Commonly referred to as “Mba Ji Isi Acho Isi” (the Nation of Headhunters) for their long history of military prowess and exceptional bravery in the face of combat, the Ohafia people have been known to embrace challenges and stand rigid in the face of danger. In a community in which strength and valor were the parameters by which social honors were conferred, wars—especially those with the White Men—were a prime opportunity for young Ohafia lads to earn eagle feathers of their own with which to brandish their caps—a badge of inimitable courage and achievement.

Such an opportunity came in the year 1901, when the British Royal West African Frontier Force (RWAFF) invaded Igboland in a punitive campaign to demolish Igbo resistance to colonial rule and avenge the Massacre of their compatriots at Obegu. That year, Obegu, a pro-British town in what is now Abia State, had been sacked and a large number of its inhabitants were massacred by anti-British forces headed mainly by the Aro and their Ohafia, Abiriba, and Abam allies. As retribution for their involvement in the massacre, the Ohafia people were among those targeted by British forces.

That year, Eke Kalu, a former-slave-turned-business man, was visiting the British-held port city of Calabar on a business errand when he witnessed the White Men and their African soldiers preparing for their assault on his homeland. Earlier in his life, Kalu had served as a load carrier for RWAFF troops throughout their campaigns and had witnessed the devastating effects of their artillery and machine guns. Driven into action by the urgent need to save his people from their imminent doom, he hurried out of Calabar via canoe and returned to Ohafia, where he issued warnings to no avail.
As they approached Ohafia, the British forces first stopped at Ebem and set up camp. As soon as they pitched their tents, a charge of Ebem warriors led by their commander, Idika Echeme, attacked. Startled at first, the British suffered a few casualties but soon brought the force of their Maxim machine guns to bear on the hapless Ebem warriors, who were armed with mere dane guns and swords. (Continued in comments)

British artillery further devastated the charging warriors and cut down wave after wave, eventually routing the survivors. After the battle, Ebem was burned down.

Back in Ohafia, news of Ebem’s demise only helped Kalu dissuade his people from what was considered suicidal resistance. As the British approached Ohafia, a delegation led by Eke Kalu awaited them at the town’s outskirts. As the soldiers neared, he waved a bamboo pole upon which was tied a white handkerchief and shouted: “Anyi kwere na nde Bekee” (we agree to the British).

Complete Reading here: http://igbobia.com/?q=how-the-ohafia-people-were-saved-from-british-massacrethe-1901-story-of-the-brave-eke-kalu.html

My man you are doing fine slowly but steadily nwafors go flood that site... plis dont relent!!!! I hav already registered there



[b]youngadvocate biko try and include ability for members to creare topic (very very important) upload pics and video it will help alot.... also advertise on other igbo fora on facebook with massive crowd. Like radio biafra london and a host of many.... make ur news real and avoid propaganda. .... also make front pay to contain more article...... try and put other educative new/topics AGRIC BIZ TRAVEL &NON IGBO ODAS NECESSARY NEWS &again u ilu igbo tin VERY VERY VERY SWEET..... TRY ALSO TO INCOOPERATE LEARNING OF IGBO ON YOUR SITE...... TRY AND WORK WITH VERY KNOWLEGDEBLE AND CAPABLE HANDS U GET GET FROM NAIRALAND VERY FORMIDABLE IGBO FOLKS THERE PRESENCE CAN DRAG ODA NWAFORS THERE....... USE UR EYES TO KNOW AND BRING THEM TO THE ODA SIDE!!!!! I RECONMEND MYPLAYDIARY aka AFONJAHEADHUNTER && DIDDIDDIEOMENKA, UGOMBA, CHERUV and many formidable nwafors!!!! personally I dnt subscribe to immoral news and I wnt advice such maka eligwe!!!!. HEAVEN TINS!!!.......MY MAN IF YOU DO THESE CONSISTENTLY U GO BLAST SOON because UR NICHE/content abt igbo very FEW OCCUPY IT......[/b]

THAT IS GOOD

Ohafia kwenu!!!

Which one be ohifia?

Are they part of the 5%ers?

@ Islander...God bless you bro...actually, anyone can create topic on the site...it's a forum as well...however, we are currently adding new features on the site so as to reflect the real intent for the site.
The forum was built as a platform to add value with real and very helpful contents.
So, I shall engage your advice very urgently

Youngadvocate:
@ Islander...God bless you bro...actually, anyone can create topic on the site...it's a forum as well...however, we are currently adding new features on the site so as to reflect the real intent for the site.
The forum was built as a platform to add value with real and very helpful contents.
So, I shall engage your advice very urgently

[b]as far as u are a listening leader I will follow and contribute my quota; mind u am very volcanic in what I bliv I pursue it to a reasonable conclusion.PLIS invoke nairaland igbo general there are alot of themthey are dangerous AS they are enlightened! !!! They will help drag THE site to lime light. I BLIV IT IS OUR OWN SITE A SITE WHERE UR COMMENT WONT B HIDDEN SIMPLY because U ARE IGBO. A SITE THAT WONT REMOVE OR DELETE UR TOPIC because U ARE IGBO, A SITE THAT WONT ORCHESTRATE AND PUSH only TOPIC THAT WILL batter the image of igbo cos of recurring hatred TO FRONTPAGE, if u promise to make it happen I promise to fall in line and through my weight (I weigh much) behind it. Always b listening to make it happen. I have plans to do this in future not so far but if your vision is strong enough to do this to burst effectively all the mountain of lies heaped on us just to push us to slavery I will gladly give up mind to totally follow u. GO TO FACEBOOK SEARCH FOR IGBO GROUPS with crowd JOIN CONTRIBUTE MEANINGFULLY THEN DROP THE BUMB (IGBOBIA.COM) GWA HA Na NKEA bu nke ANYI a SITE GA ACHIKOTA IGBO niile MA NDi nO NA IGBANKA TO NDI BI NA BENUE ONWEGHI ONYE AGA AHApu.... ONYE AHANA NWANNE YA..... JOIN ANODA ONE DO SAME THING OVER AND OVA AGAIN JUST DROP IT AFTER A GOOD ARTICLE AS SOURCE AND INVITE ALL OFFICIALLY CONSISTENTLY LIKE U DO ON NAIRALAND PROVOKE THE GENERALS FRoM NAIRALAND TO FOLLOW U THEN. IT WILL BLAST; NWANNE UDO DIRI GI[/b]

Hmmmmmmm

Iskander2:


[b]as far as u are a listening leader I will follow and contribute my quota; mind u am very volcanic in what I bliv I pursue it to a reasonable conclusion.PLIS invoke nairaland igbo general there are alot of themthey are dangerous AS they are enlightened! !!! They will help drag THE site to lime light. I BLIV IT IS OUR OWN SITE A SITE WHERE UR COMMENT WONT B HIDDEN SIMPLY because U ARE IGBO. A SITE THAT WONT REMOVE OR DELETE UR TOPIC because U ARE IGBO, A SITE THAT WONT ORCHESTRATE AND PUSH only TOPIC THAT WILL batter the image of igbo cos of recurring hatred TO FRONTPAGE, if u promise to make it happen I promise to fall in line and through my weight (I weigh much) behind it. Always b listening to make it happen. I have plans to do this in future not so far but if your vision is strong enough to do this to burst effectively all the mountain of lies heaped on us just to push us to slavery I will gladly give up mind to totally follow u. GO TO FACEBOOK SEARCH FOR IGBO GROUPS with crowd JOIN CONTRIBUTE MEANINGFULLY THEN DROP THE BUMB (IGBOBIA.COM) GWA HA Na NKEA bu nke ANYI a SITE GA ACHIKOTA IGBO niile MA NDi nO NA IGBANKA TO NDI BI NA BENUE ONWEGHI ONYE AGA AHApu.... ONYE AHANA NWANNE YA..... JOIN ANODA ONE DO SAME THING OVER AND OVA AGAIN JUST DROP IT AFTER A GOOD ARTICLE AS SOURCE AND INVITE ALL OFFICIALLY CONSISTENTLY LIKE U DO ON NAIRALAND PROVOKE THE GENERALS FRoM NAIRALAND TO FOLLOW U THEN. IT WILL BLAST; NWANNE UDO DIRI GI[/b]

Nwanne Chuwku gozie gi...Oga diri gi na mma...I am ever set for it. My frustration grew from the injustices i have seen especially of late, meted out against Umunne anyi n'ebe a. Honestly, it baffled me that there is no unifying ground; a forum where umu-igbo can discuss matters of great importance to them and the world around them.
I have taken up the mantle and by the Grace Of God, Chukwu abiama no nelu Igwe, it shall b e successful. Already, the site has recorded tremendous growth as many are registering and visiting as well.
Pls, help me reach out to as many as you can. Let's build our own.

Youngadvocate:


Nwanne Chuwku gozie gi...Oga diri gi na mma...I am ever set for it. My frustration grew from the injustices i have seen especially of late, meted out against Umunne anyi n'ebe a. Honestly, it baffled me that there is no unifying ground; a forum where umu-igbo can discuss matters of great importance to them and the world around them.
I have taken up the mantle and by the Grace Of God, Chukwu abiama no nelu Igwe, it shall b e successful. Already, the site has recorded tremendous growth as many are registering and visiting as well.
Pls, help me reach out to as many as you can. Let's build our own.

Ino dia!!!!....dats the spirit....... aga m anwa ikem!!! .... united we stand divided we fall..... anukooo amiri onu ogba ufufu. [b]igbobia.com[/b ] (website nkea anyi) anoda tin is IF dia IS a way u can incorporate like, unlike, quote and also how to know who is online......DONT RELENT NWANNE.... YOUR NICHE IS VERY UNIQUE!!!! U GAT NO COMPETITION.... SO BLAST YOUR WAY THROUGH!!! .. KUDOS TO U......

igbobia.com ebe ano

Op! You said eke kalu was a former slave but u dint state where and how he was trained and who his masterswere!

The said Eke Kalu was a slave to the Great Chief of Epelle Polo war canoe House of Opobo kingdom! Opobo kingdom was the elite and the most developed and educated state in the then british territory now called nigeria!
Eke Kalu learnt to speak and understand the languageof the British from Opobo kingom. Heserved his master well and requested to go home which was obliged. Chief Epelle eventually sent resources to establish thefirst school in that region known as Ohafia,abiriba,ibere, arochukwu etc!
So your people should always be greatful to the land of the Firsters. Opobo kingdom
And especially the Great EPELLE House.

EngrKem:
Op! You said eke kalu was a former slave but u dint state where and how he was trained and who his masterswere!

The said Eke Kalu was a slave to the Great Chief of Epelle Polo war canoe House of Opobo kingdom! Opobo kingdom was the elite and the most developed and educated state in the then british territory now called nigeria!
Eke Kalu learnt to speak and understand the languageof the British from Opobo kingom. Heserved his master well and requested to go home which was obliged. Chief Epelle eventually sent resources to establish thefirst school in that region known as Ohafia,abiriba,ibere, arochukwu etc!
So your people should always be greatful to the land of the Firsters. Opobo kingdom
And especially the Great EPELLE House.

Thanks for the contribution. The write-up is abridged obviously.
Would love it if you register on Igbobia.com and share these great intellectual prowess u exhibit. It will be of great help to many

Here is the full story!very intersting with dates and facts .

https://m./156360184570138?view=permalink&id=251144045091751

EPELLE and OPOBO the land and people of FIRSTERS
Indeed, the Ohafia man had a head start. But,
does he know that he owes it
all to Eke Kalu, the former slave and an unsung
hero, who was born about
1875 in Elu Ohafia and sold into slavery; who
went as far as the present
Cross River and Rivers states; was sent to
school;
and later promoted the
overseer of the house of his master, Chief Mini
Epelle of Opobo, before his
triumphal return to his family in Ohafia?
IT is not certain how Ohafia and Abiriba came to
be in their present
"Full story below"

Abiriba And Ohafia: Two Of A Kind
BY EBERE AHANIHU
For over 200 years, the people of Ohafia and
Abiriba have shared a common
boundary. Yet, they have shared diametrically
opposite world-views. While
the one lived in a pre-colonial world where the
love of military glory was a
consuming passion, the other was a wealthy
black smith and a long distance
traveller. To date, they have maintained two
parallel lines: while the one
loves education, the other loves business
OHAFIA and Abiriba, two communities located in
the northern part of Abia
State, are like twins separated by a few
kilometres of expanse of land. But,
even as they share a common boundary, one
sharply contrasts the other in so
many ways. Sometimes, nature, in its infinite
wisdom, helped in scripting
what has come to make one distinct from the
other. As the saying goes in the
two communities, it takes only a trained eye to
see the difference.
Yet, Ohafia and Abiriba share certain fundamental
practices in common. It
appears that after over 200 years of living close
to each other, they could
not help sharing some practices, one being the
matrilineal system, in which
a woman inherits property from her father's
home. The child from such a
marriage still traces his descent through his
father, but relies more on his
maternal side for his upbringing.
This practise has been used to explain why Ohafia
and Abiriba women hardly
married outsiders, until in recent times. In the
two communities, women are
seen as assets to their families. An Ohafia or
Abiriba woman would never get
so serious with a stranger as to marry him. If she
does, it implies that she
has depleted the family's resources. On its own,
the act will be a breakaway
from the norm.
Another common feature is the age-grade
system. Over the years, the system
has become a vehicle for development, more
especially in Abiriba, where all
projects in the area are associated with one age
grade or the other. There
is an inexplicable sense of mission among
succeeding generations to take up
projects in the community that will surpass the
performance of their
predecessors.
Beyond that, the Ohafia and Abiriba people have
maintained their
distinctness, and a stranger who understands the
rules can easily separate
one from the other. The dialects of Igbo language
spoken in both areas vary
in a way. While the Ohafia man rebukes a
mischievous child by saying: "Ifula
nwantaa!", the Abiriba man says: "Kalaa
nwantoo!". The Abiriba man says,
Iwo, for anger, while his Ohafia counterpart says,
Iwe. Husband is Ji, in
Abiriba, and di, in Ohafia. To say, 'Look at it', in
Ohafia, they say Le ya,
and Kala ya in Abiriba.
Nature has also played a part in it, if the
contrasting topographies of the
two communities are taken into consideration.
Unlike Ohafia, which is on a
plain land, Abiriba is clustered over an undulating
hilly outlay, and
boundaries demarcating villages are hardly seen.
Some of the exotic
architectural designs that can be found in Nigeria
dot the hilltops, giving
the community the name, 'Small London'.
Although the people of Ohafia are beginning to
match their Abiriba
counterparts in terms of infrastructure, the area
still wears a more rural
outlook than Abiriba. In Abiriba, the Abiriba
Communal Improvement Union,
through the use of mutually competitive age-
grades, spearheads development
efforts in such a way that electricity, pipe-borne
water and tarred roads,
without the assistance of the government, reach
a greater part of the
community. There appears to be a deliberate
attempt among the people to
remain close to each other all the time.
Abiriba is a community of shrewd businessmen.
The Abiriba man loves and
follows the whiff of money to wherever it takes
him, and no matter the risk
involved. Over time, the quest for wealth has led
him through thick and
thin, to have business links traversing the entire
West Africa, with
tentacles stretching as far as Europe, America
and the Far East.
Abiriba is a specialist trading community and one
of the wealthiest
communities in Igboland. A striking feature of
trade and industry in Aba is
the prominent role played by Abiriba people.
Unlike Nnewi, in Anambra State,
where businessmen have located the bulk of their
industries at home, the
Abiriba man has practically no industry in his
land.
Instead, the traders and industrialists have, since
the end of the Nigerian
Civil War in 1970, tended to concentrate their
activities in Aba, where they
have good relations with Ngwa people and little
difficulty gaining access to
land. Of the 29 companies, including the two
largest employers listed in Tom
Forrest's Makers and Making of Nigerian Private
Enterprise published in
1994, 11 of them are owned by Abiriba
businessmen.
The Abiriba man is restless and always on the
move. When he is fortunate to
move up the ladder, he takes along somebody
from his community. He does not
believe that he should be the only rooster that
crows in the town. "No man",
the saying goes in Abrirba "no matter how
successful, can bury himself when
he dies. He needs other successful people to give
him a befitting burial".
Or, "No one person, no matter how rich or
successful, can kill a cow and eat
it alone. The enjoyment of it is in the sharing".
As the Abiriba man travels, pursuing his business
interests from one end of
the globe to the other, there is an unwritten rule
among the people that he
must bring home whatever he finds in foreign
lands that will be of benefit
to his people. He does not build a house simply
because he needs a roof over
his head. When he does, he leaves his personality
imprinted on the
architectural design, and the building has to be
the first of its kind in
the community.
In all of these, the Abiriba man has one
shortcoming: he did not embrace
formal education when his neighbour, the Ohafia
man, did and, so, the first
generation of Abiriba businessmen was largely
illiterate. To the Abiriba
man, it was money before any other thing. But,
in recent times, education
has become vital to him. Somewhere along the
line, he seemed to have
realised that he may have all the money, but that
without education, he may
not know how to control or reinvest it.
It took the Abiriba man a long time to realise the
importance of education.
But, before he did, his Ohafia counterpart had
made hay, entrenching himself
in the bureaucracy. He began with the teaching
profession. Education was the
main industry in the area. To the Ohafia man, no
profession was as noble as
teaching. It became so much of an obsession
that every child born in the
area looked forward to becoming a teacher.
Today, while the Abiriba community boasts of
wealthy traders and
industrialists, the children of these teachers in
Ohafia are found in the
academia, and the professionals and control the
political machinery in the
area. Before you can count on your five fingers
Abiriba men who have
attained the academic rank of professor, Ohafia
has counted over 50 of them
and more politicians, both at the federal and
state levels.
Indeed, the Ohafia man had a head start. But,
does he know that he owes it
all to Eke Kalu, the former slave and an unsung
hero, who was born about
1875 in Elu Ohafia and sold into slavery; who
went as far as the present
Cross River and Rivers states; was sent to school;
and later promoted the
overseer of the house of his master, Chief Mini
Epele of Opobo, before his
triumphal return to his family in Ohafia?
IT is not certain how Ohafia and Abiriba came to
be in their present
locations. There are as many versions as there are
people telling the
stories. However, the stories agree that the two
communities originated from
different sources. While some trace their origin to
Israel, others trace it
to Egypt and, sometimes, to the Bantus in East
Africa. All the accounts
agree that the forebears of Ohafia people
migrated from Isi-Eke, from a
place called Umuajiji, in Ubeku, Umuahia, while
those of Abiriba migrated
from Ene, in today's Cross River.
The Ohafia people, the story goes, left Andoli and
settled in Isi-Eke, from
where they ran away. One night, it was said, the
people heard the rattling
sound of calabashes. The sound was interpreted
to mean that they were being
invaded. A commotion ensued. As some of them
escaped toward Ngodo, others
went towards Isuochi. At one point, some of them
headed towards Abam.
Leading the group heading to Abam, was a man
known as Ezeama Atita, and two
sons called Uduma Ezeama and Onyereobi
Ezeama. When they got to Abam,
Onyereobi's wife, who was heavy with pregnancy,
could no longer walk. He,
therefore, remained in Abam with his pregnant
wife, while the group
continued on the journey. In the present location
of Ohafia, at a place
called Ugwumgbo, Ezeama Atita, and his second
son, Uduma, settled. After
many years, their offspring established the 26
villages that make up today's
Ohafia.
The ancestral headquarters of Ohafia is in Elu
Ohafia. Each village is
governed by an eze ogo. All the eze ogo's come
together to form the Eze
Ogo-in-Council, which, with the amala, decide
how the community is to be
governed. The overall traditional ruler, Udumeze,
who lives in Elu Ohafia,
intervenes only when there is a matter between
an eze ogo and a subject.
In the past, the culture of Ohafia was hinged
around one's prowess in war.
They were constantly on the lookout for wars in
which to take part. They
became something like mercenaries and the
people of Arochukwu, who were all
over Igboland 'hunting' for slaves, harnessed this
warlike spirit in Ohafia
people to their own advantage.
The practise of beheading a fallen foe was a
favourite pastime. A human
skull was valued as a souvenir, and it was a proof
of a man's courage, which
brought to the Ohafia man different types of
honour. Only those who brought
home a human head could join the Ogbu-Isi
society and wear the eagle plume
of courage. The love of military glory became a
consuming passion and the
focus of all social values.
On the other hand, Abiriba, the people say,
means Ebiri-Abaa, which roughly
translates to, a fertile land that enriches those
who live in it. Whether
the people migrated from Israel, Egypt or from
East Africa, the different
accounts agree that they arrived Abiriba from
Umon, in Cross River State,
through Ena, Eberiba, Udara Abuo in Ohafia, and
then Agboha, in the present
Abiriba.
The leader of the group was a man known as Oke
Ukpabi, who had a son, named
Ukpabi Oke. Father and son lived at Ndi Ogogo,
where the father died. Ukpabi
Oke, in turn, had four sons, named in order of
seniority as Inyima Ukpabi
Oke, Chukwu Ukpabi Oke, Ali Ukpabi Oke and Oko
Ukpabi Oke. While Inyima
Ukpabi Oke remained at Ndi Ogogo, Chukwu
Ukpabi Oke moved to Amogudu, Ali
Ukpabi Oke settled in Ihungwu, Oko Ukpabi Oke
moved to Ama-Elu Nta.
Theoretically, Abiriba is divided into three geo-
political zones - Ameke,
Amaogudu, and Agboji. But, practically speaking,
Abiriba remains one. The
boundary line separating one village from the
other is blurred. They abhor
anything that will bring division among them. For
this reason, they have
refused the creation of autonomous communities
in the area, in spite of its
expedience.
As in Ohafia, Abiriba is organised in a confederal
system of government. The
three geo-political zones have their ezes, who
legislate on residual issues.
There is an overall eze, the Enachuoken, who
lives at Ndi Ogogo, in Ameke.
He is said to be a ceremonial head and concurs to
decisions reached by the
Enachuoken-in-Council, made up of
representatives of the three zones. The
Otisi, a deity, is the mess of the Enachuoken-in-
Council and stands as the
symbol of authority. Any law proclaimed in
Abiriba, without the Otisi cannot
stand the test of time. Otisi can only be seen in
the public when laws are
going to be enacted or repealed.
The Abiriba man had not the war-like traits of his
Ohafia counterpart. He is
not a warrior in that sense. The only insight
history gives into his past is
that he was a wealthy black smith and a long
distance traveller, who worked
on raw iron from what is described as the mines
of Okigwe-Arochukwu ridge.
AS a result of the abolition of slave trade, internal
warfare declined and
it became safe to travel. The Ohafia people,
whose warlike exploits made
peaceful travel impossible, were now able to work
abroad. By 1913, most of
them were trading at Itu, in Akwa Ibom State,
and Calabar, in Cross River
State.
Before now, the Ohafia man, with his entire war
prowess, went through a
ritual, to purge him of his war-like traits. Perhaps,
he needed to be told
by no less a force than the colonial might the old
order had passed away.
And it came about in 1901, when a unit of the
Royal West African Frontier
Force (RWAFF) based in Calabar laid a siege on
Ohafia and Ebem. It was in
response to the destruction of Obegu, in today's
Abia south, by fighters
from the two communities.
The Ohafia people had looked forward to that
encounter. The people were in
high spirit, sharpening their machetes and
loading their dane guns with
gun-powder. As usual, it was another opportunity
for them to cut human
heads. But, in their ignorance, they failed to
realise that the firepower of
the white man was far and above their crude
weapons.
Enter Eke Kalu, the former slave. He had since
returned from Opobo and was
now visiting Calabar as a businessman, when
preparations to raid Ohafia and
Ebem were in high gear. The sight of RWAFF
soldiers marching in Calabar,
coupled with his experience in Eket when he was
a gun carrier, compelled him
to seek a way of saving his people.
Eke Kalu knew from experience that his people,
the famous and dreaded
warriors of ancient Ohafia, the lions of the jungle,
the proud and gallant
sons of Uduma Ezema, would challenge the
soldiers. He realised also that
though the military tactics of the Ohafia warriors
might surpass that of the
RWAFF, yet their weapons were crude and
nowhere near the firepower of the
rifles and machine guns of the RWAFF soldiers.
He, therefore, hurried out of Calabar in a canoe
and, passing through Ikun,
arrived Ohafia. It was an eke day and, on arrival,
he went through the area,
warning the people against challenging the
soldiers. Four days after his
return, the British soldiers were on their way to
Ohafia, taking the Akoli
Adda route. Passing through Elu, they arrived in
Ebem, where they pitched
their tents at Ifi Iri-opu. Captain Mowatt
commanded the soldiers.
No sooner did the soldiers arrive than an Ebem
warrior, Idika Echeme, was
said to have charged at them. Thereafter, the
order to open fire was given
on the other side of the line. Soon, trees and
human beings began to fall.
Each time cannon balls went off, trees and
charging Ebem warriors were cut
down. The pillar of Ikoro Nde Anaga also came
down. When they saw what was
happening, the surviving Ebem warriors panicked
and took to the forests for
refuge.
After Ebem was reduced to rubbles, the British
soldiers turned their
attention to Ohafia. As they approached, Eke Kalu
was waiting for them, not
with machetes or dane guns. He had a long
bamboo, at the top of which he
tied a white handkerchief, which he waved
frantically in the air, saying to
the hearing of the approaching soldiers: "Ayi
kwere na ndi beke", meaning:
"We surrender to the British".
Given his exceptional courage, Captain Mowatt
was said to have demanded to
know Eke Kalu's identity. Coming close to the
captain was an opportunity the
former slave needed to demonstrate, before his
people, his ability to speak
English language. To the captain's question, he
proudly replied: "I from Elu
Ohafia; my fadda, Imaga Agwunsi, say he no wan
war". The captain was pleased
and to another question, he replied: "I is de onle
man for Ohafia hear
English". When the British soldiers left Ohafia, the
profile of the ex-slave
rose among his people. The fact that he could
engage a white man in a
conversation earned him respect and honour.
Consequently, they appointed him
their adviser.
The event that changed the course of Ohafia
people forever occurred shortly
after, and Eke Kalu was, again, at the centre of it.
There was, in Ohafia, a
man identified simply as Vincent, a Sierra
Leonean, who was the Native Court
Clerk in the area. He was said to be "extremely
wicked in his dealings with
Ohafia people". The day came when he locked
some men in the prison for what
was described as a trivial offence. The men broke
out of the prison and were
intent on beating him up, when he reported the
matter to one Major Cobham,
who despatched some policemen to his rescue.
The prisoners were promptly
rearrested and fines were imposed on them.
After this event, Ohafia people started looking for
a way out of what had
become regular persecutions in the hands of the
Sierra Leonean. As the
solution to their problem, Eke Kalu, advised them
to build schools and
educate their children who, knowing what the
clerk knew, would better
challenge him and his successors in future. The
first school was opened at
Ndi Imaga Shed. From now on, the desire for
education swept through Ohafia
like a bush fire.

ABOUT two major waves of migration to Calabar
have been identified in
Abiriba. The first wave took place during the slave
trade. When the
obnoxious trade was abolished, the second
migration started, beginning with
black smiths and, later, traders. Two black
smiths, identified as Nwafor and
Udehi, led the migrants. The story has it that
Nwafor settled at Umonta,
while Udehi settled at Umon, near a plantation
where he fashioned out hoes,
cutlasses and other farm tools. As time went on,
Udehi moved over to Umonta
and both men opened a workshop.
With time, Abiriba people began to abandon iron
work. It was now considered
to be tedious profession and not profitable
enough. By the turn of the 20th
Century, the Abiriba man had gone into buying
and selling with Europeans.
From now on, the economic history of Abiriba
began to show a shifting
pattern of migration and commercial
specialisation, in response to changing
economic opportunities.
In the 19th Century, and early in the colonial
period, trade in palm produce
developed to the south, down the Igu tributary of
the Inyang River, which
joined the Cross River in the Itu area. The area
was where Abiriba traders
came to establish their business. There also
developed a strong trade in
smuggled gin from Fernando Po. A separate line
of trade, associated with the
smithing items, moved in the direction of Bende
and later to Uzuakoli, where
there was a large Abiriba quarters, and along the
rail line from Umuahia to
Port Harcourt.
By the early 1950s, the direction of the migration
began to change. The
Abiriba businessman began to move towards
Aba. In the days of pre-colonial
times, Aba had had a market place, near the Aza
River, known as Eke Oha.
After the Arochukwu expedition, Aba became an
administrative centre and a
garrison town. Its location on the railway aided its
growth as a market
centre and rewrote the economic geography of
the area.
It was in Aba that the Abiriba man made his first
business breakthrough in
second-hand clothing, popularly called okirika, a
period that marked his
entrance into international trade. Apart from
okirika, he was also involved
in the importation of sewing machines,
gramophones, stockfish and cement.
From 1954, he started importing lar