Umu Egbu: Igbo community where chiefaincy titles are banned - ANGELA AKPOLU

Ever seen an Igbo community where their sons are banned from giving and receiving chieftaincy titles, where everybody is ad­dressed as simply Mr.? In this report,  ANGELA AKPOLU tells the story of Egbu Autonomous Community in Imo State, where no son can give or receive a chieftaincy title.


Mr. Pascal Dozie, boardroom guru and philanthropist, hails from Egbu Community in Ow­erri North Local Council of Imo State. All who know Dozie, or anyone who has seen him introduced at public functions, would have noticed that the man has never been addressed ‘Chief’ Pascal Dozie. Rather, he has always been introduced as Mr., simply ‘Mr.’ Pascal Dozie.

Indeed, former President Olusegun Obasanjo found that queer. How could an Igbo man as big as Dozie not be a ‘Chief’ in an otherwise title-crazy nationality, the usually Igbo-taunting former President seemed to wonder. Was it true or was the man simply pretending? To ascertain the truth of it all, Obasanjo sent a spy team to Egbu and was shocked by what the team came back to tell him: there really exists an Igbo community where chieftaincy ti­tles are a no-no and Pascal Dozie comes from that community.


Egbu is a community, which is about 20 minutes’ drive from the heart of Owerri town, along the ever busy Owerri/Mbaise Road. It is surrounded by Emii, Uratta, Ow­erri, and Naze. The people there speak Ow­erri dialect but refuse to be addressed as Owerri people.

Eze Felix Nwanna Orisakwe Egbukole is the Ochoronma V of Egbu Autonomous Community and acts as the father of the community. He told The Authority:

“It started in 1895 under our father and king, Egbukole Okoroafor when Egbu com­munity started. It is a tradition put in place to avoid class distinction of any sort and any form of bad blood among our people. We want a behavior that portrays Egbu well at all times, and non-acceptance of chief­taincy title is only binding on our sons, be­cause our married daughters can accept it if their husbands are so recognized.

“We as a people recognize the chieftain­cy titles of our guests but no son of Egbu can be addressed as Chief; we cannot re­ceive or give chieftaincy titles. Every elder­ly person is addressed as “Ndaa” no matter his social status.”

In Egbu land, every male is addressed as simply Mister, or by his academic title but certainly not Chief. The only exception is sons born into Egbukole family who may be addressed as ‘Prince’, or the female chil­dren who may be addressed as ‘Princess’ until they get married and adopt the stand­ard titles in their husbands’ families.

Also, as Eze Egbukole earlier informed, an Egbu woman married elsewhere is at lib­erty to bag chieftaincy titles and this is to ensure that their tradition does not inter­fere in the marriage or home of a married daughter.

Eze Egbukole explained: “Once mar­ried off, our daughters become governed by the rules of their husbands’ places, which portrays submission. Once married, our daughters can follow their husband(s) to receive a chieftaincy title and they will not be contravening any of our laws or those of their husbands. And when we have to ad­dress them formally, we address them as Chiefs even though they hail from Egbu community.”

A classic example is Dr. Kema Chik­we who hails from Egbu but is married to Chief Chikwe and today has received nu­merous chieftaincy titles across the country.

According to Egbukole, the Ezeship stool is hereditary and a special preserve of the Egbukole family whose members meet to choose who should succeed any departed king.

“Here, we don’t contest for any posi­tion; we select unanimously who should hold any post, except for the Oha institu­tion which is a special preserve of the most elderly among us,” he proudly explained to The Authority.

He disclosed that Oha or Ezeship stool is not acquired by money or class. Rather, age, which is a God-given privilege, plays a major role.

“Our Oha institution is made up of the oldest person in a clan and Egbu has 20 clans. The oldest man in a clan is the Oha; the next or closest to him in age is the Oko­rooha. These two people from each clan and the other 19 clans form Ohaegbu institu­tion, and they tackle traditional issues be­fore they come to me formally.”

Eze Egbukole disclosed that about 10 years ago, an Egbu son bagged a chieftain­cy title in another land and drew the ire of the community, which refused to address him as such. He explained that the man (he refused to give his name) dragged the com­munity to court and the late Justice Charles Dureke of the Imo State High Court held that the man erred by contravening the laws of a people, and supported the decision of the community not to address the man as Chief. That has been the only time an Egbu son contravened the norm, the traditional ruler told The Authority.

According to Eze Egbukole, Egbu ex­ists in a bigger community called Ala-enyi, which is made up of Egbu, Ihitta, Awaka, Owerri, Naze and old Ihitta-ogada. These five or six communities, he added, also in­teract over constitutional matters that affect them. Where a person is not satisfied with the decision of his or her village Oha in­stitution concerning any issue, such a per­son is at liberty to appeal to Oha-Alaenyi, which meets in Egbu from time to time to retry appealed cases.

The traditional ruler disclosed that dur­ing occasions, special awards are given to deserving indigenes like Mr. Pascal Dozie who built a structure for the women. The late Chief Chinyere Asika, wife of the late Administrator of the defunct East Central State, Ajie Ukpabi Asika, was named a lover of the people and her corpse was drapped with Egbu logo, the highest honour that can be bestowed on any Egbu person in appre­ciation of his or her numerous and lauda­ble contributions to the Egbu communi­ty and people.

A peep into their history reveals that “Okoroafor,” said Eze Egbukole, “is our source. Egbukole was the first son of Okoroafor; Orisakwe was the first son of Egbukole while my father George Ewusi­em Orisakwe was the first son of Orisak­we. He had many sons, but I was chosen even though I am not the first son, to suc­ceed him as the Eze of Egbu autonomous community.”

At this point, he showed The Authori­ty an elderly man whom he introduced as his elder brother.

Egbu people are predominantly Chris­tians and of Anglican denomination. Ac­cording to Eze Egbukole, “we received the Anglican Mission in 1905 when they came, led by Deacon Dennis. And the English Bi­ble was translated into Igbo here in Egbu from 1906 to 1913. Archdeacon Dennis was going to London with the manuscript to print it but was shot. Luckily, he covered it with a waterproof material and so the trans­lation was recovered and sent to London in 1918. They brought it back to Igbo stand­ard version of the Bible. So our early com­mitment to Anglican Communion and the Europeans had an impact on our behav­iour, so we are a truthful and also highly educated people.”

The Anglican mission established a school in Egbu in 1906 called CMS Egbu, which still stands till date.

Egbu people are mostly farmers be­cause they have Otamiri River, which flows to Nekede and Etche and enters the ocean at Opobo. They are also craftsmen, having learnt from the Europeans the art of sew­ing and making handkerchiefs.

Eze Egbukole refuses to be addressed as an Owerri man but acknowledges that Egbu people speak Owerri dialect of Igbo language.

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