Throughout African history, it is evident that gender mattered in reference to power and every day freedoms. Many women were restricted to go to places such as cities, while men were eligible to go as far as working in a city. Men were also in charge of women because warrant chief’s expected men to keep their wives in order. Typically men held the power but in some situations women could be superior to men. Women used tactics such as “sitting on a man” which was a harassment technique used to get their way. They used “sitting on a man” to fight against paying taxes. Women pushed their limits and began protests, and road blockages. They pushed authoritative and governmental figures until they achieved success. A statement pledge was signed and there were officially no taxes for women. Even though it was considered informal, women’s power was also recognized for their leadership roles in the market places and in the homesteads. Women were successful wives if they cooked meals, traded in village markets, and became mothers. Reproduction was an African women’s most significant power. Women especially received power if they gave birth to boys, who could grow up to become significant people. At the age of 13, Ahebi Ugbabe went against the traditional African women’s roles as she removed herself from her community, escaped marriage, and became a prostitute. Although Ahebi disobeyed the traditional and expected ways of a woman, she ended up with so much power.
Ahebi Ugbabe was born in the late 19th century in Umuida, Enugu-Ezike. She lived with her mother, father, and two brothers. Her father, Ugbabe Ayibi, was a farmer and a palm wine tapper and her mother, Anekwu Ameh, was a farmer and occasionally traded. When she was young, Ahebi lived with her mother’s family for a short time in Unadu, which she really enjoyed. When she came back home to her father’s village she was unhappy because her family experiences many misfortunes; their farms were unsuccessful, their trading was declining, and many people in the family had illnesses. Ahebi escaped her village and ran off to Igalaland. Ahebi’s father wanted to investigate his family’s misfortunes, so he received help from a diviner. The diviner suggested that Ugbabe Ayibi committed a grave crime which ultimately offended the goddess, Ohe. On account of Ugbabe’s actions, Ohe punished the entire family. “…for things to get better, Ahebi would have to be offered as a living sacrifice to appease the great goddess, Ohe” (Achebe, 55). Ahebi was a young girl who refused to listen with reason and she refused to be devoted. She rebelled against the domestic institution of slavery and rejected authority. Ahebi could no longer live in Enugu-Ezike so she left in exile to Ingalaland. She was very young, unskilled, uneducated, alone and on her own. Prostitution was the only job that would allow her to survive. Ahebi traveled frequently for “work” but she was able to learn different languages such as Igala, Nupe, Igbo, and Pidgin English. She became very good at work which also made trading a successful way to also earn money. Her profession as a prostitute kept her in touch with many people, including British colonialists who had high power.
In 1909 British invaders occupied the Enugu-Ezike area. They had constant military and police attacks on the people and brought them under European rule. Ahebi introduced the British invaders to Umuida and displayed routes to the British so they could conquer the people. She also introduced the British to Enugu-Ezike, and in return they exterminated domestic slavery in her home village. It is unclear whether Ahebi collaborated with the British to give them domination over her people in revenge of her father’s curse or to prevent slavery, but no matter the purpose, she earned respect and allied with the British. By the mid 1910s Ahebi returned home, and then went to Nsukka. Since she was multi-linguistic, it gave her the ability to lead the Iglala and Nupe people. Ahebi was the only person in her village who could communicate with the British so she eventually developed a relationship with them. With this opportunity, she became involved with the political elite in Nsukka. She played a significant ‘in-between’ role so the British could communicate with the people.
When Ahebi returned to Enugu-Ezike, she put Ogwu Okegwu out of power, because Ogwu did not acquire the linguistic skills that Ahebi did. In the Nsukka government the leaders of the community was the oldest man, and the oldest women of the village. However, when the British took over, they did not understand the logic behind who earned power in the village. “The most serious threat to the influence and privileges of women occurred during the 20th century, when patriarchy combined with colonial changes to alter gender relations” (Encyclopædia Britannica). The British decided to recreate the government and completely exclude all women from the government or from leadership positions. In 1918 the Enugu-Ezike government was called the Native Court of Enugu-Ezike. Only four people served as court members. Ahebi was chosen to be the warrant chief, which meant that she was the only women in all of colonial Nigeria to be politically involved with rule. This was considered legal because of the former help and assistance she served to the British invaders.
Once Ahebi came in to power, other male leaders were opposed to the idea of a women leader. “The male ruling elite did not want to have any part in Ahebi’s autocratic cross-gender political ascent. However, they found that they really did not have a choice in the matter because the British stood firmly behind Ahebi, and in so doing, excluded them from the day-to-day running and decision-making of the state” (Achebe, 58). Within the next year, she had a big campaign in the hopes of becoming king for a chance to higher her position in the government. Ahebi was the first women (or person) to start a campaign in Enugu-Ezike. This was a significant time in African history because she was path breaking individualized power which was usually a person who received authority through masculinity. Also, Ahebi did this on her own, usually for a woman to be this powerful they would be the wife (queen) of a king. She successfully transformed herself in to a man. Without realizing it, Ahebi transformed the government into a powerfully female based system which followed the Igbo, British, and Igala’s traditions.
During the 1920s, Ahebi held her coronation as king in Igalaland. She then celebrated for days, musicians played music, dancers danced around, and they held multiple feasts in honor of the new king. The musicians played ikorodo songs to celebrate the gender transformation with spirituality for the new king. More specifically, many songs were sung to honor and enhance the king’s great qualities; she was the daughter of Onu, her physical strength was stronger than an axe, and her transformation as a male was honored. Sadly, some Enugu-Ezike people were not happy with a woman as their king and there were negative songs about Ahebi. As warrant chief and king, she wanted a good reputation and she tried very hard to receive respect from her people. One tactic she used was to intimidate her people with rumors and horror stories, which led them to believe that their lives were on the line if they did not respect her. This idea worked and her people her were intimidated by her. They even referred to her as the Agamega or the “female leopard.”
Ahebi held court cases in her palace and made money from her services. She also welcomed women to stay at her palace who were abused by their husbands. Ahebi married some of the women who stayed with her and she became their female husband. She also obtained her wives through her servants. Some of Ahebi’s wives helped important male visitors like the British colonial officers with their physical needs. Ahebi also had many female workers around her palace and she would buy slaves.
In the 1930s the Roman Catholic Mission went to Enugu-Ezike to inform the warrant chiefs that they had to establish educational schools to teach people linguistic skills. In the beginning, schools were held at the homes of the warrant chiefs. So Ahebi held her school in her palace and hired Jacob Elam to teach the students. Since the attendance was always low, Jacob began to teach in a nearby home in Egunu-Ezike. When Ahebi found out, she had everyone involved put in the Nsukka prison for three days. In the mean time, she hired a new teacher for her palace. Jacob was encouraged by elders of Egunu-Ezike to teach in the oldest person in the community’s home.
Many people were sick of Ahebi taking advantage of her power. “Particularly troubling to the traditional political elite were Ahebi Ugbabe’s autocraric methods in which she committed unthinkable taboos against society, like refusing to consult with elders, utilizing forced labor to build her Ahebi Ugbabe Road, receiving bribes, and forcibly taking away men’s wives” (Achebe, 61). Ahebi wanted to receive full manhood in Nsukka. She brought out a masked spirit, and the masquerade was called Ekpe Ahebi. This masquerade interpreted the differences between male and female in the Igbo society. It was prohibited for women to have control over a masked spirit. As Ahebi was headman, warrant chief, and king, she was not supposed to create a masked spirit and this was considered a crime.
In 1939, all of the masked spirits rose to perform a sequence and concluded with a bow, for respect. When it was Ekpe’s turn to perform, it was escorted by male elders and kept away for good. The people had enough of Ahebi’s nonsense and wanted Enugu-Ezike to go back to its traditional ways. Ahebi was not happy with this and immediately ordered the men to court. The case was taken to the Resident’s Office in Onitsha and he said that Ahebi did not have the right to create a masquerade because she was a woman. When the male elders went to court with Ahebi, it did not make her look as strong as she once sought out to be. After everything that Ahebi did for the British invaders, they betrayed her. They did not need her anymore, because they had control over Enugu-Ezike and routes in the community. The British also agreed with the male elders that Ahebi overstepped her boundaries as a warrant chief. Songs were created to humiliate her and claimed that she was just an ordinary woman. All male elders explained that they would never let another ruler in Enugu-Ezike have power over them, whether it was a man or a woman. King Ahebi Ugbabe was the first and last ruler of Enugu-Ezike. Even though she remained powerful until she died in 1948, she was not worshipped like she was in the beginning of her time as king.
Ahebi’s life was so significant to African history; the beginning of her life she was at an all time low and as she got older she progressively received power. Typically women who became prostitutes did not earn any form of power and they were treated less than a human. Ahebi’s opportunity was rare but she was able to get her foot in the door in the new government since she did the British invaders a favor. Once she earned respect from the people of Enugu-Ezike, she pushed her limits. “Achebe substantiates the argument that the Igbo, like many other African cultures, had a flexible sex/ gender system whereby social status was linked more to ritual performance than to biological bodies. claims that gender was not an important social marker prior to colonialism, however, are clearly not warranted by Achebe’s evidence. Ugbabe may have been tolerated, perhaps even admired, as eze up to a certain point. However, a line still existed beyond which a woman could not pass” (Epprecht 2013). When the elders of Enugu-Ezike recognized her inappropriate and untraditional behaviors in their community, they were offended and put their foot down. “However, when this extraordinary woman attempted to achieve acceptance and full manhood in the ultimate sanctuary of full Igbo men, she was immediately reined in by indigenous gerontocratic male authority, revealing at once Igbo society’s resolve to limit the extent to which female gendered transformations can materialize” (Achebe, 64). If King Ahebi was a biological man, and created the masquerade, the people of Enugu–Ezike would have never opposed her power.
King Ahebi Ugbabe’s life story is a great example why gender roles were crucial throughout African history. Men were expected to work and to keep their wives in order. They had power over their family as they served as the head of the family. Women usually lived their lives in private and only had power over their children. They were expected to trade in the markets, serve meals to the family, and to reproduce with their husband. Women never received or gained power which makes Ahebi’s story so unusual. Although Ahebi earned power on her own, she eventually lost respect from her people because her actions were not appropriate based on her biological gender. King Ahebi Ugbabe disobeyed the traditional African women’s roles, fought for female ambition, and in the end she was unable to prove that gender simply did not matter.
By Monica Dahlstrom
Works Cited
Epprecht, Marc. “Achebe, Nwando. – The Female King of Colonial Nigeria.” 2013.
<file:///C:/Users/Angela/Downloads/etudesafricaines-14460-209-210-achebe-nwando-the-female-king-of-colonial-nigeria%20(2).pdf>
Nwando Achebe, “‘And She Became a Man’: King Ahebi Ugbabe in the History of Enugu-Ezike, Nsukka Division, 1880-1948, Southeastern Nigeria,” in Lisa Lindsay and Stephen Miescher, eds., Men and Masculinities in Modern Africa (Heinemann, 2003), 52-68.
“The role of Nigerian women”. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2016. Web. 23 Apr. 2016
<http://www.britannica.com/topic/role-of-Nigerian-women-1360615>
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