The War You Weren’t Taught: The Night the Lions Roared (Ogu Umunwanyi 1929)

The War You Weren’t Taught: The Night the Lions Roared (Ogu Umunwanyi 1929)

✊🏾 The War You Weren’t Taught: The Night the Lions Roared (Ogu Umunwanyi 1929)

Most people think African resistance to colonization was only done by men with spears. But in 1929, it was the Igbo women who brought the British Empire to its knees.

This wasn’t just a “protest.” It was a sophisticated, organized revolution.

📍 The Spark in Oloko
It started when a colonial representative named Mark Emereuwa tried to “count” the women, their goats, and their crops in Oloko (near Umuahia). In Igbo culture, you don’t “count” free people like property—it was a sign of upcoming heavy taxation.

A woman named Nwanyeruwa stood her ground. She didn’t just stay quiet; she sent word through the palm-leaf messaging system to women across the region.

📜 The “Sitting On” Strategy
Thousands of women from Bende, Aba, and Owerri converged. They didn’t use guns. They used a traditional Igbo shaming method called “Sitting on a man.” * They wore ferns in their hair.

They painted their faces with ash.

They danced and sang songs mocking the colonial “Warrant Chiefs.”

They demanded the chiefs resign and that the “White Man” go back to his country.

🌍 Why This Changed Everything
The British were terrified. They had never seen thousands of women so coordinated and fearless. Even though the British eventually used force, the women won significant victories:

The Taxes were dropped.

The Warrant Chief system was dismantled.

Women were appointed to Native Courts.

The Lesson for Us Today
This history proves that the Igbo woman has never been “submissive” or “silenced” in our traditional structures. She has always been a political force, a protector of the community, and a defender of justice.

Next time someone says African women didn’t have a voice until recently, tell them about the Women of 1929.

“Did your grandmothers ever tell you stories about the 1929 war?”