₦airaland Forum

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Millerz:
shut up your mouth. You keep spilling thrash after thrash. You probably hate western ND for reasons best known to yourself. And we don't give a donkey's asss about that, but saying we were taught to hate Igbo's is a falacy of grandeur! The only person who has duped my father of millions is Igbo. And even at that my father doesn't have general hatred for Igbo's because obviously everyone isn't the same. I also haven't met any urhobo who hates Igbo's So if you're going to talk about stuff, do so with facts.

You Igbo's are the ones crying about being hated when in reality you incite hatred for yourselves.

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RUBBISH! You've never seen any Urhobo who hates Igbos because you only see what you want to see. Nonsense! Most of your people along with Ijaw hate Igbos! Don't come and talk like Urhobos are saints!

Ahahhhaaahh. Which one is kakarakokoro? Militants always have funny names. Well,they should leave my Asaba bridge for me biko. Go to Lag or Abuja. t will be more productive.

Changing CSO will not help Buhari. Retiring senior officers will also not save him. His own people are feeling the heat. Won't be surprised if a fellow Northerner overthrows the dullard. It all makes sense. Support him to enter the seat then overthrow him later.

SammyChi19:
Let me correct this impression Anioma is a political arrangement bringing the people of Ukwuani, Ika and Enuani clan. Onitsha was never part of Anioma because as at the time of the fought of Ekumeku war there was nothing like Anioma. Disregard anybody that says anioma is an ethnic group. The whole of Ndokwa, Ika and aniocha/Oshimili area were called Western Igbo in the old Western region and ofcourse Mid-Western region. I see all these as policy of divide and rule to divide Igbos but today it has stacked in the head of some Ukwuanis. Ukwuani wants a separate ethnic group but not all ukwuani share in that sentiment. Treat those who see themselves as Igbo and forget about those that don't want to be Igbo.
#I_Am_A_Proud_Ukwuani_And_A_Proud_Igbo. Even if I becomes the last man standing I will still see myself as Igbo. Nobody is forcing Igbo on anybody.

Great!

A predominantly Ijaw state...Can anything good come out of....

Nigeria is in trouble. The write-up di sharp. Nwanne,All hail!

Lalasticlala come and see the latest...

No no no! Not really necessary. What are their demands? Really didn't expect this.

P.S- But sha,this news will keep some wastern hounds are bay...

When any of you denigrate the great Igbo nation,rest assured I'll come for you. Shalom.

I hereby tender my unreserved and most sincere apology to Ishilove. Please forgive me. I take back the shots I fired to defame her person. Those shots are usually reserved for idiots who denigrate the great Igbo nation: She did nothing like that,hence this apology. Ishilove forgive me. I still think some of your postulations are pathetic though I feel you can claim whatever you desire. I will consqequently edit some of my posts.
P.S - Mr man you can see the apology. Don't call me childish next time because of a lady. It rubs off negatively on you. Though you won't agree or understand.
Ishilove,once again,I'm sorry.

Ishilove:
Don't waste your mb on classless, empty headed, puerile internet thugs. His insults on his female children yet unborn is all water off a duck.

You have made a very interesting submission and I am almost tempted to start typing all over again, although my digits are terribly cramped now. I must rest!

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PabloAfricanus:
Totally uncalled for and unncessary.
She owes you no apologies for her stand or take.
And i am failing to see how you stand to benefit from her towing your line.
Dude you are just displaying high level childishness.
How do you intend to win her over to your view if all you can do is engage in expletives?
Be the man and let things you have no control over be.
I will suggest you apologize to her.

The biggest mistake you'll make is to think,I,give a damn what she claims. She can take her epistles to the grave for all I care. What stops her,a mature woman,from bringing facts to the table;like you did? How can a grown woman say iyo or myiyo similarity to Yoruba connects Ukwuani to Benin. All to defend bias passed down from less informed parents? C'mon!!!

LMAO!!!

Ishilove:
You must be high on your own fart if you think I will descend any further to your level.

From now on I will ignore you so hard, you will doubt your own existence.

Fuvk off for good.

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Ishilove:
You and your entire generation are the lowlifes. Mannerless baboon who has no business on the internet.

Now fuvk off, your time is up

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Oh my father! My God! Why have thou hidden this thread from my eyes till now? Why??

PabloAfricanus:
Interesting read.
Been following the discourse.
Lemme add my input, kindly note that I do not claim to be an expert but certain facts can be neutrally analyzed from the side.
I am here to attempt a balance.
Firstly, any one or any group of peoples are free to define, propose, redefine and change their identities a million times a day if it suits their
purposes. No one or any group have any right what so ever to challenge the intrinsic right of any group of people to self identify as they see fit.
So I am in full support of Ukwuani, Ika, Anioma, Ikwerre and all so-called Igbo speaking peoples in their quest to define a unique identity for themselves. It is their God given right and they owe no one any apologies or explanations for carving out an identity for themselves.

Now to the nitty gritty of the matter (pun intended).

My interest is in shared history, shared culture and shared traditions.
That cannot be wished away, changed or somehow redefined to suit one's likes or dislikes.
Michael Jackson did not become a white man by whatever form of skin bleaching he employed as till today his black parents, brothers and sisters are alive...and the whole world knew him before he started looking like a white man.

That said, why is it that all the denials of an Igbo identity center around Benin?
Carefully [b]constructed proofs and oral stories [/b]are researched and put forth as factual evidences linking a people who have more in common with the Igbos across the Niger to Benin and her peoples who just live a mere stone throw(the distance is not long abeg) to them?

It is this part that has sparked my interest and piqued my curiosity.
I have never witnessed such a phenomenon anywhere in the world.
We had a family friend from Ukwuani then in Lagos and I was opportuned to see the banking details of his son.
Lo and behold the guys middle name was Ijeoma! Now being fluent in Igbo, I knew this was not a chance occurrence or a misnomer.
The man gave his son an obviously Igbo name!
Now while there is nothing special or new about this, it underscores the core of the identity crisis that some people are trying so hard to run away from.
Firstly, the Igbos in the SE are surrounded by Igalas, Idomas, Ibibios,Efiks etc. and none of these peoples bear the name Ijeoma.
Next, the name Ijeoma means the same thing in Ukwuani 'language' and any of the numerous Igbo dialects across the Niger.
How did such a similarity come about?
Professional historians and linguists have ascertained that Ukwuani is just another dialect of Igbo.
From the Okpala Ukus, to the Ote ofes to the Nwachukwus to the primordial goddess of the Igbos Ani...all the known artifacts and markers of Igbo language, tradition and culture has been faithfully replicated in Ukwuani.
How come?
Chance or as the fierce deniers love to put it...just a similarity?

How did you manage to rationalize this quote below or are you able to list logical assertions from it?


I am really struggling to see the part that inspired the "touche" remark other than an elder echoing agreed upon versions of the history you are passing across.

Mind you that the contention is not about self identity or whatever appellation Ukwuani folks choose to go by.
How do you suddenly pretend Nwachukwu as a name borne by Ukwuanis is not the same as Nwachukwu borne by the kingless, leaderless and slavery prone Igbo peoples on the other side of the Niger?
You know, the Ukwuanis who are a more distantly westernly people and quite different from the SE Igbos?
How did Ukwuanis come about Chukwu in the first place? Mere fluke of history?
To me, it just makes no sense.

Add to the mix the fact that the entire land mass of the SE Igbos and the entire Aniomas/Ikas being discussed is less than the land mass of the Bornu both as an empire and as a Nigerian state. So we are not talking about peoples that geographically distant from each other.

You see, shared history does not lie. It will out and tell you the origins of most peoples on the face of the planet..if you dig deep enough.
It is like an automatic shibboleth that will identity you by name, language, culture or tradition.
The only scientific counter to shared history is DNA analysis.
No living human being ever chose to be a member of any race or ethnic group.
You were just born there and you naturally imbibed the language and culture stretching centuries and millennia back before your great grand parents were born.

So, I think the drive to disconnect from a perceived "Igbo" identity or connection whatsoever with Igbos should be balanced with accurate historical analysis.
It is a proven fact the monarchical practice in Anioma was borrowed/copied and influenced from Benin.
The current practices, names of the titles and testimonies of rulers across the length of Eze Chime clans attest to that fact.
This is even more pronounced by the fact that the Edo tongue never eroded in any way the Igbo dialects prevalent in Anioma then and now.
It is also a proven fact that there have been migrants from Benin and intermarriages way long before the Europeans came calling.
Then and now, some things still die hard.
How the people who profess to come from Benin suddenly forgot their Benin tongue, deities, pure monarchical systems and culture...and suddenly picked up the language, deities, market days and culture of a distant territory and more easternly Igbos remains a question that has been silently ignored or swept under the rug.

I think I have a plausible answer to that question....shared histories.
It is never forced, imposed or coerced. It just is.
You should do well to atleast acknowledge that, it will make your story more complete and factual.

My 2cents.

PS: I love your writing style.

God bless. Your write up is unbiased. Shalom

Ishilove:
Oweniwe, you asked where the Ukwuanis come from. You ask if we are Binis. Well, this is what my elders say, and some of them belong to the migration school:

Sometime between the 13th and 15th centuries waves of migration swept across civilization in the forest belt of West Africa, precipitated by adventure, drought, increase in population, search for the proverbial golden fleece, political turmoil, the slave trade and war.

The fertile but sparsely populated Niger-Delta plains and swamps became the centre of attraction. There were pockets of migration, splinter groups and offshoots from across all neighbouring or proximate territories like Benin, Asaba, Igboland, Ika, Ijaw, Isoko, and as far north as Igala resulting in socio-political mergers and acquisitions with the aborigines.

These group of migrants, some quite large in numbers, met the aborigine Ukwuani who welcomed them and among whom they settled. Aside from the Benin migration, which is placed in the 15th century, there is no firm and credible evidence of the dates of these migrations.

Professor Obaro Ikime (I believe you should know him. He is an authority in this field) agrees that the core Ukwuani people were of greater antiquity than the Benin migrants, for instance. Thus the Ukwuani are an amalgam of different waves of migrating groups and an indigenous group who absorbed them, the language of the aborigine Ukwuani pervaded but with time it was tainted or influenced by elements of the settlers’ languages especially through songs and folklore. It is noteworthy that languages then were not the way we know them today but were still at the basic, rudimentary and emergent stages.

Centuries of migration and interaction with other tribes through trade, marriage and communication resulted in the assimilations of foreign ways of life that influenced the aboriginal Ukwuani culture and gave rise to the migration-origin school of thought that traces the historical evolution of the Ukwuani people to mass movements.

I tend to agree with this school. You can imagine my shock when I learned that 'sieve' in Ukwuani is 'iyo' or 'myiyo', which points to Yoruba influences, and by extension Bini influence.

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blues20:
That idiot you quoted is not Igbo. He is trying his best to drive the wedge deeper between Igbos.

Don't ever in your life claim I'm not Igbo. Feel me? Don't ever!

dimieprincess:
Take heart my dear, that is why I hate an average Igbo man. So cunning and ungrateful

And that's why your life is forever miserable. Silly tw@t!

Dynamite02:
Talking about delta igbos, are the ukwani's part of them? Why are they and every other tribe generally referred to as "Kwale"? People from Aboh belong to what tribe? Are they ukwani's too? Is the ukwani a local government or a tribe?

The only reason the slaves are included as delta Igbos is that the fools bear Igbo names and call themselves Ukwuani;which is an Igbo name. Save for that nobody would have known they existed. Fuck_ing idiots.

Delta Igbo should be used exclusively to refer to Igbos in Asaba area in my opinion. There's Benin influence in ukwuani and Ndokwa. When I met some people from those areas I lost hope on their issue. Please they're not Igbos,when you see their perception to life and their Benin names you'd know they're not Igbos. Leave the slave descendants. THE IGBO NATION IS TOO GREAT TO CARE. Ndi Igbo Kwenu!!!!

Ugomba:
semi-literates? Hahahahahahahaha.
I am an Engineer and currently working in a federal govt. agency.
I just rounded up my masters in Cologne, Germany just this last february.
I am not your mate, i will buy you filthy thing up and dump you in any nearest refuse dump.

Ugomba Dike!!! That benin babe slave no reach naa!!! Ugomba Dike!!!

My sister as soon as you mentioned denial,I instantly knew it was an Ika issue. My sister they're not Delta Igbos. Delta Igbo is different from Ika/Kwale. Don't taint the Igbo nation. Delta Igbos are predominantly in Oshimili and Aniocha LGA. The ones who are Ika,Ukwuani,Ndokwa are descendants of Benin outlaws/slaves who have mingled and bred with unfortunate Igbos. Hence,the product cannot be said to be Igbo. Thanks.

As 2000 immigration dey protest who dey keep eye for our border incase of Libyans?

Interesting news.

Tompolo will not like this. I see hunger smiling at Tompolo from a distance.

These ones are just waking up.