Introduction

The Ibo present a typical example of a pre-colonial segmentary society in Africa since they did not have a central government.  They lived in an area between Benin and Igala (the Cross River and Niger Delta city states) which is approximately the present day Southern Nigeria. They were in five major cultural groups namely: Western or Riverain Ibo, Northern or Awka Ibo, Cross River Ibo, and Ogoja Ibo.

The spirit of working together, helping each other and having age-set competition in sports bound Ibo societies together. This alone is an indicative that segmentary societies like Ibo were organized. This goes a long way to refute the statement that, before the coming of Europeans in Africa, there was no law and order or chaos characterized such societies. There was no royal family in the Ibo society and the whole society was organized under cultural groups. Each cultural group was divided into a number of clans within which all people were considered relatives to each other. The biggest political unit of the Ibo was a village.

Political organisation

The Ibo live West of River Niger in Southern Nigeria and were for a long time dominated by Benin during 19^th Century.  The ruling houses of the Ibo began to take over their villages for their political structures were organized in a vast number of relatively small and independent villages.  Each of these villages  consisted of a lineage segment bound together by the belief in common descent.  Thus each village group had a village council of elders whose main work included: One, managing the affairs of the whole village; two, maintaining law and order in the village; three, settling disputes in a village group; four, maintaining the villages traditions and culture; and lastly defending the villages against external aggression.

The Ibo had a segmentary system of government. The largest political unit was a village and there were many village groups within the Ibo society. In terms of political structure, each Ibo village was divided into wards, ward sections and then extended families.

The wards were grouped and organized around a large market square in which markets operated regularly. Each ward-section comprised of a number of extended families grouped around a ward square.

Members always convened meetings in market centres in case the issue at stake concerned the village. Meetings were held in ward squares if the issue concerned members of the extended families. Elders played a leading role in guiding the society.

For administrative purposes and proper ironing out of crucial problems, each village had two major administrative bodies, namely: the council of elders called Amaala, and the village assembly for all citizens. These two were major units of the Ibo government. In normal circumstances, the day to day issues among the Ibo were handled by the Council of Elders.

They were democratic and every adult man had as much right as the other to sit on the council and air out his views and contribute to final decision making. An elder could resist any decision, which he felt was intended to tarnish his image. This helped to check on those elders who happened to have harsh decisions.

Matters of crucial nature affecting the whole village were handled by the village assembly and men aired out their views there in freely. Popular ones were upheld and unpopular ones were rejected. In the assembly, the young or wealthy men with fame regarding service to society were given the opportunity to push in their views.

Refusal by the Amaala to call the village assembly after making an unpopular decision, the people had the mandate or power to press for it until it was called. In these village assembly meetings, the young and farsighted men impressed upon their bright ideas on those of the elders. This acted as a check against dictatorship of the- would be ambitious men.

Ibo had no standing army but in case of emergency, all able bodied men were called upon to render their services. The youths were always subjected to military training or mock batties for that purpose. They could be used in case of raiding for slaves or defense purposes.

They had a judicial system to prevent crimes, done at individual or society levels. For instance, if one man offended his brother, the offender and the offended could settle the issue among themselves. They forwarded it to the elders in the ward or to the Amaala once they failed to strike a compromise. Inter ward conflicts would be settled by the Amaala or village assembly respectively. Witnesses were always invited to attend in all the judicial matters.

In all the above arrangements, the Amaala could not slot in decisions, which were against the will of the people.

Severe punishments to serious crimes were always administered. For example, rape and murder,

If there were to be political appointments, they were done on merit not hereditary. This eliminated chaos.

The Ibo tried as much as possible to minimize external wars of conquest. The age-set of the youths were kept in charge of security.

Therefore the political life among the Ibo depended mainly on the village founders and among these founders included Orlu, Okigwi, Aba, Oweri, Awka, among others who were believed to be the fathers of the children who established these villages and they were indeed named after them.  In otherwords, all the people living in a certain village group were believed to have ascended from one ancestor.  It’s this common ancestry which justified and validated the existence of a village group.

Thus the village councils of elders were composed of an ancestral group head or the Chairman of the councils of elders who held on “Ofo” staff as a symbol of power but he did not have supreme powers to decide on the affairs of the village because this was the work of other members who would decide on the fate of village group because the Ibo society seemed to have portrayed a high degree of democracy whereby matters were mutually discussed in a council meeting or an assembly in a market yard. In otherwords, unlike in centralized societies, no single individual held a monopoly over power for it was a duty of the whole society.

Militarily, like other Segmentary societies, the Ibo did not have a standing or regular army and therefore in times of war of crisis, each village group had to contribute to the army by sending some youths to the appointed elder who worked as a commander and who would lead the youths to face the enemy and thereafter the surviving youth would return to their villages and continue with normal life.

By the middle of 19th century the Ibo still lived in scattered homesteads. The highest simple political unit was the village, which consisted of a number of extended families (Umu Nna) and they managed their own affairs without any reference to the higher authority.

The head of the village was called "Okpura" and he was usually the oldest man in the area. He was assisted by the elders and other notables in the village. In times of emergency headship of the village could go to the strongest man often referred to as the "medicine man". The headman usually carried his "Ofe" as a symbol of authority. Although the headman was expected to govern democratically, he was always authoritarian. This was because as the oldest member of the village, his commands could not be disobeyed without serious consequences.

The Ibo society was made up of several patrilineal clans. Members of these clans settled in thousands of villages for example the eight sons of the Nna (Chief ancestor of the society) formed eight villages. Each village was divided into various sections known as wards. At each level of society organization people used to call meetings to handle matters affecting them.

At village level, the council of elders known as Ama-ala and the village assembly of citizens were the most important institutions in the political organisation of Ibo society Adult males were free to take part in elders' council meetings to influence the decisions of the assembly.

The deliberations led by the elders' council were usually introduced to other members of the village at the general assembly.

During the Assembly, members were given chance to air out their views and if necessary to reject unpopular decisions earlier made by the elders' council. In the words of Webster and Boahen they had this to say,

"The village assembly was considered as Ibo's main birthright, the guaranted of his rights, his projection against oppression and means whereby the your and oppressed members of the village society express their views upon the activities of the elders' council".

The Ibo administration of justice was also done democratically. Conflicts between individuals of different families were solved before the whole society presided over by elders in a given village. Elders were always most important in solving such conflicts. The only danger of such democracy was that in case Justice was not instituted properly, the affected group would act in a mob for their demands against the accused who had been favoured by elders in given village.

This gave no opportunity for the accused to defend himself or herself amidst such an attack or war hence making the whole system quite dangerous.

The age set system in Iboland was important in the political organization. It was used to enforce the maintenance of law and order in most of the cultural groups of the Ibo. Every after a specific period young people were initiated into an age set in which they remained until they passed to adulthood.

Young age sets were responsible for keeping the village tidy. Older ones for cleaning the bush for farming and construction of new market places of and repulsing immediately the raiders.

The age set system provided a strong bond of unity in Ibo villages due to the fact that members of the age sets were loyal to their leaders hence leading to political stability in Ibo land.

In some parts of the Ibo land age set leaders occupied equal position under elders council (Ama-ala) with the elders this enabled the young men to channel their opinions through their leaders to the council.

Social organisation

Although Ibo society was segmentary, there existed the spirit of Ibo unity. This unity was prompted through several ways as, for example, once in a week there used to be a market gathering in the village which was attended by all categories of people in the area.

The Ibo found it possible to associate and discuss common social matters and other political events across different villages during the day of market because of their common language known as Igbo. This language had many dialects but the dialect of one clan was always understood by the neighbouring clan, for example, the Onitsha and Oweri people clearly understood each other.

Another factor that promoted unity among the various Ibo groups was marriage. Here Ibo men were always encouraged to get wives from their own village groups. This reduced the chance of intermarriage conflicts since after the formation of a family between a son and a daughter of different villages tantamounted to villages becoming relatives.

Apart from the above noted social aspects the Ibo social behaviour was at times conditioned by religion. People feared to go against the interests of Ibo gods. Crimes such as murder and adultery were regarded as serious offences against the Ibo gods and the community.

In this case, the offender expected serious punishments by members of his or her community and above all by the Ibo gods. After being punished by the Ibo authorities, in his or her community, the offender was also required to appease the gods (offer sacrifices to gods) for purification and cleansing of the past crime.

The Ibo had several gods and goddesses' for example there was Aba (goddess) for earth to which many farmers used to offer sacrifices so as to get rains and great harvests. Although the Ibo believed in several gods and goddesses, they believed in existence of a supreme God whom they referred to as "Chuku" by the northern Ibo or "Chineke" by the southern Ibo.

The supreme God was worshipped through visible representatives like priests. Their importance remained until the beginning of the 20th century.

Also to be noted was that the respect given to the elders in most parts of the Ibo land was paramount. Due to the position of their age in Ibo society, they were usually effective on educating the young members of what was expected in a good social behavior society. The role of elders indeed educated other members especially the young about their role as members of certain age group.

Economic organisation

The pre-colonial economic organization of the Ibo demonstrates that they were able to adopt the challenges of the environment to satisfy the daily needs. Apart from the exchange of goods and services among the Ibo themselves there were some Ibo groups that specialized in trade with the neighbouring communities as well as Europeans. Another Ibo group were involved in the cultivation of crops as their main economic activity.

By the middle of the 19th century the Ibo had cleared a large part of the forests purposely for agricultural activities. They dealt in crops like yams and palm oil mainly. The yams served as food while palm oil was one of the important commodities purchased by European traders.

Apart from cultivation of crops, the Ibo were involved in the weaving of cotton clothes, iron working and pottery. The Aro people were the most skilled iron workers in the Ibo land. They were fond of touring Ibo land, settling temporarily in various places and manufacturing iron farm implements, swords and spears.

On the part of trade, the Aro people across river Niger were the most famous. The Aro were very important to the extent of linking the Ibo land with eastern Niger delta by expanding the palm oil trade. The Aro organized 3 major trade groups from the north over the slaves were brought to the central market where they were sold to the Europeans.

When the British picked interest in the Bonde palm oil products, the Aro helped them organise this trade among the Ibo people. The Aro sold the palm oil at Bonde, which in turn became the largest African exporter of palm oil. 'Although slave trade had been abolished, the Aro continued with it for sometime. This was due to the fact that slaves were still required with Ibo land for harvesting, collection and transportation of palm oil products to the market.

Economically, the Ibo economy depended mainly on agriculture and trade for the Ibo grew a lot of yams which were grown in large quantities so there was enough food for the people to eat and the surplus yams were exported to populated regions like Awka, Orlu and Okigwi. In this way, the Ibo’s came to cement their relations thus becoming a strong societies. They carried out agriculture and grew food crops such as yams, grains and palm oil mainly. Agricultural activity also facilitated cotton weaving.

The Ibo’s also imported salt from the Sahara traders for they lived in a forest zone of the present day Southern Nigeria which did not have salt.  Therefore the economies of the Ibo society were not centralized but were largely determined by the geographical and economic or climatical conditions of the region.

There was fishing carried out by the Oweri, Western and Onitsha Ibo on river Niger and its tributaries.

They were industrious in crafts and made many beautiful articles out of bronze. 'They too manufactured iron tools like swords, arrows and spears. The Awka were famous in this work.

There was trade mainly carried out by the Aro clan. They participated in long distance trade and played a middle-manship role.

They dealt in palm oil and slaves and sold them to Europeans at the coast from whom they got firearms. This trade was not centrally controlled which ensured economic independence.

Land was communally owned in order to minimize land disputes. So, there was togetherness in all fields. There was division of labour according to sex and age-sets.

Other economic activities included; rearing of animals like cattle and goats. This exercise was supplemented with the hunting of wild animals.

There was small scale raiding for slaves as well as selling of criminals into slavery.

Social organisation

Although Ibo society was segmentary, there existed the spirit of Ibo unity. This unity was prompted through several ways as, for example, once in a week there used to be a market gathering in the village which was attended by all categories of people in the area.

The Ibo found it possible to associate and discuss common social matters and other political events across different villages during the day of market because of their common language known as Igbo. This language had many dialects but the dialect of one clan was always understood by the neighbouring clan, for example, the Onitsha and Oweri people clearly understood each other.

Another factor that promoted unity among the various Ibo groups was marriage. Here Ibo men were always encouraged to get wives from their own village groups. This reduced the chance of intermarriage conflicts since after the formation of a family between a son and a daughter of different villages tantamounted to villages becoming relatives.

Apart from the above noted social aspects the Ibo social behaviour was at times conditioned by religion. People feared to go against the interests of Ibo gods. Crimes such as murder and adultery were regarded as serious offences against the Ibo gods and the community.

Their belief in religion cemented their relationships. They believed in ancestral spirits placed in holy places referred to as oracles. The spirits advised them on political, social and economic problems on being consulted. Likewise, the spiritual oracles punished any body who violated the Ibo governing customary laws. The wishes of the major spirits such a& the oracles of Arochuku., Awka and Agbala were always held in constant high esteem.

The Ibo administration of justice was also done democratically. Conflicts between individuals of different families were solved before the whole society presided over by elders in a given village. Elders were always most important in solving such conflicts. The only danger of such democracy was that in case Justice was not instituted properly, the affected group would act in a mob for their demands against the accused who had been favoured by elders in given village.

This gave no opportunity for the accused to defend himself or herself amidst such an attack or war hence malting the whole system quite dangerous.

The age set system in Iboland was important in the political organization. It was used to enforce the maintenance of law and order in most of the cultural groups of the Ibo. Every after a specific period young people were initiated into an age set in which they remained until they passed to adulthood.

Young age sets were responsible for keeping the village tidy. Older ones for cleaning the bush for farming and construction of new market places of and repulsing immediately the raiders.

The age set system provided a strong bond of unity in Ibo villages due to the fact that members of the age sets were loyal to their leaders hence leading to political stability in Ibo land.

In some parts of the Ibo land age set leaders occupied equal position under elders council (Ama-ala) with the elders this enabled the young men to channel their opinions through their leaders to the council.

They had customary laws, which brought about law and order. They were derived from the experience of the ancestors. For example, Ibo customs forbade them to marry from within their lineages. They were required to marry from neighbouring lineages, which created complex relationships where in-law relationship created grounds for defense, as they feared to fight each other.

There was a principle of respect for age by the young to the elders. However, the Ibo were egalitarian in nature and individualistic. Every member considered himself as good and important as every one else which encouraged competition.

The family, lineage and inter-clan and clan competition among them encouraged cooperation and unity. There were regular wrestling and mock battles, which kept the Ibo vibrant all the time.

There was the practice of giving special titles to encourage hard work and competition to all the freeborn males. Those who had wealth to facilitate initiation programs had an advantage.

The most vital titles were OZO and AMA. The titles created strong relationship among members who held them within and across societies. They were hospitable to each other.

The age-set group idea they had for males and females enabled them to grade people of the same age-bracket together. The principle facilitated competition in sports and public services in the villages. Age-sets for instance, kept the village clean, cleared grounds for new markets, policed the markets, provided night patrols and guards. Age-sets also created unity and a sense of belongingness within lineages, families and clans as well as with those members across their borders.

There was circumcision for women and killing of twins. Twins were considered a misfortune to the family, lineage, clan as well as the whole Ibo society.

The Ibo spoke the same language which created homogeneity and hence unity. Their practice of polygamy was a source of unity, plus the social ceremonies like initiation ceremonies, marriage games and others.

In conclusion, a critical analysis of the social, political and economic organization of the Ibo portrays a classical example of a stateless or decentralised society.