‘Why Igbo monarchical system was destroyed by Christian missionaries and colonial masters’
By Gabriel Omonhinmin
Monarchy is a system of government in which sovereignty is embodied within a single person or authority.
Today in most African countries, Asia, Europe and Great Britain, the system is usually hereditary.
What has, however, changed because of modernization, is that the system has been stripped of absolute and constitutional powers.
A system where the monarch is legally the ultimate authority in all temporal matters is no longer tenable.
In the case of constitutional monarchy, the monarch’s power is legally constrained, ranging from where minor concessions have been made to appease certain factions to where the monarch is a figurehead with all real power in the hands of a legislative body, a perfect example of this system, is present day Great Britain where the Queen is the constitutional head.
The territory ruled over by a monarch; is a kingdom. A form of government where sovereignty is embodied by a single ruler in a state and high aristocracy represent their separate divided lands within the state and their low aristocracy representing their separate divided fiefs.
It is a state based on a system of governance headed by a king or a queen. The above were the points Palace Watch raised with His Royal Majesty, Ezeigwe, Professor Chibe Uzzimba of Uzi land, an indigene of Owerri in Imo State, who has been a strong advocate of Igbo kingship, long before the coming of the missionaries and the colonial masters to Igbo land.
In a heated argument with Palace Watch, IgweUzzimba argues that “the misconception that IGBO ENWE EZE (Igbo’s had no king) has for a very long time now evoked anger from some people and groups in Igbo land.
He said the Christian missionaries and the Colonial masters were the groups that systematically destroyed the Igbo monarchical system.
While the missionaries were busy preaching Christianity, they portrayed the Igbo cultural system and religion as inferior, sadly, our people, who were desperate for civilization bought these lies hook line and sinker, and helped to destroy their ancestral values.
He stressed “Professor Cyril Onwumechili delivered a lecture in the year 2000, known as Ahiajoku lecture on this topic.
Professor AdieleAfigbo, the famed Igbo historian even had cause to defend Professor Onuwumechili’s position on this matter.
Professor Afigbo summarized that year’s Ahiajoku lecture as follows, “some Igbos have Eze-kings, but sadly, the general image presented of the Igbos in some books and by the Igbos in the way they talk about individualism and republicanism is that of a people, who have never had EzeKing.
This culture and image that portrays the Igbos in general as people without an Eze, has painfully left the Igbo people with certain legacies, some good, some bad. Top on the list of the good legacies is self-reliance which the Igbos are generally known for today.”
He stated, “This however goes with certain lack of slavish mentality towards authority.”
He continued, “This is the character trait which explains what Ndi Igbo have achieved in the past one hundred years, especially during the painful years of Biafra. He argues, this is contrary to the false impression created in the public domain that the Igbos never had a monarchical system, this claim is false, erroneous and evil.
I can say with certainty and authority, that the following places in Igbo land had Eze-Kings long before the coming of the missionaries and the colonial masters. The Ezeship still existed side by side, even when the colonial masters took charge of affairs in Nigeria.
The places where the Ezeship was fully operational were Uzii, Akokwa, Osina, Urualla, Orlu, Ihite, Owerri, Onitsha, Oguta, Obosi, Aboh, Ossamere, OgwashiUkwu, Ubulu-Ukwu, Obior, Issele-Ukwu, OnichaUgbo, OnichaOlona, Ebu, Akumazi, Umunede, OwaUteokpu, and Abavo just to mention a few.”
Igwe Chibe Uzzimba explains, “Sowing the seeds of discord, Sir Fredrick Lugard, as the Governor-General of Nigeria, was more interested in how to create a giant system in Nigeria that will easily be available for the colonial master’s exploit. Lugard finally succeed in this plans throughout Nigeria.
But in doing this, the tinniest village in Igbo land during his time, ended up suffering tremendously from Lugard’s political stratagem.
The British instead of using the traditional system they met in Igbo land and inherited, as was the case in the North and Western Nigeria, they sadly, dismembered the whole of Nri and Aro Kingdoms, a system they met in Igbo land. Invariably, Sir Lugard ended up burying the Igbo system in the political graveyard he dug.”
He continued, Lugard dissemination of the fallacious assertion that “Igbos had no or have no king” was political perfidy on his part, because contrary to this particular assertion, events have long shown that Igbo had Eze NRI since AD 1900 and EZE NRI Obalike, who died in 1927 was contemporaneous with Lugard, yet Lugard made no attempt to see him.
Similarly, Aro had a king who was bombarded in 1902. What about the deportation of King Jaja of Opobo, an Igbo from Amaigbo?
Igwe Uzzimba said, from all the available evidence to us today, Lord Lugard messed up big time, the indirect rule system he introduced in Igbo land, by being partial politically and emotionally towards the Igbo people, just because he alone knew exactly how he arrived at the conclusion that the Igbos had no institutions but anarchy.
Igwe Uzzimba stressed, Lord Lugard’s governance of the NRI Igbo and Nigeria as a whole was based on stratagem and sports.
It was this same Lugard, who set the limit of Northern Nigeria territory below South of Lokoja, and overestimates the population of Northern Nigeria, making the population figures of Northern Nigeria greater than that of Southern Nigeria, which everybody knows today, is much more populated than the North.
He arrived at his bogus population figures, without any census taking. The population crisis he created then in Nigeria, is still lingering, up till the present day.
The North, who have been benefiting from this false population figure, even though, they now know the truth, will never allow proper census figures to be taking in Nigeria.
Lugard, by this singular act, widened the distinction between the North and the South. Igwe Uzzimba explained, “Between 1901 up till 1918, when Lord Lugard finally left Nigeria, he intensified the major problems that have been weighing down Nigeria to this day.
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These problems are tribalism, census disagreements between North and South, revenue allocation, constitutional imbalance, religious intolerance, etc.”
Back to the subject of discussions, “the turn of Basden book entitled“Igbo EnweEze” written in 1922 and his other book written 1938, shows that his works were influenced by MDW Jeffrey’s works, especially the one written in 1934.
Basden discovered to his disappointment that his statement on page 132 of the book entitled “AMONG THE IBOS OF NIGERIA” that the Igbo enwero Eze (Igbo don’t have Kings) is not a generally accepted fact among the Igbo people.
It’s painful, that readers including researchers of today, still find it difficult to see the contradictions in Basden books.
What, however, became obvious, is that by 1938, the author had modified his earlier assertion and ideas about the Igbos not having a king.
This was clear because at this point in time Sir Fredrick Lugard had left the shores of Nigeria and Basden no longer had fear of a big man breathing down his neck, to tell lies about the Igbo people and culture.
It was again clear to all that Basden didn’t write from a scientific and objective angle.
He only wrote to please his political master, who was also his paymaster then.
Unfortunately, most Igbo scholars, apologists, and youths, who have refused to read the true history of the Igbo people still glorify the poor works of Basden, which says the Igbos never had a king before the advent of missionaries and the colonial masters. This is very sad.
