Human rights in the cultural traditions and social practice of the Igbo of south-eastern Nigeria

Journal of African Law

Volumn 43, Issue 1, 1999, Pages 71-98

  Ejidike, Okey Martin ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 12944331975     PISSN: 00218553     EISSN: 14643731     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0021855300008731     Document Type: Article

References (125)

1. A. An-Na'im, “Human rights in the Muslim world”, (1990) 3 Harvard Human Rights Journal 13 ff
2. D. Donoho, “Relativism versus universalism in human rights: the search for meaningful standards”, (1991) 27 Stanford Law Journal 345 ff
3. R. Howard, “Dignity, community and human rights”, in An-Na'im (ed.), Human Rights in Cross-Cultural Perspectives: A Quest for Consensus, Philadelphia, 1992, 81 ff
4. R. Panniker, “Is the notion of human rights a Western concept?” (1982) 120 Diogenes 75 ff
5. O. Schachter, “Human dignity as a normative concept”, (1983) 77 American Journal of International Law 848 ff.
6. It is doubtful if such arrogation can be scientifically sustained without undue reliance on the codification of international human rights by the UN. Despite the vigorous debate on the philosophical or conceptual basis of human rights (see, for example, P. Alston, “Conjuring up new human rights: a proposal for quality control”, (1984) 78 AJIL 607–721
7. R. B. Bilder, “Rethinking international human rights: some basic questions”, (1969) 2 HRJ 557–608
8. B. G. Ramcharam, “The concept of human rights in contemporary international law”, in Canadian Human Rights Yearbook, 1983, 267–281
9. S. P. Sinha, “Human rights philosophically Indian”, (1978) 18 Journal of International Law 139–159
10. S. P. Sinha, “Human rights: a non-Western viewpoint”, (1981) 67 Archiv für Rechts und SozialPhilosophie 76–91
11. S. P. Sinha, “Why and how human rights?” (1982) 10 International Journal of Legal Information 308–319
12. Joel (Nathan) Feinberg, Social Philosophy, New Jersey, 1973
13. R.J. Vincent, Human Rights and International Relations, New York, 1986), an empirical evaluation across cultures remains decisive for a conclusion on its status in the world's cultures.
14. See P. Alston's background paper for the World Conference on Human Rights in 1993: “How far has the United Nations come and where should it go from here?” in M. Nowak (ed.), World Conference on Human Rights, Vienna, 1994, 13–22 at 17 § 18. para. 20
15. R. Cook, “Women's international human rights law: the way forward”, (1993) 15 HRQ 230–261 at 235.
16. Jack Donnelly, Universal Human Rights in Theory and Practice, Ithaca, 1989, 49–65.
17. International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 993 UNTS 3 (1977)
18. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 999 UNTS 171.
19. M. J. Herskovits, Life in a Haitian Village, New York, 1931, 20–21, observed, the Igbo were “… found excellent for work in the fields, yet difficult to manage … Nonetheless, many slaves from this tribe were acquired. Their strong communal and tribal ties made it advantageous for those who owned them to obtain more of them since newcomers were accorded help, care and instruction by Uiose who had preceded them.”
20. A. E. Afigbo, The Warrant Chiefs, London, 1972, 207–248
21. A. E. Afigbo, Ropes of Sand, London, 1981, x-xi
22. S. Leith-Ross, Stepping-Sbmes, London, 1983, 92.
23. R. Armstrong, The Study of West African Languages, Ibadan, 1964, 12–13.
24. These civilizations included the Ugwuele/Okigwe civilization, the Afikpo civilization, the Nsukka/Udi civilization, the Owerri civilization, the Ika civilization, the Anambra civilization, the Nri civilization, the Ndosimili/Ukwuani civilization, the Ngwa civilization, the Abam/Edda civilization, the Enuani civilization, and the Aro civilization. This listing is in near-chronological order of origin ignoring overlappings. The largest civilization in terms of territorial expansion was the Nri while one of the smallest was the Abam/Edda. Details of these can be found in M. Angulu Onwuejeogwu, “Evolutionary trends in the history of the Igbo civilization in the culture theatre of Igboland in southern Nigeria”, 1987 Ahiajoku Lecture, Owerri, 1987.
25. M. A. Onwuejeogwu, An Igbo Civilization: Nri Kingdom and Hegemony, London, 1981, 178.
26. The Ngwa and Aniocha civilizations moved a step further in the development of symbolic communication. In these two civilizations, thought and ideas were put in written forms. They developed what seemed like ideographic writing. In southern Ngwa, the Nsibidi was confined to a secret society which controlled trade and initiation ceremonies of its cult association. In Aniocha at Mkpitime, it was restricted to cult members. These forms of writing are one of those inventions in Africa, south of the Sahara, which had no Islamic or European root. The idea tiiat Africa south of the Sahara had no writing should be abandoned as a historical fallacy. See especially An Igbo Civilization: Nri Kingdom and Hegemony, at 58.
27. V. C. Uchendu, The Igbo of South East Nigeria, New York, 1965, 13.
28. GA res. 2200A (XXI)
29. UN Doc. A/6316 (1966), 999 UNTS 171
30. General Comment 6/16 on art. 6, 27 July, 1982, Compilation of General Comments and General Recommendations Adopted by Human Rights Treaty Bodies, UN Doc. HRI/GEN/1/Rev.1 at 6 (1994)
31. General Comment 14/23 of 2 November, 1984, Compilation of General Comments and General Recommendations Adopted by Human Rights Treaty Bodies, UN Doc. HRI/GEN/1/Rev.1 at 18 (1994).
32. V. C. Uchendu, Compilation of General Comments and General Recommendations Adopted by Human Rights Treaty Bodies, n. 18, 42–43.
33. GA res. 44/128, annex, 44 UN GAOR Supp (No. 49) at 207
34. UN Doc. A 44/49 (1989), entered into force 11 July, 1991.
35. Art. 6(2–5) ICCPR.
36. See generally, R. Horton, “Stateless societies in the history of west Africa”, in J. F. A. Ajayi and M. Crowder (eds.), History of West Africa, vol. I, London, 1971, 78. The Igbo societies were in most cases territorially small and lacked big empires but they were certainly not stateless since they evolved well-developed institutions that performed governmental duties.
37. Art. 26 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties 1969 58 UKTS 1980.
38. Common art. 2 ICCPR and CESCR, GA res. 2200A(XXI)
39. UN Doc. A/6316 (1966)
40. Max Gluckman, Custom and Conflict in Africa, Oxford, 1973, 19.
41. Custom and Conflict in Africa
42. Falwell, L.J., in R. v. Crewe, ex park Sekgome [1910] KB 576, 615
43. S. Livingstone, “The House of Lords and the Northern Ireland conflict”, (1994) 57 Modem Law Review 333 at 360, n. 145. I thank Stephen Livingstone for calling my attention to this case.
44. Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, GA Res. 39/46, annex, 39 UN GAOR Supp. (No. 51) at 197, UN Doc. A/39/51 (1984), entered into force 26 June, 1987.
45. This punishment later took the form of nicking the ear so that blood dropped on the shrine as a reminder of the sin. See S. Ottenberg, Double Descent in an African Society: The Afikpo Ullage Group, Seattle, 1968, 66.
46. Double Descent in an African Society: The Afikpo Ullage Group
47. A. Worsley, “Infibulation and female circumcision: a study of a little known custom”, (1938) 45 Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of the British Empire 686–691
48. F. P. Hosken, (1976) 2 Womens International Network News 30–44
49. K. Boulware-Miller, “Female circumcision: challenges to the practice as a human rights violation”, (1985) 8 Harvard Women's Law Journal 155–177.
50. For interesting sociological discussions of this institution in Igboland see V. C. Uchendu, “Slaves and slavery in Igboland, Nigeria”, in S. Miers and I. Kopytoff (eds.), Slavery in Africa, Wisconsin, 1977, 121–132
51. K. Nwachukwu-Ogedengbe, “Slavery in nineteenth-century Aboh, Nigeria”, in Miers and Kopytoff, Slavery in Africa, at 133–154.
52. J. Grace, Domestic Slavery in West Africa, London, 1975, 2.
53. S. Miers, Britain and the Ending of the Slave Trade, London, 1975, 134.
54. Onwuejeogwu, Britain and the Ending of the Slave Trade, n. 16.
55. W. Rodney, “African slavery and other forms of social oppression on die Upper Guinea Coast in the context of the trans-Atlantic slave trade”, (1966) 7 Journal of African History 3.
56. Miers, Journal of African History, n. 41, 132.
57. Journal of African History, 141.
58. Journal of African History, 132.
59. On the osu see generally, D. Forde and G. I. Jones, The Ibo and Ibibio-Speaking Peoples of South-Eastern Nigeria, London, 1967
60. T. O. Elias, The Mature of African Customary Law, Manchester, 1956, 98 argues that the osu was a distinct caste.
61. In 1956, the government of Eastern Nigeria passed a law outlawing the use of the words osu and ohu slaves, allowing them full political rights on equal basis with all others. See I. Nzimiro, Studies in Ibo Political Systems, London, 1972, 28.
62. Geoffrey Nwaka, “The civil rights movement in colonial Igboland”, (1985) 18 The International Journal of African Historical Studies 473–486.
63. Nzimiro, The International Journal of African Historical Studies, n. 47, 118–128, contains a good description of this system in monarchical Igbo societies.
64. V. C. Uchendu, The International Journal of African Historical Studies, n. 18, 100.
65. For a discourse on the Aro, see J. C. Anene, Southern Nigeria in Transition, Cambridge, 1966, 16–18.
66. Nzimiro, Southern Nigeria in Transition, n. 47, 122–123.
67. Onwuejeogwu, Southern Nigeria in Transition, n. 13, 63.
68. The prohibition of banishment in the ICCPR is indirectly derived from the protection of the right of entry in article 12(4) ICCPR. See M. Nowak, UN Convention on Civil and Political Rights: ICCPR Commentary, Arlington, 1993, 218 at para. 45.
69. UN Convention on Civil and Political Rights: ICCPR Commentary.
70. Nzimiro, UN Convention on Civil and Political Rights: ICCPR Commentary, n. 47, 121–122.
71. V. C. Uchendu, UN Convention on Civil and Political Rights: ICCPR Commentary, n. 18, 87
72. F. A. Arinze, Sacrifice in Igbo Religion, Ibadan, 1970, 4.
73. Meirs, Sacrifice in Igbo Religion, n. 41, 132.
74. E. Hogu, Christianity and Igbo Culture, Leiden, 1974, 40, claims to have discovered a public shrine called “Egbo Chukwu” (“The square of the Supreme God”) in Ihiala. This practice, one must note, is not widespread and is very likely a recent practice resulting from Christian influence.
75. See also the 1981 Declaration on the Elimination of all Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion and Belief, GA Res.36/55 of Nov. 25, 1981
76. United Nations, Human Rights: A Compilation of International Instruments, New York, 1993, 122–125.
77. For an interesting discussion of the divisive tendencies within the social practice of Islam and Christianity, see A. A. Mazrui, “Human rights and the moving frontier of world culture”, in A. Diemer et al (eds.), Philosophical Foundations of Human Rights, UNESCO, ch. 12.
78. For an interesting analysis, see Makau Wa Mutua, “Limitations on religious rights: problematizing religious freedom in the African context”, in J. D. van der Vyver and J. Witte, Jr. (eds.), Religious Human Rights in Global Perspective, The Hague, 1996, 417–440.
79. Edmund Ilogu, Religious Human Rights in Global Perspective, n. 62, chs. 4–5 at 54–117.
80. African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, 1981 arts. 18(1) and (2).
81. This practice is also noticeable among the Dogon of what was French Sudan, see M. Griaule and G. Dieterlen, “The Dogon of the French Sudan”, in D. Forde (ed.), African Worlds, London, 1954, 83–110.
82. A good example is J. Donnelly, “Human rights, individual rights and collective rights”, in J. Berting et al (eds.), Human Rights in a Pluralistic World, UNESCO, 1990, 39–62 at 43–45.
83. See generally A. E. Afigbo, “The indigenous political system of the Igbo”, (1973) 4 TARIKH 2, 13–23 at 21.
84. C. C. Ifemesia, Traditional Humane Living Among the Igbo, Enugu, 1979, at 46–49.
85. For a detailed study of the political system of pre-colonial Onitsha see R. N. Henderson, The King in Every Man: Evolutionary Trends in Onitsha Igbo Socuty and Culture, New Haven, 1972.
86. Common art. 2 ICCPR and CESCR on non-discrimination in the enjoyment of rights; art. 3 of the ICCPR on the equal rights of men and women; arts. 8 and 26 respectively of the ICCPR against slavery and discrimination, and the Convention on the Political Rights of Women, 1953.
87. See C. Mojekwu, “The nature of law and justice in an African tribe”, LLM thesis, Chicago, 1972
88. C. Mojekwu, “Traditional law and justice in Nnewi community”, in L. Ekwueme (ed.), Perspectives on Igbo Culture, New York
89. C. Mojekwu, “Nation builders”, in C. Mojekwu et al, African Society, Culture and Politics, Washington DC, 1977, 191–200
90. L. Pye, Aspects of Political Development, Boston, 1966
91. quoted in Mojekwu, Aspects of Political Development (1980) at 86.
92. Burkina Faso v. Mali, 1986 ICJ Reports 567.
93. K. K. Nair, Politics and Society in South Eastern Mgeria 1841–1906, London, 1972, 46–55 notes the formation of a slave association in Old Calabar by the 1880s to protect the interests of slaves.
94. Politics and Society in South Eastern Mgeria 1841–1906.
95. Uchendu, Politics and Society in South Eastern Mgeria 1841–1906, n. 18, 87.
96. Ottenberg, Politics and Society in South Eastern Mgeria 1841–1906, n. 36, xi.
97. Politics and Society in South Eastern Mgeria 1841–1906, 116–123.
98. Politics and Society in South Eastern Mgeria 1841–1906, 116.
99. Meribe v. Egwu (1976) 1 All NLR 266.
100. For a captivating discussion of developments in Canada, see D. Herman, Rights of Passage, Toronto, 1994.
101. Afigbo, Rights of Passage, n. 10, 236–248
102. Leith-Ross, Rights of Passage, n. 10, 91–92.
103. Afigbo, Rights of Passage, 241.
104. In Opobo alone 32 were killed and 31 wounded, Leith-Ross, Rights of Passage, 91.
105. O. Equiano, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa the African, eighth edition enlarged, Norwich, 1794, in Afigbo, Rights of Passage, n. 10, 162.
106. Equiano, Rights of Passage, 14
107. Afigbo, Rights of Passage, 183.
108. G. I. Jones, Ibo Land Tenure, Africa, volume XIX, 1949, 309–313 at 313.
109. L. T. Chubb, Ibo Land Tenure, Ibadan, 1961, 20–22 at paras. 36–41.
110. Ibo Land Tenure, at 8, para. 14
111. M. M. Green, Land Tenure in an Ibo Village, London, 1931.
112. A. G. Hopkins, An Economic History of West Africa, London, 1973, 39.
113. Chubb, An Economic History of West Africa, n. 93, 21, para. 39. He notes further that where a man denies his sons access to farmland, the family will show them other land on which to farm.
114. J. O. Alutu, Nnewi History, Enugu, 1986, ch. 12.
115. M. Angulu Onwuejeogwu, Nnewi History, n. 13 (1987).
116. A. E. Afigbo, Nnewi History, n. 10 (1981) 42.
117. See also M Angulu Onwuejeogwu, Nnewi History, n. 16 (1981).
118. Some important oracles included the Agbala of Awka, Ibini Ukpabi of Arochukwu, Igwe ka Ala of Umunoha and Haaba Agulu among others. For a case study see M. O. Ejidike and L. I. Izuakor, “Deity as an instrument of social control: the case of Haaba Agulu”, (1992) 1 Mgerian Heritage 20–26.
119. Afikpo, Edda, Unwana, Amaseri, Okpoho and Enna clans where on a man's death, his property—including the land at his personal disposal—is inherited by 1) his brothers by the same modier; 2) his sisters of the same mother; and 3) the children, male and female, of his eldest sister, in that order of priority: see Chubb, Mgerian Heritage, n. 93, 22, para. 40.
120. For an interesting discourse on the dynamism of women's rights see P. Alston and H. J. Steiner, International Human Rights in Context, Oxford, 1996, 885–967.
121. (1986) 2 NWLR 369.
122. See also Lewis v. Bankole (1908) 1 NLR 81.
123. Rasaki Yinusa v. Adesubokun (1972) SC 27/70.
124. G. T. Basden, Among the Ibos of Nigeria, reprinted edition, London, 1966.
125. See D. I. Nwoga, Ma na Nz$re: The Focus of Igbo World View, Owerri, 1984. He notes that when villagers want to cut down a big and aged tree, they take four sticks of ogilisi (a flower tree used to demarcate borders in Igbo land), and plant them in a small square, put the neck of a pot in between, put some stones around the pot-neck and call upon the tree to move to that place and not be angry with them for removing it from its earlier habitation. From then on they offer periodic sacrifices to the tree at that shrine.