Igbos and the abomination of wanton killings

By
Francis Duru 

The ONLY time an Igbo person can justify killing is when he does it in self defense. When that is the ONLY option left to him if he wants to remain alive. In the traditional Igbo communities, MURDER was extremely rare and NOT ever forgiven. 

Why was it rare? It was so because ALL saw it as 'Aru'. Aru is something that DEFILES the land and calls for propitiation and CLEANSING! Usually our Levites from the Nri clan are invited to carry out the requisite CLEANSING rituals so that the community does NOT suffer the iniquity of an individual or a few persons. 

What happens to the person who kills in error or unintentionally? When the murder is NOT premeditated, Igbos in those days would BANISH the guilty person from the community for SEVEN years. 

What of the Igbo Soldier who goes to war and has to kill NOT because he is a MURDERER but because he has a duty to kill. The Igbo soldier would discharge his duty creditably BUT at the end of the war, he knows HE CANNOT go straight back to civilian life. He has to go through CLEANSING rituals to Propitiate for and remove the guilt of blood shed. 

So! While the enemy may gloat and celebrate the killings they carry out and boast about how they love death, the Igbo soldier knows there is NOTHING to gloat over the killing of someones son who has no personal quarrel with him. Killing in war ranks somewhere between MANSLAUGHTER and outright MURDER! 

The teenage Biafran Army Tank gunner Sasa Nwoke captured this in his memoir! He had taken part in several Bloody battles and on three occasions he was taken before the Head of State Gen. Emeka Ojukwu for a handshake and on one of such occasions he was decorated for battle-field valour. His comrade asked him if he still had parents and uncles ALIVE. When he asked why the question, his comrade said it was because he has to go for cleansing rituals. Sasa responded: "That is NOT necessary now. We shall attend to that at the end of the war if we are still ALIVE".

As at 3 years ago, Sasa Nwoke an Ohafia man was still alive as a Septuagenarian in Umuahia in Abia State. 

Those who kill wantonly DEFILE their land. They EVENTUALLY pay for it. Their generations pay for it. Their land pays for it unless they redress the issue.

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