Date: 9/10/2011

A Report On Oza-Nogogo

A REPORT ON OZA-NOGOGO BEFORE THE ADVENT OF THE EUROPEANSwithspecific reference toPOLITICAL STRUCTUREMARRIAGE SYSTEMSELECTION OF RULERSbyOTABOR BLESSINGINTRODUCTIONIt is difficult to talk about OZA-NOGOGO without talking about the greater OZA community, a part and parcel of the Benin Kingdom. The name OZA-NOGOGO is a meregeographical expression of the OZA community on the east bank of River Orhiowmon, whereas the OZAon the west bank is known as OZA-ABIOKUNLA(OZA-NISI).Like the country Israel which is located at the heart of the world, OZA was located at theheart of the defunct Bendel State.The OZA-NOGOGO town is just a part of the greater OZA community that became split between two local governments. Today, a part of OZA(OZA-NOGOGO) is in Ika South Local Government Area of Delta State. The other part(OZA-NISI) is in Orhiowmon Local Government Area of Edo State.Presently, OZA-NOGOGO is a constituent part of the Agbor Kingdom. It is an Edo speaking part of Agbor.POLITICAL STRUCTURESUnder this sub-topic, I shall discuss the pre-colonial government of OZA-NOGOGO,its political divisions and institutions.GovernmentBefore the coming of the Europeans to Africa, the people of OZA were already organized. There was no anarchy. There was law and order. They had their own government which helped to ensure that justice prevailed.In the pre-colonial era, the government of the people of OZA was rotational monarchy.Not even time has been able to change this system of government. It remained the same during the colonial era, and even to this present day.The title of the traditional ruler of OZA-NOGOGO is known as Ogisi. The office of the Ogisi of OZA-NOGOGO is reserved for a particular family(the Ogisi Royal Family).The members of this extended family take their turn in sitting on the throne.OZA had one of the most formidable forms of administration in the old Benin Kingdom. Ogisi as the titular ruler of the town had special dispensation by the Oba of Benin to oversee other towns and villages on the east of Orhiowmon River.Next to the Ogisi is the spiritual leader of OZA-NOGOGO known as the Ohen. The Ohen is the Chief Priest. He is the official mediator between God and the people of OZA-NOGOGO. He tells the people the mind of God, and communicates theneeds of the people to God. He is just like the biblical Chief Priest, who mediated between God and Israel.Tradition has it that Ohen was personally chosen and ordained by God. This was because of the honour which he gave to God who appeared to him in the form of a man who was dying of thirst.Ogisi has a council which is made up of elders of the land. Their responsibility is to advise the Ogisi, make laws, discuss issues affecting the community, settle disputes, punish offenders, and so on. The OZA-NOGOGO council of elders performs both legislative and judicial functions, and even more.Political DivisionsFrom pre-colonial era to present day, OZA-NOGOGO maintains two tiers or levels of government- the government of the whole community and the governments of the quarters.For the purpose of administrative convenience, OZA-NOGOGO is divided into six quarters. These include: Uvbe, Idun-Ewan, Ebudo, Evbebi, Idun-Neha and Owuwu. It is generally believed in OZA-NOGOGO thatthe six quarters were founded by the children of the founder of the town. Uvbe is the administrative headquarters, and therefore administered directly by the Ogisi. Each of the remaining quarters are administered bythe Odionweres. Each Odionwere is answerable to the Ogisi.InstitutionsOther institutions which existed, and still exist in the community include the age grades and masquerades. The age grades are in charge of clearing the roads and maintaining the streams. All the bush paths and roads leading to the village square are maintained by them. The masquerades on the other hand provide entertainment, particularly during festivals.The outings of the masquerades are not just forentertainment purpose, they have spiritual undertone. In pre-colonial OZA-NOGOGO, masquerades were not seen as human beings. They were seen as spirits or representatives or messengers of the spirits. It was a taboo for a person to refer to them as human beings. This attracted serious sanctions, such as payment of fines and appearement of the spirits orancestors.Another important position was that of the oldest woman.The oldest women in the six quarters of the pre-colonial OZA-NOGOGO occupied a highposition in the community. They were highly respected. Be-it-as-it-might, their positions were merely ceremonial. They had no power, nor any political authority.MARRIAGE SYSTEMIn OZA-NOGOGO community in particular and Africa in general, marriage did not come with the advent of the Europeans. OZA-NOGOGO as a people has always had a standard and well organised and respected marriage system. The people were not animals. They did not just mate with any woman that came their way. There was discipline.I shall discuss the marriage system under the following sub-headings: number of partners, marriage initiator/proposal bride price/marriage ceremony.Number of PartnersOZA-NOGOGO people(men) could marry as many wives as possible, as they could take care of. This implies thatthey practiced what is today referred to as polygamy. Oneof the reasons why the people married more than one wife was that it gave them prestige. In pre-colonialOZA-NOGOGO, the more the number of wives a man had, the more he was respected. Those who had only one wifewere seen as weaklings. Thisis not to say, however, that it was a crime for a man to have only one wife.Another reason why men married many wives was because of the economic benefits involved. The more the number of wives a man married, the number of children he was likely to have. When a man had many children, he was able to cultivate larger farm lands. The wive and children contribute in the clearing of the lands, planting, weeding,harvesting and selling of the harvested crops. All these, invariably, made a man rich. So, let's saythat the more wives a man had, the richer he was.In the traditional setting, a man, notwithstanding the number of wives he had, could still have as many concubines as he would outside. There was no problem about that. Promiscuity was normal among men.However, it was a very serious taboo for a woman tohave an affair outside her marriage, not to talk of marrying more than one man at the same time. This was unheard of. When it happened, it attracted serious sanctions, and rituals were carried out for the purpose of cleansing. The cleansings were necessary to prevent strange sicknesses from coming upon the family.Marriage Initiator/ProposalIn contemporary times, marriage is initiated by the man. A young man proposes marriage to a young girl who he wishes to marry.In OZA-NOGOGO traditional setting, this was not the case.In OZA-NOGOGO(before the coming of the White men) the business of marriage proposal was reserved for the parents(fathers) of the young man and young womanwho were expected to marry.It was later that the would-becouple are brought into the picture.As the case was, when the father of the man admired a young girl whom he felt was qualified to be his son's wife,he did all he could to establish friendship with the father of that girl. In most cases(before telling the family of the girl his intension), the boy's father asked his son whether he loved the girl whom he had admired for him. If the boy agreed with his father's choice, he(the father) went on to tell the girl's family about his intention. When on the other hand, the boy disagreed, his father looked for another girl. I want to point out here that not all fathers sought their son's consent on matters of this nature.While going to propose to thegirl(through her family), members of the boy's family, including the extended family were usually involved. It wascompulsory for them to go with at least a calabash of palm wine. If the proposal was accepted, the boy and girl were then allowed to visiteach other's family(not the boy and girl visiting each other per se).


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