₦airaland Forum

The link gives this:

History of Ijaws and Neighbors in Southern Nigeria

I was reading an article titled “Press release by Ijaws of Egbema Clan: Rejoinder”, and I was particularly interested in sections that dealt with the history of the Ijaws and our neighbours.

It is the duty of historians to investigate and arrive at the truth concerning the history of peoples. In truth the history of the Ijaws and our neighbours the Itsekiris, Urhobos, Binis, Edos, Yorubas and Igbos are intertwined as we go further back in time. And it is because historians have not come to terms with this fact, that people can make claims and counter-claims as to who owns the land, and who arrived in a region first.

In various historical documents that I have sent in to this forum, I have demonstrated that all the ethnic nationalities comprising Southern Nigeria, did not exist as we now know them to be now, 2000 years ago. Most are a product of fusion of ancient people, the Ijaw people being one of the most ancient survivals of the original ancient people that fused with others to give rise to the ethnic nationalities that exist today.

What is meant by the term Autochthonous?

The term “autochthonous” means native, aboriginal, indigeous, original. The available anthropological and archaeological evidence at our disposal makes it clear that the settlement of the Southern West Africa region is a recent event, going back not more than 5000 years. While the Northern part of West Africa, may stretch back to 10000 years, if we take into consideration the Sahara grassland of antiquity.

The so called Proto-Niger-Congo language, of which the Ijo language is classified into, is divided into the following language groups - Kordofanian, which split into Kordofanian and Mande-Congo, which also split into Mande and Atlantic-Congo, which also split into Atlantic, Ijoid, Dogon, and Volta-Congo. Volta-Congo split into North Volta-Congo and Benue Kwa, which split into Kwa and Benue-Congo. Now the Ijoid language split into Ijo and Defaka, while the Benue-Congo split into Yoruba, Igala, Edo and Ibo and some other southern Nigerian languages.

According to the Encyclopedia of Precolonial Africa-Archaeology, History, Language, Cultures and Environment, edited by J O Vogel (1997, p172);

“…The indigenous languages of western Africa belong to three of the four phyla of African languages established by J H Greenberg in 1963: Afro-Asiatic, Nilo-Saharan, and Niger-Congo……Consequently, the homeland of Niger-Congo is normally placed in western Africa, whereas those of Nilo-Saharan languages and Afro-Asiatic are sought farther to the east and northeast respectively. From time to time, suggestions have been made that Nilo-Saharan and Niger-Congo are ultimately related. Recently Roger Blench has proposed that Niger-Congo is simply a branch of Nilo-Saharan, most closely related to the Central Sudanic family of Nilo-Saharan in the centre of the African continent. If this view is correct, Niger-Congo would have originated farther east than is us ually assumed, perhaps to the northwest of the present-day central Sudan. The Congo family, in Sudan, is assumed to have moved eastwards. The other families of Niger-Congo presumably were gradually compressed into West Africa as a result of the desiccation of the Sahara. As Western Africa became more crowded, Adamawa-Ubangi and Bantu expanded southwards into central Africa and later, in the case of Bantu, into eastern and southern Africa….Two relatively small families, Dogon and Ijoid, are thought to have split off next. Dogon with little internal differentiation, remained on land, south of the bend in the Niger, while Ijoid, with somewhat more internal differentiation into Defaka and the Ijo group, moved down the Niger to its confluence with the Benue and then either directly along the Niger or via the Benue and Cross River to the Niger Delta and associated waterways where it is found today….”[1]
If Niger-Congo is a branch of the Nilo-Saharan proto-language, as has been suggested, then it gives credence to the argument that the ancient language differentiation of Africa took place in prehistory in the regions of the Nile-Valley and the Old Sahara grasslands, and not in the vicinity of the Niger-Benue confluence.

The absence of the anatomical remains of early human beings, and the lack of evidence for stone age and bronze age cultures in the West Africa region, rules out any claims by a group of people, to be truly autochones or aboriginal to West Africa. All West African peoples migrated to the area at one time or another, from either North, East or South Africa, as such, West Africa has been peopled at different times by successive waves of migration from East Africa and North Africa/Sahara region respectively.

Taking the combined evidence of language studies, ancestral tradition, anthropology and archaeology, it is certain that by at least 2000 BCE the West Africa region was being peopled. As to who arrived first is of no consequence as the land space is too vast for the first arrivals to lay claim to ownership. By 1000 BCE we have the emergence of the Lake Chad civilisation of Daima and the Nok Culture of the Niger/Benue Confluence. We can also discern a number of ancient peoples who entered the area of the Niger & Benue about the same time. They include the following:

Environment, p172.

http://www.earthrights.net/nigeria/history.html

I got this link which I will advise you to take your time to read. It made a lot of sense to me though may not be totally accurate but I can see some pointer to believable stories in it.
Please read and make your comment.Seems to me as more expository than all i have read before.

Sloan: Oga, abeg don't introduce conjecture and guesswork into history. If you have any authentic sources or cross references, then you can tell us. A lot of people are reading and will read this in future and it just wrong to mislead them by recording fallacies which they will no have to sift the chaff from the rice because of your conjectures and speculations.

I don't talk because I should. Check out Yoruba spiritual recitations and you will understand. Mind you I understand the language well. Its a story of movements. What source more than the Ifa recitation that pre-date Oduduwa himself or you want me to give you a white man link or Rev Johnson?I think 'oriki 'and recitations of spiritual ifa throws more light. its up to you to enlighten yourself.

Tony Spike: A few weeks ago, I read about the history of the Luos (Luwos) of Kenya and I must say it was very interesting and sad. The invaders from Europe succeeded in driving out the original inhabitants of Kemet deep into Central and West Africa. The Luos preserved their histories and origins in oral forms and songs. I'm sure the same method of preserving history is available for many Yoruba families in form of Orikis. I believe our ancestors left us lots of clues, the major problem is how to decode them.

From usual eulogy of incantations it was said that Orunmila migrated from one Ikole Orun(probably a far distant place looking at the 'orun' attached) to Ikole Aye may be he founded the Ikole Aye presently in Ekiti and from there moved to Ile Ife. A whole lots of Yoruna history are missing because Rev. Johnson limited us to what he could get from the Oyo who obviously saw Yoruba history through the Oyo supremacy of the 19th century giving derogatory names to other groups like Ijebu and Ijesa.
I believe there exist various Yoruba aborigines before the advent of Oduduwa dynasty which must have been much older and became a titleship like we have in today's royal lineage where a ruler will bear the name of his ancestors like Olu of Warri as Atunwase 2.
Agboniregun, Orunmila, Obatala and their generations were all before Oduduwa while the likes of Ogun were all deified humans.History showed that there were at least 90 generation of rulers at Ife before Oduduwa came like the Erelu Ere.
However, ,I want to believe that there was actually an already existing connection between Oduduwa and his groups and those already at Ife. That is why I believe there were various Yoruba Kingdoms pre-Oduduwa one of which was Ugbo Kingdom of today's Ikale/Ilaje and possibly looking at the title of 'Owa' among Ekiti /Ijesa Obas, the word Oba may have been a latter adaptation during the Oduduwa era. Also before the coming of Oranmiyan, various Oduduwa children/grandchildren have founded Kingdoms that were functional and massive and Oranmiyan may have unified a larger part.
A study of the migration of the Oduduwa and his company alongside various Yoruba groups showed a like of back to home system in which older Yoruba tongues like Ekiti, Itsekiri, Ijebu and Ijesa were of earlier movements probably to rejoin their kinsmen in a remake of history. All the stories of Orunmila/Obatala getting drunk for Oduduwa to found the earth or Kingdom may be that Oduduwa succeeded where Orunmila failed or he was overthrown? maybe.
That Ile Ife is the cradle of the creation could be true but the Ife may be a remake of an ancient Ife, very possible! Oduduwa was a priest and Ife is a city of Orisas, that city is a deeply spiritual place and there are lots of mysteries lying unlocked yet!

Very very sad to hear. We are short of life saving facilities in Nigeria including risks mitigation. We should embrace more modernity, insurance and prayers. Govt must also be co-opted to do what is right.

Sorry to my brothers that lost their savings, I pray for God's intervention on thgeir behalf and they should take advantage of the election things to get needed attention

0monnakoda: There was never a Yoruba land before Nigeria so clearly this piece is not well informed. It is not an automatic thing that if Nigeria were to break up there would be a Yoruba Nation. When the British started conducting census in "Yorubaland" No one identified themselves as Yoruba. People were Oyo,Ekiti,Ijebu etc and so if Nigeria were to break up everyone will determine what they want to do. Even in the so called Caliphate it is an error to believe that the Sultan of Sokoto ruled over Hausa land .This is wrong .'
The Fulani situation is not different from Monarchies in Europe.The English Monarchy are not English but have French,German and other origins.

A lot of Yoruba may not believe this but I genuinely believe that the Oyo or at least their kings are more likely of Nupe/borgu Origin than Odua especially when you consider the original location of Oyo Ile which probably was in Kwara/Niger State territory

There had been an evolution of nationalities and I won't want to agree with you. Historically also many Yoruba people have been lost to Tsoede a Nupe king when they became his subjects in areas beyong the Niger River. You can search for history on that.
The Emir lineage is half Yoruba half Fulani like many of Yoruba children today whose either parent is non yoruba.As far as citizenship is concerned they are Yoruba. Religion may have been used as a tool to sustain the Emirship but it doesn't take away the consciousness people's identity, a simple referendum will confirm that. The same is Igala people in Kogi who may have shared an Idoko ancestry with some Eastern yoruba who also share a lot with Edo Owo Ondo Ekiti Isekiri and ilaje-ikale kingdom. The yoruba country is vast and share close history than any other group in Nigeria.

Kwara state is not just about Ilorin.Taken that Ilorin has an Emir what about all other settlements in kwara, do they alos have Emir? The creation of Kwara and combining Yoruba in Kogi was a political fraud by government. The Emir that Alimi left was half Yoruba half Fulani and now that they marry Yoruba they are more Yoruba than Fulani and no issue with that.
The history of ilorin is different. From other towns and if a referendum is held today kwara and Yoruba Kogi will be in a Yoruba mega state.

I watched the news yesterday night where President Jonathan clearly bare his heart on his National Dialogue or conference of which he said that the outcome will be sent to the national assembly for ratification. This places the current assembly at a higher pedestal to the to be constituted conference assembly.
Its either the President 'misyarn' or his intention ultimately has to do with adjusting the tenure elongation without having had to stand for a re-election in 2015. I am not supporting any party and don't belong to any party but the handwriting of Mr President is now becoming clearer.
Even if there is no tenure elongation, those finding solace in the proposed conference should begin to doubt and start asking for sovereign conference or nothing.

What are your thoughts?

GOD DOES NOT WISH THAT ANY MAN SHOULD PERISH BUT THAT ALL SHOULD REPENT AND COME TO THE LIGHT OF THE GOSPEL.
Let me share quickly with you what the Holy Spirit told me concerning sin and hell. He said if I'VE SEEN A VAMPIRE MOVIE BEFORE WHICH I RESPONDED YES.
HE said if like 3 guys are going and vampire should bite one of them what will happen? I said according to popular movie scenes the remaining two will flee or kill him because in spite of their love for their friend his blood would be contaminated and its a matter of time he would become wild like other vampires!
The Holy Spirit said that sin is like the bite of that vampire which contaminate the spirit of man and make them unfit to live in heaven.
So its not God that send people to hell but their sin. As far as God is concern His love for us is to keep our spirits from being contaminated like the vampire bite. its not His wish that any man should perish.
That is why we should quickly repent of any sin and allow the blood of Jesus to cleanse us so that we wont go to hell.
Hope I answered your question.

I support at least 70% derivation and even resource control and see no reason why other states and regions cannot develop non oil areas.I will also support merging states into regions as desired by the people taking ethnic affinity and cooperation ,into consideration whereby the new mega states will take care of their own education, security and levy taxes. Here lies our future and our prosperity.
Internal political and socio economic evolution must be absolute include cultural and sports developments, maritime taxes and land use laws. They will define their own future as it was being done in the old regional arrangements. 30% of oil revenues can be share among non oil producers for not more than 20years when such should be stopped and total control of resources should be managed by the new states.
And when oil and gas value plummet the Niger Delta will have to look for another resource and exploit other resources.That is the path forward

I have this made of to ten of thousands now for instance
11,285 will be egberun mokanla ati igba le ni ogorin ati marun.
This is shorter than writing the same amount in English on your cheque leave. Am already thinking on colours and scientific terms and need help, lots of help. We may have to borrow a whole lots from English(afetiya) to get it done. You know if you speak English German will be easy, ,may be that closeness. For example we can have
Acid =Asidi
funny i guess but its cool

gratiaeo: Hmmm

This passage you quoted touched me and I see Africans as part of this.Turning to God help everyone and place us on the pedestal of right civilization because civilization comes with its own ills

[quote author=blaise26.abj]South- West people are not cows that follow-follow what these thieves in politics permutate. SW has always analysed the situation of things before voting, which is devoid of influence of Tinubu. 2011 elections is an indication of this. State level, people in the SW voted for AC and PDP @ the national level. Drawing from performance based assessment.

The SW people are not fools. I have talked to 3 anti-PDP people ( i'm one myself) and we all agreed that Goodluck Jonathan has tried in the face of daunting challenges. That devoid of those challenges, he would have done a lot more things. The only part that shows lack of progress is the fight against corruption.[/quote]And that is the most important part. I do not support any side and I will vote any sensible combination. Any government that fails to fight corruption in Nigeria wont achieve anything. However its understandable that APC will want to pick its candidates where its assured of winning and looking at the trend of by-elections he may have given up on the East and South and may want to draw hope from where hope exist.
This story may not be true after all election is close in Anambra and it may be a ploy to defeat Ngige in November. If this story is true, well I think he is trying to put his money where his mouth is and beside, where the President comes from is inconsequentials. WE had Obasanjo and now Jonathan, neither of them had benefited ordinary Nigerians from their ethnic groups its just all about sharing political offices to the detriment of ordinary Nigerians.
I don't know what my Igbo folks think about being presdent but Igbo had produced vice presidents and senate Presidents, finace ministers etc yet they could not get the second Niger bridge. I do not see any difference in Jonathan in this wise because majority of Nigerians are not seeing the purported 7% growth in the economy.

tobnical: Fayemi on point!!!!!

The ,odd seem to be in favor of Fayemi of EKiti state if this news is true.Its believable though because candidates have to come from where the party is strongest. Calculations will put Fashola as CJN while Tinubu caucaus will retain the most powerful ,portfolio as part of a norther President which will give him a massive control of the Presidency. In fact Fashola may be elected to the senate and he will become the senate Preident, why not?
Fayemi is more receptive of ideas and can be a party compliance guy the stuff Tinubu will like to maintain his influence. Negotiation will be stiff like APC controlling Justice, Energy, ,Maritime and may be Finance Ministries. I wish them the best but honesty desire a restructured Nigeria before then with 70% derivation for emerging states/regions

Your gut.
What about japanese, German French etc. Bro pls think deepm

We just had this discussion on developing a more flexible Yoruba language for use in mathematics and science and I came up with these. Your contribution is needed as I hope to take this up as a big dream. I also hope to do Igbo as well ,much later when this one succeed.

Yoruba Numerals:
1. Okan 2 meji 3 meta 4 merin 5 marun 6 mefa 7 meje 8 mejo 9 mesan 10 mewa ( taking each per quantitative value)
11. mokanla 12 mejila 13 metala 14 merinla 15 marunla 16 mefala 17 mejela 18 mejola 19 mesanla 20. ogun ( taking quantitative value in sequence more intelligoble for children)
21.okanlelogun 22 mejilelogun 23. metalelogun 24 merinlelogun 25.marunlelogun 26 mefalelogun 27. mejelelogun 28 mejolelogun 29 mesanlelogun 30 ogbon (as above)
31 okanlelogbon
That will be in that sequence so we can have:
40. ogun meji( or ogoji still) and the sequence will be 41 okanlelogoji, 49 mesanlelogoji and 90 will be adorun and 91 will be okanleladorun, amnd 99 mesanleladorun.
100 ogorun.
101 okanlelogorun(or ogorun ati okan) following the sequence of increments in hundreds 102 mejilelogorun(ogorun ati meji)
110 mewalelogorun(ogorun ati mewa)
111 mokanlalelogorun(ogorun ati mokanla)
112 mejilalelogorun(ogorun ati mejila)


113 metalalelogorun
and
150 will be like adotalelogorun(or ogorun ati adota)
151 okanleladotalelogorun(ogorun ati okanleladota) i.e. 100+51
199 will be like mesanleladorunlelo(or ogorun ati mesanleladorun)
200 igba
201 igba ati okan
202 igba ati meji
250 igba ati adota
254 igba ati merin le ladota
289 igba ati mesan le logorin

please contribute

We are in need of the following in case anyone have for sale:
An HD/MPEC 4 satellite decoder
shoe sowing machine(electric)
shoe branding as in stamping of brand name machine
Shoe filing machine
A pick up van or toyota/honda/ Nissan car

Please they must be in good condition.

Call this contact : 08053641375

Originalsly: Why is this a good move?...good for Nigeria or good for Nissan? Why don't we ever hear the details of the plans? ...or we just don't care because we would have bragging rights? Can somebody explain how this would benefit Nigeria? Instead of nursing our own baby Innoson...here we are bringing in veteran Nissan. How can Innoson compete? Any good government would try to develop its local industry...not discourage it by importing competition....yet we wonder why India and others are so far ahead. Did India allow foreign auto manufacturers? Yes they did. Under what conditions? Mercedes Benz....e.g...20 year licence...first 5 years all product to be exported/15%staff locals. Next 5yrs...10% of product local sale40% staff local..20% management locals etc...incremental take over. Yesterday Walmart backed out of opening stores in India because of similar policy...they have to sell.x percent of local produce etc. That is development...not to open your doors to be exploited and that is exactly what Nissan is doing. Is that something to clap about? What have we learned from Shell and all ths other foreign companies? Please...open your eyes and allow me to shut my trap.

I embrace your thinking but please also know that competition drives innovation. TATA is not the only brand in India but my fear is the government should be nice enough to ensure at least four other companies are on ground befor importation of Tokunbo is enforced.Why? the stoppage of importation of cement gave Dangote unfair advantage and monopolise the sector.If we have had a couple of companies say like five doing the same thing maybe cement should be selling like 800 naira a bag today. Innoson should be made to assemble cars for government agencies and car loans in force can be through such patronage.
Giving only one company any unfair advantage kills the coming generation and no country had done such succeesfully and developed the same way as obtained in first world.
This idea is a good one taken that Nigerians wont be ripped off as presently done with the Dangote Group (as such it appears to me as prices of cement in Nigeria is three times that of international market which means Nigerians spend more money building than any country in the world!) I d not subscribe to building billionaires that milk the populace in the name of building local industries for whose benefits should these things be? Is it to develop Nigeria or to enslave our pockets? This must be made clear.

Dearest sorry for digressing, I need your help on FTA .plssssssssssssssss

ketoprofen: all these shanties r nothing to write home abt
- oyo gdp is made by foreigners
- oyo citizens r poorer dan enugu citizens

I do not know what shanties you are referencing here but I do know that Nigeria itself is having more rural areas than urban and its urban slums are numerous.The question is to compare population and average economic well being. If I have to speak as a professional without the ubiqutous ethnocentric emotions often exhibited on this forum I think no city in Enugu state is as large,as Ibadan maybe even Ogbomoso. Taken that Enugu city is compact and largely new and better organized but you must remember that Ibadan was already a city in the 1880s and you do not expect all the houses built then to be of modern taste and beauty. Its got history behind it just like such cities as Kano, Ogbomoso, Osogbo etc. Many of Yoruba towns and cities are over a century and a half old and the intra-ethnic wars of the nineteen century destroyed or changed the shape and shades of many.
That taken, it is also imperative for you to key to the type of market and economy that can support a city of over 3 million people. Ibadan has industries albeit small compared to its status as a big city and its one of the highest net energy consumer in Nigeria may be between number 3 and 4. What does that tells you? that the city is vibrant. Ibadan also have its unfair share of poor people in millions and economically buoyant populace which are also in millions as so what are we talking about? its got both good and bad than Enugu.
I think object analysis of data should be a hallmark because many people come here to learn.

https://www.nairaland.com/1469357/d-truth-behind-dangote-wealth
i THINK EVERY NIGERIAN NEEDS TO READ THIS AND MAKE INTELLIGENT CONTRIBUTIONS. A choicebetween becoming industrialized and creating more poverty through ripping or do you take this as a necessary discourse in economic growth if this story is true?

sarutobie: Why bother about DSTV when MCL gives me ALL the live football games,CNN,foxtv,E!,Mtvbase and tracetv,nateowild,aljazeera and 30 more worthwhile channels..make dem try front jor!

Pls can you put me in the know of all these satelites and how to go about them.I won't mind
Let me call u bro

Pastor Kun: And based on what research did you do to arrive at your conclusion that most people go bed hungry and spend 50% of their salaries on fuel? It sound like an ignorant man's research/ rantings to me.

There are lots of places in nigeria without power, some for weeks and some months. If as said Nigeria needs 10000Mw and currently generate less than 3000mw then a shortfall of 7000mw meant for homes and companies are non existence and powered by generator.
For a home that power a small generator for say with 5litres a day and 140litres a month, that translate to almost 14000 a month which would have been spent on say tangible developments and family improvements etc. I do not believe this report but come to think of it what was their own definition of middle class?

Its a nice one from the governor. Osun needs it a whole lot for those that can see into the future

I don't trust data in Nigeria but at least we can make some assumptions. I believe Lagos GDP exceed $100billion and the GDP for most states are higher due to the same reason of huge informal sector. Oil producing states have more government spending than non oil states which raised their GDP but in whole HDI and GINI are better if computed on true stats.
Ibadan is a large city and it has many faces; the good, bad and ugly. There are many cities inside ibadan metropolitan area and some are as good as Lagos and some worse than many interior villages! Enugu is a much smaller city and more manageable and its easy to reckon as developing.
When you compare Oyo State and Enugu, its like comparing nigeria and Togo, oyo state obviously has a huge landmass and population and receives less than states with comparable size in federal funds.However we must admit that the state potentials have not been harnessed and its been in a huge bad political m$ess until lately. However, oyo state has ogbomoso, Oyo, Iseyin, Saki, Ibadan, igboho etc to take care of and that is a huge challenmge. Ogbomoso alone has population of about a million or more!
Enugu and Ibadan are two cities with different issues and inspite of a number of industries in Ibadan more will be needed to make for impressive developments.
Economic outputs of Ibadan is far higher than Enugu and ibadan is ancient, these cities are not in the same league.