Re: Origin Of Delta Igbo Indisputable -Uwuechue

Culled from the edoworld.net

 

I  will like to state that the people of eka and  agbor have always guarded their culture with fiercely in the face  of all oppositions , we as eka people know where we come from and we are proud of  our origin , we have a long  history of  kingship  and culture that is why many people will not  let  us be , it is not new for a tribe to have two  or more ancestory , e. g .  take itshekiri  , they have both benin and yoruba ancestory , but that does not make them benin or  yoruba , today , they are know as  itshekiris . but the founding  father of their tribe  was the a benin prince called iginua , son of  oba  olua of benin . we as ika people of agbor and  owa  will not wish to be  drawn into stupid arguements with  those who  do  not know  our history and who do not know  our culture and whose  sole arguements rely on  nearness of  language as a  proof  of where a  people come from , if he  is a historian then he  or she will know that  changes  in language can  occur due to  large  migrations  or trade or due to  other  factors .
please can any one tell me what agbor means in igbo  language ? going back  to  history agbor was  called  ogungunagbon  or agbon , which  means earth in benin language and the british  changed  it to agbor in 1906 . ,most eka founders or founders  of agbon were benin princes and people from ishan land in ancient times and  later other groups  of  migrants came from igbo land  , some from yorubaland  e. t. c .  it will interest you to  note that most  of agbor and  ika culture and traditions came  from benin and edo  areas .  we call  GOD- oselobue , we believe  in ehi as  our guardian spirit as the  benin do, we perfom  festivals  like igue -new year  , ogbanigbe , osi-ezi and  ugboze .  we dress like binis and  maintain  same dances like ojerima, okangan and  uje  like binis .  our traditional gods are same  as theirs  like ovia, uhunmwunde, idigun, olokun   e. t. c  .  we believe  our kings  are devine beings  from the  lineage  of olokun and oselobue .
our  chiefthanct titles are  same as benin , iyase, obasogie, obaseki , ihondor , ihama   , ezomor , ologbosere  et. c .
our  towns  are divided into   ebon (umu), idumu  and  ogbe ,
in agbor there are two  languages spoken  ozara and ika , ozara is edoid  while ika  is a mix  of bini and igbo , each  town has  her  history of  founding fathers and they are well kept, there are still some titles that  if you want to take  in some villages today  in agbor you  must go  to  benin , where the original founder came  from to  collect things and receive  blessings of approval .  it  will  interest you to note that  all  ika and  agbor kings are benin princes and the present dein of agbor is same royal blood family with  the  omonoba of  benin .
but  all  these do  not  make us binis , although in the past we bore benin tribal  marks ,but today  we are eka people  , we  are not  binis or igbos , but we know where most  of our ancestors came from , no proper  ika man  will want to be refered to  as  igbo , but  properly as  ika people . we the ika people share both igbo and  bini  cultures that  is why  we still have igbo names like ngozi , okechukwu  and the  likes , but we still have our benin names too  like  irabor , obaigbena , ovia, osagie  etc. this  is  our heritage and we are proud  of it, looking at  my family history  of about 800  years  i  saw all my ancestors were having benin names  from  omigie, agbontaen, ehiabor, imade, osaigbovou, efeizomor, okundaye  , ebie, ogbe, e. t. c , so  one day  i  asked  my father why and  he told  me that our fore-father was the  son  of a prince from benin,and that  our people from our village in idumu-ezomor were children  of  ezomor the great warrior general from benin who assisted  oba esigie of benin to  quell the  ida war . some times it  is good for people to  consult natives  of a  place and ask them of their history , before the  write  on it. anioma is a big  place , i know the  igbo  language plays  a  part in anioma  history  , but  not all aniomas migrated from igboland and their are  about  11 languages spoken there   like ozara, ika, olokumi ( old yoruba), igalla, aboh,  etc . that is the reason why no proper ika man  will join any group  like ohaneze, we  have our own  group called  the ika group  ,while we support anioma ,we also believe that those who  can trace their ancestory to igboland should join the group, but we will like to  say we the agbor and ika people should be  left alone as we are a  seperate people called  ika . i am  happy that this is bearing fruit as on delta radio there is  now news in ika language as a different languge , ikas  have  commenced writing the bible in ika language and  right  now  the gospel of  mark, luke , mathew and john have been published and we  have  books on ika languge right now ,during the colonial times our people resisted the  celebration of igbo day in ikaland, i want to state that the agbor people  even  though  we  have cultural afinities with some  of our neighbours like ogwashi, ubulu-uku  , asaba , i will like to  say we are very  different from them ,. we  are ika people , we are not binis neither are we  igbos . please take note