EKWE JONAL

Widowhood as a socio-cultural phenomenon evokes huge emotions and is easily grossly misunderstood within the society. It is an existential condition and traditional rites associated to a woman who losses her husband. In most African societies, widowhood is often allegedly linked to grief, intimidation, accusation and abuse of the widow by her husband’s relatives or by the cultural demands of the community. The concept of ‘b?r? di, b?r? ogori’ which in literary terms means ‘be a husband and a wife to yourself’ is a situation whereby the widow is allowed just after four days her husband was buried to go about her normal businesses so as to fend for her family. This is done to widows whose children are still very young at the time of the husbands’ demise in fairness not as a right. Rather than considering fairness as rights from a human rights perspective, the paper instead examines it as procedural rights, attached to a widow by virtue of her good behavior, goodwill and for having a very young family—justice in socialcooperation. The paper hermeneutically argues that ‘b?r? di b?r? ogori’ is a social justice system that not only considers the widow and her deceased husband, but also the children which by extension are the responsibility of the community. The research discovered that there is a feminist’s tinge in the Igbo concept of ‘b?r? di b?r? ogori’ sinceit is championed by the women in the community. The study recommends that other communities should emulate this humanist gesture so as to ameliorate the plight of widows. This paper is bounded by Umunze Igbo judicial procedure in relation to widowhood and is not exhaustive in dealing with the issues regarding widowhood concept in Igbo.

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