OGBUNU YOUTH CRISIS AND TRANSFORMATIVE PACIFISM: A PANACEA FOR INTRA-GROUP CONFLICT IN AWKA, ANAMBRA STATE

Abstract

In every dispensation, the existence of human being is marked with conflict emerging from their co-existence. This inalienable characteristic of human coexistence sometimes results to violence and death. Such is the case of Ogbunu youth, one of the youth fora in Awka, the capital city of Anambra State. Ogbunu is coined from the village name Umuogbunu. The Ogbunu people are seen as one family from one ancestral descent, hence the custom of exogamy. In this vein, it is considered a taboo in Igbo tradition for a man to take his brother‟s life. The purpose of this research work is therefore to find out the causes of the crisis, the extent to which peaceful effort has been made and why the conflict still lingers. The researcher attempts to find a possible means of evading violent conflict between people of same blood line. The findings show that once violent conflict between people of same blood line leads to death, peace is very difficult to achieve. The researcher used theory of transformative pacifism and recommends that the theory should be imbibed by people of same blood line to ensure that in one‟s subconscious being, one knows the implication of murder in such a case, and avoids it. The fact that Umuogbunu is considered as a family due to one ancestral descent makes the conflict more troubling. Is it to be assumed that they do not know that they are brothers for them to have allowed intolerance to lead to the suspicious death of one of their brothers out of violent conflict? The need for a better integration of a sense of understanding on the sameness of their ancestral descent cannot be over emphasized, and the knowledge of the implication of the killing of one‟s own brother is definitely lacking and as such the need for transformative pacifism.