By Anayo Okoli, Dennis Agbo, Chimaobi Nwaiwu, Ugochukwu Alaribe, Chinenye Ozor, Chinonso Alozie, Chinedu Adonu & Ikechukwu Odu

UMUNNA is a strong grassroots administrative institution in Igbo land. In fact, it is a strong micro government in Igbo land. It is very powerful, strong and wields great influence amongst the people.

They are involved in settling disputes among members of the community and inter communities.

In most cases, before disputes between members of the same Umunna go out of the jurisdiction of the Umunna for resolution, the particular Umunna must, first adjudicate over them, and if it is not resolved, the parties concerned may resort to another place of arbitration.

At times, the judgment of Umunna may be tendered as the matters proceed to higher authorities, even Courts of law. In marriages, traditionally, it is the Umunna that give out girls in marriage; the father and immediate family only play the role of witnesses.

Basically, Umunna is the strongest institution for dialogue in Igbosocio cultural setting. The institution of Umunna remains the strongest institution to settle dispute among one another both in marriage, dispute of tribal war, childbirth, inter and intra tribal issues.

In a typical Igbo setting the institution of Umunna remains second to none on decision making. So in Igbo land, the institution of Umunna is so strong and respected that anyone neglects at his own peril.

According to Chief Nduka Eya, former Secretary General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Umunna is the insurance policy of Ndigbo. He also said that it is the foundation for any federation. But regretted however that the Nigeria federation was wrongly arrogated from the top rather from the below, as Umunna.

“Umunna is family insurance; whenever you are in need, they convene to find a solution. That is why the Igbo have had that type of insurance; the western insurance where you pay for has its base from the Umunna system. It is a wider blood relationship, extended families that look after one another in various aspects of life.

“At a wedding, we attended last Saturday, at the traditional marriage, the Umunna was there because you cannot get married without the Umunna. They will support you in everything you do and that is why I said that I see them as extended family insurance. It is a natural thing in Igboland. They cover you and give you soft landings.

“At the extended family, everybody supports and contributes to the progress of the other. Onye aghana Nwanneya, be your brother’s keeper. They have also gone beyond the development of their families. Umunna is all the family extension from the same root. In this Christmas, we came back to talk about development for next year, make contributions and come back next year to see how far we have gone.

READ ALSO: FG begins work on N12bn Umuahia-Bende-Ohafia Road project

“If one dies, it is the young members of the Umunna that will come and dig the grave, there is no charge but if you don’t relate with them as a family member, you won’t see them.

“The basic structure of Ohanaeze Ndigbo is the town union which is a congregation of many families and from there to local government, the state and national body.

Nigeria federation is in difficultly because we seem to have united from the top rather from the below. America is a success because their union came from below. Local governments decided to come together and built up.

“That is why people are saying that maybe we should go back to our ethnic nationalities, so that those who want to join will unite and form a group that is convenient and in that way you grow up. But that was overtaking by the amalgamation in over 100 years ago and we are in the next century of it and we are still searching for what to do but Umunna is the strength of the roots”, Eya said.

In his view, an Igbo leader, Chief Jerry Obasi, described the Umunna as a powerful body for the administration and good governance of kindred, clans, villages and communities in Igbo land.

Obasi explained that the Umunna makes laws, enforces as well as prescribes punishment to offenders in any given community, thereby ensuring that there is law, order and peace. According to him, everyone, no matter his status in the society, belongs to the Umunna and must abide by the decisions of the body or he appeals to a court of law if he doesn’t accept the decision of the Umunna.

“Umunna is a very powerful body in the Igbo traditional system. They are apolitical, but may belong to political parties on an individual basis. No matter how highly placed, you must belong and bow to the whim and caprices of Umunna. This is because they serve as enforcer of the laws of a given kindred, village or community in Igbo land.

However, they make decisions for the political good of their people. “For instance, if you are a governor, you must bow to the Umunna. If the Governor has any issue with Umunna, he must listen and resolve issues with them. You can’t be more powerful than the Umunna no matter your status because they hold the aces in decision-making process in Igbo land.

“Umunna has the right to sit in judgment over matters in Igbo land. The verdicts delivered by the Umunna are also respected by the Courts of Law in Nigeria. They can also be summoned to Court to give evidence on their verdict. The Court cannot throw away their verdict because they know the history and culture of the communities. In fact, Umunna is feared everywhere because of powerful position they occupy in Igbo land”, Obasi said.

On marriage, he also stated that no man can legally hand over his daughter or get a wife for his son without the consent and involvement of the Umunna in Igbo land. Obasi, however, noted that land disputes and politics have continued to cause division in the Umunna traditional system in Igbo land and urged the Igbo people to preserve the age-long system.

For Chief Ozoh Anaekwe, an Ifutedunu High Chief and an Ozor titleholder, Umunna is an important aspect of government in Igbo land that cannot be ignored. It is from Umunna at the kindred that you go up to the Umunna in the village level before you go to the town.

If you want to know anything about a man, it is from the Umunna that you will know who a man is; you do not know a man from where he lives, works or do his business; you know a man from his Umunna, from where he was born and he grew and became a man before going to town or anywhere to settle, work or do his business.

Umunna or kindred is a strong institution in Igbo land, that no reasonable person should neglect; they are so organized that they have executive that spearhead the affairs of that kindred, and no matter how rich, eminent, educated, your social and religious position, you must subject your loyalty to them and whatever your are doing you must accord them that respect they deserve.

“They are the people that can give the good or the bad account of everyone, if you are good, it is your Umunna that will tell the people who you are, no matter how anybody will look at you and give their rating, it is your Umunna that gives the best account of who you are and if ten people are giving account of you, and the majority gives positive or negative account if you, that verdict is indisputable.

“When people have problems, the Umunna are the first stage of government to settle it, before it gets to the village and then to the town before it is taken to court; whatever judgment you get at the Umunna level, it is not supposed to be neglected because it turns out most of the times to be the best judgment because they are the people that look into the eyes of the parties involved to tell them the home truth without fear or favour.

“On issues of marriage, it is the Umunna that gives out their daughters for marriage just as they are the people that accompany their sons to get wives. They are so important that once they are missing in marriage activities such marriage is seen not to have been conducted through due process. It is the Umunna conducts most of the traditional rituals in marriage; the parents only play the role of a
witnesses.

“In fact, to know who a man is, it is from his Umunna you can know better, whatever verdict that is given about a man by his Umunna that is what the man is. Sometimes some Umunna may give bias verdict about a man but some will still give honest and unbiased verdict that is indisputable about the person.

“Umunna are very influential, courageous and fearless in their dealings with their people; no doubt that in most cases, before matters between members of the same Umunna go out of the jurisdiction of the Umunna for resolution, Umunna must, first adjudicate over them, and if it is not settled, the parties can resort to another place”, Ozo Anaekwe explained.

READ ALSO: Edo: INEC tenders Obaseki’s nomination form in evidence

An elder statesman, Geoffrey Ugwuanyi, of Amufie, in Igbo-Eze North Local Government Area of Enugu State, has believed that Umunna is an important institution in Igboland. Ugwuanyi explained that the roles of Umunna are mostly seen in matters relating to marriage, death and settlement of disputes.

 

“Umunna helps in various ways such as marriages, organization of funeral rites and settlement of disputes in Igboland. They support the male bachelors with wines during marriages and equally facilitate the burial of male members of the clan. It is the duty of Umunna to dig the grave if they lose anyone to death.

“Umunna also ensures strict adherence to law and order. In a situation where someone violates any laid down rules and regulations, Umunna usually visits the person with fines and other forms of punishment.

“If there is land dispute between members of a family, it is Umunna who settles it by intervening, demarcating the boundaries to avoid further encroachment from the parties involved in the dispute”, he explained.

Though still very much recognizing the importance of Umunna, the traditional ruler of Ihim autonomous community in Isiala Mbano local government area, of Imo State, Eze Oliver Ohanwe, however noted that Politics, balkanization of communities is weakening the influence of Umunna.

The monarch said that he was not happy that divisions of communities were done to satisfy individual interest. He contended that for Umunna authority to be strengthened there is need for government to remove politics and unnecessary balkanization of the Igbo communities.

“The Ummuna authority is declining because of the erosion of attitude of our people especially the Igbos. I don’t think it is like in the North and West. Umunna is the first point of call whenever anything happens before going outside the community but it is not so now.

Continues on page 23
“That is the danger of politics as a result of multiple creations of autonomous communities. Just like we use to have Eastern region, all of a sudden we have southeast region and we have south south; in the calendar of the world no region is called South South.

“You either have South, East and West, it is like when the administration of Rochas Okorocha, was saying Community Government Council, CGC, which was unconstitutional in our system;  we have three tier of government, Federal, state and local government. It is only in Imo state, we had CGC.

“There is need to strength the powers of traditional rulers and remove politics out of it. That is why I am very happy with the governor of Imo state, Hope Uzodimma; by repealing the law put in place by former governor Rochas Okorocha.

“That traditional institution will be based on election. Okorocha’s law made traditional rulers politicians thereby destroying the institution. But we are happy that the law has been repealed. Now, the new is that the governor has the power to appoint who heads the traditional institution that is how it has been”, the monarch said.

For a community leader in Aguibeje community in Igbo-Eze North local government area, Enugu state, Chief Benedict Okolo, Umunna is a brotherly institution for peace, progress and unity. According to Okolo, Umunna has authority over their kinsmen as decision making and administrative actions follow democratic principles.

He added Umunna settles dispute among member, provide support to members during marriage and handover the girl in marriage.

“Umunna assumes mainly symbolic and ritual importance. It also plays an important role in dispute settlement and in the marriage system, insofar as people of the same lineage, and, accordingly, from the same village, are forbidden to marry or to engage in sexual activity.

“The umunna, literally a group of people descended from the same father, but not of the same mother. It occupies a section of the village and owns common lands, which it allocates to its members for housing and farming. It is led by a formal lineage head, the Okpara, who is usually its senior member.

“However, this Okpara is the oldest male of the oldest branch of the lineage; that is the oldest male, overall. His office derives from the ritual importance of his ownership of a sacred object, the Ofo, a special tree branch, which embodies the spirits of the ancestors. He performs sacrifices to them and also carries out important observances for the earth goddess.

“The okpara is the umunna’s political leader and its representative to the village’s governing council. In both instances, his power is limited because collective pronouncements are never fully binding, and decision making and administrative actions must follow democratic principles.

“When a man who holds an office, such as Okpara or Obi dies, his status is passed on to his most senior relative within the relevant subdivision, usually a brother or cousin rather than a son. The heir would not only take on the title of the deceased but will also assume access to or control over any corporate property”, Okolo explained.

Okolo, however, regretted how land cases and other related cases which ought to have been handled by Umunna have recently turned to become court matters, insisting that nobody took such cases to court in the 70’s unless the Umunna could not resolve them.

“What is happening now is painful. People take land cases and other cases that required Umunna that knows the jurisdiction very well to resolve it to court. In those old days, you cannot take such cases to court without first reporting it to Umunna to resolve. If they fail, you can now take it to court and in some instances the court would later consult the Umunna during investigation before judgment,” Okolo explained.

On his part, Vincent Okwudilichukwu lamented how people undermined the power of Umunna in resolving land and other issues and blamed it on corrupt elements among the Umunna who he accused are bent on collecting bribe to give judgment in favour of the oppressors. He said that Umunna has the authority to resolve problem and restore peace among members if they should stand for justice and according to oath they took while collecting the secret object, Ofo.

“Umunna is like a union of brothers that share common interests. In any community, Umunna is doing great work. But the problem now is that people don’t value Umunna because some of the elderly ones that decide and give judgment now collect bribe to turn cases upside down.

They now believe in money not justice and peace of their people. Elderly ones quickly die because they refused to keep the oath they took while receiving Ofo,” he claimed.

According to the traditional ruler of Ogulogu Olo community of Ezeagu council of Enugu state, Igwe Edward Okonkwo, nobody has the right to take matters to any security agency without first allowing Umunna to handle such matter.

He said that in some cases Umunna can stop marriages because of the character of one of the spouses or parental background among others. No marriage, he said, would be contracted without the consent of Umunna. In marriages, Umunna has the final say on giving out a girl’s hand in marriage. The decision of Umunna remains resolute to any other resolution in a community.

Vanguard News Nigeria