Igboid:


Where is the source of it's information that Kalabari is Ijaw coming from?
Did it take cognizance of earlier studies made when Kalabari was still at its early stages and even had an Igbo king as observed by Captain Crow and Arthur Glynn?
New Calabar aka Kalabari has three sources of Origin.

1. Efik, who are the true and first Aboriginals who left old Calabar to form New Calabar that became Ijawnized by later Ijaw migrants to Kalabari.

2. The Igbos, mainly of Aro and their Abam, Ohafia, Edda accomplices who accompanied the Efiks from old Duke town in Old Calabar to establish New Calabar (Kalabari) in its current location.

3. The expansionist Ijaws who were late arrivals but were cultural genocidal in nature which helped them wipe off the language of the earliest Efik and Igbos who formed New Calabar.

What the stupid article on the journal did was ignore the other two original roots of New Calabar by simply looking at the dominant Ijaw part of New Calabar.
It's a poorly researched journal.

SlayerForever:




No Ijaw boatmen can paddle boats 48 hours without food. Their naval prowess was only identified in relation to maritime banditry.

Igboid:
Here is an authentic history of New Calabar (Kalabari) written by Arthur Glynn in.

We know for a fact that New Calabar are originally Efik people who migrated from old Calabar and were accompanied by the Igbos(Aros) who became part of them, to their current location.

New Calabar later on welcomed too many Ijaw elements.

So in essence, they are a mixed people composing of Efik(Ibibiod), Igbo and finally as always, the latecomers Ijaws who overwhelmed the other two groups and made their own Ijaw Language the dominant language of the area, just as they have struggled to do in Bonny and Opobo but have failed woefully.

Vintagepipes:
....@slayerforever @Igboid @Bkayy @Ofoigbo @9pluto

..... Igbo navigation power on the sea and rivers of Igbos

..........@ekealterego Task done

........So, the point, Igbos were also good on the waters.

Igboid:


Nope.
We can't accept politically motivated historical distortions of 1960s that are not in agreement with earlier neutral accounts collected at an apolitical era.

Igboid:


Right.
Another 1960s book.

BKayy:

You just like writing nonsense.
When did Kalabari turn to Ijaw? Have you forgotten Boma of BBNaija that also confirmed that Kalabari being referred to as Ijaw is fallacy on national TV?

Maybe your stupidity is not yet cleared because you still call the place "Kalabari" which is a corrupted form of "New Calabar".
The real name of the place is "BOM" go and ask their Elders.

I am happy that you are the one that decided to expose the alien nature of Ijaw in between one Igbo clan of Oguta (Ugwu-nta) , Kalabari (Bom) etc.
I remember when we showed you people "Ụmụ Okirika" in Imo State and you were shocked. Atleast the breeze of truth now blows from all sides including you aliens.

cc SlayerForever, Ekealterego, Igboid

Igboid:


Alua, nua, etc, are Igbo greetings Ijaw copied.
These greetings are used as far as Nsukka at the border of Igbo and Igala.
And the Ika at the border of Igbo and Bini/Esan.

They have nothing to do with Ijaws, rather the Ijaws copied them from their Oru/Olu Igbo neighbors, some of who they have assimilated and Ijawnized.

Anyone that grew up in Enugu in the early 2000s will know of a radio station on ESBS Enugu by Nsukka people called "Nsukka Alua".

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281498706_Local_Dialect_Radio_Programmes_Rural_Development_and_Social_Integration_The_Case_of_Nsukka_Alua_Radio_Nigeria_Enugu_Programme

SlayerForever:
[s][/s]


Bro this is absolute rubbish.

SlayerForever:




On scholarly validity and admissibility the memoir is superior

SlayerForever:



That's how Ijaw towns are named. But Igbo towns have a dominant Ma suffix in their town names too. So automatically your position is debatable.

SlayerForever:



The name is Okoloma not Okoloama.

Alabo7978:
Lol, but wait a minute, why is no one talking about the Oru-igbo and why they greet in an ijoid Language?
Putindbut JANK23H robbstark look how Igboid SlayerForever etc avoided that one.

Oru-igbo nua o!!!

Igboid:


Nope.
On Bonny he said "perhaps". He was guessing, he didn't get his info from the Bonny chiefs, neither was there any scientific method to it.
That's why being a honorable researcher, he used "perhaps".
And yes! His guess was dead wrong and we know it. How!
Because we have earlier researchers who were not doing guess work on Bonny, but we're rather collecting stories from the chiefs and kings and recorded them.
Why should any sensible person leave a solid work by Glynn and Baike on Bonny and be holding unto a guess work made in passing about Bonny by Talbot?
Yeah, someone desperate enough like Ijaws.

Captain Pereira never at any point said that Ijaws were Aboriginals to Bonny.
He noted the presence of savage Jos men in the rivers around Bonny.

Putindbutt:

Gbam! This was the same Talbot he was priding called them "great" earlier but has suddenly become irrational. You see how their sentiments swings to wherever that trips their egos

Igboid:


If only it were that easy.
A guess work based on wrong logic is no match to an archeological evidence based on a scientific evidence like carbon dating.
That's for sure!

Igboid:


Carbon dating is more solid than a guess work based on irrational premise by Talbot.
That is sure!

Kay Williamson is a modern day distortion champion unleashed in 1969 to doctor alot of history of Igbo people in the Niger Delta.

Her works was influenced by British politics and economic interest ie how to get Igbos off the crude oil of Niger Delta.

I would take her work with a pinch of salt and would rather hold unto earlier non biased works of Baike, Glynn, and Captain Crow that were strictly about understanding the anthropology of the area they intended to exploit, with no innate ambitions of historical distortions.

Shiver99:


And yet Haiti was dominated by African slaves and you didn't have even mullatoes claiming to be black.

Much of the Roman empire was dominated by white slaves from the North of Rome, you didn't have any Romans claiming to be white.

Much of Mediterranean Morroco and Algeria was also dominated by white slaves, you didn't have the local Eurasian-Arab folk claiming to be European.

For a significant part of the slave trade, there were more slaves being imported into Igboland, than being exported. Yet you didn't see any Igbos claiming to be minority slaves.

In all these cases, even when the slaves outnumbered the locals 4:1, the slaves were still forced to submit to the local culture and language.

Yes, it's only in dubious Niger-delta history, where an entire group including all of its elite and ruling class, is forced to adopt the language, culture and even ancestral stories of the enslaved.

Igboid:
Here is evidence of Igbo antiquity.
Real scientific and archeological evidence.
Not an erroneous guess by Talbot whose guess was based on the wrong premise that since Ijaws never met Igbos on their migration to their current location, they must therefore have been no Igbos when they first came.

Without recognizing the fact that Ijaws were late aliens who came from the high sea to the area.

Igboid:


Kay Williamson was a British agent that worked alongside Alagoa to distort Igbo history in 1960s during and after the civil war.
Either way, if she has any archeological work to prove that Ijaws were more ancient than Ndiigbo, like we have with Igbo ukwu artifacts and Lejja iron works, post them here let me see.
I don't take her publications serious.
I'd rather stick to earlier works done before the British had crude oil interests in Eastern region! As far as history and origin of Bonny and Opobo are concerned.

Meanwhile Lejja iron work site was dated around 2000BCE!
That's how old Ndiigbo are.
You have to be that old to have Igbo population.
No way in hell Ijaw is the oldest ethnic group in southern Nigeria.
There is no archeological evidence for such funny claim. Talbot that first made that claim knew he had no evidence, hence the use of "Perhaps" to indicate he was guessing.

I had already shown why Talbot hypothesis even without the him having the advantage of having Igbo Ukwu and Lejja iron age Advantage was horribly wrong.

Talbot never took cognizant the possibility that Ijaw being a sea faring people didn't need to come to the region from a Northern direction, they came from Atlantic direction!
He naively based his guess on Ijaw having no history of meeting Igbo while migrating from the North, and so could have come to their location at a point the Igbos were not yet in existence and hence didn't need to pass through the Igbo.
Rather than acknowledge that Ijaw Language being totally divergent from Ibibio,Igbo, Yoruba and Edo Aboriginals of Southern Nigeria as evidence of their alien nature and recent migration into the region, he mistakenly assumed it's a sign of their antiquity.
His first error led to the second error.
Either way, he was guessing and has no archeological evidence to prove it. But even then, his logic was flawed. A better logic could have helped him arrive at a better conclusion closer to the fact that archeology has proven today.

Igboid:


It's Okoloma.
Not Okoloama.
And it has no meaning in Ijaw.
It's an Igbo word!

Igboid:


Basden at no point asked of Bonny origin from Bonny chiefs!
He assumed that because Igbo slaves dominated the town, they must have influenced the non existent non Igbos there.

Well we know he is wrong.
Because through the well researched works of Baike and Glynn, even Talbot ( who quoted Captain Crow as well), we have a direct documented oral history of Bonny and the list of their early kings and we know they were all Igbo!

Igboid:


Nope!
Glynn , Baike, Crow notes on Bonny origin were not perhaps.
They were gotten direct from the natives!

Talbot made an erroneous suggestion that Ijaw by the virtue of not having migrated from further North and being totally divergent from Ibibio, Edo, Ibibio, Yoruba and Igbos who form continuum in terms of relationship, must have been the most Ancient of all the groups.

This is a wrong guess. Because Talbot never considered the fact that Ijaws were late arrivals in the area who didn't need to have come from Northern direction, since they were "boat people" who paddled from somewhere around Ghana-Togo to the Niger Delta.

Talbot was making a guess, hence the use of "Perhaps".
And it's a wrong and irrational guess because he closed his mind off from the possibility of Ijaws migrating through sea to the area. He based his guess solely on Ijaw not migrating from a Northern direction and hence should have been in their current southern location before all other southern groups.
Nothing else could be farther from the truth.
Only Igbo Ukwu artifacts shows that Igbos are scientifically older than Ijaws, and we have not even talked about Lejje iron ores.

Igboid:


Basden mission was never on the origin of Bonny.
Basden never interviewed his so called Bonny chiefs to ask them of their Origin,if he did , perhaps he would have gotten the same history of migration from Igboland through Azumini creeks, like Talbot and Captain and Arthur Glynn and Baike all got!
He was writing on assumptions, just as he assumed that because Ijaws stuck out like aliens they are in the Southern NIGERIA, that they must have been the most Ancient since they don't have history of origin from the North, when a better hypothesis would have been that they were early arrivals who came through the seas to the Niger Delta, at a time the Edoid, Igboids, Ibibiods and Yoruboid had already taken position.

Meanwhile, here is what Talbot said about Bonny.
Of course, he had to requote Captain Crow.

Igboid:


Basden mission was never on the origin of Bonny.
Basden never interviewed his so called Bonny chiefs to ask them of their Origin,if he did , perhaps he would have gotten the same history of migration from Igboland through Azumini creeks, like Talbot and Captain and Arthur Glynn and Baike all got!
He was writing on assumptions, just as he assumed that because Ijaws stuck out like aliens they are in the Southern NIGERIA, that they must have been the most Ancient since they don't have history of origin from the North, when a better hypothesis would have been that they were early arrivals who came through the seas to the Niger Delta, at a time the Edoid, Igboids, Ibibiods and Yoruboid had already taken position.

Meanwhile, here is what Talbot said about Bonny.
Of course, he had to requote Captain Crow.

Igboid:


Do you understand the meaning of the word "Perhaps" ?
Talbot was making an isolated guess there, not founded on any oral or scientific research, hence the use of the word "Perhaps".

Alabo7978:

You're on point bro, but I have believed the account of deities dropping from the sky as accounted in the Bible, book of Enoch, book of jubilee, sacred texts and so many ancient manuscript.

Even african oral tradition spoke of people who dropped from the sky.
The Bible call them fallen angels or nephilim, and since they dropped during the days of Noah, and abrahamic period,, I am thinking it wasn't long they were casted down that people migrated to the area.
All accounts states and proves life to begin somewhere around the East and then people spread out, so we being very ancient, it is evident we came from those region.
Look at our carvings, look at the worship of Orus, look at the affinity to the delta's.

There's a researcher who claimed to have linked close to a thousand of our words to the medu neter of kemet(Egypt)

I respected his decision on wanting to publish and not letting anyone to get the information prior to publishing.

Alabo7978:

Nice one JANK23H
Igboid howfar na... You got what you wanted abi?

giftibo:
PRESS RELEASE BY IJAWS OF EGBEMA CLAN: REJOINDER.

1. The attention of the Toru-Ibe Ijaws of Edo state has been drawn to the Rejoinder of the Benin Traditional Council Christened Press Release by the Ijaws of Egbema clan: REJOINDER: In the said rejoinder the Benin Chiefs affirm that the Ijaws as a people have no God given lands in Edo State, particularly Benin area". They continued: "In conjunction with representatives of Ugbo and Itsekiri people we have proved in previous Press statement that the Ijaws in Warri, Benin and Ugbo land are migrants and settlers."
2. To say the least, nothing can be farther from the truth. In fact, the reverse is the case. It is the Binis, the Itsekiris and the Ilajes who are laying false and baseless claims to Ijaws lands in Edo, Delta and Ondo States, and that they are the migrants and settlers in Ijaw land. The Ijaws In Edo, Delta and Ondo States are in their own God given lands from time immemorial.
3. While the Itsekiris in Warri, Delta state, the Ilajes (Mahin) in Ondo state including the Binis in Edo state, are all in Ijaw-lands. The Itsekiris descendants of Ginuwa I, the rejected and banished eldest son of Oba Olua of Benin in the 15th century, precisely 1480AD. came from Benin; the Ilajes (Mahins) from Ile-Ife while the Binis migrated from Egypt, after a short stay in the Sudan and Ile-Ife, to Ijaw lands.
4. In all probability the Press statement to which these Bini Chiefs are referring is very likely to be the one they conspired with Itsekiris and Ilajes to publish in the Nigerian Tribune of March 31,1994 and repeated in the Guardian of April 10th, 1994.
5. We published a very adequate and comprehensive response to all their false-hoods in a Press statement published in the Sunday Tribune of June 26,1994, to which these Bini Chiefs have no clues till today; that in reality the reverse is the case, that the Binis, Itsekiris and the Ilajes are the migrants, squatters and settlers in Ijaw land.
6. The history of the Ijaws in Nigeria including the Toru-Ibe Ijaws of Edo State, Egbema Ijaws in Delta State and the Arogbo Ijaws in Ondo State as the aborigines of both the Niger Delta and wherever they are found in the Nigerian Coast board has never been questioned or disputed. No history or historian has been able to establish that the Ijaws of Nigeria migrated from any where to the coast which they have been identified with. While many other ethnic groups in Nigeria have traced their origins to countries outside Nigeria, the Ijaws of the Niger Delta have no home other than their present habitat the Niger Delta which stretches from the Eastern Adonis in Akwa-Ibom state through the Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta, Edo and Ondo States. But on the other hand the Binis migrated from Egypt via the Sudan to Ile-Ife; the Itsekiris came from Benin, and so by implication, from Ile-Ife , and the Ilajes from Ile-Ife. The Ijaws are in their proper original home in the Niger Delta of Nigeria.
In other words whereas, there was a time when there was none of these people- Binis, Itsekiris and Ilajes (Mahins)- in the riverine places that they are now falsely claiming to be their own, the Ijaws, the most ancient people in Nigeria, have always been in these riverine areas, their natured habitat.
7. WITNESS OF HISTORY TO IJAW AUTOCHTHONISM IN NIGERIA
History books are replete with the fact that the Ijaws are the most ancient and indigenous inhabitants of wherever they are found in the riverine areas in Benin, Warri and Ugbo. In fact, it is the verdict of history that the Ijaws are the most ancient people in the whole of Nigeria, and are among the most ancient in West Africa. We shall quote a few historians who testify to this fact. [b]Professor J.S, Coleman in his book titled Nigeria: Background to Nationalism (Los Angeles, 1963, p. 28) describes the Ijaws as "perhaps the most ancient in West Africa whose Language has little or no affinity with any other in Nigeria ". In similar vein Professors Stride and Ifeka submit: "Some of the oldest inhabitants of the Atlantic Coast are the Jola, Pepeh and Sorer of the Senegambia, and Sherbro and Bulom of Sierra Leone. Along the Guinea Coast, the Lagoon folk of Ivory Coast, the Guan of Southern Ghana and the Ijaws of the Niger Delta (underlining ours) must be included among the most ancient of the coastal dwellers." (.G.T Stride and C. Ifeka, peoples and empires of West Africa 1000-1800, 1971, P.S).
8. Dr. P.A Talbot, once acting Resident of Benin Division (1920), calls the Ijaws "this strange people- a survival from the dim past beyond the dawn of history- whose language and customs are distinct from those of their neighbors and without trace of any tradition of time before they were driven-southwards into these regions of sombre mangroves." (Tribes of the Niger Delta, 1932, p.5). In another context, Dr. Talbot submits firmly; "their (Ijaws) origin is wrapped in mystery. The people inhabit practically the whole Coast, some 250 miles in length, stretching between the Ibibio and Yoruba. The Niger Delta therefore, is…occupied by this strange people." (Ibid)
9. Professor Wilfrid D. Hambly testifies: " Beliefs held by the Ijaws are of particular interest because these people are probably the oldest inhabitants of Nigeria."(Serpent Worship in Africa, (Chicago, U.S.A. 1931, p.16). In another context, Professor Wilfrid Hambly declares firmly: "Pythons are held sacred throughout the region of Marsh lands and waters inhabited by the most ancient tribe of all, the Ijaws." "(underlining ours Ibid).
10. These and more are objective and honest historians and writers who have no ulterior motive for their work. They are unanimous in their submission that the Ijaws are the indigenous and most ancient people of the Delta and the riverine, coastal areas of Nigeria[/b].
The Binis , Itsekiris and Ilajes who say the Ijaws are strangers, settlers , tenants or squatters in the Nigeria coast line are betraying themselves as liars, deceivers, and people engaged in dirty, expansionist politicking and who are bound to fail.
11. ITSEKIRI - ORIGIN
As a matter of fact, a historian, William Moore, an Itsekiri himself actually called the Itsekiris and the Ilajes (Mahins) squatters in Ijaw-land. He writes: "Prior to the advent of the Bini Ginuwa (i.e 1480), the territory now known as the Kingdom of Itsekiri or Iwere, was inhabited by three tribes, namely, the Ijaws, Sobos (Urhobo) and Mahins (Ilajes)… (The Sobos) occupied the hinterland, while the Ijaws occupied the coastline, and the Mahins (llajes) squatted on the sea-shore near the Benin River… the Mahins (Ilajes) hailed from Akoko and Ikale in the province of Ondo, Nigeria." (History of Itsekiri, 1970), P. B.
12. In another context, William Moore submits: "Prince Ginuwa first landed at Amatu (an Ijaw town) where he squatted for about three decades, he moved to Oruselomo where he married an Ijaw woman named Derumo… a dispute arose between him and the Ijaws of Gulani on account of the woman Derumo who was killed by him… he fled to Ijala where he later died…" (Ibid. pp. 18 - 20).
13. According to Chief Dr. Egharevba, "Oba Olua knew that his eldest son Iginua was hated by the Binis for the bad advice he had given against the people. He decided to send him away… The Oba did not wish the scheme to be known to his chiefs in order that they might send their sons to accompany him as his subjects so he cunningly asked them to send their sons with Iginua (Ginuwa) to sacrifice for him by the sea… Olua made a big box and filled it with the necessary royal attire… and to conceal the secret put the sacrificial victims on the top. He had made arrangements in advance for Ijaw men to take Igniua and his retinue in their canoes to their destination… Being very proud and fond of wearing fine clothes he was nicknamed "Iginua the proud". He was also very cunning and cruel. " (A Short History of Benin, 1968, P. 21).
14. Ginuwa's (Iginua) retinue was made up of seventy (70) all male including Ginuwa and all first sons of Bini Chiefs. There was no single woman among them. The Ijaws took them in their canoes to Amalu. After waiting for a long time and seeing that their sons did not return, the Bini chiefs realised that they had been deceived by their Oba. So they sent warriors to Ugharagin (now Oghareki) to fetch their sons home. But they had been ferried across the river by the Ijaws who refused to co-operate with the Bini chiefs, so, their mission failed.
15 Apart from accommodating these seventy men and giving them land to stay, the Ijaws gave wives to these seventy to marry and taught them all the techniques of living in the rivers including how to make river craft.
16. This is the story of the Itsekiri people who are actually the tenants, squatters and settlers in Ijawland as any reader can see for himself/herself.
17. ILAJES (MAHINS) - ORIGIN
The Ilajes met the Arogbo-Ijaws in the home land of the latter people. The Ilajes escaped from Ile-Ife a few centuries ago running for their dear life because of the misunderstanding between them and their kith and kins in Ile-Ife. They arrived in Ijawland in the present Ondo State and pleaded to be sheltered. Thus the Ilajes whose countrymen, the Yoruba are hinterland based people found themselves settled along the Atlantic sea-coast separated from the hinterland by the Arogbo-Ijaw clan who inhabit the fresh water swamps of the Delta adjoining the mainland. This historical event explains why the oldest Ilaje-towns can only be found along the Atlantic coast line and not more than a few decades old. The Arogbo-Ijaws taught the Ilajes the art of swimming, fishing, house building and canoe-paddling the only mode of transportation in the area.
18. This story was corroborated by the testimony of the then Olugbo-Elect, Crown Prince Adebanjo Akingbade Mafimisebi. He is now the substantive Olugbo of Ugbo. Testifying before the Justice Ajakaiye Chieftaincy Commission of Inquiry sitting at Akure, he deposed as follows: "The Ugbo-Kingdom in the Ilaje-Ese Odo Local Government of Ondo State existed before Oduduwa came to Ile-Ife. Ugbo (Ilaje) Kingdom is one of the ancient Kingdoms in Yorubaland as a whole, and the people (Ilajes) were originally (underlining ours) in Ile-Ife before Oduduwa (father of the Yorubas) came and raided them. They first settled at Oke Mafunranyan (High Hill) which was later known as Oke-Igbo, and later migrated to the Arogbo-Ijaw riverine area of Ondo State." (See Sunday Sketch, June 19, 1988.
19. This history of Ilaje settlement in their present habitat is further corroborated in a short history of the Ilajes by an expatriate, Patriarch J. G. Campbell who stated that the Ilajes left Ile-Ife to Ese-Odo area where they were assisted by the Ijos (Ijaws) to settle in their new environment.
20. The said press statement by the conspirator Chiefs was released on the eve of the so called Constitutional Conference organised by the Abacha Administration. Its intention was to mislead, misinform and deceive the public, the Abacha Government and the delegates to the conference to deny us our request for a separate Local Government - Toru-Ibe Local Government Area.
21. The present Rejoinder by these writers has the same intention: to misinform, mislead and deceive the public and the Federal and State Governments in the on-going Boundary delimitation exercise embarked upon by the National Boundary Commission. The third purpose of these conspirators is to show the Ijaws in a bad light, all in their attempt to corner our God-given oil rich lands.
22. They insulted the whole Ijaw race by describing it as " a nomadic and highly sedentary race that migrate to other places to live, "using their canoes in the water ways and settling on shore to engage in their fishing business." These are very inflamming words , and these chiefs owe an unreserved apology to the Ijaw ethnic nationality.
23. The Ijaws are neither nomads, migrants nor settlers, as we shall prove very presently.
But we are proud that we have our own river-craft, canoes, with which we ply our criss-cross rivers, rivulets and seas all over the coast of Nigeria and convey our goods and goods of others; we are not beast of burden like these chiefs who heave their loads on their heads and shoulders, walking miles and miles some times on bare foot.
24. Secondly, these Bini Chiefs are either very ignorant people or they are just being mischievous, out to deceive, misinform and mislead the public and governments. Their own son, late Chief (Dr.) Jacob Uwagboe Egharevba wrote that they are actually, the migrants, that they migrated from Egypt to the Sudan, and then migrated from the Sudan to Ile-Ife and then again migrated from Ile-Ife to the present place, and that "Tradition says that they (the Binis) met some people who were in the land before their arrival "(A Short History Benin, Ibadan University Press, 1968, P.1).
25. And the people, they met in the land were the Ijaws who ferried them across the Ovia river with their river-craft (Ibid. pp. 6&9) which the Bini Chiefs tried to ridicule. This duty of ferrying Binis and other people across Ovia River the Ijaws continued to perform creditably over the years until a few decades ago when bridges were constructed across the River Ovia. When vehicles appeared in Nigeria the Ijaws wisely joined two or three big canoes together to continue to do their job of ferrying men and goods across the river Ovia. The last Ijaw ferryman was chief Beyo of Ikoro, an Ijaw community in Ovia North-East Local Government Area.
26 In his book titled. The Origin and Titles of Yoruba Rulers (n.d. p.3) E. A. Kenya writes about the new comers (the Binis) "Up till that time the Oba of (Benin) and his people were pure Yoruba and did not understand the language of the aborigines who usually saluted themselves and the people thus: 'A doo', dolo o; and whenever the Oba's people saw these aborigines they used to call them "Ados".
27 S. K. Owonaro corroborates Kenyo's statement. He writes: "To the proposal Prince Godo readily consented. He therefore left Ife with the old woman and the regalia of authority… He migrated southwards till he got to the present site of Benin City where he met with some people known as Ifa, or Edos." (The History of Ijo and Her Neighbouring Tribes in Nigeria, 1949, p. 94).
28 And according to P. C. Lloyd, "… Yoruba was the Court language in Benin both before and at the time of Ginuwa's departure (in 1480), hence its use at Ode Itsekiri". (The Benin Kingdom and the Edo speaking Peoples of Southern Nigeria by R.E. Bradbury with a section on the Itsekiri by P. C. Llyod. 1957, p. 179).
29 Ado o., dolo o are the greetings of the Ijaws till today, an incontrovertible evidence that the aborigines Kenyo wrote about are the Ijaws. The aliens (the Binis) ridiculed and nicknamed the Ijaws Ados which in the corrupt form Edo/Ado became the name of the Edo people, their language, and the city of Benin. The Ijaws are the aborigines of Benin and the entire land.
30 Thus there are two elements in Benin today. The Oba and his dynasty commencing with Prince Oranmiyan from Ile-Ife in 1170 AD represent the alien, Yoruba element while the Ogiamwen, the Uzama, (an Ijaw word meaning "Ijaw people or Ijaw town"wink and the Iyase represent the Ijaw aborigines (A. Ryder, Benin and the Europeans 1485 - 1897), 1969, pp. 3 - 8. Cf Egharevba, Op. Cit, pp. 9f)
31 This was why there was a near perfect harmony between the Binis and the Ijaws all over the Country until the reign of the present Oba of Benin who has put the spanner between people who had been living together in peace for centuries. His ambition is to be both Oba of Benin and the Oba of Toru-Ibe Ijaws. We consider this as an inordinate ambition, impossible to realise.
32 It is important to state at this juncture one very important historical fact. And this is to the effect that numberless centuries before the slave trade, during the slave trade and long after the inhuman human traffic no interior tribe including the Binis dared to found any village near a river, particularly the five so-called slave rivers, namely Rio Primeriro (First River), Rio Fermoso (the Beautiful River, now the Benin River), Riodos Escravos (the slave River), the Rio dos Forcados (the Swallowtail River) and the Rio dos Ramos (Creek River).

Igboid:


What?

I said no historical mention of Ijaw in Bonny, and you never provided any evidence to prove that.
We all knew that the teeth filling Jos men terrorized Waters in and around Bonny, but were never recorded as inhabitants of Bonny.