Ibime:

I am not concerned if Ikwerres are Igbos or not. However they resented Nnewi, Imo, Anambra people FLOODING to PH to take their jobs whilst they sit idly by, wallowing in unemployment. At that time, you did not have a need to remember their "igboness" did you? Now when you have no foothold in PH, you use them as proxies to stake claim of ownership, although they have no wish to be associated as Igbos.

BTW, since you must insist on this dismissive attitude toward Rivers State people, I must remind you that Odili is an Ndoni man and not an Ikwerre man. Osisi has already made that mistake earlier.

Me, I don talk my own. The stories that my elders told me are what you are hearing now. My elders are no illiterates, but a Royal family who were involved in governing PH and Rivers State. If you consider it a prejudice, then hopefully this prejudice would go some way to explaining why Rivers State was divided over the Biafra issue. If Igbos are interested in unity, then they must address these long-held grouses to do with their mismanagement of the former Eastern Region and their imperialistic attitude to their former trade-partners

Udueze your an idiot

Many Efik people speak igbo does that make them igbo?
Igbos and their wahala, thats why Biafra will never happen

You know the igbo people
stop asking me silly questions[/quote

Is Kanu Agabi igbo?

Osisi said she doesn't know what I call Igbolizing as if PH was not in the Eastern Region. Eastern is a Geographical expression and has nothing to do with "Igbolising". Should every Eastern city expect to be Igbolised?

I also wonder if Osisi would answer whether after Okpara built Trans-Amadi, Presidential etc (with Niger Delta oil money), did he staff all these fanciful places with indigenous Ikwerre and Ijaw people? This is what we can call economic annexation, a keynesian stimulus for Igbos, or even an artificial repopulation of PH which even the so-called Ikwerre-Igbos resisted. After shifting PH demographics to the point that PH starts to look like Onitsha, crowding out Indigenous money in the market place and increasing competition (and prices) for goods, property, jobs and services, would you not expect some resentment from the indigenes?

Ibime:

Igbos need to learn the history of Rivers State before coming to claim any and everything that sounds Igbo.

Michael Okpara was the worst thing that ever happened to Eastern Region. If only the Premiership of Eastern region had gone to a Calabar man like one of the Ita's, Eastern Nigeria would be united today.

This problem started from Enugu. They renamed everything in PH with Igbo names. A well known relative of mine founded the Rivers State College of Technology or whatever its called now. He invited a Mr Mbonu to be a director of the school. When the papers went to Enugu for them to classify the name of the road, they chose to rename the road Mbonu Street instead of my relative's name. Mbonu Street is in present day D-Line.

This is a scene that was replicated ALL OVER PH. The same goes for the whole Rumu/Umu debate.

You cannot ask why Rivers State people are wary of Igbo people with behaviour like this. The stealing of Igbo lands after the war is not justified, but some would call it a retribution of sorts.

Igbos love to claim everything in Rivers State. Do the Igbo's know the history of the Oba and Ekpeya people of Ahoada? They are people who migrated from Benin after falling out with the Oba. Today they have merged the language of trade (Igbo) with their native language and the Igbo lay claim to them. If you see an Ahoada man, ask him about his history. Ahoada today lies between core Igbo lands and Etche and Ikwerre lands. Any presumption that lands further South than Ahoada must have Igbo ancestry should be put in perspective when we consider the Ahoada example.

My father used to do missionary work in Ihugbogo in Ahoada land and I tell you, the poverty and backwardness there is complete! You will never find such depravity in any Igbo land. The same goes for Etche. The poverty I saw with my 2 eyes in these 2 places can only be compared to the poverty I saw in Ogoni land. If the Eastern Regional Government saw these people as their Igbo brothers, I assure you they would not overlook their miserable plight. Instead they are too busy trying to lay claim to Ikwerres in PH, neglecting all the Igbo groups that lie closer to the core Igbo lands.

We are not fooled.

Igbos need to investigate the history of all these Igboid peoples before claiming them. As I have said before, Igbo was the dominant language of trade and has made its way into the languages of many tribes. There is a tribe up the Imo River called the Ndoki. This tribe are widely presumed to be Igbos. They speak Igbo and have adopted Igbo customs. The truth is that they are Ijaws who travelled up the river looking for freshwater to farm as you cannot farm in saltwater land. When they found the place, they named it "Ndokiari" which means "this is what were looking for" in Ijaw language. Today these people live as Igbos, but if you question them deeply, they will tell you they are Ijaws.

The same holds for most of the Igbo tribes in Rivers State. Ikwerres do not have a recorded history, but they are ADAMANT that they are not Igbos, although they speak a dialect of the 'language of trade' and observe some Igbo customs.

The people of the South South are no fools and resent Igbo incursion into their lands, whether they be Ikwerre, Etche, Rebisi or Ijaw.

We were put together as the Eastern Region, but some from within us decided to pursue a tribalist agenda, renaming our towns and roads, using the Eastern bank ACB as a conduit for tribal 'projects' and claiming everything within sight in the hope that they would one day reach the sea. We had no such problems when we were administered from Calabar.

Me, I don talk my own. The stories that my elders told me are what you are hearing now. My elders are no illiterates, but a Royal family who were involved in governing PH and Rivers State. If you consider it a prejudice, then hopefully this prejudice would go some way to explaining why Rivers State was divided over the Biafra issue. If Igbos are interested in unity, then they must address these long-held grouses to do with their mismanagement of the former Eastern Region and their imperialistic attitude to their former trade-partners.

Older Igbo men said that the picture of a typical Ijaw man and the riverine Igbos before the war was that a lazy labourer who drank kai kai from morning till night.
They were afraid of real work
Igbos did not take their jobs, they were simply allergic to work.
No wonder the thought of stolen goods from their more affluent,more hardworking cousins was to enticing to pass up.

just look at this igbo boy, they are some efiks who speak only igbo, does that make them igbo?
your an idiot
Igbo people, no wonder obong of calabar refused to allow your eze to do rubbish in our land, kicked you people out

If Igbo is the only native or mother tongue you speak then u are Igbo



just look at this igbo boy, they are some efiks who speak only igbo, does that make them igbo?