Prof. Chidi Osuagwu debunks the long held lies by the British in their purported role in abolishment of Slave trade in Igbo land.
[ultra_dropcaps style=”ultra-normal”]I[/ultra_dropcaps]n a recent publication on Opera news, with the twisted headline and following content, Prof Osuagwu provided historical evidence to bust century held British lies in his five (5) points rejoinder.
[How the British Fought The Aro Confederacy in 1901, To Stop Them From Selling Their People As Slaves]
The Aro Confederacy (1690s-1902) was the premier Igbo slave-trading power of the late 18th and 19th century. The Confederacy ruled by an “Eze” known as the “Eze Aro” and a circle of Priests, thrived on interregional trade and the selling of its most of precious commodity, that is human slaves, which it acquired through its oracle, “Ibini Ukpabi”.
Ibini Ukpabi was famed throughout what is now eastern Nigeria for being the physical home of Chukwu (God). Throughout Igboland, disputing parties took their cases to be judged before Chukwu and in exchange for its services, the oracle demanded human sacrifices and slaves.
Through cunning manipulation of its oracle, the Aro Confederacy grew powerful and wealthy on the slave trade, ultimately becoming the chief supplier of slaves to middlemen on the coast, who resold them to Europeans.
When the British “outlawed” the slave trade in West Africa in the late 19th century, the Aro, refusing to obey the British sanctions, continued buying and selling human beings. In 1901, a British military force invaded Igboland with the intent of destroying the slave trade and squashing the Aro resistance.
After a year of heavy fighting and staunch resistance, on Christmas day in 1902, the British captured Arochukwu (the headquarters of the Aro Confederacy, which is in modern-day Abia State), burned much of the town and murdered the Aro King. The fall of Arochukwu signaled a major turning point in the British conquest of the Igbo hinterland.
Prof Osuagwu sets the records straight.
…. The British didn’t really ban slavery:
1. They banned the taking of Black people to America, 1807. The Blacks taken to America had, unexpectedly, seized Haiti (1804) and threatening to seize Jamaica and other European colonies in AMERICA.
2. British supported the pro-Slavery Confederacy during the American Civil War. If they had really banned slavery, they would have supported the anti-slavery federalists. Once Lincoln abolished slavery on 1 January 1863 Britain on 1 June 1863 formed the Glover-Hausa Constabulary for the colonialisation of West Africa. And they specifically excluded the people of Southern Nigeria from the colonising constabulary. The reason is these people, led by Igbo, had defeated and her allies both in Haiti and United States to end slavery.
3. To say Arọ were Igbo slavers is a historical fallacy. Aro are a synthetic people of the lower Niger. According to Kenneth Dike and Felicia Ekejiuba these people, who are now in the process of major IGBONIZATION are made up of Efik who brought Ekpe; Ejegham, who brought Ibini Ukpabi, Jukun who brought slave-catchers; Igbo, who brought Dibịa with Leadership and Organization; and Ibibio, who brought the Cave for the Oracle. According to Dike and Ekejiuba, in their Arọ of Southeastern Nigeria, it is the shere population and cultural weight of the Igbo in the neighbourhood that is turning the Arọ into Igbo. This phenomenon of the Igbonization of the Igbo neighbourhood, is found to be occurring in the Americas. There Igbo genes are found in much higher proportion than the the percentage of the Igbo among the original slaves.
4. Igbo are one of the few major African peoples who never sold their people into slavery. Igbo were the great leaders in the war against slavery…at home and in the Americas and back home today.
5. Because of the distinct Igbo historical role in relation to slavery, the European slavers, such as Britain and their African slave-catchers, such as Fulani, easily forms alliances of Evil against the Igbo. On the other hand, grateful Africans in the Americas acclaimed Igbo as IBO GRANMOUN…the GREAT IGBO NATION and recognized GRAN IBO…THE GREAT IGBO SPIRIT as the salvation spirit of the Black Race.
By
Prof Chidi Osuagwu
