₦airaland Forum

mayor1814:
All dis threads sef bout Igbo dis or dat should stop. If an ikwerre man in Rivers state or Ika man in delta claims he's Igbo let them be and if they claim they are not Igbo, let them be...

Gentlesniper:
Like someone said, the thread is entertaining and enlightening as well. I am a non ibo but due to the nature of my work, I have been opportuned to be in different parts of southern Nigeria. The Op said andoni people are ijaws to buy I have seen some andonis with ibo names like uche secondus of pdp. I have seen some people of eastern obolo in akwaibom state who are andonis bear ibo names, and I think they are under the ijaw socio cultural group. And we have the ijaws in ondo state(Ilaje) who speak Yoruba too. I think the ijaws are a people with interesting history, would love to know more about them

ariesbull:
Okrika is not Ijaw

Gentlesniper:
Like someone said, the thread is entertaining and enlightening as well. I am a non ibo but due to the nature of my work, I have been opportuned to be in different parts of southern Nigeria. The Op said andoni people are ijaws to buy I have seen some andonis with ibo names like uche secondus of pdp. I have seen some people of eastern obolo in akwaibom state who are andonis bear ibo names, and I think they are under the ijaw socio cultural group. And we have the ijaws in ondo state(Ilaje) who speak Yoruba too. I think the ijaws are a people with interesting history, would love to know more about them

ariesbull:
Andoni are not Ijaw ....


Peter Odili is from there

ariesbull:
Andoni are not Ijaw ....


Peter Odili is from there

igwebuike01:
Peter Odili is from Ndoni not Andoni they are not the same. Ndoni are pure Igbos and close to Anambra state. Andoni are riverine people, their language is not igbo dialect but some have igbo names

Swiftgrp:
The larger Ikot Abasi homeland is 4 miles South West of the Opobo River (aka Imo River).

The Ikot Udo Obong War was fought against Jaja (who prevented these other ethnicities from having direct trade links with the European traders) by the Annangs and Ibibio ethnic warriors.

Swiftgrp:
The larger Ikot Abasi homeland is 4 miles South West of the Opobo River (aka Imo River).

The Ikot Udo Obong War was fought against Jaja (who prevented these other ethnicities from having direct trade links with the European traders) by the Annangs and Ibibio ethnic warriors.

deekseen:
O wise one...

No need to try and insult me. Gather your people and go and occupy Opobo.

Swiftgrp:
The larger Ikot Abasi homeland is 4 miles South West of the Opobo River (aka Imo River).

The Ikot Udo Obong War was fought against Jaja (who prevented these other ethnicities from having direct trade links with the European traders) by the Annangs and Ibibio ethnic warriors.

igwebuike01:
So if Opobo is Igbo I will gather my people and occupy it. See reasoning. Opobo will be occupied by Opobo people and those who wish to migrate and live there. Igbo remain first language and therefore it's an Igbo community

igwebuike01:
I'm sure you are referring to this. It's north of Opobo not Southwest of Opobo. It is an empty bush with no settlement. It became part of Akwa ibom by state boundary adjustment which is always political

jamesversion:
Lunatic.There is no such thing as Port Harcourt South LGA. Port Harcout LGA is Ikwerreland and Okrika and customary tenants.

Also having 11LGA doesn't make you the biggest ethnic group. Take for instance. Ogubolo LGA isn't more than 30,000 people, Opobo isn't more than 150,000 people. Asari Tiru is less than 100,000 people. Engenni is a section of Ahoada west. They are not more than 8000 people. Okrika is small. Bonny is small. Andonni is sizeable, same for Akuku Toru and Degema. Also Abua is sizeable.

You be majority yet na now you dey become governor.

igwebuike01:
Peter Odili is from Ndoni not Andoni they are not the same. Ndoni are pure Igbos and close to Anambra state. Andoni are riverine people, their language is not igbo dialect but some have igbo names

Swiftgrp:
As of 1870 (when Jaja an Ijawnized former slave originally sold by his kinsfolk from Amaigbo in Imo, fled from Bonny Island with some of his men to escape being killed by more powerfully armed rivals in Bonny, but fortunately some of his European friends came to his aid and saved him and his team) what we call Opobo was actually called Ikot Abasi in Ibibioland. Opobo was neither Ijaw nor Ibo but fully Ibibioland! The modern Opobo you see today has ancestries from Ibibio, Ijaw, and Ibo mixed.

=>https://www.britannica.com/place/Ikot-Abasi

The Ijaws had elaborate initiation ceremonies that they usually did for some of their freed slaves to convert them to Ijaws (and that is what happened to all the slaves (Ibos and others) who were brought by the Aros and Abams from the interior Ibo tribes or other ethnic groups). The Ijaws were the middlemen in Bonny Island and other slave export areas. The Ibibios, Efiks, etc, also acted as middlemen in the slave trade.

Back to Opobo, many years ago, I first read advanced archival historical books written by Europeans NOT the doctored online propaganda we see today indicating that the Ibibios gave Jaja some of their land which was part of Ikot Abasi to stay but he later became very brutal and started challenging and preventing the interior tribes along the river from engaging in the lucrative trading with the white guys and these caused wars such as the Ikot Udo Wars between Jaja and other ethnicities such as the Annangs, Ibibios, and Ngwas.

The British (who refered to Jaja as a middlemen Chief NOT as a King from a royal family and infact Ijaw custom does NOT allow freed slaves like Jaja or freeborns to become kings or Amayanabos. So how he ended up being called a king in the Nigerian Social Studies books is dubious), also got tired of his arrogance and brutal killings and beheadings of rival ethnicities that they finally got rid of him in 1887. After all it was his British trader friends who rescued him from the onslaught of Bonny warriors otherwise, he would have been killed as of 1870!

=> https://www.britannica.com/place/Ikot-Abasi

Yujin:
Tales by moonlight.
Jaja was a king by the virtue of him founding a new settlement. It's well recorded in history.

Swiftgrp:
What I emphasized in that post is that according to Bonny [Ibani] and Ijaw customs and traditions, a former slave or freeborn CANNOT become an Amayanabo. Since Jaja was an Ijawnized former slave, he wasn't qualified to become a King or Amayanabo. He was a popularly called Chief Jaja to the Europeans but he just or later day nationalist book writers elavated him to that status of a King.

Infact the colonial books referred to him as a Chief Jaja... the middleman Chief. It is clearly stated in the 1920s iconic book "The History of Nigeria" By Sir Allan Burns [Burns was the Acting-Governor General of Nigeria and the Governor General of Gold Coast].

Yujin:
Lol. What fake Ijaw customs and traditions are you talking about? The lies that people make just to obscure history is very appalling.
What drove Jaja from Bonny was never the contest for kingship. Therefore, the claim of his erstwhile slave status was irrelevant to him being a king in Bonny. It was pure jealousy that led to the fight that saw him leaving Bonny.

After successfully establishing a new community on a virgin land, he became king by the virtue of him being her founder.
Some Europeans calling him Chief never robbed him of his deserved title as the king of Opobo. There's this iconic picture of him adorning his Akwete cloth and a big conical raffia hat. That dressing obviously was befitting of a king and not a mere chief.

Comclusion... Jaja was the King of Opobo undisputed and his descendants remain on the throne till today. He was not a mere chief. Joseph was a slave but he later became a prime minister. Don't allow one useless Ijaw conjectures to blind you to common sense. A man can change his fortune and Jaja did change his to become a king.

Yujin:
Lol. What fake Ijaw customs and traditions are you talking about? The lies that people make just to obscure history is very appalling.
What drove Jaja from Bonny was never the contest for kingship. Therefore, the claim of his erstwhile slave status was irrelevant to him being a king in Bonny. It was pure jealousy that led to the fight that saw him leaving Bonny.
After successfully establishing a new community on a virgin land, he became king by the virtue of him being her founder.
Some Europeans calling him Chief never robbed him of his deserved title as the king of Opobo. There's this iconic picture of him adorning his Akwete cloth and a big conical raffia hat. That dressing obviously was befitting of a king and not a mere chief.
Comclusion... Jaja was the King of Opobo undisputed and his descendants remain on the throne till today. He was not a mere chief. Joseph was a slave but he later became a prime minister. Don't allow one useless Ijaw conjectures to blind you to common sense. A man can change his fortune and Jaja did change his to become a king.

Swiftgrp:
You call those fake customs and traditions?... Ijaw/Ibani folks won't like that [I get your point of view though].

In any event, from 1870 to 1887, i.e., for 17 years, he was outside Bonny where he fled from with some of his people and he strongly retained his Ijawnized Ibani cultural practices and that is why he named the new area he moved to after the Amanyanabo Opubu Perekule of Bonny. I must emphasize again that the land Jaja fled to was NOT EMPTY LAND or virgin land but a part of Ibibioland [Ikot Abasi]. This is the reason why Opobo has a mixture of ancestries from Ibibio, Ijaw and Ibo.

Years back, I watched a documentary series on Jaja and in that historic documentary, it was indicated that he actually went back to his original homeland in Amaigbo and built a house there which stands till today. I'm not sure whether he went from Bonny Island or from Opobo but the house is still in existence and Walter Ofonagoro who is from that area was also interviewed. There is an account told in Opobo that it was Jaja's father that colluded to sell him into slavery but Walter Ofonagoro chimed in and said it wasn't so. In any event despite the Ijaw initiation and naturalization ceremony Jaja went through, I still consider him as a first-generation Ibo man.

Last but not least, I want you give me the download link to the ANDONI history that you said you downloaded. I'm curious to learn more about their migratory history.

Thanks.

Yujin:
Lol. I repeat, there's no any useless Ijaw initiation and naturalization ceremony anywhere. This lie will never stick anywhere. Whatever happened over there was as a result of a cultural melting point. Before Jaja was even born or came to Bonny, many other Igbos have been kings and occupied big positions in Bonny. There are names to back it up. The founders of Bonny had mostly Igbo names and are of the Ngwa/ Ndoki stock.

The other powerful house that fought Jaja and sent him packing out of Bonny was led by another Igbo known as Oko Jumbo who was also an ex-slave. Bonny was Igbo speaking right from inception just like Opobo. They happened to adopt the Ijoid communal organization of using war canoe houses because it suited the terrain very well. You'll be surprised if you ask the traditional names of most of the founders/ owners of those war canoe houses. They adopted English names but when you go into their archives, most have Igbo names. They want you to take it that all Igbos in Bonny were there as a result of slave trade but the reality on ground proves it to be false. The Igbo dialect of Bonny isn't that of the other Igbo groups who suffered more in the slave trade but is of the Ndoki stock who traditionally occupy important positions in Bonny.

For Opobo, the Andoni people even claim that they gave that portion of land to Jaja after he consulted them. As you can see, Opobo is very close to Andoni and is by the mouth of the Imo river. Ibibios aren't really bordered by the coast which most of you don't know. The stretch from Andoni to Ibeno are the same people who speak the same language that is Ekoid. A language similarity test was done for Andoni language between Ekoi and Ibibio. It was discovered that Andoni is more closer to Ekoi than their nearest Ibibio neighbours. This also supported their claims of migrating from Cameroon through Ekoi groups before settling where they are now.

When Jaja went to Bonny, 14 of the 18 war canoe houses went with him. Bear in mind that Bonny was Igbo dominated at the time so most of those who went with him were still Igbos. Any Ibibio influence in Opobo is very minimal. They were very good in palm oil production which Jaja liked but when it came to the Opobo community, there's hardly anything related to Ibibio to be seen not even their popular ekpe masquerades made it to Opobo. Ikot Abasi NE of Opobo was annexed by Jaja and was called Igwenga. They were not traditionally the same land. Ikot Abasi had people living there and doing their things but not the same in Opobo. It was a virgin land. The next community south of Opobo known as Queenstown was formed by one of Jaja's close ally and chief who disagreed with him on certain things. It was also a virgin land. There were lots of virgin lands in that area. Infact, most of the marsh lands of Rivers state were virgin lands and had communities formed only in 1800s. Only Bonny, Okrika and Andoni were known communities before 1800s. Original Okrika was a very small Island Ijaw fishermen used to settle on to gather their fishes before coming up towards Port Harcourt waterside to sell to Igbo and other upland farmers in exchange for crops.

All the Kalabari communities were new settlements found by Igbo, Ijaw migrants from Bayelsa and Efik/Ibibio plus other central delta groups of people. This is why Kalabari got her name from New Calabar after some Efiks left Old Calabar to come to those empty lands are resume the trade they've been doing in Calabar. Over time, New Calabar turned into Kalabari.

Finally, I don't have a link to those documents now. It was in an old device. It is easy to get though. Just google about the history of Andoni people. The author is a popular Andoni man. I forgot his name.

Awobelem:
Yujin you are right about the igbo infiltration in Bonny as far back as it's early kings, but wrong about them being Igbo from inception.

During the migration of the brothers, namely Alagbariya, Opuamakuba, Asimini & co, from the Central Delta "Ijaw" they took the hinterland root, through this journey, they stopped at these areas azuogu, azumini and finally settled at Ndoki, they must have spent years there, during that time they inter married, mixing both the ibani culture and the igbo. After some years they decided to find a land suitable for their occupation as they were fishermen in nature, on leaving Ndoki they needed a leader for the expedition, according to oral history during these era leadership was based on age, that was how Okpara Ndoli, the only Ibo name that appeared in the Bonny early kings emerged. It was by his age that he became the first ruler of the group. He died at Orupiri not too far from Bonny. Opuamakuba was made the next leader as the oldest among the brothers, later Alagbariya as the one who sited the town Bonny. It was this migration mix that brought about the Igbo speaking in Bonny as a lot of Igbos migrated with them.

The truth is the Ibani was what they held as their original language and kept to it in their Culture, customs and tradition.

Email qconsoso1@yahoo.com

Ebi2233:
1.Ijaw, 2. Igboid, [Including Ikwerre] 3. Ogoni..


Ijaw with 11 Lgas, out of 23 Lgas are the largest Rivers State Tribe.
Since democracy, only Ijaw have been Deputies for 24 years and now, we are coming as Governor in 2 days time. Ijaw occupy half of Rivers State while other tribes share half.


Ogoni have 4 LGAS.

The Ijaw 11 LGAs are Asari Toru, Akuku Toru, Bonny, Degema, Okrika, Ogu/Bolo, Port Harcourt South, Opobo/Nkoro, Abua/Odual, Andoni, Ahoada West.

These are the ones under all Ijaw Social Cultural Organizations and sign Ijaw accord.

Note; There is no particular language called Ijaw. Ijaw is an association of different groups related by same Ancestry that come together as one.



GENERAL DITARI.