Abba community in Nwangele local government area of Imo state has agreed to abolish the Osu/Ohu caste system which had brought segregation in Igbo land particularly in area of birth or parentage.
The people Abba community under the auspices of the Abba Autonomous Community Development Union (AACDU) led by Chief Paul Ozigbo and coordinated by Barrister Stan Ofoma, the community has taken the first step by sensitising the four autonomous communities in Abba on the need to abolish the system, which they described as obnoxious and anachronistic.
In one of such sensitisation programme to the people of Umudurunna, the people agreed that all anti-social traditional beliefs and practices associated with the caste system has no place in human living.
The President General of Umudurunna Abba Autonomous Community, Dr. Ephraim Nwabueze Anumnu, described the decision as remarkable saying that the people have resolved absolutely to do away with the caste system, stressing that the world has moved miles away from such discrimination.
The event was attended by the traditional rulers, community leaders and prominent people from the four Autonomous communities in Abba to include Duruebube of Umudurunna Abba, Eze G. E. Shiweobi, his counterparts from Ekitiafor Afor, Ekiti 11 of Ekitiafor, Eze Onunenyi Uzoma, and Uburu 11 of Abba Eze Ndubueze Maduabuchukwu.
The clergies were not left out as Rev. Father Paul of SS Peter and Paul Catholic Parish, Venerable Ifeanyi Otika of St. Andrew’s Anglican Church, Abba Parish, Revd Uchenna Iheme of All Saints Church Abba and Pastor Kenneth Ajuonuma.
They told the assembly that the church of Christ has long abolished all forms of human stigmatisation and discrimination. The holders of tradition, Nze na Ozo and the Oji ofo performed the traditional rites, asking God to assist them in their quest.
