Ikonnia NwannediaNwugo The Aba Women's War (also: Riots) of 1929 (Igbo: Ogu Umunwanyi; Ibibio: Ekong Iban) were a period of unrest in colonial Nigeria in November 1929.
A colonial resident, W. E. Hunt, was commissioned by the lieutenant governor of Nigeria to explain the provisions and objects of the new ordinance to the people throughout the five provinces in the Eastern Region.
Direct taxation on men was introduced in 1928 without major incidents, thanks to the carefully planned actions during the preceding twelve months.
Upon taking over, Cook found the original nominal rolls for taxation purposes inadequate because they did not include details of the number of wives, children, and livestock in each household.
This exercise brought the colonial authorities into direct conflict with women in Eastern Nigeria and was the catalyst for fundamental change in the local administration.
The announcement of Cook's intention to revise the nominal roll was made to a few chiefs in Oloko Native Court and the counting began about October 14, 1929.
The women of Oloko suspected that the enumeration exercise was a prelude to the extension of direct taxation, which had been imposed on the men the previous year.
[8] Because the women did not have political power within the patriarchal system under colonial rule, they utilized collective action to communicate their dissatisfaction.
[8] The Aba Women's War was sparked by a dispute between a woman named Nwanyeruwa and a man, Mark Emereuwa, who was helping to make a census of the people living in the town controlled by the Warrant, Okugo.
The financial crash of 1929 impeded women's ability to trade and produce so they sought assurance from the colonial government that they would not to be required to pay taxes.
She replied by saying "Was your widowed mother counted?," meaning "that women don't pay tax in traditional Igbo society.
However, after two women were killed while blocking roads as a form of protest, the trio was not able to calm the situation there, the police and army were sent to the town.
Under her advice, the women protested in song and dance, "sitting" on the Warrant Chiefs until they surrendered their insignia of office and resigned.
[13] Madam Mary Okezie (1906–1999) was the first woman from her Igbo clan to gain a Western education and was teaching at the Anglican Mission School in Umuocham Aba in 1929 when the women's revolt broke out.
Scholars like Glover have noted that men who did not value women, risked the possibility of being shunned and sat on by those who felt normalcy had to be restored within their society.
Scholars like Green (1964), Judith Van Allen (1976), and Monday Effiong Noah (1985) have noted that some methods used by Aba women were: surrounding the home of the man in question, insulting his manhood, and destroying anything that he would characterize as a prized possession.
Women then invaded the courts and when threatened by police began to dance and take their clothes off: a method used as a powerful form of resistance.
[17]: 204 When it came to the Warrant Chiefs, along with singing and dancing around the houses and offices, the women would follow their every move, invading their space and forcing the men to pay attention.
[4] The commission held public sittings for thirty-eight days at various locations in the Owerri and Calabar Provinces and interviewed 485 witnesses.
The rest consisted of local men and British administrative officials who were either called to explain their role in the revolt or why they could not stop the women.
[18] The women were able to transform "traditional methods for networking and expressing disapproval" into powerful mechanisms that successfully challenged and disrupted the local colonial administration.
The rebellion extended over six thousand square miles containing all of Owerri and Calabar Provinces, home to roughly two million people.
Thus, the Women's War is seen as the historical dividing point in British colonial administration in Nigeria with far reaching implications.