Okonko Society In Igbo Land

BY

Umebe N. Onyejekwe

 

© The Guardian Newspapers Limited (Saturday, February 15, 2003)

 

Judicial And Political Functions

Okonko was a powerful institution, which dominated the government of the community. During the pre-colonial and colonial era, Okonko promulgated laws, enforced law and order and performed the function of social control. It employed different techniques to enforce its rules and regulation.

Okonko used psychological sanctions in three different ways to get people to conform. These are reproof, ridicule and ostracism.

He is warned against incurring the anger of the Agbara Ala and thereby bringing death upon himself. If the reproof is not taken seriously, he is sent home to save him from an untimely death by Agbara Ala. A member who absents himself from Okonko or community work without good reason is reproved. If the reproved behaviour continues unabated, sterner sanctions are used. Okonko will resort to ridicule.

Because these two values were and are important values among Okonko members, it was a very effective weapon of social control.

Early in the morning, Okonko members would mask themselves as masquerades and, in a group, go to the streets ridiculing those who have violated certain norms. They would discuss those who committed pre-marital sexual inter-courses, girls who were pregnant without husbands, those who committed abortion, adultery, and all other forms of behaviour that violated the collective conscience of the community.

The deviants' names were mentioned in songs. This, of course, was terrible. Very few people would like to hear their names being publicly and scandalously broadcast as engaging in immoral and anti-social behaviour. This kind of sanction has the tendency to force people to discipline themselves or be ready to face the scandal carried out by the masquerades. This sort of ridicule destroys one's reputation in the community and nobody wants to enjoy the kind of embarrassment that follows such scandals.

Ostracism is, therefore, a total social, economic, blackout on one who violates or repeatedly violates a crucial norm or norms. There are also conditions set for the removal of the sanction and the person concerned must act accordingly before the sanction is removed and he is re-instated as a normal person in the community.

Okonko ostracised anyone who committed murder. Once murder is committed, the Ikoro drum is beaten announcing this. Okonko members will raid the murderer's compound and destroy his house and any other property they get hold of. The relatives of the murder are also attacked as accomplices in the act if they did not quickly issue a disclaimer. The murderer will usually escape into the bush to avoid the anger of the Okonko members and from that point on, the murderer becomes ostracised as nobody would have anything to do with him. Anytime anyone is ostracised, the land must be cleansed in a ceremony known as Ikwa Ala - cleansing the land.

Okonko also imposed fines for misdemeanours such as fighting on the street thereby disturbing public peace. Absenteeism from communal work also attracted fines, though this was done after the "secret agents" have gone from house to house investigating why the absentees did not show up for work. Only those who did not have valid reasons were fined. One can see through all these that Okonko showed fairness, justice and maturity in dealing with the people in the community. It never punished until people were given the right to defend themselves.

Okonko also forced and still forces people to swear, to juju - Idu Isi. This is done when the person responsible for a crime was not caught in the act. In a case like this, everyone living in the community is ordered to swear on the juju that he is not the culprit. The juju was usually water and objects collected from various sources and believed to have supernatural powers to determine guilty and innocent individuals.

The water is put in a calabash gourd and all sorts of objects as well as a human skull are tied to the neck of the gourd. The priest in charge of the juju performs all sorts of rituals appealing to the ancestors and other deities to make the juju potent. People usually confess their guilt at the sight of the juju.

Even today, the highly educated as well as the religious people swear to the juju for business reasons. Juju is believed to have the power to kill the guilty. One of such jujus is the Long Juju of Arochukwu shrine destroyed in the famous Aro Expedition of 1901-1902 at the investigation of the Presbyterian Church which saw the juju as a threat to the spread of Christianity.

Okonko also dealt with hardcore and persistent criminals by selling them off into slavery. People were enslaved for the following offences - incest, rape, stealing, murder and other very serious crimes. Only hardened and persistent criminals faced this type of extreme punishment.

The Igbo people have always practised a type of democracy where the people were governed by a council of elders known as Ama Ala. Important decisions on matter affecting the community were discussed by the elders and other interested members at the market square. Unanimous decisions were taken and everyone had to agree before their implementation. In this instance, virtually all the elders were Okonko members and most of the young men who attended these meetings were Okonko. Okonko, therefore, was the last and only Court of Appeal.

Okonko was also responsible for the defence of community against "foreign" attacks. Okonko warded off land incursions from other villages. Even though non-okonko members joined in the fight, they first had to swear to the Okonko juju to fight bravely and not to betray their comrades. Nowadays Okonko manned road blocks to prevent armed robbers from entering the village.

Okonko In Modern Times

Okonko society changed drastically with the emergence of colonial rule and Christianity. Europeans believed that whatever was not European was inferior and should be done away with. Nigerians were seen as Athens and therefore repugnant to them.

The Christians on the other hand saw the society as standing in the way of winning new members and thus wanted to destroy it. The action of missionaries was drawing away actual and potential members of Okonko and this affected the members financially since they depended much on Okonko initiation fees for their upkeep.

The conflict between Okonko members and religious fanatics became so serious that villages became polarised and minor arguments led to serious fights. This was common between villages which had accepted Christianity and those which had not.

Parents and children disagreed and chaos reigned supreme in some families as the children practised what they have been taught in the schools and boarding houses. They rebelled against their parents' religions which they have been told is paganism and, therefore, evil.

Things got out of hand when hysterical and fanatical converts from the True Faith Tabernacle Church invaded Bende, destroying Okonko sacred places and objects, forcing people to publicly confess their sins and asking them to denounce Okonko.

They tortured, wounded, terrorised and killed innocent men, women, and children whose parents, husbands or brothers were associated with Okonko Society. They revealed Okonko secret signs and symbols - things held most sacred by the people. The Okonko members reacted by burning and looting property belonging to churches and maiming and killing the missionaries.

The Europeans (the District Officers) took sides in the conflict and sided the Christians but because they needed the help of the Okonko members in their mode of governance - the Indirect Rule - they did not send armed policemen or troops to deal ruthlessly with them. There were no clear-cut leaders in the East as obtains in the West and North. The District Officers, therefore, relied on these societies to identify community leaders. Moreover, the colonial government had more pressing problem such as tax resentment and, therefore, did not want to provoke or risk confrontations with the traditional societies.

Eventually, a compromise was reached and the church began to allow its members to join Okonko but the Okonko had to modify many of its rituals and ceremonies. The colonial government made the Okonko members realise that the British, and not Okonko members, were in control of power. They did this by forcing the native children to live in dormitories where they were indoctrinated that their parents practised paganism and that they should rebel against them.

The 'Europeanised Nigerian', 'half-baked illiterate converts' who were busy aping the Europeans were extremely critical of Okonko culture and custom. The colonial government forced people to pay taxes only in British currency thus forcing them to cities where they could get jobs from the Europeans.

This resulted in the young men leaving the villages in search of jobs and education. When they got them, they now looked to their achievements and educational qualifications as pointers to their status in the community. They demonstrated that they had become "somebodies" by pointing to their cars, houses, wealth etc. In our society, no matter how successful a person is, he is not recognised or appreciated until he builds a house in his hometown.

All these, however, do not mean that Okonko is dead. It is very much alive. Even though it is not politically strong, it still performs its entertainment and other functions. Even though its judicial functions have been taken over by the law courts, people still take certain cases to Okonko and its members still occupy important positions in the community. Okonko could never again be what it was in the pre-colonial era.

It is however important to note that Okonko, before the colonial era, was responsible for effective functioning of the community. It performed legislative, executive and judicial functions. It brought villages together under a type of loose federation and performed many social, economic and political functions. Through rigorous initiation rites, the initiates learnt the norms and values of their community. It was an effective means of social control penalising violators of community norms using techniques which deterred others from doing some.

Through the sharing of Okonko secrets, members owed allegiance to the community. Ancestors were constantly appealed to for aid during ceremonies. Masquerades terrified people, forcing them to conform. The authority of the elders were strengthened as the controllers of powerful charms and contact with the supernatural. Okonko served its functions and to some extent continues to do so till today.

 

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