Resistance
The British-Igbo War That Lasted For 31 years – The Ekumeku Resistance
The British-Igbo War That Lasted For 31 years - The Ekumeku Movement

The resolutions of the Berlin conference of 1884-1885, gave European nations the rights to lay claim to lands and resources in Africa.
Britain, who had engaged in the trade with coastal cities before and during the 19th century, made bold their intentions to covet resources and rule over indigenous nations all over Africa.
They came with guns and preachers. Many Africans tribes resisted the British invaders, and this led to protracted wars. Many African tribes put up a great fight against the superior firepower of the suppressive British.
One of such tribes are the Igbo people of ancient Biafra, who are now one of the three major tribes in Nigeria.
The Ekumeku Movement was the name of Igbo army, that held the British at bay and fought them for 31 years.
The Ekumeku movement consisted of a great number of attacks and uprising by the Anioma people of the land, against the British, from 1893-1914.
The Ekumeku warriors were bound by a secret oath, and meticulously utilized guerrilla tactics to attack the British Royal company, who were determined to penetrate Igbo land. The Ekumeku warriors were drawn from thousands of Anioma youth from all parts of Anioma land.
As the war rages on, the Ekumeku warriors defended their rights tom live peacefully without foreign interjection, while the British used heavy armaments. They destroyed homes, farms, and roads, by bombardment.
The British invaded Ndoni in 1870 and bombarded Onicha-Ado (Onicha) on November 2nd, 1897, from River Niger. This set the tempo for the rest of the war. The Royal Niger Company was commanded by Major Festing. They engaged the Anioma people of Ibusa in 1898.
The battle was so severe in 0wa/Okwunzu, in 1094, that the commander W.E.B Crawford requested for more arms from the British headquarters to crush the Western Anioma communities. The people of Owa again in 1906 engaged the British in a gruesome battle that consumed the life of the British commander S. O. Crewe.
Ogwashi-Ukwu faced the British on the 2nd of November 1909 and dealt a heavy blow to the British, who sustained many casualties, with the death of H. C. Chapman.


The Ekumeku became a formidable force in Igbo land and was a great source of nationalism for the Anioma people. It also served as a uniting cord that held together, various towns, who were independent of each other in the past. The Igbo were a republican people and each town had a leadership that was drawn from its oldest of men and families.
The war would have lasted longer, and possibly ended in a British defeat, if the Anioma people had equivalent firepower, and had more allies from other great Igbo kingdoms and towns. But even at that point, other tribes were facing the British on their own.

After almost 20 years of battle, decided to strike with great force. And in December of 1902, they sent a powerful expedition to Anioma kingdom. A great number of towns were destroyed. Civilians and soldiers alike were killed. And their leaders were arrested and imprisoned.

After this, the British were sure that they had suppressed the Ekumeku military cult, and that victory was theirs. The British officers boasted: “the Ekumeku and other secret societies have been completely broken.”

To their greatest surprise, two years later, in 1904, the fearless Ekumeku rose again. The Igbo are proud and egalitarian people. They don’t go down that easily.
When the Ekumeku started their renewed campaign, they changed tactics, and abandoned the guerrilla warfare style of 1989, for the individual defense of each town.

The last battle began in 1909. There was a succession dispute in Ogwashi-ukwu, and the British tried to remove the rightful king and enthrone someone else. One of the heirs to the throne, Nzekwe, the son of the last Obi, sensed the plot of the British and went to war with them to fight for his inheritance.
On November 2nd, 1909, the British sent an expedition to Ogwashi-ukwu to capture him, but they failed. No amount of firepower at that point could defeat or quench the sympathy and dedication of the people towards the Ekumeku. In Asaba, the sympathy for the Ekumeku was so high that the people had the disposition to throw off the already British government in certain parts.

At the time, the acting Lieutenant-governor of the Southern provinces sent an agitated telegram to Lagos. It read: “Whole country is above are… is the state of rebellion.”
After this, reinforcements were sent from Lokoja, for another confrontation at Akegbe. The war raged on, till 1914, when the Ekumeku movement was defeated. That was the same year, the Northern and Southern protectorates of Nigeria were joined as one country.

Some of the heroes of that 31-year war included Dunwku Isus of Onicha-Olona, Nwabuzo Iyogolo of Ogwashi-Ukwu, Awuno Ugbo, Obi of Akumazi, Aggbambu Oshue of Igbuzo, the Idabor of Issele-Ukwu, Ochei Aghaeze of Onicha-olona, Abuzu of Idumuje-Unor, Idegwu Otokpoike of Ubulu-Ukwu. These men are remembered in Anioma land till date.

The Ekumeku war remains one of most bravely fought wars and campaign against British rule and plundering. It later inspired other rebellions around Africa, such as the Mau Mau of Kenya.

The Ekumeku have long been defeated, and that kingdom is now part of the greater Igbo land, in today’s Nigeria. But no matter how far we travel in time, history always remembers that a brave tribe defended their ancestry, heritage, and legacy against the tyranny of Wilberforce.

Till date, in Nigeria, the Igbo remains one of the few tribes that still resist British rule over them and their resources. It can be said that these sentiments were at play when the British supplied weapons to the Northern and Western part of Nigeria to fight the Igbo between 1967-1970.

Fabu. Anioma people over to you guys

While the Ekumeku warriors were frying the invaders near the bank of River Niger. The Arochukwu warriors held them at bay near our borders with coastal neighbours. They thought defeat of Arochukwu in 1902 will signal the end of Igbo resistance,unknown to them Aros were the advance party. Every Igbo clan were independent so there was no king to intimidate and sign treaty with. They had to conquer each clan one after the other.

No wonder they took sides with the north and west during the civil war. Ndi igbo the real pain in the ass.

Just book space waiting for afonjas as I know they will enter.

justice12000:
Just book space waiting for afonjas as I know they will enter.

They are welcome. We Igbos go for mating already pregnant. We have no patience for impotence.

@OP, Great. Keep up the history lessons.

My great great grandparents fought in those wars.. which lead to them migrating from Asaba to southwards towards the urhoboland..!

The Eastern Province of Nigeria was conquered, in its entirety, in 1914. The battle for Igbo-lands, Ibibio and by extension Ogoja land raged on for thirteen years. The war in Igbo land was frosted in cunning tactic on the part of the Igbo. It was complicated by the fact that Igbo towns were small and independent of a centralized political authority.
The British had to fight a town once at a time, and had to return to re-fight a conquered town. By 1899, the British had thought defeating the Aro people of Arochukwu was enough to achieve military and political control of the hinterland. The Aro people actually mobilized resistances before the invading British began the “Aro Expedition” in late November 1901. Although the Aro people were defeated December 1901, the Aro War actually ended in March 1902.
The first trait of a prolong war in Eastern Nigeria was observed after the fall of the Aro people. Two groups that were supposed to go down with the Aro people began staging independent resistances. The British mounted an expedition against the first group Olokoro clan of Umuahia, and later against the second group, Uzuakoli village-group in Bende. Then came series of military actions against Igbo towns and villages.
In 1904, the British initiated the Akwete Patrol, and in the same year, prosecuted the Onitsha Expedition.
In 1905, military actions were taken. Ezza, Ovoro, Nonya, Onicha and Ahiara were defeated.
In 1907, Isuikwuato, Urualla, Etche, Ntarakpu and Isiagu were conquered.
The British entered into large-scale war, sending scores of military units to several villages in 1908, 1909, 1910, 1911, 1912 and 1914. Eleven expeditions were launched after the 1914 Amalgamation of Nigeria. In spite of the successful takeover of the area in 1914, British troops continued marching to and fro Igbo-land confronting violence and resistances up till 1917.
The antidote that cured the resistance for good was the arrest and molestation of elders by the British. Before then, people in conquered communities would gather to welcome British troops, giving them water, fruits and food. But they would soon stage a resistance once the British forces have marched down to the next village.

As of the time our fathers were resisting the British I am sure that none of them knew about the Berlin conference and its outcome. They let their survival instinct guide them to the fact that they and their unborn children were about to be messed up forever. So for more than two decades they fought with all they had. I am proud of that heritage. Each time I look at how the business venture of the Britain called Nigeria is killing off dreams. I take solace in the fact that our fathers never wanted this for us and they tried their best to neutralise the brits. One day our dreams will be achieved

Interesting! Lalasticlala nwanem, Biko , move this to front page. This is really an eye opener

Lol, Aba women's riot, I mean war all over again. I've read Nigerian history extensively for more than forty years and never came across any mention of well organized military effort against the British from ibos. In fact organized military campaigns against the British came from the north but they succumbed to the machine gun. The yorubas were too preoccupied with fighting themselves and did not field a United army so the town's like ijebus that confronted the British were defeated quickly. History is too important to be messed with. The problem is that ibos at the time lacked central leadership so there was no King and a United national army so any opposition to the British would have come from area boys and hotheads in the town's. You cannot call that a war.

[s]

gwafaeziokwu:
Resistance
The British-Igbo War That Lasted For 31 years – The Ekumeku Resistance
The British-Igbo War That Lasted For 31 years - The Ekumeku Movement

The resolutions of the Berlin conference of 1884-1885, gave European nations the rights to lay claim to lands and resources in Africa.
Britain, who had engaged in the trade with coastal cities before and during the 19th century, made bold their intentions to covet resources and rule over indigenous nations all over Africa.
They came with guns and preachers. Many Africans tribes resisted the British invaders, and this led to protracted wars. Many African tribes put up a great fight against the superior firepower of the suppressive British.
One of such tribes are the Igbo people of ancient Biafra, who are now one of the three major tribes in Nigeria.
The Ekumeku Movement was the name of Igbo army, that held the British at bay and fought them for 31 years.
The Ekumeku movement consisted of a great number of attacks and uprising by the Anioma people of the land, against the British, from 1893-1914.
The Ekumeku warriors were bound by a secret oath, and meticulously utilized guerrilla tactics to attack the British Royal company, who were determined to penetrate Igbo land. The Ekumeku warriors were drawn from thousands of Anioma youth from all parts of Anioma land.
As the war rages on, the Ekumeku warriors defended their rights tom live peacefully without foreign interjection, while the British used heavy armaments. They destroyed homes, farms, and roads, by bombardment.
The British invaded Ndoni in 1870 and bombarded Onicha-Ado (Onicha) on November 2nd, 1897, from River Niger. This set the tempo for the rest of the war. The Royal Niger Company was commanded by Major Festing. They engaged the Anioma people of Ibusa in 1898.
The battle was so severe in 0wa/Okwunzu, in 1094, that the commander W.E.B Crawford requested for more arms from the British headquarters to crush the Western Anioma communities. The people of Owa again in 1906 engaged the British in a gruesome battle that consumed the life of the British commander S. O. Crewe.
Ogwashi-Ukwu faced the British on the 2nd of November 1909 and dealt a heavy blow to the British, who sustained many casualties, with the death of H. C. Chapman.


The Ekumeku became a formidable force in Igbo land and was a great source of nationalism for the Anioma people. It also served as a uniting cord that held together, various towns, who were independent of each other in the past. The Igbo were a republican people and each town had a leadership that was drawn from its oldest of men and families.
The war would have lasted longer, and possibly ended in a British defeat, if the Anioma people had equivalent firepower, and had more allies from other great Igbo kingdoms and towns. But even at that point, other tribes were facing the British on their own.

After almost 20 years of battle, decided to strike with great force. And in December of 1902, they sent a powerful expedition to Anioma kingdom. A great number of towns were destroyed. Civilians and soldiers alike were killed. And their leaders were arrested and imprisoned.

After this, the British were sure that they had suppressed the Ekumeku military cult, and that victory was theirs. The British officers boasted: “the Ekumeku and other secret societies have been completely broken.”

To their greatest surprise, two years later, in 1904, the fearless Ekumeku rose again. The Igbo are proud and egalitarian people. They don’t go down that easily.
When the Ekumeku started their renewed campaign, they changed tactics, and abandoned the guerrilla warfare style of 1989, for the individual defense of each town.

The last battle began in 1909. There was a succession dispute in Ogwashi-ukwu, and the British tried to remove the rightful king and enthrone someone else. One of the heirs to the throne, Nzekwe, the son of the last Obi, sensed the plot of the British and went to war with them to fight for his inheritance.
On November 2nd, 1909, the British sent an expedition to Ogwashi-ukwu to capture him, but they failed. No amount of firepower at that point could defeat or quench the sympathy and dedication of the people towards the Ekumeku. In Asaba, the sympathy for the Ekumeku was so high that the people had the disposition to throw off the already British government in certain parts.

At the time, the acting Lieutenant-governor of the Southern provinces sent an agitated telegram to Lagos. It read: “Whole country is above are… is the state of rebellion.”
After this, reinforcements were sent from Lokoja, for another confrontation at Akegbe. The war raged on, till 1914, when the Ekumeku movement was defeated. That was the same year, the Northern and Southern protectorates of Nigeria were joined as one country.

Some of the heroes of that 31-year war included Dunwku Isus of Onicha-Olona, Nwabuzo Iyogolo of Ogwashi-Ukwu, Awuno Ugbo, Obi of Akumazi, Aggbambu Oshue of Igbuzo, the Idabor of Issele-Ukwu, Ochei Aghaeze of Onicha-olona, Abuzu of Idumuje-Unor, Idegwu Otokpoike of Ubulu-Ukwu. These men are remembered in Anioma land till date.

The Ekumeku war remains one of most bravely fought wars and campaign against British rule and plundering. It later inspired other rebellions around Africa, such as the Mau Mau of Kenya.

The Ekumeku have long been defeated, and that kingdom is now part of the greater Igbo land, in today’s Nigeria. But no matter how far we travel in time, history always remembers that a brave tribe defended their ancestry, heritage, and legacy against the tyranny of Wilberforce.

Till date, in Nigeria, the Igbo remains one of the few tribes that still resist British rule over them and their resources. It can be said that these sentiments were at play when the British supplied weapons to the Northern and Western part of Nigeria to fight the Igbo between 1967-1970.

[/s]
Folktales. Igbo doesn't have history

Babalegba:
Lol, Aba women's riot, I mean war all over again. I've read Nigerian history extensively for more than forty years and never came across any mention of well organized military effort against the British from ibos. In fact organized military campaigns against the British came from the north but they succumbed to the machine gun. The yorubas were too preoccupied with fighting themselves and did not field a United army so the town's like ijebus that confronted the British were defeated quickly. History is too important to be messed with. The problem is that ibos at the time lacked central leadership so there was no King and a United national army so any opposition to the British would have come from area boys and hotheads in the town's. You cannot call that a war.

Your teacher must be half baked if he didn't teach you about Aro-Anglo war that raged on for year and the Ekumeku resistance. There are no stronger resistance in the entire Nigeria than those two.

Igboid:


Your teacher must be half baked if he didn't teach you about Aro-Anglo war that raged on for year and the Ekumeku resistance. There are no stronger resistance in the entire Nigeria than those two.

Keep deceiving yourself, you need a national centralized army and therefore a king and a general to resist effectively. I'm Yoruba but can tell you that the most effective stubbornly military campaign against the British came from the north. You cannot have military weight without centralized leadership

when did the war start?

Babalegba:
Keep deceiving yourself, you need a national centralized army and therefore a king and a general to resist effectively. I'm Yoruba but can tell you that the most effective stubbornly military campaign against the British came from the north. You cannot have military weight without centralized leadership

Was there really a resistance to the British from the Caliphate? When you are used to having people rule over you, its always easier to accept colonialism which is just another group of rulers, than when your society is built on freedom equality of all, and republicanism, you always going refuse to go down without a fight.

Igboid:


Was there really a resistance to the British from the Caliphate? When you are used to having people rule over you, its always easier to accept colonialism which is just another group of rulers, than when your society is built on freedom equality of all, and republicanism, you always going refuse to go down without a fight.

Actually there is no successful leaderless people on the planet even the Jews asked God for a king. All men are created equal but some are leaders, even the twelve apostles have Peter. There is no successful land where all the people are equal in rank. It was very easy for the British to administer the north because the apparatus were already in place, they just had to put themselves at the top. It was actually the machine gun that pacified the northerners, that was why they all ran away when the British wanted to take a photograph with them later, the camera tripod resembled a machine gun tripod. Anyway failure was inevitable for any resistance in Nigeria because British firepower was immense and they would have defeated even a combined north and southern Nigerian army in days not even weeks. It was like a lion fighting a cat. Can you fight a canon with a Dane gun and cutlass. Even the coastal dwelling yorubas like the egbas and ijebus with more sophisticated guns would have been heavily defeated in hours.

Babalegba:
Actually there is no successful leaderless people on the planet even the Jews asked God for a king. All men are created equal but some are leaders, even the twelve apostles have Peter. There is no successful land where all the people are equal in rank. It was very easy for the British to administer the north because the apparatus were already in place, they just had to put themselves at the top. It was actually the machine gun that pacified the northerners, that was why they all ran away when the British wanted to take a photograph with them later, the camera tripod resembled a machine gun tripod. Anyway failure was inevitable for any resistance in Nigeria because British firepower was immense and they would have defeated even a combined north and southern Nigerian army in days not even weeks. It was like a lion fighting a cat. Can you fight a canon with a Dane gun and cutlass. Even the coastal dwelling yorubas like the egbas and ijebus with more sophisticated guns would have been heavily defeated in hours.

The Igbo were not without leaders, you need to pick a book. I would suggest things fall apart, to acquaint yourself with the functionality of the Igbo society in precolonial days.
What we didn't have were tyrants called kings dictating for all. The few places we had Ezes, they were simply symbolic/religious ones.

Even when Britain brought Militarization and installations of stooges in Igbo land..

Aba women riot or should I even call it Aba women revolution showed how the igbo tribe can't be subdued.

Continue my people, am learning honestly

Accepting Christianity by the igbos was what help the British.... fighting in the south east then was very very difficult ...there was no road and unlike the rest of the world villages didn't settle near rivers


Everywhere was fertile so people lived everywhere ...

But when igbos finally accepted Christianity and education they did it with all their heart

From the least educated around 1914 to the dominant educated tribe in 1960 ....

Once igbos commit to something we do it well ...that's why any sector igbos are not interested in struggles in Nigeria

While the Ibos were proving a hard nut to crack , the yorubas were actually begging the British to take over their land as they enmeshed in intra-tribal wars.

History has it that the British lost more men in their conquest in Igboland than in the rest of subsaharan Africa. Igboland was very costly for them. It was only natural for them to ensure that Ibos never controlled the nigerian colony when they left.

1893-1941.....After millions had been sold off as slaves
The Roman and Anglican church came to finish of where slavery stopped.
Why the self pity?

I still posit that refusal to teach history in our schools is akin to perpetuating the believe in western world that Africans had no history before the arrival of the British. The Nigerian govt is doing so much injustice to the unborn generation. It's nothing short of creative destruction.

We were taught in government classes that British indirect rule failed in Igboland, partially succeeded in the west but a huge success in the North. None of them was explicit enough to tell us why it failed in the East. Maybe these and more were the reasons. I never heard of this resistance.

But each n every of your tribe was conquered n subjugated, don't you want to talk about how fruitless n foolish it was not to have a unifying force stopping the invaders instead of pocket of rifrats that were quickly overeun by the marauding British.

gwafaeziokwu:
While the Ekumeku warriors were frying the invaders near the bank of River Niger. The Arochukwu warriors held them at bay near our borders with coastal neighbours. They thought defeat of Arochukwu in 1902 will signal the end of Igbo resistance,unknown to them Aros were the advance party. Every Igbo clan were independent so there was no king to intimidate and sign treaty with. They had to conquer each clan one after the other.

No wonder they took sides with the north and west during the civil war. Ndi igbo the real pain in the ass.

PHIPEX:
I still posit that refusal to teach history in our schools is akin to perpetuating the believe in western world that Africans had no history before the arrival of the British. The Nigerian govt is doing so much injustice to the unborn generation. It's nothing short of creative destruction.

We were taught in government classes that British indirect rule failed in Igboland, partially succeeded in the west but a huge success in the North. None of them was explicit enough to tell us why it failed in the East. Maybe these and more were the reasons. I never heard of this resistance.

Honestly, history as a subject is very important . I myself have a lot to learn .

A sign that igbos
Have been fighting since

gwafaeziokwu:
Resistance
The British-Igbo War That Lasted For 31 years – The Ekumeku Resistance
The British-Igbo War That Lasted For 31 years - The Ekumeku Movement

The resolutions of the Berlin conference of 1884-1885, gave European nations the rights to lay claim to lands and resources in Africa.
Britain, who had engaged in the trade with coastal cities before and during the 19th century, made bold their intentions to covet resources and rule over indigenous nations all over Africa.
They came with guns and preachers. Many Africans tribes resisted the British invaders, and this led to protracted wars. Many African tribes put up a great fight against the superior firepower of the suppressive British.
One of such tribes are the Igbo people of ancient Biafra, who are now one of the three major tribes in Nigeria.
The Ekumeku Movement was the name of Igbo army, that held the British at bay and fought them for 31 years.
The Ekumeku movement consisted of a great number of attacks and uprising by the Anioma people of the land, against the British, from 1893-1914.
The Ekumeku warriors were bound by a secret oath, and meticulously utilized guerrilla tactics to attack the British Royal company, who were determined to penetrate Igbo land. The Ekumeku warriors were drawn from thousands of Anioma youth from all parts of Anioma land.
As the war rages on, the Ekumeku warriors defended their rights tom live peacefully without foreign interjection, while the British used heavy armaments. They destroyed homes, farms, and roads, by bombardment.
The British invaded Ndoni in 1870 and bombarded Onicha-Ado (Onicha) on November 2nd, 1897, from River Niger. This set the tempo for the rest of the war. The Royal Niger Company was commanded by Major Festing. They engaged the Anioma people of Ibusa in 1898.
The battle was so severe in 0wa/Okwunzu, in 1094, that the commander W.E.B Crawford requested for more arms from the British headquarters to crush the Western Anioma communities. The people of Owa again in 1906 engaged the British in a gruesome battle that consumed the life of the British commander S. O. Crewe.
Ogwashi-Ukwu faced the British on the 2nd of November 1909 and dealt a heavy blow to the British, who sustained many casualties, with the death of H. C. Chapman.


The Ekumeku became a formidable force in Igbo land and was a great source of nationalism for the Anioma people. It also served as a uniting cord that held together, various towns, who were independent of each other in the past. The Igbo were a republican people and each town had a leadership that was drawn from its oldest of men and families.
The war would have lasted longer, and possibly ended in a British defeat, if the Anioma people had equivalent firepower, and had more allies from other great Igbo kingdoms and towns. But even at that point, other tribes were facing the British on their own.

After almost 20 years of battle, decided to strike with great force. And in December of 1902, they sent a powerful expedition to Anioma kingdom. A great number of towns were destroyed. Civilians and soldiers alike were killed. And their leaders were arrested and imprisoned.

After this, the British were sure that they had suppressed the Ekumeku military cult, and that victory was theirs. The British officers boasted: “the Ekumeku and other secret societies have been completely broken.”

To their greatest surprise, two years later, in 1904, the fearless Ekumeku rose again. The Igbo are proud and egalitarian people. They don’t go down that easily.
When the Ekumeku started their renewed campaign, they changed tactics, and abandoned the guerrilla warfare style of 1989, for the individual defense of each town.

The last battle began in 1909. There was a succession dispute in Ogwashi-ukwu, and the British tried to remove the rightful king and enthrone someone else. One of the heirs to the throne, Nzekwe, the son of the last Obi, sensed the plot of the British and went to war with them to fight for his inheritance.
On November 2nd, 1909, the British sent an expedition to Ogwashi-ukwu to capture him, but they failed. No amount of firepower at that point could defeat or quench the sympathy and dedication of the people towards the Ekumeku. In Asaba, the sympathy for the Ekumeku was so high that the people had the disposition to throw off the already British government in certain parts.

At the time, the acting Lieutenant-governor of the Southern provinces sent an agitated telegram to Lagos. It read: “Whole country is above are… is the state of rebellion.”
After this, reinforcements were sent from Lokoja, for another confrontation at Akegbe. The war raged on, till 1914, when the Ekumeku movement was defeated. That was the same year, the Northern and Southern protectorates of Nigeria were joined as one country.

Some of the heroes of that 31-year war included Dunwku Isus of Onicha-Olona, Nwabuzo Iyogolo of Ogwashi-Ukwu, Awuno Ugbo, Obi of Akumazi, Aggbambu Oshue of Igbuzo, the Idabor of Issele-Ukwu, Ochei Aghaeze of Onicha-olona, Abuzu of Idumuje-Unor, Idegwu Otokpoike of Ubulu-Ukwu. These men are remembered in Anioma land till date.

The Ekumeku war remains one of most bravely fought wars and campaign against British rule and plundering. It later inspired other rebellions around Africa, such as the Mau Mau of Kenya.

The Ekumeku have long been defeated, and that kingdom is now part of the greater Igbo land, in today’s Nigeria. But no matter how far we travel in time, history always remembers that a brave tribe defended their ancestry, heritage, and legacy against the tyranny of Wilberforce.

Till date, in Nigeria, the Igbo remains one of the few tribes that still resist British rule over them and their resources. It can be said that these sentiments were at play when the British supplied weapons to the Northern and Western part of Nigeria to fight the Igbo between 1967-1970.

Can you kindly include the source of this publication?
This will make a credible reference.
Except you wrote this by yourself.

Babalegba:
Lol, Aba women's riot, I mean war all over again. I've read Nigerian history extensively for more than forty years and never came across any mention of well organized military effort against the British from ibos. In fact organized military campaigns against the British came from the north but they succumbed to the machine gun. The yorubas were too preoccupied with fighting themselves and did not field a United army so the town's like ijebus that confronted the British were defeated quickly. History is too important to be messed with. The problem is that ibos at the time lacked central leadership so there was no King and a United national army so any opposition to the British would have come from area boys and hotheads in the town's. You cannot call that a war.

U indeed read extensively but forgot to read west african history and forgot the aro British war that was the most important war for the British because aro kingdom was the only organised people in the business world in igbo hinterland with alot of connections.

Superwave:
But each n every of your tribe was conquered n subjugated, don't you want to talk about how fruitless n foolish it was not to have a unifying force stopping the invaders instead of pocket of rifrats that were quickly overeun by the marauding British.

I dont know if your observation was out of frustration or hatred for the igbos but the truth is that the igbo method was very effective considering the fact that they cant even resist the heavy power of the british. Take for instance the second worldwar,Hitler could have taken over European union after defeating pockets of countries along the way if it was in our present time because Eu would have signed a treaty asap. But it took Russia, a neighbour of Poland that was already conquered to resist hitler.

Of course Anioma warriors showed the British forces hell despite the latter been obviously far better armed. I think the only people that put up the toughest resistance to British colonialism in Nigeria/Africa were the Igbos (Ekumeku and Aro people), the Benin empire and to some extent the Karnem-Bornu empire of the Kanuri.