*Exploring the Untold Stories of Edumoga: Facts from Logical Inference*
By Olohy Ejembi

I don't want to be journalistic but proficient in presenting this issue, however, it's pertinent to present a little background first. I tried to ask some elders about this matter, but they could not say more than what my uncle told me. I have been pondering over it for about ten years now, since I began the quest to find the truth about the following questions: The Edumoga people who are they? And the name Edumoga how did it come? In trying to get answers I discovered more things about the Edumoga people that calls for a cogitation. Although many historians or writers have been trying to tell the Idoma history and that of its dialectal ancestries, but the absence of an ancient documentary or, if you like, written history from which they drew their references makes the whole venture an insinuation or assumption.

The first question to answer is: are the Ai'Agbo (Eke) and Ai'Abbah (Onakpata, Adatanwata and Onyiligwo) REALLY consangeneous brothers? This is one issue I encountered in thevquest which I never thought about earlier. And it got me thinking because as a young man who pays attention to traditions, I always hear these people chant Aj'Agbo-Aj'Abbah (meaning Agbo's and Abbah's land) with no reference to any common name. I realized that apart from villages within the land which had names, there was no single or common name with which the Aj'Agbo-Aj'Abbah was called. And that name was what the land was known with until the Ugbokolo people joined them as brothers with common interest. This then made me to ask my uncle who was a traditional chief, Ogaje Ejembi, the following questions: Why was the land called Aj'Agbo-Aj'Abbah with no common name? Why wasn't it called Aje Ai'Edeh since history claims that Agbo and Abbah came from one father called Edeh? Since there was no common name for the land, how sure is it that Agbo and Abbah came from the same parents?

Other issues of contention are how Ai'Agbo and Ai'Abbah address their chiefs and elders, and their migration stories. Recall that Eke address their chiefs and elders with Oglegba, while Ai'Abbah do so with Ede. And in crossing the River Benue, like the biblical Red Sea, Ai'Agbo say it was a snake that lay on the River as a bridge on which they crossed the water, while Ai'Abbah say that it was a crocodile. I then asked further the following questions: Why do these acclaimed brothers give different addresses to their chiefs and elders? And why are their migration stories different? There are many stories that relate Onakpata, Adatanwata and Onyiligwo as brothers, but apart from sharing a common land, no much stories, either of dispute or disagreement, which relate Ai'Agbo and Ai'Abbah as brothers.

All these and many others that are not said here suggest that Ai'Agbo and Ai'Abbah have a farther away relationship - not really brothers of the same parents. Of course, they could be friends who decided to migrate to the present place of occupancy together, or it could be that one met the other in the land just as Ogbe, the father of Ugbokolo, met them too and decided to stay. Whatever the case, there are so many differences between Ai'Agbo and Ai'Abbah that call for questioning - differences that a wise man cannot swallow hook line and sinker.

THE NAME EDUMOGA
The origin of the name Edumoga remains a mystery, but it is believed by some that there was one Edeh who begot a son called Ogah, which when expressed in Idoma is "Edeh ma Ogah" (meaning Edeh fathered or begot Ogah) - an expression many believe that the name Edumoga emanated from. However, following the etymology of how Idoma describes people and places, such an assumption constitutes an etymological fallacy, because Idoma doesn't give names that way.

It's difficult to tell when the name Edumoga came about, but until the Ugbokolo people had joined and established in the land there was no such name as Edumoga. Before Ogbe came, people around had already began to relate the Ai'Agbo and Ai'Abbah to Edeh so much that many concluded that Edeh fathered them both - a belief that stays to this day. One of the things that feathered and strengthened the belief that Ai'Agbo and Ai'Abbah were brothers was the acceptance of Ekwu-Nokwu by both of them as a symbol of oneness. Hence, Edeh who initiated the Ekwu-Nokwu rite was seen as a father of both of them. But to emphasise once more, both Ai'Agbo and Ai'Abbah know that they have too many differences that suggest that they may not be children of the same ancestor.

There are stories about how Ai'Abbah promoted oneness in the land. Although that policy divided them later but it achieved a lot. Edumoga is the second largest tribe of Idoma after Agatu because it's an amalgamation of different children of Idoma - and it was made possible because they were accepting one another as one. No one can tell if they came to the land first, but the Abbah children wanted an Edumoga of one people and one traditional symbol (the symbol of Ekwu-Nokwu) in spite of the fact that the people were coming from different places. It's believed that it was the same policy or relationship that made neighbors believe that Ai'Agbo and Ai'Abbah are brothers in spite of their differences, such that history now speaks of them as children of the same father. Hence, when the father of Ugbokolo came and got married to one of their daughters, he willingly joined the family. But just as Ai'Agbo and Ai'Abbah had different addresses for chiefs and elders, Ugbokolo was using Idooga for theirs.

THE MERGING OF THE TWO TITLES EDE AND IDOOGA TO FORM THE NAME EDUMOGA
As I pushed on with my questions I realized as said earlier that Agbo and Abbah children were already annexed and together being addressed as Ede as a mark honour or title before Ugbokolo ancestor joined the friendship that turned family. This then changed the name from Aj'Agbo-Aj'Abbah to Aj'Edeh ml'Idooga (meaning, the land of Edeh and Idooga) -Edeh represented Agbo and Abbah axis while Idooga represented the Ugbokolo axis. Thus, the name Edumoga is a cliticized or a short form of Ede ml'Idooga.

The only problem was that the Ai'Abbah Icho that shared frontiers with Ugbokolo were not too friendly like the other people to talk Ugbokolo into accepting the one symbol of oneness that they had decided earlier to accept in the land (the Ekwu-Nokwu). The Ai'Abbah Icho were already by then claiming this symbol as an inheritance forgetting that it was a tradition which the people adopted to be used by all who would accept to join the group of people that was later called Edumoga.

As said above, Edumoga is a short form of Ede ml'Idooga. It's an amalgamation of the Ede title for Ai'Agbo, Ai'Abbah and the others living around them, and the Idooga title for the Ogbe children and those living around them. It then follows that when an Ugbokolo man says that he is not an Edumoga man he is only displaying his ignorance. And as said earlier, the belief that the name Edumoga came from the expression Edeh ma Ogah is an etymological fallacy, because Idoma people do not address one another like that, and as a language Idoma doesn't derive names or words from such expressions. Hence, the version of Ede ml'Idooga is most likely to be true.

Therefore, any day Ugbokolo people decide finally that they are no longer part of Edumoga, the other parts must look for a new name for their land since it'll not be Aj'Ede ml'Idooga any more to be called Edumoga. Edumoga, I still repeat, came from both the Ede and the Idooga titles, hence, Edumoga will remain one forever.

Olohy Ejembi my brother, your postulations on Edumoga origin, culture and ancestral lineages are very faulty and misleading. your hypotheses are not investigated or interrogated with empirical evidences using historical genealogies, chronologies, events, and evidences from oral traditional historians from the elders and custodians of Edumoga culture and heritages. your uncle the only reference in your write-up may be limited in knowledge on the Edumoga ethnic kindred among the Idoma Nationality. history is not logic but past true events written or orally presented with empirical evidences.
My first attempt to know and do an inquest on the Edema ethnic group to know whom I am and my origin was to seat down under my grandfather’s tutelage, who has passed-on to meet his ancestors in 1986 at the age of 95. At that time, he was the oldest man alive in among Ai' idoko-uloko kindred in Edumoga ehaje he was born around 1891 whose ground father was the Oche'Edumoga by name Oguludwu olowu and he was well tutored in Edumoga culture, heritage and religion. His ground father Oguludwu olowu was the son of olowu the son of Obanje the son of Adogo son of Idoko Ulogo (whom also was O'che Edumoga) the son of Onah the son of Abbah whom you referred to in your write up as a probable friend of Agbo.
From all historical empirical evidences and work of historical researches by renowned academic historian like Professor Erim and the likes of Armstrong of bless memories whose works on Idoma Nationality and language from 1600 has not been disputed by the other historians and Edumoga oral historians but held the view with empirical evidence of the existance of a man called Edeh and Ogah his son the pro-janitors of the Edumoga kindred in Idoma nationality.
If you will take your studies and research outside Idoma land you will also discover Edumoga clan among the Igbira tribe in Okene in Kogi state on your way to Okene town along the major high way, you will see a sign board on the right from Lokoja directing you to Edumoga village. that is an assignment for Edumoga scholars of history in Benue state to investigate any relationship. there is again the Edumoga clan in Igede near oju in Oju local government of Benue state another assignment for Edumoga elites to investigate our link with this same clan name in history.
Now, my ground father who is an authority on Edema Genecology and prince of the Edumoga kindred tell his children and grand children including my father who is now 85years old and still alive to this day the origin, culture, tradition and religion of the Edumoga as a people and their relationship with visitors or what they called late comers to the land.
Edeh is the father of Ogah and ogah gave birth to Ohumeje who gave birth to Odugbuye and Oglegba. Odugbuye who gave birth to Abbah before the breakout of the Fulani jihad that over ran Apa Kingdom now Nassarawa town followed with mass movement and scattering of the several clans and ethnic groups of the Idoma tribe in Apa to the south west of river Benue. As such Ede's children were already populating Apa and into clans by the year1700 when the Fulani Islamic Jihadist enter Apa referred to by Idoma oral tradition as eefu-onya (the war of the horses) in Idoma mythology.
Now, Agbo we are told is the nephew of Odugbuye that is his brothers son, as the war was getting severed and the clans were getting disconnected from the home land of Apa, Odugbuye’s brother, Oglegba gave him one of his sons to migrate with him and his children away from the troubled land, while he fight on with the other children and clan. this decision is taken by his brother so as not to lose all his children to the invading Fulani Jihadist, and by implication his entire linage. This is the reason the children of Abbah sees the children of Agbo as their brother and kindred in the new land and the alegwu worship the spirit of their ancestors as one with one political kingship. And this also reason the population of Abbah’s children are more in number than his cousin’s children Agbo of one son. so Abbah and Agbo are cousins. If you want to confirm this postulation listen to the invocation of the alegwu (that is the Ekwu-Nokwu,) during burial rites of an Edumoga traditionist in the village. So Edeh and Ogah were real human who existed in history and part of the genealogy of the Edumoga people of the Idoma race. Several historians write of Edeh as a warrior who followed Idu the commander and the leader of the movement from Kwararafa confederacy to Establish Apa Kingdom west of river Benue from Wukkari then capital of the ancient Kwararafa Kingdom ruled by the Jukun tribes in the 1600.
Edeh is my fifteenth father from Oguche in reciting the Edumoga genealogy to Edeh . The geologogy of Abbah and Agbo are like this


EDEH


OGAH


OHUMEJE




ODUGBUYE OGLEGBA

ABBAH AGBO


Onakpata, Adatanwata and Onyiligwo

I hope we are properly guided and work towards possible hosting a national symposium on our rich Edumoga heritage, culture and tradition to keep the new generation and yet unborn informed of their rich culture. Thank You for provoking this reply and write up. I was challenged to do this reply to keep the records straight
Reply from Prince Anthony Udah of Ai'obanje in Amufu Village of Edumoga
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The story about this EDUMOGA.MAIGRATION LOOK some how to me.where the story of the big snake and the alligator come from.l seen to believe the Ripley but the snake story is missing.but still edumoga is one.

We are still one but you see ugbokolo people forget them.those people and igede people na problem for IDOMA LAND.