₦airaland Forum

thiagoneves:
Chambers Dictionary (William Geddie, ed. 1962) says: “A nation is a body of people marked off by common descent, language, culture, or historical tradition: the people of a tribe.” However, S.O.L. Amadi-Nna (1993) avers that: “A tribe is a group of clans under recognized chiefs and usually claiming common ancestry. Ikwerre can therefore not be a clan but a tribe. The Ikwerres claim a common ancestor. Ikwerre is an independent small tribe.” In the words of K.O. Amadi (1993), “Traditions suggest that Ikwerre is a nickname given to Iwhnuruọhna people…..They have ever since regarded themselves as a distinct group and have happily come a long way in their struggle for self-identity as evidenced by the recognition of their language as one of the Nigerian languages.”

Amadi-Nna (1993) added that: “The Ikwerres are a small but distinct tribe. The Ikwerres have distinct linguistic, social and cultural traits and formations that distinguish them from other close neighbouring tribes like the Ijaws and the Ibos. Majority of the Ikwerre settlements have their roots traceable from the old Benin Empire.” Iwhnurọhna people descended from  the ancient Bini Kingdom. The name of the grand ancestor is Akalaka. Their relations in Rivers State are Ekpeye and Ogba people. The reigning Oba of Benin when Akalaka, the ancestor of Ihruọha (later called Iwhnurọhna) fled was Oba Ewuare (Ogwaro). Akalaka, a member of the Benin royal family, fled in the 13th century on allegation of plotting assassination of the Oba. He died in 1462. Iwhnurọhna his third son settled east of the Sombrero River by 1538 AD, as detailed below.

Chief N.M.T. Solomon (2004), native of Ikodu Ubie in Ekpeyeland, in his narrative draws heavily from the now authenticated written historical records delivered by various informed sources including “Eketu (Weber) of Ubeta, assumed to have lived for over two hundred (200) years as the oldest man in all Ekpeye, Ogba and Iwhnurọhna (or Ikwerre), at that time (and) was asked to narrate the history and customs of Ekpeye people” as unfolded in his lifetime. Here is what he said, which has been validated by the accounts of the current generation through responses to our questionnaires and direct interviews thereby increasing our level of confidence on the data:

Ekpeye, born in Benin, was the first of the three sons of Akalaka. While in Ndoni, he married a second wife to gain the love and favour of the people. The new wife gave birth to a son, which he named Ogba. Akalaka was still in Ndoni when his first wife, the mother of Ekpeye, gave birth to his third son called Ihruoha (Ikwerre).

Similar historical fact by J.N. Olise (1971) averred that: “Akalaka, a member of the Benin royal family, fled with his wife from Benin to Ndoni, a community located close to the River Niger, to save the life of his new born baby (Ekpeye) … While at Ndoni, Akalaka took a second wife. … Akalaka had two sons, Ekpeye – born to him by his Benin wife, and Ogba – born to him by his Ndoni wife. According to F.E. Otuwarikpo (1994): "After the death of Akalaka in 1462 AD, his two sons, Ekpeye and Ogba had conflict, which compelled Ogba, the younger son, to move northwards where he founded Ohiakwo (Obigwe) and settled with his family. Ekpeye who remained at Ula-Ubie had seven sons – Ubie, Akoh, Upata, Igbuduya, Ekpe, Awala and Asa. The last three sons – Ekpe, Awala and Asa – crossed to the other side of Sombreiro River (present day Ikwerreland and settled there since 1538 AD.” He added that: “Ekpe migrated to present day Rumuekpe and spread through Elele (Alimini), Ndele, Rumuji and part of Ibaa. Awala migrated to present day Isiokpo …” 

Amadi-Nna (1993) also said Akalaka migrated with his half brother called Ochichi from the area of Benin Empire. Ochichi sons were Ele (Omerele, now Elele), Elu (Elumuoha, now Omerelu), Egbe (Egbeda) and Mini (Alimini, Isiokpo).

The crucial point here, which is of great importance in tracing the joint origin of the ancestors of the Old Ahoada Division (in the Governor Diete-Spiff administration), is the mention of the number of children that Akalaka had, namely: Ekpeye, Ogba and Ihruọha (Ikwerre). It is noteworthy that the pedigree and name of Ikwerre people, Iwhnurọhna, obviously took its root from this original name – Ihruọha. Chief Solomon therefore establishes a very vital historical link, which has been missing in literature on Ikwerre origin that would assume more significance in the discourses of Ikwerre genealogy in the future – the fact that Akalaka was the direct father of Ihruọha (Ikwerre). Iwhnurọhna, in Ikwere parlance, means the face of the community (town, city or village).

Nigerian colonial history records that the name "Ikwerre" was given by the colonial administration when they wanted to acquire the Rebisi waterfront to build the wharf. Using an Ibo interpreter to talk to the illiterate Rebisi (Port Harcourt) chiefs, they asked them: Would you permit us to use the waterfront to build the wharf for ships to berth? And they answered: A KWERULEM, meaning - "We have agreed." What the white-man was hearing was "Ikwerre," so he recorded it in the official gazette that the IKWERRE PEOPLE have agreed for the colonial administration to build the wharf. And since it was the official record of government, the name Ikwerre became the name of the Iwhnurohna people in all official documentations till date.

Similar cases of Anglicization of native names in the Niger Delta region by the colonial administration are Benin for Bini, Okrika for Wakrike, Degema for Udekema, Abonnema for Obonoma, Brass for Gbara sni, Bonny for Ibani, Pepple for Perekule, Ahoada for Ehuda, etc

Even so, “… there were dissenting voices, … who believed that Ikwerre origins lay outside Igbo land, … in the Benin Kingdom of old. It is, therefore, obvious that the interminable debate about Ikwerre origins and migrations including the repudiation of the Igbo tradition is not a phenomenon of the post-civil war period. The controversy, as it were, is not necessarily the product of the present political realities wherein groups which hitherto were seen to have cultural affinities now find themselves in different states or administrative systems.”  -- K.O. Amadi (1993)

The Ogbakor Ikwerre Convention, a cultural organization of Ikwerre people, in a paper presented to the Human Rights Violation Commission headed by Rtd. Justice Chukwudifu Oputa on 10 October 2001, said: “Ikwerre ethnic nationality is not and has never been a sub-group of any other tribe in Nigeria including Ndi-Igbo. There is no doubt that the advent of the British and later regionalization put Ndi-Igbo at the helm of affairs in Eastern Nigeria. This brought Ndi-Igbo into Ikwerre land. In course of time, the Igbo took advantage of their position in the then Eastern Regional Government to grab land in Ikwerre and occupy political positions such as the mayor of Port Harcourt. In the process, Ikwerre along with other minority groups were marginalized and driven to the background.”

Professor Godwin Tasie noted that in 1913 the Rt Rev Herbert Tugwell, the Anglican Bishop on the Niger, undertook an experimentation tour of Ikwerre towns and villages assumed to be Ibo-speaking to test the Union Ibo Bible Nso being introduced in Iboland. "Tugwell discovered from the tests he carried out that although the Ikwerre were often regarded  as Ibo… the Union Ibo Bible translation, surprisingly, was not easily understood by the Ikwere." This is obviously why Igbo vernacular was compulsorily introduced and taught in all schools in Ikwerreland before the Nigerian Civil War to the assimilation (i.e. destruction) of the Ikwere language.

This also obviously led to the Rumuomasi Declaration in 1965. " … in their meeting at Rumuomasi in 1965 the Ikwerre had, under the umbrella of a highly promising new body that was to get the Ikwerre together as a people of new and clearer vision, they had declared themselves as a people of the distinct identity of Ikwerre Ethnic Nationality - not Ibo, not Ijo, not anything else but Ikwerre, Iwhnurọhna. This was the historic Rumuomasi Declaration of 1965 (G.O.M. Tasie, 2000). The full implication is that Ikwere people began to assert themselves forcefully as an ethnic nationality of their own and not Ibos or Ijos, and efforts were made to revert to the original Ikwere names for families, villages, communities and landmarks. For instance, there was the change from Umuola to Rumuola, Umuoro to Rumuoro, Umukrushi to Rumuokwurusi,  just to name a few.

T O N Y   E N Y I A,  PhD, MNIM                                                                        
CHAIRMAN, BOARD OF TRUSTEES
IWHNURỌHNA CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION
Saturday, 5 February 2011

lygn19:
Edo people dont have a reputation of being greedy and domineering against neighboring tribes, I guess u guys were showing ur generosity when ur Benin empire wqs busy rampaging southern Nigeria capturing everybody they seemed fit?
now not only are edo people petty thieves they are also Big liars am not surprised doh.

Kingsley1000:
you're a juvenile,dont even know the history of your town,asaba is more igbo than onitsha/ogbaru in anambra state,so onisha is also not igbo?


asaba history is linked to nteje in oyi lga in anambra,they ve same tradition,norms&values even dialect

Ubenedictus:
bini empire was not in d business of "capturing" people. Every world empire is known for is expansion activities and the bini empire was no exception. But it never showed d common domineering tendencies oda empires showed toward those who lost in battles. The reverse was the case, every group of people under the bini empire were ably represented by chiefs from those places who become part of the bini empire. There are still ika chiefs, ondo chiefs, itsekiri chiefs in th omo n'ba palace till date.

The bini empire never reduced conquered tribes to slaves, it was a honorable empire certainly not given to stealing and lying.

The fact that u are insulting another tribe says alot about u and d tribe u claim to represent.

nextdoor84:
I am sorry to disappoint you useless op...my own ekpeye trace our origin back to amawo in present day abia state..so shove your useless hypothesis up your sleeve and get a job!!!

xtrorse:
Here's actually an excerpt, albeit it was written by Emeka Esogbue but it is a direct summarization of Emma Okocha books.

"It was this battle that gave birth to Murtala, a “Local champion” called Ibrahim Haruna and Ibrahim Taiwo of the Nigerian Army. Africans first had the practical experience of the word “genocide” in Igbodo where hundreds of lives were lost in the Nigerian civil war. In Isheagu, the case was not different. It was here that the ulterior motive of the Nigerian troop clearly unfolded.

The people were now scampering for the safety of their lives having experienced what happened in Igbodo and some other places. In the Midwestern region, able bodied men went into hiding leaving women and children at the mercy of advancing soldiers. The people of Benin went identifying their Ibo-speaking neighbours from house to house for executions."

lygn19:
they were edo people when ur cursed forefathers went and was pointing them out as igbos so that they would be killed by federal troops during the biafran war? .
Edo people are just pained that they are the most useless, cursed amd backward people in the ss thats y they keep trying to claim anybody thats a success, just like the thieves and gold diggers they are,
from claiming Lagos as benin land u are taking it to other parts of the SS, a thief is a thief.
cc: spanishkid, enahi, sandraokosun, mulatooclaro, thiagoneves, atbu1983, edcure and other cursee's in edo thief state.

lygn19:
Edo state people are theives.
the only Edo existence in the ss was because of the Edo empire, they tried to Edoize everybody even igbo land, but just as the ikwerres when they had the chance they changed the igbo names in ikwerre land to mk it sound ikwerre, SS minorities are Edo but they dont bear Edo names but prefer to bear igbo names.

xtrorse:
Here's actually an excerpt, albeit it was written by Emeka Esogbue but it is a direct summarization of Emma Okocha books.

"It was this battle that gave birth to Murtala, a “Local champion” called Ibrahim Haruna and Ibrahim Taiwo of the Nigerian Army. Africans first had the practical experience of the word “genocide” in Igbodo where hundreds of lives were lost in the Nigerian civil war. In Isheagu, the case was not different. It was here that the ulterior motive of the Nigerian troop clearly unfolded.

The people were now scampering for the safety of their lives having experienced what happened in Igbodo and some other places. In the Midwestern region, able bodied men went into hiding leaving women and children at the mercy of advancing soldiers. The people of Benin went identifying their Ibo-speaking neighbours from house to house for executions."

naijaking1:
Last week Ogbemudia said they had to execute one officer, because he killed post master simply because he was identified as Igbo. Even if he punished an official in his unit for killing a man simply because he was Igbo, the majority of other people were actually rewarded for same thing by say Murtala Muhammed

alablec:
@Kingzizzy, the problem is that we don't do research again; I have a great background in linguistics and researches in African history, we need to accept reality. Languages do evolve and change overtime, these people were not originally Igbos but if they now accept to be Igbo, fine. The people called Igbo now had different origins but they've accepted to be one just like any other tribe. The British colonial government supported the missionary to imposed Igbo language on these people because the Bible has been translated to Igbo and the Education system then, overtime they assimilated it. In my research among these people, I found out that all the Church officials that are not Britons are mainly Igbo who supported the imposition then.
The Urobos and many groups- Oguta, Onitsha and all those op mentioned traced their origins to Bini, these are not mistake. Yoruba will never claim or reject if they so wished the Apoi, Ogori, Egun and several Borgu, Nupe, etc that use the language or have assimilated nor Hausas claiming the minorities who now bear Hausa names and use no other language but Hausa. Average Ika man would not accept to be Igbo and you must also know that there are pockets of Yoruba and Igala communities in Delta North that have assimilated to their environment, you can't force them but they can accept to be Igbo just the way Apoi has assimilated but their brothers Arogbo understand Yoruba but have not assimilated.

meccuno:
I don't know what ideologies you talk about, but these people have the same traditions and culture with the igbos than the edos you are made to believe......stop being childish, be humble and learn.....I don't know where you are from, but trying hard to prove a point would only work for those who do not know where they are from.....I know you hate igbos, but it doesn't mean you would come here and start distorting what's true......

warrior01:
Thrash. Please can you tell us what tied these Igbo people to Edo? Is it language or culture?

aim5:
How the hell am I a Yoruba wannabe? Are you that daft to the point where you can only see Yoruba and Edo as one? I don't even look Yoruba or have any Yoruba characteristics so just be quiet there. And like I said before I could care less what Igbanke, Anioma or any of these other sub-Igbo groups want to do, it's not my concern. They could have an exodus and reunite with you silly Biafrans anyways, I don't care.

lygn19:
u ve d go ahead order kill any igbo man u see in Benin afterall it's not new u guys did it to Midwestern igbos during the war so it wont be d first time, we dont want them by now the curse that flows in Benin has transmitted to them and we dont want any cursed soul in our region. Thanks

hoobs:
like I said u guyz should jux mind ur business,I do not care who u look lyk or do not like,what am saying is that ur kinsmen should stop opening threads aimed at causing division among igbo speaking biafrans and Biafrans at large,go through my posts u would not see a thread concerning ur state or tribe which I do not know and dnt want 2 know

Kagawa10:
Ibos and their victim mentality rear its ugly head again!
Eediot forgot to mention what the ibos did in Benin before the retaliation but rather paint a suitable story from his own end! Na that victim wey you people dey always portray go be una portions!
Yeye people!

kingzizzy:
It was a long read but worth it. There's just one thing that no one has been able to explain. The Ukwuanis,Ikas,Ikwere and Ekpeye all speak Igbo (or dialects of Igbo) as their ancestral language. Some people say it is because they have interacted with Igbos for a long time. The question that nobody ever seems to answer is, if the "SS Igbos", the Ukwuanis,the Ikas,the Ikweres,the Etche, the Ekpeye and Ahoada are not Igbos but descendants of the Bini Kingdom, why do they all have Igbo surnames? Why is it that these people don't speak Bini or have Bini surnames? Did the Igbos force them to change their names to Igbo? The Ikwere say they are a 'distinct' ethnic group. I was at an Ikwere persons funeral less than a month ago. Many Ikwere people picked up the microphone, introduced themselves, before talking about the person that died. Even though I'm an Anambra man, I understood 80 to 90% of what they all said and they all had Igbo surnames. So how can the Ikwere people be distinct when they speak a dialect of Igbo and have Igbo last names?

alablec:
@Kingzizzy, the problem is that we don't do research again; I have a great background in linguistics and researches in African history, we need to accept reality. Languages do evolve and change overtime, these people were not originally Igbos but if they now accept to be Igbo, fine. The people called Igbo now had different origins but they've accepted to be one just like any other tribe. The British colonial government supported the missionary to imposed Igbo language on these people because the Bible has been translated to Igbo and the Education system then, overtime they assimilated it. In my research among these people, I found out that all the Church officials that are not Britons are mainly Igbo who supported the imposition then.
The Urobos and many groups- Oguta, Onitsha and all those op mentioned traced their origins to Bini, these are not mistake. Yoruba will never claim or reject if they so wished the Apoi, Ogori, Egun and several Borgu, Nupe, etc that use the language or have assimilated nor Hausas claiming the minorities who now bear Hausa names and use no other language but Hausa. Average Ika man would not accept to be Igbo and you must also know that there are pockets of Yoruba and Igala communities in Delta North that have assimilated to their environment, you can't force them but they can accept to be Igbo just the way Apoi has assimilated but their brothers Arogbo understand Yoruba but have not assimilated.

new2020:
To all Igbos commenting on this thread, the OP whom I believed is a yoruba man masquering as a Benin man just opened a new thread; I believed has been removed by Moderators calling for the massacre of all Igbos.

Ubenedictus:
i hate on sided stories.

Are you aware that wen the biafran soldier decided to advance on lagos the midwestern council voted to let them pass without resistance? Are you aware of this that at the begining of the war d bini people had no problems allowing u guys to pass?

What was the result? Asaba and bini was looted! In bini in particular there was large scale raping and killing by d same biafran soldiers who were offered safe passage!

Because of the genocide th NA committed few people talk abt the atrocities the biafran soldiers committed. The biafrans were later halted in ore and forces to retreat.

This is the 1st time i'll hear an ibo claim that edos were against them and going abt killing them in d civil war.

xtrorse:
Gowon, Awolowo, Ejoor, Adebayo, Mobolaji Johnson, Katsina, Wey and all the groups that supported and advised the Federal Government of Nigeria to renege on the accords agreed upon in Aburi, Ghana were responsible for the 1967-70 Civil War, alongside their murderous kinsmen who killed innocent Easterners in revenge for an act done by a misguided group of soldiers comprising both Southerners and Northerners.

Ojukwu tried making peace, and called for peace-talk in a neutral ground hence the Aburi Accord, but Gowon and his co-travellers violated the agreement reached. If Ojukwu wanted war he wouldn't have called for peace talk in Ghana but the declaration of Biafra was inevitable as the killing of Easterners continued across the country. Ojukwu never asked for war! Ojukwu only declared Biafra when over thirty thousand corpses littered the Northern region in the aftermath of the January 15 1966 coup. Gowon and his cohorts declared the civil war! And Benjamin Adekunle, one the Nigerian soldier, later attested to the fact that Nigeria declared war because of oil in the Eastern region and not for the unity of the country!

Why didn't the July 1966 counter-coup plotters just wipe out the Eastern political class and call it a day. Aguiyi Ironsi did nothing deserving death yet they killed him. Ironsi was too much of a peacemaker and he died making useless peace, appeasing the Northerners. The counter coup plotters simply wanted a war and they sure got one.
Bear in mind there was no war before the pogrom of 1966 started in the North.
So why resort to maiming and killing innocent Easterners cum civilians. Has the killings stopped till date? NO!

The February 13, 1976 Dimka-led coupists came from Benue and Plateau region. They assassinated Murtala Mohammed then Head of State, yet there was no genocide carried against the Middle-belt people. Why was same treatment not given to the ethnic groups of the Dimka-led coupists that committed same offence? It's simply hypocrisy!
It is even against the military rule to harm the innocent civilians during coup.

According to the warped logic of hypocrites....and their co-travellers anytime there is a revolution or a coup the ethnic groups of the coup plotters should be singled out for ethnic cleansing!

....
...what did... your... tribe do when Igbos where being massacred across the North in 1966? Did you and your people come to the aid of the people of Igbodo and Asaba in 1967 when genocide was being carried out on them by your wicked...tribesmen and their co-travellers? 
...
Ethnomusicolist Charles Keil, who was visiting
Nigeria in 1966, recounted:

"The pogroms I witnessed in Makurdi, Nigeria
(late Sept. 1966) were foreshadowed by
months of intensive anti-Ibo and anti-
Eastern conversations among Tiv, Idoma,
Hausa and other Northerners resident in
Makurdi, and, fitting a pattern replicated in
city after city, the massacres were led by the
Nigerian army. Before, during and after the
slaughter, Col. Gowan could be heard over
the radio issuing 'guarantees of safety' to all
Easterners, all citizens of Nigeria, but the
intent of the soldiers, the only power that
counts in Nigeria now or then, was painfully
clear. After counting the disemboweled
bodies along the Makurdi road I was
escorted back to the city by soldiers who
apologized for the stench and explained
politely that they were doing me and the
world a great favor by eliminating Ibos.”

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigerian_Civil_War

Here's actually an excerpt, albeit it was written by Emeka Esogbue but it is a direct summarization of Emma Okocha books.

"It was this battle that gave birth to Murtala, a “Local champion” called Ibrahim Haruna and Ibrahim Taiwo of the Nigerian Army. Africans first had the practical experience of the word “genocide” in Igbodo where hundreds of lives were lost in the Nigerian civil war. In Isheagu, the case was not different. It was here that the ulterior motive of the Nigerian troop clearly unfolded.

The people were now scampering for the safety of their lives having experienced what happened in Igbodo and some other places. In the Midwestern region, able bodied men went into hiding leaving women and children at the mercy of advancing soldiers. The people of Benin went identifying their Ibo-speaking neighbours from house to house for executions."

BLOOD ON THE NIGER: THE FIRST BLACK ON BLACK OCTOBER 1967 GENOCIDE OF ASABA PEOPLE BY MURTALA, GOWON  AND AWOLOWO

...Like my father and elder brother that were part of the over 1000 youths that were killed on October 7, 1967, in Asaba, most of them were members of the Action Group (AG). The people that believed in the NCNC at that time left for the east. My father who worked in Enugu, Nsukka, Uzuakoli and Kafanchan as a civil servant could have gone to the east. But he believed in that war. He was an apostle of the Awo ideas-free education and free medical services. In fact, the Asaba General Hospital that is now a Specialist Hospital was brought to us by the AG led by Nduka Eze, another AG hardliner who left the Zikist Movement to join Awolowo. But Nduka Eze's wife was killed by the federal troop under the command of Murtala Mohammed because she refused to be touched because they were defiling women at random when they came in.

The genocide against the Igbos has been proved beyond reasonable doubt by the apology made to Asaba people by General Gowon when he came there after the release of the Blood On The Niger. The genocide against the Igbos was proved beyond reasonable doubt at the Oputa panel which the federal government has up till now refused to publish the findings. Bishop Desmond Tutu chaired the Truth and Justice tribunal in South Africa to find out what happened in South Africa during the apartheid period. It was accepted by both sides and just look at the peace that has prevailed there since then. Why would Nigeria not publish the findings of the Oputa Panel where it has been proved beyond reasonable doubt that pilots were throwing bombs at random into market places in Uzuakoli, Uzuitem and Nsukka, where bottles and implements were also used against women during the war.

History is an account of the actions of actors in a community or in a state recorded that made impacts during their time. Awolowo was a great leader; great politician and great performer in government but his activities during the civil war were negative. If you are a writer, you cannot defend his position that starvation is an instrument of warfare. Starvation cannot be an instrument of warfare when you are fighting a civil war. 

Nigeria was being supplied arms from all countries. For the first time there was an unholy alliance between the Soviet Union and the West. It had never happened before. Any place that there was a war of revolution, the USSR is always taking the place of the revolutionary. How come that the USSR for the first time allied with the West against Biafra? So, let somebody go and disprove Achebe; that is what we want to see not that somebody did not commit genocide. Genocide has been proved to be committed. If there were no genocide, the World Council of Churches, the Caritas wouldn't have come in droves. If genocide was not committed, why did Biafra lose two million casualties, most of them civilians and children? And if people are not apologising to Igbos, why should they now come out to talk because one man has been put to where he belongs in history. He was the principal protagonist of using starvation as an instrument of warfare against his fellow citizens. Remember that Nigeria was fighting a war of unity. They were not as desperate as the other camp that was fighting a war of secession. So, in international convention Geneva included, you don't use starvation against civilians, you don't use firearms against civilians and you don't use bombs. Are they saying they didn't bomb civilians during the war? The Nigerian Air Force was very pronounced in its use of bombs on civilians and their targets were churches, market places and hospitals. These were recorded by missionaries and foreign journalists. 

Awolowo was the Minister of Finance under Gowon. He was the de facto prime minister of Nigeria during the war and he performed. I don't grudge him for winning the war for Nigeria; for changing the currency. He can win the war by all means but the fact that he prevented massive aid from coming is genocidal.

There was an inhuman instance. There was an incident where a Red Cross plane coming with medication and food was blown off the sky for the beleaguered people of Biafra. Even after the war, what was the purpose of denying Igbos their primary source of protein-stockfish? How can you defend the policy of giving people who have lost everything only 20 Pounds? If there is anybody that should have been given more, the returning war battered people of Biafra should have received more.

The Igbos have always accepted Awolowo as a great leader but his activities during the civil war shocked them. BY THE OBJECTIVE OF THE JANUARY 15 COUP, as quoted by Odia Ofeimun, the poet, the boys believed he was the greatest leader. 

THE LEADERS OF THE COUP, WERE TO MAKE CHIEF AWOLOWO THE PRIME MINISTER OF NIGERIA. These coup leaders didn't go for Azikiwe or Balewa. They wanted Chief Awolowo as quoted by Odia in a 1999 edition of The Guardian. Awolowo was supposed to be released by the Nzeogwu coup, which didn't have its assumed ending; it was aborted half way. It was Nzeogwu's colleague, Major Nzegwu that was supposed to pick him from Calabar prison and release him. So, I'm proving to you that the Igbo literality have always accepted Awo as one of the best and great leaders the country has ever produced but his activities during the war did not only shock them but betrayed the trust they had in.

During the whole peace conferences from Niamey to Kinshasha, Awolowo, Enahoro and Alison Ayida, who was a permanent secretary, always took a hawkish stand. That was why in the Niamey conference of 1968 Alison Ayida quoted Awo exactly that starvation is an instrument of warfare. This was at a time when millions of Biafran children were dying off. And death by starvation is not an ordinary death. It is for you to experience it. It was horror and the photographs are there but Awolowo and his henchmen never batted an eyelid even after the war. That is why we glorify other great literality like Wole Soyinka who told us in his book A Man Died that extermination was committed in Asaba. He was the first courageous soul in Nigeria that told the world about the Asaba massacre.

http://nigeriavillagesquare.com/forum/main-square/73341-most-those-murdered-asaba-muritala-gowon-awo-were-action-group-members-emma-okocha-author-blood-niger.html

Kagawa10:
Wetin this eediot dey yarn?
I thought you said you are a Calabar but this portray a different story.
Yeye people!

alablec:
Please, let's stop being emotional about this. people will continue to evolve, The Itsekiri, Urobo and Ijaw have different languages but almost the same culture. The Igbo and Yoruba that continue to quarreling on nothing share many linguistic affinity, eg aka - apa(aka in Ekiti), imi-imu(imi- breath), iti-eti, onu-enu, miri-omi, okute-okuta, ejima-eji, etc. we continue to allow emotions to lead us instead of building on what has join us together. We can't just write Bini influence out. I also want to say that there many groups in these places that have their origins among main Igbo in the East.

HopeAtHand:
Factors responsible.

1) Areas of settlement: from writeup Akalaka and his young family travelled from Benin and settled in areas already inhabited by locals..The locals were more in number and as such were able to dominate in language.(to interact with them, you need to learn language).

2)Intermarriage: again from writeup, Akalaka had to marry his second wife from within the community he settled to gain love and trust of the local population..Akalaka and sons were supplied wives by Igbos.


3) Slave trading: It was common practice then to buy slaves for ecoomic and domestic purposes and Igboland were relentless selling its people as slaves (Igbos can sell anything for money).A man with maybe 2wives and 14 children can own more than 200 male and female slaves..Akalaka and Sons took hundreds of Igbo slaves.

So then, anyone asking of Igbo influence should understand how it came about..But we know our history.

Im perjectly jaded with Ikwerre this, Igbo that.

HopeAtHand:
Factors responsible.

1) Areas of settlement: from writeup Akalaka and his young family travelled from Benin and settled in areas already inhabited by locals..The locals were more in number and as such were able to dominate in language.(to interact with them, you need to learn language).

2)Intermarriage: again from writeup, Akalaka had to marry his second wife from within the community he settled to gain love and trust of the local population..Akalaka and sons were supplied wives by Igbos.


3) Slave trading: It was common practice then to buy slaves for ecoomic and domestic purposes and Igboland were relentless selling its people as slaves (Igbos can sell anything for money).A man with maybe 2wives and 14 children can own more than 200 male and female slaves..Akalaka and Sons took hundreds of Igbo slaves.

So then, anyone asking of Igbo influence should understand how it came about..But we know our history.

Im perjectly jaded with Ikwerre this, Igbo that.

lygn19:
igbos did things in Benin, I thought midwesr igbos are Edo why did they kill there brothers because of igbos .