No amount of resources and resource allocations can make a difference in nigeria with the gross indiscipline and decadence in the system.

The government herself is illegitimate and an illegitimate institution can never make good gestures in the sense they are built on deceits and lies with evil manifestos.It is a case of retarded gangsters literally running a nation

The issue of niger delta is an epitome of nigerian problems,a situation where every innocent nigerian suffers and it should not be so.The people should wise up and ground the system with peaceful and resilient protest,the yeye laws or alternatively go covert and root out the bad eggs that calls themselves leaders.

The leaders will sit up if they realize that their lives will be at stake if do wrong in public offices,they don't have to be taken care of while in office,but at retirement,with less heat,the judgement day

70% of the replies to this topic are baseless conclusions. so ill-informed and vague. The Obi wasnt crowned, he got there by birth, ie the crown has, and will always be within his household.  And PLEASE, Ika is not Igbo or Ibo. Also, if the militants were so steel-hearted, why didnt they ignore the amnesty move?

jaymdee:

70% of the replies to this topic are baseless conclusions. so ill-informed and vague. The Obi wasnt crowned, he got there by birth, ie the crown has, and will always be within his household.  And PLEASE, Ika is not Igbo or Ibo. Also, if the militants were so steel-hearted, why didnt they ignore the amnesty move?   

The bolded makes your statement seem uneducated, putting it politely.

We need to face the man squarely for what he said (bearing in mind that this is very old and outdated news).

We also need to be civilised and not attack any ethnicity. If Ika people call themselves Igbo, who are we to deny them their ethnicity? To the best of my knowledge, they have always been called Ika Igbo, Bendel Igbo or Delta Igbo.
Igbo is Igbo, leave wahala jare.

That statement has long been overtaken by events

@ admin,why is this stale news on the homepage please pull it

jaymdee:

70% of the replies to this topic are baseless conclusions. so ill-informed and vague. The Obi wasnt crowned, he got there by birth, ie the crown has, and will always be within his household.  And PLEASE, Ika is not Igbo or Ibo. Also, if the militants were so steel-hearted, why didnt they ignore the amnesty move?   

.
At this time when the IkaIgbo are taking their rightful positions in Igbo organisations worldwide, you are in nairaland mocking the Ika people. For your information, on 08 /11/09, one of the Ika Obis will be the royal father of the day at the Iri ji festival of Igbo Youths UK. The venue is St Scholastica catholic Church, 17 Kenninghall Road Clapton, London E5. COME AND SEE THINGS FOR YOUR SELF. At the moment, no one is prepared to accept this crap idea of Ika is not Igbo.

@IKENNAHILL: You do have valuable points in this thread. However, it will be more valuable if you spell IGBO instead of Igbo.

@BEAF. God bless you a million fold. Some people are just turning simple logic upside down.

Andre Uweh:

@IKENNAHILL: You do have valuable points in this thread. However, it will be more valuable if you spell IGBO instead of Igbo.

Pardon me bros,but what's the difference,REALLY??

rasputinn:

Pardon me bros,but what's the difference,REALLY??

I can see why you asked that question. The poster (Adrew Uweh) meant to type "However, it will be more valuable if you spell IGBO instead of Ibo"

rasputinn:

Pardon me bros,but what's the difference,REALLY??

The British spelt Ibo because they do not have 'gb' in their alphabet. The British have left long time ago and Ndigbo are in control of their own orthography. Ibo is the mispelt version of Igbo. Igbo is correct and as a result you have Ohanaeze ndi IGBO.
God bless.

If Ika is Igbo, then Itsekeri is Yoruba!, IKA is IKA! No two ways about that!

ezeagu:

The bolded makes your statement seem uneducated, putting it politely.

keep decieving urself^^^.And how does itsekiri,yoruba analogy fit into this case?

Xolokristo:

If Ika is Igbo, then Itsekeri is Yoruba!, IKA is IKA! No two ways about that!

Ika people worship Ikenga, have yam a staple and carry the Ozo title. Their language is more than 70% Igbo, the majority answer Igbo surnames and every credible publication has listed them as Igbo. Do you see how you seem stupid by saying that they're not Igbo?

Xolokristo:

If Ika is Igbo, then Itsekeri is Yoruba!, IKA is IKA! No two ways about that!

Don't worry, when the chips are down, you will know whether there is a difference between Ika and Ngwa. Until then, continue deceiving yourself and let Nigerians have a big laugh at your expense.

many people especially igbos get angry when ikas say they are not igbos ,but have they ever asked who ikas are ? they mistake ikas to be people from ogwashi or asaba,or ubulu uku and others .but ikas refer to those towns within ika south and north of delta state and their brothers in edo state like igbanke and others ,
the agbors,owa,UMUNEDE,otolokpo,ute -okpu,ute-ogbeje,idumuesah,mbiri,igbodo,abavo and akumazi in delta state are all ikas.
we have been called ika igbo, delta igbo and bendel igbo by people who are ignorant of our history,culture and traditions.but the fact remains that we are ika people.we are not igbos or benin ,but we have close affinity with the benin and igbo people.
1. the original ika people migrated from benin and ishan land and established most of the ika kingdoms ,then later others came from nri ,ukwuani and even yoruba land as in the case of some villages in umunede and other ika clans.
2.as for names ikas have both benin and igbo names,but the igbo names were names taken in the last 100 years or so ,while the benin names are very ancient and all our old towns were named in benin language, over 90 percent of ika peoples family names are all in bini or ishan languages.today you can see most ika persons bearing names like nduka -igbo and irabor-benin or nduka -obaigben -BENIN ,my family name is omigie and we are from the royal quarters of idumu-ezomor in owa-oyibu and these are all benin names.still on names , all the past obis of ika land had benin names,but in the last 100 years plus some have started bearing igbo names,but their family names or sorenames are still benin names.even if you see any ika man today beARing ngozi ,he or she will still have his grand father or family name being a benin name.
ikas bear igbo names such as uche,ngozi, chinedu and others and we also bear benin names such as osagie,efeizomor,omojafor,aiguobasinwi ,osagbobu and okungbowa and others .
3, ikas are people who believe in the supreme god as oselobue or osenobue and guardian spirit as ehi,and the heaVENS AS Orimi ,these is just like the binis,and we believe in deiities like olokun,ovia,ake,ohointe,ogun,uhunwudeen,uwegbe ,udele like the binis,while we also have ikenga from igbo land.
4. we are a monarchical people as we have had kings in ika land for thousands of years ,and our kingship is paTTERned after that of benin with the hereditory ,palace and town chief system.we also have obis that dress and act like the oba ,as we believe that our obis atr second to oselobue.
we have same chiefs with names and function like the benin chiefs such as obaseki,ihondon,iyase,ologboshere,ugbasogun,ezomor, ihaza,ihama,edaiken,ohazama,obanugede, isekure and others .when ika chiefs and kings die , they are buried facing benin as the land of their ancestors .and most ika kings are crowned in the uselu like the oba of benin.
5.the dein of agbor was recorded as the youngest crowned king in the world ,because he was crowned at age-2 and half years and because agbor is one of the oldest kingdoms in nigeria ,that has had kings for 1000 years without a brake.it will interest you to know that the present dein of agbor is from thesame blood family with the oba of benin and as such no agbor prince is allowed to marry from the benin royal family ,it is a taboo or ugben .in 1930 , the great benin historian jacob egharevba wrote in a short history of benin that the ikas move from benin in several waves to found ika land and that all ika kings were beinn princes and noble men .the present benin monarch acknowledges the blood relationship between agbor and benin.in 1702, the famous dutch man who visited benin and settled in agbor , he was called nyandel,he wrote in his diary waves of migration moving from benin and settling into agbor and obior ,he also talked about a war between agbor and benin in which agbor was victorious ,but he said the war later came to an end due to the blood relationship between agbor and benin.
6. we perform most festivals like the benins as our main festival is the igue ,ugbose, olokun,idigun , ine,ikaba,ogbanigbeand osiezi ,and we also perform the iwagi -new yam like igbos ,but our formatt for doing it is quite different.
7.ikas speak a language they also call ika and some speak ozarra ,which is an edoic language.ozarra is spoken in some parts of agbor kingdom.
the ika language is a unique language as it is a mix of bini,ishan,igbo and indigenous language,some things in ika follows igbo like
1/ eka- hand
2. nti - ears
3. isi head
4. uku leg
5. ulo- house

while others follow benin lines such as ;
1. igbon-slave
2.ogo-bottle
3.ihiarra-umbrella
4, ikeke-bicycle
5. okpan-plate
6.ofungbon- palmoil
7.ukpe or orukpe- light
8.edion -old maN
9. odede-old woman
10. okpoho-woman
11. idumu-village
12.ogbe -town
13. ugbe-family
14. sakpamaghori-generation
15/ agbon- world or earth.

8. it was the british that changed the name from ogungunagbon or agbon a benin word meaning earth to agbor in 1906,other towns too had their names changed like avbabvo was changed to abavo,while the old name for umunede was ukpehoro and isei-uku-akpolorpolor was changed to isele uku

9. ikas are not the only tribe that has a mixed migration in nigeria, the itsekiris are yoruba and edo peoples ,but today they are a seperate tribe despite their language being close to yoruba and mixed with benin.isokos and uhrobos speak almost same language yet they are different tribes,benin and ishan share lots of similarities yet they are seoerate ethnic groups,brazil speaks purtuguese yet they are not portuguese , america speaks english yet they are not english men .there was a time around the fifteen century when french was spoken in england.language changes due to migrations, wars and trade and some times some languages become extinct,so language is not the only point of tracing where a people come from , you have to look at their culture,religion and arts to determine where they come from , then you have to look at their oral history too
10. i want to say that the ikas have moved ahead and we know we are ikas ,we have our socio-cultural organisation called the ogua ika ,this is just like ohaneze ndi igbo.this body fights for ika rights and teach ika culture,and tradition.they also have annual lectures.so no amount of intimidation or critixism can make a proper ika man to join igbo meetings .so it will be good for people to concentrate on their tribal history and not try to re-write our history for us we know our history , ikas have been living as organise kingdoms for thousands of years , so we dont need people who can only trace their proper history to about 200 years to tell us our history.the first obi of owa ascended the throne in 1284 ,when many communities in nigeria were living a scattered life with a visible head.chief fortune ebie is the head of the ika people right now and he is doing a great job.one thing i know is that what people call you does not matter ,but what do you call your self ? we call our selves ikas , when i was born my father told me i was ika and that i will be till i die , i dont want to be igbo or bini or any other thing.and we are very proud of our ancestory.

^^^

so Ika must stay Ika. Accepted. Igbo is big enough within only the lands that call themselves Igbo. mutual love.

@ agbotaen

Unfortunately, I had a friend from Agbor and he said he was Igbo. Both of us conversed in Igbo sometimes and he had never lived in SE; he was born in Agbor and schooled in Agbor. Maybe your blood line is Bini which is not surprising because Ika is a mixture of Igbo (majority) and Bini (minority), that’s why the language structure of Ika is Igbo. A lot of Bini words and names are in Ika, just like other groups that make up Igbo ethnicity have names and words that are strange to other groups.

As  ChinenyeN stated, “the Igbo are not a tribe. They are an amalgamation of different groups (related and unrelated). The thing that makes these groups "Igbo" is largely just the linguistic classification (as in, they linguistically fall within "Igboid" language family), and partly cultural. Little to none of it is historical.”

_{If only you back up your narrative with true facts not ones you pulled out of nowhere. How on earth was French spoken in England? This calls for question the truthfulness of your narrative.}

Yes, our language unites us. Think of the Igbo as a nation like the Iroquois Nation in the United States. We are made up of different tribes that are united in language.

My tribe is the Aro Igbo, arguably, once the most powerful Igbo speaking group in the East.

Thanks Agbontean for this wonderful piece. "Nwa Ebon" you are too much. Each time this issue comes up I try to harp on the fact that an IKA man is not Igbo/Bini or any other than IKA. However this doesn't make us alien to external cultural ties. One Nigeria!!!

every tribe or people in nigeria are great,the yorubas for example were different people in ancient times,but in the last 150 years or so ,they became united b ased on the believe that they are from the same ancestor called oduduwa,and this oduduwa is what links the binis with yoruba despite differences in language,as all yorubas believe that the binis are all children of oduduwa.so also the ikas we are from diverse groups but we are united by a believe in a common bini ancestory of our core founders.and this has influenced our culture and believe system.
what many people do not know is that agbor has been existing for thousands of years,and the name of the place has changed from ominijie whose capital was orhue ,to igidi and later to agbon or what people know today as agbor.
the first rulers of ominijie were called ogelle,and oraL history tells us that he came from sudan to ife ,to benin and then agbor.then igidi was ruled by ogiso for one thousand years,this same ogiso ruled from benin to agbor .then we moved to the obi (dein) dynasty in the present times.which started in the 12th century.that is why the obi of agbor is always saying that he is sitting on the third dynasty throne of agbor.
even benin has changed titles too for their king,they were using odionwere ,later to ogiso and then to the oba dynasty that connects ife in yoruba land .
ika people do not deny relationship with the igbos, and we do not deny relationship with the binis,but we are now ikas , no more no less.in the last 1oo years plus ikas came under heavy influence of igbos due to migration,trade and christianity and education ,as the europeans used them in propergating christianity in ika land and so igbo language was also taught in schools as at that time , and most of our people had to go to school in asaba areas too.so many learnt the language clearly .however ikas are a seperate group of people ,no king in ika land or chiefs ohaime or intelligessia of ika will attend any other meeting beyond ika meetings , except for anioma meeting, so i think that is settled.but like i said ikas are of diverse origins there are some whose ancestors migrated from igbo land and others whose ancestors migrated from benin,but like i said the vast majority of ikas ,especially those who can trace their origins and family lineage to more that 700 years have benin ancestory .
our people have also fought against being listed as binis,in 1936, when agbor was put under benin warrant chiefs and the binis said they own agbor ,and that agbor people were binis , our fore fathers ressisted them,and they backed off,so ikas will also resist any attempt to place us under the igbo groups.i also want to say that this is why the ikas do not attend any igbo ethnic meetings and that decision will not be changed.becaUSE we know where we migrated from ,and know we are now a different group called ika.

AGBOR KINGS ,-THIS IS THE OBI DYNASTY-1270-DEIN,OWUWU,AKINA,AGHO,OGUADE,AISAMA,OSEH,ODIGIE,OJE,OBANOR,IMOUDU,ODIN,GBENOBA,AGBORBU,OBIKA,IKENCHUKU,KIAGBOREKUZI some names are still missing.
owa kings-odogun 1290 ,igbegidi,ewodo,ewuare,ozolua,orhogbua,iregwa,ewoh,okun,idiana,oseh,igbeoba,iseh,okundaiye,obaigbena,efeizomor 1 ,efeizomor 2.
most ika kingdoms started to have kings around the 12th to 13th century A.D. so they are quite ancient,when we were in the western house of assembly and house of chiefs in ibadan,it was only three kings in the delta region that sat of the highest platform ,and these were oba of benin, olu of warri and obi of agbor ,do you know why ? it is because the itsekiri kingdom and agbor kingdom kings were first class benin princes and for the fact that these kingdoms were established in ancient times and they were also prominent as at the times europeans came and for the fact that the obi of agbor could also trace his history properly too.
in ika language their are variations too,those who live close to the aniochas like umunede,igbodo and co ,speak a variant close to aniocha,while some like agbor,owa,and others speak a slight different varriant.
like i said earlier ika is an amalgam of igbo,bini and ishan languages .
IKA PARABLES (FROM AGBOR ,OWA,ABAVO)
1.IHIAN HAIN IHIAN ME IHIAN - it is a person that cause another to do evil .
2.eje agbon ya e yi agbon- it is an evil family that breeds an evil person
3. ebon ihian a ri isi agalaba ,ogieka ra ukutubha-ones brother cannot be on top of a tree branch ,while one will eat an unripe fruit.
4.ihien uyaghami ro ,ke okunse no po odede ikun. it is a sad thing for okunse or for some one to abuse his mother .
5.okpoho uyada,e bi etita iwe di.- a useless woman lives in a dirty environment in her husbands house.
6.okenyen kpo keregede ola ogua- if a man gives false in formation , he is taken to the court or palace.
7.nwa e bikin ugbe,ala ugbe tor - the child that is meant to repair the family has abandone it.
8.neyin kpami oselobue hun ogi chuneyin uya-let us thank god for chasing away suffering from us .
9. we agbama ukpekpe,ghogho ma ,ni oselobue ya ni we uya- the sang praises to god ,for seperating them from suffering.
10. onye dan izighe,ara wen omiken - whoever commits murder does not have mercy
11.eletu bain ime ogan ojen ijen ufori - if a rat enters a trap , it has ended a fruitless journey.
12.okpoho mu nwan uyada gie yiri agan- a woman who gives birth to a bad child ,is like a barren person
13. anthony werimije oo, ono ke si ihian awunzi-anthony is dead and it is so painfull,that is seems people should not die again.
14. ihien onye kwondon ,a la tor eeeh-----------------------------whatever is yours will never leave you.
15.oselobue dodo, hanimuya ,a ni le irehu be mi ikpayi---------------------------------,oh god ,please chase suffering from me and do not let sickness kill me.
16, ogiso en wen osi ----------a king does not have a friend
17. anu ulo amarin ogbeni---------------------------the animal at home does not regonise the hunter.
18.ogiso gi ebon le otunmuyen a kwa ese-----------------------the king uses family and friends in making sacrifice.
19.ojuwu buhe ukpokpo le ri ime agbon-------------it is the devil that brought all the evils in this world.
20. ohai ohai ke we kpami edioma,obi domo ke we kele obi ,iyare ke we kele ohaime.-----------progress and long life is used to greet elderly men,domo is the greetings for the king,and gods protection is the greetings of chiefs.

i hope i have been able to give a little insight into ika language,but my observations are that ika language is constantly changing and borrowing from her close neighbours such as ubulu uku, asaba,ogwashi and the rest,for example the original ika word for devil is ojuwu or ogiuwu,but now in the churches in ika land they use the igbo word ekwensu.the word oloden for needle is some times changed now to ntutu,ofingbo is palm oil,but right now some ikas say nmanu,okpan was and is the correct ika word for plate,but now it is being changed to afere.that is why the ika group had to st up a language committe to write ika language and put a halt on the gradual erosion of our language.
still on names certain names today do not reflect ika traditions aND CULTURE ,for example ,many ika people bear the name ebere ,-meaning mercy,but the real ika word is omiken- mercy.
chinedu is not an ika name ,because the ikas do not believe in chi ,but ehi , so the proper ika name should be ehiedu .or ehiabor which still means my god should lead and direct me .
anwuli is not an ika name ,but many ika people are called anwuli which means hapiness, the real ika word for happiness is oghogho ,while joy is oyo.long life is utormi ,chibogwu is rendered as ehiwuogun in ika language.may be later i will do an article on proper ika names .so it is good to know ones history and culture , i have met many ika people who do not know their history and that is why they a liable to be giving their children names that do not reflect their ika back ground,but same goes for other people too who do not know their history.

^^^
I have no doubt you are Solomon Omojie whose never ending prose is everywhere.
If your bini connection is strong, quit your struggles as others do not believe in what you're saying, just like my friend from Agbor who is Igbo and a proud one like me.

You can bring forward archaic words that are not current anymore, I have mine too which most Igbos can't understand, but they are archaic, really really ancient. My grandma (from Anambra) used them a lot and my dad sometimes but I laughed whenever they used them because they were ancient.
English has words that are classified as archaic too and no longer in use.

Just like you said in one of your long prose,

"the name of my ancestors are agbotaen -maternal and omigie- paternal , so we are the children of both and my family can trace their family tree to 800 years , and these are bini names , so what do you want me to tell my children that our forefathers came from igbo land or bini?"

So you should stop trying to impose your heritage on other Ikas, the majority, who are not bini and stop distorting history.

I hate people with red kufi on especially if it has fez on it. It is a dress code of the idiots raiding for slaves for the Europeans and Arabs. Signing treaties with low life Arabs, Spanish and Portuguese slaver merchants while their brother and sisters were getting shipped away and thrown off slave ship in the middle of the Atlantic ocean. Not surprise the children of those people became kings etc. in modern day Africa. The sleeping giant is yawning and getting ready to wake up!!!!!!

@Agbotaen: I do understand the relevance of history, however, in todays Nigerian context, your identity is not just about your history of 750 years ago nor moonlight tales but what you represent and accepted by your neighbours. The neigbours of the Ika people e.g the Binis know that Ikas are Igbos and other Nigerians think so.Your attempt at making the Ikas an ethnic group is a failed one.
Stop turning logic upside down. The Ika people at present (majority) regard themselves as Ndigbo or Delta Igbo. Last April in Owerri, a proud Ika and proud Igbo-Jim Ovia received an Ikenga Igbo award as the best banker of last year. I hope you do not have any problem with that.
The late Obi of Akumazi was one of the Ika Obis who picked Amb R. Uwaechue as the sole candidate of Ohanaeze ndi Igbo last Nov 2009.
You may relocate to Bini if you wish but stop spreading lies of non Igboness of Ndiika.

well you are entitled to your opinion oooo, but the majority of ikas have spoken ,that they are ikas .if you like believe it,if you like dont believe it.we ikas will never join your igbo meetings ,please tell me which obi in ika land is a member of ohaneze meeting ?if jim ovia collected an award from aka ikenga ,he also collected an award from many yoruba organisations,in fact he was inducted as a member of the governing board of lagos state university by the governor of lagos state ,but does that make him yoruba ?
does jim -ovia belong to ohaneze or any igbo ethnic groupings? the answer is no.
what group does he belongs to ?
the answer is ogua and onu ika .period.please can you also tell me any ika intelligesia that belongs to igbo meetings ?
none.
may be you are still living in 18th century nigeria , all the people in anioma in delta state ,no that the ikas are a major block of people that has refused to join the igbo groups .
you know why it is due to the pure fact that we are not igbo,and if you say we are igbo ,good for you and you can say in your house it is your opinion ,but i assure you that you cannot make our people join you , so i will advice you keep praying and hoping that one day the ikas will join you.
our destiny is in our hands and we dont need to follow the crowed,and i know very few ikas are on this page ,but i will keep saying what i and my people know we are and we know we are ikas.
of recent obi of owa ,celebrated his 50th year on the throne and owa and ikas reaserted themselves as ikas again,and that is what we are ,if there are ikas that say they are igbos ,they are in the minority and they are free to join igbo groups ,but for the majority of ikas ,they will tell you they are ikas and not igbos.
i am of the royal lineage ,so i know many things about ika from family sources and town history and not only what some books wrote.if you are not ika , then you are not,please write about your history,when many ika towns developed into kingdoms many towns in the south east were still under developed ,so how can we measure our history with yours ?let any igbo man tell me ? how monarchy started ?what system did the igbos rule thmselves with ? what igbo kingdoms existed with a line of kings from and before the 12th century in nigeria ?
even right under your nose in the south east the original people of onitsha claim benin ancestory ,although many igbos have later created new histories as to how onitsha people are not benin migrants .but i still ask , what was the original name of onitshA ?
it was called onitsha ado ni idu , before it was shortened to onitsha.please can any igbo person tell me what is ado and what is idu ? and what is onitsha in igbo language ? and why the onitsha language contains some benin words and some yoruba and igala words ?
and why the great zik of africa wrote in his book my oddesy , in a section of the book , he said onitsha migrated from benin and lots more as he recalled the story and tradition of onitsha as told to him by elders and his grand mother .
why is it that onitsha has the most world recognised monarch in igboland ?with the title of obi ?
finally those who want to be ika are welcome ,as we are about giving free ika nationality to any interested person.but for me , as for me and the vast majority of ikas joining any igbocentric organisation will be the last thing on our ika minds,because ikas and igbos are miles apart in behavioural parttern and world view.and traditions.
we lived in the ika kingdom all by our self and we are proud kingdom builders ,so why do we need to join a group in which we do not belong.
so let the igbos be on their own and let ikas be on their own too.

if you are an ika ,then tell me the name of your town or village and lineage ,so that i will ask you questions and i know in this type of web page many people are faceless ,they are not proud of where they come from.
if you are an ika man , you will know ikas believe in the ebon system of patrilinear and matrilinear family system.
so ikas recognise you with your mother and fathers side ,and infact ikas practice different types of marriage system ,and one of them is called idegbe -where a woman will stay married and will not leave his fathers compound .then ikas were also sharing children if a man marries a woman ,and they have lets say five children ,2 will be shared to the mothers family ,while 3 will be shared into the fathers family .so ikas recognise both mother and father lineage , but like i said if you are not ika , you cannot know ika culture .
i write articles based on realities and not on sentiments ,an know matter how much english an american speaks he will never qualify for an english man.so too ,even if ika language evolves and becomes like arochuku or owerri dialect,that will still not make ikas igbos ,as ikas are seperate. group of people.

well i will like to ask those who hold the igbocentric view that ikas are igbo,these questions ,
1. why are there no ika monarch attending any igbo ethnic meetings?
from dein of agbor to obis of owa,umunede,abavo,otolokpo,mbiri,akumazi,igbodo,ute-ogbeje,ute-okpu,idumuesah,and their brothers,the enogies of oligie,ota and igbanke areas ?
2. why has the ika interllectuals and political leaders not joined any igbo ethnic meetings ,i mean the likes of jim ovia,nduka irabor,nduka obaigbena,primate nicolas okoh,ifeanyi okowa,godson echegile,chief omorodion,chief uzum,major generals usiade,aigbogun,osokogun,iruh,col-ebie, commodor acha, chief steve omojafor, proffs pat-okoh, igbogbor,fidelis ozorbah gbenobah,martins aguevedo,igbon,okeninkpe,chief iwerebon,mr ibude, martins okonta, CHIEF OGBOI ,chief fortune ebie,proff osabohien,dr okungbowa,dr.okoruwa,dr,martins imade,chief patrick osagie and others ,why are they not part of ohaneze meetings like proff.pat utomi of igbuzor?

some people wrote that mr.jim ovia received an award from aka-ikenga as the banker of the year,do you know jim ovia also received awards from many yoruba organisations as the best banker ? he was even inducted as a member of lagos state university governing board by the lagos state governor fashola , but does that make him a yoruba man ? the answer is capital no.mr jim ovia is a member of ogua and onu ika ,that is what he belongs to as an ika man.ikas do not operate a system where every body is king or because you have money you will disobey your king.so mr .jim ovia cannot join any igbo meeting since the dein of agbor is not a member ,period.
and nduka irabor ,or obaigbena,or ifeanyi okowa,or major generals usiade,iruh,and osokogu or ambassador echegile cannot join ohaneze ,because the obi of owa,dr.emmanuel efeizomor is not a member of ohaneze or any igbo ethnic meeting , but a member of ika group.

let me even ask ,what do ikas stand to gain or loose if they agree to join igbo ethnic meetings ?
we have nothing to gain,because i do not see how they can help my being ika,so having carefully studied the situation,the vast majority of our people have decided to have nothing to do with any igbo ethnic organisation as we believe we are ika and not igbo,infact our cultures have developed along seperate lines.so let it remain like that.
no amount of intimidation by using population or subtle threat or cajoling or castigation will make the vast majority of our people join say they are igbo or join igbo group.we can relate as friends and as a people who had been relating via migration and trade,but to say we should join your organisation is an abormination.which will never occur,like i have said many times even if ika language evolves from what it is now and becomes like arochuku or owerri dialect, ikas will still not join igbo,because no amount of english spoken by an american will ever make him an english man.
let igbo people leave ika people alone ,let them make do with ogwashi uku,ubulu-uku,asaba and all other communities who belong to their ethnic meetings,as for the vast majority of ikas and our leaders of thought we are ika and nothing can change that.but like they say in every 12,there must be judas,so if we find some ikas who believe they are igbos and that they want to join ohaneze or any igbo ethnic meeting , our ika national leader chief fortune ebie and all our monarchs have said they are free to go and join period and they should not disturb those who want to remain ika for life.

abeg carry go my brother. I am solidly behind you

Andre Uweh:

@Agbotaen: I do understand the relevance of history, however, in todays Nigerian context, your identity is not just about your history of 750 years ago nor moonlight tales but what you represent and accepted by your neighbours. The neigbours of the Ika people e.g the Binis know that Ikas are Igbos and other Nigerians think so.Your attempt at making the Ikas an ethnic group is a failed one.
Stop turning logic upside down. The Ika people at present (majority) regard themselves as Ndigbo or Delta Igbo. Last April in Owerri, a proud Ika and  proud Igbo-Jim Ovia received an Ikenga Igbo award as the best banker of last year. I hope you do not have any problem with that.
The late Obi of Akumazi was one of the Ika Obis who picked Amb R. Uwaechue as the sole candidate of Ohanaeze ndi Igbo last Nov 2009.
You may relocate to Bini if you wish but stop spreading lies of non Igboness of Ndiika.

you make me laugh! y are igbos so bent on looking for joinders here and there? Ikas are not Ibos - no matter how much u try to convince a man that he's an eagle, he knows deep within what he is. Yes, the Ika land has several Ibo settlements, and you can identify them by their names, but a greater majority of them are Binis by ancestory. you cannot take away a man's identity because of what u think of him.

No doubt the Ibos are very enterprising and so is their language, which b4 the civil war was the most influential in the southern Nigeria. The Igbo language was fast becoming a language for trade across the coast of the Bight of Biafra (not the failed Biafran state - the ocean i mean) until the colonial days came. The most influenced were: the oil rivers, abakaliki and the Bini Empire. The Bini Empire which Spanned from Onitsha to present day Benin Republic had its strongest influence from across the Niger, the Igbos who provided labor and deities (for instance the longest civil war recorded in the Bini Empire resulted from the exit of the Nri Eze-mmo who was the Obas chief fetish priest until he discovered his daughter was placed in the family way without formal marital rites by the Oba - something he considered a taboo, another priest confirmed her as bearing the heir and the fight to bring her back to Idu (Bini) led to Agha-Idu. So long was the war that most Princes - Binin armies are led by Royal Princes - began settling where they had conquered and with the blessing of the Oba each prince began reigning over his army chiefs and community as an Obi - this was the birth of Onitsha, Ahaba (Asaba), Okpanam, etc. A few others like Agbor, Ute-Okpu (and later Owa, a state formed from Ute-Okpu) were already existing States under the Oba of Bini long before the Bini Civil war, Agha-Idu. Most others were Igbo settlers -e.g.  Igbo Uzo (Ibusa)).

So strong is the influence of the Igbo language that Igbo words are now used in Bini dictions today and a local community in Idu (Bini) speaks what you would call Ibo dialect, while communities closer to the Igbos have totally lost their Bini dictions and speak developed dialects of the Ibo language e.g. Onitsha, Asaba and Okpanam. However, the leaderships of these communities maintain their Royal loyalty to the Oba of Bini, that is why they still use the Adah and Ogwugwu staff created by the Oba palace for their serving ambassadors. The Bini empire had ambassadors in different lands across the then west africa: Sanghai, Mali, Ife, Nri, Ibira and Sudan.

In the case of Jim, even his surname tells you, he is Bini by ancestory, Ovia. Accepting Awards does not make you an ancestoral son of the soil, else Igbinedion would be citizen of several nations.

Just get your facts in place people and show some respect for other peoples' roots.

I am Ika, I speak the Ibo language very well, my surname Alibor is derived from 2 words "Ali" - an ibo diction and "Borm" - an edo diction, meaning "This land has favored me". In summary I did say we (the Ika people) has been blessed by both the Igbo and Bini heritage, but over the years has evolved into a unique entity of its own, that despite remaining a member of the Royal Bini Federation and speaking a language made up of 70% ibo diction, 20% Bini diction, 9% Esan diction and 1% yoruba diction - she is indeed a unique nation with its own culture, norms, religion, value system, economy, people and history.

@Agbotean- nam nzun, eworo ke iwuh. koko'ogho! Yu tikponim Ndi-Igbo? Alua! Haweye.

Andre Uweh:

@Agbotaen: I do understand the relevance of history, however, in todays Nigerian context, your identity is not just about your history of 750 years ago nor moonlight tales but what you represent and accepted by your neighbours. The neigbours of the Ika people e.g the Binis know that Ikas are Igbos and other Nigerians think so.Your attempt at making the Ikas an ethnic group is a failed one.
Stop turning logic upside down. The Ika people at present (majority) regard themselves as Ndigbo or Delta Igbo. Last April in Owerri, a proud Ika and  proud Igbo-Jim Ovia received an Ikenga Igbo award as the best banker of last year. I hope you do not have any problem with that.
The late Obi of Akumazi was one of the Ika Obis who picked Amb R. Uwaechue as the sole candidate of Ohanaeze ndi Igbo last Nov 2009.
You may relocate to Bini if you wish but stop spreading lies of non Igboness of Ndiika.

- i really wish any Igbo man can trace his ancestory as far back as 250 years, that would have helped us know who they are really. Igbos are great personnalities, no doubt, but it is weakness to want to look for those to coopt into your line-up in order to beef up self worth. An Ika man will not accept such gang movements.

006:

@ agbotaen

Unfortunately, I had a friend from Agbor and he said he was Igbo. Both of us conversed in Igbo sometimes and he had never lived in SE; he was born in Agbor and schooled in Agbor. Maybe your blood line is Bini which is not surprising because Ika is a mixture of Igbo (majority) and Bini (minority), that’s why the language structure of Ika is Igbo. A lot of Bini words and names are in Ika, just like other groups that make up Igbo ethnicity have names and words that are strange to other groups.

As  ChinenyeN stated, “the Igbo are not a tribe. They are an amalgamation of different groups (related and unrelated). The thing that makes these groups "Igbo" is largely just the linguistic classification (as in, they linguistically fall within "Igboid" language family), and partly cultural. Little to none of it is historical.”

_{If only you back up your narrative with true facts not ones you pulled out of nowhere. How on earth was French spoken in England? This calls for question the truthfulness of your narrative.}

- i speak Igbo very well. i learnt that in primary school (in Agbor as part our school curriculum) thought by missionary schools run by Igbos who were immediate benefitiaries of Niger Delta evangelization. I perfected it in UNN, but that will not make me Igbo. In the US I call Igbo man Brother as well as I call the Bini man Brother in Europe. But I know I am Ika, when the chips are down I would not stand up to be listed as Ibo, Igbo or Igbon - as the Ikas call Igbos, it would even be a Taboo to an older Ika man to call him such- the meaning of Igbo in Ika may be explained by Agbotean on a later occassion.

grafikdon:

Don't worry, when the chips are down, you will know whether there is a difference between Ika and Ngwa. Until then, continue deceiving yourself and let Nigerians have a big laugh at your expense.

yes dear, there's a BIG difference. If there's anyone who has deceived themselves here, it would be Igbos who seek affirmation by size in adding a people who orginally loated them as being part of their race.

Beaf:

We need to face the man squarely for what he said (bearing in mind that this is very old and outdated news).

We also need to be civilised and not attack any ethnicity. If Ika people call themselves Igbo, who are we to deny them their ethnicity? To the best of my knowledge, they have always been called Ika Igbo, Bendel Igbo or Delta Igbo.
Igbo is Igbo, leave wahala jare.

Ikas were never named along with the Ibos until after the Biafran War. The Ikas were under the Western region, then Mid-Western Region. Even at creation of Biafra Ika was not with them, instead Biafran Soldiers making for Lagos to take power from Gowon declared Republic Of Benin (former Mid-western Nigeria) with Ika as part of it, the ravaging Fed troops took out all rebellion from Ore down to Asaba where they had the great genocide called "Chewing Gum". Because most Easterners know little or nothing about history, it was assumed that the war in Mid-west was federal govt fighting on Biafran grounds - but no, it wasnt. As a matter of fact apart from civil structures and panick at sounds of shelling on Biafran troops, Ikas suffered no damage in the war. that is why this whole mix-up of Ikas being Igbos or even adding them on the map of the new Biafra bacomes laughable.

What anti-Igbo elements are writing here have been thrashed out severally on nairaland. No one realy cares to read your junk as you all have got less than 100 posts.
The current Obi of Onitsha-Igwe Achebe has disclaimed Bini ancestry of Onitsha. Stop that old and silly Bini ancestry of Onitsha. Onitsha people are proud Igbo people. Onitsha has so many meanings and Azikiwe's mother gave another meaning of Onitsha in Igbo. If at all you have read Azikiwe's book which one of the new kids of nairaland mentioned, you will know where I am coming from.
Also on Onitsha, Azikiwe in his book did not categorically state that Onitsha people are Binis, but he was only quoting what his illiterate grand-mother told him. Did that illiterate old woman conduct any research on Onitsha ancestry?.
Point of correction, What Jim Ovia treceived was Ikenga award for the best Igbo banker of last year. It is not Aka-Ikenga award. Without denial, he is a proud Ika and proud Igbo man.
Another correction, Nri kingdom is the oldest Kingdom in Nigeria. I also wish to let all of you with less than a hundred posts understand that Ndiigbo east of the Niger do not care much about their ancestry. But they see each other as one.
I think it will be wise for all the non-Igbo elements in Ikaigbo to pay taxes on the land they are occupying.