1929 “Ogu Umu Nwanyi”: Women Riot Or Women’s War?

By Joy Chinecherem

Ogu umu nwanyi 1929 popularly referred to as Aba women’s riot was and is one of the first major political agitations in Nigeria, the very first major women’s revolt in West Africa. Everyone knows about the women’s riot, but some questions beg to be answered about this noble cause, questions like: Was it just about the imposition of taxes? What were the events preceding it? Who led this movement? Was it really a riot or a noble protest? 

On the morning of November 18, Emereuwa arrived at Nwanyereuwa’s house and approached her, since her husband Ojim had already died. He told the widow to “count her goats, sheep, and people.” Since Nwanyereuwa understood this to mean, “How many of these things do you have so we can tax you based on them”, she was angry. She replied by saying “Was your widowed mother counted?,” meaning “that women don’t pay tax in traditional Igbo society. The two exchanged angry words, and Emeruwa grabbed Nwanyeruwa by the throat. Nwanyeruwa went to the town square to discuss the incident with other women who happened to be holding a meeting to discuss the issue of taxing women. – Wikipedia 

This scenario above was the single catalyst to the many tensions already built up in the women within the region. The old Igbo society allowed women to participate in the governance of their various communities and held major positions in the marketplace. Men and women worked together in the domestic sphere and individual roles were essentially recognized.

The colonial masters found the Igbo’s indirect system of ruling disconcerting and somehow impenetrable. To rule comfortably and cover Britain’s interest, the colonial masters came up with their own ruling system, imposing the warrant chiefs. The warrant chiefs were not exactly selected based on who the people want rather on who the colonial masters want. The women in power were completely displaced and marginalized from politics. Relegated to the background, these women were dissatisfied with the way things were being run by the corrupt warrant chiefs. The dissatisfaction grew over the years, brewing to its tipping point.

BBC List Aisha Yesufu In 100 Most Influential Women Globally

Traditionally, the Igbo political system was decentralized enabling choices and democracy but with the advent of warrant chiefs, they turned to tyrants forcing women to join their harem of wives. 

Under the warrant chief’s rule, he grew completely oppressive to the extent of confiscating the women’s animals and collecting their market profit. 

In 1925, the British administration conducted a census and imposed taxes on the male folk. In 1929, came the great economic depression, the price of palm oil products fell which was the main cash product of the region yet the tax was not adjusted. The women stepped up to help pay the taxes on behalf of their families, later in 1929 rumors started making waves that the colonial masters plan on imposing taxes on the women. 

The rumors remain to be ascertained when the scenario between Emereuwa and Nwanyereuwa happened which serves as further confirmation as they know any appraisal of properties leads to taxes. This event sparked outrage amongst the women who were holding a meeting about the taxation of women when Nwanyeruwa went to the town square to narrate the incident to them. These events happened in Oloko town under the warrant chief Okongo.

Shocked and outraged by Nwanyeruwa’s account, the women sent out invites to other women in the Bende region by sending out Palm leaves to the different areas to join them in the protest.

Early November 1929, more than 10,000 congregated outside the district administration demanding written assurance that they would not be taxed by the warrant chief Okongo. Several days went by, the women sat outside the office till the British officers ordered the warrant chief to give them the written assurance. This was a high point for these women.

The warrant chief felt scorned for having to respond to the women, to reassert his authority, he had some of them arrested and harassed. His actions only served to spur the women more to action, more women joined the protest. The women sat outside the administration office, this time demanding the removal of the warrant chief, the British officials were taken by surprise, having not witnessed anything like this before, they were not sure how to handle the women. After two days, they gave in to the demands of the women and went further to sentence chief Okongo to two years imprisonment. 

The women’s movement moved from the town of Oloko, spreading, women traveled down from other regions to get written results of the protest from Nwanyeruwa and also thank her for helping them deflect the tax imposition.

News of the women’s success spread across other regions and provinces, extending to over six thousand miles containing Owerri and Calabar provinces. 

By this time, the protest has already garnered waves across surrounding provinces. The women called their protest Ogu Umunwanyi, they were making war on the men they found disrespectful and corrupt, the warrant chief especially. These women used the method called Sitting on a man, 

Which was a traditional form of protest among Igbo women. When a man had done something disrespectful, he would be followed everywhere, forced to reflect on what he had done. Women would also burn his hut as punishment. The women saw their campaign as just a larger sanctioning of the Warrant Chiefs who had mistreated them. And so, in each village and city where women would gather to demand a written no-tax guarantee and the removal of the Warrant Chief, they would follow a similar pattern of behavior. The women would come dressed in traditional warrior clothes: they would wear only loincloths, and have their faces smeared with paint. They would also have their heads wrapped in ferns, which was a war symbol for the women. They would be carrying sticks with leaves of young palms wrapped around them, meant to invoke the power of their ancestors. The women would chant traditional war songs, and participate in dances.

They gather at the compound of these men singing and detailing their grievances, sometimes destroying their precious properties.   

The famous Oloko trio Ikonnia, Nwannedia, and Nwugo were imperative to the struggle. They were known as leaders of the protest, de-escalating tension and ensuring it doesn’t turn violent. 

According to some accounts, the women turned violent after two women were killed and the Oloko trio couldn’t hold them back. They burnt down administration offices, ten native courts were destroyed and the house of native court personnel were looted. More than 46 women stormed the prisons and freed some of the prisoners 

The women waged their war till mid-December when the colonial masters called in troops and police to salvage the situation. The troops killed more than fifty women and over fifty were wounded.

It might be said that the protest ended badly for the women but the month-long protest achieved a lot of results. Several warrant chiefs were stepped down or removed, in 1933 the colonial masters abolished the warrant chief system. They introduced the mass bench system which took in the old Igbo ruling system with a council of judges presiding.

The Aba women’s war was one of the major revolt against the Colonial administration which lead to chains of events and protests. Today while mentioning the fundamentals of women empowerment in Africa, the Aba women’s war stands at the forefront.