Inof
, the reader is introduced to , a young boy who is to be sacrificed as a
blood debt to the Umuofia. The chapter sets up the conflict that a young woman from the Umuofia
has been murdered in Mbaino, a neighboring tribe. The Umuofia take the murder personally, and
all the men from the tribe come out to hear about the murder and discuss their options. The
decision is finally made that they will provide the Mbaino with a choice:
An ultimatum was immediately dispatched to Mbaino asking them to
choose between war on the one hand, and on the other the offer of a young man and a virgin as
compensation. (chapter 2)
Socially, this ultimatum offers
insight into how the tribes in Nigeria kept peace in the pre-colonial era. A blood debt was
considered something owed to the entire village. The woman who was murdered, Ezeugo, was the
wife of Ogbuefi Udo, but her murder was seen as an offense toward the whole village and
something they would avenge collectively. The choice they give to the other tribe is an offer to
avoid war.
This interaction shows the complex nature of social relations
among tribes in pre-colonial Nigeria. Rather than going to war, which would be costly to both
tribes, there is a chance for debt to be repaid. Each tribe was considered independent. In any
other system, the likely response to murder might be war or revenge; the blood debt system
avoids those outcomes.
Historically, these chapters demonstrate the
complexity of the Nigerian tribal system before colonization. Colonization depends on the idea
that the colonizers are bringing civilization to the colonized, but this chapter shows that
there was already a sophisticated civilization in place before the British arrived. This chapter
is an integral part of explaining why the system of colonization was unjust, which adds to theof
s life.
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