Posts
- Traditional rulers in the Igbo community, especially in Anambra, state have agreed to abolish the Osu caste system
- The monarchs in a statement read on Tuesday, November 6, fixed Friday, December 28, as the date to officially end the practice...
- The regent of the ancient Nri Kingdom in the state, Prince Ikenna Onyesoh, said that continuing with the practice is suicidal
Paramount traditional rulers in the south-east have jointly set Friday, December 28, to put an end the age-long and controversial Osu caste system in the region.
According to the Igbo tradition, the Osu are said to be dedicated to deities (Alusi) while the Ohu are said to be slaves right from birth, Punch reports.
The monarchs in a statement on Tuesday, November 6, said that the event marking the abolition of the Osu caste system in Igbo land would take place at the Nri Palace in Anambra.
In the document, the regent of the ancient Nri Kingdom, Prince Ikenna Onyesoh, said that it would be “spiritually suicidal” for anyone to continue with the obnoxious Osu practice after it had been abolished.
Onyesoh's words: “Come December 28, 2018, more stringent spiritual implications will be pronounced from Ikpo Eze-Nri against such devaluation of mankind, after an extensive spiritual abrogation exercise.”
Moreover, in the statement, the Eri traditional rulers said that they were set for the abolition. The chairman of Eri dynasty traditional rulers forum, Eze Nkeli Nzekwe Kelly, said: “The whole world needs to witness what is about to happen in our land on December 28, 2018 because such a thing has never happened before.
“The last time in history anything close to this happened was 200 years ago. And mark my words, after these abolition and atonement exercises, anybody who continues to uphold these practices will have themselves to blame.
“It’s time to end these once and for all and unite our people for the new era. It’s time for our estranged brothers and sisters who were sold into slavery to return home.
"We are more than ready to atone for the sins of our forefathers and reunite with our kits and kins in America, Europe, the Islands, and beyond. It’s time.”
Earlier, Legit.ng had reported that twenty four traditional rulers in Oguta local government areas of Imo had endorsed abolishing the Osu caste system, to free affected people from stigmatisation.
The age-long system is also known in some Igbo tradition as Osu, Diala or Ohu, depicting slavery to either a human being or deity.
The royal fathers believe that the caste system had caused major deprivations, dehumanisation, stigmatisation and lack of marriage among units on a particular class of people in the society considered to be slaves.
Author: Onyirioha Nnamdi
Posted by @pocarlee
No comments:
Post a Comment