the issue cropped up after the preparation of two sets of food from yam .. Utara ji, pounded yam and Afuna, spoilt yam cut into pieces dried powdered and later prepared the same way semolina is being prepared. It was hunger time and all the inhabitants decided that those that chose the Afuna which was bigger than the Utara ji would be the servants of the other group that chose the Utara ji which was smaller. Some people out of hunger chose the Afuna and ate it and automatically became the servant of the other group. Those that ate Afuna became the Ihu or servant while those that ate Utara ji became Amu or Amadu.
II. Mazi Benson Ede, Isigwe, Ubawka, 20 August 1988
On the cause of the uprising
The Awbia (Ihu) and the Amadu had been living in harmony before the emergence of the European. It was one Mr. Dike, an Awka interpreter to the District Oficer resident at Agbanai, the headquarter of Nkanu, who was also the magistrate court judge also at Agbani made the first public pronouncement about the Amadu and the Ihu (Awbia). The issue came to light when Mr. Abanwa Mba from Amauzumuu Ugbawka sold out to the slave dealers, a child, a babysitter whom he collected from his Ihu parent to look after his newly born baby. It was the sale of the Ihu (Obia) from Isigwe in 1920 that came to look after Mr. Mbanwa Mbas child that sparked off the cause of fight for freedom. This the Obia or Ihu regarded as an act of inhumanity against the man. In retaliation the Isigwe requested the Amauzumuu Amadu people that Mbanwa Mba be strangled. The Amazumu people not only rejected the request but also regarded the request as a slap on their face if they accepted and carried out the request of the Ihu. (Obia)
On the network of slave dealers.
Although children were stolen adults were also stolen. The Arochukwu people who knew both the high and bye ways , abetted those who used to steal children and adults by buying from them and carrying them down to Ubunubu market or Aro market. Both were slave markets. They used to exchange the slaves for cloth, gin, gunpowder, machetes etc. from their kinsmen who were arch dealers in the slave trade.
III. Mazi Anyionovo Nwado (Onyib), Uhuona, Ugbawka 18 August 1988
[Interviewer said this informant was 100 years old. ]
On origins of slave community.
He mentions the same myth of origin with spoiled yam (Afuna) and pure yam (Atara ji). In this case also notes that spoiled yam was larger than the pure yam.
From the above story, master/servant relationship developed. Whatever the servant realized either from any hunting expedition or farm work was virtually dictated by his master on how it was used. From the first respondent experienced this relation. Children of the servants were taken away by his aster to be serving him in his house rather than serving his actual father. This servitude continued until the early 1920s when the Ihus or Awbia could bear it no more, that is the inhumanity against man. They took up arms for their cause of freedom. This was after they heard of the abolition of slavery and slave trade by Europeans via their institutions.
On the tradition of child stealing.
At my youth days child stealing was rampant. Those that involved themselves in such a dubious act formed themselves into a guild. Both the Amadu and Ihu children were stole. The Aro and Awka people who know both the high and bye ways aided those who organizes the stealing of children by buying them from them and taking them to the slave markets of their interest.
On the use of slaves as priest of the Ani(earth) shrine.
In the worshiping of the Ani shrine in some parts of the town the chief priests are the Awbia (Ihu) while in some parts the Amadis were the chief priests. At times both groups were involved. For instance where both groups were involved, an Ihu ( Awbia) might be the chief priest while the Amadu would be serving the chief priest by serving wine and doing other things as requested by the chief priest used in rituals. At times the reverse is the case. For instance, it is the Awbias that is the chief priest while the Amadu serves the chief priest.
With the development of uneasiness between the two groups peace ceased to reign. Things started going wrong. The Isigwe started refusing the entrance of the Amadus to attend the Ani shrine. The Isigwe claimed the ownership of the location of the place where the Ani shrine is while the Amauzumu claimed the ownership of the whole land, regarding the Isigwe as visitors on the land. With this disagreement between the two groups there was war which later affected other two groups of other villages in the town. The Amadus of the other villages in the town started agitating as being the rightful persons to be the priest of the Ani shrine as the Amadu of Amauzumu was contesting. This was another cause of the 1920s war.
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