Colonial observers called the Igbo an “acephalous” — headless — society, because most communities had no paramount king. The basic unit was the Umunna, a patrilineage of related families led by the eldest male, the Okpara, who held the family’s Ofo staff. Several lineages formed a village, and villages formed larger groups called Obodo.
Decisions were taken by consensus in general assemblies at the market square, where every adult male could speak, alongside councils of elders, title holders and age grades. With no standing army, age grades acted as citizen militias, public-works teams and enforcers of community decisions.