Extramarital sex is culturally abnormal among the Igbo of Southeastern Nigeria. This is not to say that it does not exist. Olaudah Equiano was the first Igbo indigenous historian who researched Igbo life when he published his narratives in 1789. Unfortunately, most of the parameters he used in measuring and reconstructing Igbo life have been questioned by many leading Igbo academics and one of such areas is the Igbo view of extramarital sex. Equiano saw every act of adultery among the Igbo as culturally unacceptable. This is not true in every circumstance. In this paper, Equiano’s claim about adultery among the Igbo is seen as inconclusive and thus the present writer provides historical insights, which insist that not all extramarital sex among the Igbo implies adultery.
Sources
NAE(Hereafter National Archive Enugu) CSE 36/1/1MINLOC 17/1/4 Southern Provinces, Tribal Customs and Superstitions Compiled from the Reports of District Officers 1922 Chapter Marriage part 1 Chapter 2
NAE Obudist.6/1/421,OB:661/244:DO Obubra to Resident Ogoja Province Confidential Dispatch 20 July 1948.
NAE File No.581/M.p.62/1925 ONPROF 7/12/92 From District Officer Awgu to the Senior Resident of Onitsha Bands of Women Dancers Preaching Ideas of Desirable Reform.
Okoro, Ugochukwu (2010) Personal communication with the author at the Department of History and International Studies, Imo State University Owerri, 10 May.
Oral interview with Ngozi Chinwuba, Ndidi Ozoemena and Mrs Nkechi Ozoemena, of Umuoba Anam at Police Officers Mess Abakaliki, 23 May 2014.
Private discussion with Professor Philomena Okeke-Ihejirika (2006) during an International Conference on Gender Transformation held at Alvan Ikoku College of Education Owerri Nigeria, on July 29.
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