Editorial

A NONAGENARY TRIBUTE TO THE HEROINES OF THE 1929 ANTICOLONIAL WOMEN RESISTANCE IN EASTERN NIGERIA

Abstract

It is certain that something notable happened in colonial Nigeria in 1929. It was the 1929 Anticolonial Women Resistance in Eastern Nigeria. Essentially a post-amalgamation anti-colonial women’s protest and a co-ordinated movement against British colonial policy in Nigeria, it affected the Eastern part of the country. The event has variously been called ‘Aba Women Riot of 1929’, ‘Aba Riots’ or ‘The Disturbances’ by the colonial authorities and their apologists; and also known as Ekong Iban [Ibibio], Ogu Umunwanyi [Igbo] meaning Women’s War or Aba Women’s War. The notion of ‘war’ appears to be largely a loose translation of war as a synonym of contestation rather than war as agha [Igbo] fatality laden conflictual relation. On the other hand, it may be described as war on account of the fact that firearms were used by the colonialists and many lives were lost too.