IGBO SLAVES AMONG THE ITSEKIRI?

So yesterday, an Itsekiri fellow on Facebook made the interesting claim that his people had many (emphasis on 'many') Igbo slaves. He went further to say that some of the descendants of these Igbo slaves still live in Delta State, and speak a hybrid language which he refused to mention. In the interest of intellectual discourse he probably should have mentioned it, and given interested parties the opportunity to verify or debunk the claims.

As far as the ethnic backgrounds of slaves in Itsekiri land is concerned, this is what the historian P. C. Lloyd wrote in his paper, "The Itsekiri in the Nineteenth Century: An Outline Social History":

Lloyd wrote: "A further change in Itsekiri social structure during the century was the development of domestic slavery. At the turn of the century the king held a large number of slaves, but the number owned by the chiefs is not known. The kingdom must have exported at least a thousand slaves annually. But with the decline of the slave trade, the supply did not cease, and slaves were integrated into the Itsekiri economy. Thus of Jakpa's 5000 people, Burton estimated that 600 - 700 were slaves of Diare. Olomu's slaves were variously numbered at 1000, 3000 and 4000.

"The slaves were never Itsekiri, rarely Ijoh. Most were Urhobo, often being men and women expelled from their communities for serious offences and sold in the riverside markets. Some were given to the Itsekiri as pledges for debts. The Itsekiri usually equate the price of a slave with a puncheon of oil. They assert that they never went to a war to capture slaves, though a favourite method of settling a debt or a quarrel was to seize a man's slaves. Other slaves came through the trade routes from Benin and Yoruba country where they had been captured in inter-tribal wars. Nana's most senior slaves were Ologun, a Yoruba, and Sagay, a Benin."

*Sagay is very clearly a corruption of the Bini name Osagie.

So there you have it. Itsekiri's slaves came primarily from the Urhobo; secondarily from the Yoruba and the Bini; and sometimes (though rarely) from the Ijọ. These are the people in the same geographical area as the Itsekiri and the people with whom they were involved in regular interactions. But our Itsekiri friend went over the heads of his neighbours to look for slaves among the Igbos located farther away.

I was going to just laugh at the story and go on with my business, but I realized there are Igbo people who may not be informed enough to see that this man lied through his teeth, hence my decision to talk about it here.

Good morning. ☕

akanke79:
Children of weak and coward ancestors taken as slaves by fellow neighbours calling people who built great empires cowards.Tufiakwa
No wonder they see the whiteman as god and have the smallest landmass in Nigger area.
Na for mam to tie wrapper like woman them sabi.chai

There are only three major tribes in Nigeria..

You know them... Others are local government

aribisala0:
This explains why the SE is overcrowded. The Ijaws , Bini and Efik used the place like a huge slave farm/poultry for slaves.


When the slave trade ended abruptly there was aglut of slaves much more tan their land could carry

Surely Awolowo in all his wisdom, foresight and magnanimity didn't waste his free education legacy for the yorrooba race to be this irreparably stupid and paleolithic in reasoning.

THE AREA IN EDO STATE, REGARDED AS BINI WAS ACTUALLY IGBO LAND.



THIS WAS BEFORE THE ARRIVAL OF THE OBA OF BINI AND ITSEKIRI FROM ILE-IFE.




THE ORIGINAL KINGDOM WAS CALLED IDU AND THE PEOPLE WERE IGODOMIGODO.





IN IGBO IGODOMIGODO MEANS KEY THAT OPENS THE LOCK OR KEY.




THE PEOPLE YOU CALL BINI TODAY ARE IGBO PEOPLE, IT IS THE OBA AND HIS FAMILY THAT ARE IGBO MIXED WITH YORUBA.

Reno doesn't have sense at all.
No tribe was shielded from slavery.
Even Binis and Itsekiris were taken as slaves by Igbos and other tribes.
What happened back then was a matter of opportunity. If you had opportunity to acquire a slave even from Chad, then you could.
For him to cite this as a reason for cultural influence and not something like decades of trades and social interaction between Igbos and their neighbours shows that Reno is indeed a big fo*ol.

We Igbos also have Yoruba ,Benin and itshekiri slaves among us.

We also have Benin and Yoruba related names in our Igboland.

Time for cone headed dumbos to masturbate under this obvious trash. Reno, the id*otic mongrel made it sound like Benin or Itsekiri are sh*t which of course they are not. Back in the days, people like Joe igbokwe were made slaves in Igbo land due to their brainless Ness and weakness. Note: They were regarded as slaves in Igbo land first, at a time their new Igbo masters could resell them to a middle man to a white man at the coast. Remember white people never left the coast, they were close to their ships in the habour always afraid of getting infected and so on. Who do you think these middle men were? They were people of present day Itsekiri or Benin. It is not a situation of them invading Igbo land or conquering Igbo land to capture slaves, it was Igbos selling slaves to them who were already slaves in Igbo land as of then. If they attempted attacking Alaigbo then, they would have been extinct by now. We were fighting the Nigerian govt in their land during the Civil War, we never faced them but they are crying more than the bereaved. God have mercy on reno omokri poor wretched soul and his yoruba and SS minions

Hardfacts234:
We Igbos also have Yoruba ,Benin and itshekiri slaves among us.

We also have Benin and Yoruba related names in our Igboland.

THE OLDEST GROUP OF PEOPLE IN THAT AREA ARE IGBOS.


THE ORIGINAL BINI ARE IGBOS.



THE ONES YOU CALL ESAN ARE IGBOS.


THE KALABARI ARE IGBOS.


NONE OF THEIR HISTORY CAN BE WRITTEN WITHOUT MENTION OF THEIR IGBO ROOTS.

hammerDK:
THE AREA IN EDO STATE, REGARDED AS BINI WAS ACTUALLY IGBO LAND.
THIS WAS BEFORE THE ARRIVAL OF THE OBA OF BINI AND ITSEKIRI FROM ILE-IFE.

[b]THE ORIGINAL KINGDOM WAS CALLED IDU AND THE PEOPLE WERE IGODOMIGODO.
[/b
IN IGBO IGODOMIGODO MEANS KEY THAT OPENS THE LOCK OR KEY.

THE PEOPLE YOU CALL BINI TODAY ARE IGBO PEOPLE, IT IS THE OBA AND HIS FAMILY THAT ARE IGBO MIXED WITH YORUBA.

In the days of old ,all tribes or groups had empires to protect the people from external aggression.
The Igbo ancestors didnot do a good job in defending their lands for their descendants.
A divided group is an easy prey to an invader.They are the real cowards.

The igbos have come a long after that. They are one of the most formidable tribes in the world today if we take them as a race. Check Nigeria's team to the Olympics and see.

They have their own challenges like everyone else but you can't wave them aside.
I still wonder why the igbos have not started a forum to counter nairaland.

Is that why Imo state is the worst and most backward state in Nigeria?

ProudImolite:
Time for cone headed dumbos to masturbate under this obvious trash. Reno, the id*otic mongrel made it sound like Benin or Itsekiri are sh*t which of course they are not. Back in the days, people like Joe igbokwe were made slaves in Igbo land due to their brainless Ness and weakness. Note: They were regarded as slaves in Igbo land first, at a time their new Igbo masters could resell them to a middle man to a white man at the coast. Remember white people never left the coast, they were close to their ships in the habour always afraid of getting infected and so on. Who do you think these middle men were? They were people of present day Itsekiri or Benin. It is not a situation of them invading Igbo land or conquering Igbo land to capture slaves, it was Igbos selling slaves to them who were already slaves in Igbo land as of then. If they attempted attacking Alaigbo then, they would have been extinct by now. We were fighting the Nigerian govt in their land during the Civil War, we never faced them but they are crying more than the bereaved. God have mercy on reno omokri poor wretched soul and his yoruba and SS minions

Good for idiots who goes about looking for Igbo sounding names to claim as a relative.
Btw,Reno himself might still be one of the so called slaves just like Asari Dokubo whose great grandfather was a slave.

ProudImolite:
Time for cone headed dumbos to masturbate under this obvious trash. Reno, the id*otic mongrel made it sound like Benin or Itsekiri are sh*t which of course they are not. Back in the days, people like Joe igbokwe were made slaves in Igbo land due to their brainless Ness and weakness. Note: They were regarded as slaves in Igbo land first, at a time their new Igbo masters could resell them to a middle man to a white man at the coast. Remember white people never left the coast, they were close to their ships in the habour always afraid of getting infected and so on. Who do you think these middle men were? They were people of present day Itsekiri or Benin. It is not a situation of them invading Igbo land or conquering Igbo land to capture slaves, it was Igbos selling slaves to them who were already slaves in Igbo land as of then. If they attempted attacking Alaigbo then, they would have been extinct by now. We were fighting the Nigerian govt in their land during the Civil War, we never faced them but they are crying more than the bereaved. God have mercy on reno omokri poor wretched soul and his yoruba and SS minions

How come your ancestors only got a small land mass, if the neighbouring tribes never took your land?
Igbos are the palestine of the EAST.

akanke79:


In the days of old ,all tribes or groups had empires to protect the people from external aggression.
The Igbo ancestors didnot do a good job in defending their lands for their descendants.
A divided group is an easy prey to an invader.They are the real cowards.

THE IGBO WERE SEGMENTAL.

IT WAS EASY TO PICK THEM OFF, AS THEY LIVE IN SMALL AUTONOMOUS COMMUNITIES INDEPENDENT OF EACH OTHER.


NO CENTRALISED SYSTEM.


ALSO THE KINGDOM OF IDU FOUGHT A WAR WITH OBA TO STOP HIS INVASION OF IGODOMIGODO LAND.

THE OBA REFUSED TO LEAVE AND MARRIED AN IDU PRINCESS.

THEIR DESCENDANTS RULE OVER BINI KINGDOM TODAY.

Asgard73:
I get a.m. before no be property... so after the slavery by bini isekiri and Yoruba ... what happen?

Can those minorities stand today igbo nation?

Or should igbos go and sacrifice for slavery..

Kanu matter really pain Reno.... who send... maybe Yoruba people

Na news for them

This overgrown baby called Reno Omokiri is very petty and stupid. At some point, the Benin empire was vast and it would be expected that an empire of such magnitude would slaves from their neighboring tribes. Is it only Igbos that were slaves? No!

Igboland is vast and while those at the periphery will easily fall prey to outsiders, it doesn't make Igbos cowards. The only difference is that Igbos are democratic people who believe in live and let's live mantra. If they were empire builders, all the minorities around us would have been totally subjugated since we greatly outnumber them.

Foolish Reno even attached his itshekiri minority group to the Bini out of his overbloated ego, as if it's one and same.

Rome once built an empire that spread throughout the world at some time, but they're nobody today. The Chinese were once conquered by the Mongols and the Japanese but today, these people won't dare China without suffering humiliation.

hammerDK:
THE AREA IN EDO STATE, REGARDED AS BINI WAS ACTUALLY IGBO LAND.



THIS WAS BEFORE THE ARRIVAL OF THE OBA OF BINI AND ITSEKIRI FROM ILE-IFE.




THE ORIGINAL KINGDOM WAS CALLED IDU AND THE PEOPLE WERE IGODOMIGODO.





IN IGBO IGODOMIGODO MEANS KEY THAT OPENS THE LOCK OR KEY.




THE PEOPLE YOU CALL BINI TODAY ARE IGBO PEOPLE, IT IS THE OBA AND HIS FAMILY THAT ARE IGBO MIXED WITH YORUBA.

It's funny how you guys lie with so much audacity

theTranscriber:

It's funny how you guys lie with so much audacity

WHERE DID OBA COME FROM?


WHEN DID HE ARRIVE?


WHO WERE THE PEOPLE HE MET THERE?



WHO WERE THE PEOPLE HE WAS FIGHTING WAR WITH?



IF ANYBODY IS A LIAR IT IS YOU.

THE PEOPLE OF ANAMBRA WHERE I COME FROM RAN AWAY FROM IDU.



THAT IS WHY A VILLAGE IN ANAMBRA IS CALLED OBA?



A PLACE IN ONITSHA IS CALLED IWEKA, WHO IS THE SON OF THE OBA.




THOSE NAMES WERE CARRIED BY IGODOMIGODU PEOPLE RUNNING FROM IDU TO PRESENT DAY ANAMBRA.



WE RAN BECAUSE OF THE WAR BETWEEN IDU AND OBA.

hammerDK:



WHERE DID OBA COME FROM?


WHEN DID HE ARRIVE?


WHO WERE THE PEOPLE HE MET THERE?



WHO WERE THE PEOPLE HE WAS FIGHTING WAR WITH?



IF ANYBODY IS A LIAR IT IS YOU.

Igodomigodo people are not Igbo
No dey claim nonsense

theTranscriber:

Igodomidodo people are not Igbo
No dey claim nonsense

WHY IS THERE NAME IGBO?


IT IS THE SAME THING ABOUT EZE CHIMA.


EZE CHIMA IS NOT IGBO BUT WHY IS HIS NAME IGBO?


IKWERE IS NOT IGBO BUT WHY IS IKWERE IGBO.


GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE WITH YOUR BACKWARD REASONING.

akanke79:


How come your ancestors only got a small land mass, if the neighbouring tribes never took your land?
Igbos are the palestine of the EAST.

You are an animal, we loved leaving close to each other, and Igbo land was balkanised by both the British and Nigerian government

ABlAstate:
Is that why Imo state is the worst and most backward state in Nigeria?

You want me to attack Abia state? Lol, that trick can only work on your cone headed ewedu swallowing brothers. If Imo state the 5th richest state is backward na you sabi

akanke79:


How come your ancestors only got a small land mass, if the neighbouring tribes never took your land?
Igbos are the palestine of the EAST.

How do you mean Igbos got a small landmass? The sort of ignorance one encounters here in nairaland can be disturbing. How many tribes in thick forested rain forest belts end up with large landmass? Can you name them?

Do you know how difficult it is to penetrate through thickly forested villages now then compare it to how difficult it would be to travel long distances through dense vegetation in the past when there was nothing meaningful to help clear the large number of trees and climbers/undergrowths? If our vegetation was open grassland, we would have ended up with maybe three times our current landmass.

Even Ibibios still claim that parts of Arochukwu and Ngwa areas used to be their lands before it was taken from them by the Igbos of those areas.

Also, do you even understand the reason for our dense population?

Again, aside Yorubaland, is their any ethnicity or tribe in the South that has more land than Igbos? Can you name the ethnicity?

ProudImolite:
You want me to attack Abia state? Lol, that trick can only work on your cone headed ewedu swallowing brothers. If Imo state the 5th richest state is backward na you sabi

Imo state is a cursed backward shithole. Imo people are moving to Aba for survival. Owerri is known for prostitution lol

hammerDK:



WHY IS THERE NAME IGBO?


IT IS THE SAME THING ABOUT EZE CHIMA.


EZE CHIMA IS NOT IGBO BUT WHY IS HIS NAME IGBO?


IKWERE IS NOT IGBO BUT WHY IS IKWERE IGBO.


GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE WITH YOUR BACKWARD REASONING.

igodomigodo language is the present Edo language

The oranmiyan influence brought some Yoruba culture
The only connection between Igbo and Bini are slaves and the slave trade

ABlAstate:



Is that the reason Imo state is a shithole while Abia is cursed

Abia is cursed? Yet you wear Abia state like a badge of honor, instead of your cursed inconsequential fathers

FreeIgbos:


How do you mean Igbos got a small landmass? The sort of ignorance one encounters here in nairaland can be disturbing. How many tribes in thick forested rain forest belts end up with large landmass? Can you name them? Do you know how difficult it is to penetrate through thickly forested villages now then compare it to how difficult it would be to travel long distances through dense vegetation?

Even Ibibios still claim that parts of Arochukwu and Ngwa areas used to be their lands before it was taken from them by the Igbos of those areas.

Also, do you even understand the reason for our dense population?

Again, aside Yorubaland, is their any ethnicity or tribe in the South that has more land than Igbos? Can you name the ethnicity?

he meant in ratio to your population

LamidiCownu:

Mouth action.
The carvings of your slavish ancestors still dey Benin

Normally I would ignore this post, but for the benefit for all reading:

The only example for this minority power fantasy is a carving of an enslaved man with tribal marks. According to reno, that meant that a super minority tribe managed to enslave Igbo people.

Of course, knowing the groups renowned for tribal marks and assuming you are the ethnicity you are likely to be be; the carving was more likely a depiction of your people.
Or at least some related group.

A direct consequence of the glut of Igbo slaves is that the language became a lingua franca and many tiny languages have become extinct as a consequence

The same thing happened in the north with Hausa language
If we understand this we understand that language alone does not make/define a people as many erroneoeusly think

Something similar could be observed in Ilorin It was attractive to freed slaves from anywhere under the banner of Islam and who spoke Oyo without necessarily being Oyo or of Yoruba stock

ProudImolite:
Abia is cursed? Yet you wear Abia state like a badge of honor, instead of your cursed inconsequential fathers

I mean to say Imo state, it's an error.

Imo state is cursed backward shithole

theTranscriber:
igodomigodo language is the present Edo language

The oranmiyan influence brought some Yoruba culture
The only connection between Igbo and Bini are slaves and the slave trade

ACTUALLY, BINI KINGDOM CONDUCTED SLAVE RAID EVEN INTO IGALA LAND.

IGODOMIGODO IS AN IGBO WORD WITH IGBO MEANING.


EVEN THE BINI LANGUAGE TODAY IS A MIXTURE OF IGBO AND YORUBA WORDS.


OR YOU CAN CALL IT IGODOMIGODO AND YORUBA.


JUST KNOW IGODOMIGODO IS IGBO.


TILL THIS DAY IN ENUGU THEY STILL HAVE IGODO FESTIVAL.




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1IPP5VjfuY

ABlAstate:



I mean to say Imo state, it's an error.

Imo state is cursed backward shithole

which error, your cone head no go allow you