BRITISH CONQUEST AND ADMINISTRATION OF NGWALAND 1892-1960

Abstract

Colonial rule in Africa is one of the experiences in African history that cannot be easily forgotten with the passage of time.  It was an experience which began with the scramble for,  partitioning and eventual  conquest  of African  societies.  The  study of colonial  interactions  in Africa  has received commendable  attention from scholars over the years.   Nigeria  is one of the colonized countries that felt the pangs of colonial rule for over half a century.  This study deals with the British conquest and administration ofNgwaland from 1892-1960. The coming of the British and its impact is still a factor to reckon with in the history of any given group not only in Igboland, but  in  Africa  as  a whole.  Consequently,  much  has  been  written  about  the  colonial  period although in some cases,  information about the African side of the story is incomplete.  This work is a contribution to the African side of the story with the Ngwa of Southeastern Nigeria as a case study.  By adopting the qualitative research methodology,  the work arrives at a holistic narrative on  the  British  presence  in  Ngwaland.  Information  on  this  narrative  relied  largely  on  oral interviews, government  gazettes, archival materials and relevant  secondary materials. Attempts have been made to adequately interpret,  analyze data obtained and present results thematically and chronologically. The study adopts an interdisciplinary approach using tools from geography, archaeology and sociology. The aim is to reconstruct the colonial history ofNgwaland as well as examine  its  conquest  and administration  by the  British  and  determine  the  extent  they were willing to go in order to fully exploit the potential gains in the land and beyond.  The work will also examine the degree and pattern  of response  adopted by the Ngwa to the challenge of an allien rule.  There is no doubt that this work provides  a safety pad on which to assess British impact  on Ngwaland  as well  as  further research  into  other  salient  aspects  of the  history  of Ngwaland yet to be studied.  It will also assist in understanding the process of social change and adaptation  in the  face of challenges.  However,  the  author  takes the responsibility  of all the surviving imperfections in this work.

CHAPTER  ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background  of Study

From 15 November  1884 to 26 February 1885, European leaders met in Berlin to decide the future of Africa  and partition  the continent  in order to avert possible  war among themselves.  The conference was attended by fourteen powers:  all of the European powers and the United  States. Meeting at the Berlin residence of Chancellor  Otto von Birsmarck,  the foreign ministers of these powers established ground rules for the future exploitation of Africa signed as the Berlin Act. One of the rules was that any European nation that took possession of any African coast,  or named themselves as “protectorate” of one,  must  inform  the  signatory  powers  of the  Berlin  Act.  Also,  the  conference introduced the “spheres of influence” doctrine in which the control of a coast also meant that they would control the hinterland to an almost unlimited  distance.  Significant too was the doctrine of effective  occupation;  in order to occupy a coastal possession,  the nation also had to prove that they controlled sufficient authority there to protect existing rights such as freedom of trade and transit. At the end,  Britain established its sphere of influence  and  effective  occupation  in  Egypt,  Uganda,  Kenya,  Zambia,  Zimbabwe, Botswana,  Ghana and Nigeria. 2   Nigeria  became  clearly marked as part  of the British Empire, a major colonial holding. From then onwards, Britain began her penetration and conquest  of Nigeria.  By  1890,  the British  had  already  advanced  into Ngwaland  and Ngwaland  became  the  colonial  foothold  for  further  expansion  by  the  British  into

Igboland.  Thus, by the early  1900, Britain had effectively  occupied most Igbo village groups by so-called treaty and by war.

The Ngwa are one of the clans that make up the present-day Ahia state. British presence in Ngwaland was established as far back as 1890 when coastal traders of Bonny and Opobo,  expanding their business  interests into Ngwaland  had encounters with the Akwete.  Already,  the British  had  advanced  into  Igboland  through  the  Opobo-Bonny front. By 1890  or so, the states of the Oil Rivers had ceased to pose a serious threat to British imperial intentions.  In fact, to such an extent had these states accepted British imperium that British consuls came to see it as part of their legitimate duties to champion and  advance  the  interest  of the  coastal  traders,  especially  of Bonny  and  Opobo,  in Southern Igboland. 3    Thus when in 1890  Bonny traders complained  of encountering,  at Akwete,  resistance  to the  expansion  of their  business,  the Acting  Consul,  Annesley, mobilized  his ill-trained  constabulary  for the purpose  of teaching  that Igbo state  how unwise it was to stand in the way of British interests. This first encounter between the British  and  an  Igbo  state  ended  in  a  victory  for  Akwete.  Annesley  and  his  forces, popularly  known  as  the  “Forty  Thieves”  were  routed  with  a  number  killed.4    The following year,  1891,  the administration  of the Protectorate was put on a regular basis with  Sir  Claude  Macdonald  as  High  Commissioner  and  Consul-General.  In  October

1891, Sir Macdonald visited Akwete and took up the unsettled dispute with the Akwete elders.  The Akwete elders proved reconciliatory  and that amicable  contact established with Macdonald matured the following year into a treaty of protection between Akwete and the protectorate administration.  From this British toe-hold at Akwete,  officers  of the

protectorate  started  scounng  the  peripheral  towns  of  Southern  Igboland,  especially villages in Asa, Ndoki and Ngwa. Thus, British presence and influence became firmly established and they focused their attention on bringing the Ngwa under their effective colonial administration.

With the British presence came further penetration and conquests,  achieved either by offering the Ngwa people their usual alternatives of treaty or war,  peace or powder. Before long, Obohia, Obegu, Abala, Asa, Aha, Abayi, Ihie, Ntigha and most communities in Ngwaland  came under British control. A colonial relationship was thus created. No doubt,  the study of colonial rule  in Africa  has attracted  varying  degrees  of scholarly interests.  A  number  of scholars,  for  example,  J.  C.  Anene,  Adiele  Afigbo,  S.  N. Nwagbara,  S.  0.  Okafor, W.  E.  Ofonagoro and J. Nwauguru have investigated aspects of the problem of British rule in Igboland and have enriched our knowledge of this period in

Igbo history. 5   As far as British conquest and administration  of Southeastern Nigeria  is

concerned, the Ngwa clan is vital to consider, for it was from Ngwaland that the British started scouring other parts  of southeastern Nigeria.  This work will examine how the British conquered and administered Ngwaland. It will trace the evolution of the Ngwa society and as well as the socio-political organization which the Ngwa evolved over time.

The Ngwa  themselves  constitute  one  of the  largest  homogeneous  cultural  and dialect groups in Igboland. 6  They occupy the major portion of the territory known as Aha District. Ngwaland,  in the “palm belt zone'” lying between the Imo River in the west and the lbibio in the east, is a rich agricultural belt which fully justifies  their adopted name, Ngwa m –  the lucky  ones. 7   It is one of the most densely populated areas situated in the

rain forest of the southern Igbo plain in present Ahia State, The area is bounded on the north by the present Umuahia zone, on the west by Owerri and Mbaise,  on the east by Ikot-Ekpene and Abak and on the south by Ukwa. When states were created in 1991, Aba zone, Umuahia zone,  and Afikpo zone formed Ahia state, with the capital at Umuahia. The Aba zone is basically the Ngwa territory. Today, Ngwaland comprises seven local government areas in Ahia State, namely Aba North, Aba South, Isiala Ngwa North, Isiala Ngwa  South,  Obingwa,  Osisioma  Ngwa,  and  Ugwunagbo.  This  was  done  by  the government for administrative convenience.

Okpuala-Ngwa    (ancient   land   of  Ngwa),   the   capital   of  Northern   Ngwa administrative  unit,  is  generally  recognized  as  the  ‘heart’  of Ngwaland.8    This Ngwa heartland became the centre for European commercial and administrative interactions in the late 19″ and the early 20″ centuries. However, the Ngwa people came to live in their present location following the east-west migration pattern of the Igbo. They must have displaced some of the indigenous lbibio,  driving them further eastward.  They trace their ancestry  back  to  a  single  family  of three  brothers  –  Ngwaukwu,  Nwoha  and Avosi (according  to  seniority)      who  spread  to populate  Ngwaland.9   The pattern  of name repetition among villages and village groups is so strikingly respected in Ngwaland that villages with the same names are exogamously  exclusive in marriage affairs.  The oral tradition of Ngwa society has suffered  some distortion though.  The main body of the Ngwa  clan is said to have  originated  from  a village  called Umunoha  situated  in the present Owerri region.””

Tradition has it that when they came to the west banks of the Imo River,  it was high tide, so they decided to rest and eat their evening meal. Among them at this time were the new eastern Owerri  or Mbaise people.  While they were waiting  for the tide to ebb, Ngwaukwu, his brothers  and their families quickly boiled their yam and hurriedly ate, while the other family groups roasted theirs. The “boilers” crossed the river over the other side in good time, but the “roasters” who could not leave their food, were not so fortunate and by the time they had finished eating their food, the water had risen to such an extent that it was no longer passable; today they remain settled on the western banks of the river. The river was henceforth called “Imo” on account of its size and rapidity of its growth.”

The three persons whose promptitude had enabled them to gain the left bank of the river are alleged to have been the three brothers mentioned above and to them was given the name “Ngwa”,  literally “those who are fortunate and fast”,  on account of the expeditious manner of their crossing while the stragglers or roasters on the right bank were known as the “Ohuhu”,  literally “roaster” or “those who roast” to commemorate the mode of their cooking which  separated them from their kith and kin.  According  to Chief Nwankpa Abangwu, “the Ngwa have always been time conscious. They acted Ngwa Ngwa (transliterated  fast fast)  and were  lucky to cross;  hence their name Ndi  Ngwa  Ngwa, Ngwam  or Ndi Ngwa“.     These names have endured till date although for the Ngwa, the term “Ohuhu” has now degenerated  into a term of contempt  for all Igbo lying north, northwest and northeast of Ngwaland.

At this time, the area in which the Ngwa settled after crossing the Imo was a virgin forest, said to have been sparsely inhabited by a people most likely to be the lbibio, who received Ngwaukwu  and his followers amicably,  allocating them virgin land sufficient for their immediate needs.  Ngwaukwu  settled at what is now the village of Umuolike

where he also established  his ancestral  shrine, “Ala N gwa”.  This shrine was housed  in a small  hut  known  as  “Okpu”  whence  was  derived  the  name  Okpuala.13    Okpuala-Ngwa literally  means  the  “Crown  of N gwaland”  and  it was  at Okpuala  N gwa that  the N gwa

founding  fathers performed  their  first ritual.  They were thankful  for their  safety and for the rich lands they saw around them. Thus Okpuala-Ngwa  became the ancestral and ritual center  of Ngwaland,  a position  it has continued  to enjoy  in a rather  diminished  fashion following   colonization   and   contemporary    politics.   Even   today   the   high   priest   of Ngwaland  traditionally  comes  from  Okpuala-Ngwa,  and  all the  village  groups  founded after the dispersal  of the people  have their  family  shrines  in this village.14   For decades, the three brothers  dwelt around  Okpuala-Ngwa at peace. But as their respective  families increased in number, they moved apart in different  directions albeit closely linked to each other.  Ngwaukwu’ s  descendants  eventually  founded  the  villages  of the  present  N gwa Ukwu;  Nwoha’s  descendants,  the  villages  of the  present  groups  of Umuoha,  Mbutu, Ovoukwu  and Ovungwu;  and Avosi,  the present  villages  of the Mvosi (N vosi) group, all around Okpuala-Ngwa.’

Colonial  rule was  established  in N gwaland  when  British  invaders  conquered  the Akwete area in Old Aba division and in 1892;  it officially became an administrative  unit. With  the  imposition  of colonial  rule,  Aba,  a very  important  commercial  and  industrial centre  on  the  Eastern  Railway  with  a network  of roads  to  radiate  to  all  parts  of the Eastern states, became the Divisional Headquarters  of the British.

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