₦airaland Forum

lacasera14:
Hehe, i don't know where the Op and the main Op got there info from. Am an ikwerre boy from rivers state as far as am concerned am not an igbo man and i'll never be, same to my children and even to my 10th generation. The igbo's should get this into their head and wrap it well, we a'int part of you guys what is hard there to understand. K, fine we were once with you guys but things went south(biafra war) and we gained our independence,chased, disowned, and severed ties with you guys so let us be. Why our forefathers did this i don't know but am pretty sure it was for our good. So when we say we are not igbos leave us alone else it might precipitate an unhealthy situation. So get that history of yours about ikwerre's being part of igbo and shove it up your bottoms.
Proudly Ikwerre
Proudly A PH BOY
Proudly Rivers- The oil and gas hub of Africa's most populous nation

Truckpusher:
Oya tell me ,why were you so concerned.

clubone05:
I have done work all around lekki..

delors:
There is nothing educative nor thought provoking in the write up. It's just a plain write up that portrays a good side if the Igbos. This is the kind of piece you write for a JSS 3 student to read. You ask:
What about igbo culture? You answer: it is rich; one of the most attractive in the world. You ask, what about igbo food? You answer: it's one of the best in the world...blah blah blah...what's new or exceptional in that?
Why not ask: What's the origin of igbo's shrewdness in business or why do people think the igbos are too crooked to transact with? That's thought provoking.
Or ask, why do most igbo boys have flat backhead? That's thought-provoking.

This what it means for an article to be educative/informative: in Yoruba, the following words have same spelling but different meanings. Enjoy:
Igbo - Bush/Forest/Jungle
Igbo - Ganja/weed/Marijuana
Igbo - Head bout
Igbo - A kind of meal made from corn
Igbo - As in omo nna

Aldrickay:
I speak as an ikwerre man.
Look let me tell u. Niger delta republic was d 1st republic to b decleared in nigeria in 1966 feb.23rd..even before the so call biafra if you dnt know.(google isaac boro declearation)

Port harcourt was the capital take note.

Continue buying lands but note: we shall chase u igbos out as we did during the biafran war. If u tink Port harcourt and obio/apkor local govt is the only ikwerre local govt den ur reali a fool. be ready to face both ph local govt obio/apkor,emouha and ikwerre local govt wich i knw u igbos cn neva eva do in ur life.

If u tink d ikwerre are alone den u lie.

The ogonis,epkeye,ogbas,etches all parts of rivers are with us.

Keep on buying lands, we the ikwerres are laughing at u because u pple are nt wise. We are nt fools. Wen d tym comes we shall chase u nd collect our lands bak, as we did b4.

The igbos are nt wise bt greedy,selfish and big fools.

uchennamani:
Another Onye Iberibe.

Aldrickay:
Fool. Ikwerre (port harcourt) is more develop dan d whole of ur biafra.

We the ikwerres and oda part of Niger delta (south south) we giv u landlocked igbos supplus attack.

Hausa dey kill ana 4 north and ana no fit shit. We Niger deltans go jst beri ana alive.

Can u igbos face the north as we Niger deltans are facing dem bomber to bomber nw?

Jonathan till 2019 and no igbo man will ever bcome president or vice president in dis cun3.

We the Niger deltans are very ready for any body. Kick out Jonathan and we shall declear the Federal Republic of Niger delta. And all igbos and hausa will be chased out of our blessed,rich land.

This one no be eastern region govt again oooh.
We are now South South and not South East. Get it.
Greedy fools.

illicit:
Nothing against the igbo, but op let me reason u, 1st u say igbo are not easterners, do u know why the whites are called westerners? And asians are called easterners? Can u read a map?
2. U said igbos are the southerners and then again the westerners, so what is the yoruba? lol, yorubas are westerners or s/westerners, in the south south igbo is the minority, i joke u not, igbo are southeasterners, there are more yoruba in south south than igbo and also in the middle belt, ever been to kwara, kogi, or niger? Some languages in benue are very similar to yoruba, especially idoma and igede, if u mean igbos are the largest tribe in nigeria, why not say everyone in southern nigeria is igbo? And am sure thats what u are driving at. Peace.
P.s when the aluu 4 were lynched, i said the ikwerre was ibo cos i know they could be found in the east and cos of their names, an igbo guy here on NL told me to shut the Bleep up, that ikwerres are ikwerres and not ibo, so why are they ibo suddenly now?

swezenberg:
So yorubas can now claim Delta and Edo too because they have ishekiris and lots of Edo people bearing Yoruba names. They can even claim part of Kogi and Kwara too by this article because they are well represented there.

This is where the problem is. The fact you were allowed to reside, execute your biz in a strange land does not give you claim to those lands else you will be asking for trouble. You will only be showing ingratitude towards your hosts' hospitality

You really need to convince me better not with this write up

dazey:
Who are we the Niger deltans? my friend speak for yourself. igbos own 30% of lands in Port harcourt and nobody we leave his property for your lazy fools this time around instead prepare with your brothers and sisters to be send back to benin

chatupkay:
@OP,
Honestly, Igbo's are hard working people with strong business acumen!
However, it's ridiculous and laughable to hear when igbo's say LAGOS IS NO MAN'S LAND!

if this is true, then i wonder why they pay d YORUBA OMO-ONILEs for every land the buy here in lagos!

Chai! .... dia ris Goduuuooooooo

omonuan:
You still do not get it! The Igbo are the only people found as natives in all the south south states. The Igbo are not allowed to reside in these states contrary to your assertion. These sates are home to them from time immemorial. They were Igbo before Nigeria was even conceived.

As far as I am concerned, the Itsekiri people are Yoruba but whether Yoruba claims them or vice versa is not dispostive of the discussion about the Igbo. The Edo language on the other hand is totally different from Yoruba. Get it into your brain that the Igbo are the number one tribe in south south. Yes, Port Harcourt is an Igbo town-forget the propaganda and civil war politics. The number one language in port harcourt is Igbo.

Yorubarocks:
What a useless post filled with useless conjectures.The iibos never cease to amaze me with their never ending cheastbeating and land-grabbing tendencies.

Keep living in self delusion

Aldrickay:
Tanks man. But ikwerre language has nt bin completely eradicated.
The only tin dat was affected is our language 40%
Our culture stil remains.

12inches1:
igbo claiming what doesnt belong to them since 1858 B.C. Yeah right.... Delta is a south eastern state... South east is same as South South... And lagos is no man's land.

kellystech:
you quoted the whole text just to write interesting, you really need to see tb Joshua

Back to the mata, why do u guys (ibos) always claim whats not yours. The ikwerres have always said the are not part of u even from the time of our fore fathers and you guys keep insisting, are you guys claiming the people as yours or the reproductive nature of their habitats (land, oil etc) cos all my life I've known ibos to be greedy.now come to think of this, the edos have similarities in culture to the yorubas but I've not seen them laying claim to the edos.for crying out loud we are all nigerians and there will be similarities in culture but that does not make me one of ur tribe

ElekeNtioba:
I'm of the opinion that the Ikwerre ARE NOT Igbos.

Of course, i dont have any physical or material evidence to point to.

But looking at the relations between them and considering how agressive Igbo expansion is, its safe to say dat d ikwerre were originally a non-Igbo speaking tribe assimilated through interactions and inter-marriage.

Secondly, d nature of the Ikwerre is distinct from Igbos. They lack moral fibre, are spineless, and downright lazy. Which explains why the Igbos assimilated them with ease leaving no record whatsoever of their original language.

The reason why they chose to separate themselves is because they are still bitter over the loss of their original identity. Deep down they know they are nothing like Igbos and so are afraid of Igbo domination.

humilitypays:
Answers to your questions:

Answer to No. 1. Question
If Igbos weren't so important to Yorubas and Hausas, why didn't they allowed Igbos to go their way as Biafra after the 1966 coup?

Politically after the civil war in which Britain, etc helped Nigeria (Hausa, Yoruba, etc) to win, Lagos became the centre of economic activities in Nigeria, and Igbos coming out from war in which they lost virtually all they hard, needed to survive; hence the reason for their mass migration to all parts of the world to seek for greener pastures.

If Yorubas and Hausas truly hate Igbos and see Igbos as irrelevant to them, let them apply to United Nations for Biafra to be granted freedom, but they won't do it because they know deep down their hearts that without Igbos being part of Nigeria, Nigeria will be like Chad, Niger, Burkinafaso, Togo and the likes.

Answer to No. 2
There is huge crude oil reserve in Imo State (Uguta lake) and Adax Petroleum has been exploring oil there since ages, u can pay a visit there...there's also crude oil reserve in Egbema in Imo state, Nekede in Owerri, etc.

There are also crude oil reserves in Abia, Anambra and Coal in Enugu State. What's happening between Kogi and Anambra is a land dispute which happens in all parts of the world including Gaza, West Bank, North Korea/South Korea, etc.

Answer to No. 3.
Igbo calendar is complete on its own but Igbo people love adopting western culture more readily than any other tribe in Nigeria...that's y in the most remote villages in Igbo land, u see Igbo people speaking English and Pidgin, but u can hardly find such happening in Yoruba or Hausa land because they aren't so easy to adopt western culture which I commend.

Answer to No. 4.
Answer to this question can be found in my answer above. Igbo people are the most liberal tribe in Nigeria- they adapt and adopt other cultures more easily. They are hospitable and hence ready to adopt other peoples culture.


WHY DO IGBO PEOPLE LOVE MONEY SO MUCH?

The write of this article tried in answering this question but let me add words to his own words:

After the civil war, Igbo people who were the most successful tribe in Nigeria (First President, First Military Head of State, First Richest man in Africa- Ojukwu's father, most educated Nigerian military officers, etc) suffered a great setback when Obafemi Awolowo implemented the wicked policy that led to the seizure of every Igbo person's money banked in Nigerian bank, in which they (Igbo people) were given 10 Shillings no matter how much they had in the bank before the civil war.

Because of this suffering and persecution, Igbos being hardworking and ambitious people began to migrate and engage in all sorts of human activities- legal and illegal to make ends meet and to assist their family and loved ones survive the post-civil war hardship that Igbo people were subjected to.

This led to Igbo people's more quest for success and extra hardwork to survive and as time passed by, it became a norm for all Igbo people to be extra hardworking and smarter than their counterparts in most human activities spranging from- petty trading, importation, exportation, drug trafficking, etc.

Every human love money but not all humans have the smartness and wisdom to pursue money and create wealth; that's a rare trait nature deposited in most Igbo people.

The Nollywood that the world celebrates today is the making of Igbo people which forced Yorubas to start their own unpopular Yoruba movie industry which faces the challenges of language.

One thing that I am so proud of about Igbos aside their wealth creation power and wisdom is their peaceful nature!

After Igbo people, the next peaceful tribe in Nigeria is Yoruba...I cherish Yoruba people for their peace loving nature just like the Igbos.

WHY DO IGBO PEOPLE JOKINGLY CALL LAGOS A NO-MAN's LAND?

This is nothing but a joke to showcase that Lagos comprises of people from all parts of Nigeria and the world unlike other States in Nigeria...its not as if Igbo people don't know that Lagos is a core South-western land and hence, belongs to the Yoruba tribe.

This shouldn't cause panic for our Yoruba brothers and friends because Lagos is very far from Igbo land and can never belong to Igbo nor Hausa...it is a Yoruba land!

Thanks

BonaVIta:
MAYBE YOU WROTE QUITE WELL, BUT Y0UR PRESUMPTION THAT PART OF AKWA IBOM STATE IS MADE UP OF THE IGBOS IS INACCURATE. DO YOUR RESEARCH PROPERLY BEFORE YOU THROW IT INTO THE WORLD, DON'T CROSS BOUNDARIES WRONGLY.

Aldrickay:
This is to tell u how nigerians and oda parts of the world hate the igbos.
You pple are nt good pple and u know it.

Take Note: der are no igbos in rivers state if u dnt know.

I am an ikwerre man. In rivers state the ogbas,ekpeye and etche u call igbos are nt igbos.

Ikwerre people organisation (also know as Ogbakor ikwerre) was established before "igbo people organisation" (Also known as Ohaeze Ndi"igbo) if you dnt know.

If ikwerres were igbos anwers dese few questns.
1. Why did the ikwerres refuse to giv u igbos ur property wen u pple returned bak to port harcourt after d biafra war.
2. Why was Ikwerre people organisation (ogbakor ikwerre) established b4 igbo peoples organisation?
3. If ikwerre was igbos why is our tradittion diff frm d igbo tradition?
4. In ikwerre we call the igbos "osoma" meaning Labourers, why so, igbos ans dis.
5. If ikwerres are igbo we do sum ikwerre dnt sell land nd dnt get married to the igbos.

Mr writter u ar stupid for rewriting my history, and God will purnish u 4 dat.

We ikwerre hv neva nd cn neva b igbo.

Port harcourt is Ikwerre land and not IGBO. Read d full history of ikwerre here: http://iwhnurohna..com/2012/11/a-brief-history-of-ikwerre.html

Aldrickay:
Fool. Ikwerre (port harcourt) is more develop dan d whole of ur biafra.

We the ikwerres and oda part of Niger delta (south south) we giv u landlocked igbos supplus attack.

Hausa dey kill ana 4 north and ana no fit shit. We Niger deltans go jst beri ana alive.

Can u igbos face the north as we Niger deltans are facing dem bomber to bomber nw?

Jonathan till 2019 and no igbo man will ever bcome president or vice president in dis cun3.

We the Niger deltans are very ready for any body. Kick out Jonathan and we shall declear the Federal Republic of Niger delta. And all igbos and hausa will be chased out of our blessed,rich land.

This one no be eastern region govt again oooh.
We are now South South and not South East. Get it.
Greedy fools.

DecemberIV:
[size=14pt]LIES!

WHY ARE YEEBOS ARROGANT?

WHY ARE YEEBOS POLITICALLY USELESS IN NIGERIA?

WHY ARE YEEBOS ALWAYS BEING HANGED IN MALAYSIA/CAMBODIA/EVERYWHERE?

DO ALL YEEBOS RAPE THEIR GRANDMOTHERS?

WHY CAN'T YEEBOS STAY ON THEIR LAND IF THEY ARE REALLY BETTER THAN EVERYONE ELSE?

ARE ALL YEEBOS MANUFACTURED IN BABY FACTORIES?

WHY CAN'T YEEBOS STOP DRUG TRAFFICKING?

WHY ARE YEEBOS ALWAYS DEFEATED IN WARS?

WHY DID OJUKWU RUN TO IVORY COAST AFTER A.B.O.K.I'S TAUGHT HIM NOT TO MESS WITH THEM OR THEIR ALLIES?

WHY DID BIANCA NOT RESPECT HER HUSBAND'S LEGACY AND ALLOW A TOUT CALLED KAYODE TO MOUNT HER LIKE A CAMEL?[/size]

More Coming...

omonuan:
ANIOMA: HER URGENT POLITICAL ISSUES AND THE QUESTION OF UNITY

BY

CHIEF (DR.) JOSEPH NWAGBOGU EGWU

(THE ISAMA OF OBIOR)

​
BEING A PUBLIC LECTURE DELIVERED AT THE RCHID HOTELS, ASABA ON FRIDAY, 26TH DECEMBER, 2014 UNDER THE AUSPICIES OF UMU ANIOMA FOUNDATION ON THE OCCASION OF THEIR 2014 WORLD CONVENTION.

Protocol,

First and foremost, I like to thank the principal officers of Umu Anioma Foundation and the totality of your membership for the honour done me in inviting me as special guest speaker on the occasion of your 2014 World Convention holding today at Orchid Hotels Asaba. Permit me also to formally salute your sense of appreciation for my humble contributions in the on-going Cultural Renaissance under the aegis of the Organization for Advancement of Anioma Culture (OFAAC) for which you bestowed on me the coveted “2013 UMU ANIOMA Spirit of Community Anioma Cultural Renaissance Award”. May the good Lord bless and keep you in your avowed mission to organize, educate and activate Anioma people and promote their general welfare.

Let me at this point in time crave your indulgence to grant me freedom to speak on Anioma: Her Urgent Political Issues and Question of Unity” in place of “There is power in Anioma Unity” which is in your invitation cards. I have personal reasons for couching the theme this way. The mission of your Foundation, I was informed is “To organize, educate and activate Anioma people and to promote their general welfare” with a proviso “to modify the objectives of this mission from time to time so as to accomplish the most urgent need of Anioma”. Compelled by the burden of this mission objective and worried by the continued eroding influence of aggressive Europeanism, on Anioma Culture, at this critical moment of Anioma political experience, I feel this is an opportune moment to address Anioma’s most urgent challenges with a view to working out modalities for meeting the target goals. The topic is therefore informed by the mood of the moment. Kindly therefore accept my modification of the theme as yours in the hope that at the end of the day, the expectations of the original theme should be met by the new one.



ORIGIN, ETYMOLOGY AND MEANING OF ANIOMA

It is my considered view that a good starting point in this lecture is the examination of the operative word ‘ANIOMA” in order to facilitate the understanding of its heterogeneous historical origins and the concomitant political challenges of the moment.

The origin of the word “ANIOMA” is traceable to our late Legal Luminary and Statesman, Chief (Dr.) Dennis Chukwudebe Osadebey (GCON, Ojiba of Ahaba, the first Administrator and the first Premier of Mid-Western Nigeria), and his political Associates, using his poetic talent to serve a political interest.

Besides, Prof. Emenanjo, a linguist of Anioma extraction, in an attempt to fully explain the word ‘Anioma’ developed a ‘Schema’ and I cannot agree more with him when he has this to say: The word ‘ANIOMA’ whatever is its origin or etymology, name or real, imaginary or proposed state at the meeting place of the sub-groups, Aniocha, Ndokwa, Ika, and Oshimili, a neologistic acronym from the initial sounds in the names of the sub-groups:
‘A’ from Aniocha

‘B’ from Ndokwa

‘I’ from Ika

‘O’ from Oshimili

And finally polished with ‘M’ and ‘A’ to arrive at the Igbo word ‘ANIOMA’ meaning “good land” inhabited by good and peace-loving people, or noun from creative thinking caps of leaders of a political Movement is now used by our friends and foes to designate the area and people in the former Bendel East or the Present Delta North Senatorial District, the territory Sociologists and Anthropologists refer to as the “Western Igbo Land”

The Delta North Senatorial District is comprised of nine Local Government Areas to wit:

1.Aniocha North


2.Aniocha South


3.Ika North East


4.Ika South


5.Ndokwa East


6.Ndokwa West


7.Ukwuani


8.Oshimili North and


9.Oshimili South


The area is a geographical reality. The people and Anthropological and Linguistic reality. Anioma is a mental construct as it is a behaviorist one. A folk-and-blood reality, the term ‘Anioma’ is more elastic and embracing than “Ika Igbo” used sometimes by other Nigerians to differentiate our people from mainstream Igbo. This exercise in folk synecdoche, in which a part images the whole or the whole a part, rarely went down well with our people. The ‘Ika-Igbo’ Dictionary (1907).
Anioma is also more distinct and distinctive, and more neutral and mnemonic than the older labels like ‘Western Igbo’, traceable to the British Colonial Anthropologists like Forde and Jones in “The Igbo and Ibibio-speaking people of South Eastern Nigeria, “West-Niger Igbo in contradistinction to East-Niger Igbo or first Mid-West Igbo, later Bendel Igbo and now Delta Igbo, in tune with the vagaries of state creation exercise in Nigeria.

Anioma means Unity; the unity in diversity. It means homogeneity, the homogeneity in heterogeneity. In Anioma three dialects of the West Niger cluster of macro-Igbo Language are spoken (Enuani, Ika and Ukwuani).

The lects are mutually intelligible. It is therefore evident that diachronically, some Anioma are of Igbo ancestry and synchronically all Anioma people speak Igbo even in the recognized enclaves of non-Igbo ancestry such as the Ezechimas and the Olukumis to cite a few- a process of Igbonization which has created Ethno-historical and Socio cultural problems explained by the present lecturer in his short study on “The Origin of Anioma people of the West Niger Valley”

Again, Anioma is a towering culture and an emerging Micro-polity with abundant material resources and ever growing skilled and productive human capital. And whenever you find so much vitality of the sort packed tightly in a segment of human society as in Anioma’s case, it is evidence of a striking convergence of history, environment, biological stock, psychological traits, institutional patterns, collective will and drive. And now that such as “explosive combination” waiting to be ignited has finally caught fire in the imagination of the world and has polarized the emotional energies of men- either for Love or Hate? The quintessence of their memorable “Culture Civilization”- “Anioma-Consciousness’ encased in an operative framework of Anioma primordial mores, ethnic ethos, social psychology and cultural values has to be pushed to the fore to provide the much needed ‘ideology’ (philosophy of action)- to back the achievement of any political goal.

The thesis posited in the foregoing paragraphs demonstrates the need to also examine the word ‘Culture’ in relation to Anioma as a ‘Collectivity’ and to identify these core elements of this culture for use as pragmatic instrument for harmonizing the discordant voices in ‘Anioma-Consciousness’ for effective response to the Urgent Political Issues in Anioma.

Truncated for relevance.