CandyDiamond:

Egun,Aworis,Ilejas,okun languages cannot be heard by Yorubas,even Ijebus claim that they are not Yorubas that they migrated from Sudan,that is why Yorubas hate them so much. Igbos are not castigating anybody from been Igbo but denying it,it is you Yorubas that is carrying it on your head day and night on various social media, writing how chibuike Amaechi,okechukwu oliseh is not Igbo despite bearing Igbo names and speaking Igbo,what you people tend to gain from it is what I don't know. You will not see any Igbo person writing how Begun,Aworis,ilejes,okun are not Yorubas

I have not heard (not once) a single member of these tribes claim not to be Yoruba. Not once. In fact my mom is Ijebu to the core - one of the most beautiful spoken tongues in human history in my opinion. But am willing to be proven wrong. Give me a link to the website of any of these groups were they say they are not Yorubas. I have seen numerous websites of many of these so called 'Igboid' groups adamantly identifying with Bini instead of Igbo. So far, I have seen you Igbos give two main reasons why these groups (who you claim to be your kins) are denying you and embracing Bini people:

1. The after effects of the Biafran war - with being Igbo seen as a liability.
2. Igbos were not expansionists like the Yorubas, Fulanis or Binis.

Clearly you can see that these two scenarios does not apply to Yorubas at all. This is a unique Igbo problem (IF your claims to these so called Igboid groups are true). And those of you who are honest will agree. Don't equate rivalry between certain Yoruba groups (Egbas vs Ijebus; Aworis vs Eguns etc.) to Ikas or Ogbas adamantly refusing the Igbo tag. Is like saying, that just because an Anambra man considers himself superior to the Imo man then somehow one of them is NOT Igbo while the other is - makes absolutely no sense.

Again, (Even though sometimes we joke around on nairaland) I have nothing against Igbos. My loyalty is to fairness. It is not fair (especially in this 21st century) to insult, castigate, demean and patronize any group of people just because they refused to identify with another group - this is my stance as an omoluabi.

AkinPhysicist:

Obviously still deeper than that dirty Aba gutter you have been trying to fish from the whole day.

Odua goat, instead of you to accept you are no match for this sort of debate and concede total defeat, you 're here bleating like the sacrificial Soka forest goat you truly are. Igboid gave good points why Ogba claims to Bini is laughable. Oh! why should I even be responding to a goat?

bismarck:

Igboid gave good points why Ogba claims to Bini is laughable.

I am very surprised that one Ipob yoot is siding with another - why is that so? Nigerian vs Ghana and the referee is named Asamoah Gyan. I am still waiting for your Ipob brother to provide the INDEPENDENT research he CLAIMS to have to prove his assertions. And please warn him not to come here with IPOB- inspired publications. As you can see from the above posts, I strike to kill (intellectually speaking of course). As for you, go and sleep joor - you are embarrassing yourself here. You are so dumb you make your poorly educated Ipob colleague seem like a top rate nuclear scientist.

AkinPhysicist:


I am very surprised that one Ipob yoot is siding with another - why is that so? Nigerian vs Ghana and the referee is named Asamoah Gyan. I am still waiting for your Ipob brother to provide the INDEPENDENT research he CLAIMS to have to prove his assertions. And please warn him not to come here with IPOB- inspired publications. As you can see from the above posts, I strike to kill (intellectually speaking of course). As for you, go and sleep joor - you are embarrassing yourself here. You are so dumb you make your poorly educated Ipob colleague seem like a top rate nuclear scientist.

....The Ogba high Chief, besides his active involvement in the Nigerian national politics, where he was once a federal minister, was as well involved quietly in the struggle to resist the corruption of his identity.
http://nigeriaworld.com/articles/2008/apr/282.html

[/color]
I am very surprised that one Ipob yoot is siding with another - why is that so? Nigerian vs Ghana and the referee is named Asamoah Gyan. I am still waiting for your Ipob brother to provide the INDEPENDENT research he CLAIMS to have to prove his assertions. And please warn him not to come here with IPOB- inspired publications. As you can see from the above posts, I strike to kill (intellectually speaking of course). As for you, go and sleep joor - you are embarrassing yourself here. You are so dumb you make your poorly educated Ipob colleague seem like a top rate nuclear scientist.


[color=#000000]I wonder what your motives are on this thread..from your far away odua land, all you could resort to is labelling anyone with different opinion from yours a IPOB member...last time I checked been a IPOB is a choice and never a crime...

You showed your typical Yoruba character thinking you can insult and Lord your hypocritical opinions on others. Are you a professor in Ogba and Ekpeye history..Go to ogba and Ekpeye land and ask anyone above the age of 70 to tell you the real history of our people: I bet you will be shocked with answers you will get..This is our terrain so please do me a favour and back out!!

Shalom



[/quote]

Looks moody as compared to what? What look befits a funeral pray do tell?

ever811:
WAF....what's the eze doing with eye glasses?... any way RIP eze...

Were u not the one that put him?

Anyway dem want mak him go see road beyond...

@Akinphysicist, you can see that you have surficial knowledge on this subject matter of argument. And when you realised that you have been exposed as empty on this matter you started shouting and labelling everyone IPOB. You started well but lost it completely. I have stayed in Ogbaland and I could not see any atom of Bini in them but mainly Igbo. It baffles one's imagination how this came to be. There is serious anomaly created in that geographical zone in the bid to reconfigure the psyche and cultural identity of these people for political and economic gain of the feudal Lords. Next time chose your battle well.

eezeribe:
The eyeglass na to see spirits

Really?

[sub][/sub]

Igboid:


No group was known as Igbo before the whites came. We all existed as distinct groups, like Ngwa, Asa, Ndoki, Etche, Ikwerre,Ogba,Ekpeye, Orrata, Izzi, Ezza,Abohs etc. No one was Igbo.

It was the British that saw that all these people spoke a mutually intelligible dialect continuum of a language they termed "Igbo". Ibo became a generic term for all these groups. So if you see slave records and the ethnic groups the Slaves identified with in the Eastern region, you will see things like Ndoki-Ibo, Omuma- Ibo, Ungwa( Ngwa)-Ibo, Isucuato(Isukwuato)- Ibo, Etche-Ibo, Ikwerre-Ibo, etc.

No one was really Igbo. We all had distinct clans we saw as our ethnic groups before the Igbo union.
So, it was not a case of the British adding the Ekpeye, Ogba, Ikwerre, to a people who already called themselves Igbo.

We were all identified as Igbo same time. And so, we all commenced the process of unification same time. The Igbo Union was full of cracks, and so when the British left, the job of filling these cracks fell on the likes of Zik, Ibiam, Okpara, Osadebeyetc. This process was still on when the Civil war ensued and the FG capitalized on the already existing fractures to destroy every effort at unification we had achieved so far then, it was important that the Igbo unification be undone for the sake of oil politics and to ensure that future agitation for secession by Igbos be frustrated.

Two points stand out from the bolded.

1) Prior to the coming of the British, no one was Igbo and
2) We all became Igbo because the white man assume that becos we all say "bia" as come, then we must all be under a single identity.

I dare say the british didn't do a holistic job, they were only interested in the ease of colonial administration and simply rounded up ethnicities into a whole number like it is done in secondary school mathematics. A typical situation is the case of the ekoi, ejagham, efik, ibibio, and the many ethnicities of cross river and akwaibom being grouped into one huge family basket by the british when most are mutually unintelligible.

I wish to state for the sake of clarity that Ikwerre and Ogba isnt mutually intelligible, ikwerre and ndoki, ekpeye, ngwa, izzi and all the languages listed are not mutually intelligible. Same with Ogba and the various languages. What they have in common are borrowed words and the primary source of those words are through slavery and trade. Those borrowed words that stuck arent sufficient enough for the british to tell who is who and what.

The british, if made to recolonise Nigeria today, with what they now know, will do a more encompassing breakdown.

I must point out that many of those ethnicities lumped together/identified as Igbos have come to accept the new identity and have forged on as one. Also a handful who do not feel a connection, sought ways to opt out of the forced Igbo union and were able to seize the opportunity that presented itself in 1970.

It is very unnecessary for those ethnicities that now constitute Igbo to resort to blackmailing those that declined by saying because of the Biafran defeat, because of the discovery of oil etc. Look at Oyigbo in Rivers, they feel a connection and they clearly identified themselves as Igbos. Same with Egbema in Rivers. Anyone who isnt interested should be left alone for good as they were never actually igbos in the first place.

EagleNest:
@Akinphysicist, you can see that you have surficial knowledge on this subject matter of argument. And when you realised that you have been exposed as empty on this matter you started shouting and labelling everyone IPOB. You started well but lost it completely. I have stayed in Ogbaland and I could not see any atom of Bini in them but mainly Igbo. It baffles one's imagination how this came to be. There is serious anomaly created in that geographical zone in the bid to reconfigure the psyche and cultural identity of these people for political and economic gain of the feudal Lords. Next time chose your battle well.

I am not holding brief for anyone, but let me just point out here that the term Ibo/Igbo is a british coinage. The Ogba were never Igbo before the arrival of the british and are not Igbo after the british left.

If you want to know who they are, ask them and they will tell their history as passed down to them orally from their forebears. If you believ them ia yoir affair but please learn to accept and respect who a people say they are as they also accord you yours.

cc: Truckpusher

24SEVEN:


I am not holding brief for anyone, but let me just point out here that the term Ibo/Igbo is a british coinage. The Ogba were never Igbo before the arrival of the british and are not Igbo after the british left.

If you want to know who they are, ask them and they will tell their history as passed down to them orally from their forebears. If you believ them ia yoir affair but please learn to accept and respect who a people say they are as they also accord you yours.

cc: Truckpusher

So who are Igbos and what do you use to determine if a person is Igbo?...besides, no one is forcing Ogbas to be anything against there wish...it is just that it is difficult to erase your ancestry by fiat. Language and culture does not erase overnight nor completely like that. It is gradual. There should be relics no matter how small. It's just like American and Carribean blacks denying ever having African ancestry because of centuries of generations that has passed. Were they mutated? But it is OK if we chose to be English, American or French it doesn't matter.

EagleNest:


So who are Igbos and what do you use to determine if a person is Igbo?...besides, no one is forcing Ogbas to be anything against there wish...it is just that it is difficult to erase your ancestry by fiat. Language and culture does not erase overnight nor completely like that. It is gradual. There should be relics no matter how small. It's just like American and Carribean blacks denying ever having African ancestry because of centuries of generations that has passed. Were they mutated? But it is OK if we chose to be English, American or French it doesn't matter.

@bolded, knowing that every ethnic group existed separately by their individual clan names before the coming of the Whiteman, it is now safe to deduce that any member of those Amalgamated clans who still retains that identity foisted on him by the british is an Igboman... and those who have reverted back to their original identity are henceforth no longer Igbos.

@2nd bolded... Once again, im not holding brief for the Ogbas but they have their ancestral history passed down to them by their forebears which they freely express and you have no right to contest their ancestry as you arent directly disenfranchised by them. Union is not by force.

24SEVEN:


@bolded, knowing that every ethnic group existed separately by their individual clan names before the coming of the Whiteman, it is now safe to deduce that any member of those Amalgamated clans who still retains that identity foisted on him by the british is an Igboman... and those who have reverted back to their original identity are henceforth no longer Igbos.

@2nd bolded... Once again, im not holding brief for the Ogbas but they have their ancestral history passed down to them by their forebears which they freely express and you have no right to contest their ancestry as you arent directly disenfranchised by them. Union is not by force.

I guess this should settle this argument and the excerpt comes from a renowned Ogba indigene:

Every man is created for a purpose to which he represents. Man's sense of mission on earth is not only measured by his articulation of the ideals which he believes in, but also by his tenacity to defend those ideals. Men fight for different causes, and whatever may be their nature, these causes eventually define the individual's place in history. In Nigeria as in elsewhere, each of the public figures, living or dead, has one thing or the other that he would be remembered for.
The passing recently of Ogbuehi, Chief, Senator Francis Ellah, Eze Nwadei of Ogbaland in Rivers state, has marked yet another turning point in the geo-politics of the post-war Igboland and Nigeria in general. The Ogba high Chief, besides his active involvement in the Nigerian national politics, where he was once a federal minister, was as well involved quietly in the struggle to resist the corruption of his identity.
The drive by some of his Rivers kinsmen to differ from other Igbos on ethnic identity was consistently known to have been repudiated by the high Chief, and to which he and his fellow traditionalists had fought long hard to show the need for assertiveness in their domain..
Down the path of his honourable life, the virtues of doggedness, clear vision and principles were consistent with Senator Ellah, even as he resigned his membership of the Nigerian Senate in 1984 following issues of conflicting interests. He was one of the premier voices on the methodology of oil revenue allocation to the bearing communities. Chief Ellah was a graduate of History at the University of London (University college, Ibadan).
Responding against the backdrop of the incendiary nature of the question of who is an Igbo in Rivers state, and the variety of the dialects, the Senator once said, " We have described this before; I told you an Igbo is an Igbo. If you look at the language, culture, etc, these are some of the things that determine an ethnic group. I'm a student of History. I started from the known to the unknown. Being an Igbo, I started with Igbo History, and then studied other ethnic groups"
After his years in the public service where he rose to become the Head of the Civil Service in Rivers state, he ventured into private business and eventually got to his pinnacle. Upon founding the Ellah Lakes Plc, he sat on the board of many organizations until his sudden death.
Chief Ellah's wisdom and intellect were universally recognised, and which, on many occasions had brought upon him the burden of representation on very serious matters concerning Ndigbo in Nigeria. A rare privilege enjoyed by the likes of Chief Justice Chukwudifu Oputa or His Majesty, Prof. Chike Edozien. With the passing of Chief Ellah and others such as Chiefs MCK Ajuluchukwu, Sam Mbakwe, Akanu Ibiam etc., the number of these rare breed of people is fast on the way out, unless something drastic was done to change the psychology of leadership in Igboland.
It would be recalled that Chief Ellah was nominated by the Ohaneze to attend the 2005 National Political Reform Conference in Abuja, and had been consulted severally on the lingering dispute that is currently tearing the organization. He was also responsible for the opening of the Biafran mission in the U.K during the 1967--70 Nigerian/Biafran war.
The life and times of this great Igbo son, a true bridge-builder, is worthy of special celebration by all sons and daughters of Igboland. The thoughts and prayers of all should, at this difficult moment, be with his family. Chief Ellah was reported to have died on the 23/4/08 at the age of 80 of what was believed to be natural causes. May his gentle soul rest in peace.
CC.

24SEVEN:


@bolded, knowing that every ethnic group existed separately by their individual clan names before the coming of the Whiteman, it is now safe to deduce that any member of those Amalgamated clans who still retains that identity foisted on him by the british is an Igboman... and those who have reverted back to their original identity are henceforth no longer Igbos.

@2nd bolded... Once again, im not holding brief for the Ogbas but they have their ancestral history passed down to them by their forebears which they freely express and you have no right to contest their ancestry as you arent directly disenfranchised by them. Union is not by force.

As I have said before, they are free to chose any tribe to belong to whether today or in future, but their "original identity", word I borrowed from you, is indelible and as I have lived among them, I have not seen them in any form or shades resembling Bini in any thing. That's the missing link that none of argument proferred so far on this forum has proven. Forget about White man colonial ethnic nomenclatures and other easy cover of argument, these denials are happening bc the so called Igbos are not at it's best at the moment, thanks to civil war and lack of cohesion among themselves.

If the tide will turn tomorrow, these same people will deny what they claim today. Once upon a time, every one wants to be Roman citizen, but today where is Italy. Most people want to be American citizen.The Clinton's of today are descendants of Irish immigrants and they never denied their ancestral root but in stead support it irrespective of where they chose to remain today.

CandyDiamond:

They have said that they are not Yorubas but you Yorubas are insisting that are Yorubas,Egun,Aworis,Ilejas,okun languages cannot be heard by Yorubas,even Ijebus claim that they are not Yorubas that they migrated from Sudan,that is why Yorubas hate them so much. Igbos are not castigating anybody from been Igbo but denying it,it is you Yorubas that is carrying it on your head day and night on various social media, writing how chibuike Amaechi,okechukwu oliseh is not Igbo despite bearing Igbo names and speaking Igbo,what you people tend to gain from it is what I don't know. You will not see any Igbo person writing how Begun,Aworis,ilejes,okun are not Yorubas

I read your comment and I laughed. You're asking what they will gain by their argument?
They've denied the fact that Igbos have oil in their lands. The moment they agree and accept that people like Amaechi and odili are Igbos, then it means they've accepted that Igbos truly have oil.
It's that simple.

AkinPhysicist had to resort to insults cos his argument was weak. Igboid was kicking his ass and kept making him look like a kid.
If the Niger delta Igbos like, let them deny their roots to thy kingdom come, people like AkinPhysicist won't hesitate to group them as Igbos when necessary.

ThumbzTNA:



No dey accuse us of wetin you no fit prove.

Where this one from?
Na lie?

DifferentBoy1:

Where this one from? Na lie?

Na big fat wicked lie from the pit of hell

RickyTan:


The land is Igboland and since you yourself are not Igbo the Atlantic Ocean or creeks is loading for you

Which land?
Does that landscape look mountainous and confused as igbo, or share your double historical linage of Ethiopia and Isreal?
Take time oh, no make me get ban for your head oh.

mandax:



But take away Igbo from Nigeria, you shall be a slave to rest of Nigeria. Even the 13% derivation, they shall remove it, forcefully convert your people to that Arab religion.


You people survive Nigeria's ethnic politics at the shoulders of the Igbo.




Later you come to recount how you were liberated from the Igbo. But you hardly understand that those you call liberators fully colonized your brains, environmental and resources.
Abegggi, if you are truly from the southsouth. But I suspect that you are from the most SHOFISTIWRETCHED ethnic group in Nigeria near Benin Republic. They are the ones driven by divide and rule to speak like you.

You need revival crusade for your matter.

steppin:
AkinPhysicist had to resort to insults cos his argument was weak. Igboid was kicking his ass and kept making him look like a kid.
If the Niger delta Igbos like, let them deny their roots to thy kingdom come, people like AkinPhysicist won't hesitate to group them as Igbos when necessary.

Even Buhari called CBN Gov Emefiele and Min of State Petroleum resources Ibe Kachikwu Igbo men in his last presidential media chat

Igboid:


You are not serious. Oyigbo is only part of Rivers state because of the mammar Nasir boundary adjustment program of 1975 that carved out Oyigbo from old Imo state and added it to old Rivers, simply because oil was discovered in large commercial quantity in that part of old Imo state.

No Ogoni town in Oyigbo LGA, Ogoni in Tai LGA share boundary with Ndoki towns in Oyigbo. After the last clash between Tai people and Ndokis over Okoloama boundary they( Tai) had learnt their lessons and stayed clear off Oyigbo. Any Ogoni Man in Afam Ukwu or Afam nta, is staying there as a resident tenant.

Do your researches again, your tools are faulty.

ThumbzTNA:



Na big fat wicked lie from the pit of hell

Hmmmm... Teaching you is hard.

DifferentBoy1:



Hmmmm... Teaching you is hard.

You aren't intelligent enough to even teach yourself the truth

ThumbzTNA:


You aren't intelligent enough to even teach yourself the truth

Ok... Leave matters as they are.

bismarck:

....The Ogba high Chief, besides his active involvement in the Nigerian national politics, where he was once a federal minister, was as well involved quietly in the struggle to resist the corruption of his identity.
http://nigeriaworld.com/articles/2008/apr/282.html

This is an obituary/eulogy of the late Senator Francis Ellah a pro-Igbo member of the Ogba community. This is NOT the proof that your colleague promised to provide. He said he has independent "third party research" that completely proves that 1.the Ogbas do not originate from Bini and 2. They have always been Igbo. Nothing in this obituary does that. Obviously, even a detailed scholarly research (if it exists) done by the late senator would not qualify as "third party research" since he was part and parcel of the now non-existent Biafran government.

I know what you are trying to do. You realized that your colleague has backed himself into a corner. So this is your attempt to help him out. But you have to do way better than this. Also remind your colleague that in addition he also claims that he has historical evidence that no one in Yorubaland was bearing a name that has the word Oba before the arrival of the British.
. Please remind him not to forget to supply this ' evidence'

steppin:
AkinPhysicist had to resort to insults cos his argument was weak.

describing something the way I see it is not an insult - I know he is an Ipob Yoot and even he does not deny it.

steppin:
Igboid was kicking his ass and kept making him look like a kid.

Au contraire: what I accomplished yesterday was expose the guy as a poorly educated wannabe - the conversation is there for everyone to see. But been an Ipob sympathizer I don't expect your to be objective

steppin:

If the Niger delta Igbos like, let them deny their roots to thy kingdom come, people like AkinPhysicist won't hesitate to group them as Igbos when necessary.

Don't be silly: why would I call someone Igbo who says he is not Igbo. This is the 21st century - tribal identity should not be forced on anyone. And you still do not get it. If you insist they must accept being Igbos, then won't they see that as denying their Bini roots? You Igbos have to learn to see things from other peoples point of view, otherwise you will continue to have problems in this country.

EagleNest:
@Akinphysicist, you can see that you have surficial knowledge on this subject matter of argument.

Don't be silly. Nowhere in my posts did I claim I had definite knowledge of the origin of the Ogbas. The reality is nobody does and hence we must respect the oral tradition of the Ogbas themselves. My contention with your colleague is that he insists that he has independent "third party" irrefutable research as evidence that the Ogbas did not originate from Bini and have always be Igbos. When I demanded he provide this research he became even more evasive exposing himself as an empty suit.

EagleNest:
And when you realised that you have been exposed as empty on this matter you started shouting and labelling everyone IPOB.

On the contrary. I not only exposed your colleague as intellectually dishonest. I was able to show that he claims independent research that he is unable to provide. If someone declares himself an IPOB, what is wrong in addressing him as such?

EagleNest:
You started well but lost it completely.

Again, on the contrary I started well and ended even better. The posts are up there for every objective nairalander to peruse. I don't expect an Igbo-centric mind like yours to be objective.

EagleNest:
I have stayed in Ogbaland and I could not see any atom of Bini in them but mainly Igbo.

Assuming you are not making up stories then lets reason together: definition of mainly - for the most part; predominantly; So even right from the gate, you are already suggesting that there are non-Igbo elements in Ogba culture. So, since this non-Igbo elements are not of Bini (according to you) can you kindly describe them so we can be able to ascertain their origin or origins? Thank you.

EagleNest:
It baffles one's imagination how this came to be.

Very simple. Two words: cultural assimilation.

EagleNest:
There is serious anomaly created in that geographical zone in the bid to reconfigure the psyche and cultural identity of these people for political and economic gain of the feudal Lords.

This is a conspiracy theory. And even if I accept your theory, it does not negate the Ogbas insistence that they originate from Bini.

EagleNest:
Next time chose your battle well.

I would GLADLY do it all over again - few things give me more pleasure than exposing empty intellectual suits.

AkinPhysicist:

describing something the way I see it is not an insult - I know he is an Ipob Yoot and even he does not deny it.


Au contraire: what I accomplished yesterday was expose the guy as a poorly educated wannabe - the conversation is there for everyone to see. But been an Ipob sympathizer I don't expect your to be objective


Don't be silly: why would I call someone Igbo who says he is not Igbo. This is the 21st century - tribal identity should not be force on anyone. And you still do not get it. If you insist they must accept being Igbos, then won't they see that as denying their Bini roots? You Igbos have to learn to see things from other peoples point of view, otherwise you will continue to have problems in this country.

Yeah, right! Tell that to the rest of Nigerians who believe they're Igbos, regardless of what they call themselves.
They can be whatever they feel like, but the truth is always gonna be there glaring at them.
If they don't wanna be Igbo, they should lose the igbo identity in them.
I won't try to explain or argue further, Igboid has already done that and did a great job.
Have a nice day.

steppin:

Yeah, right! Tell that to the rest of Nigerians who believe they're Igbos, regardless of what they call themselves.

Still doesn't make it true. Still doesn't disprove their claim that they originate from Bini. You should know that at one time most of Europe believed the earth was the center of the universe - popular believe but dead wrong nevertheless.

steppin:
They can be whatever they feel like, but the truth is always gonna be there glaring at them.

What is the truth? One man's truth is another man's lie. Learn to live and let live.

steppin:
If they don't wanna be Igbo, they should lose the igbo identity in them.

What you see as Igbo identity they see as Ogba identity. Hence their reluctance to lumped with you

steppin:
I won't try to explain or argue further,

I doubt you have any arrows left in your quiver hence you can't argue further.

steppin:
Igboid has already done that and did a great job.

Any objective arbiter will easily see how I (easily) wiped the nairaland floor with your colleague - I don't expect you to see that however considering your sympathetic Igbo-centric point of view.

steppin:
Have a nice day.

Wish you same, Shallom

bibe:


I guess this should settle this argument and the excerpt comes from a renowned Ogba indigene:

Every man is created for a purpose to which he represents. Man's sense of mission on earth is not only measured by his articulation of the ideals which he believes in, but also by his tenacity to defend those ideals. Men fight for different causes, and whatever may be their nature, these causes eventually define the individual's place in history. In Nigeria as in elsewhere, each of the public figures, living or dead, has one thing or the other that he would be remembered for.
The passing recently of Ogbuehi, Chief, Senator Francis Ellah, Eze Nwadei of Ogbaland in Rivers state, has marked yet another turning point in the geo-politics of the post-war Igboland and Nigeria in general. The Ogba high Chief, besides his active involvement in the Nigerian national politics, where he was once a federal minister, was as well involved quietly in the struggle to resist the corruption of his identity.
The drive by some of his Rivers kinsmen to differ from other Igbos on ethnic identity was consistently known to have been repudiated by the high Chief, and to which he and his fellow traditionalists had fought long hard to show the need for assertiveness in their domain..
Down the path of his honourable life, the virtues of doggedness, clear vision and principles were consistent with Senator Ellah, even as he resigned his membership of the Nigerian Senate in 1984 following issues of conflicting interests. He was one of the premier voices on the methodology of oil revenue allocation to the bearing communities. Chief Ellah was a graduate of History at the University of London (University college, Ibadan).
Responding against the backdrop of the incendiary nature of the question of who is an Igbo in Rivers state, and the variety of the dialects, the Senator once said, " We have described this before; I told you an Igbo is an Igbo. If you look at the language, culture, etc, these are some of the things that determine an ethnic group. I'm a student of History. I started from the known to the unknown. Being an Igbo, I started with Igbo History, and then studied other ethnic groups"
After his years in the public service where he rose to become the Head of the Civil Service in Rivers state, he ventured into private business and eventually got to his pinnacle. Upon founding the Ellah Lakes Plc, he sat on the board of many organizations until his sudden death.
Chief Ellah's wisdom and intellect were universally recognised, and which, on many occasions had brought upon him the burden of representation on very serious matters concerning Ndigbo in Nigeria. A rare privilege enjoyed by the likes of Chief Justice Chukwudifu Oputa or His Majesty, Prof. Chike Edozien. With the passing of Chief Ellah and others such as Chiefs MCK Ajuluchukwu, Sam Mbakwe, Akanu Ibiam etc., the number of these rare breed of people is fast on the way out, unless something drastic was done to change the psychology of leadership in Igboland.
It would be recalled that Chief Ellah was nominated by the Ohaneze to attend the 2005 National Political Reform Conference in Abuja, and had been consulted severally on the lingering dispute that is currently tearing the organization. He was also responsible for the opening of the Biafran mission in the U.K during the 1967--70 Nigerian/Biafran war.
The life and times of this great Igbo son, a true bridge-builder, is worthy of special celebration by all sons and daughters of Igboland. The thoughts and prayers of all should, at this difficult moment, be with his family. Chief Ellah was reported to have died on the 23/4/08 at the age of 80 of what was believed to be natural causes. May his gentle soul rest in peace.
CC.

No this does absolutely nothing to settle the argument. I have read this obituary/eulogy. It does not contain any evidence to disprove the claimed Bini roots of the Ogbas. All the same RIP to Senator Ellah