By Farooq A. Kperogi, Ph.D.


The magnitude of ignorance that Nigerians have of each other is truly astounding. For me, the most exasperating ignorance that pervades Nigeria is what I call Nigeria’s tripodal ethnic reductionism, which is the infuriatingly ill-informed notion that every Nigerian is—or should be— either Hausa, or Yoruba, or Igbo. The unanticipated rise of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan—who is neither Hausa, nor Yoruba, nor Igbo— as Nigeria’s president has ruptured this simplistic narrative.

But I have seen a growing tendency in Nigeria to call him “a Niger Delta,” “a Niger Delta man,” or simply “a Niger Deltan.” That is a farrago of nonsense. There is no Nigerian ethnic group called “Niger Delta.” That’s the name of a geographic region, and it is peopled by a multiplicity of ethnicities. To describe someone’s ethnicity by a facile geographic label is to partake in a thoughtless erasure of that person’s elemental identity.
People who don’t suffer the lack of cognitive complexity that makes it difficult to imagine a Nigeria outside the three major ethnic groups know and say that Goodluck Jonathan comes from the Ijaw ethnic group, reputed to be the most populous ethnic and language group in Nigeria’s deep south. But is President Jonathan really Ijaw?

Well, he is not. He comes from an ethnic and language group called Ogbia (also sometimes referred to as Ogbinya), that numbers a little over 266,000, according to the 2006 census. The Ogbia people are found mainly in Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State. The headquarters of their local government is also called Ogbia, which was built from the scratch by the Ogbia Brotherhood in 1972 as “a centre to unify all Ogbia people.”

The Ogbia language, apparently, isn’t a dialect of Ijaw, as many people have been misled to suppose. It is, in fact, mutually unintelligible with Ijaw, according to Professor Mobolaji E. Aluko, Vice Chancellor of the Federal University Otuoke, whose mother is Ijaw. (Otuoke is President Jonathan’s hometown).

While Ijaw belongs to the Atlantic-Congo branch of the Niger-Congo language family, Ogbia belongs to the Central Delta subphyla, but historians say the ancestors of the Ogbia people most likely migrated from present-day Edo State. Plus, Ogbia has its own dialects, which are all mutually intelligible, according to Ethnologue. They are Agholo (or Kolo), Oloibiri, and Anyama. As anybody who’s familiar with Nigeria’s oil exploration history would know, Oloibiri is the location of Nigeria’s first ever commercially viable oil well in 1956. Isaac Adaka Boro, the originator of Niger Delta militancy, was also from Oloibiri. It seems like, in this part of Nigeria, place and language names are one and the same.

Anyway, all evidence points to the fact that Ogbia, President Jonathan’s native language, isn’t Ijaw, nor is it even Ijoid, that is, it is not like, derived from, or related to Ijaw—like Kalabari, Dame Patience Jonathan’s language, is. It also turns out that some Ogbia people resent being classified as Ijaw. I recently happened on an online rant by a person named Agoro Eni-yimini that captures this sentiment. In a short post titled “EPIE AND OGBIA ARE NOT IJAW AND CANNOT BE IJAW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!,” he wrote: “The diversity of languages spoken in Bayelsa State is an indication that it is a state composing of [sic] many nationalities. It is a falsehood of the greatest order for anyone to claim that Ijaw is an umbrella body of so many languages.” He said Ogbia and Epie people (apparently, Epie is another Edoid language in Bayelsa) are “miles apart in culture and language” with the Ijaw and concluded that “any Epie or Ogbia man that [calls] himself an Ijaw is a fool and his ancestor will be sad.”

Well, if President Jonathan is Ogbia, why is he often called an Ijaw? I don’t know for sure, and no one seems to have grappled with this question. But I suspect that we can blame it on the lingering legacies of colonialism. It’s a well-known fact that because British colonialists couldn’t deal with all the labyrinthine messiness of our ethnic complexity, they arbitrarily grouped divergent people and encouraged them to cherish a fictive collective identity. This was done purely for colonial administrative convenience. That’s how the Yoruba identity was born. That’s how notions of Igboness as a collective identity emerged. That’s how Hausa became the lingua franca of the north. And that’s how Nigeria’s tripodal ethnic reductionism came about.

Of course, we all know that unlike northern and western minorities who accepted Hausa and Yoruba as their lingua franca (with the exception of Benue and Edo people who resisted Hausa and Yoruba respectively), ethnic minorities in Nigeria’s deep south resisted learning or identifying as Igbo. So the colonialists chose to construct a hitherto non-existent collective Ijaw identity and encourage smaller, even if unrelated, ethnic groups to belong to it. That’s how Ogbia, an Edoid people, became Ijaw.

But as we saw from the online rant I quoted above, Ogbia people are now asserting their identity. They are calling attention to their ethnic and linguistic singularities. For instance, in an August 8, 2009 lecture titled “Need for a Renaissance of the Contemporary Ogbia Society” at the Annual General Meeting of the Ogbaka Club of Ogbia, a Dr. Edmond A. Allison-Oguru who teaches agricultural economics and rural sociology at the Niger Delta University, recalled the struggles of early Ogbia nationalists whom he said worked hard to compel colonial administrators to excise Ogbia-speaking people from the then Southern Ijaw Native Authority to the Ogbia Native Authority in 1951, a mere 9 years before independence. He also lamented the loss of pride in and ownership of Ogbia language and culture in contemporary times.

Now, here is the rub: in spite of all the struggles for Ogbia self-definition and reassertion, in all of his official documents, including his CV, President Jonathan, Ogbia’s most prominent citizen, self-identifies as “Ijaw.” Why? Well, although someone said “any Epie or Ogbia man that [calls] himself an Ijaw is a fool and his ancestor will be sad,” I don’t think it’s fair to call the president “a fool” on account of his (inaccurate) self-identification.

I think he is merely a victim of the politics of identity in Nigeria. Nigerians have inherited and internalized the unsophisticated rendering of their ethnic complexity that their British colonial overlords bequeathed to them. Most official documents dating back to the colonial period have wrongly classified Ogbia as a “dialect” or “clan” or “subgroup” of Ijaw. And the president probably speaks fluent Ijaw, so he figured that it’s easier for him to say he is Ijaw than to say he is Ogbia and then have to spend time explaining to people who the Ogbia are.


But why is knowledge of President Jonathan’s ethnic group important? I’ll answer that question next week.
http://www.farooqkperogi.com/2013/08/whats-really-president-goodluck.html

Rubbish! What is d objective of this? Political I guess?

Well after going through this boring thread I wud say that the op aint using his/her number 6(sorry for the insult) reasons been that the nigerian ethnic groups re grouped into 250 enthnic sections that's y we have groups like
1.Efik/ibibio
2.Hausa/fulani etc this is because they have something in common. The ijaw nation are diverse and from my understanding we have the following
1.Okrika
2.Kalabari
3.Engenni
4.Egbema
5.Ogbia(as u have mentioned)
6.Bonny
7.Nembe and many more.. These tribes have some words in common (tamnuno,etc) so though u may say our sister ebele is not an ijaw (ogbia as u claim) he is still an ijaw man.... Ahhhhh izon!!!!!!!!

TBH, the OP is right. If you study the history of Ijaw nation, you won't find the present day Ogbia mention anywhere. Is the same misconception people calling Degema as Kalabari people or Bile as Kalabari. Is a funny history that need insight to comprehend. Ijaw comprises of just four divide namely:
Bile
Ibani
Okrika and
Ijaw the mother language.
Kalabari is just a lighter mixture of Okrika, Ibani and Ijaw languages. King Amachree of Kalabari migrated from Calabar to Bile area to create the present day Asari Toru and Akuku Toru. For more details...

This is what you get when each village is allowed to call itself an ethnic group. All the ethnic groups less than one million in number should come together and decide on a name. At least the similar ones or the neighboring ones. This is ridiculous. Nigeria is the proverbial tower of babel. . Ogbia ko, Ijaw ni.

onuwaje: Well after going through this boring thread I wud say that the op aint using his/her number 6(sorry for the insult) reasons been that the nigerian ethnic groups re grouped into 250 enthnic sections that's y we have groups like
1.Efik/ibibio
2.Hausa/fulani etc this is because they have something in common. The ijaw nation are diverse and from my understanding we have the following
1.Okrika
2.Kalabari
3.Engenni
4.Egbema
5.Ogbia(as u have mentioned)
6.Bonny
7.Nembe and many more.. These tribes have some words in common (tamnuno,etc) so though u may say our sister ebele is not an ijaw (ogbia as u claim) he is still an ijaw man.... Ahhhhh izon!!!!!!!!

Egbema is not an Ijaw lineage rather an Igbo divide. Thats said, you can't say Bonny, you say Ibani instead where you have Bonny and Opobo natural language before their silly mistakes that led them lost the language. Just Finima retaining the language.

kel4soft:

Egbema is not an Ijaw lineage rather an Igbo divide. Thats said, you can't say Bonny, you say Ibani instead where you have Bonny and Opobo natural language before their silly mistakes that led them lost the language. Just Finima retaining the language.

I would disagree with u on this one reasons been that the ijaws that attacked itsekiri communities last month were from egbema in delta state and the ijaws in delta state are nowhere close to any ibo land

Story.abeg make I hear word.he'll still be identified as Ijaw whether anyone likes it or not.

The essence of this piece as I see it is to make the Ijaw people see Jonathan as not their own but it is an exercise in futility. Even if he's not Ijaw he belongs to us and is one of us.
pls Farooq research into Buhari's real ancestry, is he really a Nigerian or Nigerien?

onuwaje: Well after going through this boring thread I wud say that the op aint using his/her number 6(sorry for the insult) reasons been that the nigerian ethnic groups re grouped into 250 enthnic sections that's y we have groups like
1.Efik/ibibio
2.Hausa/fulani etc this is because they have something in common. The ijaw nation are diverse and from my understanding we have the following
1.Okrika
2.Kalabari
3.Engenni
4.Egbema
5.Ogbia(as u have mentioned)
6.Bonny
7.Nembe and many more.. These tribes have some words in common (tamnuno,etc) so though u may say our sister ebele is not an ijaw (ogbia as u claim) he is still an ijaw man.... Ahhhhh izon!!!!!!!!

It is not for you to decide the ethnic identity of the Ogbia people. They have chosen not to be identified as Ijaws, other tribes have done the same; the Ikwerres, Agbor and aniomas have refused to identify themselves as Igbos and they're not being hassled. Whats stops the ogbia, yenagoa and epie people from doing the same?

onuwaje: I would disagree with u on this one reasons been that the ijaws that attacked itsekiri communities last month were from egbema in delta state and the ijaws in delta state are nowhere close to any ibo land

They can help Ijaws doesn't mean they are Ijaws. Egbema are not Ijaws, they are igbos.

The OP and the author alike are truely both ignoramuses!
Yet the author claims he is a Phd holder, what an embarrassment!

kel4soft: TBH, the OP is right. If you study the history of Ijaw nation, you won't find the present day Ogbia mention anywhere. Is the same misconception people calling Degema as Kalabari people or Bile as Kalabari. Is a funny history that need insight to comprehend. Ijaw comprises of just four divide namely:
Bile
Ibani
Okrika and
Ijaw the mother language.
Kalabari is just a lighter mixture of Okrika, Ibani and Ijaw languages. King Amachree of Kalabari migrated from Calabar to Bile area to create the present day Asari Toru and Akuku Toru. For more details...

After claiming to be an Ijaw man, I must say ur knowledge of YOUR ethnic nationality is disappointingly appailing. Pls learn more about ur own Ijaw people and stop this embarrassment on the Ijaw nation. If you need my help on any Ijaw national issue/discussion/question, pls let me know.

Imiebam!

Egbema Rivers,Egbema Imo state,Ikwerre,Omoku,Ahoda,etc are from Benin kingdom.So if Jonathan hail from ogbia and Ogbia is Edo it means Amechi is a killer

One nigeria is real real problem in this country.

We have so many ethnic groups and languages to invite the tourists to come and see.

Ikwerre is not igbo

Awori is not yoruba

Anioma is not igbo

Ijebu is not yoruba

Egbema is igbo/ijaw/itsekiri

Bonny is igbo/ijaw

Ilorin is yoruba/hausa

Adamawa alone has 40 ethnic groups

Sparse calabar has 25 ethnic groups

Could this country not find a solution is stop this division ?

Stop the state of origin, where you are born becomes where you from.

He's a typical ijaw man.

This is an interesting article.
We need good historians on this thread not politician.

kel4soft: TBH, the OP is right. If you study the history of Ijaw nation, you won't find the present day Ogbia mention anywhere. Is the same misconception people calling Degema as Kalabari people or Bile as Kalabari. Is a funny history that need insight to comprehend. Ijaw comprises of just four divide namely:
Bile
Ibani
Okrika and
Ijaw the mother language.
Kalabari is just a lighter mixture of Okrika, Ibani and Ijaw languages. King Amachree of Kalabari migrated from Calabar to Bile area to create the present day Asari Toru and Akuku Toru. For more details...

I guess Bile was founded by Okpara (Opara) Ejike. It was King Amaikiri or Amakiri (not Amachree) migrated from Arochukwu not Calabire.

@Farooq A. Kperogi, Ph.D.

Dr. Farooq A. Kperogi, I must say that your supposition that northern and western minorities accepted Hausa and Yoruba as their lingua franca while ethnic minorities in Nigeria’s Deep South resisted learning or identifying as Igbo is complete hogwash.
There were wars of domination in the north and west while there were no such things in the south. The spirit of live and late live was agog in the southern Nigeria. The western regional government under Awolowo attempted to force Yoruba language on the people defunct Midwestern region with “free-education” as bait.

Nigeria politics is no longer on the three tripods of hausa, igbo and yoruba ethnic groupings but on a 6 geopolitical wheel. Therefore, Jonathan is from the South-South geopolitical axis and that is his representation.

Wow, nothing APC can't say, Jonathan is not ijaw? Ok is tinubu Yoruba? And is buhari not a Fulani from Senegal?

Ok

kel4soft:
TBH, the OP is right. If you study the history of Ijaw nation, you won't find the present day Ogbia mention anywhere. Is the same misconception people calling Degema as Kalabari people or Bile as Kalabari. Is a funny history that need insight to comprehend. Ijaw comprises of just four divide namely:
Bile
Ibani
Okrika and
Ijaw the mother language.
Kalabari is just a lighter mixture of Okrika, Ibani and Ijaw languages. King Amachree of Kalabari migrated from Calabar to Bile area to create the present day Asari Toru and Akuku Toru. For more details...

That an Ijawman will spew this I believe is due to ignorance. As for Kalabari/bile, I refer you to this thread by Their own people https://www.nairaland.com/20932/kalabari-people/2

on Ogbia, it is an 100% Ijaw clan. 100%... Though Ijaw clans are usually autonomous and Ijaw has no central language.

I know you don't like Jonathan but you shouldn't allow that extend to his Ijawness.

As for Farooq, a northern man trying to tell Jonathan where he is from is height of stupidity. The man couldn't even differentiate between Okrika and Kalabari.

TonyeBarcanista:
That an Ijawman will spew this I believe is due to ignorance. As for Kalabari/bile, I refer you to this thread by Their own people https://www.nairaland.com/20932/kalabari-people/2

on Ogbia, it is an 100% Ijaw clan. 100%... Though Ijaw clans are usually autonomous and Ijaw has no central language.

I know you don't like Jonathan but you shouldn't allow that extend to his Ijawness.

As for Farooq, a northern man trying to tell Jonathan where he is from is height of stupidity. The man couldn't even differentiate between Okrika and Kalabari.

The bolded is highly fallacious and don't make this statement where intellectuals in history/Anthropology/Language arts are discussing.You can never fault the writer on that fallacious excuse, if you don't have a central language, you will still bear a lot of similarities in vocabularies and cultural identity in the language from same tribe. That's why if an Ekiti man is speaking to an Ijebu man, even though they sound different but both are speaking Yoruba because major vocabularies are identical. Dr Kperogii is a very sound intellectual although he erroneously claims in the write up that Adaka Boro is from Oloibiri when the man is actually from Kaima, Opokuma/Polokuma LGA, Bayelsa state.
This is not the first time I am reading this information about the ogbia people and it calls for more debate and research,the writer will not change the identity present ogbia want to be identified with just the manner the current Ooni told the late Oba of Benin that he is free to deny his Yoruba heritage as it doesn't change the history that all living and dead Oba of Benin are Ife princes and at death have their heads returned to Ife.
Finally, I believe you have are familiar with Bayelsa, Ogbia seems different in a kind of way, their communities are not hotbeds for violent militancy like Nembe, Southern Ijaw, Odi etc

onuwaje:
I would disagree with u on this one reasons been that the ijaws that attacked itsekiri communities last month were from egbema in delta state and the ijaws in delta state are nowhere close to any ibo land

ijaw or Izon is a migratory fishing ethnic nationality.Egbema is an igbo group found in IMO(ohaji-egbema L.G.A) and rivers.

macjive01:
Ikwerre is not igbo

Awori is not yoruba

Anioma is not igbo

Ijebu is not yoruba

Egbema is igbo/ijaw/itsekiri

Bonny is igbo/ijaw

Ilorin is yoruba/hausa

Adamawa alone has 40 ethnic groups

Sparse calabar has 25 ethnic groups

Could this country not find a solution is stop this division ?

Stop the state of origin, where you are born becomes where you from.

stop confusing yourself Anioma is Igbo,Egbema is igbo and ikwere is igbo.

What a useless post, I think u can't differentiate between ethnic group from Tribe? Ogbia is an ethnic group under the Ijaw tribe.

Why then do Ogbi people participate in IYC & INC elections? Why do we have names like "Ayama" in Ogbia which is an Ijaw word? As far as ogbi people continue to be part of IYC & INC they can't say they are not part of Ijaw.

I laugh at those u said u accosted because even "Nembe" out of ignorance use to say they are not Ijaw but they bear the same names with Ijaw and speak almost the same with them. the only different being their alphabet and pronunciation