₦airaland Forum

Eastlink:
Izon, Jos or Udzor according to european pronounciation are Togolese who where brought into our shoes as porters for Portuguese ships. Ijaws are not indegenious to Nigeria and should manage their Bayelsa created to host them.

szczescie:
I'm just noticing Ijaw sounds like I Jew and izon sounds like Izrael lol

Any topic that has to do with Name or politics or something that indicates maybe Yorubas on Nairaland there are always comments from nairalanders who are Igbo making some funny remarks.

I assumed it was friendly banter between Igbos and yorubas.

But now the way they are attacking ijaws and we are not responding, I know we don't have that kind of friendly banter or atleast I don't recall anytime we agreed to have such exchanges.
I also don't understand why they do this, I will say a few, a few Igbos on Nairaland want to appropriate, annex Ijaw states, Ijaw people etc to Igbo.

Look many of you are not good students of history or you were taught wrong things so I will just point you in the right direction, I won't tell you what to think.

But I want to assure you with all honesty and sincerity, ijaw people (I am an ijaw man both from my father and my mother and I am from one of the royal families in ijaw land)
So I know what I am saying, Ijaw people do not hate Igbos, we do not hate yorubas, we do not hate anyone, and we try as much as possible from what I perceive and what I can tell, we try our best to avoid conflict, remember when others where saying if their tribe doesn't get this or that doesn't happen baboon blood will spill, our person said my election is not worth anybody's life. That is just one example.

However the calmness of the crocodile is not weakness, why do I say all these?

People do not seem to know that by number of states and by population the ijaw tribe is amongst the top 3 and top 4 tribe respectively

Because we don't make noise or hurl insults online to stir ethnic or tribe conflicts doesn't mean we are not in Nigeria or we can't do it. We just refuse to do it.

I do not think it is wise or fair for some Igbo people on Nairaland to keep claiming ijaws are these and that, we see all the insults targeted at us especially and even almost exclusively from the Igbos, I've never met an Hausa or Fulani man both online or offline who was insulting of ijaws. Many ijaws have lived peacefully with yorubas for so long you can't even tell the difference now,
In ajegunle and environs in the 60's and 70's there were large ijaw settlements or enclaves or however you want to call them, there are also large numbers of ijaws in some Yoruba states even some ijaws in ijaw states bear Yoruba names, many can speak Yoruba my mom speaks Yoruba and she's from Bayelsa, her half brothers are named taiye, kehinde etc Yoruba names.

But the yorubas have never one day come online to claim ijaw people are Yoruba, some ijaw or many ijaws largely agree through oral history that ijaws came from Bini but even the Bini people have NEVER one day said we are lesser than them or their subjects or any of that or we must fight their battle or must support them.

But online no week passes without some form of name calling, tribalism etc being flung at us from the Igbos and Most times it goes unreplied read the topics here on Nairaland that has to do with anything concerning ijaws. It is not as If we are not on Nairaland, it is not as if we don't see them or read them. We just chose not to reply.

But it has graduated to the level of propaganda and this is why I needed to post this, because in the future some of them will claim "if the ijaws were not or are not Igbos why did they kept quiet" their children may say " if your parents weren't Igbos why didn't they reply when my parents claimed they were Igbos" so this is the post saying WE THE IJAWS ARE NOT IGBOS.

what do I mean? Some Igbos online are now claiming all ijaws or most ijaws are Igbos, firstly, na by force?

Secondly in what way are we Igbos? We don't speak same language most of us do not share a common ancestor or history, during the Biafra war you renamed some places to Igbo names and claimed they had always been like that as if we don't have history, I want you to read Mary Henrietta Kingsley's book on West African History read the part on Nigeria and the Kalabari people or new Calabar people as they were called then, see if you can find ONE, just ONE Igbo name, also we have been bearing Portuguese names and naming our places Portuguese and English names since 1700's does that mean we are Portuguese or English? till today Port Harcourt is named after Harcourt, Bishop Bara heart, Braithwaith memorial, Forcados, even the ijaws you know off from wayyyy back their names where Isaac, George, Melford, Graham, West and so on.

Thirdly you forget we where once clumped under eastern region and we agitated to leave for certain reasons, go and read history about the creation of old rivers state and maybe you'll understand, Northerners didn't create rivers state for no reason or because they wanted to, We Rivers people, ijaw people wanted our own state, because according to those who were alive then and who moved for it, Eastern Region which the Igbos were a part of became Igbo, I don't think you understand that, everything good that came to eastern region was centered in Owerri, Enugu or any other exclusively Igbo town, rails, govmt buildings, anything, port Harcourt was in existence but nothing came that way all other old cities of other tribes were in existence but attention was not given to them, and there was serious nepotism.

This led to people like Melford okilo and co. Pressuring Gowon for a state,

Even when it comes to cessation from Nigeria don't forget Niger Delta Republic was declared on February 23, 1966 and they fought with federal forces before being defeated. Isaac Boro and his comrades were jailed for treason by Ojukwu and co. Ojukwu fought for Nigeria against the NDR only to turn back barely 3 years later and try to force us into Biafra, without even a sorry oh, you guys were right then. He just woke up and added us to battle and think we will fight for him just like that, Let us fight under Biafra and gain independence under Biafra Lol. A Biafra whose identity is so igbolised, igboitic. From there god to currency to flag to everything that is not a country in which an ijaw man will thrive, it will be frying pan to fire.

I as a person I am not against Biafra if you want it Goodluck to you left for me I would allow the refrendum, what I disagree with is your manner of trying to forcefully coerce others into your Biafra, you want freedom from Nigeria but you don't want to respect freedom of Niger Delta from Igbos?

Port Harcourt is the most free, most open, most accepting city in all of Nigeria. Yes! I've been to all big cities they usually speak Igbo(Enugu, Owerri), Yoruba (Lagos) or Hausa (Kano, Abuja) but in Port Harcourt English is the default, it is the language you are expectes or assumed to speak.

In Owerri and Enugu people expected me to speak Igbo, when I went to buy something the seller spoke Igbo to me, in Kano the bus drivers many spoke ONLY Hausa not even pidgin English, in Lagos along the conversation you'll just hear the speaker burst into rants in Yoruba and leave you lost in translation.

There are alot of Igbo people especially from imo in port Harcourt, but there are also many Akwa ibom people, many yorubas and people from everywhere else, we have our own problems like everyone else, we don't deny it. But insulting us trying to get us agitated will not help you in any way at all.

You want us to hate the hausa's but it is you dragging our land, it is you selling things to us 2 times the price because we are not Nwokem

You only want us not because you love us or you want the best for us or because we are brothers or anything like that but merely because you want numbers when you want to fight Hausa people or Yoruba people.

You claim we migrated from Ghana, Sierra Leone etc, lol we haven't denied it and we are not saying it's impossible but didn't you also migrate from somewhere to wherever you are today? Dont you claim to come from Israel? So if that's true it means even the land under your feet should be taken from you.

Also you are not doing yourself any good by fighting everybody, insulting everybody, everybody knows nothing only you knows everything, only you is smart everyone else is dumb. You are fighting yourself into a corner a corner that will keep reducing as you fight away everyone who can possibly help you.

I will continue to advocate that ijaws do not fall for the trap of becoming hateful people, we should keep following peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see God.
We should remain accommodating that's why people say Ijaw people don't travel, travel to where when PH, Yenagoa, and other Niger Delta states are the most accommodating? No religious, ethnic, language intolerance, no cheating you because you are not my brother or you can't speak my language.

Finally if you are interested in knowing where most ijaw people stand on breaking the country called Nigeria.
It's one of three things
1. No, don't break it.
2. Southern Nigeria (which will include Yoruba and Igbo regions)
3. Niger Delta Republic.

No Biafra that's not even an option except for a few hungry irrelevant people or just social media noise by one or two people with multiple accounts.

Why those 3 options? Because Nigerian politicians are the same, just greedy people interested in Thier pocket breaking Away from Nigeria will not stop the likes of Wike, godswill akpabio etc from doing their evil deeds and ruling badly. If an ijaw man becomes president or not it will not affect me personally. If an Igbo Ann becomes president it will not affect you personally, the north have been president for so long yet the ordinary northerners have very little or nothing to show for it.

We are not Igbos we are a distinct separate entity with different language, culture, dressing, history, delicacies, oral traditions, value system etc

We left the eastern region for a reason and wouldn't want to go back to that arrangement ever again we either remain alone or if we have to stay with the Igbos then Yoruba people, Tiv people INFACT all the middle belt and south west will be in that union. To counter balance each other, minimise bigotry, tribalism and so on.

That we are not exactly the same doesn't mean we cannot work together for the betterment of human life.

Thank you [/s]
Stay in love

NwaEzefuNaMba:
Ijaw is Ijaw.
Igbo is Igbo.
I don't support the forceful annexation of Ijaws to Igbo, the Ijaw Ethnic group is just as old as the Igbo Ethnic group.

But where i disagree with you is that area of "Ijaws don't hate anyone" i have lived in Brass For over 10yrs now, i meet people who tell me to my face daily that they hate me for being Igbo; they just don't say it, they act it. They are always ready to remind you that you are Igbo and they hate you.
And the Ikwerre's too. as a kid growing up in Portharcourt, i know what i pass through trying to play with other kids in Sandfield.
I can not put every experience of mine in the South Southern region down here, but i still love them; Ijaws, Akassa and Ogoni, all lovely people.

blues234:
As an Igbo man that I am, I stand against any country that will include the Ijaws, in any form. This, among other reasons, is why I detest anything IPOB, because that shameless organization has brought home more insults and ridicules in the name of forming one country with these people that don't have the capacity to run a 21st century state, with their overly dependence on natural resources, and their incurable hate for Igbos.
The new Igbo frontier Nation is exclusively for only Igbo speaking groups, including the ones that are keen to deny their brothers, because of Nigerian politics. We know, that hen the time comes, an Amadi will fall along, regardless the geolocation.
I stand for an only Igboid Nation State. The rest can disappear to the creeks, we don't give a fucck.

fenibak:
lol i support 5 igbo states and i support ipob as well,problem i have with ipob is trying to drag in people that dont want you..eg ijaws...what the hell do we need ijaw for,these people dont want us,we dont need them and i can never live in the same country with ijaw and ikewere

blues234:
Igboland exceed the 5 core eastern states. There are so many things you don't know. We will recover all that belong to us, right here in Nigeria, even before anything. IPOB was a mistake and a big setback

szczescie:
I'm just noticing Ijaw sounds like I Jew and izon sounds like Izrael lol

Any topic that has to do with Name or politics or something that indicates maybe Yorubas on Nairaland there are always comments from nairalanders who are Igbo making some funny remarks.

I assumed it was friendly banter between Igbos and yorubas.

But now the way they are attacking ijaws and we are not responding, I know we don't have that kind of friendly banter or atleast I don't recall anytime we agreed to have such exchanges.
I also don't understand why they do this, I will say a few, a few Igbos on Nairaland want to appropriate, annex Ijaw states, Ijaw people etc to Igbo.

Look many of you are not good students of history or you were taught wrong things so I will just point you in the right direction, I won't tell you what to think.

But I want to assure you with all honesty and sincerity, ijaw people (I am an ijaw man both from my father and my mother and I am from one of the royal families in ijaw land)
So I know what I am saying, Ijaw people do not hate Igbos, we do not hate yorubas, we do not hate anyone, and we try as much as possible from what I perceive and what I can tell, we try our best to avoid conflict, remember when others where saying if their tribe doesn't get this or that doesn't happen baboon blood will spill, our person said my election is not worth anybody's life. That is just one example.

However the calmness of the crocodile is not weakness, why do I say all these?

People do not seem to know that by number of states and by population the ijaw tribe is amongst the top 3 and top 4 tribe respectively

Because we don't make noise or hurl insults online to stir ethnic or tribe conflicts doesn't mean we are not in Nigeria or we can't do it. We just refuse to do it.

I do not think it is wise or fair for some Igbo people on Nairaland to keep claiming ijaws are these and that, we see all the insults targeted at us especially and even almost exclusively from the Igbos, I've never met an Hausa or Fulani man both online or offline who was insulting of ijaws. Many ijaws have lived peacefully with yorubas for so long you can't even tell the difference now,
In ajegunle and environs in the 60's and 70's there were large ijaw settlements or enclaves or however you want to call them, there are also large numbers of ijaws in some Yoruba states even some ijaws in ijaw states bear Yoruba names, many can speak Yoruba my mom speaks Yoruba and she's from Bayelsa, her half brothers are named taiye, kehinde etc Yoruba names.

But the yorubas have never one day come online to claim ijaw people are Yoruba, some ijaw or many ijaws largely agree through oral history that ijaws came from Bini but even the Bini people have NEVER one day said we are lesser than them or their subjects or any of that or we must fight their battle or must support them.

But online no week passes without some form of name calling, tribalism etc being flung at us from the Igbos and Most times it goes unreplied read the topics here on Nairaland that has to do with anything concerning ijaws. It is not as If we are not on Nairaland, it is not as if we don't see them or read them. We just chose not to reply.

But it has graduated to the level of propaganda and this is why I needed to post this, because in the future some of them will claim "if the ijaws were not or are not Igbos why did they kept quiet" their children may say " if your parents weren't Igbos why didn't they reply when my parents claimed they were Igbos" so this is the post saying WE THE IJAWS ARE NOT IGBOS.

what do I mean? Some Igbos online are now claiming all ijaws or most ijaws are Igbos, firstly, na by force?

Secondly in what way are we Igbos? We don't speak same language most of us do not share a common ancestor or history, during the Biafra war you renamed some places to Igbo names and claimed they had always been like that as if we don't have history, I want you to read Mary Henrietta Kingsley's book on West African History read the part on Nigeria and the Kalabari people or new Calabar people as they were called then, see if you can find ONE, just ONE Igbo name, also we have been bearing Portuguese names and naming our places Portuguese and English names since 1700's does that mean we are Portuguese or English? till today Port Harcourt is named after Harcourt, Bishop Bara heart, Braithwaith memorial, Forcados, even the ijaws you know off from wayyyy back their names where Isaac, George, Melford, Graham, West and so on.

Thirdly you forget we where once clumped under eastern region and we agitated to leave for certain reasons, go and read history about the creation of old rivers state and maybe you'll understand, Northerners didn't create rivers state for no reason or because they wanted to, We Rivers people, ijaw people wanted our own state, because according to those who were alive then and who moved for it, Eastern Region which the Igbos were a part of became Igbo, I don't think you understand that, everything good that came to eastern region was centered in Owerri, Enugu or any other exclusively Igbo town, rails, govmt buildings, anything, port Harcourt was in existence but nothing came that way all other old cities of other tribes were in existence but attention was not given to them, and there was serious nepotism.

This led to people like Melford okilo and co. Pressuring Gowon for a state,

Even when it comes to cessation from Nigeria don't forget Niger Delta Republic was declared on February 23, 1966 and they fought with federal forces before being defeated. Isaac Boro and his comrades were jailed for treason by Ojukwu and co. Ojukwu fought for Nigeria against the NDR only to turn back barely 3 years later and try to force us into Biafra, without even a sorry oh, you guys were right then. He just woke up and added us to battle and think we will fight for him just like that, Let us fight under Biafra and gain independence under Biafra Lol. A Biafra whose identity is so igbolised, igboitic. From there god to currency to flag to everything that is not a country in which an ijaw man will thrive, it will be frying pan to fire.

I as a person I am not against Biafra if you want it Goodluck to you left for me I would allow the refrendum, what I disagree with is your manner of trying to forcefully coerce others into your Biafra, you want freedom from Nigeria but you don't want to respect freedom of Niger Delta from Igbos?

Port Harcourt is the most free, most open, most accepting city in all of Nigeria. Yes! I've been to all big cities they usually speak Igbo(Enugu, Owerri), Yoruba (Lagos) or Hausa (Kano, Abuja) but in Port Harcourt English is the default, it is the language you are expectes or assumed to speak.

In Owerri and Enugu people expected me to speak Igbo, when I went to buy something the seller spoke Igbo to me, in Kano the bus drivers many spoke ONLY Hausa not even pidgin English, in Lagos along the conversation you'll just hear the speaker burst into rants in Yoruba and leave you lost in translation.

There are alot of Igbo people especially from imo in port Harcourt, but there are also many Akwa ibom people, many yorubas and people from everywhere else, we have our own problems like everyone else, we don't deny it. But insulting us trying to get us agitated will not help you in any way at all.

You want us to hate the hausa's but it is you dragging our land, it is you selling things to us 2 times the price because we are not Nwokem

You only want us not because you love us or you want the best for us or because we are brothers or anything like that but merely because you want numbers when you want to fight Hausa people or Yoruba people.

You claim we migrated from Ghana, Sierra Leone etc, lol we haven't denied it and we are not saying it's impossible but didn't you also migrate from somewhere to wherever you are today? Dont you claim to come from Israel? So if that's true it means even the land under your feet should be taken from you.

Also you are not doing yourself any good by fighting everybody, insulting everybody, everybody knows nothing only you knows everything, only you is smart everyone else is dumb. You are fighting yourself into a corner a corner that will keep reducing as you fight away everyone who can possibly help you.

I will continue to advocate that ijaws do not fall for the trap of becoming hateful people, we should keep following peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see God.
We should remain accommodating that's why people say Ijaw people don't travel, travel to where when PH, Yenagoa, and other Niger Delta states are the most accommodating? No religious, ethnic, language intolerance, no cheating you because you are not my brother or you can't speak my language.

Finally if you are interested in knowing where most ijaw people stand on breaking the country called Nigeria.
It's one of three things
1. No, don't break it.
2. Southern Nigeria (which will include Yoruba and Igbo regions)
3. Niger Delta Republic.

No Biafra that's not even an option except for a few hungry irrelevant people or just social media noise by one or two people with multiple accounts.

Why those 3 options? Because Nigerian politicians are the same, just greedy people interested in Thier pocket breaking Away from Nigeria will not stop the likes of Wike, godswill akpabio etc from doing their evil deeds and ruling badly. If an ijaw man becomes president or not it will not affect me personally. If an Igbo Ann becomes president it will not affect you personally, the north have been president for so long yet the ordinary northerners have very little or nothing to show for it.

We are not Igbos we are a distinct separate entity with different language, culture, dressing, history, delicacies, oral traditions, value system etc

We left the eastern region for a reason and wouldn't want to go back to that arrangement ever again we either remain alone or if we have to stay with the Igbos then Yoruba people, Tiv people INFACT all the middle belt and south west will be in that union. To counter balance each other, minimise bigotry, tribalism and so on.

That we are not exactly the same doesn't mean we cannot work together for the betterment of human life.

Thank you
Stay in love

RobbStark:
Well said brother. Well said.
I am even tired of responding to one particular guy whose early morning preeek Jack is Ijaws. Even in the wee hours of the morning, while others are sleeping, he is looking for material to write about the Ijaws.

I have asked him what we actually did to him, up till now he hasn't say.
But I could deduce from his write ups and name slandering of the Ijaws that his hatred stems from the fact that he felt we betrayed them in their useless war as taught them or told to them in their village squares.

I have vowed never to engage him in any online war of words like you stated, we are a peace loving people who just want to do their thing their way.

As an Ijaw man, I love the Ibo people
Same love goes to the Yorubas whom I have interacted with severally.
We as a people have no grudge against any of these tribes or people.

I will keep showing him love until he stops
Nnuo--o, Ibama

szczescie:
I'm just noticing Ijaw sounds like I Jew and izon sounds like Izrael lol

Any topic that has to do with Name or politics or something that indicates maybe Yorubas on Nairaland there are always comments from nairalanders who are Igbo making some funny remarks.

I assumed it was friendly banter between Igbos and yorubas.

But now the way they are attacking ijaws and we are not responding, I know we don't have that kind of friendly banter or atleast I don't recall anytime we agreed to have such exchanges.
I also don't understand why they do this, I will say a few, a few Igbos on Nairaland want to appropriate, annex Ijaw states, Ijaw people etc to Igbo.

Look many of you are not good students of history or you were taught wrong things so I will just point you in the right direction, I won't tell you what to think.

But I want to assure you with all honesty and sincerity, ijaw people (I am an ijaw man both from my father and my mother and I am from one of the royal families in ijaw land)
So I know what I am saying, Ijaw people do not hate Igbos, we do not hate yorubas, we do not hate anyone, and we try as much as possible from what I perceive and what I can tell, we try our best to avoid conflict, remember when others where saying if their tribe doesn't get this or that doesn't happen baboon blood will spill, our person said my election is not worth anybody's life. That is just one example.

However the calmness of the crocodile is not weakness, why do I say all these?

People do not seem to know that by number of states and by population the ijaw tribe is amongst the top 3 and top 4 tribe respectively

Because we don't make noise or hurl insults online to stir ethnic or tribe conflicts doesn't mean we are not in Nigeria or we can't do it. We just refuse to do it.

I do not think it is wise or fair for some Igbo people on Nairaland to keep claiming ijaws are these and that, we see all the insults targeted at us especially and even almost exclusively from the Igbos, I've never met an Hausa or Fulani man both online or offline who was insulting of ijaws. Many ijaws have lived peacefully with yorubas for so long you can't even tell the difference now,
In ajegunle and environs in the 60's and 70's there were large ijaw settlements or enclaves or however you want to call them, there are also large numbers of ijaws in some Yoruba states even some ijaws in ijaw states bear Yoruba names, many can speak Yoruba my mom speaks Yoruba and she's from Bayelsa, her half brothers are named taiye, kehinde etc Yoruba names.

But the yorubas have never one day come online to claim ijaw people are Yoruba, some ijaw or many ijaws largely agree through oral history that ijaws came from Bini but even the Bini people have NEVER one day said we are lesser than them or their subjects or any of that or we must fight their battle or must support them.

But online no week passes without some form of name calling, tribalism etc being flung at us from the Igbos and Most times it goes unreplied read the topics here on Nairaland that has to do with anything concerning ijaws. It is not as If we are not on Nairaland, it is not as if we don't see them or read them. We just chose not to reply.

But it has graduated to the level of propaganda and this is why I needed to post this, because in the future some of them will claim "if the ijaws were not or are not Igbos why did they kept quiet" their children may say " if your parents weren't Igbos why didn't they reply when my parents claimed they were Igbos" so this is the post saying WE THE IJAWS ARE NOT IGBOS.

what do I mean? Some Igbos online are now claiming all ijaws or most ijaws are Igbos, firstly, na by force?

Secondly in what way are we Igbos? We don't speak same language most of us do not share a common ancestor or history, during the Biafra war you renamed some places to Igbo names and claimed they had always been like that as if we don't have history, I want you to read Mary Henrietta Kingsley's book on West African History read the part on Nigeria and the Kalabari people or new Calabar people as they were called then, see if you can find ONE, just ONE Igbo name, also we have been bearing Portuguese names and naming our places Portuguese and English names since 1700's does that mean we are Portuguese or English? till today Port Harcourt is named after Harcourt, Bishop Bara heart, Braithwaith memorial, Forcados, even the ijaws you know off from wayyyy back their names where Isaac, George, Melford, Graham, West and so on.

Thirdly you forget we where once clumped under eastern region and we agitated to leave for certain reasons, go and read history about the creation of old rivers state and maybe you'll understand, Northerners didn't create rivers state for no reason or because they wanted to, We Rivers people, ijaw people wanted our own state, because according to those who were alive then and who moved for it, Eastern Region which the Igbos were a part of became Igbo, I don't think you understand that, everything good that came to eastern region was centered in Owerri, Enugu or any other exclusively Igbo town, rails, govmt buildings, anything, port Harcourt was in existence but nothing came that way all other old cities of other tribes were in existence but attention was not given to them, and there was serious nepotism.

This led to people like Melford okilo and co. Pressuring Gowon for a state,

Even when it comes to cessation from Nigeria don't forget Niger Delta Republic was declared on February 23, 1966 and they fought with federal forces before being defeated. Isaac Boro and his comrades were jailed for treason by Ojukwu and co. Ojukwu fought for Nigeria against the NDR only to turn back barely 3 years later and try to force us into Biafra, without even a sorry oh, you guys were right then. He just woke up and added us to battle and think we will fight for him just like that, Let us fight under Biafra and gain independence under Biafra Lol. A Biafra whose identity is so igbolised, igboitic. From there god to currency to flag to everything that is not a country in which an ijaw man will thrive, it will be frying pan to fire.

I as a person I am not against Biafra if you want it Goodluck to you left for me I would allow the refrendum, what I disagree with is your manner of trying to forcefully coerce others into your Biafra, you want freedom from Nigeria but you don't want to respect freedom of Niger Delta from Igbos?

Port Harcourt is the most free, most open, most accepting city in all of Nigeria. Yes! I've been to all big cities they usually speak Igbo(Enugu, Owerri), Yoruba (Lagos) or Hausa (Kano, Abuja) but in Port Harcourt English is the default, it is the language you are expectes or assumed to speak.

In Owerri and Enugu people expected me to speak Igbo, when I went to buy something the seller spoke Igbo to me, in Kano the bus drivers many spoke ONLY Hausa not even pidgin English, in Lagos along the conversation you'll just hear the speaker burst into rants in Yoruba and leave you lost in translation.

There are alot of Igbo people especially from imo in port Harcourt, but there are also many Akwa ibom people, many yorubas and people from everywhere else, we have our own problems like everyone else, we don't deny it. But insulting us trying to get us agitated will not help you in any way at all.

You want us to hate the hausa's but it is you dragging our land, it is you selling things to us 2 times the price because we are not Nwokem

You only want us not because you love us or you want the best for us or because we are brothers or anything like that but merely because you want numbers when you want to fight Hausa people or Yoruba people.

You claim we migrated from Ghana, Sierra Leone etc, lol we haven't denied it and we are not saying it's impossible but didn't you also migrate from somewhere to wherever you are today? Dont you claim to come from Israel? So if that's true it means even the land under your feet should be taken from you.

Also you are not doing yourself any good by fighting everybody, insulting everybody, everybody knows nothing only you knows everything, only you is smart everyone else is dumb. You are fighting yourself into a corner a corner that will keep reducing as you fight away everyone who can possibly help you.

I will continue to advocate that ijaws do not fall for the trap of becoming hateful people, we should keep following peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see God.
We should remain accommodating that's why people say Ijaw people don't travel, travel to where when PH, Yenagoa, and other Niger Delta states are the most accommodating? No religious, ethnic, language intolerance, no cheating you because you are not my brother or you can't speak my language.

Finally if you are interested in knowing where most ijaw people stand on breaking the country called Nigeria.
It's one of three things
1. No, don't break it.
2. Southern Nigeria (which will include Yoruba and Igbo regions)
3. Niger Delta Republic.

No Biafra that's not even an option except for a few hungry irrelevant people or just social media noise by one or two people with multiple accounts.

Why those 3 options? Because Nigerian politicians are the same, just greedy people interested in Thier pocket breaking Away from Nigeria will not stop the likes of Wike, godswill akpabio etc from doing their evil deeds and ruling badly. If an ijaw man becomes president or not it will not affect me personally. If an Igbo Ann becomes president it will not affect you personally, the north have been president for so long yet the ordinary northerners have very little or nothing to show for it.

We are not Igbos we are a distinct separate entity with different language, culture, dressing, history, delicacies, oral traditions, value system etc

We left the eastern region for a reason and wouldn't want to go back to that arrangement ever again we either remain alone or if we have to stay with the Igbos then Yoruba people, Tiv people INFACT all the middle belt and south west will be in that union. To counter balance each other, minimise bigotry, tribalism and so on.

That we are not exactly the same doesn't mean we cannot work together for the betterment of human life.

Thank you
Stay in love

vasel15:
I Jaws are hypocrites and look at them on this thread below insulting igbos and they are same people here claiming to love igbos, lol. I know your scam and I would keep on busting your lies and your emotional blackmail and victim mentality won't work for me, you guys are black stabbers, or didn't you hear what Buhari said? You want me to remind you? Ijaws have been blocking the biafran dream and they did it in 1967 and they are doing it again today but this time you won't win

https://www.nairaland.com/6623027/pics-opps-niger-deltans-blast#103140640

Eastlink:
Izon, Jos or Udzor according to european pronounciation are Togolese who where brought into our shores as porters for Portuguese ships. Ijaws are not indegenious to Nigeria and should manage their Bayelsa created to host them.

Have you ever ask yourself why among all the languages in the south only Ijaw looks alien? Igbo, Yoruba, Edo are related languages. The same applies to Efik, Andoni, Ogbia, Abua/Odua, Ibibio, and Ekoid with similar roots.

Idiko1:
The above crap is arrant nonsense. In fact, you wrote like a typical Ijaw. You claimed the disparage of Ijaw comes from Igbo peeps on nairaland. A person wonders how you arrived at such silly deduction. You also insinuated that Ijaw could easily climb to 3rd or 4th largest ethnic group in Nigeria. It is very laughable before people with human intellect. The so-called Ijaw from Gold Coast to Ikot Abasi are not close to 3 million people yet a loafer made a silly assumption. There is nothing like a claim to the fact about the stock of people who constituted the so-called Ijaw are mostly Boat people, European porters extracted from Akwapim-Togo areas including Filipinos and Indians who were shiphands on the British Schooners. By the way, the real name was coined.

NwaEzefuNaMba:
Have baked education or should i said road side education or Product of course sorting

BKayy:
Leave the Mumu people to be fooling themselves. They can fool others not us that know their history.
Imagine people that were dragged to the Bight of Biafra/Bonny barely 300 years ago talking rubbish.
Even Fulani are older than them in Nigeria plus the Fulani came on their own not White peoples servants talking absolutely rubbish.
In right sense, when Itsekiri, Urhobo and Bini that they are coercing much of their land speak, they are supposed to tremble talkless of the great Ndigbo.
I told them the day they opened their smelly mouth to talk to Ndigbo will be the day we open the real fact about them. Tell the world where they actually came from, how and when

szczescie:
I'm just noticing Ijaw sounds like I Jew and izon sounds like Izrael lol

Any topic that has to do with Name or politics or something that indicates maybe Yorubas on Nairaland there are always comments from nairalanders who are Igbo making some funny remarks.

I assumed it was friendly banter between Igbos and yorubas.

But now the way they are attacking ijaws and we are not responding, I know we don't have that kind of friendly banter or atleast I don't recall anytime we agreed to have such exchanges.
I also don't understand why they do this, I will say a few, a few Igbos on Nairaland want to appropriate, annex Ijaw states, Ijaw people etc to Igbo.

Look many of you are not good students of history or you were taught wrong things so I will just point you in the right direction, I won't tell you what to think.

But I want to assure you with all honesty and sincerity, ijaw people (I am an ijaw man both from my father and my mother and I am from one of the royal families in ijaw land)
So I know what I am saying, Ijaw people do not hate Igbos, we do not hate yorubas, we do not hate anyone, and we try as much as possible from what I perceive and what I can tell, we try our best to avoid conflict, remember when others where saying if their tribe doesn't get this or that doesn't happen baboon blood will spill, our person said my election is not worth anybody's life. That is just one example.

However the calmness of the crocodile is not weakness, why do I say all these?

People do not seem to know that by number of states and by population the ijaw tribe is amongst the top 3 and top 4 tribe respectively

Because we don't make noise or hurl insults online to stir ethnic or tribe conflicts doesn't mean we are not in Nigeria or we can't do it. We just refuse to do it.

I do not think it is wise or fair for some Igbo people on Nairaland to keep claiming ijaws are these and that, we see all the insults targeted at us especially and even almost exclusively from the Igbos, I've never met an Hausa or Fulani man both online or offline who was insulting of ijaws. Many ijaws have lived peacefully with yorubas for so long you can't even tell the difference now,
In ajegunle and environs in the 60's and 70's there were large ijaw settlements or enclaves or however you want to call them, there are also large numbers of ijaws in some Yoruba states even some ijaws in ijaw states bear Yoruba names, many can speak Yoruba my mom speaks Yoruba and she's from Bayelsa, her half brothers are named taiye, kehinde etc Yoruba names.

But the yorubas have never one day come online to claim ijaw people are Yoruba, some ijaw or many ijaws largely agree through oral history that ijaws came from Bini but even the Bini people have NEVER one day said we are lesser than them or their subjects or any of that or we must fight their battle or must support them.

But online no week passes without some form of name calling, tribalism etc being flung at us from the Igbos and Most times it goes unreplied read the topics here on Nairaland that has to do with anything concerning ijaws. It is not as If we are not on Nairaland, it is not as if we don't see them or read them. We just chose not to reply.

But it has graduated to the level of propaganda and this is why I needed to post this, because in the future some of them will claim "if the ijaws were not or are not Igbos why did they kept quiet" their children may say " if your parents weren't Igbos why didn't they reply when my parents claimed they were Igbos" so this is the post saying WE THE IJAWS ARE NOT IGBOS.

what do I mean? Some Igbos online are now claiming all ijaws or most ijaws are Igbos, firstly, na by force?

Secondly in what way are we Igbos? We don't speak same language most of us do not share a common ancestor or history, during the Biafra war you renamed some places to Igbo names and claimed they had always been like that as if we don't have history, I want you to read Mary Henrietta Kingsley's book on West African History read the part on Nigeria and the Kalabari people or new Calabar people as they were called then, see if you can find ONE, just ONE Igbo name, also we have been bearing Portuguese names and naming our places Portuguese and English names since 1700's does that mean we are Portuguese or English? till today Port Harcourt is named after Harcourt, Bishop Bara heart, Braithwaith memorial, Forcados, even the ijaws you know off from wayyyy back their names where Isaac, George, Melford, Graham, West and so on.

Thirdly you forget we where once clumped under eastern region and we agitated to leave for certain reasons, go and read history about the creation of old rivers state and maybe you'll understand, Northerners didn't create rivers state for no reason or because they wanted to, We Rivers people, ijaw people wanted our own state, because according to those who were alive then and who moved for it, Eastern Region which the Igbos were a part of became Igbo, I don't think you understand that, everything good that came to eastern region was centered in Owerri, Enugu or any other exclusively Igbo town, rails, govmt buildings, anything, port Harcourt was in existence but nothing came that way all other old cities of other tribes were in existence but attention was not given to them, and there was serious nepotism.

This led to people like Melford okilo and co. Pressuring Gowon for a state,

Even when it comes to cessation from Nigeria don't forget Niger Delta Republic was declared on February 23, 1966 and they fought with federal forces before being defeated. Isaac Boro and his comrades were jailed for treason by Ojukwu and co. Ojukwu fought for Nigeria against the NDR only to turn back barely 3 years later and try to force us into Biafra, without even a sorry oh, you guys were right then. He just woke up and added us to battle and think we will fight for him just like that, Let us fight under Biafra and gain independence under Biafra Lol. A Biafra whose identity is so igbolised, igboitic. From there god to currency to flag to everything that is not a country in which an ijaw man will thrive, it will be frying pan to fire.

I as a person I am not against Biafra if you want it Goodluck to you left for me I would allow the refrendum, what I disagree with is your manner of trying to forcefully coerce others into your Biafra, you want freedom from Nigeria but you don't want to respect freedom of Niger Delta from Igbos?

Port Harcourt is the most free, most open, most accepting city in all of Nigeria. Yes! I've been to all big cities they usually speak Igbo(Enugu, Owerri), Yoruba (Lagos) or Hausa (Kano, Abuja) but in Port Harcourt English is the default, it is the language you are expectes or assumed to speak.

In Owerri and Enugu people expected me to speak Igbo, when I went to buy something the seller spoke Igbo to me, in Kano the bus drivers many spoke ONLY Hausa not even pidgin English, in Lagos along the conversation you'll just hear the speaker burst into rants in Yoruba and leave you lost in translation.

There are alot of Igbo people especially from imo in port Harcourt, but there are also many Akwa ibom people, many yorubas and people from everywhere else, we have our own problems like everyone else, we don't deny it. But insulting us trying to get us agitated will not help you in any way at all.

You want us to hate the hausa's but it is you dragging our land, it is you selling things to us 2 times the price because we are not Nwokem

You only want us not because you love us or you want the best for us or because we are brothers or anything like that but merely because you want numbers when you want to fight Hausa people or Yoruba people.

You claim we migrated from Ghana, Sierra Leone etc, lol we haven't denied it and we are not saying it's impossible but didn't you also migrate from somewhere to wherever you are today? Dont you claim to come from Israel? So if that's true it means even the land under your feet should be taken from you.

Also you are not doing yourself any good by fighting everybody, insulting everybody, everybody knows nothing only you knows everything, only you is smart everyone else is dumb. You are fighting yourself into a corner a corner that will keep reducing as you fight away everyone who can possibly help you.

I will continue to advocate that ijaws do not fall for the trap of becoming hateful people, we should keep following peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see God.
We should remain accommodating that's why people say Ijaw people don't travel, travel to where when PH, Yenagoa, and other Niger Delta states are the most accommodating? No religious, ethnic, language intolerance, no cheating you because you are not my brother or you can't speak my language.

Finally if you are interested in knowing where most ijaw people stand on breaking the country called Nigeria.
It's one of three things
1. No, don't break it.
2. Southern Nigeria (which will include Yoruba and Igbo regions)
3. Niger Delta Republic.

No Biafra that's not even an option except for a few hungry irrelevant people or just social media noise by one or two people with multiple accounts.

Why those 3 options? Because Nigerian politicians are the same, just greedy people interested in Thier pocket breaking Away from Nigeria will not stop the likes of Wike, godswill akpabio etc from doing their evil deeds and ruling badly. If an ijaw man becomes president or not it will not affect me personally. If an Igbo Ann becomes president it will not affect you personally, the north have been president for so long yet the ordinary northerners have very little or nothing to show for it.

We are not Igbos we are a distinct separate entity with different language, culture, dressing, history, delicacies, oral traditions, value system etc

We left the eastern region for a reason and wouldn't want to go back to that arrangement ever again we either remain alone or if we have to stay with the Igbos then Yoruba people, Tiv people INFACT all the middle belt and south west will be in that union. To counter balance each other, minimise bigotry, tribalism and so on.

That we are not exactly the same doesn't mean we cannot work together for the betterment of human life.

Thank you
Stay in love

blues234:
As an Igbo man that I am, I stand against any country that will include the Ijaws, in any form. This, among other reasons, is why I detest anything IPOB, because that shameless organization has brought home more insults and ridicules in the name of forming one country with these people that don't have the capacity to run a 21st century state, with their overly dependence on natural resources, and their incurable hate for Igbos.
The new Igbo frontier Nation is exclusively for only Igbo speaking groups, including the ones that are keen to deny their brothers, because of Nigerian politics. We know, that when the time comes, an Amadi will fall along, regardless the geolocation.
I stand for an only Igboid Nation State. The rest can disappear to the creeks, we don't give a fucck.

2elliot:
Kaikai man.

2elliot:
I swear, never include my stupid kaikai inslaved ijaws into any Biafra. In fact change the name from Biafra. Ijaws are too mentally handicapped to include in your country.

szczescie:
I'm just noticing Ijaw sounds like I Jew and izon sounds like Izrael lol

Any topic that has to do with Name or politics or something that indicates maybe Yorubas on Nairaland there are always comments from nairalanders who are Igbo making some funny remarks.

I assumed it was friendly banter between Igbos and yorubas.

But now the way they are attacking ijaws and we are not responding, I know we don't have that kind of friendly banter or atleast I don't recall anytime we agreed to have such exchanges.
I also don't understand why they do this, I will say a few, a few Igbos on Nairaland want to appropriate, annex Ijaw states, Ijaw people etc to Igbo.

Look many of you are not good students of history or you were taught wrong things so I will just point you in the right direction, I won't tell you what to think.

But I want to assure you with all honesty and sincerity, ijaw people (I am an ijaw man both from my father and my mother and I am from one of the royal families in ijaw land)
So I know what I am saying, Ijaw people do not hate Igbos, we do not hate yorubas, we do not hate anyone, and we try as much as possible from what I perceive and what I can tell, we try our best to avoid conflict, remember when others where saying if their tribe doesn't get this or that doesn't happen baboon blood will spill, our person said my election is not worth anybody's life. That is just one example.

However the calmness of the crocodile is not weakness, why do I say all these?

People do not seem to know that by number of states and by population the ijaw tribe is amongst the top 3 and top 4 tribe respectively

Because we don't make noise or hurl insults online to stir ethnic or tribe conflicts doesn't mean we are not in Nigeria or we can't do it. We just refuse to do it.

I do not think it is wise or fair for some Igbo people on Nairaland to keep claiming ijaws are these and that, we see all the insults targeted at us especially and even almost exclusively from the Igbos, I've never met an Hausa or Fulani man both online or offline who was insulting of ijaws. Many ijaws have lived peacefully with yorubas for so long you can't even tell the difference now,
In ajegunle and environs in the 60's and 70's there were large ijaw settlements or enclaves or however you want to call them, there are also large numbers of ijaws in some Yoruba states even some ijaws in ijaw states bear Yoruba names, many can speak Yoruba my mom speaks Yoruba and she's from Bayelsa, her half brothers are named taiye, kehinde etc Yoruba names.

But the yorubas have never one day come online to claim ijaw people are Yoruba, some ijaw or many ijaws largely agree through oral history that ijaws came from Bini but even the Bini people have NEVER one day said we are lesser than them or their subjects or any of that or we must fight their battle or must support them.

But online no week passes without some form of name calling, tribalism etc being flung at us from the Igbos and Most times it goes unreplied read the topics here on Nairaland that has to do with anything concerning ijaws. It is not as If we are not on Nairaland, it is not as if we don't see them or read them. We just chose not to reply.

But it has graduated to the level of propaganda and this is why I needed to post this, because in the future some of them will claim "if the ijaws were not or are not Igbos why did they kept quiet" their children may say " if your parents weren't Igbos why didn't they reply when my parents claimed they were Igbos" so this is the post saying WE THE IJAWS ARE NOT IGBOS.

what do I mean? Some Igbos online are now claiming all ijaws or most ijaws are Igbos, firstly, na by force?

Secondly in what way are we Igbos? We don't speak same language most of us do not share a common ancestor or history, during the Biafra war you renamed some places to Igbo names and claimed they had always been like that as if we don't have history, I want you to read Mary Henrietta Kingsley's book on West African History read the part on Nigeria and the Kalabari people or new Calabar people as they were called then, see if you can find ONE, just ONE Igbo name, also we have been bearing Portuguese names and naming our places Portuguese and English names since 1700's does that mean we are Portuguese or English? till today Port Harcourt is named after Harcourt, Bishop Bara heart, Braithwaith memorial, Forcados, even the ijaws you know off from wayyyy back their names where Isaac, George, Melford, Graham, West and so on.

Thirdly you forget we where once clumped under eastern region and we agitated to leave for certain reasons, go and read history about the creation of old rivers state and maybe you'll understand, Northerners didn't create rivers state for no reason or because they wanted to, We Rivers people, ijaw people wanted our own state, because according to those who were alive then and who moved for it, Eastern Region which the Igbos were a part of became Igbo, I don't think you understand that, everything good that came to eastern region was centered in Owerri, Enugu or any other exclusively Igbo town, rails, govmt buildings, anything, port Harcourt was in existence but nothing came that way all other old cities of other tribes were in existence but attention was not given to them, and there was serious nepotism.

This led to people like Melford okilo and co. Pressuring Gowon for a state,

Even when it comes to cessation from Nigeria don't forget Niger Delta Republic was declared on February 23, 1966 and they fought with federal forces before being defeated. Isaac Boro and his comrades were jailed for treason by Ojukwu and co. Ojukwu fought for Nigeria against the NDR only to turn back barely 3 years later and try to force us into Biafra, without even a sorry oh, you guys were right then. He just woke up and added us to battle and think we will fight for him just like that, Let us fight under Biafra and gain independence under Biafra Lol. A Biafra whose identity is so igbolised, igboitic. From there god to currency to flag to everything that is not a country in which an ijaw man will thrive, it will be frying pan to fire.

I as a person I am not against Biafra if you want it Goodluck to you left for me I would allow the refrendum, what I disagree with is your manner of trying to forcefully coerce others into your Biafra, you want freedom from Nigeria but you don't want to respect freedom of Niger Delta from Igbos?

Port Harcourt is the most free, most open, most accepting city in all of Nigeria. Yes! I've been to all big cities they usually speak Igbo(Enugu, Owerri), Yoruba (Lagos) or Hausa (Kano, Abuja) but in Port Harcourt English is the default, it is the language you are expectes or assumed to speak.

In Owerri and Enugu people expected me to speak Igbo, when I went to buy something the seller spoke Igbo to me, in Kano the bus drivers many spoke ONLY Hausa not even pidgin English, in Lagos along the conversation you'll just hear the speaker burst into rants in Yoruba and leave you lost in translation.

There are alot of Igbo people especially from imo in port Harcourt, but there are also many Akwa ibom people, many yorubas and people from everywhere else, we have our own problems like everyone else, we don't deny it. But insulting us trying to get us agitated will not help you in any way at all.

You want us to hate the hausa's but it is you dragging our land, it is you selling things to us 2 times the price because we are not Nwokem

You only want us not because you love us or you want the best for us or because we are brothers or anything like that but merely because you want numbers when you want to fight Hausa people or Yoruba people.

You claim we migrated from Ghana, Sierra Leone etc, lol we haven't denied it and we are not saying it's impossible but didn't you also migrate from somewhere to wherever you are today? Dont you claim to come from Israel? So if that's true it means even the land under your feet should be taken from you.

Also you are not doing yourself any good by fighting everybody, insulting everybody, everybody knows nothing only you knows everything, only you is smart everyone else is dumb. You are fighting yourself into a corner a corner that will keep reducing as you fight away everyone who can possibly help you.

I will continue to advocate that ijaws do not fall for the trap of becoming hateful people, we should keep following peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see God.
We should remain accommodating that's why people say Ijaw people don't travel, travel to where when PH, Yenagoa, and other Niger Delta states are the most accommodating? No religious, ethnic, language intolerance, no cheating you because you are not my brother or you can't speak my language.

Finally if you are interested in knowing where most ijaw people stand on breaking the country called Nigeria.
It's one of three things
1. No, don't break it.
2. Southern Nigeria (which will include Yoruba and Igbo regions)
3. Niger Delta Republic.

No Biafra that's not even an option except for a few hungry irrelevant people or just social media noise by one or two people with multiple accounts.

Why those 3 options? Because Nigerian politicians are the same, just greedy people interested in Thier pocket breaking Away from Nigeria will not stop the likes of Wike, godswill akpabio etc from doing their evil deeds and ruling badly. If an ijaw man becomes president or not it will not affect me personally. If an Igbo Ann becomes president it will not affect you personally, the north have been president for so long yet the ordinary northerners have very little or nothing to show for it.

We are not Igbos we are a distinct separate entity with different language, culture, dressing, history, delicacies, oral traditions, value system etc

We left the eastern region for a reason and wouldn't want to go back to that arrangement ever again we either remain alone or if we have to stay with the Igbos then Yoruba people, Tiv people INFACT all the middle belt and south west will be in that union. To counter balance each other, minimise bigotry, tribalism and so on.

That we are not exactly the same doesn't mean we cannot work together for the betterment of human life.

Thank you
Stay in love

NwaEzefuNaMba:
Ijaw is Ijaw.
Igbo is Igbo.
I don't support the forceful annexation of Ijaws to Igbo, the Ijaw Ethnic group is just as old as the Igbo Ethnic group.

But where i disagree with you is that area of "Ijaws don't hate anyone" i have lived in Brass For over 10yrs now, i meet people who tell me to my face daily that they hate me for being Igbo; they just don't say it, they act it. They are always ready to remind you that you are Igbo and they hate you.
And the Ikwerre's too. as a kid growing up in Portharcourt, i know what i pass through trying to play with other kids in Sandfield.
I can not put every experience of mine in the South Southern region down here, but i still love them; Ijaws, Akassa and Ogoni, all lovely people.

Gireiboy:
No recorded incident you say! so, majority of Ijaws are lying and all igboid claim about atrocities committed on them by the Hausa/Fulani's is true ba! how convenient!

RobbStark:
Stop lying to yourself kid, which 90%vote are you talking about.
If you have such strength why aren't you producing presidents.

Lie with the fear of God

Ijaws are not good for nothing.
Instead it is you that is big for nothing as you claimed. Is it by force to follow you guys to your promise land, there are other tribes in this region why aren't you guys troubling them the way you trouble us.

Live and let live.
Ijaws are great people who don't have ish with any tribe only when you trespass then we clear you straight.

Talking about women, well as at the last count the number of men who have died as a result of just "smiling'' with women are from the East. All those useless men who are dying because of hole are ibos.
I rest my case

fenibak:
well i am not a member of ipob but ipob is not a mistake,well i know everything as a strategist i believe we must go with 5 states for now,if israel didnt agree to the UN partition plan in 1947 they wont have a county today and Palestinians refused and its 73 yrs today and they have no country

szczescie:
I'm just noticing Ijaw sounds like I Jew and izon sounds like Izrael lol

Any topic that has to do with Name or politics or something that indicates maybe Yorubas on Nairaland there are always comments from nairalanders who are Igbo making some funny remarks.

I assumed it was friendly banter between Igbos and yorubas.

But now the way they are attacking ijaws and we are not responding, I know we don't have that kind of friendly banter or atleast I don't recall anytime we agreed to have such exchanges.
I also don't understand why they do this, I will say a few, a few Igbos on Nairaland want to appropriate, annex Ijaw states, Ijaw people etc to Igbo.

Look many of you are not good students of history or you were taught wrong things so I will just point you in the right direction, I won't tell you what to think.

But I want to assure you with all honesty and sincerity, ijaw people (I am an ijaw man both from my father and my mother and I am from one of the royal families in ijaw land)
So I know what I am saying, Ijaw people do not hate Igbos, we do not hate yorubas, we do not hate anyone, and we try as much as possible from what I perceive and what I can tell, we try our best to avoid conflict, remember when others where saying if their tribe doesn't get this or that doesn't happen baboon blood will spill, our person said my election is not worth anybody's life. That is just one example.

However the calmness of the crocodile is not weakness, why do I say all these?

People do not seem to know that by number of states and by population the ijaw tribe is amongst the top 3 and top 4 tribe respectively

Because we don't make noise or hurl insults online to stir ethnic or tribe conflicts doesn't mean we are not in Nigeria or we can't do it. We just refuse to do it.

I do not think it is wise or fair for some Igbo people on Nairaland to keep claiming ijaws are these and that, we see all the insults targeted at us especially and even almost exclusively from the Igbos, I've never met an Hausa or Fulani man both online or offline who was insulting of ijaws. Many ijaws have lived peacefully with yorubas for so long you can't even tell the difference now,
In ajegunle and environs in the 60's and 70's there were large ijaw settlements or enclaves or however you want to call them, there are also large numbers of ijaws in some Yoruba states even some ijaws in ijaw states bear Yoruba names, many can speak Yoruba my mom speaks Yoruba and she's from Bayelsa, her half brothers are named taiye, kehinde etc Yoruba names.

But the yorubas have never one day come online to claim ijaw people are Yoruba, some ijaw or many ijaws largely agree through oral history that ijaws came from Bini but even the Bini people have NEVER one day said we are lesser than them or their subjects or any of that or we must fight their battle or must support them.

But online no week passes without some form of name calling, tribalism etc being flung at us from the Igbos and Most times it goes unreplied read the topics here on Nairaland that has to do with anything concerning ijaws. It is not as If we are not on Nairaland, it is not as if we don't see them or read them. We just chose not to reply.

But it has graduated to the level of propaganda and this is why I needed to post this, because in the future some of them will claim "if the ijaws were not or are not Igbos why did they kept quiet" their children may say " if your parents weren't Igbos why didn't they reply when my parents claimed they were Igbos" so this is the post saying WE THE IJAWS ARE NOT IGBOS.

what do I mean? Some Igbos online are now claiming all ijaws or most ijaws are Igbos, firstly, na by force?

Secondly in what way are we Igbos? We don't speak same language most of us do not share a common ancestor or history, during the Biafra war you renamed some places to Igbo names and claimed they had always been like that as if we don't have history, I want you to read Mary Henrietta Kingsley's book on West African History read the part on Nigeria and the Kalabari people or new Calabar people as they were called then, see if you can find ONE, just ONE Igbo name, also we have been bearing Portuguese names and naming our places Portuguese and English names since 1700's does that mean we are Portuguese or English? till today Port Harcourt is named after Harcourt, Bishop Bara heart, Braithwaith memorial, Forcados, even the ijaws you know off from wayyyy back their names where Isaac, George, Melford, Graham, West and so on.

Thirdly you forget we where once clumped under eastern region and we agitated to leave for certain reasons, go and read history about the creation of old rivers state and maybe you'll understand, Northerners didn't create rivers state for no reason or because they wanted to, We Rivers people, ijaw people wanted our own state, because according to those who were alive then and who moved for it, Eastern Region which the Igbos were a part of became Igbo, I don't think you understand that, everything good that came to eastern region was centered in Owerri, Enugu or any other exclusively Igbo town, rails, govmt buildings, anything, port Harcourt was in existence but nothing came that way all other old cities of other tribes were in existence but attention was not given to them, and there was serious nepotism.

This led to people like Melford okilo and co. Pressuring Gowon for a state,

Even when it comes to cessation from Nigeria don't forget Niger Delta Republic was declared on February 23, 1966 and they fought with federal forces before being defeated. Isaac Boro and his comrades were jailed for treason by Ojukwu and co. Ojukwu fought for Nigeria against the NDR only to turn back barely 3 years later and try to force us into Biafra, without even a sorry oh, you guys were right then. He just woke up and added us to battle and think we will fight for him just like that, Let us fight under Biafra and gain independence under Biafra Lol. A Biafra whose identity is so igbolised, igboitic. From there god to currency to flag to everything that is not a country in which an ijaw man will thrive, it will be frying pan to fire.

I as a person I am not against Biafra if you want it Goodluck to you left for me I would allow the refrendum, what I disagree with is your manner of trying to forcefully coerce others into your Biafra, you want freedom from Nigeria but you don't want to respect freedom of Niger Delta from Igbos?

Port Harcourt is the most free, most open, most accepting city in all of Nigeria. Yes! I've been to all big cities they usually speak Igbo(Enugu, Owerri), Yoruba (Lagos) or Hausa (Kano, Abuja) but in Port Harcourt English is the default, it is the language you are expectes or assumed to speak.

In Owerri and Enugu people expected me to speak Igbo, when I went to buy something the seller spoke Igbo to me, in Kano the bus drivers many spoke ONLY Hausa not even pidgin English, in Lagos along the conversation you'll just hear the speaker burst into rants in Yoruba and leave you lost in translation.

There are alot of Igbo people especially from imo in port Harcourt, but there are also many Akwa ibom people, many yorubas and people from everywhere else, we have our own problems like everyone else, we don't deny it. But insulting us trying to get us agitated will not help you in any way at all.

You want us to hate the hausa's but it is you dragging our land, it is you selling things to us 2 times the price because we are not Nwokem

You only want us not because you love us or you want the best for us or because we are brothers or anything like that but merely because you want numbers when you want to fight Hausa people or Yoruba people.

You claim we migrated from Ghana, Sierra Leone etc, lol we haven't denied it and we are not saying it's impossible but didn't you also migrate from somewhere to wherever you are today? Dont you claim to come from Israel? So if that's true it means even the land under your feet should be taken from you.

Also you are not doing yourself any good by fighting everybody, insulting everybody, everybody knows nothing only you knows everything, only you is smart everyone else is dumb. You are fighting yourself into a corner a corner that will keep reducing as you fight away everyone who can possibly help you.

I will continue to advocate that ijaws do not fall for the trap of becoming hateful people, we should keep following peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see God.
We should remain accommodating that's why people say Ijaw people don't travel, travel to where when PH, Yenagoa, and other Niger Delta states are the most accommodating? No religious, ethnic, language intolerance, no cheating you because you are not my brother or you can't speak my language.

Finally if you are interested in knowing where most ijaw people stand on breaking the country called Nigeria.
It's one of three things
1. No, don't break it.
2. Southern Nigeria (which will include Yoruba and Igbo regions)
3. Niger Delta Republic.

No Biafra that's not even an option except for a few hungry irrelevant people or just social media noise by one or two people with multiple accounts.

Why those 3 options? Because Nigerian politicians are the same, just greedy people interested in Thier pocket breaking Away from Nigeria will not stop the likes of Wike, godswill akpabio etc from doing their evil deeds and ruling badly. If an ijaw man becomes president or not it will not affect me personally. If an Igbo Ann becomes president it will not affect you personally, the north have been president for so long yet the ordinary northerners have very little or nothing to show for it.

We are not Igbos we are a distinct separate entity with different language, culture, dressing, history, delicacies, oral traditions, value system etc

We left the eastern region for a reason and wouldn't want to go back to that arrangement ever again we either remain alone or if we have to stay with the Igbos then Yoruba people, Tiv people INFACT all the middle belt and south west will be in that union. To counter balance each other, minimise bigotry, tribalism and so on.

That we are not exactly the same doesn't mean we cannot work together for the betterment of human life.

Thank you
Stay in love

szczescie:
I'm just noticing Ijaw sounds like I Jew and izon sounds like Izrael lol

Any topic that has to do with Name or politics or something that indicates maybe Yorubas on Nairaland there are always comments from nairalanders who are Igbo making some funny remarks.

I assumed it was friendly banter between Igbos and yorubas.

But now the way they are attacking ijaws and we are not responding, I know we don't have that kind of friendly banter or atleast I don't recall anytime we agreed to have such exchanges.
I also don't understand why they do this, I will say a few, a few Igbos on Nairaland want to appropriate, annex Ijaw states, Ijaw people etc to Igbo.

Look many of you are not good students of history or you were taught wrong things so I will just point you in the right direction, I won't tell you what to think.

But I want to assure you with all honesty and sincerity, ijaw people (I am an ijaw man both from my father and my mother and I am from one of the royal families in ijaw land)
So I know what I am saying, Ijaw people do not hate Igbos, we do not hate yorubas, we do not hate anyone, and we try as much as possible from what I perceive and what I can tell, we try our best to avoid conflict, remember when others where saying if their tribe doesn't get this or that doesn't happen baboon blood will spill, our person said my election is not worth anybody's life. That is just one example.

However the calmness of the crocodile is not weakness, why do I say all these?

People do not seem to know that by number of states and by population the ijaw tribe is amongst the top 3 and top 4 tribe respectively

Because we don't make noise or hurl insults online to stir ethnic or tribe conflicts doesn't mean we are not in Nigeria or we can't do it. We just refuse to do it.

I do not think it is wise or fair for some Igbo people on Nairaland to keep claiming ijaws are these and that, we see all the insults targeted at us especially and even almost exclusively from the Igbos, I've never met an Hausa or Fulani man both online or offline who was insulting of ijaws. Many ijaws have lived peacefully with yorubas for so long you can't even tell the difference now,
In ajegunle and environs in the 60's and 70's there were large ijaw settlements or enclaves or however you want to call them, there are also large numbers of ijaws in some Yoruba states even some ijaws in ijaw states bear Yoruba names, many can speak Yoruba my mom speaks Yoruba and she's from Bayelsa, her half brothers are named taiye, kehinde etc Yoruba names.

But the yorubas have never one day come online to claim ijaw people are Yoruba, some ijaw or many ijaws largely agree through oral history that ijaws came from Bini but even the Bini people have NEVER one day said we are lesser than them or their subjects or any of that or we must fight their battle or must support them.

But online no week passes without some form of name calling, tribalism etc being flung at us from the Igbos and Most times it goes unreplied read the topics here on Nairaland that has to do with anything concerning ijaws. It is not as If we are not on Nairaland, it is not as if we don't see them or read them. We just chose not to reply.

But it has graduated to the level of propaganda and this is why I needed to post this, because in the future some of them will claim "if the ijaws were not or are not Igbos why did they kept quiet" their children may say " if your parents weren't Igbos why didn't they reply when my parents claimed they were Igbos" so this is the post saying WE THE IJAWS ARE NOT IGBOS.

what do I mean? Some Igbos online are now claiming all ijaws or most ijaws are Igbos, firstly, na by force?

Secondly in what way are we Igbos? We don't speak same language most of us do not share a common ancestor or history, during the Biafra war you renamed some places to Igbo names and claimed they had always been like that as if we don't have history, I want you to read Mary Henrietta Kingsley's book on West African History read the part on Nigeria and the Kalabari people or new Calabar people as they were called then, see if you can find ONE, just ONE Igbo name, also we have been bearing Portuguese names and naming our places Portuguese and English names since 1700's does that mean we are Portuguese or English? till today Port Harcourt is named after Harcourt, Bishop Bara heart, Braithwaith memorial, Forcados, even the ijaws you know off from wayyyy back their names where Isaac, George, Melford, Graham, West and so on.

Thirdly you forget we where once clumped under eastern region and we agitated to leave for certain reasons, go and read history about the creation of old rivers state and maybe you'll understand, Northerners didn't create rivers state for no reason or because they wanted to, We Rivers people, ijaw people wanted our own state, because according to those who were alive then and who moved for it, Eastern Region which the Igbos were a part of became Igbo, I don't think you understand that, everything good that came to eastern region was centered in Owerri, Enugu or any other exclusively Igbo town, rails, govmt buildings, anything, port Harcourt was in existence but nothing came that way all other old cities of other tribes were in existence but attention was not given to them, and there was serious nepotism.

This led to people like Melford okilo and co. Pressuring Gowon for a state,

Even when it comes to cessation from Nigeria don't forget Niger Delta Republic was declared on February 23, 1966 and they fought with federal forces before being defeated. Isaac Boro and his comrades were jailed for treason by Ojukwu and co. Ojukwu fought for Nigeria against the NDR only to turn back barely 3 years later and try to force us into Biafra, without even a sorry oh, you guys were right then. He just woke up and added us to battle and think we will fight for him just like that, Let us fight under Biafra and gain independence under Biafra Lol. A Biafra whose identity is so igbolised, igboitic. From there god to currency to flag to everything that is not a country in which an ijaw man will thrive, it will be frying pan to fire.

I as a person I am not against Biafra if you want it Goodluck to you left for me I would allow the refrendum, what I disagree with is your manner of trying to forcefully coerce others into your Biafra, you want freedom from Nigeria but you don't want to respect freedom of Niger Delta from Igbos?

Port Harcourt is the most free, most open, most accepting city in all of Nigeria. Yes! I've been to all big cities they usually speak Igbo(Enugu, Owerri), Yoruba (Lagos) or Hausa (Kano, Abuja) but in Port Harcourt English is the default, it is the language you are expectes or assumed to speak.

In Owerri and Enugu people expected me to speak Igbo, when I went to buy something the seller spoke Igbo to me, in Kano the bus drivers many spoke ONLY Hausa not even pidgin English, in Lagos along the conversation you'll just hear the speaker burst into rants in Yoruba and leave you lost in translation.

There are alot of Igbo people especially from imo in port Harcourt, but there are also many Akwa ibom people, many yorubas and people from everywhere else, we have our own problems like everyone else, we don't deny it. But insulting us trying to get us agitated will not help you in any way at all.

You want us to hate the hausa's but it is you dragging our land, it is you selling things to us 2 times the price because we are not Nwokem

You only want us not because you love us or you want the best for us or because we are brothers or anything like that but merely because you want numbers when you want to fight Hausa people or Yoruba people.

You claim we migrated from Ghana, Sierra Leone etc, lol we haven't denied it and we are not saying it's impossible but didn't you also migrate from somewhere to wherever you are today? Dont you claim to come from Israel? So if that's true it means even the land under your feet should be taken from you.

Also you are not doing yourself any good by fighting everybody, insulting everybody, everybody knows nothing only you knows everything, only you is smart everyone else is dumb. You are fighting yourself into a corner a corner that will keep reducing as you fight away everyone who can possibly help you.

I will continue to advocate that ijaws do not fall for the trap of becoming hateful people, we should keep following peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see God.
We should remain accommodating that's why people say Ijaw people don't travel, travel to where when PH, Yenagoa, and other Niger Delta states are the most accommodating? No religious, ethnic, language intolerance, no cheating you because you are not my brother or you can't speak my language.

Finally if you are interested in knowing where most ijaw people stand on breaking the country called Nigeria.
It's one of three things
1. No, don't break it.
2. Southern Nigeria (which will include Yoruba and Igbo regions)
3. Niger Delta Republic.

No Biafra that's not even an option except for a few hungry irrelevant people or just social media noise by one or two people with multiple accounts.

Why those 3 options? Because Nigerian politicians are the same, just greedy people interested in Thier pocket breaking Away from Nigeria will not stop the likes of Wike, godswill akpabio etc from doing their evil deeds and ruling badly. If an ijaw man becomes president or not it will not affect me personally. If an Igbo Ann becomes president it will not affect you personally, the north have been president for so long yet the ordinary northerners have very little or nothing to show for it.

We are not Igbos we are a distinct separate entity with different language, culture, dressing, history, delicacies, oral traditions, value system etc

We left the eastern region for a reason and wouldn't want to go back to that arrangement ever again we either remain alone or if we have to stay with the Igbos then Yoruba people, Tiv people INFACT all the middle belt and south west will be in that union. To counter balance each other, minimise bigotry, tribalism and so on.

That we are not exactly the same doesn't mean we cannot work together for the betterment of human life.

Thank you
Stay in love

Xbobtage:
You have allowed the trolls from Nairaland to get to you, you should already know that most of the people posting here are not really who they claim to be, but rather here to misrepresent and mislead other nigerians, this might be true for yourself as well. But I would like to react to your post on face value and respond constructively.

Assuming you are truly from Rivers State, then you are my Brother, I would assume it to be Okrika as that is the strongest Pro-ijaw clan in our state. After glancing through some of your previous post and noticed you never deemed it necessary to say anything about the recently passed PIB bill, It becomes difficult to understand why you invested so much energy in posting this thread, you have now set up the great ijaw tribe to be insulted by the usual nairaland insult posters. For what reason? that ijaws are not igbos? Even though as an ardent reader of nairaland for almost 10 years I will say its hard to come across a single comment claiming ijaws are igbos, although I agree I have met some uneducated people in real life who would make such dumb insinuations even though they made it in good faith (but it appears even those people are too dumb to even sign up on nairaland as we hardly see such comments here)

But can we blame some people who might confuse the two tribes when some "supposed" ijaw territory is purely igbo speaking (like Bonny), is there any igbo territory that currently speaks ijaw in the south east? I am sure not!

And on a side note Why have all the niger delta producing areas in the country gone shocking mute after this new PIB bill? Have we all been paid off?

Listen, the problem I have with your write up is that after you have claimed that the igbo people are trying to force everyone to be igbo and be in Biafra, you go ahead to make it sound as if Ijaw is niger delta, and niger delta is ijaw and as if Rivers State is Ijawland, I am a Riversman but I am definitely not an Ijaw man and Rivers state is not Ijawland. How can you accuse the igbo people of one thing and be doing it in the same sentence. Ijaw people have allowed their strange competition with igbo people to leave a bad taste (about the minority tribes in SS ) in the eyes igbos who are trying to reach out. How can ijaw people fewer than 2.5million be in competition with people who over 50 million?

All of these madness is why some of us are speaking out so that people do not think we have all gone mad. Our people need alliances right now not burning bridges, if the ijaws believe they are big enough to form a country of their own, and do not give a damn who they poke then stop lumping everyone in the niger delta in your sentences, and ruining it for those of us who want to maintain age old alliances.

Please next time you want speak, speak for your people so that everyone can be sure who is making these sentences. Thank you!

tutudesz:
Nairaland Residential Madman will always be present