Nitty Gritty of Ozo Ikwo
Like many other communities or clans in Igboland that have the Ozo system, Ikwo has the Ozo society fully and actively in place. Ndi Ozo Ikwo are the legislative arm of the Ikwo cultural and traditional leadership structure. While Ndi Eze function more like the judiciary, and town union presidents as the executive arm, Ozo Ikwo is a sophisticated system that has existed since the creation of man.
Organogram
Ozo Ikwo is hereditary. Membership is by family line. It doesn’t leave the family it exists. When the current holder dies, the next person or someone else in the family takes the mantle and gets initiated into it. Membership is not volitional. If it’s not in your family line, you have nothing to do with it. And each village of Ikwo has only one family from which the member rises. That is, each village produces one Ozo only. When the immediate holder isn’t alive anymore, the family sits and nominates one of them as replacement. It’s compulsory that the family must nominate a replacement, and refusal to do so means an automatic invitation of natural calamity upon the entire family line or lineage.
Features:
1. Ozo is hereditary in Ikwo tradition society. It’s not a thing of volition or will.
2. An Ozo doesn’t shake hands anyhow with all human beings
3. Women don’t have anything to do with the Ozo Ikwo society, howsoever, directly or indirectly
4. An Ozo Ikwo doesn’t eat in public or market place or at an event. He doesn’t drink in public let alone misbehaving under alcohol influence. It’s a taboo
5. He doesn’t drink with other people’s drinking cup or gourd or glass, but with his own which he moves around with in his bag to anywhere at all
6. He doesn’t witness burial of a corpse. He’s not to behold a corpse, not even one of his family member or wife or child. He attends a burial event only when the corpse is already committed to the grave
7. Ozo Ikwo membership is not determined by economic status, nor academic qualification
8. An Ozo Ikwo is a traditionalist by default
9. They make and altar traditional and cultural practices for the entire Ikwo as edicts
10. They determine dates for cultural activities in Ikwo. They enact dates for new yam eating, its celebration processes and sundry events that follow it
11. Ozo is the conscience of Ikwo as the body is called upon to interpret strange occurrences and make opinions on possible solutions
12. Ozo is the most respected cultural and traditional organization in Ikwo. Pomp and pageantry is not associated with Ozo Ikwo
13. Longevity is their trademark. They live long. They don’t die at youth or mid age. They live and grow old
14. They don’t take sides. Dispensing of justice is their mandate. Taking bride to compromise cause of justice and fairness is a disservice to themselves as it backfires almost immediately
15. Once they have decreed over a cultural issue binding on everybody, it’s final. They make recommendations to traditional rulers, Ogbuefi & Ogbuinya cult or local government council political leadership or community deity priests
16. The traditional rulers council defers to Ozo council, and Ozo council defers to traditional rulers council, too
17. They embody the customs, norms, values, culture and traditions of Ikwo
18. On one hand, they can function as judiciary and their judgement is final
19. They stay away from abominations. They promulgate actions that constitute abominations and what to do to appease the gods of the land
20. Arresting and intimidating a member of the Ozo Ikwo society over minor cases is a taboo.
Others
1. An Ozo is not an authority in his village or community. The functions or actions of the Ozo are carried out in group and for the entire clan. He’s respected in his village, but doesn’t interfere with leadership of such a village
2. An Ozo on a personal ground isn’t forbidden from being partisan. He could take up an appointment in government and still function as one
3. He’s not forbidden from attending church by default, but his being a Christian won’t influence discharge of his duties and observations of the dos and don’ts of the cult
4. There’s no regulation on marriage for an Ozo. However, he’s to stay away from people’s wives and promiscuity
5. Every misgiving committed by an Ozo is against the land, and in the same vein against the council. The council could decide to punish an erring member
6. The Ozo as a council can summon any group or individual from Ikwo no matter how highly placed, just as in the case of the legislature for oversight
7. Traditional rulers share cognate responsibilities with Ndi Ozo, but not in the area of core cultural issues. Ozo comes first in terms of the cultural and traditional matters of Ikwo
8. Every Ozo council member is expected to carry himself with dignity and keep to the rules and regulations guiding the cult. Contravention is a big crime. It’s better imagined than experienced.
9. The political class are cautious of their actions with Ndi Ozo. It’s a cult of honour and reverence. You don’t play politics with the institution.
10. An individual who is not a member could decide to host the council as an act of free will. Anything outside of it is counterproductive.
Written by 
Nwoba Chika Nwoba.