₦airaland Forum

CeoMYN:
You are the one who choose not to accept the Truth. Not academically accurate? You are very funny. Stop lying to yourself, it's my own tribe. Ogba is my own tribe and our written and spoken history takes us back to Benin.

CeoMYN:
Chief, you can't force us to be members of your tribe. We are not Ibos. Our cultural history and folktales takes us back to Benin. We are Ogba people, not Ibos!

Jameseddi1:
GISTHow The Bini Used And Sold The Igbo as slaves.


Former presidential aide and controversial author, Reno Omokri has narrated the long-standing history between the Binis and the Igbos.



This is coming after a curious fan asked him about a Bini word that sounded like Igbo.

Reno in a long post explained that the Itsekiris and the Binis had Igbo slaves for centuries before British colonialism which brought about the mix of culture as some of the Bini took Igbo-like names and some Igbos also took Bini-like names.

He further added that there are century-old carvings in Ode Itsekiri and Benin depicting Igbo slaves being sold to the Portuguese.


Dear Nonny:

Itsekiris and the Binis had Igbo slaves for centuries before British colonialism. After the British banned slavery, we were forced to set them free. Some of them returned to Igbo land, others remained with us and gradually formed a new language called (an Itsekiri word which we used to call them while they were our slaves). There are about 200,000 still with us. (I will not reveal the name of this tribe called *******, because I do not want to offend them, but they are in Delta state) If they speak, an Igbo person will understand some of what they say, while Itsekiris, Binis and even European Portuguese people will understand them too. Those of them who chose to return to Igbo land have Igbo names that sound like Itsekiri or Benin names, for example Iweka, and many names beginning with Oba or Iken.
That is how some of our names and also Benin names went into the Igbo lexicon. We have century old carvings in Ode Itsekiri and Benin depicting Igbo slaves, which we sold to the Portuguese via our ancient pre colonial port called Ogidigben. The grandfather of the present Oba of Benin showed some of these carvings to the world famous British anthropologist, Sir David Attenborough in 1973. The video is on YouTube. When you see the carving, even you will have no doubt that the person is Igbo. Because of the sheer number of Igbo slaves we sold at Ogidigben, the Portuguese named the town Escravos, which means slave in Portuguese. Till today, many people still call Ogidigben Escravos. We also sold slaves in another town called Burutu, which the Portuguese renamed Forcados (meaning forced labourer, which is a nicer way of saying slaves). Obviously, I am not too proud of this history. I wish it never happened. History is not always pleasant. I am only revealing it to you because you are getting the wrong idea of linkages between our two peoples.

This is Itshekiri claim that it was on of the dependent state of Benin before European arrival to Africa.

Abeg anything about the south history just leave it for Benin.

CeoMYN:
We don't speak Igbo. We migrated a long time ago and interacted with Ibos via trade and the rest.

AryEmber:
In a tragedy reminiscent of Romeo and Juliet, a couple in Nigeria killed themselves earlier this month after their parents had forbidden them from marrying because one of them was a descendant of slaves.

"They're saying we can't get married... all because of an ancient belief," the note they left behind said.

The lovers, who were in their early thirties, hailed from Okija in south-eastern Anambra state, where slavery was officially abolished in the early 1900s, as in the rest of the country, by the UK, Nigeria's colonial ruler at the time.

But descendants of freed slaves among the Igbo ethnic group still inherit the status of their ancestors and they are forbidden by local culture from marrying those Igbos seen as "freeborn".

"God created everyone equally so why would human beings discriminate just because of the ignorance of our forefathers," the couple said.
Many Igbo couples come across such unexpected discrimination.

Three years ago Favour, 35, who prefers not to use her surname, was preparing for her wedding to a man she had dated for five years, when his Igbo family discovered that she was the descendant of a slave.

"They told their son that they didn't want anything to do with me," said Favour, who is also Igbo.

At first, her fiancé was defiant, but the pressure from his parents and siblings soon wore him down and he ended their romance.

"I felt bad. I was so hurt. I was so pained," she said.

Prosperous but 'inferior'
Marriage is not the only barrier slave descendants face.

They are also banned from traditional leadership positions and elite groups, and often prevented from running for political office and representing their communities in parliament.
However, they are not hindered from education or economic advancement.

The ostracism often pushed them to more quickly embrace the Christianity and formal education brought by missionaries, at a time when other locals were still suspicious of the foreigners.

Some slave descendants are today among the most prosperous in their communities, but no matter how much they achieve, they are still treated as inferior.

In 2017, 44-year-old Oge Maduagwu founded the Initiative for the Eradication of Traditional and Cultural Stigmatisation in our Society (Ifetacsios).

For the past three years, she has been travelling across the five states of south-eastern Nigeria, advocating equal rights for descendants of slaves.
The kind of suffering that the black people are going through in America, the slave descendants here are also going through the same," she said.

Ms Maduagwu is not a slave descendant, but she observed the inequality while growing up in Imo state and was moved to tackle it after watching the devastation of her close friend who was prevented from marrying a slave descendant.

During her trips, Ms Maduagwu meets separately traditional persons of influence and slave descendants, then mediates dialogue sessions between the two groups.

"Men sat down to make these rules," she said. "We can also sit down and remake the rules."

Descendants of slaves among the Igbo fall into two main categories - the ohu and the osu.

The ohu's ancestors were owned by humans, while the osu's were owned by gods - people dedicated to community shrines.

"Osu is worse than slavery," said Ugo Nwokeji, a professor of African studies at the University of California, Berkeley, who thinks the osu were wrongly classified as slaves by the missionaries.

"Slaves could transcend slavery and became slave masters themselves but the osu for generations unborn could never transcend that."
Discrimination against the osu does tend to be worse.

While the ohu are marginalised as outsiders - with no known places of origin or ageless ties to the lands where their ancestors were brought as slaves - breaking taboos about relations with the osu is accompanied, not just by fear of social stigma, but of punishment by the gods who supposedly own them.

Favour's fiancé was told by his father that his life would be cut short if he married her, an osu.

"They instilled fear in him," she said. "He asked me if I wanted him to die."

'Grassroots engagement'
Such fears have made it difficult to enforce laws against discrimination which exist in the Nigerian constitution, plus a 1956 law by Igbo lawmakers specifically banning discrimination against ohu or osu.

"Legal proscriptions are not enough to abolish certain primordial customs," said Anthony Obinna, an Catholic archbishop in Imo state, who advocates for an end to the discrimination. "You need more grassroots engagement."
In her advocacy, Ms Maduagwu educates people on the various ways in which traditional guidelines on relating with the osu have been breached, "without the gods wreaking any havoc".

"Today, we are tenants in their houses, we are on their payroll, we go to borrow money from them," she said.

Such association with the osu would have been unthinkable in the past.

No official data exists on the number of slave descendants in south-eastern Nigeria.

People tend to hide their status, although this is impossible in smaller communities where everyone's lineage is known. Some communities have only ohu or osu, while some have both.

In recent years, increasing agitation from ohu and osu has led to conflict and unrest in many communities.

Some slave descendants have started parallel societies with their own leadership and elite groups.
About 13 years ago, the osu in Imo state formed a group called Nneji, which means "from the same womb".

Among the benefits that Nneji offers its thousands of members is arranging marriages between their adult children in different parts of the world, saving them the potential heartbreak of relationships with "freeborn".

"People come to you when they want a favour from you," said Ogadinma, a septuagenarian from a wealthy osu family, whose husband is a patron of the Nneji.

"But those same people, when your children want to marry their children, they complain that the person is osu."
Archbishop Obinna, who has been criticised for officiating at the weddings of what he describes as "mixed couples", said: "I have had to safeguard some of the couples from the violence of their parents and relatives."

Ogadinma, who also asked me not to use her surname to protect her family, faced discrimination when she ran for political office about 10 years ago.

Petitions poured in from people who said that she was "unsuitable" to contest - and the national leader of her party, who was Yoruba, found it difficult to support her, convinced that she stood no chance.

"He told me plainly: 'There is something Igbo people say that you are, which will not allow your people to vote for you.'"

Discrimination based on slave caste is not common among the Yoruba or Hausa, Nigeria's two other major ethnic groups. But it has been reported among some ethnic groups in other West African countries, such as Mali and Senegal.

Ms Maduagwu's Ifetacsios group now has four staff and about a dozen volunteers. The work has been slow and hard, but a handful of traditional rulers have embarked on the process of abolishing the inequality in their communities.

She says she was initially shocked by the attacks on social media from people opposed to her activism.

"I had to join a lot of Igbo groups to spread the message and a lot of them insulted me and told me that their tradition will remain."

Nollywood factor
Such attitudes even among the educated and enlightened are perpetuated by African literature such as late Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart, Ogadinma believes.

"He was a person dedicated to a god, a thing set apart - a taboo for ever, and his children after him," Achebe, who was Igbo, wrote of the osu in his 1958 classic.

"He could neither marry nor be married by the freeborn… An osu could not attend an assembly of the freeborn, and they, in turn, could not shelter under his roof... When he died he was buried by his kind in the Evil Forest."
Ogadinma worries that Nigerian students around the world who read the novel as part of their curriculum subconsciously adopt traditional beliefs about the osu.

"If every generation of Nigerian children is reading about this osu, don't you think it will affect their thinking?" she said.

Nollywood also plays a part, according to Aloysius Agbo, an Anglican bishop in Enugu state, who advocates for an end to the discrimination.

Nigerian films have their dedicated TV channels, including the wildly popular Africa Magic.

"Beliefs that we already accepted as superstitious are now coming back as real truths because of what we watch on Africa Magic," said Bishop Agbo. "They do it as showcasing our culture but they are not conscious of the impact on society."

But with the recent Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests around the world, Ms Maduagwu hopes that more Igbo people will be inspired to change their attitudes.

"If more people will reflect that the agonising journey of the black Americans began here, the BLM protests will affect our work positively," Ms Maduagwu said.

"Africans need to look inwardly to see what is happening in their homeland."

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-54088880

IgbuduMonkey:
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

OyeofIkoTuN:
Loud it...The way reprisal attacks would Ave happened in the east..

Jameseddi1:
Igbo and Yoruba seems to swear to destroy Benin legacy.

Even their people said they are from Benin you keep forcing your imagination story to people. Na wa

LordIsaac:
You are going too far. Just present a first-class feat from the North and see how the South would denigrate such an achievement.
Why: Nigeria is a union built on hypocrisy and lies.

Olu317:
What exactly do you mean ? I stated clearly that once a people identify with another group, then there is iota of truth that their history is not of ibos ancestry.

bundarina:
.

He isn't. Meanwhile figure out why igbo doesn't have traditional attire and borrows from Yoruba and Edos traditional attires today.

History repeats itself.


igbos should just behave and dress like the zulus and proudly wear skin instead of culture hopping with a blend of western.

CeoMYN:
Good evening, guys. I just discovered that a group of people are editing the history of Ogba and Ekpeye Kingdom on Wikipedia.
We are not an Igbo sub-group.
Our cultural history and folktales since the days of our fathers vehemently said that we are from Benin.

Please, disregard the Wikipedia pages. I don't know the aims of these mischievous elements.

Lalasticlala Mydn44 anyone should help and push this to the front page.

axum:
The Kush you know was taken over BY Axum which had the forefathers of Somalis, Oromo, Amahara, Tigrey and ther Cushitic people.

Olu317:
I have thrown light on Igala as it relates Yoruba-Tapa intermarriages that brought Igala as hybrid before the Ibo fusion.So, there is no need to overflog this issue.

Sincerely, there is no need to drag people's historicity with them. In as much as the Ogba sub group claim Bini linkage, then it is best, you people let them be.

This case is much like if Yoruba people claiming the whole Edo land, instead of Bini .This will result to falsification of history because people lived in that environment withtheirdistinct identities before Yoruba descendants emerged in Igodomigodo land as the new ruler through fusion of Yoruba prince-king, who later became Ooni at ileife.

Even if there are Ibo influence in Ogba kingdom,the fact remain Ogba people identified themselves with Bini land.

Tranquill:
Thank you.

What is Ogba language and what is Igbo language?
Why is the language spoken by Ogba people be called Igbo language and Igbo language is not called Ogba language?
A people's language is the language that they speak. Ogba people regardless of their history, have evolved into an ethnic group and speak Ogba language while Igbo people speak Igbo language. Why would one group claim that any word or name that is common among the two groups belong to them so, now gives them the right to force their identity on them. In the entire world, it is only the Igbo people that do this and they do this in the most idiot.tic and repulsive manner. Even in the north, you have such ethnic groups like Gwandara who's history as told even by themselves is tied to the Hausa but you never see Hausa's claiming that Gwandaras speak their language, bear their names or that they are even Hausa. They respect them as Gwandara. You don't see the French claiming that the Spanish or Portuguese speak French or are French because they bear similar names or have some common words in the languages. But for the Igbos, they must constitute themselves into nuisance in their desperation to force Igbo identity on others. tueh!

Olu317:
Names may not necessarily make people a particular ethnic grouping as you have stated but monarchial tittle or more aptly the community history do have.

The fact that Ogba people bear Igbo names does not necessarily mean, they are Igbos because at every point in time in history, when a people migrate to a new place and get in contact with other ethnic group, the newer group can switch her language between the new host community for economic reason or the host community language's dominant factoring.

The Nsukka people have Igala ancestry, and this has nothing to do with political reason. These people are infact, acestrally a hybrid of Yoruba-Tapa before infusion with Ibo elements.

The Igalas in Nsukka celebrated five hundred years of migration to Nsukka, few years ago. So, Igalas in Nsukka are not Ibos even if their language have infused both Igala's (Yoruboid language) language and Igbo's.

It is pertinent to useOgu (Egun) also here with a lot of strong relationship with Yorubas.

The Egun are a people who were brought to Lagos's badagry from Benin Republic over three hundred years ago. The place had sparing settlement of Yorubas in around the area but Badagry had Egun people and Yoruba people arrived in the land around late 1720s who were Popo (Yorubas) refugees and Egun's from the wars with the Fon people of Dahomey. Infact Ọlọ́yọ́ (Alaafin) settled them in that land since the time of their arrival as refugees in SouthWest Yoruba land.

As at today, the Yoruba people among the Egu speaks Egu language and Yoruba's. In the same vein, Egu people speak both Yoruba language and Egu's.So also both bear Yoruba names and Egu names. However, each families do know how they are related to both Yoruba and Egu.

In a nutshell, Ogba people may not be Igbos even if they speak Igbo language because we cannot neglect people's history as laid down by their forebear. Obi as a name exist with ambiguous in Yoruba language as having one of the meaning as "parent."

Oba as a title of a king in Ogba land shows that there is a clear relationship between the Ogba people in River state with Bini or Yoruba monarchial title.

Allen102:
Why are these people forcing everyone to be Igbo?

aribisala0:
OK , I was not talking to you. The person I was talking to did and you just inserted your busybody self into the conversation. I assumed I was talking to the same person.
I never mentioned any book and I think you just learnt the word disingenuous and are looking for an opportunity to practice it no matter how incongruous.

I was talking to somebody else who mentioned FIELDWORK. That is what the remarks you quoted were addressing so if anyone is being disingenuous you are

aribisala0:
OK , I was not talking to you. The person I was talking to did and you just inserted your busybody self into the conversation. I assumed I was talking to the same person.
I never mentioned any book and I think you just learnt the word disingenuous and are looking for an opportunity to practice it no matter how incongruous.

I was talking to somebody else who mentioned FIELDWORK. That is what the remarks you quoted were addressing so if anyone is being disingenuous you are

aribisala0:
In short you have no evidence for your claim of "FIELD WORK" during the war?

aribisala0:
You are a liar , Her research was not carried out during the Civil War. Do you have evidence for this fictitious claim ?
It is better you keep quiet instead of just fabricating IPOB rubbish.
A woman who published probably the first Ibo dictionary and worked for decades on Ibo language and is peerless in the area and you are talking of interviews > Is that the methodology used to classify languages?

This person you mention is unknown and ireelevant

aribisala0:
You talk too much 100% of which is rubbish
Ogba language is not a dialect of Igbo . It is a different language

SilentQueen:
This is not chest beating...but to appreciate the omoluabis making Nigeria proud!

Yorubas are really making wave in all the entertainment industries like;
Music industry: Most of the greatest music legends are yorubas, who take Nigeria music to the world from the old schools like King sunny ade, Fela, yinka ayefele, shina Peter's, lagbaja, k1 d ultimate to the likes of Olamide, Davido, Wizkid, Sound sultan, Tiwa Savage, Simi, Adekunle Gold, Niniola. Almost every Nigerian and foreigners vibes to their music even when it is plainly made of yoruba language!!!
Movie industry: The movie industry is not left out by the yorubas, Most of the highest grossing movies in Nollywood today are directed and producted by brilliant yorubas like Kunle afolayan, kemi adetiba, Niyi ademolayan. And also good actors and actresses like Adesua, Toyin Abraham, Funke akindele, Odunlade adekola, Lateef adedimeji and many others.

Yorubas are also doing very well in Comedy, Magazine, Newspapers, Books and many others. Nigeria is really blessed to have the yorubas

God bless yorubas!
God bless South West!!
God bless Nigeria!!!

aribisala0:
Literacy may be a challenge for you.

The key word is "language" not "dialect" that is all we need to focus on

They are LANGUAGES within the same family . Mutual intelligibility is observed in several other language families e.g. Romance languages so called because of Latin root. This group includes Italian , Spanish, Portuguese etc.

So what does "Igboid" mean . It is a group of languages that likely share THE SAME ORIGIN

Just like Plantains and Bananas. Plantains cannot claim that bananas are a kind of plantain and vice versa. The fact that there are more plantains or bananas in the market proves nothing
Ibo language just happens to have the most speakers and dialects

Kay Williamson was very clear that the other Igboid languages are all languages and no one is a dialect of the other

I am not a linguist but Kay Williamson dedicated decades to this issue and I defer to her superior knowledge. She NOT me made the classification of Ezza.
It is what it is . Fortunately she published her findings decades ago and no one can accuse her of an agenda and to date no Eboe scholar of note has come out to dispute her conclusions

aribisala0:
Are you a linguist? Who told you Ogba is a dialect of Eboe . I suggest you research the works of Kay Williamson the foremost linguistic authority on Eboe language and stop talking ignorantly

Denn:
Benin became an empire when Oba Ewuare became king, amassed an army and started taking over territories around 1440. He was the first of the 5 warrior kings. His son, Oba Ozolua was believed to have won 200 battles. It was Oba Orhogbua that stretched his empire beyond the River Niger in the east and Ghana to the west. Trade with the Portuguese expanded their wealth and might and funded the expeditions. (SOURCE: BBC website)

The manilla bronzes were brought in by the Portuguese merchants and would have found their way to Igbo land possibly via commerce long after Benin started accepting manilla, not before.

aribisala0:
Well you are not denying that you were gifted language and speech nor that those words are Yoruba words that you borrowed

Osagyefo98:
It was Oba of Ogba not Eze.