Chambers Dictionary (William Geddie, ed. 1962) says: “A nation is a body of people marked off by common descent, language, culture, or historical tradition: the people of a tribe.” However, S.O.L. Amadi-Nna (1993) avers that: “A tribe is a group of clans under recognized chiefs and usually claiming common ancestry. Ikwerre can therefore not be a clan but a tribe. The Ikwerres claim a common ancestor. Ikwerre is an independent small tribe.” In the words of K.O. Amadi (1993), “Traditions suggest that Ikwerre is a nickname given to Iwhnuruọhna people…..They have ever since regarded themselves as a distinct group and have happily come a long way in their struggle for self-identity as evidenced by the recognition of their language as one of the Nigerian languages.”

Amadi-Nna (1993) added that: “The Ikwerres are a small but distinct tribe. The Ikwerres have distinct linguistic, social and cultural traits and formations that distinguish them from other close neighbouring tribes like the Ijaws and the Ibos. Majority of the Ikwerre settlements have their roots traceable from the old Benin Empire.” Iwhnurọhna people descended from  the ancient Bini Kingdom. The name of the grand ancestor is Akalaka. Their relations in Rivers State are Ekpeye and Ogba people. The reigning Oba of Benin when Akalaka, the ancestor of Ihruọha (later called Iwhnurọhna) fled was Oba Ewuare (Ogwaro). Akalaka, a member of the Benin royal family, fled in the 13th century on allegation of plotting assassination of the Oba. He died in 1462. Iwhnurọhna his third son settled east of the Sombrero River by 1538 AD, as detailed below.

Chief N.M.T. Solomon (2004), native of Ikodu Ubie in Ekpeyeland, in his narrative draws heavily from the now authenticated written historical records delivered by various informed sources including “Eketu (Weber) of Ubeta, assumed to have lived for over two hundred (200) years as the oldest man in all Ekpeye, Ogba and Iwhnurọhna (or Ikwerre), at that time (and) was asked to narrate the history and customs of Ekpeye people” as unfolded in his lifetime. Here is what he said, which has been validated by the accounts of the current generation through responses to our questionnaires and direct interviews thereby increasing our level of confidence on the data:

Ekpeye, born in Benin, was the first of the three sons of Akalaka. While in Ndoni, he married a second wife to gain the love and favour of the people. The new wife gave birth to a son, which he named Ogba. Akalaka was still in Ndoni when his first wife, the mother of Ekpeye, gave birth to his third son called Ihruoha (Ikwerre).

Similar historical fact by J.N. Olise (1971) averred that: “Akalaka, a member of the Benin royal family, fled with his wife from Benin to Ndoni, a community located close to the River Niger, to save the life of his new born baby (Ekpeye) … While at Ndoni, Akalaka took a second wife. … Akalaka had two sons, Ekpeye – born to him by his Benin wife, and Ogba – born to him by his Ndoni wife. According to F.E. Otuwarikpo (1994): "After the death of Akalaka in 1462 AD, his two sons, Ekpeye and Ogba had conflict, which compelled Ogba, the younger son, to move northwards where he founded Ohiakwo (Obigwe) and settled with his family. Ekpeye who remained at Ula-Ubie had seven sons – Ubie, Akoh, Upata, Igbuduya, Ekpe, Awala and Asa. The last three sons – Ekpe, Awala and Asa – crossed to the other side of Sombreiro River (present day Ikwerreland and settled there since 1538 AD.” He added that: “Ekpe migrated to present day Rumuekpe and spread through Elele (Alimini), Ndele, Rumuji and part of Ibaa. Awala migrated to present day Isiokpo …” 

Amadi-Nna (1993) also said Akalaka migrated with his half brother called Ochichi from the area of Benin Empire. Ochichi sons were Ele (Omerele, now Elele), Elu (Elumuoha, now Omerelu), Egbe (Egbeda) and Mini (Alimini, Isiokpo).

The crucial point here, which is of great importance in tracing the joint origin of the ancestors of the Old Ahoada Division (in the Governor Diete-Spiff administration), is the mention of the number of children that Akalaka had, namely: Ekpeye, Ogba and Ihruọha (Ikwerre). It is noteworthy that the pedigree and name of Ikwerre people, Iwhnurọhna, obviously took its root from this original name – Ihruọha. Chief Solomon therefore establishes a very vital historical link, which has been missing in literature on Ikwerre origin that would assume more significance in the discourses of Ikwerre genealogy in the future – the fact that Akalaka was the direct father of Ihruọha (Ikwerre). Iwhnurọhna, in Ikwere parlance, means the face of the community (town, city or village).

Nigerian colonial history records that the name "Ikwerre" was given by the colonial administration when they wanted to acquire the Rebisi waterfront to build the wharf. Using an Ibo interpreter to talk to the illiterate Rebisi (Port Harcourt) chiefs, they asked them: Would you permit us to use the waterfront to build the wharf for ships to berth? And they answered: A KWERULEM, meaning - "We have agreed." What the white-man was hearing was "Ikwerre," so he recorded it in the official gazette that the IKWERRE PEOPLE have agreed for the colonial administration to build the wharf. And since it was the official record of government, the name Ikwerre became the name of the Iwhnurohna people in all official documentations till date.

Similar cases of Anglicization of native names in the Niger Delta region by the colonial administration are Benin for Bini, Okrika for Wakrike, Degema for Udekema, Abonnema for Obonoma, Brass for Gbara sni, Bonny for Ibani, Pepple for Perekule, Ahoada for Ehuda, etc

Even so, “… there were dissenting voices, … who believed that Ikwerre origins lay outside Igbo land, … in the Benin Kingdom of old. It is, therefore, obvious that the interminable debate about Ikwerre origins and migrations including the repudiation of the Igbo tradition is not a phenomenon of the post-civil war period. The controversy, as it were, is not necessarily the product of the present political realities wherein groups which hitherto were seen to have cultural affinities now find themselves in different states or administrative systems.”  -- K.O. Amadi (1993)

The Ogbakor Ikwerre Convention, a cultural organization of Ikwerre people, in a paper presented to the Human Rights Violation Commission headed by Rtd. Justice Chukwudifu Oputa on 10 October 2001, said: “Ikwerre ethnic nationality is not and has never been a sub-group of any other tribe in Nigeria including Ndi-Igbo. There is no doubt that the advent of the British and later regionalization put Ndi-Igbo at the helm of affairs in Eastern Nigeria. This brought Ndi-Igbo into Ikwerre land. In course of time, the Igbo took advantage of their position in the then Eastern Regional Government to grab land in Ikwerre and occupy political positions such as the mayor of Port Harcourt. In the process, Ikwerre along with other minority groups were marginalized and driven to the background.”

Professor Godwin Tasie noted that in 1913 the Rt Rev Herbert Tugwell, the Anglican Bishop on the Niger, undertook an experimentation tour of Ikwerre towns and villages assumed to be Ibo-speaking to test the Union Ibo Bible Nso being introduced in Iboland. "Tugwell discovered from the tests he carried out that although the Ikwerre were often regarded  as Ibo… the Union Ibo Bible translation, surprisingly, was not easily understood by the Ikwere." This is obviously why Igbo vernacular was compulsorily introduced and taught in all schools in Ikwerreland before the Nigerian Civil War to the assimilation (i.e. destruction) of the Ikwere language.

This also obviously led to the Rumuomasi Declaration in 1965. " … in their meeting at Rumuomasi in 1965 the Ikwerre had, under the umbrella of a highly promising new body that was to get the Ikwerre together as a people of new and clearer vision, they had declared themselves as a people of the distinct identity of Ikwerre Ethnic Nationality - not Ibo, not Ijo, not anything else but Ikwerre, Iwhnurọhna. This was the historic Rumuomasi Declaration of 1965 (G.O.M. Tasie, 2000). The full implication is that Ikwere people began to assert themselves forcefully as an ethnic nationality of their own and not Ibos or Ijos, and efforts were made to revert to the original Ikwere names for families, villages, communities and landmarks. For instance, there was the change from Umuola to Rumuola, Umuoro to Rumuoro, Umukrushi to Rumuokwurusi,  just to name a few.




T O N Y   E N Y I A,  PhD, MNIM                                                                        
CHAIRMAN, BOARD OF TRUSTEES
IWHNURỌHNA CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION
Saturday, 5 February 2011

I have stayed in Rivers State and that Ikwerre is very Igboid.

Hilarious!

Yoruba propaganda....















ikwere are Igbo brothers, their languages are similar and also has the same root meanings

teach them. they will never learn

Op is it because of ROTIMI u posted this rubbish?

atbu1983:
teach them. they will never learn

Teach wetin? Ikwerre's are migrants from nkwerre people in imo state.

LOL. Hilarious write up.

Do people actually know what a dialect is? I guess Ikwerre and Bini are clearly understandable to speakers of bot languages to be regarded as dialects of each other right?

lomprico:
Teach wetin? Ikwerre's are migrants from nkwerre people in imo state.

People need to stop saying this nonsense. It's not true, and a similarity in name does not inherently equal relationship.

lomprico:

Teach wetin? Ikwerre's are migrants from nkwerre people in imo state.

Ikwerres are actually descendants of Arochukwu people of Abia state, and also some migrant settlers from Awka and Orlu. Ikwerre elders know this and mostly the elderly ones who grew up pre-civil war know the truth but it is not something one would commonly hear. Today's younger Ikwerre kids have been brainwashed from birth to be anti-Ibo defiantly. So-called claims of Benin migration had never been heard of in Ikwerre land till now and was only cooked up recently to justify the Igbo denial. It has become the sine qua non for any dissenting Igbo clan to claim Bini ancestry to 'disassociate' from the Igbo culture. While forgetting that ethnicity today is defined by a people's current ethnolinguistic affiliation and not necessarily based on where they migrated from, if the Ikwerres actually migrated from Benin anyway. That is hogwash. Igbos from Nsukka migrated to Idoma land and have become Idomas today and no more Igbo even though they migrated from Igbo land originally.

ChinenyeN:

People need to stop saying this nonsense. It's not true, and a similarity in name does not inherently equal relationship.

What of their almost same cultural practise n dieties? Keep deceiving urself.

lomprico:

Teach wetin? Ikwerre's are migrants from nkwerre people in imo state.

As much as I think this thread and the creator is stup!d and ignorant-based, your post is no different....

Ikwerres are somewhat migrants from Arochukwu no doubt ,and Nkwerre being from same axis as the Aro clans in Imo state only proves that its a town for Aro settlers,same as Orlu, Ideato, Orkigwe. Not that Ikwerres are Migrants from Nkwerre

PreciousBro:


As much as I think this thread and the creator is stup!d and ignorant-based, your post is no different....

Ikwerres are somewhat migrants from Arochukwu no doubt ,and Nkwerre being from same axis as the Aro clans in Imo state only proves that its a town for Aro settlers,same as Orlu, Ideato, Orkigwe. Not that Ikwerres are Migrants from Nkwerre

u just broadened and analysed what i said so whats stup!d about my post? or u are just itchy to use the word "stup!d" for the first time.

Don't talk as if you know a people's history, if you don't even know their oral traditions. I've said the much I need to say on that matter.

Chai! I don't know why a full grown man will choose to make himself a laughing stock! O di egwu o!

why the fuss over ikwerre not wanting to be igbo,abeg,they are not igbo,short and simple

i have 3 course-mates from obio-akpor L.g.a never have they claimed to be igbo even the ones from etche,eventhough they understand and speak igbo wella
pls,my fellow igbos,lets quit acting like we dont know this ikwerrians hate being called igbos

igbos in p.h know the truth,i once asked a boy living in port harcourt if he is ikwerre,his reply ''No am igbo oo i am from imo state'' meaning he know they are not igbo

pls you guys should quit making these people feel very important,thank you

Whoever got the idea that Ikwerre is an Igbo dialect. Ikwerre has always been an edo dialect as they migrated from benin.

Afam4eva:
Whoever got the idea that Ikwerre is an Igbo dialect. Ikwerre has always been an edo dialect as they migrated from benin.

lol funny

they are in short Edo

funny stupid ikwerre and lies

lomprico:

Teach wetin? Ikwerre's are migrants from nkwerre people in imo state.

Enyi,

Stop that nonsense. Quick, quick. I am an Nkwerre man and Ikwerre has nothing to do with us . We are not responsible for their condition in anyway.

They claim they came from Benin but lost all their edoid vocabulary during the long and torturous journey to their present location. Why don't you accept their word for it?.

Curlieweed:


Enyi,

Stop that nonsense. Quick, quick. I am an Nkwerre man and Ikwerre has nothing to do with us . We are not responsible for their condition in anyway.

They claim they came from Benin but lost all their edoid vocabulary during the long and torturous journey to their present location. Why don't you accept their word for it?.

Lol

I do not know much about the Ikwerres except that they are renegade Igbo. Where I come from, calling someone "Ikwerre Man" is derogatory.
I do not know if it has to do with the name 'Ikwerre' or the people themselves. Does anyone have any clue?

They said the Igbo oppressed them. Therefore have chosen not to be Igbo (they cooked up stories saying they are Benin just like the Igbo cooked up stories saying they are Jews). We should respect that and let them be whatever they have chosen to be.
The same way we are asking Nigeria to let us be what we want to be -Biafra.

Ikwerre claim edo,any edo man here,pls type edo language,let ikwerre man interprete it.

It has become the sine qua non for any dissenting Igbo clan to claim Bini ancestry to 'disassociate' from the Igbo culture.


@BigFrancis.

I liked it when u said dat "ethnicity today is defined by a pipo's current ethnolinguistic affilliatn nd not necessarily where they migrated frm". Of a truth, language is very dynamic nd can b alterd when isolated frm its root (parent language), or when influencd by a mor forceful/larger language. For exmpo, Arhagba-Orogun is an Urhobo town, but do u knw dat presently Igbo language hav virtualy replaced/wipe out Urhobo language frm dat community? Do u knw dat many youths in Arhagba today can't speak or undastand Urhobo anymor but ar very fluent in Igbo? Durin my first visit to Arhagba in 2011, I thought I was in Igboland, because Igbo was bin spoken evrywhere! I was even mor surprised when there was a crusade in d town nd they were interpretin in Igbo instead of Urhobo d aboriginal language! I used Arhagba to show dat language alone shuldn't determine origin of a pipo

bigfrancis21:


Ikwerres are actually descendants of Arochukwu people of Abia state, and also some migrant settlers from Awka and Orlu. Ikwerre elders know this and mostly the elderly ones who grew up pre-civil war know the truth but it is not something one would commonly hear. Today's younger Ikwerre kids have been brainwashed from birth to be anti-Ibo defiantly. So-called claims of Benin migration had never been heard of in Ikwerre land till now and was only cooked up recently to justify the Igbo denial. It has become the sine qua non for any dissenting Igbo clan to claim Bini ancestry to 'disassociate' from the Igbo culture. While forgetting that ethnicity today is defined by a people's current ethnolinguistic affiliation and not necessarily based on where they migrated from, if the Ikwerres actually migrated from Benin anyway. That is hogwash. Igbos from Nsukka migrated to Idoma land and have become Idomas today and no more Igbo even though they migrated from Igbo land originally.

Even so! D r from benin all ibos Er From benin read d history

uckennety:

Even so! D r from benin all ibos Er From benin read d history

Lol. Igbo culture and history is the oldest of all groups in southern region. Nri civilization came into for around 900AD, 300 years before Ife civilization came into fore in 1200s and 700 years before the Benin empire rose to influence in the 1600s. The effect of the civil war has given riff-rats the impetus to talk down on an old, revered and ancient culture such as the Igbo culture and for newbies to even claim they are the parents of a way older civilization. Get a book and eductae yourself please.

Mirage indeed.

Kirigidi:
It has become the sine qua non for any dissenting Igbo clan to claim Bini ancestry to 'disassociate' from the Igbo culture.


@BigFrancis.

I liked it when u said dat "ethnicity today is defined by a pipo's current ethnolinguistic affilliatn nd not necessarily where they migrated frm". Of a truth, language is very dynamic nd can b alterd when isolated frm its root (parent language), or when influencd by a mor forceful/larger language. For exmpo, Arhagba-Orogun is an Urhobo town, but do u knw dat presently Igbo language hav virtualy replaced/wipe out Urhobo language frm dat community? Do u knw dat many youths in Arhagba today can't speak or undastand Urhobo anymor but ar very fluent in Igbo? Durin my first visit to Arhagba in 2011, I thougth I was in Igboland, because Igbo was bin spoken evrywhere! I was even mor surprised when there was a crusade in d town nd they were interpretin in Igbo instead of Urhobo d aboriginal language! I used Arhagba to show dat language alone shuldn't determine origin of a pipo

I typed out a long response to this your post using my iPad and stepped out for some minutes only to get back and unlock my iPad and the page automatically refreshed wiping out all my typed response. I will respond to this post of yours.

bigfrancis21:


I typed out a long response to this your post using my iPad and stepped out for some minutes only to get back and unlock my iPad and the page automatically refreshed wiping out all my typed response. I will respond to this post of yours.

Okay! Happy newyear to u in d first place.

bigfrancis21:


Lol. Igbo culture and history is the oldest of all groups in southern region. Nri civilization came into for around 900AD, 300 years before Ife civilization came into fore in 1200s and 700 years before the Benin empire rose to influence in the 1600s. The effect of the civil war has given riff-rats the impetus to talk down on an old, revered and ancient culture such as the Igbo culture and for newbies to even claim they are the parents of a way older civilization. Get a book and eductae yourself please.

Mirage indeed.

Guy! It seems u don't knw much about earlier civilizatns dat existd in d Benin region prior to d Oba Dynasty. D Oba Dynasty in Benin was by far a later/recent dynasty which sprang up only in d 1100s AD. U shuld knw dat bfor d rise of d Oba dynasty there were earlier dynasties prominent among them was d Ogiso Dynasty which reigned frm btw 700AD to 900AD. D Nri (Eri) Dynasty only emergd afta d collapse of d Ogiso Dynasty in d 900s.

bigfrancis21:


Lol. Igbo culture and history is the oldest of all groups in southern region. Nri civilization came into for around 900AD, 300 years before Ife civilization came into fore in 1200s and 700 years before the Benin empire rose to influence in the 1600s. The effect of the civil war has given riff-rats the impetus to talk down on an old, revered and ancient culture such as the Igbo culture and for newbies to even claim they are the parents of a way older civilization. Get a book and eductae yourself please.

Mirage indeed.

Read about oGba and ekpeye pls

uckennety:

Read about oGba and ekpeye pls

I know about the Ogbas and Ekpeyes. The Ikwerres were never part of the ancestral lineage of those people. The so-called Bini ancestry of the Ikwerres is a lie that was made up in recent times in the quest for 'distinctness'. It is funny how when a lie is perpetuated over and over again, it begins to sound like the truth. Way long pre-civil war, the Ikwerres told their origins as it truly was, which was documented in books, as they had been told by their great-grand ancestors - they are descended mainly from the Arochukwu people, and later migrants from Orlu and Awka blacksmiths who settled in their midsts. The awka blacksmiths were known to travel deeply around Igboland and beyond in they trade and a few Efik-speaking communities in Calabar today say their ancestors were Igbos from awka. Many in these communities speak Igbo too. An Igbo community deep in the enclave of the Efik territory.

Akalaka as a person most likely would have been an Igbo ancestor heading back east after he left Bini, coming back with some Bini influence that he may have picked during his years of living there while still retaining his ancestral Igbo language and culture. At some point in the 1600s, the Bini kingdom rose to influence and it does not come as a surprise if people from neighbouring tribes migrated to settle there in search of opportunities. However, when issues broke out in the kingdom, this person decided to head back east where he came from and his return back from Bini is misconstrued today as 'bini person migrating from bini'. This is audacious fallacy. A typical example would be a village boy, Nchichi, born and bred in Owerri, who leaves for the United states at 18 years and comes back 30 years from the United states still bearing his original name, Nchichi, but with obvious western influence but still retaining his Igbo culture and language and settles in a community in Owerri. Fast forward to 100 years later, his community starts claiming they are not Igbo but Westerners from the United states or claiming United states citizens because their Igbo-bearing ancestor 'migrated from the United states'. And then the lie spreads around that it becomes the truth. Or you tell me tomorrow that the descendants of your uncles or aunts living in the UK today will turn around to claim tomorrow that they are not Igbo but English people.

Everything about Akalaka and Ezechime all points to an original Igbo influence. A bini person left Bini land yet his names are Igbo names - Eze chime and Akalaka. Akalaka gives birth to the ancestor of the ekpeyes called 'akpa ohia' (a typical Igbo name) and yet they say he is Bini. The most line-punching of all these so-called Bini migratory claims is that the Binis have no record of Eze chime or Akalaka whatsoever in their histories and yet these Igbo groups have continued to attach themselves to the Bini history.

I have seen all these lies perpetrated on this forum so many times and left to go unchallenged that they begin to sound like the truth.

bigfrancis21:


I know about the Ogbas and Ekpeyes. The Ikwerres were never part of the ancestral lineage of those people. The so-called Bini ancestry of the Ikwerres is a lie that was made up in recent times in the quest for 'distinctness'. It is funny how when a lie is perpetuated over and over again, it begins to sound like the truth. Way long pre-civil war, the Ikwerres told their origins as it truly was, which was documented in books, as they had been told by their great-grand ancestors - they are descended mainly from the Arochukwu people, and later migrants from Orlu and Awka blacksmiths who settled in their midsts. The awka blacksmiths were known to travel deeply around Igboland and beyond in they trade and a few Efik-speaking communities in Calabar today say their ancestors were Igbos from awka. Many in these communities speak Igbo too. An Igbo community deep in the enclave of the Efik territory.

Akalaka as a person most likely would have been an Igbo ancestor heading back east after he left Bini, coming back with some Bini
influence that he may have picked during his years of living there while still retaining his ancestral Igbo language and culture. At some point in the 1600s, the Bini kingdom rose to influence and it does not come as a surprise if people from neighbouring tribes migrated to settle there in search of opportunities. However, when issues broke out in the kingdom, this person decided to head back east where he came back and his return back from Bini is misconstrued today as 'bini person migrating from bini'. This is audacious fallacy. A typical person would be a village boy, Nchichi, born and bred in Owerri, who leaves for the United states at 18 years and comes back 30 years from the United states steal bearing his original name, Nchichi, but with obvious western influence but still retaining his Igbo culture and language and settles in a community in Owerri. Fast forward to 100 years later, his community starts claiming they are not Igbo but Westerners from the United states or claiming United states citizens because their Igbo-bearing ancestor 'migrated from the United states'. And then the lie spreads around that it becomes the truth. Or you tell me tomorrow that the descendants of your uncles or aunts living in the UK today will turn around to claim tomorrow that they are not Igbo but English people.

Everything about Akalaka and Ezechime all points to an original Igbo influence. A bini person left Bini land yet his names are Igbo names - Eze chime and Akalaka. Akalaka gives birth to the ancestor of the ekpeyes called 'akpa ohia' (a typical Igbo name) and yet they say he is Bini. The most line-punching of all these so-called Bini migratory claims is that the Binis have no record of Eze chime or Akalaka whatsoever in their histories and yet these Igbo groups have continued to attach themselves to the Bini history.

I have seen all these lies perpetrated on this forum so many times and left to go unchallenged that they begin to sound like the truth.

Mmmmmmm well....... I rest my case!!!!!!! Americans hails from Britain!yt d er Americans and not british!so I say let em b want d wanna be!australia Frm Britain yt we know d er not british!