That part of Africa, known by the name of Guinea, to which the trade for slaves is carried on, extends along the coast above 3400 miles, from the Senegal to Angola, and includes a variety of kingdoms. Of these the most considerable is the kingdom of Benen, both as to extent and wealth, the richness and cultivation of the soil, the power of its king, and the number and warlike disposition of the inhabitants. It is situated nearly under the line, and extends along the coast about 170 miles, but runs back into the interior part of Africa to a distance hitherto I believe unexplored by any traveller; and seems only terminated at length by the empire of Abyssinia, near 1500 miles from its beginning. This kingdom is divided into many provinces or districts: in one of the most remote and fertile of which, called Eboe, I was born, in the year 1745, in a charming fruitful vale, named Essaka. The distance of this province from the capital of Benin and the sea coast must be very considerable; for I had never heard of white men or Europeans, nor of the sea: and our subjection to the king of Benin was little more than nominal

The above is from the first chapter of Olaudah Equaino's narrative where he gives an account of where he was born in 1745.

Today, the Igbos of South East Nigeria claim that Equaino was born in Isseke somewhere close to Ihiala. However, olaudah's narrative says he was born in Essaka part of the Benin province of Eboe.

To find out where exactly in present day Nigeria Olaudah was born, it is important to analyse these places: Essaka, Eboe, Benin