unslung their goatskin bags and their sheathed machetes, put them on the floor, and sat
down.
"I have asked you to come," began the Commissioner, "because of what
happened during my absence. I have been told a few things but I cannot believe them
until I have heard your own side. Let us talk about it like friends and find a way of
ensuring that it does not happen again."
Ogbuefi Ekwueme rose to his feet and began to tell the story.
"Wait a minute," said the Commissioner. "I want to bring in my men so that they
too can hear your grievances and take warning. Many of them come from distant places
and although they speak your tongue they are ignorant of your customs. James! Go and
bring in the men." His interpreter left the courtroom and soon returned with twelve men.
They sat together with the men of Umuofia, and Ogbuefi Ekwueme began to tell the
story of how Enoch murdered an egwugwu.
It happened so quickly that the six men did not see it coming. There was only a
brief scuffle, too brief even to allow the drawing of a sheathed machete. The six men
were handcuffed and led into the guardroom.
"We shall not do you any harm," said the District Commissioner to them later,
"if only you agree to cooperate with us. We have brought a peaceful administration to
you and your people so that you may be happy. If any man ill-treats you we shall come
to your rescue. But we will not allow you to ill-treat others. We have a court of law
where we judge cases and administer justice just as it is done in my own country under
a great queen. I have brought you here because you joined together to molest others, to
burn people's houses and their place of worship. That must not happen in the dominion
of our queen, the most powerful ruler in the world. I have decided that you will pay a
fine of two hundred bags of cowries. You will be released as soon as you agree to this
and undertake to collect that fine from your people. What do you say to that?"