Why Do Some Igbos Have A Need To Deny Their Igboness?

Ozodiobi Osuji

To the best of my knowledge, members of other Nigerian ethnic groups seldom publicly deny their membership in their ethnic groups. I have not seen a Yoruba man come to the public square and say that he is not Yoruba or an Edo man do the same or a Hausa man do the same. On the other hand, I have seen Igbos come to the public square and tell us that they are not Igbo.

These Igbo denying persons generally have Igbo names and speak Igbo as their native language. Yet, despite these indicators of their Igboness they tell the world that they are not Igbos. They try to convince us that despite the fact that their names are Igbo and that their primary language is Igbo they are members of other ethnic groups (some call themselves Ikwerri and some call themselves Ika etc).

Some of these folks try very hard to trace their genealogy to non-Igbos. In their shallow minds such claim makes them not Igbo!

Let us help these confused folks out with a cursory look at the history and make up of some selected groups.

Consider Englishmen. Englishmen live in England. Now, what is their background? The English can trace their ancestors to Germany, France and Scandinavia.

We know from historical evidence that around 27 BC Roman soldiers invaded what is now called England and called it their province of Britannia and made its capital at Londonium (now shortened to London). Roman soldiers came from every part of the Roman Empire, including Latin, North Africa (including black Africans), Palestine (Jews) and Germans etc. These Romans (a mixed bag, mind you) stayed in Britannia for almost five hundred years.

Around 450 AD Germanic tribes were on the warpath, attacking the Roman Empire everywhere. Rome withdrew its legions (army) from Britain to come and defend Rome itself from the barbarians (the name the so-called civilized Romans gave to Germans).

Ultimately, the Germans under their leader Alaric sacked Rome and the Western Roman Empire fell (the Eastern Roman Empire centered at Constantinople, now Istanbul, survived until 1453 AD when Turks sacked it).

With the fall of (Western) Rome there was power vacuum in Europe. Germanic tribes from what is now Northern Germany (called Angles and Saxons) crossed the English Channel and took over what was hitherto Roman Britannia. Thus, what was Britannia became ruled by Germans.

The Germanic language mixed with the local Celtic language and Latin and over time a new Creole language began to emerge.

Beginning around 700 AD Scandinavians from Norway, Denmark and Sweden attacked many parts of Europe. Many of them settled in Northern France (Normandy) and parts of England (Yorkshire etc).

In 1066 AD the Norman French (the Scandinavians who had settled in northern France and now speak french language) invaded England and conquered it at the battle of Hastings. The Duke of Normandy, William became the king of England; his knights were made dukes, earls, counts, barons in specific districts and regions of England. These French men ruled England for many centuries (the current English monarchy derive from Central Europe; they replaced the Plantagenet kings, the French kings that ruled England).

The Celts, Latins, Germans, Scandinavians and Norman French mixed up. By around 1400 AD these hitherto disparate people were speaking a pidgin language, what we now call English language.

These people from many parts of Europe now living in Britain defined themselves as Englishmen and today are called Englishmen (Britain contains some isolated Celtic groups, such as the Scots and the Welch). They do not individually try to tell you that they are French (English language is mostly French and German), or German or Norwegian or whatever; they just tell you that they are Englishmen.

Consider the French. About a hundred years before the birth of Jesus, Roman legions swept into what they called their province of Gaul. The people living there were Celts (Europe is composed of three main tribal groups: Celts, Germans and Slavs). So, now we have Romans and Celtic people mixing for over six hundred years before the fall of the Roman Empire. The Celtic people learned to speak Latin (hence French language is called a Latin or Romance language). With the fall of Rome in 450 AD several German tribes swept into Gaul. Franks (a German tribe…they gave the country its current name, France; by the way, the French ruling class, the Nobility are still Franks, Germans!) over ran Gaul and took it over.

In addition to the Franks, other Germanic groups came into France, including Visigoths, Lombard’s and Vandals. Indeed, the Huns (from present Hungary) swept in.

Around 733 AD Arabs who had conquered Spain and Portugal (in 711 AD) swept into Southern France before Germans under their king, Charles Martel, Charles the Hammer, stopped them at the famous battle of Poitier, in the middle of France. Arabs stayed in southern France for a long while and intermarried with the local women hence the folk in Southern France tend to be swarthy in color.

To cut a long story short, those who now call themselves French can trace their heritage to Celts, Germans, Latins, Huns and even Arabs!

You can do what I have done for England and France for any other European country and find that they are composed of a mixed breed of people.

Now, let us come to the Americas. Who are the Americans? I live in the USA so let me limit my comments to the USA. Englishmen settled at James Town, Virginia in 1607 AD. Thereafter, they settled in other parts of what is now called the USA. Along with the English came other Britons, including Scots, Irish and Welch. Later, Germans came (by the way, Germans make up over 33% of the US population; they are the largest ethnic group in the USA). African slaves were first imported to James Town, Virginia in 1619 AD and thereafter African slaves were sold in all the thirteen colonies that constituted British North America.

Thus, in the USA we now have a population mix, all of them calling themselves Americans. We have the British, the French, the German, the Italian, the Slavic group (Eastern Europeans), Africans and what remains of the native Indian population.

Canada’s population mix is pretty much the same as that of the USA (French Canadians are substantial in the Province of Quebec; these days there is a large influx of Asians to Canada to the extent that Vancouver, British Columbia probably has the Chinese as the largest ethnic group…whenever I am at Vancouver I feel like I am at Hong Kong!).

In Central and South America the mix of population is mostly Spanish and or Portuguese, Africans, Indians and other Europeans.

What does this story mean to you? It means that every nation is a mix of several people. If you build on that historical reality you can draw a rational inference that what is now called Alaigbo welcomed people from many different ethnic groups.

I imagine that Edo folks, Efik Folks, Igala folks, Yoruba Folks, Ijaw Folks and other folks settled in parts of Alaigbo. These people mixed with Igbos to form those we now call Igbos. That is to say that history remaining constant, Igbos are a mixed people, as are other people (if you are observant you could see this with your own eyes…Ohafia people look more like Efik people, Wawa people look like Igala people, Onitsha people look more like Edo people; Owerri people are pristine Igbo type).

The four hundred years of slave trading at the Atlantic seaboard saw white slave buyers at the coast; those men must have had sex with local women and their genes travelled up North from Calaba and Bonny to Igbo land hence many Igbos, Efik, Ijaw and Ishikiri folk have white genes in them.

The salient point to all these are that history teaches us that every group of people is composed of people from several other groups. Igbo’s are not an exception to the rule of history and therefore must be composed of people from the near and far ethnic groups. This is the nature of human history.

I would not be surprised if those Igbo’s close to non-Igbos had heavy mixing with their neighbors.

Ika Igbo probably had a lot of Edo, Ishikiri and Urobo and Ijaw mixing. Southern Igbos at Umuahia, Ohafia, Item, Arochukwu etc probably had heavy mixing with Efik folks. Northern Igbos in the Enugu area clearly mixed with Igala, Idoma and Tivi folk (they tend to look like Idoma people). Ikwerri Igbos probably mixed with Ijaw people. This is the way of history. History does not make any ethnic group pure.

In our generation we now find many Igbos married to non-Igbos (to Yorubas, Bini, and Hausa etc) and their children are now mixtures.

Those Igbos who live in the Western world and are married to white women, or Indian-Americans or black Americans have mixed children (they are now a mix of Africa, Europe and America).

This is the nature of human evolution. Look at old civilizations like Egypt and try to figure out the origin of the people (Africans, Arabs, Europeans, Persians, Jews Turks and only God knows who else).

No one is pure but that does not mean that there are no ethnic groups. There are English men even if the typical Englishman is a mix of Celt, German, French and Scandinavian.

Most sane and rational folk accept historical reality as their reality. According to this reality, Igbos are not different from other people: they are a mix of several people.

However, instead of accepting this basic fact of human existence some Igbos who fancy that they had some influence from non-Igbos come to the public square and deny that they are Igbo and proudly tell us that they are Bini or whatever other group they imagine their ancestors were from.

Even Nnamdi Azikiwe, in his autobiography, My Odyssey, told us that his folks came from Benin, a story that I would rather not know, for from the day I read that book in secondary school, in my eyes, Zik became a non- Igbo and if truth is told an idiot in my estimation; he should have been proud of his Igboness and deemphasized his folks mythological origin in Edoland. If the man had taken pride in his Igboness he would have helped many Igbos to be proud of their Igboness.

Why do some Igbos deny that they are Igbos? There are probably many reasons, including economic why some Igbos do not want to identify with Igbos. As I pointed out in other writings, the Igbo character is very problematic; Igbos are very grasping; wherever they come to, such as Ijawland, Lagos, they want to take over; these behaviors are frankly annoying. I can see how some persons may not want to be associated with such over bearing persons. Be that as it may, in this paper I will emphasize psychological reasons why some Igbos want to segregate from other Igbos.

My thesis is that some Igbos are ashamed of their Igboness. Why this shame at being Igbo?

Some Igbos consider Igbos backward and therefore do not want to identify with them; they want to identify with those groups they fancy were more advanced than Igbos such as the Edo etc. (Onitsha folks used to refer to Owerri folk as “Nwa Onye Igbo”, and say it as if it is insulting to be an Igbo person. They implied that they are superior to Igbos by virtue of their supposed origin in Benin. These folks had this arrogant attitude despite the fact that Owerri Igbo are generally more educated and are more decent than them.)

In terms of social development, Igbos were at a primitive stage of social development; they were until recently a stateless people. They did not develop beyond rudimentary social organization (they only had town political organization but did not have Igbo wide structure for governing all Igbos). They did not have kings or attain the feudal level of social organization and certainly did not reach the Bourgeois or socialist level of social organization.

Karl Marx had told us that societies develop from one stage to another: from primitive communalism to slave society to feudal society to bourgeois society and finally to socialist, communist society. Each level of society is characterized by contradictions; the contradictions struggling and get resolved in the emergence of higher civilization. Marx borrowed Hegel’s dialectic approach to history, the notion that thesis (present society, status quo) and antithesis (opposing social forces) struggle and the result is a synthesis of the two in a new society, a higher development in social formation.

Igbos were at the communal level, the very basic level of human social organization.

Igbos did not invent writing; they did not develop the wheel. Their level of science and technology was so basic that it makes many Igbos ashamed that their society did not contribute to the evolution of human science and technology.

The English are proud of such Englishmen as Isaac Newton, Robert Boyle, John Dalton, James Watts, Thomas Young, Michael Faraday, James Clerk Maxwell (he was actually Scottish as was Alexander Graham Bell), Thomas Edison, J.J Thompson, Ernest Rutherford, Paul Dirac, James Chadwick, Fred Hoyle, Alexander Fleming, Francis Crick, Stephen Hawkins, Bill Gates and other English contributors to science and technology.

Igbos have no such contributors to science and technology; this is a shame (which they must correct; they must take their place in the hall of scientists and technologists and until they do that folks would continue not to have respect for their intellect).

Because of Igbos apparent backwardness some Igbos are tempted to be ashamed of their Igboness. Indeed, some self hating and self denying Igbos now fancy that they are Jews!

Why not Jews calling themselves Igbos instead of Igbos calling themselves Jews? Psychology teaches us that the inferior feeling person admires the person he thinks is a superior person, and wants to be like him. Inferior feeling Igbos want to be like Jews who they feel are a superior people.

Generally, Igbos look down on weak and poor people; they want to be like rich and powerful people.

Igbos have what Theodor Adorno et al (The Authoritarian Personality) called authoritarian personalities; such persons hate the weak and admire the strong and make efforts to be like the strong and in the process may harm the weak.

Igbos so hate the weak and so admire the powerful that one can see them follow a dictator who appears strong and powerful (or, claims to be so even if he is a clown) and go on a killing spree of those they imagine are weak. In killing the weak they hope that they would become superior persons.

That was what inferior feeling Germans did when they followed the clown called Adolf Hitler in killing their so-called inferior neighbors, Slav etc.(they think that it made them powerful to desecrate and or kill the weak; actually, what makes people powerful is to love the weak and poor and work to provide for their material welfare).

I am suggesting that those Igbos who deny their Igboness do so for psychological reasons. They feel that to be Igbo is not good enough and want to identify with those who, to them, seem better than Igbos. In other words, those Igbos who deny their Igboness are neurotic Igbos.

The neurotic, Alfred Adler (see his seminal book, the Neurotic Constitution) tells us, is a person who, for some reasons, despite his education and social status (he may be the head of his country) feels inferior and wants to feel superior. Neurotics feel inordinately inferior and want to seem like they are superior persons. They are driven to seem superior in other people’s eyes. They have an inordinate drive to succeed and seem superior. Many of them are high achievers (many high achieves are generally self hating neurotic persons). Many of them admire those that to them seem superior and want to be like them.

In this light, neurotic Igbos who feel inferior from being Igbo admire those with higher social organization and want to be like them.

Some of these inferior feeling Igbos put down those people they actually feel inferior to; many of them feel inferior to Yorubas and Hausas because of those groups higher social organization, and hide that fact by insulting them. Degrading those they perceive as their superiors makes them feel on par with them.

Although my goal in this paper is not talking about psychotherapy for the neurotic, let me just say that the cure for neurosis is for the neurotic to accept himself in what Carl Rogers called unconditionally positive manner and do the same to other people. He must quit setting conditions that he and other human beings must meet before he accepts them. He must come to a point where he accepts himself and all people as they are, as good, no conditions attached before he accepts them.

When folks accept their selves, imperfect and all, as good they tend to be relaxed, peaceful and happy. From a psychological perspective they are sane and healthy, as opposed to the neurotic who sets conditions that he and other people must meet before he accepts them and in so doing generates conflict for himself and those around him.

The neurotic is always putting folks down (Igbo neurotics put other Nigerians down) because they are not perfect and powerful and wealthy.

Igbos must learn to accept themselves and other people as they are and stop looking down on those they think are inferior persons; no human being is an inferior person; God created all people and God does not make junk.

The mark of a rational adult is that he respects all people; for one thing social realism tells him that any of his neighbors could, if he wants to kill him so it is in his self interest to respect him so as to not dispose him to harm or kill him. Igbos must respect all Nigerians for their own safety.

A people are a people; they will not change to accommodate the individual neurotic’s wishes to separate from them. Igbos are Igbos and will remain Igbos despite those neurotic Igbos who are ashamed of their people and want to separate from them.

Alaigbo, from Igwe Ocha (Port Harcourt) to Agbo (in present Delta State), from Arochukwu to Nnsuka and beyond is a corporate entity and no one can destroy it.

All Igbo speaking people, despite differences in their dialects, are Igbos. Ikwerri are Igbo; Anioma are Igbo. This subject is not up for bargaining and compromising.

Igbo is Igbo, period. Not an inch of Alaigbo, Igbo land would be conceded to Igbo separatists. Nations do go to war to protect their territorial integrity. Igbos would go to war to keep Alaigbo one.

As I pointed out in other places, sooner or later, Nigeria would be reorganized to make each ethnic group a state, for a total of no more than fifteen states in Nigeria: Igbo state, Yoruba state, Edo state, Efik State, Ijaw state, Ishikiri/Urobo State, Tivi state, Hausa state, Bornu state Plateau state (encompassing the various small groups around Jos) etc. This is an inevitable action; folks may postpone doing it but it must be done to bring sanity to Nigeria.

Each group must have internal self governance and develop at its pace; those Nigerians who perceive Western education as bad and want to return to living in the seventh century Mecca like environment are welcome to satisfy themselves, as long as they leave those who want to live in Silicon Valley (California) like environment.

In the long run, West Africa and eventually all of Africa must become one federation with each of the five hundred large ethnic groups a state in Africa federation.

This must be done if Africa is to finally join the human polity and start economic development. It is simply sickening that the only news that comes out of Africa is of human suffering and death.

Africa must be realistically reorganized so as to give the people the opportunity to develop at a pace they find comfortable with their nature and culture.

Idun'oba ehis:
Ika people dont need any link or any site to tell them who they are. Imagine that one faking things about wizboy. @Sonya4luv
Wizboy is from Idumu Iba, Ileje Quarters, Umunede.

DIssect it all you want, wizboy is from umunede...eediots..guy face benin nau..ah ah

tonychristopher: [b] Asagba of Asaba: why some Igbos denounce their heritage

........The chairman of the lecture, Obi Edozien, re-emphasised this point: “we Igbo people are one. We must stop fighting over irrelevancies and emphasise the essential.”

This point arose out of the tendency among Igbo people to regard some groups as not “real” Igbos on basis of dialectal differences. It also exists in the form of clearly Igbo-speaking people with Igbo names and cultural patterns declaring themselves as “not Igbo” but ethnic minorities.

This is very rampant among Igbo groups in the South-South zone who believe that by so self-declaring publicly, they would be more acceptable among the real minorities and allowed to take their places as ethnic minorities.

Experience has, however, shown that this self-delusion hardly ever produces their desired results. Whenever the push comes to the shove, the real minorities remind them that they are Igbo people who are out to take what belongs to the minorities through the back door.

This phenomenon was evident in 2006 when former Governor Peter Odili of Rivers State (who loved to call himself a “Rivers man,” as if Rivers State is a tribe) was running for president. Ijaw leader, Chief Edwin Clark openly declared Odili an Igbo man, arguing that the South-South president that the minorities have been agitating for was not meant to go to “an Igbo man.”

Given this situation, there has been an increasing shift of paradigm. Many Igbo groups, especially in Delta State, have decided no longer to play the masquerade. The Obi of Asaba, Professor Edozien, actually laid out conditions he believes will cement Igbo unity permanently.

Obi Edozien then called on the people of the South-East zone to support the creation of Anioma State and another for Igbo-speaking people of Rivers State to make for seven states, all of which will be lumped together in one zone or region.
[/b]

I love Asagba. You go live long Obi. Your wisdom and your strength would pass on and cherish for life. See him talk. This is why I spitted at the monkey that tried to use him for his pitiful disgusting tatics. Asagba is one of the few men I know working really hard for the unity of our people and some slowpoke wan use him to tear his hardwork apart. #spit on that guy again.
Anyway, what a wonderful speech. Encore

Idun'oba ehis:
Ika people dont need any link or any site to tell them who they are. Imagine that one faking things about wizboy. @Sonya4luv
Wizboy is from Idumu Iba, Ileje Quarters, Umunede.

You can deny it all you want. Tell yourself it's a lie as long as it helps you sleep at night. Wizboy on the other hand is very proud of who the f2k he is. I saw it with my own two Godgiving eyes

One_Naira:

I love Asagba. You go live long Obi. Your wisdom and your strength would pass on and cherish for life. See him talk. This is why I spitted at the monkey that tried to use him for his pitiful disgusting tatics. Asagba is one of the few men I know working really hard for the unity of our people and some slowpoke wan use him to tear his hardwork apart. #spit on that guy again.
Anyway, what a wonderful speech. Encore

Even the Obi of Ogwashi Uku,Prof Okonjo(Father of Ngozi Okonjo Iweala) is a proud Igbo man who is about Igbo Unity.He has categorically stated that the Ogwashi-uku(Ogwa Nshi Ukwu) is from Nri in Ananmbra state.All those people with self inflicted identity crisis,You are on your own.

1.ika people are proud of who they are and they are ready to defend their ethnicity , in 1930 , ika rejected the notion that they were binis , as the bini told the british and later wrote that ika is not a part of any tribe in nigeria ,
2. in 1967 when igbo led biafra forces invaded midwest and said ika is part of igbo , our fathers rose up and declared that ika was not igbo or any tribe , but that ika is a tribe of its own.
3. the ika is not oshimili or aniocha and we know who we are , we do not mince words , we are proud of coming from ika ethnic group, and despite all attempts by some major ethnic groups, e.g. bini and igbo to eclipse , ika into their fold , it all failed.
4. ika people are warrior clan , whose ancestors have waged war for hundreds of years to protect their ethnicity.and we have also built enviable kingdoms such as agbor kingdom , one of the most prestigious kingdoms east of benin, owa kingdom that single handedly waged war against the british in 1906 , led by agbogidi ebonigbodin igbeoba the obi of owa ,the war lasted for 56 days , with many british casualties and the death of captain crewe reade , the assistant district officer for benin, the great umunede kingdom, that produced one of the mothers of the oba of benin, and agbor that gave benin one of the greatest women and mother of the great oba esigie of benin , idia was from ozanogogo in agbor ,according to some accounts , .
5. while no one is saying that ika did not have igbo migrations , it is also stupid to ignore the role benin played in migration and founding of many ika towns and villages, and to call an ika man , an igbo man is pure sacrilage , as no igbo person will like to be called ika,
6. ika is a large enclave and the only places you see some ika people claiming to be igbo are in igbodo and ekwuoma , and their population is not enough to sway the general ika population ,who have only allegiance for ogua/onu ika , as the body that speaks for ika nation , and we have never been part of ohaneze ndigbo or any igbo ethnic association.
7.i want to say that ASABA IS very recent in the practice of monarchy and this is their first king and their kingship is not from father to son , , i leave the rest , and the migration of ika people is very different from that of the aniochas and oshimili, while we have many similarities , we also have great number of differences in language, culture and tradition too , the only group of people ika want to associate with is the anioma group, and the majority of ika do not want to join any other group.
8. just to correct some people , the ika word ebon , is taken from the edo word evbo, which means family or lineage ,and it is still used by some ika villages , we also use ugbe and iboze and agbon for family too.
9. if all ika kings such as \===============
1. dein of agbor
2. obi of owa
3. obi of umunede
4. obi of abavo
5. obi of otolokpo
6. obi of akumazi
7.obi of ute-ogbeje
8. obi of igbodo
9. obi of mbiri
10. okpanranuku of idumuesah
11. the enogie of ota
12. enogie of omolua
13. the enogie of ogan
14. enogie of idumuodin
and other ika monarchs do not attend ohaneze meetings , so that will tell you that they are ika people and not igbos, it is as if it is the igbos that always cry that ika is igbo and they are far from the igbos , but the ikas never say they need igbos , what an irony ,
ika is an amalgam of many tribes who have decided to be ika ,just like igbos decided to be igbo , and we have proper ika language and pidgeon ika language , i learnt proper ika language from my father and so i can speak it , and i am very much aware of words in my language that comes from igbo , and those that come from bini or ishan or other dialects, i am not a cheat that will see an igbo word and call it a bini word or some one that will see a bini word and call it igbo , i will say it as it is ,

you are very quick to mention odilis experience , why dont you mention when prof. pat utomi from ibusa , who married an igbo woman , and is himself a man who is proud to say he is an igbo man like many people from ibusa and he was even a member of ohaneze ndigbo , and in 2007 , when he wanted to contest for presidency and he came to ohaneze ndigbo with his interest , and as at that time urji uzor kalu was also running , the ohaneze member from south east told him that he is not a proper igbo man , and that he was not speaking igbo well , and that they dont even know the meaning of utormi in igbo , so you can see how igbos also descriminate people , but when they want to use numbers they know how to include many people ,
as for me , i love my ika people who have asserted their selves as ika nation and we are making great progress in nigeria,
let me use this moment to congratulate ------
1. professor godson igborgbor an ika man , who has been appointed the vice chancellor of wellspring university , benin,
2. zenith bank has been named amongst the best bank in the world and the number one bank in nigeria and it is run by an ika man , emefile
3. DR, cairo ojougboh , who was appointed as a member of the PDP, committee to reconcile the aggrieved party members ,
may GOD continue to guide you all ,

1. our key ancestors like ede and iye moved from the palace of benin to found ukpehoro kingdom , now called umunede , ukpehoro was the original name of umunede and they still have upehoro primary school , infact tradition has it the ede was a prince from benin and a brother to agbon , another prince that founded agbon , now called agbor.
2. adagba moved from ikoha in ovia local government of benin ,in the seat of the ogiso kings to found owa kingdom in a place called owa-ofien , and he called it owa- a home , i have found a home, and later ugasogun moved from benin to found owa-ekei , and oyibu and aigbedion moved from benin to found owa-oyibu , and later prince edogun or odogun came from ute okpu to conquer and rule oyibu and later owa, omi eborwise was a prince from agbor and he migrated into owa to found owa alero , and the story continues.

3. prince airen of the ogiso dynasty of benin migrated into found mbiri kingdom,
4. ilologie a brother of oba of benin founded oligie ,
5. ute okpu was founded by migrants from both edo and igbo areas , as ijue was said by some stories to be from nri , while some stories say he was from benin.
6. oogbeje was the brother of the oba of benin and he founded ute-ogbeje,
7. ibilibor moved from ugboha in esan to found idumuesah ,
8. ogungunagbon founded agbor , he was a bini prince

One Naira, Tony Christopher, OlisaOkere, et al, please nobody should reply this guy again. I don't see why we should be wasting our energy on him. One man's tiny different opinion on nairaland doesn't change the generally accepted fact and truth, right? I mean, we know better than the false illusion he's creating here. The best thing to do is to ignore him let him continue with his illusionment. The general Ika public doesn't share the same opinion with him. He's on his own.

It's you the igbos that are are faking things about the Ikas. 99% of Ikas share same opinion with Agbontae. Ranging from the Kings and Elites to everybody else. When I said 99% am not exagerating. If you doubt it, come to Ikaland and see for yourself.

olisaokere:

Even the Obi of Ogwashi Uku,Prof Okonjo(Father of Ngozi Okonjo Iweala) is a proud Igbo man who is about Igbo Unity.He has categorically stated that the Ogwashi-uku(Ogwa Nshi Ukwu) is from Nri in Ananmbra state.All those people with self inflicted identity crisis,You are on your own.

I know. My grandmother is from ogwashi uku. Why u think i got mad when those pathetic losers started dragging us into their dance of shame. When ika thinks they can speak for ogwashi and asaba, then it's official I've seen it all. The villagers want to become the voice of their superiors

foolish slowpoke. when did ika speak for your lazy people. brainless fool.ika speaks for herself not other anioma tribes. ozuor

sonya4all: foolish slowpoke. when did ika speak for you lazy people. brainless fool.ika speaks for herself not other anions tribes. ozuor

SHUT UP villager and don't mention Asaba and Ogwashi in here ever again. Know your place. Poverty ridden, nothing but shame people.

thank your God,for civilization

Because we all belong to the same people cluster due to similarities in culture, language, religion etc does not make us the same people. Ika is a separate group of people from igbos just like egba is a separate group from ife but they belong to the same yoruba people cluster. People cluster exist for strategic, political and economic purposes but the good thing is that the people cluster is very pragmatic in definition that any group of people can form their own cluster.

Anioma (ika, ndokwa,aniocha and oshimilli) has decided to form their own people cluster away from the igbo cluster and that should be respected. Because the yoruba cluster survived and is manageable does not mean the igbos cluster has to survive. The yoruba cluster did not exist firmly until the dominant people group in the cluster (oyo/ife) stopped her overbearing imposion on the other groups for the sake of peaceful existence. The igbo dorminant group in the south east should learn from this instead of trying to forcefully lord himself over the other groups like ika,ukwuani, ikwere etc people.

Igbos are different from ika, ukwuani and ikwere so don't be misled by the similarities in culture and language to classify them as same people. The definition of a people cluster is different from the meaning of people group and you can take a look at this site.

http://www.joshuaproject.net/peoples-tree.php

One_Naira:

I know. My grandmother is from ogwashi uku. Why u think i got mad when those pathetic losers started dragging us into their dance of shame. When ika thinks they can speak for ogwashi and asaba, then it's official I've seen it all. The villagers want to become the voice of their superiors

I still repeat to you,Ogwashi ukwu in its entirety is igbo and we are proud of our igbo origin.Our Obi lineage is from NRI in Anambara and you will never hear him say he is not igbo.Even the previous Ahiajoku lecture held in the eastern capital sometime ago,He was about Igbo unity in the southeast and south south.Even in your so called IKA i have many sons and daughters of IKA that can never deny their Igbo Origin.So guy if you vex u fit go jam transformer.

Pharoh: Because we all belong to the same people cluster due to similarities in culture, language, religion etc does not make us the same people. Ika is a separate group of people from igbos just like egba is a separate group from ife but they belong to the same yoruba people cluster. People cluster exist for strategic, political and economic purposes but the good thing is that the people cluster is very pragmatic in definition that any group of people can form their own cluster.

Anioma (ika, ndokwa,aniocha and oshimilli) has decided to form their own people cluster away from the igbo cluster and that should be respected. Because the yoruba cluster survived and is manageable does not mean the igbos cluster has to survive. The yoruba cluster did not exist firmly until the dominant people group in the cluster (oyo/ife) stopped her overbearing imposion on the other groups for the sake of peaceful existence. The igbo dorminant group in the south east should learn from this instead of trying to forcefully lord himself over the other groups like ika,ukwuani, ikwere etc people.

Igbos are different from ika, ukwuani and ikwere so don't be misled by the similarities in culture and language to classify them as same people. The definition of a people cluster is different from the meaning of people group and you can take a look at this site.

http://www.joshuaproject.net/peoples-tree.php

Compare the blue colored statement to the red colored one and you'll notice the inconsistency. How can you say Ika is seperate from Igbos just like Egba is seperate from Ife(and not Yoruba). That shows some of you don't even understand the whole concept of ethnicity. There's no such place called Igbo. It's just a moniker used to describe Bia speaking groups.

1. mr ogwashi uku, let me categorically tell you that ika speaks for only ika and not for any one else, you can claim igbo that is your business and you are not an ika man period, ika people have their ethnic organisation called ogua/onu ika , and our leader is sunday osifo.
2. in development , bojiboji owa or bojiboji agbor is more developed than ogwashi uku , so dont compare the two , go and check even the internally generated revenue of delta state , apart from ASABA , IN DELTA north , ika generates the highest internal revenue .
3. ika people you seek to despise are right now the highest office holders in delta north , with senator okowa leading the park .
4. our monarchy culminating in deinship of agbon or agbor is the most respected in the entire delta north region, there is no kingdom that has the prestige of agbor kingdom in delta north or anioma area.
5. our fathers have spoken , when during the civil war the helped nigeria troops to expel the biafran, which your fathers from ogwashi uku assisted , and it resulted in the death and brutality of your kindreds in hundreds.
6. today ogwashi uku people are members of ohaneze ndigbo and proud members of igbo community , but our ika people in majority do not attend any igbo ethnic meeting and we distance ourselves from anything igbo , because we are of the firm believe that ika people are ika and not igbos or any other ethnic group.
7. ika has migrations from bini, ishan, igbo, yoruba, ora , ndokwa, and other groups and as such do not subscribe to any one calling us anything apart from ika ethnic nationality.
8. while the ogwashi and aniocha/oshimili people believe they are igbo ,the ika people do not share in thaT ASPIRATION and i want to tell you that ika is different from aniocha and our culture is quite different , though we have some similarities , and if you doubt it , i will want to ask you , what cultures are same between ika and aniocha or lets say agbor/owa , and ogwashi ? what cultures are different ? what is our language similarities and differences?
9. ika is a great nation , and i want to tell you that every group is entitled to state who they are , and majority of ikas dont want to be igbos , but ikas , and we dont want to be benins but ikas,
10. are you aware that amongst all the groups that make up anioma area, it is only the ika people that benin claim to be part of their ethnic group ,e.g . the whole of ika in 1930 , and of recent the igbanke areas, so if we dont have great similarities with them why do they want to claim ika ? but the ikas rejected , and because we also share similarities with igbos , they attempted to say ika was part of igbo land , and our fathers rejected them , so ika still remains ika till today and if i am asked my ethnicity , i say ika .

1. real ika people here might be few , while igbos are many , but i assure you that i alone will tackle you to the end and proove to you that ika is ika and not any other ethnic group.
2. i am an ika man that knows the culture and history of my people , and i know the royal blood of owa kings that flow in me.
3. i am too proud of coming from ika land, and for some people that are ashamed of where they are from , i am sorry ooo, some people think they should attach themselves to a big tribe like igbo or bini , but as for 99 percent of ika people , we just want to be ika.
4. our fore fathers hate dominance by any other ethnic group that is why my fore fathers in 1906 led by ogbeihaga ebonigbodin igbeoba the agbogidi of owa , led our ologboshere of owa - tete okunbor osagie , osaigbovour, odigie aidonojie , and other owa warriors to war against the british and they killed captain crewe read ,and that iis why the forces of agbor led by dein igbenijie waged lots of war against benin,and threatened the benin empire ,
5. in 1890 , agbor has successfully cut of benin from collecting royalties from most anioma areas and agbor collected this royalties and that was why oba overanwen of benin camped soldiers at ologbo and obadan inorder to attack agbor , he stationed 10,0000 soldiers there , but it did not occur due to british destruction of benin,
6. in 1901 when oba eweka of benin came to agbor the dein /obi of agbor osaigbobu refused to put down his ada and eben for the oba and he even challenged the oba to a wrestling match , so that was why when biafra matched into ika area , our fathers thought of it as an afront and ressited them .
7. in the old western house of chief in ibadan , where all the kings from the benin to delta,to anioma areas where placed in a second class and some times third class position , it was still the dein/obi of agbor the late obika james gbenoba , that rejected and revolted with sound and historical arguements about the kingdoms of benin/delta/ anioma area and our dignity was restored and the obi of agbor was placed in first class position , later other kings like obi of iseleuku, ubuluku, ogwashi uku,and others like obi of abor was restored, as at that time ASABA did not have a king then , they were ruled by elders ,
8. so the ika man had always been bold , and concious of his ethnicity and place , we do not fear and we do not feel inferrior to any one , we just want to be ourselves the ika nation

1. prior to the time the europeans came , less than 200 years ago , there was nothing like igbo tribe , it is a concept promoted by the british and many communities caught up with it , and if they like the igbo tribe , that is that , but as for 99 percent of ika people we are of ika tribe,may be you can get some people in igbodo and ekwuoma area , who believe they are igbos into your fold ,but our people have spoken with actions like this -
1. we are not members of any igbo ethnic meeting particularly ohaneze ndigbo , and we have established our own body called ogua/onu ika
2. in critical times , we did not mince words we said we were not igbos , and that led 99 percent of ikas not to support biafra.
3.today all over ika land we make distinction between an ika person and an igbo person.

Ethnologue report

More ethnologue

Now compare with Ekpeye which is related to Igbo but not Igbo language.

Notice that all these dialects are in this line


Classification Niger-Congo, Atlantic-Congo, Volta-Congo,
Benue-Congo, Igboid, Igbo

While Ekpeye is


Classification Niger-Congo, Atlantic-Congo, Volta-Congo,
Benue-Congo, Igboid, Ekpeye

Abagworo: Ethnologue report

Ngwa neezianu ife digasi na internet. Fa a bia ebe a na-emeghali mkpotu. I na-atupulu fa onu.

Abagworo: More ethnologue

idk. I don't really like the "niger - congo" classification.
I don't think it does the languages that supposedly fall into the category any justice.
Niger-Congo includes bantoid/bantu languages and Igbo should definitely be classified as a separate language group

Afam4eva:
Compare the blue colored statement to the red colored one and you'll notice the inconsistency. How can you say Ika is seperate from Igbos just like Egba is seperate from Ife(and not Yoruba). That shows some of you don't even understand the whole concept of ethnicity. There's no such place called Igbo. It's just a moniker used to describe Bia speaking groups.

Ika is a different group from the igbos of southeast but they are closely related like the same way they are related to ikwere, ukwuani and the other bia speaking group of people. You guys are confusing yourself because the world igbo was used to describe our people cluster but we are composed of different people groups.

When you look at the yoruba cluster, you will see that it stretches beyond Nigeria and non of the people group in the list are called yoruba but yoruba was used to describe them all. The people group in the yoruba (within Nigeria) cluster have socially evolved, clinged more together, rallied more behind the yoruba identity for self preservation purposes and for the fact that every group or tribe is now respected after their various civil wars. They look out for each other and no one group is really trying to dominate the others and that's why you see yorubas from outside a state having leadership positions in other states.

While in our own people cluster or classification, the larger igbo group from the southeast is trying to dominate the other smaller groups and lord everything over them. For self preservation purpose the other groups like ika, ikwerre and ukwuani will always promote and identify with their ethnicity before anything else. We have aspirations, culture, traditions and ideology to preserve and pursue that is different from the igbos of the southeast. The only way to draw all the group closer is either by force ( not possible in one Nigeria) or you put your house in order to create a need for cooperation and closer ties.

In many ways the igbos from the southeast are a disappointment and it would be better to stay on our own than join in their delusion.

Pharoh:

Ika is a different group from the igbos of southeast but they are closely related like the same way they are related to ikwere, ukwuani and the other bia speaking group of people. You guys are confusing yourself because the world igbo was used to describe our people cluster but we are composed of different people groups.

When you look at the yoruba cluster, you will see that it stretches beyond Nigeria and non of the people group in the list are called yoruba but yoruba was used to describe them all. The people group in the yoruba (within Nigeria) cluster have socially evolved, clinged more together, rallied more behind the yoruba identity for self preservation purposes and for the fact that every group or tribe is now respected after their various civil wars. They look out for each other and no one group is really trying to dominate the others and that's why you see yorubas from outside a state having leadership positions in other states.

While in our own people cluster or classification, the larger igbo group from the southeast is trying to dominate the other smaller groups and lord everything over them. For self preservation purpose the other groups like ika, ikwerre and ukwuani will always promote and identify with their ethnicity before anything else. We have aspirations, culture, traditions and ideology to preserve and pursue that is different from the igbos of the southeast. The only way to draw all the group closer is either by force ( not possible in one Nigeria) or you put your house in order to create a need for cooperation and closer ties.

In many ways the igbos from the southeast are a disappointment and it would be better to stay on our own than join in their delusion.

You would have made a reasonable contribution if you understood Afam very well. There's no particular place called Igbo in the Southeast. Igbo was used to classify all "bia" speaking people and Southeast is just an artificial creation. Izzi, Ngwa, Aro, Ukwuani, Ndoki, Mgbo, Ezaa, Edda, Isu, Oru, Ndoni, Ohaji, Oratta, Awka, Etche, Ika, Enuani etc existed on their own but had links with each other which were sometimes tight and sometimes elastic. The word Igbo encompasses all these groups. You can only compare Ika with say Ngwa or Aro but not merging them as Igbo because the difference between Ika and Onitsha is also the difference between Ngwa and Aro or Isu and Ndoki. Hope you now understand Afam's point.

I have ika inlaws and have Benin friends and I do serve in Benin and lived in delta ... The question is why do ika people not understand Benin language as they claimed to be from Benin? Afrikaans speaks semblance of Dutch, new Zealand speaks versions of English,even the small yoruboid village that are trying to turn igbo in asaba speak semblance of yoruba and igbo has never said this tiny village is igbo but they answer igbo name and been assimilated. Now why don't ika understand Benin language .... Pls answer me and why is ika langage turning full igbo


Secondly! How is igbo from south East dominating ika and ikwerre , ukwuani ? Did igbos impose their kings on them or governments ? Pls let's get answers from these dudes cos igbos are never tyranical in nature or colonialist

Why is IT that if you go to ika sites majority don't believe that Benin stuffs... Is IT a case of immigrant trying to tell sons of soil their history ? I know that non of their Obis has said categorically that they are not igbo same with ikwerre and ukwuani Eze? IT seems that this I am not igbo noise is comming from never do wells

What is the difference between ika, ukwuani and igbo pls give me valid clarification and don't lie cos my wife is ukwuani and a good woman my uncle is ikwerre and my inlaw ika so I talk from experience

Pls I need clarifications and don't use names cos in river state they answer Briggs, Jonathan and duke that doesn't make them Englishmen but these name are fall out of colonial mentality

I need validity can any one help me

Agbontaen,I commend your stance in the face of Igbo landgrab/dominating of smaller groups effort. You are a true Eka. But,Agbontaen,there was no Oba Eweka in 1901. Binis had no Oba between 1897 and 1914.
Keep up the fight against Igbo hegemony, though. Iyare! Eghi l' ogho!

bokohalal: Agbontaen,I commend your stance in the face of Igbo landgrab/dominating of smaller groups effort. You are a true Eka. But,Agbontaen,there was no Oba Eweka in 1901. Binis had no Oba between 1897 and 1914.
Keep up the fight against Igbo hegemony, though. Iyare! Eghi l' ogho!

You are wicked o! You just exposed his level of inconsistency and lies while claiming to be a friend.

Abagworo:

You would have made a reasonable contribution if you understood Afam very well. There's no particular place called Igbo in the Southeast. Igbo was used to classify all "bia" speaking people and Southeast is just an artificial creation. Izzi, Ngwa, Aro, Ukwuani, Ndoki, Mgbo, Ezaa, Edda, Isu, Oru, Ndoni, Ohaji, Oratta, Awka, Etche, Ika, Enuani etc existed on their own but had links with each other which were sometimes tight and sometimes elastic. The word Igbo encompasses all these groups. You can only compare Ika with say Ngwa or Aro but not merging them as Igbo because the difference between Ika and Onitsha is also the difference between Ngwa and Aro or Isu and Ndoki. Hope you now understand Afam's point.

Thanks for your message and it serves as a very good foundation to understand ourselves fully instead of going from page to page arguing about the same thing in cycles. I understand afam and why i used the word ika is different from igbos is because all the groups in the southeast have accepted this classification or term used to describe the bia speaking peoples of Nigeria and fully present that as their main identity. When i used the word igbo, i am pointing at the various bia groups east of the river niger that has fully embraced the igbo identity.

On the other hand the groups west of the river Niger do not accept this classification/identity or want to be part of this description and like everyone already agreed here, all these groups existed independently on their own before the westerners came to classify us that way. Even when Yoruba was used to describe groups of people that spans an area from Nigeria to far away Ghana but not all of them recognition this like the groups in Nigeria who are fully under this identity.

So no it is time people understand what the opposite side has been trying to say all along, we do not want to be part of this igbo description or classification. We want to stay on our own like we were prior to when the British came to colonize us and the advent of all these artificial creations like south east, south south and states. If we ever want to form a united group for more strategic, economic and political purposes then we will do that under the anioma umbrella. Others can continue with the igbo classification and leave those who do not want to be part of it. It does not stop us from relating with each other or working together for the mutual benefit of everyone.

Or do you want to tell me that the igbo classification is binding on us or what exactly is the point that no one is trying to understand what agbotaen has been saying all along?. It is very simple and that is we do not want to be part of the igbo classification and can be like we were before the British came.