By
Obododimma Oha
The appellation, “Ogwugwu Okija,” shows how ignorant Nigeria is in its postcolonal justice system and how shamefully it celebrates this ignorance as a heroism. It is not only that there is no deity called “Ogwugwu Okija” as such but the law-enforcement in the country is happy to have tried to disorganise and disgrace an existing indigenous justice system, maybe to please its “former” colonial masters. Ogwugwu is a powerful deity in Igboland, having several satellite controls in various Igbo communities. Thus, in Okija town, we have Ogwugwu Akpụ, but we also have Ogwugwu in other towns. Her physical manifestation in our village is the monitor lizard, which resembles a snake. Nobody harms the animal, unless the fellow wants a good fight from the deity. But what is even more important is that Ogwugwu hates injustice and somebody (a devotee) could approach her to ask for justice. Her priests would then invite the accused for defence. Some people only say that their religion forbids submitting to Ogwugwu, but does it also endorse criminality? Above that, that a postcolonial justice system endorses this contempt only shows its inclination towards assisting crime and subverting crime fighting to the advantage of imperial powers.
The important antecedent to this is the posture of the colonial justice system towards African cultural practices. Indigenous cultural practices were generally criminalised and outlawed in colonial times says history. This was to make it possible for the colonial system in the guise of justice to hold full sway. Today, justice systems in the so-called independent countries in Africa display their paradoxical allegiance by partly regarding these practices as evil. Moreover, when it is a practice in an ethnic group that is treated with scorn and hate, we should expect this criminalization to be amplified. Thus, a deity in a favoured group could be treated as a tourist attraction, but if in a disfavoured group, it is a “shrine of human ritual.”
Sorry for justice systems that are unjust but do not know. Sorry for justice systems that undermine justice all the time. Sorry for justice systems that live only in the name. So sorry for justice systems that give crime a complexion, that find the meaning of crime in a way of walking, way of talking, nature of dressing, etc. Sorry, therefore, for justice systems that only ape wisdom but are unwise, greatly unwise. Sorry, so sorry, for justice systems that extend criminality, making it possible for a nation to continue warring against nation.
There is only drama in the enforcement of injustice as justice, well-starched law enforcements arrogantly desecrating presences that truly fight and stop evil. It is laughable that these new kotuma fling their terrorism around, swinging their swagger sticks of foolishness, being the real criminals but covering that up. One day, Zambia shall be free, really be free. One day.
It is puzzling that some countries would claim to be truly independent, but the laws they enact and implement are not their own, have no respect for their own, deny their own. As the colonial master walked the land, so the leaders of the "independent" countries try to walk. I have checked all the indigenous systems. They are all still being treated as inferior or evil. From the traditional system of governance to anything indigenous, even coughing and shitting. They are all second-rate or undesirable.
Somebody succeeds in stealing power from the people in the so-called "election" and the fellow thinks that he or she is superior to the indigenous ruler who is the actual host. And the same new thief can put or remove the indigenous host. Is it not the same thing as the visiting armed robber of colonisation removing local kings, exiling or killing some, appointing warrant chiefs in their stead, etc?
Bodies littered all over the place and indifferent degrees of decomposition. So, why would the eyes of the outsider not see something different? How could the description that pleases the colonialist also please me? Is it no longer the act of persuasion? Is the description no longer the act of persuasion and dissuasion, like and dislike, bad imaging and good imaging, ways of doing things through ways of seeing things?
Moreover, if it had been elsewhere, the "shrine" and the pattern of bodies being "scattered everywhere" would have called for serious research, interviews and photographs. I really pity the criminalized "shrine."
Bodies scattered? Has the fellow with the description gone to hell to see how souls are scattered, moaning in flames as Christians warn, and terrible to behold? Hell is hellish, its presence a greater terror for criminals to beware! Hell is more ritualistic and frightening than the presence of Ọgwụgwụ, a serious visual warning.
Somebody is owing something but arrogantly refuses to pay. Then, the punishment. It is the person's relatives that would even dig him up later in the night and drop him or her before Ogwugwu and run away, to avert disaster.
Yes, this indigenous system may need reforms, not that it has no relevance in the society; not that it no longer has a place in the lives of the "Westernized" locals.
Yes, crime is committed. Then, punishment as stated before. Is this not also what the Western justice system does in its correction by sending offenders to prison for some years, sometimes for life, even killing some, etc? OK, let the sympathiser of the colonial justice system eat the corpses of those the system has executed! Is that not also an important contribution?
Is Ogwugwu no longer a deterrence, crime prevention, the willing soul knowing the terrible punishment waiting and desisting, pulling back? Justice system is justice system and must seek or do justice. Ogwugwu is not different.
Listen, independent African country. That you are using, even badly using, Western justice system does not make you Western, does not mean that you are now welcome in the world of the West. You are still an outsider, but even a sad type because you are neither here nor there.
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