₦airaland Forum

bigfrancis21: ...I was asking for evidence of core edo state people who speak yoruba natively. And you couldn't bring up any.

And when I said Edo languages, I know why I said it. I was referring to the respective Edo state languages such as Bini, Ishan, Etsakor, Afemai etc. So all the long write ups about the languages are extraneous and unnecessary. I, myself, have been to Edo state severally and I have many Edo friends, and I speak from both experience and research. And no one, not even one, has ever claimed he's yoruba. They'll proudly tell you they are bini, eshan, etc
from Edo state. And I've never met any who speaks yoruba. Usually pidgin English, English and maybe their native language.

Macof has failed to provide concrete evidence to his 'many edos speak yoruba' claim after asking him to provide evidence which alludes to core edo natives born and bred all their lives in edo state who speak yoruba in identification with their yoruba ancestry.

If you and macof are making reference to this akoko group who live along the borders with ondo state and use them to generalize as your so-called 'edo people are a sub group of yoruba', then you have just failed in proving your points and have made no point whatsoever. If you paraphrase your statement to 'akoko edos' are a sub-clan of yoruba, then that might seem plausible. But if its to claim that binis, ishans, afemais, etsakos etc are all yoruba sub clans, then you're truly illusioned.

I've noticed this strong penchant by Yorubas to claim Edo state people - a people who don't speak or understand yoruba natively unless they make efforts to learn it, and a people who speak entirely different languages which can be likened to how hausa and Igbo are different from yoruba.

When u say core-edo, what do u actually mean? Bini? I dnt think som edo ppl can b more edo dan d oda. Akoko-edo ppl r as much as edo as bini or ishan ppl. Most of dem claim a comon n same bini kingdom ancestry. It's jst dat as d ppl move further, dialects r bound 2differ nd cultures get more diluted by contact with other tribes. Edo north ppl r somehow more closer to Kogi ppl which they share clear boundary with, linguistically nd culturally than Edo south (bini ppl). And Edo south (bini ppl) r closer to Urhobo ppl (delta state) which they share boundary with than Edo north (Etsakor, owan and akoko-edo ppl). It's just like that. So there is no homogenous edo culture at all at all. A common ancestry is jst what unites dem nd notin more.

Pls read Macof's coment well I admonish u, nobody eva said dat edos are yorubas or a sub-group of yorubas. No! Bt what we r sayin is dat som groups like Ekiti, Owo e.t.c who r bein classified as yoruba r more edo (closer to som edo groups) linguistically and in oda aspects than they are to Oyo (yoruba). Get dat pls!

Do u know abt the Ilaje ppl of Ondo state? These ppl r also grouped unda d larger yoruba body, but linguistically nd culturally they are far closer to Ijaws than they are to Oyo (yoruba) ppl. The only thing that kind of makes dem acceptable under yoruba body is dat they speak Oyo dialect as a second language like d ijebu, Okun, Owo e.t.c do. Infact majority ilajes r ancestrally ijaw nd they know it, jst dat they somehow feel more protected with d larger yoruba body and hv since claimed yoruba, unlike their itsekiri counterparts who hav profesed a distinct identity, mostly I think because they found themselvs in delta state (southsouth) nd they do not speak the oyo dialect well. So pls try nd get d points.

bigfrancis21: Of course, I know already about the Akoko Edos who are communities that live along the border of Edo and Ondo states and some speak yoruba. I wanted to include particularly in my previous write up not to make reference to this group. The akoko-edos were already speaking yoruba way before the creation of ogun and edo states(states of which are artificial) and they found themselves in edo and decided to call themselves akoko edos. Their brothers who are in ogun state call themselves akoko. The same phenomenon is also observed among the Igbo-Ibibio communities between Abia and Akwa Ibom state who speak Igbo and Ibibio together. Such is bound to happen. Or the Igbo-Igala communities along Anambra-Kogi borders who speak Igbo and Igala at the same time.

Pls understnd d difference my broda. The igalas at d border areas with igbos who speak igbo do not use it as a lingua franca, bt mayb a scond language, unlike the akoko-edo tribes who use it as a lingua-franca.
There should be up to 5 difrent indigenous cultures/languages in dat Akoko-edo LGA if I'm nt mistakin. I know Okpamehri, Igarra and Ososo very well, nd I must tell u, if an igarra man meets an Okpamehri man, they are most likely to speak yoruba with each oda in dat their akoko-edo LGA because their own individual languages r very distinct.

macof: Good point to throw in

I think Akoko people are hybrids of Akure and Bini because there's a blend of both cultures but Akoko speaks Yoruba(Oyo) as a second language not even Bini or Akure.

Wats happening in the North is also something to think about. Most(if not all) Bariba tribe people of the Borgu ethnic group speaks Hausa as a second language and Yoruba(Oyo) as Third. They learn these languages in their own town not in Kano or Lagos.

Same with Nupe

Yes, akoko ppl (both akoko in Ondo nd akoko edo) are kind of like hybrids btw d bini nd yoruba (oyo) culture/language.

Bariba, bokobaru, bussawa, Borgu e.t.c mostly speak yoruba as a second language as they r mostly found in northern kwara. Evn d ones in Niger state likely speak yoruba as a second language more than hausa. Only d tribes in Northern nd eastern Niger state likely speak Hausa as a second language. Infact many Bariba ppl hv been yorubanised. They are a ppl believd 2b of Nupe ancestry, heavily influenced by yoruba.
Only Nupes in Kwara and very few in Kogi r likely to speak yoruba as a second language pls, and when I mean second language, I mean they can learn it from their own hometowns which r not natively yoruba. Nupes in Niger hardly speak yoruba or evn hausa as a second language. That's why almost evry settler there learn to speak nupe to converse.

I think som of u r quite mistakin it. In some parts of Edo state, yoruba is used as a general language, especially in Akoko-edo LGA, parts of Edo north senatorial district. These ppl share boundary with Ondo n Kogi state.
In Akoko-edo and Owan east nd west LGAs, many of dem use yoruba as a lingua franca, they are not one tribe but different tribes. Any igarra person u find from Akoko-edo LGA is fluent in his language (igarra) and also yoruba.
What makes a language a second language is d fact dat u can learn it from ur own hometown which r not natives of d language. Just like Platea or Nasarawa ppl, these ppl r not hausas at all, they have their own various languages but use hausa as a general language amongst demselvs, so they grow up learning hausa in their own hometown and home-villages which r not natively hausas. Same tin with som ppl of Edo north. They evn answer yoruba names very very well.
Anybody who hv stayed in these places nd lived with d ppl can attest 2it. Though the yoruba they speak does not affect their own individual native languages and cultures.

StarFlux: This whole thread is ridiculous. I see people claiming Edo to be a dialect of Yoruba and so on. Edo and Yoruba are two distinct languages, fairly different from each other.

Just because you find similar words here and there does not mean these languages are the same or dialects of each other, tell me: have you ever come by a language that does not borrow words? Core vocabulary is still distinct.

Mr, there is really nothin like an Edo language or a yoruba language. There r only edo nd yoruba dialects. Edo ppl speak languages dat r difrent nd similar 2each oda. Bini (edo south) and Etsakor (edo north) for instance can not understnd each oda. Evn among d etsakors, there r difrent etsakor dialects who cannot understnd each oda well. There r also Esan, owan, akoko-edo e.t.c. Edo ppl only profess a comon ancestry from d ancient bini kingdom, many of dem do nt evn agree to a comon ethnicity. Som bini ppl prefer 2b called Bini than Edo, same with som Ishan e.t.c. So with dat, I dnt think we shuld expect the yoruba ethnicity to be a homogenous ppl and language.
Surprsinly Egun ppl r today clasified as a yoruba sub-group 2geda with d aworis as Egun-awori, whereas it is very clear dat Egun ppl are of Dahomian (benin republic) origin.
So I really support Macof sayin dat Owo or Ekiti sub-groups of yoruba culd b closer to Bini inflences than yoruba (oyo) influences.

fiizznation: . Interesting !!! So any part of the north that voted for jonathan r tagged the middle-beltians in ur defination of the MB? Wow !!! Tell me something I dnt know . Dude the middle-belt is a fraud created by some never-do-well in the south jst to reduce the political influence of the north.. Am a northerner and frm the north central.. I ll never be part of the fraud called middle-belt••••.

And mister stop using "WE" and speak only for urself. And besides is nt as if u r even a northerner.

That's where you have failed sir. Check the willinks comision of 1956, u'd find out that b4 d independence of Nigeria there was a cause to create and independent central nigerian region for the numerous minorities of the middlebelt region.
One tin for sure ppl like u must know is dat surely, those of us who love and prefer the middlebelt identity in the middlebelt region are more than ppl like u who will always wnt to remain slaves of hausa-fulanis. I evn doubt if u r from a minority tribe situated in central Nigeria, u must b a kanuri from d fringes of Jigawa or a fulani from chad.
I am a proud Jukun from Taraba (the majority tribe of d state) and I can hardly consider myself a northner but a middlebelter. We jukuns are found in Taraba, Benue, Plateau, Adamawa and Nasarawa in the central Nigeian region.

fiizznation: Many of these ret.ards creating an invinsible middle-belt in dere heads shd beta see a shrink•. U guys dnt knw anything abt d north central which u call MB... Go and read more abt the north in general b4 u start spewing rubbish.... Imagine !!! North central for Jonathan. Daz a very daft reasoning•
They dnt even knw dat one of the person(IBB) they keep insulting and tagging his name with all kind of curses is the mst powerful person in dere imaginary middle-belt. .

You obviously are the one who knows nothin. The middlebelt reality is more real than any north-central or north-east, geo-political zone trash! All these geo-political zones are not even constituional to start with. They are nothin but exalted carvings. The moment the mass of Nigerians decide to ignore it, it ruptures, coz it's theory hold no water.
When we the middlebelters voted for GEJ last elections, we did not vote according to a north-central pattern but accordin to a middlebelt pattern. Hence Goodluck won in Adamawa and Taraba states, also got substantial votes from southern kaduna (more than a million), southern gombe, south kebbi, borno south e.t.c. And these are areas believed to be middlebelt by the greater definition. While the remainin areas believed to be core-north mostly voted their Buhari except mayb Niger state. So pls get ur facts, that North-central definition is very different from our middlebelt definition. North central is d name abokis gave to us while middlebelt is our true identity which many of us did not really realise earlier.

Jman06: The middle belt should rise and take their destinies into their hands now or never. GEJ's government holds better opportunities for them. It's either they act now or perpetually remain slaves to the core northerners.

True what my buddy says, the middlebelt truly needs to rise up and take their destinies, but not necesarily by votin GEJ.
We only for sure would prefer to vote for GEJ instead of an aboki, I.e if they r d only options available. But if there r others options (includin someone from our own region), forget that story, we wuld dam GEJ. because Goodluck has really not helped us middlebelters in anyway. We voted for him en masse, Plateau state gave him the highest vote (over 2million) among d 'so called 19northern states. Sth many of the southern states (evn his south-south could not give him), but he still prefers to favour hausa-fulani core-northnerns (our opressors) to favourin us. We are seeing that very clearly.

magapagal: Hahaha u sound so funny my guy... out of the so call leaders that rule this country how many of them are hausa/fulani? Gowon, IBB and Abubakar are all from middle belt u r now claiming is not part of north. So the way I see it if north should carry the blame of ruining nigeria, middle belt should equally carry some of the blame.

All of these ppl u mentioned, though r middlebelters by origin, but have prefered a one'northern identity. U shuld know that really not all ppl who are geographically from the middlebelt like to hear the word middlebelt. Some of them prefer to remain hausa-fulani slave foreva.
Only Yakubu Gowon culd really said 2b a pure mddlebelter by ancestry sef. The midlebeltness of ppl like IBB n Abdulsalam culd really b questionable as some of them r believed to be mixed fulani and gwari and not really pure Gwaris. There are many hausa-fulanis in niger state that will claim middlebelt, claim gwari. But the minds of such ppl can neva be good for the middlebelt cause.

Middlebelters wuld surely prefer to vote Goodluck 100 times again than to vote an aboki.

DerideGull: You are a walking rubbish. Do you know there is LGA in Benue State that is totally of Igbo? This same thing applies to Kogi State. How could a so-called Awori wannabe tell Ndigbo the delineated boundaries of Igbo land?

Pls, I hope u are not mistakin d igalas and idomas for igbos oo. Pls tell me d name of the wholly igbo lga in benue or kogi. I'm waitin
Igbos are found everywhere in Nigeria, the question is where they are indigenous or not!

macof: Ok thanks but I wanted to know difference in culture and language

U can really learn dat by googling about them.
Linguistically, igala hv great influences from yorubas, igbos and hausa. Igala is very close to Eloyi and Agatu languages in Nasarawa and Idomas in Benue. While ebiras bear influences from Edo and yorubas. D languages nd cultures of d ppl r very difrent. Ebiras r most likely 2speak yorruba as a second language frm their own hometowns while igalas closer to igbo language which some of them (especially those at d border areas with Anambra, enugu) can speak. The supreme leader of the Ebira is d Ohinoyi with his seat at Okene, while the igala is d Attah, with his seat at Idah.

macof: Wats d difference between igala and ebira

They have their great differences, they are not the same but are found in same state Kogi. But Ebiras are also found in Nasarawa and Kwara, Igalas are also found in Nasarawa, Anambra.

The middlebelt are the minority groups/ppls of central Nigeria, nd dis really doesn't depend on religion. Muslims from minority central nigerian groups are middlebelters, only dat some of them would prefer d name north central as they feel they shuld be one with hausa-fulani core-north cos of religion. Christians from Katsina, core-north can neva be midlebelters as they are hausa-fulanis. Religion is nt d factor of determination.

DerideGull: There is Igbo in both Benue and Kogi States.

Pls, d igbos found in Benue and Kogi state r not indigenes of either, they all know their roots in d southeast. But igalas hv villages in Anambra and Idomas in Enugu.

DerideGull: Bros nitty-gritty or not, I know Igbo land cuts squarely into Benue and Kogi States.

Pls sir, Igbo land or igbos do not cut indigenously into the middlebelt (kogi or benue). Instead it's d oda way round. There r indigenous igalas in Anambra and Enugu state, and Idomas in Enugu, but very few though. Note that!

karfe: ^^^^
There are several pages before this one which try to discuss the ethnic make-up of the MB with respect to the groups which are a bit more prominent. There are also various maps showing Nigeria's ethnic geography but most of them are simplified and could be misleading but they just try to give a general idea, especially for areas with many small groups

My suggestion is to keep these areas with small groups together as much as possible while granting the large groups their autonomy

For a more detailed map, refer to www.ethnologue.com and check the Nigeria maps

NB. Please read the whole thread and make your contributions. This is an attempt to improve knowledge of the area's ethnic and cultural setting

True true yes.
It's really a good thing that we middlebelters are makin it known that we are no longer part of the false 'one north'. We wished to be adressed as central nigerians or midlebelters. The name north central is just very inapropriate.

In everytin I believ we can conclude by sayin ethnic identity is what we choose to be. The major issue of ethnic confusion amongst we black africans today owes to what our colonial masters did to many of us. We all know that prior to colonialism there was nothin like a one-yoruba or one-igbo ethnicity. The colonialists saw like ppls and sometimes grouped dem up togeda as one ppl. Today we see that some tribes (especially the larger ones) have to be divided into sub-tribes first before clans while some (especially smaller ones) divide into clans directly. For instance, there are no clans of the yoruba tribe but only sub tribes because it is nothin but a mergin of like ethnicities by colonial masters WHILE there are clans of d Igala tribe because the ppl defined as igala today have always been one united kingdom.

macof: Ekiti is not Yoruba

Have u been following them thread at all?

Ekiti and Yoruba have the same origin but speak totally different languages.

Ekiti people speaks Yoruba too very well because Ekiti was once an Oyo colony, but Ekiti has it's own language.

Macof, I truly agree with what u hv been saying, the only major reason why ekiti or Ijebu ppl appear yoruba or more yoruba than the Edo or Nupe or Igala ppl is that the Ekiti or Ijebu ppl also speak general yoruba (oyo dialect) as a second language, hence makin it easy 4dem 2b seen as one ppl with yorubas, otherwise they'd have been clearly classified as a distinct group.
I believe if all nupes, Ebiras, igalas were to have been speaking the oyo dialect as a second language, they'd hv been classifed under the larger yoruba body too cos they share similar cultures and close dialects with the yoruba tribes.
This has one way made it the reason why some delta igbos reject the larger igbo identity, because they do not speak the central unifyin igbo dialect well as a second language. If they had, their igboness would neva have been in doubt like it is today. There is just a kind of bond that a common language creates. Many of the northern minorities who are not hausa and have neva considered themselves hausa appear hausa mostly because of the linguistic comand they hv in the hausa language. Some of the have been absorbed by the larger hausa body (especially the muslims).
Without a central unifyin dialect, the deifnition of an ethnic group can hardly b complete.

karfe: On the previous pages, you will see some more detailed maps. However, all these maps give different levels of complexity and help us appreciate how best we can run a workable structure

Workable structure in what way really?
For example in d area of plateau state, all dat can b seen is Ngas, wheras there r abt 50 distinct ethnic groups in d state. Beroms and Taroks r very well likely more than Ngas in d state nd they r nt representd on d map. There are more Bachamas than almost any other tribe in Adamawa, but Batta just covers everywhere around that area, how may more can I mention? Sb who really does not understand d complexity of especially minority areas like the middlebelt and Niger-delta areas might just conclude a dominance of a particular tribe as he sees on the map.
Yes d map offers an idea of a level of complexity but to a very minimum and lay extent, d reason why I dnt really like these cultural maps. I believe the best dat should be defined as the middlebelt areas are the areas of minority groups of the central nigerian region.

Well, I think d main reason 4dat is dat hausa and yoruba muslims really dnt believe and practice same thing. Hausa muslims seem to be more fanatic and extremists in their religous ideas and that is the main reason they always have religous problems with the christians in their region unlike the yoruba muslims who have always lived in peace with their christian brothers.
Language difference is really not the issue here, you can neva hear sth like Igbo church or Ijaw church. Whether ppl of a particular ethnicity dominate in a church is not really d problem of christians as long as the language used there is english or a general language understood by all, ppl of difrent ethnicities r bound to converge. The difrences in christianity r just denominational with no tribal intonation at all.
Why is there also hausa sallah and yoruba sallah if I may ask? Many of us have been used seeing the hausas celebrate their own sallah 2day and d yoruba muslims wuld do theirs the next day.
Sorry 2say this, I also feel the hausas see the yoruba muslims as fake muslims.

Agbotaen, I also want to ask u. If per-adventure Nigeria breaks up today (which we don't pray for). Where will the Ikas be? In d proposed Niger-delta republic or Biafra with other igbos? I surely know that many Aniomas will go with their south-east brothers than prefer to go with Niger-delta republic.
I also want u 2know that if per-adventure Ika or any oda Igboid groups goes with Niger-delta identity 2day or a republic per-adventure break-up, they will smell real marginalisation and discrimination! because for all the other niger-deltan minorities like Urhobo, Bini, Ijaw e.t.c care you are all Delta igbos and further igbos, they will always see u ppl as aliens who should rightly be with other igbos. That's also similar to what u ppl are facing in Delta state today, the rest Niger-delta tribes feel it's like a taboo for a Delta igbo (also igbo to them) to rule a state like theirs, in spite of the fact that u ppl are kind of the majority with more LGAs. I really hope u are seein my point in all these.
Pls don't think I am Igbo or have any affiliation with Igbo in anyway, I am from the middlebelt, but only born and raised in Delta state.

agbotaen: 1. an ika man has never called himself delta igbo , it is igbo propagandists and those who are ignorant of where we come from that call ika delta igbo , infact majority of ika people detest being called igbo of any sort , we are ika pure and simple. no one is saying we dont have relationship with igbo , so we cannot also deny our relationship with others like the edos too.
2. anioma was coined from aniocha -a,ndokwa-n, ika-i,oshimili-o, and they added oma to it, it is a concept started some 50 years ago, the people that make up this region have existed and had their own names before this creation.
3. anioma or many of the tribes so called migrated from many places like igbo, edo, yoruba,igala, and many other places but due to inter-relationships have some how evolved many close cultural traits , but they still remain seperate as individual groups and they each know their histories and origin.
4. anioma is made up of four people which are ndokwa, ika, oshimili and aniocha, and an ika man cannot claim to be ndokwa ,just like an oshimili man cannot claim to be ika .but we come together if an issue is affecting our fundamental interest , if not for the igbo people who are forcing and spreading so much untruth ,and the ignorance of many people in nigeria , how can the igala and olukunmi man from delta north be igbo ? how can an ozara man from agbor kingdom be igbo ? and though delta north area has many igbo migrations so does it have migration from other places and so , the whole of anioma cannot be said to be igbo .
5. those at the fore front of igbo call in anioma are usually people from aniocha and oshimili , but in ika and ndokwa areas majority of the people see themself as a distinct tribe , although we have a few voices in both ika and ndokwa who keep shouting that they are igbo , like some people in igbodo and ekwuoma communities in ika , but we also know that because they are at the boundaries of predominantly igbo cultural areas and their fathers might have migrated from igbo land , so that is their free choice but for majority of ika people we belong to the ika nation , a distinct ethnic group .
6. because of our dual mode of migration that is both edo and igbo based migrants at different times both benin and igbos have laid claim to our land but unfortunately they both failed--

Agbotaen. Well I really admire ur vast and in depth knowledge of ur ppl. But I think u should know dat just as u claim that an Oshimili or anochia person can not speak 4all aniomas, likewise u should know that u urself don't speak for the whole ika/agbor people.
Though I'm not from Delta state, but I was born and bred in the state, I have really met with a lot of aniomas, evn more from agbor/ika as close family friends, and I must tell u dat u r d first I'v met who have claimed dat ika people don't identify thesemselvs as Delta igbo. All d rest I'v met will readily accept that they are Delta igbos/ Anioma from agbor. One tin I sure know is that they hate being called Igbos, but if u call them delta igbos, they are OK and accept well. Even this ika u are shouting, I hardly hear many of ur ppl claimin ika as an identity, worst they say they are from agbor. I must tell u dat Delta state recognises five major ethnic groups only, Urhobo, Isoko, Ijaw, Itsekiri and Anioma (delta igbo). With the way u talk, I see dat u personally really have and show very strong bini affiliations. Yes, ur ppl r a mixture of igbo and bini elements, while some of u bear more bini ancestry, others bear more igbo ancestry. All my growing up in delta state, warri precisely, we have always seen and adressed y'all from delta north (from Asaba to Anochia to kwale to Obiaruku to Agbor) as delta igbos. All this ur preaching of ika as a seperate identity and nation, none of us recognise. I wonda what that will really tell u. With all ur claims of attachment to Bini (that I'm not against), I don't see the average bini man of today eva accepting you as his brother or even acknowledgin ancestral relationship with you, that may have transpired in the past, and the knowledge of it gone with the older generations or still minimal amongst the elderly ppl. Yes I know there were igala (ebu) and olukunmi (yoruba) who came an settled amongst u delta igbos, but they were absorbed by the larger anioma culture, though som still retain their differences, nd u must know dat such a phenomenon is common with almost ervy tribe, where u find some with different ancestries who come to settle amongst the mainstream and are absorbed.

The hausa ppl u know today are not a ppl of one ancestry at all! Many of them are absorbed tribes, especially those from Bauchi, Sokoto, kebbi e.t.c. Some of them also are ancestrally fulani but have bcom culturally and linguistically hausa and even if they go back to identify with their pure mainstream cultural fulani, they are not well accepted and recognised. This is among the reasons why u see a kind of merged hausa/fulani identity today.
What about the igalas, idomas from the middlebelt and their neighbouring igbos? Many igbos from enugu and anambra today know well that they are of igala ancestry as well as many igalas today know they are of igbo ancestry. If u go to igalaland u'll find some igalas that look so much 100% like igbos, others like abokis (hausas) with like tribal marks, some like yorubas also. They themselvs all acknowledge their different ancestries, but they have held on to a common igala culture.

My point is that, it is not necessary that ppl who profess a common ethnicity must be of the same primordial pure breed ancestry. No sir! There can be difrent ancestries in a common culture. The determining factor of an ethnicity is mostly culture and the stronger/founding culture and ancestry of the merging ancestries should be the one that the other ancestries will submit to and accept modification. But in some rare cases though, hybrids are created which will be almost a clear 50/50 between the merging ancestries and cultures and will resemble neither of the parents cultures/ancestry more, hence will evolve into a new ethnicity.
If u also take a look at the nupes in central nigeria, they share boundary with yorubas and hausa/fulanis to an extent with which they have partially intermixed. The nupes in kwara appear more yoruba-ish in both dialect and culture while some nupes in Niger which r very close to fulanis and have inter-mixed appear more fulani both in dialects and cultures. But this has not really stopped the nupe nation from seeing themselves as one.
So I believe with this, it's really up to the ika people to converge largely and decide which culture they are to adopt and adhere to more, they should try to keep their ancestries behind a bit, as it would do no good in uniting them better. A very distict Ika tribe/ethnicity officially I think will hardly work out considering the great bond with the larger Anioma nation with which they have been identified for long. Their collective final decision I believe all should respect, but I tell u, dat if u ppl choose to accept the larger Anioma identity, then u ppl wuld also be associated with the Delta igbo identity and further, larger igbo identity, cos the Igbo elements in Anioma land as a whole is surely stronger than the bini/Edo, igala or yoruba element and hence must submit!

It really seems like even the so called Delta igbos do not see themselvs as one. I thought they were all Aniomas first before dividing into Agbor, Ukwuani, Asaba, Anochia, Kwale e.t.c. But me hearing some ppl shouting Ukwuani is ukwuani and ika is ika keeps me confused. I don't think these groups are regarded officially distinct like that. Why do u ppl also call yourselvs delta igbo if u know u don't want any assoication of sort with the mainstream igbos?