From November to December 1929, Igbo and Ibibio women in Bende, Umuahia, Aba, Owerri and Calabar Provinces mobilised against the rumour that the colonial state intended to extend direct taxation to women. Using the traditional 'sitting on a man' protest form, they targeted Warrant Chiefs and Native Court buildings. Colonial troops and police opened fire at Utu Etim Ekpo and Opobo; at least 55 women were killed. The Aba Commission of Inquiry (1930) led to the reform of the warrant-chief system and the introduction of the indirect rule reforms of Sir Donald Cameron.
Colonial1929· ≥ 55 deaths· Chapter IV · Record
Aba Women's War
Tens of thousands of Igbo and Ibibio women rose against the rumour of taxation on women. At least 55 deaths; the warrant-chief system reformed.
Sources
- · Aba Commission of Inquiry Report, 1930
- · Nina Mba, Nigerian Women Mobilized (1982)
What it cost — political & economic reality
The political and economic reality
Nigeria in 1929: who was in charge, the cabinet of the day, the GDP, and the crises that defined the period.
British colonial administration
Sir Frederick Lugard → Sir James Robertson
1900–1960
National reality
Amalgamation of the Northern and Southern Protectorates (1914) under indirect rule. Marketing boards extracted cocoa, palm oil and groundnut surpluses; political agitation built through the press and the trade union movement.
Crises of the period
- Aba Women's War (1929)
- Iva Valley shooting of striking miners (1949)
- Kano riots (1953)
GDP (World Bank)
Pre-independence; no national accounts series
Cabinet (selected portfolios)
Full ministerial roster being compiled.
Government administered by Governors-General and Residents. The first indigenous federal ministers were appointed under the 1954 Lyttelton Constitution.
Source: Toyin Falola, A History of Nigeria (CUP, 2008)
Methodology
Tier 1 · primary
Courts. Gazettes. National archives.
Tier 2 · corroborating
OCCRP. HRW. BudgIT. TheCable.
Redline
Wikipedia is never a source.