Through out history, the Igbo tradition in particular and the African culture in general holds that women are to be seen not heard.
This explains the fact why women do not hold titles or belong to any traditional or social committee that are concerned with making laws or preserving culture.

This belief and dominance was much more marked during the early centuries when women were not allowed to eggs, meats used for offering or attend meetings where they can air their views.

In the heat of these, a woman arose from Umuida Enugu state and broke the jinx. She arose above all-men and women alike- not only in Umuida but in the whole of Nsukka senatorial zone and Igbo land at large. Her power as a woman was only rivaled by that of Queen Amina of Zaria.

Ahebi Ugbabe was was born to the family of Ugbabe Ayibi around the close of eighteen century. Ugbabe Ayibi hails from Umu Ome, Iyaya, Umuonu Umuida, Enugu Ezike in Igbo Eze North local government area of Enugu state.

Ahebi grew up as other children of her time and displayed domineering influence over her age mates, which was made manifest in her bellicose tendencies towards the male counterparts in a bid to show superiority. This earned her bad names from her peers who saw her as clog in the wheel of solace anytime she is around.

As a young girl, Ahebi Ugbabe fled to Idah Igalaland for two apparent reasons. One was to escape being forced to marry the goddess Ohe as a punishment for crimes her father had committed in Enugu-Ezike. While the other was the passion of dominance, strong desire for power and wealth. Idah was then more civilized and thus could give much enlightenment and exposure.

Idah was also a powerful province at that time and the Atta, the traditional ruler of Idah held sway in almost the whole of eastern Nigeria and Middle Belt. In Igalaland, Ahebi Ugbabe set up a trade which was to later giver her access to important and powerful people such as Attah Igala, the King of the Igala, and some European colonists, both of who aided her in realising her ambitious goals as a ruler. Her activities as a trader and a fearless woman gave Ahebi Ugbabe economic power and political influence.

After establishing herself as a person of influence and affluence, Ahebi Ugbabe acted as an informant to the British by leading the British invaders to Umuida and Ogrute.She also became fluent in pidgin English and other African languages, a skill that proved relevant to her future political ambitions.

The early 20th century was a period of British incursion into Igboland, and Ahebi used this to her benefit by leading the British forces into Enugu Ezike, her hometown. As a reward for her support, the British invaders installed her as a village headman. Due to her efficiency and continued loyalty, she was elevated to the post of warrant chief, a feat that was contrary to British policy of female political exclusion in colonial Nigeria. With the help of the Attah (ruler) of Igala, whose influence extended to Northern Igbo land, Ahebi Ugbabe became king of Enugu-Ezike, therefore upsetting the gendered politics in her community.

As king, she performed female masculinities, and superceded all existing male political hierarchy and authority. However, when she attempted to assume full manhood by introducing her own masquerade, a deed performed only by men fully initiated into the masquerade cult, she met serious resistance from which she never recovered. For fear that her society may not accord her a befitting burial, Ahebi performed her own funeral in her life time.

Ahebi Ugbabe was made king by Attah Aliyu Obaje, she was initiated into the sacred throne of the attah and had her ears pierced as all attah (rulers of the Igala kingdom) do in remembrance of the earliest female King Ebulejonu, Ahebi Ugbabe was then given a beaded crown, a horsetail that marked her station, beads to wear on her neck and wrists, a black fowl to sacrifice to her chi, and a staff that signified male kingship. This initiation is not so strange when you consider that in pre-colonial times, the official title of eze was one given by the attah, and that all ezes were required to make a pilgrimage to Igalaland.

The study of Ahebi is significant because it salvaged the story of a woman who became the only female warrant chief in the colonial Nigeria and Africa. Ahebi Ugbabe’s life story is to me, equal parts fascinating and frustrating. Fascinating because Ahebi Ugbabe was a woman ahead of her time, and her story provides incredible insights into pre-colonial Igbo attitudes towards gender and sex.

And frustrating because of the exact same reason; that is pre-colonial Igbo attitudes towards gender and sex. Ahebi Ugbabe was a woman who rose in the dawn of British colonialism of what is now Nigeria, to become a female king to a people who did not have autocratic rule, and a female headman and warrant chief to the British colonial forces.

The Igbo pre-colonially practised a gerontocracy and believed in leadership by merit, power was shared between male and female elders in a complimentary fashion, yet Ahebi Ugbabe ruled autocratically. Her subjects, the people of Enugu-Ezike were compelled to recognise Ahebi Ugbabe as king because she had the Attah and the British behind her and supporting her. Ahebi Ugbabe soon became known as a greatly feared ruler, she was bestowed titles that were usually the reserve of male kings and chieftains, along with titles solely for exceptional women and women who had transformed themselves into men. Ahebi Ugbabe was praised both as an exceptional woman and an exceptional man.

And as a man, Ahebi Ugbabe’s treatment of women followed society’s taboos. She had a masquerade house in her palace that women were forbidden to enter. She slept surrounded by young virginal girls, teenagers and women were not allowed to sleep near her following the belief that menstrual blood was contaminating. Ahebi Ugbabe married several women, and several slaves one of whom she adopted as her own son. Her palace was a sanctuary for women who ran from abusive husbands, and Ahebi Ugbabe married some of the women who decided not return to their husbands. At the same time, her palace was a kind of corrective facility for “difficult” wives. Men sent their wives to King Ahebi’s palace and paid her to deal with their stubborn wives, until they became softened and were ready “to live in peace and harmony with their husbands”.

http://www.history.ac.uk/reviews/review/1393

History day of Nairaland

creating historic threads is the order of the day still waiting for someone to create a thread on Afonja's history though

dejavski:
creating historic threads is the order of the day still waiting for someone to create a thread on Afonja's history though

That one go sweet wella.

Women and absolute power sha...

wow...great one@o.p,dis is a very informative thread...i had no idea that the igalas and the igbos had such ancient relationship..indeed what makes sm1 great is believing in urself and not limiting urself to the standards of the society...pls mods move this to front page

I bought her biography (written by Nwando Achebe) last year. Interesting stuff. It surprised me that I had never heard of her before then. One would think that the only female warrant chief in British Africa (or so Achebe says) would be much better known.

OP, thanks for sharing. I didn't know about her.

alcmene:

Ahebi grew up as other children of her time and displayed domineering influence over her age mates, which was made manifest in her bellicose tendencies towards the male counterparts in a bid to show superiority. This earned her bad names from her peers who saw her as clog in the wheel of solace anytime she is around.

I can just imagine

Radoillo:
I bought her biography (written by Nwando Achebe) last year. Interesting stuff. It surprised me that I had never heard of her before then. One would think that the only female warrant chief in British Africa (or so Achebe says) would be much better known.

What do you think about the above posted, review? Anything that you would write, differently?

Phut:


What do you think about the above posted, review? Anything that you would write, differently?

It's a pretty decent review. One or two things raised my eyebrow though. The reviewer says she (Ahebi) left her village for Idah out of "her passion for dominance, strong desire for power and wealth." She was just a kid of 13/14 running away from a bad situation - I'm not at all convinced from the book that power and wealth were motivating factors.

In another place, the reviewer says the Ata held sway over almost all of Eastern Nigeria. Of course, there's no truth there. The Ata's power did not extend beyond the northern tip of the Nsukka area.

I noticed that the reviewer also failed to mention what Ahebi was doing during her years in exile in Igalaland and Idah. I don't know if I should mention it either, as it might mean providing bait for the e-tribalists.

Anyway, it is a good book. Its stand-out flaw for me was that the author (Nwando Achebe - who is Chinua Achebe's daughter, by the way) chose to write in English with speckles of her Ogidi dialect, instead of English with speckles of the native Enugu-Ezike dialect of Ahebi's community - the people the story was about. That choice made no sense to me. She was presenting the little-known Enugu-Ezike community to the world. Why replace their native words with her native (Ogidi) words?

Nwando Achebe may not be in the better position to write the first hand information of the Queen's biography than me. Though I may not be a good writer.

Some information contained in her book are quite erroneous and misleading.
For instance, the part that stated that the queen was borne in Ogrute and that the motivational factor behind her sojourn to Idah was to become a sex hawker were quite erroneous.

alcmene:
Nwando Achebe may not be in the better position to write the first hand information of the Queen's biography than me. Though I may not be a good writer.

Some information contained in her book are quite erroneous and misleading.
For instance, the part that stated that the queen was borne in Ogrute and that the motivational factor behind her sojourn to Idah was to become a sex hawker were quite erroneous.

Are you from Enugu-Ezike?

Radoillo:


Are you from Enugu-Ezike?

yes...from her community pricisly

alcmene:
yes...from her community pricisly

Oh, that's interesting.

You know, I want to give Nwando Achebe some credit. I think she did some pretty solid research on the life of Ahebi Ugbabe. That was, after all, what she researched on for her doctoral thesis. She spent a lot of time in Enugu-Ezike interviewing a lot of people - including Ahebi's direct descendants. She even went as far as being initiated into the Umuada group in a further bid to gain the people's confidence and get them to divulge to her intimate bits of Ahebi's life that they wouldn't tell to complete strangers.

She didn't actually say that Ahebi was born in Ogrute. I have the book on my bedside table now as I type, and in many parts of the book she wrote that the town of Ahebi's birth was Umuida.

It also doesn't seem that she believed the motivating factor for Ahebi's sojourn to Idah was to become a sex worker, as this quote from the book shows:

"All the collaborators I interviewed confirmed the fact that Ahebi was never a prostitute in Enugu-Ezike before she left for Igalaland, and that she had not shown any signs of having an inclination towards prostitution during that time. Therefore, I maintain that prostitution could not have been the reason why she absconded to Igalaland."

Radoillo:


It's a pretty decent review. One or two things raised my eyebrow though. The reviewer says she (Ahebi) left her village for Idah out of "her passion for dominance, strong desire for power and wealth." She was just a kid of 13/14 running away from a bad situation - I'm not at all convinced from the book that power and wealth were motivating factors.

In another place, the reviewer says the Ata held sway over almost all of Eastern Nigeria. Of course, there's no truth there. The Ata's power did not extend beyond the northern tip of the Nsukka area.

I noticed that the reviewer also failed to mention what Ahebi was doing during her years in exile in Igalaland and Idah. I don't know if I should mention it either, as it might mean providing bait for the e-tribalists.

Anyway, it is a good book. Its stand-out flaw for me was that the author (Nwando Achebe - who is Chinua Achebe's daughter, by the way) chose to write in English with speckles of her Ogidi dialect, instead of English with speckles of the native Enugu-Ezike dialect of Ahebi's community - the people the story was about. That choice made no sense to me. She was presenting the little-known Enugu-Ezike community to the world. Why replace their native words with her native (Ogidi) words?

I knew the bolder was trash and highly doubted the author had said/implied that. That is why I asked for your own review.

@ Paragraph nke na so ya: I nwere uche

Enugu Ezike dialect versus Ogidi. Maybe she doesn't know the former and didn't figure on running into perfectionists like you

Phut:


Enugu Ezike dialect versus Ogidi. Maybe she doesn't know the former and didn't figure on running into perfectionists like you

LOL @ 'perfectionists'.

After years of research in Enugu-Ezike she must have picked up local expressions. The illiterate old men she spoke to and interviewed didn't speak English or Ogidi to her - they spoke Nsukka/Enugu-Ezike. Why not just put their words down the way they said it? I picked up the book, hoping to learn some Enugu-Ezike expressions, and instead I found 'Anambra' (Ogidi) words everywhere.

Radoillo:


LOL @ 'perfectionists'.

After years of research in Enugu-Ezike she must have picked up local expressions. The illiterate old men she spoke to and interviewed didn't speak English or Ogidi to her - they spoke Nsukka/Enugu-Ezike. Why not just put their words down the way they said it? I picked up the book, hoping to learn some Enugu-Ezike expressions, and instead I found 'Anambra' (Ogidi) words everywhere.

It's good that you're so inquisitive. A trait that's ever present in very intelligent people.

Phut:

It's good that you're so inquisitive. A trait that's ever present in very intelligent people.

LOL.

*basking in the flattery*