In acknowledgement of Black History Month, The Royal Gazette continues the publication of stories throughout February on African-American, Black Bermudian and global African people, events and institutions, and their contributions in history

The “riots” or the war, led by women in the provinces of Calabar and Owerri in southeastern Nigeria in November and December of 1929, became known as the “Aba Women’s Riots of 1929” in British colonial history, or as the “Women’s War” in Igbo history. Thousands of Igbo women organised a massive revolt against the policies imposed by British colonial administrators in southeastern Nigeria, touching off the most serious challenge to British rule in the history of the colony. The “Women’s War” took months for the Government to suppress and became an historic example of feminist and anti-colonial protest.

The roots of the riots evolved from January 1, 1914, when the first Nigerian colonial governor, Lord Lugard, instituted the system of indirect rule in southern Nigeria. Under this plan, British administrators would rule locally through “warrant chiefs”, essentially Igbo individuals appointed by the governor. Traditionally, Igbo chiefs had been elected.

Within a few years, the appointed warrant chiefs became increasingly oppressive. They seized property, imposed draconian local regulations and began imprisoning anyone who openly criticised them. Although much of the anger was directed against the warrant chiefs, most Nigerians knew the source of their power — British colonial administrators.

Colonial administrators added to the local sense of grievance when they announced plans to impose special taxes on the Igbo market women. These women were responsible for supplying the food to the growing urban populations in Calabar, Owerri and other Nigerian cities. They feared the taxes would drive many of the market women out of business and seriously disrupt the supply of food and non-perishable goods available to the populace.

In November 1929, thousands of Igbo women congregated at the Native Administration centres in Calabar and Owerri, as well as smaller towns to protest both the warrant chiefs and the taxes on the market women. Using the traditional practice of censoring men through all-night song and dance ridicule — often called “sitting on a man” — the women chanted and danced, and in some locations forced warrant chiefs to resign their positions.

The women also attacked European-owned stores and Barclays Bank, and broke into prisons and released prisoners. They also attacked Native Courts run by colonial officials, burning many of them to the ground. Colonial Police and troops were called in. They fired into the crowds that had gathered at Calabar and Owerri, killing more than 50 women and wounding at least 50 others. During the two-month “war”, at least 25,000 Igbo women were involved in protests against British officials.

The Aba Women’s war prompted colonial authorities to drop their plans to impose a tax on the market women, and to curb the power of the warrant chiefs. The women’s uprising is seen as the first significant challenge to British authority in Nigeria and West Africa during the colonial period.

Source:

Judith Van Allen, “Aba Riots” or “Women’s War”?: British Ideology and Eastern Nigerian Women’s Political Activism (Waltham, MA.: African Studies Association, 1971); D. C. Dorward, ed., The Igbo “Women’s War” of 1929: Documents Relating to the Aba Riots in Eastern Nigeria (Wakefield, England: East Ardsley, 1983); Nina Emma Mba, Nigerian Women Mobilised: Women’s Political Activity in Southern Nigeria, 1900-1965 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1982); Nancy J. Hafkin and Edna G. Bay, Women in Africa: Studies in Social and Economic Change (Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1976)