laudate:

Point of correction. . . .is there any ethnic group in Nigeria, where marriage is not a union between two families? Among the Yoruba, Efik, Annang, Edo, Tiv, Fulani, Hausa, Kanuri, Itsekiri etc. and all the other 200-plus ethnic groups in Nigeria, marriage is still undertaken with the involvement of both families on either side.

thanx for the correction, but i spoke only of the tribe i know. did you really expect me to know the culture of 250 ethnic groups? or do you want someone to flash out an abuse to me for describing his/her group inappropriately? thanx for your comments anyway, but how come you were silent on the statement below. . . .

toshmann:

but what happens when your father says no way. . . if you marry this girl i'll die. . . . what do you do? marry the girl and loose your dad? b/c many of them parents have real heart attack/ stroke etc due to unnecessary worry when their children marry "wrong" partners. your mum(who loved you all your life) or your wife(who may turn against you in the future) what do you do?

can you really marry someone whom your father or mother vehemently resists. i love humanity, i respect all decent peoples of all tribes and religions, but i'm not sure i can love anybody well enough to break my dad's fragile heart or my mum. i'm not perfect, but i'm not evil. i love my parents and i would want to bring home someone that is acceptable. luckily they dont care about the tribe of the girl i bring home. all they care about is if she is a xtain, educated and from a good family. . . . . . and if she is ibo, they will care about the osu thingy. . . . . well, i cant break their heart.
luckily i have not brought home someone they dont like , but i know within me that even if i fall for a girl that is osu, i'll have to end the affair as i cant marry her. it is for the sake of my family, they have given me so much and i cant afford to give them a heart break. if i were an osu, i'll marry a white woman, or a non-ibo nigerian. and lots of them are doing that. that way nobody will talk about these things and it'll die off.

cultures die hard but dont criminalise the ibos of today for that culture. 200 yrs after slavery a lot of peeps still think blacks are not full humans. 200 yrs ago, non-osus will not use the same market as osus. today we do everything, including sex, except marriage. some peeps have gone ahead to even marry osus at a great cost. but with time, education, enlightenement it will change.

But what if she is the one made foru?

This Osu thing is a despicable custom. But I want to stress that it is not found in all Igboland, at least not in Abia state. I know it exists in parts and not all of Imo. Can't say for Anambra and Enugu. My own state of Abia is Osu-free  . The Osu caste system must be done away with and soon too.

@Poster

I wish you (by this I mean people who damn the culture and marry the so-called Osus) can be the guinea pig (experimental animal) as we say in biology, for the final extermination of this custom. Lets see who will query you for doing so.

Please keep us informed on this matter when the marriage is consumated

Uzzyan:

But what if she is the one made foru?

now this is really hard for me to answer. i believe in destiny. i believe that for every man on this earth God has prepared a woman. it doesnt always work out that way(not God's fault, always man's disobidience) but i do believe that every destiny is always positive.

now b4 you crucify me, what i mean is that i dont think God will destine one to marry somebody that will bring "pain" to the parents of one of the couple. i.e, i dont think God will destine me to marry a girl that will cause my parents heart break(no fault of hers though) but then again, i'm not always I00% correct in my beliefs.

Germannig:

This Osu thing is a despicable custom. But I want to stress that it is not found in all Igboland, at least not in Abia state. I know it exists in parts and not all of Imo. Can't say for Anambra and Enugu. My own state of Abia is Osu-free . The Osu caste system must be done away with and soon too.

@Poster

I wish you (by this I mean people who damn the culture and marry the so-called Osus) can be the guinea pig (experimental animal) as we say in biology, for the final extermination of this custom. Lets see who will query you for doing so.

Please keep us informed on this matter when the marriage is consumated

yea it is even gradually phasing out. i know in some parts of Abia and Anambra states the stuff is gone. By God's Grace it will disappear in the rest of Iboland and then the Ibos will be free from this great Institutional Intra-Racial-Racism

i strongly believe that with time, it will end. but it may be a very long time.
i also believe(may be wrong though) that God is seriously angry with the ibo people for this thing and it may not be unconnected with some of the disasters that have fallen upon us for some decades. . . . just what i believe though.

I couldn't help smiling after reading your post,Germannig,the Osu cast system is alive and well in Abia State.That's my state and the story I related earlier happened in Abia State.Shameful but true.It's not like people are going about avoiding Osu but when you really know it's alive and kicking is when the issue of marriage comes up.

eko4show:
i tot the issue of osu has been banished to history. in my honest opinion any person or group of persons that still hold this barbaric views about others in this age should themselves be considered as outcasts

Seconded

…and we want Biafra, abi? Ever heard of karma? Cursed souls.