Aba Women’s Riot: Myths and misconceptions

There are divergent narratives about the epic Aba Women’s Riot which took place between 1929 and 1930 in the South-eastern region of Nigeria. While many schools of thought said it started in Igbo land, others said it actually started in Ibibio land. CHIDIEBERE IWUOHA and OBINNA IBE recall this compelling story.

What has gone down in history as the Aba Women’s Riot of 1929, precisely 95 years ago during the colonial era, today signposts the audacity of the so-called weaker sex in the face of adversity. Different historians and researchers captured what transpired during that period differently. However, there is an agreement that the rebellion took place in that year and lasted two months – between November and December.

The executioners of the resistance were women of the present-day South-east region and it was directed against the British authorities who were represented by Warrant Chiefs imposed on them as against the original traditional leadership of government the people were used to.
Those Warrant Chiefs levied all taxable adults, including women, confiscated their agricultural products and as well married them off against their will.
However, one day, the women, notably  Nwanyeruwa, Ikonnia,  Nwannedia, Nwugo, Nnete  Okorie-Igwe, among others, rose as a united army, kicked against their draconian policies and overthrew most of them.

Some controversies associated with the protest

From available records, the reasons for the uprising are not in doubt as stated above, but there appears a somewhat controversial issue because of the inability of historians to nail the record with precision. For instance, the historians failed to identify a particular female personality who was their overall leader and the specific location the war started, but records had it that as some women were feeling the heat in one community, others felt same in other communities. 

While some believe that the riot was led by a certain female activist by the name Nwanyeruwa at Oloko in Owerri Province of the region, others believe that it was actually led by another lady, Adiaha Edem, and that it took place at Ikot Abasi in the present Akwa Ibom state. 
This is why in Igbo language, the war is known as ‘Ogu Umunwanyi’ while in Ibibio, it is known as ‘Ekong Iban’.

However, it was the opinion of researchers that the rebellion spread across the present Rivers, Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Imo, Abia, Ebonyi, Enugu, Anambra and parts of Delta states like an epidemic that infected every woman of honour from that region.

Another narrative

The Aba Women’s Riot readily comes to mind about how Igbo people can resist doctrines that are not in conformity with their culture and belief system
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A source who spoke to Blueprint in Umuahia said the resistance actually started in a place in Ikwuano in Ikwuano Local Government Area of Abia state where one Chief Okugo who was appointed a Warrant Chief by the colonial overlords wanted to enforce the payment of taxation on women, a move that was resisted even as they called for the removal of the said Warrant Chief.
The source further disclosed that because Ikwuano wasn’t  a province at that time, but Aba, it was reported that the riot started in Aba when actually it was not.
Another source had it that Aba Women’s Riot comprises Igbo women from the old Eastern Region and that it was suspected that the protesting women took off from Aba Town Hall because Aba was a province then.
The protest broke out when thousands of Igbo women from Bende District of Umuahia and other places danced, sang and marched in protest against an enforced and exploitative British colonial policy of taxation and against patriarchal legal structures.

Further information about the riot

In corroboration of the earlier narrative, another background information provided by a research group, Tessa researchers, had it that the Igbo Women’s Riots or what is commonly known as the Aba Women’s Riots took place between 1928 and 1930 when the women protested against the oppressive rule of the colonial government. 
According to the report by the group, “These Igbo women of South-eastern extraction feared that the head count that was being carried out by the British Colonial government meant paying taxes and their fears were not misplaced. Therefore, they were unhappy about what they called over-taxation of their husbands and sons which was making them poorer, causing more hardship and further pushing them below the poverty line.

They also objected to the use of Warrant Chiefs to collect levies. Before then, new village leaders and heads were chosen, but removed by the people themselves. Usually, decisions were often reached informally through village assemblies. Although the women had less influence than men, they were, however, in control over local trades and specific crops. They protected their interests through the assemblies, but this was changed by the colonial administration which appointed Warrant Chiefs to rule over the people.

Those British-appointed African judges and administrators abused their positions, acquired wives without paying full bride price and seized properties at will. The women, therefore, organised a revolt on November 24, 1929 against them. They held an all-night song and danced throughout as the protest spread like wild fire. In all, about 10,000 women rioted and the exercise spread to Owerri-Calabar districts. 
A Warrant Chief by name, Okugo, took census of the people and livestock for taxation purposes. The women sang, “Ma O ghara ibu nwa bekee mma anyi-egbuole Okugo  rie” which, translated in English. means, “If it were not the white man, we would have killed Chief Okugo and eaten him up”.

In their protests, they attacked specific targets like the Native Courts, any European owned factory, Warrant Chiefs from Native Courts while sessions were in progress. Later in December 1929, the women forced the Umuahia Warrant Chiefs to surrender their caps, thereby signaling their successful campaign to destroy the Warrant Chiefs Governance System. 

In Aba, women sang and danced against the chiefs and then, according to observers, proceeded to attack and loot the European trading stores. The Barclays Bank was not spared. They also broke into prisons and released the inmates. In all, about 25,000 Igbo women faced colonial repression over a two-month period of insurrection, precisely from December 1929 to January 1930. Before the guns went silent, n fewer than 50 women were mowed down, but this effectively put a lid to the Warrant Chief System.”

Another account had it that the Aba Women’s Riot of 1929 was a period of unrest in the colonial Nigeria. This version had it that the protests broke out when thousands of Igbo women from Bende District of Umuahia and other places in South-eastern Nigeria travelled to a town called Oloko to protest against the Warrant Chiefs whom they accused of restricting the role of women in the colonial government. The protests encompassed women from six ethnic groups (Igbo, Ibibio, Andoni, Ogoni, Efik and Ijaw). It was organised and led by rural women of Owerri and Calabar provinces. The modus operandi of the protests involved ‘sit-in’ by the women. During the events, many Warrant Chiefs were forced to resign and 16 Native Courts were attacked with many of them destroyed. It was the first major revolt by women in West Africa.

In 1930, the colonial government abolished the system of Warrant Chiefs and appointed women to the Native Court system. These reforms were built upon by the African women and have been seen as a prelude to the emergence of mass African nationalism.

In another account, Marissa Evans, a historian corroborated other historians that the riots were led by women in the provinces of Calabar and Owerri in the South-eastern Nigeria in November and December of 1929 and became known as the Aba Women’s Riots of 1929 in the British Colonial history or as ‘Women’s War’ in Igbo history.  

According to the historian, “Thousands of Igbo women organised a massive revolt against the policies imposed by British colonial administrators in eastern Nigeria which became a great challenge to the British rule in the history of the colony. The women’s war took months for the government to repress and became a historic example of feminist and anti-colonial protest. 
“The roots of the riots evolved from January 1914 when the first Nigerian colonial governor, Lord Lugard instituted the system of Indirect Rule in South-eastern Nigeria. Under this plan, British administrators would rule through the Warrant Chiefs’ of Igbo extraction, appointed by the governor.

“Within a few years, the appointed Warrant Chiefs became unnecessarily oppressive. They seized properties, imposed draconian regulations and imprisoned anyone who openly criticised them. Although much of the anger was directed against the Warrant Chiefs, they knew the source of their power came from the British colonial administrators. 

“These colonial administrators added to the local sense of grievances when taxes were imposed on Igbo market women. Those women were responsible for supplying foods to the growing urban population in Calabar, Owerri and other Nigerian cities. They feared the taxes would drive many of the market women out of business and seriously disrupt the supply of food and non-perishable goods available to the populace.

“In November 1929, thousands of Igbo women congregated at the Native Court Administration centres in Calabar and Owerri as well as smaller towns to protest against both the Warrant Chiefs and the taxes imposed on the market women. Using the traditional practice of censoring men through all night song and ‘dance ridicule’ (often called sitting on men), the women chanted and danced in some locations and forced Warrant Chiefs to resign their positions.”

Also, available records from the Colonial Non-Violent Action Database has it that the uprising was Igbo women’s campaign for their rights. It added that the goals of the campaigns were to receive assurances that women would not be taxed and to demand the removal of many Warrant Chiefs. It said by November 1929, Igbo women in South-eastern Nigeria had it up to their necks. But from the perspective of the British colonisers, the women became loud, angry and disruptive; consequently, they marched through cities and towns in demand for the political leaders to step down. The report said that they took their British rulers completely by surprise.

The British personnel were ignorant of the discontent among women that had been building up and bubbled over the years. They mistook the women’s organised action for spontaneous crazy outbursts. It was observed that Lord Lugard’s introduction of Indirect Rule in the South-eastern region caused the war as it was entirely different from what was practised in the traditional Igbo society.  A large group of elders (male) took decisions, just as women also had a significant political role to play. They participated in village meetings and had very strong solidarity groups. Through women kinship and market networks, they often weaponised strikes and boycotts to affect political decisions. They were respected members of society and elderly women.
Under the British system of Indirect Rule, Igbo people could no longer choose their decision makers and were at the mercy of the Warrant Chiefs who became increasingly oppressive. In the process, many Igbo people, especially women suffered. The Warrant Chiefs abused their powers by confiscating women’s property and their profits from market sales.  Also, women were denied marriages to their preferred suitors; rather, the Warrant Chiefs chose whichever women they wanted as wives.

Narrative controversy intensified

The narrative controversy associated with this protests was intensified by Michael Effiong in his write-up about the war. He argued that the name given to an issue depends on the person telling the story or where the person hails from. For him, what is called the Igbo Women’s War should be called ‘Ekong Iban’.

He said that the riot actually started in a place called Ikot Abasi in the present Akwa Ibom state, even though he agreed with other historians on how it started, its causes and the demands of the women.

He said there was no evidence in other cities in the South-eastern region where women were shot at and killed as was done in Ikot Abasi.

“The Ikot Abasi protest was led by the paternal grandmother of a former minister and senator, Udoma Udo Udoma by the name, Adahia Edem who was even killed in the process.”

Effiong went on to quote Senator Udoma as saying, “Many of the women were like my grandmother who was a trader and they travelled around and had extensive connections. The first protests erupted in Oloko in Owerri Province on November 23, 1929 and spread quickly to Aba and certain parts of Calabar Province. But it was in Egwunga now called Ikot Abasi that the protests came to a head.
 
“In the afternoon of Sunday December 15, 1929. The angry women stormed the buildings of the Native Courts and part of the staff quarters. The next day, Monday, December 16, they were invited to meet with the District Officer, A. A. Whitman. Even though some of the women were reluctant, my grandmother, as their leader, convinced them to go. She reckoned that change could only come after engagement and negotiation. She led the women leaders to meet with Whitman and they presented him with a list of seven demands. The most prominent was commitment from government not to tax women.

“Just after the document had been typed, signed and distributed, some women arrived and a crowd surged towards the office breaking through the stick fence. Even though the women were unarmed, Whitman lost his nerves and ordered the soldiers to open fire. A certain Captain by the name Hill, who commanded the troops, was the first to fire. He brought out his pistol and shot my grandmother at a close range and she died on the spot. The other soldiers fired at the women and 25 of them were killed outrightly. Most other women were killed in the ensuing stampede as they were pursued all the way to the water front.

“There was a palpable shock that unarmed women who were singing and protesting against government policy could be gunned down in that manner. My father, who was then just 12 years old, was invited to the scene to identify the body of his dead mother. He was inconsolable and traumatised by that incident. The whole community was in shock. How could this have happened to some of the leading women in the community who were simply expressing their rights of protest?

“The government immediately deployed troops to Ikot Abasi and announced the setting up of a commission of inquiry headed by Donald Kingdom.  As to be expected in this report, the commission described the women’s action as a mob action directed at overthrowing the colonial administration and justified the action of the district officer.

“However, the women’s riot had a tremendous impact on the subsequent development of women in the region and on the colonial administration itself. A number of administrative reforms were introduced in the years following the protest, including appointing some women as Warrant Chiefs.”

Women’s voices

Some women who commented on the relevance of the riot said such methods should be adopted from time to time to drive home a point, especially now that women have been relegated to the political background.

A concerned woman, Amaka Ogoke, lamented that the menfolk have continued to confiscate all political positions in all states of the federation, leaving them with nothing and relegating them to the sarcastic ‘oza room’.

“How many positions, elected or non-elected have women? Do they even have a say? The blood shed by the likes of Nwanyereuwas, the Ikonnias, the Nwugos in 1929 has been forgotten.”

A woman leader, Jennifer Ekwueme who also responded said the fear of being gunned down by security agents who appear to be trigger-happy like their colonial masters in 1929 is what stalls this kind of riot in the present dispensation.
 
“Again, things have changed from what they used to be in the colonial era. It’s a different scenario today. The women at that time, succeeded in curbing the excesses of the Warrant Chiefs. Our problem today is with the governors who do not adhere strictly to the constitution of the land. Even if you travel from here to Oloko again to protest, you will be ignored and taken as a mad woman, at worst a bandit or terrorist,” she said.
The power of women in recent times

It could be recalled that in the not-too-distant past, women have had cause to show their resistance to certain policies by going out half nakedvin protest. For instance, women from the southern part of Kaduna state in 2020 protested in their nakedness as a result of the wanton killings that taking place in that part of the country.

Not only that, some Nasarawa state women protested nakedly in broad daylight sometimes in 2023 as their perceived reaction to the outcome of the governorship election in that state.

Traditionally, among the Igbo and Yoruba ethnic groups in Nigeria, a woman stripping naked signifies a curse against those targeted. That is why when a mother strips herself naked over the child’s insolence or husband’s misdemeanor, such action places a curse on that child/ husband, as the case may be. In other instances, it signifies their willingness to die for a cause.

Historically, women have used their bodies to protest unacceptable treatment by those in power. In Africa, the nakedness of women, especially mothers and grandmothers, is a historical and symbolic ‘shaming’ tactic. By protesting naked, women resurrect the traditional forms of socio-political protests and resistance like the custom common among Igbo women known as ‘sitting on a man’ or ‘making war’ with men. This custom was a practice where women showed their disapproval of abusive men who failed to provide for their family or who disregarded market rules.

In the 1930s, members of the Abeokuta Women’s Union in South-western Nigeria walked half-naked in protest against the political actions of Alake of Abeokuta and forced him into exile.

On July 8, 2002, about 600 semi-clad or naked women from six communities in the oil-rich South-south occupied the main oil terminal of Chevron Texaco in protest about how their water and land were contaminated by the presence of Chevron Texaco through oil spills and gas flares.

Before then, the men had tried but failed, but the actions of those women resulted in a peace meeting with Chevron Texaco. In the end, the company agreed to hire local workers, contribute to local infrastructure, set up a micro-credit scheme to help village women start businesses of their own and provide communities with schools, hospitals, water, and electricity systems.

In the present dispensation, therefore, the women have shown that there could still be a reenactment of the epic/popular Aba Women’s Riot, if they are pushed to
the wall.