Opera News does not consent to nor does it condone the posting of any content that violates the rights (including the copyrights) of any third party, nor content that may malign, inter alia, any religion, ethnic group, organization, gender, company, or individual. Any/all written content and images displayed are provided by the blogger/author, appear herein as submitted by the blogger/author and are unedited by Opera News. Oloko village free#Opera News is a free to use platform and the views and opinions expressed herein are solely those of the author and do not represent, reflect or express the views of Opera News. What was started as a non-violent protest led by Nwanyeruwa by “sitting on a man” was seen as a terrifying mob that needed to by violently suppressed.Ĭontent created and supplied by: RaphaelPrisca (via Opera The Women’s War ended in violent riots called the Aba Riots. “The women’s paid mobilization was possible because of their strong societal organizations and effective communication networks based on concentration in the markets and dispersal along the trade route. Nwanyeruwa called out to the women in the market, recounting how Emeruwa had tried to count women and saying that Okugo had personally threatened her for resisting the count and told her that women were to be taxed. Nwanyeruwa’s role as a market woman helped her spread the word about Chief Okugo’s words. He has done the very things he made rules against” But he has contravened all these rules he made. Another rule he made was that no one should use a machete for fighting another. He also made a rule that personal should not fight one another in town. While testifying, one statement Nwanyeruwa made about Chief Okugo was “Okugo had made it a rule, if two persons had a dispute, one should not spit on or make any row with the other. If he had not got money from us, he would not have been able to provide for himself…I told him that I was once a rich woman, but that as he had been taking money away from me I had now no money to pay tax.” We sang and danced, saying that Okugo became a rich man because of the money he got from us. Men had to provide for our food and clothes. We told you that men had already been taxed and that the amount paid by them as so large that it was unnecessary for women to pay tax. Recalling on her words to Emeruwa, Nwanyeruwa told the Aba Commission what she said to him, Women joined her in the fight against inequality. Nwanyeruwa took the initiative to confront Mark Emeruwa in which word of her confidence spread throughout the grassroots of Igbo land. It was important to Nwanyeruwa that the women led a non-violent protest due to the British administrator’s skewed vision of Igbo women. Before the Commission, she answered to the question “Will you tell us what you know about these occurrences at Oloko?". On March 12, 1930, Nwanyeruwa testified against warrant Chief Okugo before the Aba Commission of Inquiry. Nwanyeruwa led local women in non-violent protests against the taxation of women in Igbo land. When Emeruwa insisted on counting the wives and livestock in the compound, Nwanyeruwa resisted the request and word spread through the grassroots of the British potentially wanting to tax not only the men but now the women. On November 18, 1929, Mark Emeruwa, messenger of warrant Chief Okugo, entered the compound in Oloko village where an elderly woman named Nwanyeruwa was extracting palm oil. After reviewing administrative records, British Captain, John Cook, instructed local warrant chiefs to re-do their counts for taxes starting mid-October of 1929. Warrant chiefs were appointed to follow the rules of the British and administer colonial laws to the local people. In 1929, Eastern Nigeria was indirectly ruled by the British through warrant chiefs. Maybe it was personal for her especially with the question she asked Emereuwa, "Has your mother been counted?" The struggle was sparked by the need to put an end to the abuses of the heads of office, the tax system and the subjugation of women by this means. The Aba Women's Riot of 1929 was a two-months rebellion waged by local market women from the Igbo tribe of southeastern Nigeria against the excessive powers of the British government and its warrant chiefs at the height of colonialism. Spearheading this necessary and nonviolent riot through the cultural ‘sitting on a man’ tactics, by means of singing and dancing, ‘Yes’ singing and dancing like the Greek sirens to weaken and disarm their oppressors. Nwayereuwa pursued with grace the interest of the women of the community. Madame Nwanyeruwa is an Igbo woman who worked in the market place of the Oloko village of Nigeria.
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