martha89:
illushi is an Esanland,if there are some igala and Igbo's there then it means they migrated there. My point non Esans in illushi are migrants from the nigbhorhood states. Na wa...

martha89:
OK but i was saying the land belong s to Esan though non Esans migrated there.

IdisuleOurOwn:


Do you still reside in Uloshi?
https://www.nairaland.com/2795931/illushi-people

I don't reside in Uloshi presently. My parents still live in Ozigono.

martha89:
OK but i was saying the land belong s to Esan though non Esans migrated there.

IdisuleOurOwn:


Do you still reside in Uloshi?
https://www.nairaland.com/2795931/illushi-people

I don't reside in Uloshi presently. My parents still live in Ozigono.

when you say Illushi belongs to the Esan people, Please can you take us back Memory Lane how Esans acquired Illushi Land before other persons settled there?
Have at the back of your mind that the Esans migrated from somewhere. Further give thought to the fact that the person who first reside or occupy a piece of land is said to be the owner. Also note that if the Uloshi people acquired the land first by deforesting that part the Esans can only claim ownership if there was a time they conquered the Illushi people. Where otherwise, then you will be wrong to claim Illushi belongs to Esan people.

IdisuleOurOwn:

Do you still reside in Uloshi? https://www.nairaland.com/2795931/illushi-people

I don't reside in Uloshi presently. My parents still live in Ozigono.

I have read some of your views expressed here but non is absolutely correct. I will start by telling you I am a native of Uloshi which outsiders coined and spell as Illushi. Unfortunately, Uloshi have now been divided into two by government calling one part Uroh and the other Illushi as if they are different communities. The place popularly called Illushi today is also known as Odi-Igono (because at the time the community was formed it was populated by a specie of bird called Igono) which is also now called Ozigono or Ojigono. We the Uloshi people speak Igala or if you like Ibaji. Let me clearly state it here that we have nothing in common with Esan people apart from government fusion. We are markedly different from the Esan people. In terms of our culture there is no semblance at all. The Esan people call their kings Onojie whereas we the Uloshi people refer to our king as Onu.
That we are fused with the Esan people for government administrative convenience does not make us Esan. Apart from Uloshi people there are three other Igala speaking communities in Esan South East Local Government, take for instance : Ifeku -Island. We have almost the same history with the Ebu people in Delta State that also speak Igala.
Yes, it is true that we have some relations with the Igbo people but that is tied to the relationship between our forefathers and the Anioma people in Delta State. So much intermarriage led to some of the names we bear.
Someone once claimed Ozigono (Illushi) land belong to the Esans. That is one believe that is also false. Take for instance, before the Royal Niger Company now UAC built their yard in Ozigono as far back as 1892 they had to get into a lease agreement with the Uloshi people who leased where they built their yard to them. As at that time, Esans where no where near there. The few Esans who came around from where is today known as Oria/ Onogolo came to farm and they were paying what in modern day can be termed royalty or rent to the Onu of Uloshi land. Some even went as far as saying the Onojie of Ubiaja ruled over Ozigono at a point. The question such people find difficult to answer is at what time were the Olushi people conquered that made them subjects of the Onojie of Ubiaja? Since they can't falsify that, many of them don't speak about that anymore.
Back to the main issue. Illushi is not the correct way to refer to us. The white men coined our original name Uloshi to Illushi for reasons best known to them. Fortunately, we are not alone on this. They even change Bini to Benin. Our root as the story goes can be traced to Ida in Kogi State. This explains why in time past, coronation rites of our kings used to be carried out in Ida by the Attah of Igala Kingdom. Our forefathers who settled there we were told came from Ida and were on a trip with the Attah to see his brother the Oba of Benin. There existed a clear evidence of this story close to Aika at Ega before the land slide washed it off. That point was were they first settled from time immemorial and it is the boundary between us and the Oria people. Our culture is basically same with the Ibaji people that is why till date kingship in Uloshi is rotational amongst the ruling houses unlike the Esan culture, though the government and the Esan people are trying to force their hereditary culture on kingship down our throats. Good enough that has been matched with resistance that has led to the restiveness in the community.
There is also the place of the Anioma people's influence on our cultural practices. History has that the Olu festival which we annually observe was borrowed from these Delta Igbo speaking people. So some of you who claim Igbo influence may not be wrong. But for the Esan people we have nothing in common apart from government.
Suffice it to say here that the Uloshi (Illushi) people are Igala (if you like call it Ibaji) and speak only Igala. We do not have a second Nigerian language whether it be Igbo or Esan.