Agbalanzes have the right to sit in important meetings and express their views, irrespective of their age. In the olden days, an Ozo man enjoyed diplomatic immunity and it was not permissible to assault or arrest him. Times have changed. Okonkwo was respected as a titled man and his grandson Obi Okonkwo was respected as the first university graduate from his village. The respected men and women of the 21st century will be those that dared to challenge old ways of thinking and create a better future by their scientific discoveries and inventions.
Greatness is now in the things of the white man.
Dad is wearing the modern regalia for an agbalanze. The old regalia include ankle cords, a spear, a red fez, and a circlet of oxskin. I spent a December 1975 weekend at a couple that were former Peace Corps volunteers in Kenya. They lived and worked in a farm in Bend, Oregon. My assigned chore was to milk their cows.