The Osu and Ohu are just some of the slave classes of the Igbo people of Nigeria. There are several others as explained in the videos below. And these are the slaves within Nigeria not the ones shipped off to far off lands.
The Osu were slaves bonded to religion or religious dieties whereas the Ohu were kawaida slaves or chattel slaves. In some places the Osu were sacrificed during religious ceremonies.
And many dont know that within Nigeria today, this ruthless class or caste system just like the one in India still exists and permeates. Caste system simply means those who are caste away or the untouchables who are mainly the descendants of slaves. (Slavery in Nigeria and West Africa existed way before the advent of Europeans and Arabs. These foreigners just came to West Africa and made the trade extremely profitable.)
@LuandaMagere many cities and towns in Nigeria are still planned according to the ancient class system. Some towns for instance belong to wealthy fishermen, other towns belong to hunters who hunted both animals and humans, humans who were sold off into slavery … some towns belong to the wealthy merchant class while others like Ikoyi belong to the warrior class. The warriors served the King or royals and to this day their descendants are fabulously wealthy e.g the famous Naija musician whom I won’t mention. The one whose father bought a jet. Ikoyi is home to Nigeria’s Beverly Hills.
Nigeria’s society is still planned this way . The people you see selling kola nut or sweeping streets or are hired as watchmen who salute comically in Naija films, are in fact most times the descendants of the lower classes or the slave classes.
And it is still debatable whether it was better to be a slave shipped off to the colonies in the Americas or to be a slave that remained in Nigeria. Slave descendants in Nigeria have their kids murdered, homes burnt, they are ostracized from the community and many of them leave the country or move far away. That is one reason why you see the constant enmasse migration of numerous Nigerians who are absolutely poor to other countries or regions. A similar trend can be observed in India or Pakistan where low class Indians escape to other countries because their home country still DISCRIMINATES against them and castes into an endless cycle of vicious poverty.
When a Nigerian asks a fellow Nigerian what is your name and what village do you come from… these questions can be life and death questions. They determine whether you get a job or not. Whether you can marry a daughter or not. Nigerians in the past observed superstition and witchcraft which lead to whole villages being captured and sold of as slaves based on superstitious beliefs. Aspects such as jealousy could lead neighbours to turn on each other and sell each other off as slaves after accusing each other of all manner of ills e.g witchcraft. Kidnap was also very common across Africa at that time. Chief Kivoi in Kenya for instance was an expert at kidnapping people he would entice and then sell off to Arab slave traders.
The wealthy rulers of ancient times often times are still wealthy today enjoying privileges and appointments in govt. yet they were the slave masters back then. These fellows were so rich that they could afford to send their kids for studies abroad, these kids came back and became the presidents of many of these West African countries.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U74ph7T3aoc
@LuandaMagere skiza hapa :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plc3bHYjZO4
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/personal-history/my-great-grandfather-the-nigerian-slave-trader