htajz:

you can never have a clear cut boundry in eastern nigeria ,the inter mixing is higher than most people think , its even more complicated in rivers state and akwaibom state thats why we dont need more ethnic group fabrications.

Exactly.

All this Biafra protagonists.
Is it an ideology or an obsession ?

BUHAHAHHAHAHAHAA.

WHY DO IGBOS ILLICIT SOO MUCH PASSION.

The second language of Rivers is Igbo, sorry the first language of Rivers is Igbo, but it doesn't mean 80% of people identify as Igbo, their groups are just classified like that.

ekt_bear:

Nah, you are landlocked. The coastal parts of Rivers are non-Igbo

What haven't you learnt from nairaland? What you're calling coast land is mangrove/marshland that will disappear in the next 20 years. Why do you think Port Harcourt was built 40 km from the coast line? Because there's no suitable land below Okrika. Port Harcourt is linked to the sea through a series of rivers, the most important is the Bonny River, guess where that links to? Igbo speaking Bonny island. Guess where that's next to? Igbo speaking Opobo.

I don't see the governorship position in River state moving out of the Igbo speaking territories except they want it so. And the writer should not compare Rivers with Delta. Why didn't he tell us why a Delta Igbo has not been able to mount the governorship positionin Delta state. even though they're a majority compared to the Ijaw and Ogoni minorities in Rivers state,

afam4eva:

I don't see the governorship position in River state moving out of the Igbo speaking territories except they want it so. And the writer should not compare Rivers with Delta. Why didn't he tell us why a Delta Igbo has not been able to mount the governorship positionin Delta state. even though they're a majority compared to the Ijaw and Ogoni minorities in Rivers state,

Gbam!

Rivers is an Igbo state. If Ijaws do not like what is happening, they can move to Bayelsa state.

ezeagu:

The second language of Rivers is Igbo, sorry the first language of Rivers is Igbo, but it doesn't mean 80% of people identify as Igbo, their groups are just classified like that.

yeah i meant after english which is the official language in nigeria.

ezeagu:

What haven't you learnt from nairaland? What you're calling coast land is mangrove/marshland that will disappear in the next 20 years. Why do you think Port Harcourt was built 40 km from the coast line? Because there's no suitable land below Okrika.

No one lives in those marshes? Why would they disappear within 20 years? Are you saying the marsh would disappear, or the inhabitants. . . ?

Port Harcourt is linked to the sea through a series of rivers, the most important is the Bonny River, guess where that links to? Igbo speaking Bonny island. Guess where that's next to? Igbo speaking Opobo.

Both Opobo and Bonny Island consider themselves Ijaw rather than Igbo, I thought.

ekt_bear:

No one lives in those marshes? Why would they disappear within 20 years? Are you saying the marsh would disappear, or the inhabitants. . . ?

The mangroves that are already disappearing and in danger. There small towns dotted around wherever there's enough land on those islands.

ekt_bear:

Both Opobo and Bonny Island consider themselves Ijaw rather than Igbo, I thought.

They speak Igbo natively and have a very 'Igboid' culture, even their founders are Igbo. The people that identify Igbo amongst them though would be recent traders that go there. Even in the case that they don't identify as Igbo, there's no transition for them to be part of Igbo culture and they are closely linked to the southern Igbo groups.

ezeagu:

The mangroves that are already disappearing and in danger. There small towns dotted around wherever there's enough land on those islands.

But so long as those towns remain intact, then anyone sailing past will be going through another man's territory. They don't lose control of that territory even if it turns to water.

They speak Igbo natively and have a very 'Igboid' culture, even their founders are Igbo. The people that identify Igbo amongst them though would be recent traders that go there. Even in the case that they don't identify as Igbo, there's no transition for them to be part of Igbo culture and they are closely linked to the southern Igbo groups.

That wasn't my question. I asked if they consider themselves Ijaw or Igbo.

If some of the bonny island indigene posters (e.g., ijaw_girl) here are any indication, at best they'll say "Ijaw with some Igbo connections." Which is different from "Igbo."

ekt_bear:

But so long as those towns remain intact, then anyone sailing past will be going through another man's territory.
That wasn't my question. I asked if they consider themselves Ijaw or Igbo.

If some of the bonny island indigene posters (e.g., ijaw_girl) here are any indication, at best they'll say "Ijaw with some Igbo connections." Which is different from "Igbo."

Who cares? If the Igbo go, they go. PH is the city they love and PH is firmly in Igbo hands.

ekt_bear:

But so long as those towns remain intact, then anyone sailing past will be going through another man's territory. They don't lose control of that territory even if it turns to water.

Not if that 'other man' travels to your hinterland to visit the home of his forefathers. There's no land to go through, just the bonny river with a few empty wet island's.

ekt_bear:

That wasn't my question. I asked if they consider themselves Ijaw or Igbo.

Some consider themselves Igbo, some Ijaw, most just Ibani (Bonny) or Opobo, but Igbo identity is becoming attractive.

ekt_bear:

If some of the bonny island indigene posters (e.g., ijaw_girl) here are any indication, at best they'll say "Ijaw with some Igbo connections." Which is different from "Igbo."

They have a half Igbo, half Ijaw culture, I wouldn't call speaking the Igbo language natively as some Igbo connections.

ekt_bear:

But so long as those towns remain intact, then anyone sailing past will be going through another man's territory. They don't lose control of that territory even if it turns to water.
That wasn't my question. I asked if they consider themselves Ijaw or Igbo.

If some of the bonny island indigene posters (e.g., ijaw_girl) here are any indication, at best they'll say "Ijaw with some Igbo connections." Which is different from "Igbo."

There's nothing like some Igbo connections. Both Bonny and Opobo were founded by the Igbos and the Igbo remain the core of both towns both in native and language. Maybe a little reading will help you.

Obiagu1:

There's nothing like some Igbo connections. Both Bonny and Opobo were founded by the Igbos and the Igbo remains the core of both town both in native and language. Maybe a little reading will help you.

I think he's talking more about what they identify now, but they are Ibani and Opobo.

ezeagu:

Not if that 'other man' travels to your hinterland to visit the home of his forefathers. There's no land to go through, just the bonny river with a few empty wet island's.

But If I have a boat, I cannot just sail from Nigeria to Minnesota say up the Mississippi river. Someone owns the rights to that river.

In a hypothetical post-Nigeria situation, those down the river would also own the rights. You won't be able to sail up and down it w/o their permission.

Some consider themselves Igbo, some Ijaw, most just Ibani (Bonny) or Opobo, but Igbo identity is becoming attractive.

They have a half Igbo, half Ijaw culture, I wouldn't call speaking the Igbo language natively as some Igbo connections.

Eh. . . what you say contradicts what some of them have said about their own identity. Then again, you have a vested interest in blurring the distinction. . . and perhaps they have an interest in making it more distinct.

In any case, it is up to them to decide. Nobody can claim them unless both sides agree.

@EzeUche_: Any progress on those 3 LGAs in Benue?

ezeagu:

I think he's talking more about what they identify now, but they are Ibani and Opobo.

The problem with what they identify now is that those that have no problem with their roots, ie Igbo, will not come and write articles telling everyone who he is. Will an Anambra man or an Imo man write such an article telling the world he is an Igbo? No. He doesn't need to tell you he is an Igbo man, it's not his concern and he's not having identity crisis.

Those that deem it necessary to deny or claim something else are the ones that keep making the effort to tell the world I am not that but this. By so doing, the voices you hear are the ones making the effort to claim something else but the reality on the ground is quite different.

I had a friend from Opobo and he told me he was Igbo. This was because he overheard me telling someone else he was not Igbo so he had to correct me. Then I never knew about Opobo and their history.

ekt_bear:

But If I have a boat, I cannot just sail from Nigeria to Minnesota say up the Mississippi river. Someone owns the rights to that river.

In a hypothetical post-Nigeria situation, those down the river would also own the rights. You won't be able to sail up and down it w/o their permission.

Who owns the Suez Canal? With the industrial might of a potential Igbo country, what international organisation/corporation will support cutting off the Igbo from the coast short of 45 km? The Bonny river isn't one of the 100 largest rivers in the world, the estuary is right next to Port Harcourt. If there's hostility for some reason in the Bonny River region, there's little land owners can do to stop ships on coming in to Port Harcourt on water.

ekt_bear:

Eh. . . what you say contradicts what some of them have said about their own identity. Then again, you have a vested interest in blurring the distinction. . . and perhaps they have an interest in making it more distinct.

In any case, it is up to them to decide. Nobody can claim them unless both sides agree.

Well by the fact that they're still practising Igbo culture, by the fact that they only speak Igbo, and by the fact that they have a strong connect to the southern Igbo, intermarrying heavily with those especially from places like Umuahia, this blurring has already happened hundreds of years ago. Go and call Ijaw_Girl and tell her to tell me the Ijaw and Igbo haven't blended in Bonny.

Obiagu1:

The problem with what they identify now is that those that have no problem with their roots, ie Igbo, will not come and write articles telling everyone who he is. Will an Anambra man or Imo man write such an article telling the world he is an Igbo? No. He doesn't need to tell you he is an Igbo man, it's not his concern and he's not having identity crisis.

Those that deem it necessary to deny or claim something else are the ones that keep making the effort to tell the world I am not that but this. By so doing, the voices you hear are the ones making the effort to claim something else but the reality on the ground is quite different.

I had a friend from Opobo and he told me he was Igbo. This was because he overheard me telling someone else he was not Igbo so he had to correct me. Then I never knew about Opobo and their history.

You're correct. You should see the look of shock of people from places like Aniocha, Ukwuani, and Ikwerre when you tell them some of their kinsmen deny being Igbo. It makes things very confusing, but you have to remember that it takes a hand full of 'sabotwas' to destroy a nation.

ezeagu:

You're correct. You should see the look of shock of people from places like Aniocha, Ukwuani, and Ikwerre when you tell them some of their kinsmen deny being Igbo. It makes things very confusing, but you have to remember that it takes a hand full of 'sabotwas' to destroy a nation.

You are right. This is another proof to show that the reality on the ground is different from the denials we read on the internet.

ezeagu:

Who owns the Suez Canal? With the industrial might of a potential Igbo country, what international organisation/corporation will support cutting off the Igbo from the coast short of 45 km? The Bonny river isn't one of the 100 largest rivers in the world, the estuary is right next to Port Harcourt. If there's hostility for some reason in the Bonny River region, there's little land owners can do to stop ships on coming in to Port Harcourt on water.

Eh. . . if the territory south of you ends up in a different country and you violate the rights of that country, then all I can wish you is good luck.

Well by the fact that they're still practising Igbo culture, by the fact that they only speak Igbo, and by the fact that they have a strong connect to the southern Igbo, intermarrying heavily with those especially from places like Umuahia, this blurring has already happened hundreds of years ago. Go and call Ijaw_Girl and tell her to tell me the Ijaw and Igbo haven't blended in Bonny.

You are beating a straw man. Nobody is claiming that there aren't interconnections. But if they say that they aren't Igbo, who is to tell them otherwise? It is their right to make that decision, is it not?

ekt_bear:

Eh. . . if the territory south of you ends up in a different country and you violate the rights of that country, then all I can wish you is good luck.

Right, the Kalabari with all their grandmothers in Umuahia, and the Igbo speaking Bonny, other distant countries. All that will happen is that Bonny River would be an open channel.

ekt_bear:

You are beating a straw man. Nobody is claiming that there aren't interconnections. But if they say that they aren't Igbo, who is to tell them otherwise? It is their right to make that decision, is it not?

Isn't the idea of 'distinction' and 'connected'? You talked about me trying to blur the distinction, how is it a straw man when I tell you there is no distinction because people are interconnected? What we know is that many people on Bonny claim Igbo and Ijaw ancestry, again if you want, call Ijaw_Girl to come and tell us there is 'distinction' between Igbo and Ijaw on Bonny.

ezeagu:

Isn't the idea of 'distinction' and 'connected'? You talked about me trying to blur the distinction, how is it a straw man when I tell you there is no distinction because people are interconnected? What we know is that many people on Bonny claim Igbo and Ijaw ancestry, again if you want, call Ijaw_Girl to come and tell us there is 'distinction' between Igbo and Ijaw on Bonny.

Eh. . . it is one thing to say, "my grandma comes from ethnic group X", and "I am from that same ethnic group." Connection != same

Anyway, I'll leave it at that. . . no doubt they'll speak up clarify. I wish there was a private messaging system on this forum.

ekt_bear:

Eh. . . it is one thing to say, "my grandma comes from ethnic group X", and "I am from that same ethnic group." Connection != same

Anyway, I'll leave it at that. . . no doubt they'll speak up clarify. I wish there was a private messaging system on this forum.

Tell that to the people over history that have lost their cultures due to marrying other peoples women. Anyway, the wife's part is in relation to the kinship between parts of Abia and Imo and Opobo and Bonny. We can even see the Amanyanabo participating in Igbo events. At the end of the day Bonny and Opobo are both Igbo speaking towns with people claiming Igbo, and that puts them in the Igbo world, whether there are Ijaw people there or not.

hmm

I would have contributed to this thread, but I noticed that all the ibo morons have as usual taken over the thread.

" Rivers state is ibo"
"We the true natives are the slaves of ibo"
"In fact we longer exist"

Don't you people engaging in this kind of dialogue with the fools, understand that they are just losers sitting somewhere typing their fantasies?

The first question you need to ask them is "Are you from Rivers State". They make having ANY mature discussion on my state impossible.

Ibo people are a nuisance anywhere they go.

Johndoe100:

I would have contributed to this thread, but I noticed that all the ibo morons have as usual taken over the thread.

" Rivers state is ibo"
"We the true natives are the slaves of ibo"
"In fact we longer exist"

Don't you people engaging in this kind of dialogue with the fools, understand that they are just losers sitting somewhere typing their fantasies?

The first question you need to ask them is "Are you from Rivers State". They make having ANY mature discussion on my state impossible.

Ibo people are a nuisance anywhere they go.

Do not vent your anger on Ndigbo because they are not responsible for your misery in Nigeria. For the fact that you sit at home all day drinking ogogoro is not Igboman's making. For the fact that Oil monguls from the North have milked your village oil dry is not Igbo's making. Instead of coming here to display stupidity about the Igbo, you should face the real ememies of your backward people.
Intelligent people are here debating and the only thing you can come up is to call the Igbo people nuisance.
This your brainless post above should be thrown in the bin.

All this Igbo 80% of this and that sef.

@ekt_bear. Don't ever make a mistake of calling Ikwerre man Igbo else prepare for his wrath.

They so much hate anything that has to do with Igbos. Forget about these internet thieves wishing Rivers is there's.

Shameless people. We are 65% lagos, 40% kano, 50% kaduna, 80% Rivers, 40% Jos, 35% london, 35 New york bullcrap.

Easy they go saying trash and yet when prompted about the mortality rate of Igbo race they become bewildered.

When even a lunatic knows that average marraige age of Igbo man is between 38-40 years; avarage birth rate is 3-4 children(fear of poverty). Yet they go around claiming the majority.

*Allow foools to feel happy and forget their misery*

Rhino.5dm:

All this Igbo 80% of this and that sef.

@ekt_bear. Don't ever make a mistake of calling Ikwerre man Igbo else prepare for his wrath.

They so much hate anything that has to do with Igbos. Forget about these internet thieves wishing Rivers is there's.

Shameless people. We are 65% lagos, 40% kano, 50% kaduna, 80% Rivers, 40% Jos, 35% london, 35 New york bullcrap.

Easy they go saying trash and yet when prompted about the mortality rate of Igbo race they become bewildered.

When even a lunatic knows that average marraige age of Igbo man is between 38-40 years; avarage birth rate is 3-4 children(fear of poverty). Yet they go around claiming the majority.

*Allow foools to feel happy and forget their misery*

Get well soon.

^^ Is that all? ssmh!

For your info. My wife is half Ikwerre, half yoruba. They despise Igbos with all their hearts.

So don't bullshyt me.

Rhino.5dm:

All this Igbo 80% of this and that sef.

@ekt_bear. Don't ever make a mistake of calling Ikwerre man Igbo else prepare for his wrath.

They so much hate anything that has to do with Igbos. Forget about these internet thieves wishing Rivers is there's.

Shameless people. We are 65% lagos, 40% kano, 50% kaduna, 80% Rivers, 40% Jos, 35% london, 35 New york bullcrap.

Easy they go saying trash and yet when prompted about the mortality rate of Igbo race they become bewildered.

When even a lunatic knows that average marraige age of Igbo man is between 38-40 years; avarage birth rate is 3-4 children(fear of poverty). Yet they go around claiming the majority.

*Allow foools to feel happy and forget their misery*

When you are done, then go and kiss a live cable, Grey-haired monkey.

Rhino.5dm:

^^ Is that all? ssmh!

For your info. My wife is half Ikwerre, half yoruba. They despise Igbos with all their hearts.

So don't bullshyt me.

My wife is Ikwerre as well and a proud Igbo, while Afam's mother is Ikwerre and also a proud Igbo.