a hole in the heart" (Cose, Newsweek, April 21, 1997, p.45). And that’s why these groups are pretty bitter! Infact its an abomination in the minds of some people to see me write on such a topic.

“The Igbo are among the most zealous Christians found anywhere on earth, yet neither Christianity nor education had done anything decisive to eradicate the Osu system. The Clergy, the Bishops and Knights of the Church all preach against the Osu system but their utterances are mere words that are not meant to reflect personal beliefs and actions. The Church in Igboland is famous for its Eucharistic Congresses, its Synods, and its Assemblies. In many of these gatherings, the Church hierarchy in Igboland may go as far as to condemn racism in South Africa, racism in Easten Europe or attack racism in America but would never address the issue of the Osu system in Igboland. It is a classic example of removing the mole in the other man’s eye while ignoring the big and gaping sore in your own eye. To this extent the Church in Igboland and Africa is an abysmal failure in social responsibility”.

well i should not  blame the Church for not tackling the Osu issue in Nigeria. The Church – like the Osu caste system – is rooted in religion, in theism, in superstition and in supernaturalism. When it comes to the Osu issue, religion is part of the problem and therefore cannot be the solution. A radical and lasting solution lies outside religion, outside theism and outside supernaturalism.

The Osu caste system will continue so long as the Igbos embrace religion, spiritualism and supernaturalism. Untouchability will not be eradicated until Nigerians in general begin to realize that the gods and spirits are imaginary beings, not objective realities. They need to understand that gods and spirits were concepts used to control and organize society at the infancy of the human race. If one does not believe in any god or spirit, the idea of treating someone as an untouchable because the person is dedicated to a god or spirit would make no sense.
Politically, the government must try to enforce the law abolishing the Osu system. State authorities must get communities to remove from their constitutions provisions that bar Osus from contesting local elections and from receiving traditional titles. The Nigerian state must rise up to its duty of protecting the equal rights of citizen irrespective of his or her sex, ethnic origin, religion or birth status.
Most importantly, the Igbo must begin to envision a new society where people will live and interact freely with each other without division and distinction on the basis of touchability and untouchability.... Leo Igwe.

WHAT IS THIS OSU?

 The Caste System’ is an ascribed or imposed status. One author defines caste as "an endogamous status group which places culturally defined limits upon the individual member in terms of mobility and interaction, and on his nature as a person" (Humphery 1941, p.159). Serious relationship of love or intermarriage between the lower caste and the rest of the community is usually forbidden. At best, the society’s contact with the caste group is purely superficial.


 "thinking ill of others without sufficient warrant" is not peculiar to Nigeria; it is a global phenomenon (Rev. John LaFarge 1945, p.174). The ‘Osu’ caste system is more discouraging than racial discrimination, because it occurs among people of the same nationality, and among people with the same skin pigmentation. Comparatively, racial prejudice occurs mostly between people of different skin colors (e.g. black and white). And for this, it is not very difficult to understand.

In South Africa, ‘Apartheid’ (racial segregation) was the law, before the system was dismantled in 1994. After that, Nelson Mandela was elected the first black president of the country.  In South Africa, the English, it is said, are against the Afrikaner; both are against the Jews; all the three are opposed to the Indians; while all four conspire against the native black. Most of the world, including Nigeria, opposed the repressive rule of ‘Apartheid’ in South Africa.  Yet in Nigeria, we have till today the caste system, which is as repressive, or even more repressive, than Apartheid.

In the United States, racial discrimination (which is the aftermath of slavery and slave trade) is still alive today. Minorities, mostly people of African descent, are being treated with callous disregard. However, federal and state laws by the end of the sixties prohibits discrimination in all places, and the law weighs heavily on any person or organization found guilty of this offence.  It is proper to note that discrimination is now in practice, but chiefly in covert and indirect ways. It is not primarily in face-to-face situations where embarrassment would result. There are discriminations in employment, housing, and in marriage (In fact, as I write this article, my job is on the line. Why? Simply, because I am an African). The Ku Klux Klan, the ‘Skin Heads’, and the "White Supremacy" are among the ugly reminders of the dangers of discrimination and prejudice in the United States.

Adolf Hitler’s hatred for the Jews, and the atrocities his followers committed at the Auschwitz concen-tration camp, are still very difficult to understand. Here millions of men, women, and children, mostly of Jewish descent were murdered. Between the summer of 1941 and the end of World War 11 (1939-1945), about two and a half million people perished at Auschwitz, in the gas chambers and ovens. This was a deliberate genocide, which represented what Adolf Hitler had called the "final solution" of the Jewish problem (Allport 1979, p.288). Discrimination and prejudice against the Jews led to the horrible and unpardonable homicide.

In India, the Hindus were regarded as the lowest caste (outcasts or untouchables). And they performed the menial jobs in the society. But India’s 1950 constitution outlawed discrimination by caste (race or lineage), and the country has since been working hard to bridge the country’s bitter political divides. Gandhi had promised the poorest and most downtrodden of the India’s poor, the untouchables, that democracy would free them from their misery. Now India’s outcasts hold high paying jobs; and in the cities they can marry from other groups. This notwithstanding, in the villages, prejudice still exists against them.

In Yugoslavia, the present pogrom of the Kosovars (the Moslem ethnic Albanians), by the Serbian military and paramilitary forces, has ethnic and religious coloration. The Kosovars are demanding political autonomy from Yugoslavia, but Mr. Slobodan Molisevic and his military might are crushing them. But NATO is not letting the ‘ethnic cleansing’ to go unpunished. The Serbs are being bombed to submission. 

In retrospect, if the apparent positive changes in race relations are possible in the United States and South Africa (multiracial societies), why not in Nigeria, which is a nation of people with the same skin pigmentation?

Internal ‘Apartheid’ in Nigeria?

As I have earlier mentioned, it is relatively easier to comprehend the gulf between "White and Black" in the United States or in South Africa, but it is difficult to understand and fathom the discrimination among the Igbos, among the Ibibios, or among the Yorubas, and other groups in Nigeria. Communities in the six geo-political zones in Nigeria have one variety of caste system or the other.
In the South-East, the people of Umuaka community in Imo State, categorized  "Amafor" (one of the 10 villages in the community) as ‘Osu’. Some other minor lower caste groups found in many kindred are given the pejorative Ibo expression of ‘ndi ejiri goro ihe.’ This may be translated in English as "those who are sacrificial lamb to the gods." Marriage and relationships of love with the rest of the community is abhorred. Those interested in public office are not getting the necessary support from the community. In other words, they are being denied the opportunity to fully participate in the affairs of the community. And this has hindered their social upward mobility in the community.  Some avid supporters of the caste system would not even buy whatever they have for salel in the market. Why this discrimination?

In the South-South, prejudice prevents the people of Akwa-Ibom from marrying the people of Etinam Why?  Supposedly, the Etinams do not stay long in marriage. The strange thing about this is that the people have the same heritage, and have the same skin pigmentation. WE ARE ALL NEGROIDS for crying out loud.



In the South-West, the people of Oshogbo and Ogbomosho discriminate against each other. Yet they are from the same geographical area, and have the same ancestry - the "Oduduwa" family. There exist a mutual resentment between the Ijebus (Ijebuode) and the Egbas (Abeokuta) on the one hand, and people of Ibadan on the other. "If a marriage gets consummated, the respective villages often invoke a curse/charm on the couple, and families tend to disown their children" for marrying from the rejected community.

 Note: the above information were extracted from interviews granted to Dr. Greg Okoro, by Prof. Umuna and Mr.Odejimi, in Atlanta, GA.


 Nigeria and Africa needs a leader who possesses the power to ‘invoke the alchemy of great vision.’ And Nigeria needs a national leader who is incapable of being infected by the virus of inordinate political ambition. So, let us talk about this evil system; and let us act on it. Remember Wole Soyinka’s pragmatic dictum: "the man dies in all who keep silent in the face of tyranny" (Soyinka 1972, p.13).

Solutions to the Osu caste... My true life story ...to be continued.