The Role of Proverbs in a Nigerian Judicial System

Abstract

T HE ANANG, in common with other African peoples, possess a rich folklore tradition, comprising most importantly tales, proverbs, riddles, and song verses. Proverbs are by far the most numerous and the most frequently employed of these forms of verbal art, and are used in all manner of situations-as a means of amusement, in educating the young, to sanction institutionalized behavior, as a method of gaining favor in court, in performing religious rituals and association ceremonies, and to give point and add color to ordinary conversation. Neighboring Ibo gave the Anang their name, the term denoting ability to speak wittily yet meaningfully upon any occasion, and not a little of Anang eloquence, admired by Africans and Europeans alike, stems from their skillful use of maxims. This paper recounts a number of proverbs collected during court hearings, places them within their cultural and juridical contexts, and assesses their use as rhetorical devices affecting the course of justice in Anang tribunals. Second largest of the six Ibibio-speaking tribes of southeastern Nigeria, the Anang possess no centralized political organization but are divided into twentyeight sub-tribes, called iman, each of which is a group of villages ruled, to a limited degree, by a hereditary chief whose duties are mainly of a religious nature. The members of an iman share certain distinctive cultural traits and express a consciousness of unity; in addition, the meat of a particular animal is forbidden to them. Politically preeminent is the community, or obio, rather than the sub-tribe, and a hereditary leader and a council of elders direct its affairs and perform important social and religious functions. The largest social grouping is the patrilineage, known as Ekpuk, composed of both nuclear and extended families inhabiting a continuous tract of territory in the village. Each family lives in a compound surrounded by forest, bush, and land belonging to the head and farmed by his wives and children.