₦airaland Forum

lawani:
I served in one. Eke Avrugo Kogi state. It is an NRI village affiliated to Idah. The population can't be more than 2000. Their Eke market was closed down because of low traffic. It is apparent that their population is low because we don't get to hear of people from there often

Yujin:
Going by your comment, you'll like to have us believe that there are more Yorubas in the SE than there are Igbos in the 17 northern states plus Abuja. This is what living in denial can cause because it makes you incoherent.
Again, we all know that the population of Igbos in Lagos alone is more than 3 million. The population of Igbos in the SS both indigenous and settlers is more than 8 million. The population of Igbos in the 17 northern states plus Abuja is a least 5 million. That should give you an idea of what we are talking about.
Can you breakdown by states where your 1 million Yorubas are found in the SE?

Yujin:
Nobody closes a traditional market because of traffic. Say something else.
Avrugo is just one out of many such Igbo communities in Kogi state.

mandarin:
I like that various ethnic groups are bonding across Nigeria. Am an advocate of having fewer states where kinsmen form states and Nigeria having say 16 states max.
However in your description of Igboland/Iboland, there is no such thing as Igbo in Kogi, Benue and Edo states. Except the people of Benin or Edo are willing to part way with Igbanke, its not a land Igbo people can lay claim to.

As for the Ikwere, its up to them so also is Anioma. I do feel if these people accept who they are they should be brought into the Igbo nation to form the Alaigbo state/ Region.

newmoney133:
I couldn't find anything tangible on the internet about ikem but I got a thread on nairaland .I am actually from Kogi and am yet to see anyone claiming to be Igbo in kogi.check out this link.i will ask around

https://www.nairaland.com/3443446/igbo-speaking-communities-kogi-state

Brendaniel:
I'm from the south east, for me I see you people as full Igbo, any person who says you are not full Igbo is deceiving himself, for me any Igbo man anywhere has equal rights with every Igbo man everywhere, there is nothing like superior Igbo, Igbo is Igbo, this is where I want Ohaneze to strengthen the bond and ties with every single Igbo clan outside the the south east, no Igbo clan should be seen as less, no Igbo clan should be see as more, once you are Igbo you are Igbo....

aswani:
I agree totally with all you said.

Having said that, it will be interesting to know why people still need to reinforce their "igboness" in the manner that Ned has had to.

The civil war is long gone and the generation that had to do that to survive are in the 80's, for those still alive.

You never hear an Ekiti man or even Egun's or Okun's doing the same about their "Yorubaness" or at least doing so publicly.

I know there might be an element of politicking involved in the flag Ned is flying, as alluded to by previous posters, but it is strange that there is a disconnect with Igbo speakers on the Western side of the River Niger from those on the Eastern side.

aswani:
I agree totally with all you said.

Having said that, it will be interesting to know why people still need to reinforce their "igboness" in the manner that Ned has had to.

The civil war is long gone and the generation that had to do that to survive are in the 80's, for those still alive.

You never hear an Ekiti man or even Egun's or Okun's doing the same about their "Yorubaness" or at least doing so publicly.

I know there might be an element of politicking involved in the flag Ned is flying, as alluded to by previous posters, but it is strange that there is a disconnect with Igbo speakers on the Western side of the River Niger from those on the Eastern side.

lawani:
I did not take any census. I merely quoted people. If you go to any Northern university you will find more Yoruba than Igbo. As lecturers and as students. In their cities if you count you will have more Yorubas. When I was an undergraduate at OAU a friend from the North told me the largest student union at ABU was the Ondo state union. Any where you count be it New York London Jos or Kano you will find more Yoruba than Igbo. I personally don't believe there are five million Yorubas in Northern Nigeria apart from Yoruba land there because Yoruba is the second largest group in Northern Nigeria after Hausa. The Hausa man said nineteen northern states. He didn't include Abuja. He may be wrong. Abuja is like 3 million people. I can't take your word for it on your estimates unless there is real counting.
Million is not a small number o. How many people do you need in Kano to sell what Igbos sell or do what Igbos do?

lawani:
The market was neglected because of low traffic and the villagers had to be going to the next village to sell their produce. The village is an Nri village no doubt because it has the caste system but it is under Idah and they also speak Igala

I think I remember that the market used to ceremonially open but it is not patronized by produce merchants hence they go to the next village which happened to be in Enugu state

Yujin:
If you want to have a more accurate comparison of both Igbo and Yoruba SETTLER population in the northern states, do secondary school student counting. The reason for a lower Igbo population in Northern universities is because of some factors mainly due to the underrating of those universities, lower interests in tertiary education by Igbo parents residing there and/or preference to send their children to the East for socio-cultural reason. 'Yours truly' and the entire siblings went to the East for universities for the last reason. Most of the Igbo students from my secondary school both those before and after my set went to the East for university and tertiary education while our Yoruba colleagues schooled in Northern universities. I can speak more confidently for Jos, Plateau and Kaduna states very well. There are more Igbos than Yorubas over there very well. You can ask any Yoruba resident in both states for confirmation. Igbos prefer SS universities than northern universities and you know very well that Yoruba population in the SS cities and universities are very small.
Let me give you another good way of being able rate the population of a specific set of people in any town or city. Check if they dominate any settlement and type of trade or profession. If so, how many of such settlements and how large? For the trades, how important and big are such trades in socioeconomic chain of the town or city? Now tell me; what trades and how big are they that Yorubas dominate in the Northern states apart from Kogi and Niger states where they're indigenes?
As you can see, I'm more pragmatic using easily accessible markers to show my points.

lawani:
Sending children to home region for education is common among all groups. When I was an undergraduate I met Yorubas who were sent home from PH Enugu Aba Jos and etc. However some will still remain in the local schools and you can use that to estimate the population of that group in the locality. That is how it works. Are you going to say the population of Yoruba in a place like PH is low?. There is a sizeable Yoruba population in the SS cities.

Igbos are mostly traders and seeing them clustered together in markets can give a false impression of their population

Yujin:
Ok let's do a simple maths. Tell me what areas in Jos are dominated by Yorubas and I'll tell you two for each one you mention.
Like I said before, the trade/profession dominance of a people can be used to gauge the population of a people. Tell me what trade or profession Yorubas dominate in Jos and Kaduna city. Listen, I don't argue what I'm not certain about. If you know the population of Igbos in Jos, you won't even drag with me.
As for PH, can you tell me what the probable Yoruba population is over there? Do the same for Benin City, Warri, Asaba, Calabar and Yenagoa maybe. You'll agree with me and the Igbo/Yoruba population of those cities differ greatly in favour of the Igbos. Reality is different from your assumptions if your mind isn't clouded by sentiments.
There's a reason why the West(especially Lagos and northern Nigeria witness a huge traffic loss during Christmas and New Year in the late 90s and early 2000s when Nigeria was still peaceful.
Let me give you another thing Yorubas don't pit into consideration when discussing Igbo population especially when they compare cities and towns in Igboland versus those in Yorubaland.
Most Yoruba cities and towns have been formed for long which is why Yorubas were classified as the most urbanized people by Europeans who studied the various tribes in Nigeria. This means that those early Yoruba towns had more population are were bigger than the few Igbo towns of those days which mostly became 'towns' because the Europeans chose those them for some level of convenience as against their neighbours. These Yoruba towns continued to expand till date with the surrounding communities not being of much significance unlike in Igboland where most of the neighbouring towns were as equally populated at the time Europeans saw them but preferred the other to them. This means that the population density in Igboland far exceeded what was found anywhere in Nigeria and the entire Africa at the time except only Cairo, Egypt. Take for instance Anambra and Imo states. When you travel through them, you'll be surprised at the density you see. When you mention Onitsha as a city, most times, it's only the traditional Onitsha town that is spoken about but when you consider the entire towns today that surround and are directly connected to Onitsha but not known like Obosi, Atani, Nkwelle Ezunaka, Nkpor, Ogidi and Umuoji, the entire population is massive hitting likely 3 million. Then you talk about Nnewi which wasn't known before but today has become a force to be reckoned with because of commerce and the link up of other Nnewi South towns like Ukpor, Osumenyi, Nnobi, Awka Etiti, Oba, Ojoto, Igbo-Ukwu, Adazi Nnukwu, Agulu, Aguluzigbo, Ekwulobia and numerous other neighbouring towns. The population of these areas is also very massive and is at least 2.5million. Awka, the capital and surrounding towns plus the rest of the communities scattered around around both far SE and North East of the state can account for about 2,5million people. This places Anambra state to around 8million people. You can check Google map for the level of urbanized clusters in the state for yourself. So, when you hear about only Onitsha, Awka and Nnewi, they are just a fraction of what Urban area is around them. All these three areas are Metropolitan in nature with huge population when counted as a Metropolis.
Onitsha as a metropolis is made up of Onitsha North lga, Onitsha South lga, Idemili North lga, Oyi lga, parts of Ogbaru lga, and parts of Dunukofia lga.
Nnewi as a metropolis is made up of Nnewi North lga, Nnewi South lga, Idemili South lga, Anaocha lga, Ekwusigo lga and parts of Aguata lga.
Awka as a metropolis is made up Awka North, Awka South, parts of Dunukofia lga and parts of Njikoka lga.
This is why Anambra has a huge population. Check Google earth map of Anambra for yourself.

lawani:
I have never been to Jos but I am just using the testimony of people. Here on nairaland someone said when there was crisis in Jos and there was a census of the dead the Yoruba outnumbered Igbos despite that many Yoruba are Muslims The Yoruba are artisans traders and business men. Unless there is a census I can't accept that Igbos outnumber Yorubas in Jos. Let's just leave it at that

I believe Anambra is the most populated SE state. It may be up to 8 million in population who knows. Rentech says it has 390 banks 749 hotels over. 300 bakeries around 40 poultries and etc

In a place like PH where I have been to there is a large population of Yoruba. I have people there but I can't put a figure to it

Yes you are right that the Igbos were not urbanized and that was why they did not need Kings. However they are now very urbanized. The Yoruba on the other hand have been living in urban centers probably longer than any other group on Earth

Yujin:
Ok. Let me clarify that of Jos for you to understand clearly. The only time Yoruba death in the Jos crisis was very huge was that of 2008. This was because it was the only Yoruba 'dominated' area (not actually dominated but heavily populated) was hit badly by the usual destroyers who wanted to take over the city. I knew lots of those affected Yorubas including my own Chemistry teacher and friend, Mr Ojebisi 😭 (may his gentle soul rest in the bosom of our Lord Jesus). He alongside his brother were murdered in cold blood in their house in Rikkos, an adjoining area close to the more Yoruba known territory of Nasarawa. These areas saw the biggest Yoruba casualty ever recorded in Jos and probably the whole northern Nigeria. Some Igbos also lost their lives in this area and other areas around it. The Igbo dominated areas were very well fortified and impregnable which was why the casualty figure was low in this particular year. The earlier crisis of 2001 and 2002 had more Igbo casualty than Yoruba because the whole areas were heavily mixed with all ethnic groups and Yorubas were mostly spared at that time. A good number of Igbos fled from the less defended areas to areas far from vulnerability while the Yorubas remained probably thinking because they had a big population in these specific areas and maybe weren't the 'target'. Unfortunately, the killers seeking for blood and territorial expansion turned on them suddenly. In case you don't know, even some Yoruba muslims were among those killed in these areas. Generally, Yoruba muslims in Jos are not fanatical and so, were considered opportunistic by the fanatical islamists. They refer to the Yoruba muslims as 'tubaban rana' which transliterates to 'conversion of daylight' and loosely translates to a hypocritical convert. If you doubt this statement, ask any Yoruba muslim living in Jos or the north what that statement means.
As you can see, I'm writing what I witnessed myself and areas I've lived and walked for years. Yorubas today have fled Nasarawa and went further NE of Nasarawa towards Bauchi ring road, Tina Junction and Eto baba including Furaka with other ethnic groups. None of those areas is considered dominated by them anymore.
Yorubas in Jos are mostly artisans and tradesman, taxi drivers and a little into business. This is why rarely you see them dominate area business or trading in the city. This is why I can say for certain that the Yoruba population in Jos is far below that of Igbos.
As for PH, no matter the Yoruba population there, it is still small compared to that of Igbos from the nearby SE. The same can be said in all the other SS cities and towns. Therefore, my argument is valid. Don't downplay the Igbo population because those who have visited and lived in Igboland don't do so.