₦airaland Forum

selemempe:
I need views on this from anioma people and igbo people

Modified:
So after getting views from different people, I came to the conclusion of the following (as at the time the thread was at 34 pages)

1. Many Anioma people want to get Anioma state for south east.

2. Many Anioma people now believe that they might infact be part of the larger Igbo nation.

3. Some Anioma people from mostly Ika dont feel like joining south east nor identifying as Igbo

4. Most Anioma people believe onitsha should be part of Anioma state.

5. Most south easterners are willing to accept Anioma as the 6th south east state if they will drop their claim of onitsha.

6. Most Anambra folks are of the opinion that the current onitsha metropolis has far out grown what it was in the 60s and therefore cant be part of Anioma anymore.

7. Most Anambra folks would not want onitsha carved out of Anambra.

8. Some south east folks want a signed document from Anioma traditional and elected leaders saying that they would forever be part of south east before igbos can officially support the creation of an Anioma state.

pazienza:
Just seeing this now.

Yes! Ndiigbo existed in both sides of the River Niger, almost at the same time. We were indigenous to both sides of the River Niger.
If the River Niger couldn't separate small ethnic group like Nupe, who occupy both sides of the Niger, what then made people to think that the Proto Igbo speaking people highly populated people were limited on one side of the River by the River Niger?

The mistake many make is to assume that any Western Igbo community must have migrated from the East side of the Niger.
This is an erroneous assumption that have hampered the full understanding of Igbo history.
The Western and Eastern Igbolands were inhabited by Ndiigbo about same time. Communities in Western Igbo had to deal with endless hordes of people trooping into the area from Unstable Bini Kingdom, and each time these Bini cultured people, many of whom were of western Igbo origin to begin with, arrived to Western Igboland, they reorganized the communities, and set new order, hence are assumed to have founded the communities, where as in true sense, these Proto Igbo communities were autochthonous (Aboriginal) to the area, and were only made to come together to form new centralized communities by the Bini arrivals, who then go on to erase the history of the community, replacing it with a Bini one. Or rather, the people out of desire to be part of Bini empire, happily forgot their old history, for the new ones being written by the Bini arrivals.

The movement across the Niger by Igbo people was not a one way traffic affair.
Some Igbo groups aboriginal to Western Igbo moved from Western Igbo to Eastern Igbo. For example, the Akri groups, who are found in Ogbaru, ie Akri Ozizor (Stella Oduah) , Akri Ogidi, and Atani( Osita Osadebey hometown), the remnant of Akri people had since been assimilated by other Igbo groups in Ndokwa/Ukwuani area of Western Igbo.

We still have the great Ubulu people migration from Western Igbo land, that is believed to have founded all the Ubulu/Uburu/Uvulu attached groups in Eastern Igboland, like Ozubulu in Anambra amongst so many others.

It is said in some quarters that there was once a great Igbo Kingdom in the place currently occupied by Aniocha/Oshimili people, called Ogidi.
This kingdom became troubled by many factors and broke down, forcing its inhabitants to disperse within Western Igbo and across the Niger.
As a young man, I grew up with my grand father, in my Ogidi hometown, I often asked him where Ezechumagha, the father of Inwelle, who gave birth to Ogidi, the founder of our town came from, the old man never had answers for that, he only told me that it's speculated that he came from Nri, but that nobody is sure about that too.
I had thought about this, and I came to realize that Ogidi couldn't have come from Nri. We live in an area dominated By Nri culture, but we are not Nri, we can't trace our lineage in Nri.
From my observation, the name "Ogidi", is more prevalent amongst the western Igbos, and we have Akri-Ogidi, a town who though are presently in Eastern Igbo, were actually aboriginal to Western Igboland.
My deduction is that Ezechumagha( Grandfather of Ogidi) was likely a descendants of this lost Ogidi kingdom in Western Igbo.
This is also, why some Anioma people try to claim Ogidi as an Anioma town sometimes. But what they don't realize is that Ogidi was not of the current Bini macabre dance they are dancing.
If at all, that after thorough research, it's proven that Ogidi actually came from Western Igbo, then,, it would only mean that we were aboriginal Igbos west of Niger, ie, descendants of the now lost and forgotten old Ogidi kingdom of Western Igbo, and not a group of misguided and confused Bini wannabes that currently inhabit that part of ancient Igbo land.

gidgiddy:
Igbos from present day Nteje in Anambra were said to have migrated across the River Niger where they founded a town called "Ahaba" which was later anglicised by the British to mean 'Asaba.

Another part of the group moved in a different direction and stopped to rest by a road side. They founded a settlement by that road side and called it "Igbo bi n'uzo" (Igbos that live by the road). Igbo bi n'uzo was shortend to Igbo-uzo then anglicised by the British to Ibusa.

WhizdomXX:
Asaba was founded by a fleeing igala prince who then married Nteje or one of her daughters (Nnebisi) and gave birth to 5 children, which are the five quarters of Asaba Please don't retwist our history.

BossGerald:
Ukwuani people that migrated from nsukka?? Have you heard them speak??

So nsukka people are not Igbos??

BabaRamota1980:
Sir go ahead please. For the record, I am indeed Yoruba.

BabaRamota1980:
Those are Igala nau

cjrane:
Whether Delta Igbos belong to the Southeast, South-South, or Midwest, you cannot call them Yoruba-Igbos or Ijaw-Igbos. Just as you wouldn't call Yorubas in Kwara and Kogi Fulani-Yorubas. In fact, the proposed new regions have cleverly included all Yoruba-speaking areas of Kogi and Kwara into the new "Western region" to prevent any Yoruba from remaining a minority in the North Central region and being marginalized. Meanwhile, Igbo-speaking areas are being divided into a new "Mid-West region" and a new Southern region, where they will always be minorities.

As an Anioma person, I fully agree with Senator Ned Nwoko. Though we have never been part of the Southeast, it has not stopped Nigerians from seeing our Igbo heritage and treating us as Igbos. During the civil war, even though we were part of Nigeria, we were the only "Nigerians" massacred by Nigerian troops for being Igbos. If Biafra existed today and we were in Nigerian territory, do you think we would be treated as anything but Igbos, even if we never declared war on Nigeria?

You are wasting your time denying Anioma's Igbo identity. [b]As a child, I vehemently denied being Igbo because my mother told us so. I have since realized the folly in denying who we are. It makes us unacceptable to both Nigerians and our Igbo kinsmen. This is precisely Nigeria's plot to weaken Anioma people. In 2024, I can tell you that the trick used on our people in the 1960s is now stale and futile. Try something else.[/b]

cjrane:
Whether Delta Igbos belong to the Southeast, South-South, or Midwest, you cannot call them Yoruba-Igbos or Ijaw-Igbos. Just as you wouldn't call Yorubas in Kwara and Kogi Fulani-Yorubas. In fact, the proposed new regions have cleverly included all Yoruba-speaking areas of Kogi and Kwara into the new "Western region" to prevent any Yoruba from remaining a minority in the North Central region and being marginalized. Meanwhile, Igbo-speaking areas are being divided into a new "Mid-West region" and a new Southern region, where they will always be minorities.

As an Anioma person, I fully agree with Senator Ned Nwoko. Though we have never been part of the Southeast, it has not stopped Nigerians from seeing our Igbo heritage and treating us as Igbos. During the civil war, even though we were part of Nigeria, we were the only "Nigerians" massacred by Nigerian troops for being Igbos. If Biafra existed today and we were in Nigerian territory, do you think we would be treated as anything but Igbos, even if we never declared war on Nigeria?

You are wasting your time denying Anioma's Igbo identity. As a child, I vehemently denied being Igbo because my mother told us so. I have since realized the folly in denying who we are. It makes us unacceptable to both Nigerians and our Igbo kinsmen. This is precisely Nigeria's plot to weaken Anioma people. In 2024, I can tell you that the trick used on our people in the 1960s is now stale and futile. Try something else.

BossGerald:
Nsukka are igala??

Face your ogbomoso village ramota

selemempe:
Still on this matter, I know many people from Anioma axis think that they should be a seperate ethnic group.
How ever its a fact that they answer Igbo names, speak a dialect of the Igbo language, have Igbo traditions and share a border with mainland south east. Yes they may also have a connection to the binis but for some reason they did not evolve bini names, language nor culture. They evolved Igbo

There is never going to be a way in this country that a man whose name is Chibuzo Dike will not be regarded as Igbo by everybody. Why do u think it was Gej and not peter odili that became yaradua's vp. Why do u think Kaduna Nzeogwu's coup is regarded as an Igbo coup.

We the Igbos of se only agreed to be called igbos recently too. Otherwise before the white men came, we were Ngwa people, Bende people, Nsukka people, Agbenu people, Wawa people etc etc just like you are Anioma people. There has never been (and will never be) a central Igbo ruler. What we have as Igbos is our shared language and culture. Nothing else. A DNA check might reveal that the Aba people are more brotherly to the Akwaibom people than they are to the onitsha people. However, all that dont matter any more. What matters is that in the 21st century, we all speak the same language and share same culture.

Let Anioma state be created and joined with the south east for the following reasons


[1] It will be a predominantly Igbo-speaking state

[2] Even if the people do not consider themselves Igbo, there are more cultural ties that bond them with other states in the south-east geo-political zone than the south south geopolitical zone

3] Aniomans have always been treated as second class Igbos because they were part of the Western Region and Bendel States. If they are made part of the south-east, that will stop.

[4] Let us face it, the Urhobos, Itshekhiris and Ijaws in Delta State outnumber the Aniomas and would not allow them to achieve dominant positions within the state

[5] At the moment, the south-east is the one zone crying out for more states.

[6] There is nothing wrong with states in one zone being on different sides of the River Niger. Remember that Benue State is south of the river, as is Kwara State, yet they are in the north central zone.

[7] According to Cornelius Adebayo, the Yorubas in Kwara and Kogi States want to create Oya State and make it part of the south-west. If this happens, a precedence has been set.

[8] I know a lot of Aniomans have a deep afinity towards Benin and Edo but being part of the south-east does not mean this will end. The Yorubas of Ilorin do not stop celebrating the Oro festival just because they are in the north-central political zone.

[9] A lot of Aniomans have not been able to occupy positions their abilities deserve because they have been victims of not being clear cut members of ethnic groups. For instance Senator Patrick Osakwe of Asaba could not be put forward for senate president, despite the fact that he is probably the most qualified Igbo-speaking senator for the job. Being part of the sout-east will resolve this.

[10] Creating Anioma State and making it part of the south-east, should lead to an increased westward migration of Igbos. This is necessary because of the high population density in the region which is putting pressure on resources, leading to a host of social problems.

What are your thoughts.
Remember the south needs more states to be able to challenge the north in the national assembly and south east particularly need one more state to be able to have an equal voice with other zones in Abuja.

BabaRamota1980:
Anioma is a conglomerate of many ethnicities - Igala, Yoruba, Bini, Ibo.

It must remain distinct as it is. Can never be part of SE, never never!

BabaRamota1980:
This is the Palace of Dein of Agbor, show me one feature of this monarchy that is Ibo in culture. Just one!

I mean look at the pictures of Dein on the throne with his Chiefs and personal assistants. Where is Ibo signature here? Do Ibos prostrate to greet their King or do you wear Agbada? The Chiefs look like they are in Omo N'Oba or Olu Palace.

Anioma people are deeply affiliated to benin yet answer ANI ỌMA?
Seriously?
If my guy Chukwu from asaba catch you...
Roasted plantain fit fine pass you ọ.
.
Anyways... Anioma is Igbo and they don't hid it.
From IPOB asaba to names food dress code and festivals.
.
Joining the SE region is best for all of us.