There is nothing he or she does that is nso or alu, because he is owned by a specific alusi
and feeds from the proceeds of nwa afo, in any form.
He/she lives his/her own life with the alusi and should not shave his/her hairs nor cut the
finger nails.
The person must not go to the stream when others are in the stream and if he/she is there,
no freeborn will help him to carry his pot but they will treat him with aloofness.
Nobody goes to his/her house and if he/she comes to market, to avoid contact, he/she will throw his/her
money on the ground and the good too will be dropped on the ground for him/her.
He/she will not marry a free born. A free born.will not cross his or her legs over one's
leg. If a free born has sex with Osu until a ritial is done to cleanse the abomination.
He is termed an Osu. If a free born marries an Osu, then his/her lineage is changed. His/her relations
will declare him/her an Osu.
The person's relations will not communicate with her freely again. If a free born male marries
an osu female unknowingly, and later discovers, the woman will be driven out with
her child or children.
Then a cleansing ritual will be performed. The stigma still continues on the man because he has
defiled himself.
The osu group are very powerful in their dealings because if in any form, a free born fights, them
and injures them, the free born will spend a lot of fortune in appeasing the alusi that owns them.
An Osu or Oru is one who is bought for the services of an alusi, in the case of Osu, or human being
in the case of Oru.
An Oru can grow Up to take wife from the village where he was bought depending on his achievements.
Also a female Oru can be married out to a free born depending on her character. Under such circumstances,
he/she is cleansed and declared free.
But it is not so with the Osu. The Osu is the extreme act of wickedness by human being and
needs to be completely abolished.
Christianity has tried to abolish slavery, igba oru, but the Osuship is still persistent
in Oraifite and its environs - Idemili, Nnewi (North and South).
Aguata and Orumba local government areas, and some parts of other Igbo land. It is totally
absent in Nri.
If a person or family steals, kills or oppresses the weak to death, in order to take over his or their
property, the alusi or ani becomes angry and pronounces a curse on the person or family.
The person or family or a representative who may not be the immediate culprit, now seeks for the cause
of their problems.
The afa will reveal that a person or family had sold, for example a daughter, nwada into
slavery and she had died in foreign land and her death has not been redeemed.
The afa will pronounce that the ritual of igo osu should be done as an exchange of the sold
away daughter.
The person or family in order to save more lives from the vengeance of the alusi, has to look for
a female to use for the ritual of osu - igo osu.
The person or family buys another female slave and she is used for the ritual. The slave used
is declared an Osu and she will no more return to her people.
If a person is under a curse, and will do the ritual of "igo - osu". Here are the procedure he/she must follow:
Today, in Oraifite community town, there are great changes in the osu because they now mingle
with the free borns to buy and sell, and they belong to all communal councils or clubs
and social gatherings.
The Nri preached against the osu system, then the British and missionaries. All these helped to reduce it.
The Osu girls are secretely befriended by free boys and vice-visa. It is only when pregnancy
occurs that people hear of it.
Some women, knowing fully well that one is an osu, still marry the man. People eat openly and drink
openly with the osu today.
Some people argue that it is a wicked act that should be stopped and the children of these oppressed
people declared free like others. Others argue, it is tradition tied with the alusi.
In any case, this article is not fully a medium to call for the abrogation of the osu system,
but I've tried to show how the cultural heritage of Oraifite has changed in the areas of Osu like in
other areas.
These changes are same in most Igbo communities because most of the osu are now taking
ozo titles, which was not so before.
Probably, with time, there may not be any thing like osu or Oru in Oraifite and all over Igbo land
where the system has been existing.