Conversations between an Igbo couple and an Igbo umunna committee that shows the invalidity of Igbo marriage outside Ala Igbo.

By
Okechukwu Ononaeke
Nze Anichebe: Nze Ofoegbu, the umunna sent us here to see you and find out somethings based on what we are hearing. I am here with Nze Achebe. We are just a fact finding committee. What ever you tell us, we report to the umunna.
Nze Ofoegbu: Nze Anichebe,  your visit is very good and welcome. Nwunye m, odoziaku di ya, Nnenna. Nze Anichebe is here with Nze Achebe.
Lolo Nnenna: Ndi di m, Nnoo nu o. Unu a bia la( Welcome).
Nze Ofoegbu: let me bring kola so that we can bless it and dedicate our discussions to CHI UKWU.
Nze Anichebe: Please leave kola nut for now. This visit is not about kola. Next time, we will participate in your kola nut.
Nze Ofoegbu: okay, if you say so.
Nze Anichebe: Yes, the umunna sent us to you to hear your own side of the story before taking decisions on what to do. Is it true that you gave your daughter, Nneka out in marriage in Lagos, where you live?
Nze Ofoegbu: Who could be spreading such a malicious rumor? Whom did I offend? It is not true.
Nze Ofoegbu: That is what the umunna heard. I even told the umunna that you couldn't have done that because you know very well that in our culture, marriage is not between two individuals or two families but two umunna, that the umunna is the one that gives out the daughter in marriage and that the marriage must take place in the ancestral compound of the lady in question, that you couldn't have given your daughter out in marriage in a strange land. Even Nze Okeke who lives in America ensured that the daughter's marriage took place here. He and his daughter were not here during the marriage but the umunna was in charge of everything. Nze Okeke and his daughter participated through zoom. Nze Achebe, am I right?
Nze Achebe: Yes. You are right. Only the husband-to-be and his umunna were present. Every thing went fine.
Nze Ofoegbu: it is not true.
Nze Anichebe: But we heard that apart from the Igbo marriage, you also did the European wedding in Lagos. Some one showed the umunna the pictures.
Nze Ofoegbu: Umunna, Nze Anichebe and Nze Achebe, it is not true. When the young man came to my house in Lagos, I told them clearly that it is not in my place to give out my daughter in marriage in a strange land like Lagos. I made it clear to them that the marriage must take place in my umunna in Ala Igbo.
Lolo Nnenna: Ndi di m, unu ewekwe le iwe ( do not be annoyed with your brother and me). What happened in Lagos was a social visit by the young man. Are we supposed to reject a social visit from a family friend?
Nze Anichebe: You can't reject a social visit. The umunna wants to know who took its own part of the marriage rites, the one for otu umunwanyi, the one for umuada( umu okpu), the one for umunna and the one for ndi opara.? Did you, Lolo and your husband take all these rites for yourself?
Lolo Nnenna: Ndi di m, nothing like that happened. What you heard was a malicious rumor. What the young man did was a social visit. We have told him and his family that they must schedule the Igbo marriage here in my husband's ancestral compound so that the umunna will be satisfied.
Nze Ofoegbu: What my wife said is the truth. That visit in Lagos was a social visit and nothing more. I have told the young man to fix a date for the Igbo marriage here in my umunna.
Nze Anichebe: Okay, we will report to the umunna that you said it is a malicious rumor with out any truth in it. That you and your wife said your daughter, Nneka is not yet married. That what happened in Lagos was a social visit and nothing more. That the young man will come to our umunna to do the proper Igbo marriage.
Nze Ofoegbu: Exactly, my brothers.
Lolo Nnenna: Exactly, ndi di m.
Nze Achebe: Thank you. We will report to the umunna as you said.

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