@negro. Why are u so much afraid of ndigbo that u want to cause division in their midst? What benefit are u going to achieve by doing so?
Watch urself cos whatever u sow, u'll reap it.

Okey,

Where did u see fear? Show me.

The bannished Bini prince organized the yoruba, the bush people in ife could not pronounce his name and so they called him odua/oduduwa, We all know Binis/edos taught yorubas all that they know

as for igbocentric members of this forum, who are only interested in looking for words or names that link a person or group to igbo ,they should better look for something else , as owa people and the vast majority of ika people are not igbo and will never be igbo, i think it is high time this igbo historians on the internet who are masters at fabricating stories , start looking for how to solve the basic problem of where the igbos originated from , some igbo scholars say they came from isreal and that they are lost jews, some say the igbos are descendants of eri or nri , and this nri or eri as some scholars say are igala migrants,that settled in anambra river valley area, while some igbo traditions say eri came down from heaven . so please solve your migration story of who you are and stop meddling into ika and owa kingdoms affairs.
2. as for those who say ikas are not many , what is your business , we are a race of people with intergrity , we are not known for cheating , neither is lieing and fabrications of stories our hobby, that was how the biafran propaganda machine was used and they always declare false stories as to how they have destroyed nigerian soldiers .
3. for your information our obi efeizomor was one of the midwest leaders of thougths ,along with obi of agbor , and other notable kings like the olu of warri, oba of benin , onoje of irrua and others who worked tirelessly to make sure that biafra was uprooted from midwest and in particular from ika land, it was even on record that the biafran troops issued a dead or alive sentence of him, does this not tell you that this man does not believe in biafra or igbo cause and that he is committed to ika nation hood .
4. the vast majority of ika people and kingdoms rejected associating with igbo during the civil war , we practically did not support it, but for the the igbodo people and ekwuoma who are at the eastern frontiers of ika land , as a result of the fact that many families in igbodo and ekkwuoma might have migrated from igboland, so they are the ones that suffered the consequencies of the civil war , while from igbanke, agbor,owa to umunede did not suffer since her citizens did not support it.
5. it is true that we had our own anuku from owa , whose was a relative of mine as the naval commander of biafra, it is also true that yorubas like ademulegun, col. banjo and many ijaw and calabar people also fougth for biafra, infact records had it that it was banjo- a yoruba man that commanded the troops of biafra that seized midwest.
6. also for the internet historians whose main stock in trade is to say or publish stories that says that odogun the first king of owa and ijue of ute-okpu migrated from the so called nri, are they also ashamed of publishing the version of the stories on the foundation of ute -okpu and owa that stated that odogun and his father ijue came from benin , this was recorded in a royal diarry by mr omordia in 1906 , when he was the orderly of obi augholor of ute-okpu ?
7. are these igbocentric internet historians also not ashamed to know that ijue, edogun/odogun, ogbeje, igbedigin and ozomor are all benin names or is ozomor , ogbeje and ijue , are they igbo names ? the thing is that igbos are known for propaganda , so it wont suprise me , if they say ozomor and ogbeje are igbo names ?
8. no person has ever denied that owa and ute has igbo migrations ,but spear me this denial of our royal benin heritage and culture in owa kingdom.
9. ozomor was the brother of obi odogun of owa and he founded owa-alizomor town,and when he had children he also gave them edo/bini names ,his three children were 1. OSE 2. ILLE. 3. OGBE, that is why we have these villages in owa alizomor- idumu-ose, idumu-ille , and idumu ogbe. or are these igbo names ?
10. if you like fabricate any story you like ,we know who we are and we are ika , we are not igbo and will never be , if you go to owa and call an owa man igbo , the look you get will almost kill you.
11. for internet historians a large quantity of oil is also available in many parts of ika land , but drilling have not started , we also have other minerals and we are great farmers and intellectuals , we do not need to be near a big river to be great , how many igbo towns are near a sea port ?
i have not known or seen any ika king that belongs to ohaneze ndigbo , because they know they are not igbo , but may be the king of igbodo is a member i do not know that will be left for some internet historians to tell me and from people from that town?
12. the spelling of odogwu as the name of the first obi of owa is wrong, in owa dialect of ika ,it is very nasalized most of our word have the letter n , so it is odogun/ edogun.
13. let me say that when the kingship of owa and most ika kingdom were designed they took the dress of the oba of benin, the staff of office called ada and ebenren or eben, they also took his type of beads , they did not take nri-igbo way of dressing , and chiefthancy , so internet historians that hate hearing the word benin should also tell our kings in agbor , owa, umunede and others to use chair clothings that is known in igboland as chief clothings and their type of beads.
14. also i will advice the igbo internet historians to tell our kings , and ancestors who bore benin names to change them to igbo names as owa traditional and ancient names for persons and things look very edoic .

Agbotaen, I don't know what your problem is with Igbo and Ika.The Owah Monarch himself published a book and it is available for everybody to read.While you have blocked ndiowa.com from outsiders,you cannot block Obi Efeizomor's book.I know that deep inside your heart,you would have wished the book was not written.

That said,I think Owa and Agbor cannot contribute anything to an average Igbo man and hence you should not be proud.Most Igbos are fighting for Anioma State so that Delta Igbos will be free from marginalization by "true Deltans".It is a well known fact that Anioma has Benin influence but are at present Igbo.In my honest suggestion,I feel that there should be a referendum on who want to be in Anioma State and if Agbo and Owah so hate being Igbo,they can join Edo State.

THE   GENEALOGY  OF OWA KINGS AND ROYAL FAMILY  FROM 1850- 2011
1. obi  iseh  of  owa  kingdom  died in 1850, his mother was iriase , she was from idumusuma village in owa oyibu ,obi  isehs  children were igbeoba,obakpolor, aghedo,eguabor, ahima, and adagbon
2. when obi  iseh died ,his eldest son   aigbodin  igbeoba  became the king of owa in 1850,and he ruled till 1906,when the british disposed him ,during the owa versus british war,and his children were- okundaiye,ogbeide,usiade,ozuor,odia,orue,obaze,eriomeghe,idah,ojeite,obuh,ojehe,ehiwuogun, ekome and others.
3. when he died, his eldest son  okundaiye became king of owa in 1908, his mother was called eledu uwadia, he ruled till 19011, his children were obaigbena ,the grand father of nduka obaigbena, nose, okhue,agbonebo, ehigbome,ebonne  and others.when he died .
4. his eldest child steven ikokoh obaigbena became king in 19011-1920, his children were hezekiah oboh efeizomor, ukperi,ero,ihia, gbonu
5. obi  efeizomor became king of owa in 1920-1953,and his children were emmanuel efeizomor,johnson, boi and others
6. when he died ,his eldest child DR ,emmanuel efeizomor -the second became king in 1959  till  date .
 his mothers name was oligie uwaya from owa alero and her mother was abokor irabor akugwe .
     owa history is well recorded and do not need to fabricate new stories , most if not all this names were edo names showing that owa has strong edo tradition, while also not deminishing some of our tradition that came from igbo land .

 7.  owa have also been ruled by regeants such as okoh obakpolor ,during crises and when the eldest child edaiken and heir apparrent of owa was too young to mount the throne.
8. obaigbena,s child also acted as regeant at a certain time .
9. the inter play of different ethnic groups that came to owa and many parts of ika land such as ora,ishan, ukwuani, benin, igbo and others is what gave birth to ika and owa .

10. we will not sell our ethnic identity to any tribe ,no matter how big or trickish they are we will always remain ika, in the 1930s  our ancestors in the then agbor district covering the whole of ika area wrote to the british that we are ika and we are a seperate ethnic group, and that they were not part of any known group or ethnic group in nigeria ,so if our ancestors said this as at 1930, is it in 2011 that we will become igbo? it will not work as people like me and the ika elders of though headed by justice ehiwarrior , and chief fortune ebie who is the head of ika highest socio-cultural organisation  and rt. general usiade will not allow that , and the spirits and ehi of our forefathers that fought to make sure ika remains will never allow it to happen .

please stop brandishing obi efeizomors , that talked about owa and nri connection , he also wrote about owa and benin connection too ,but your igboish agenda will not let you see that or publish that and that book was mainly influenced by an igbuzor professor who was a friend of our obi ,professor owunjeogu , and did you read the book published by owa stake holders forum the highest socio-cultural group in owa in 2009, at owa royal palca ,its titled ndiowa and her monarchs, by groups of owa professors and chiefs and elders where they said owa was founded by adagba from ovia in benin , before odogun came and they also talked about how some elders believe odogun was from nri and others say he is from benin, please go and read it and read other books too on owa. right now many owa towns and villages are writting their own history and owa alero has just written one this year , please go and read it ,
2. anioma is not igbo and i bet you are not anioma , the name anioma was founded by chief denis osadebe and others in 1951, and they acknowledge the fact that anioma people came from many places like igbo, bini, igala, yoruba and other places so they could not claim being any of the known tribes,so they started anioma .
3. in anioma there are about 11 languages spoken , like yoruba, bini,ika,igala , igbo and others .so this idea of fostering igbo on the whole of anioma will fail and meet a brick wall as we will ressit , pls , leave owa , agbor and other ika people alone , if you want to igbonise some other kingdoms in delta north that is your business.
4. anioma does not mean any particular word , it was taken from aniocha (a) ndokwa(n) ika(i) and oshimili.
5.

I still do not get your claims.I wrote that if you do not want to be Igbo,you are free to join Edo and not to come to Anioma State to bring disunity.Your area is very poor and undeveloped,so I do not get where your pride is coming from.We need less liabilities in Anioma hence your opting out is highly welcome.

If Anioma is not Igbo then no One else is Igbo.

There's no need arguing anymore, we've gotten down to the root of everything and we know what and who everybody is now, just check the Anioma flag.

@Agbotaen, from what u've written so far, u've not made any sound analysis. U are a bit bias, maybe ur grandparents came from benin and settled among accomodating igbo occupants of ikaland.

During my stay in agbor for one year, i found out that ika people are igbos culturaly and linguisticaly. They speak a dialect of igbo, bear igbo names, observe igbo traditions like new yam festival, give kolanut its respect in their meetings and so much more. Due to boundary factor and benin empire era, they might have acquired few things from benin but that did not change their identity. This is also seen btw nsukka igbo and igala, aro igbo and ibibio, ahoada igbo and ijaw.

It's a widespread fact n belief among owa people that they migrated from nri. It's like u are d only voice sayng contrary.

Finaly, there was nothing like igbo empire. Igbo groups were republicans b/4 d coming of whitemen. So, nobody wil say say ika igbo were dorminated by other igbo groups and then they started speakng igbo dialect. In fact, dey had more contact with edo people than other igbo groups during bini empire and yet they preserved d igbo language and culture. Ika language is igboid and not edoid. The good people of ika, i salute u all.

agbotaen:


10. we will not sell our ethnic identity to any tribe ,no matter how big or trickish they are we will always remain ika, in the 1930s  our ancestors in the then agbor district covering the whole of ika area wrote to the british that we are ika and we are a seperate ethnic group, and that they were not part of any known group or ethnic group in nigeria ,so if our ancestors said this as at 1930, is it in 2011 that we will become igbo? it will not work as people like me and the ika elders of though headed by justice ehiwarrior , and chief fortune ebie who is the head of ika highest socio-cultural organisation  and rt. general usiade will not allow that , and the spirits and ehi of our forefathers that fought to make sure ika remains will never allow it to happen .

thats how u phock up, the first educated agbor man graduated secondary school in 1957 so how can the agbor write to the british, Ika people even today no too sabi book like that so if u wan lie just say : " in 1930 the ika people through an interpreter told the british they are a seperate people better lie than previous 

@ Ogbuefi

1. I have read your last post declaring your exit and I have to say that I'm really surprised.

Why are you leaving this thread?

You have said repeatedly that you will not leave this thread before me, so I am shocked at your decision to leave. I was not the one who claimed that he would definitely not be the first one to leave.

Given this challenge, I would have expected you to stay. I am a bit disappointed and I would prefer that you stick by your words. It definitely doesn't mean anything to me if I am the first one to leave, but since it was so important to you, I would expect you to stand by your statement.

I don't have any issue with you bowing out "gracefully" by the way, but I do have an issue with you doing so after making several posts when I am not here and then leaving.

Also, I do not care whether you are here or not or whether you come back, but there are certain things that you have claimed (such as stating that pregnant women were sacrificed) that I will not let stand without posting a rejoinder to and there are other misinterpretations and reading errors (such as claiming that I said that the Jan. 1966 coup was an Igbo coup) which are simply just false.

I think that even you are aware that some of your statements cannot go unanswered.

2. On whether I insinuated that it was an Igbo coup, I did not and you misread it. I have already made some of my views on the coup known here several months ago:

https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-595963.64.html#msg7656756

https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-595963.64.html#msg7657431

And I will not bother to go into any more detail on my views than I did on that thread. Admittedly my post on that thread from several months ago was far too wordy and you may not want to sift through it all, but my view on whether it was or was not an Igbo coup should be glaringly obvious.

I simply have never stated that the coup was an Igbo coup anywhere and that's not my view in real life. That you misread my first post is something that you're too blind to see but which other people who know what my views are would already know.

3. On Issele Uku, I see that you are posting in every direction and even posting about stuff I didn't say anything about because you didn't understand my confusion at the use of the mask to represent the "ancient connection" between Issele Uku and Benin.

You may have misinterpreted my confusion at their decision to use the Queen Idia mask, and I will elaborate on that. I have already seen the account from Zik's autobiography (My Odyssey) and it clearly states that Issele Uku was founded by followers of Chima.

Incidentally, according to Zik's account that you stand by, it was the Oba's rage, caused by the "indiscipline and lawlessness" of the assault on the mother of the Oba, that forced the Eze Chima group to flee Benin. I wonder then why you keep talking about tact when even Zik agrees that those people would have been undisciplined and lawless (i.e., criminals) to do such a thing.


(By the way, he also more or less implies that those who did not make it all the way to Onitsha were weaker. He said that those who settled at Issele Uku (and some other places) lacked the "stout heart of the pioneer-warrior" possessed by those who made it all the way to Onitsha Ado N'Idu. In other words, Zik sees those who fled the furthest from the Oba of Benin's wrath as somehow being the strongest.  )


Now what was the source of my confusion?

The source of my confusion does have something to do with the claim of the dispute between Eze Chime and Queen Idia, and I think if you had thought about it, you would have understood the bizarre irony of using the Queen Idia mask.

There is that glaring question of why they (Issele Uku) would use it, given the story claiming that Queen Idia trespassed against their ancestor or leader's farmland, leading to a dispute that was only resolved by them having to leave Benin. There are other pieces of Benin art that they could have used  to show the ancient connection that are not associated with Queen Idia. I am merely confused by the decision to use the Queen Idia mask. That is all.

I don't have any issue whatsoever with the use of the Queen Idia mask by some non-Edo and it's not even my place to have any issue with it. That's not what that face was for. I was just surprised at that picture using Queen Idia as their symbol.

Obviously,  the mask is frequently used as a symbol for the Benin kingdom and the mask has been used as a symbol for black "high" culture or achievement by non-Bini groups (and even some non-Nigerians) and I have seen some Esan associations use it as well to stress their close connection to Benin and their origin according to tradition, so I definitely don't have an issue with the use of the mask and as I said before it's not my place to have issues with it when there are undoubtedly many people who can trace their ancestry to Benin in Issele Uku.

My only question is, why would that group (Issele Uku), who believe that their ancestor or ancient leader had a dispute with Queen Idia after she trespassed on his land, then go and use her face as a symbol? Kind of seems like they're giving Queen Idia the last laugh and ignoring Eze Chima, their ancient leader. Perhaps that North American group is not all that familiar with their own history.

4. I am going to give a full response tomorrow night and hopefully you should respond then or soon after. There are so many things that you claimed not only in your earlier post, but even in your recent posts that it would make no sense for me to just let stand without even commenting on.

Rest assured that I have no interest in merely coming out looking like the "victor" in the debate due to your "absence". I would actually prefer a response. If you decide not to come back, that's okay, but don't get the impression that when I respond, I'm concerned with "looking like a hero." This is the internet. There are no heroes.

The Queen Idia mask is the most popular mask of West Africa, FESTAC used it, one Nigerian airline used it, and many Nigerians use it in different circumstances, whether from Benin or not. The mask looked nice, so the person editing the logo for the site (because it obviously doesn't come from real life) used it in the logo. Why can't people think?

lol, how is the popularity of the mask the main reason that they used it? The reason it was used was to reference the connection between Benin and Issele Uku.

Would people from Urhoboland use  the Queen Idia mask? Would Itsekiris use the Queen Idia mask? It's very popular, as I said in my previous post, but I haven't actually seen that many southern Nigerian ethnic groups outside of Edo state use it in the way that Issele Uku organization used it.

At least Ogbuefi thought about it enough to realize that they used the mask specifically to show a connection with Benin, although he didn't notice the strange irony of using a mask representing the enemy of a group's ancient ancestor/leader to represent a group's link to Benin. That's just strange to me. Maybe they aren't that familiar with their own history, or they don't care that this is the person who is believed to have trespassed against their group's ancient leader.

It's a small little logo of a chapter of an Issele Uku association in the United States. You're making this a bigger deal than it is.

True. I made too much of it. I'll drop it.

@ Ogbuefi

2) On Ozanogogo, I find this claims of yours funny and irresponsible. Ozarra has been assimilated as part of Agbor belonging to the Ihu-Ozomor group of communities.The people of Agbor have never laidany claim on Ozanisi because their territory never extended beyond the Orhionmwon river and there are traditional Egbo( or Ikhimi) trees seperating the Agbor and Benin kingdoms along the river and this has been the case for centuries. Let me give you the example of Iru( an Ika town in Orhionmwon).The people of Iru migrated from Owa Alizomor and were granted lands by the Benin people of Isi . And this is the practice , any issue as it relates to land are referred to the Oba while other civil and criminal issues are referred to the Obi of Owa.This is the custom in Iru yet Anioma people have never claimed Iruland since it was founded on what is traditionally Benin territory. On Ozarra , there are never issues referred to the Oba , on land or what soever. I therefore wonder why so passionately claim that the Ozanogogo people  are being "oppressed" in Agbor. The titles used in Ozarra are derived from the Obi of Agbor and all issues including chieftancy are referred to the Obi in Council of Agbor via the Ogisi which is an Agbor title. I once referred you to the Oza Group on FB, Did you do that ? Did you not see that the Oza people themselves know that Ozanisi(in Benin) is just an offshoot of Ozarra( in Agbor).

Look, some Ozanogogo people themselves are the ones that claimed that "Ozanogogo people are being 'oppressed' in Agbor" and I repeatedly asked for a refutation or clarification about the specific claims and all I got was talk of mineral royalties that should probably belong entirely to that community anyway. I have said this already, but I am not concerned with them being in the Benin kingdom, but rather with establishing the facts about their ethnicity.

I simply believe that if not for colonial politics, they would have broken free of their historical link to Agbor and reunited with the other Oza in Edo state.

I dont think the Ozarra people are being oppressed over their language (which have over the years have been saturated with  Igbo words ) because the Agbor people themselves are indifferent over this since they are part and parcel of Agbor kingdom and from a broader perspective , they know that they are mainly of Edo origin. So the arrival of Oza is more or less a reflection of their origin as Agbor people . For your information the name Agbor (Agbon) is of Edo origin meaning the world , I therefore donot see any difference between your "Ailelehan" and Agbor itself.The case of Iru( an Ika settlement in Benin) and Ozanogogo( originally an Edo settlement in Agbor) are both settled matter and are completely different from the situation in Igbanke.
Your desperation on this Ozanogogo issue is simple to justify the Benin annexation of the  Igbanke  community.Oh yes I wrote it somewhere when I had some issues with Omojie who have transformed himself to Agbontaen here. But the people of Igbanke never said that they can never be reunited with their kith and kin since the issues that made them allied with the Benin is no longer  there and this was even the reason why the communities of Igbanke East namely Ottah, Ake and Oligie was at one time administered from the Ika division before Ogbemudia using military high handedness  decided to annex these villages as part of Benin.

In your list of "great " Edo citizens you listed Prof Philip Igbafe , I wonder if you have read his book BENIN UNDER BRITISH ADMINISTRATION ( 1897-1938) he clearly noted that Igbanke is part and parcel of Ikaland and interestingly not even one reference was made on the supposed opressed people of Ozanogogo.
At that time Igbanke requested to be merged with Benin , the Ika town of Mbiri did likewise but this was not granted. Now this request did not make Mbiri a Benin colonial outpost which the Benin have taken Igbanke to be.
On the Oba creating six "dukedoms" in Igbanke, You have exposed your ignorance here.The Ojehs or Ezes of Igbanke are not unique in this regard since several Anioma towns have many multiple rulers(I can list examples if asked) and this was why I asked that simple question that if indeed Benins have always been overlords in Igbanke why are there six monarchies in one town ?

I don't believe that "the Benins have always been overlords" in Igbanke and it's not an issue for me who was overlord of what. The only issue is the ethnicity of the people, not who had "overlordship" over them. I recall their specifically getting transferred to Benin division to get away from weak and tenuous claims of overlordship from other kingdoms.

You have narrowly defined ethnicity to make it implausible for them to be of very significant Edo descent as well as heavily of Igbo descent in order to argue that they should be in Anioma. I know that they are an Ika group and should be in Anioma. But what you aren't considering is that other people might see them as heavily Edo. On the name issue for example, you mentioned a few Igbanke people that had fully Igbo names, but I don't think that this is telling the whole story. On the same facebook that you were referring me to for Oza nogogo, if one looks for Igbanke people and discussions, one sees immediately that their use of Edo (Bini) names is quite "excessive" even for an Ika group. This would be just one of the sources of confusion to Edo people about their ethnicity. In the same way that finding many Igbanke people with fully Igbo names would strengthen your (correct) argument that they are indeed Ika, Edo people seeing those Igbanke people with fully Edo names would come to a different conclusion. Igbanke are an Ika speaking group though and I not am not saying that they are Edo. I'm merely pointing out that this is not so obvious like you claim.

Second, I did not say anything about the "Ojehs or Ezes of Igbanke" being "unique" in Anioma in having multiple rulers so I don't know what you're talking about and I think this is more evidence of some sort of confusion as far as reading things and taking the time to understand what is written there. I said that each community of Igbanke was granted a position in the Benin traditional council and I don't know what thoughts allowed you to twist my words into a claim that the number of rulers there was unique in Anioma.

3) Prof Elizabeth Isichei is Caucasian and I know too well. In our custom , any married woman is deemed as part and parcel of her community where she is married.T hus Anioma daughtes like Chief Janet Mokelu ( nee Onwuegbuzia) is often claimed to be from Anambra State or in this case Dr Ngozi Iweala is claimed to be from Abia State. Prof Isichei wrote so much about Igbos(and Anioma people) because she saw herself as an Igbo I am therefore correct to group her as an Igbo because it is our custom to do likewise.

It's entirely your opinion that she should be counted for the Anioma. She's a white Westerner to me.

This would be like me claiming that Irene Ighodaro, one of the first female doctors in West Africa and the first President of the Medical Association of Nigerian Women, was Edo, when she was really a Sierra Leone Krio. Or it would be like claiming that Dr. Grace Guobadia (nee Pepple), the first female Nigerian dental surgeon, was Edo when she was really Ijaw.

Irene Ighodaro was not Bini and Elisabeth Isichei is not Igbo.

But if I am not so keen on her being an Oyibo,

For obvious reasons.

I will then mention Prof M A Onwuejeogwu who is more celebrated than Prof Philip Igbafe.

More celebrated? On what basis? His book on Nri?

Onwuejeogwu's writings are mostly in the same area (oral history, mythology, culture, and tradition) as Egharevba's work, rather than being similar to professor Igbafe's work in form or focus, so it is a strange comparison.

Anyway, I did not mention Egharevba earlier, but I think you know very well (although you would be too dishonest to admit it),that Jacob Egharevba, who wrote about the exact same kind of material (culture and history) for his own group, is much more celebrated and influential than Professor Onwuejeogwu.

Now, on those people of Edo stock, I think you are the one who I will say is proud of his people because most of the people you named donot even match the Anioma people I listed and you know it.

When I compared Daniel Okunbor or Nosakhare Omoigui to Charles Uwadia, I was pointing out that both Okunbor and Omoigui had some actual research achievements, while Uwadia has very little to his credit in terms of actual research. On the entrepreneurial front, or software impact front, he lags behind Omoigui by miles. Omoigui's work while at Microsoft actually had an impact and by the age of 28 he was in important meetings with Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer.

To compare Zulu Sofola with Dan Izevbaye (Nigeria's foremost literary theorist and critic, second only to Francis Abiola Irele) would be more fitting, but I would still put Izevbaye ahead in this area. Izevbaye has been acclaimed as a legend in his field and he's still alive. I don't know where you read that Zulu Sofola received similar praise. I also wouldn't put Sofola above Sophie Oluwole, either. Since we've been on the topic of presidents of societies, she was once president of the Nigerian Philosophical Association and was the only woman to hold that position.


To compare Linus Ajabor to Osato Frank Giwa-Osagie is much more ludicrous, however. Dr. Osato Giwa-Osagie's achievements floor those of Dr. Ajabor. In fact, I don't see how you can compare the Nigerian Gynaecologists & Obstetricians society to the West African College of Surgeons. They're on two different tiers. One of these is for local achievement, while the other is for regional achievement. In fact, the same Professor Ajabor proudly lists on his CV that he is a Fellow of the West African College of Surgeons, which Osato Giwa-Osagie presided over. I think your impression might have to do with Dr. Giwa-Osagie not listing all of his credentials and his full resume and all his "Who's Who" listings in an accessible format like Dr. Ajabor, who placed so much emphasis in his CV on all those "who's who" listings.

Because Professor Giwa-Osagie didn't post his whole CV online as did Ajabor, you're making all sorts of unfounded claims. Dr. Giwa-Osagie and Dr. Ashiru performed the first successful live birth from IVF in all of West Africa at a time when only Egypt and South Africa could even do IVF in Africa. Yes, Dr. Ajabor is accomplished, but what comparable thing did Ajabor actually do? You'll find nothing.

Since you seem to be so easily impressed by titles, let me just point out that Professor Osato F. Giwa-Osagie, MAMB, BCHIR (Cantab), M.Sc (Leeds), FRCOG, FMCOG,  FICS, FACOG (South Africa, honoris causa), FWACS, OON, Chevalier de L’ordre national du Lion (Senegal), etc. and past President of the WACS, was also one of the few professors of UNILAG to be conferred with the distinction of "Distinguished Professor" in its history.

For you to compare Ajabor to Giwa-Osagie is just silly. I won't even discuss this any further. Giwa-Osagie is etched in a part of Nigeria's history and he is still alive. On this issue you are just making noise, and I won't accept the comparison.


Anyway, if this was just about listing presidents of medical societies, then I would have just mentioned Professor Gregory Efosa Erhabor, a distinguished physician, who is currently president of the Nigerian Thoracic Society. You can see some of his academic distinctions here:

http://nigerianthoracicsociety.org/president.html


Or I could have mentioned Professor Enosakhare S. Akpata, who is a past president of the Nigerian Dental Association (1984-1986), formerly a Fulbright Fellow (1981) and who is Foundation Editor of the African Dental Journal,. In fact, Professor Enosakhare Akpata was a full professor at the University of Ibadan by 1979, while Dr. Ajabor was still a senior lecturer/associate professor. Not surprisingly, his research is also of higher impact and he is more highly published.
I also know for a fact that he's also listed in several of those "who's who" lists, that your "favorite" Dr. Ajabor emphasize so much on his CV.

However, since Professor Giwa-Osagie is actually more impressive, and since he happens to be in the exact same field as Dr. Ajabor, I mentioned him instead. Both Professor Akpata and Professor Giwa-Osagie are more accomplished


Bringing up H.U. Isichei is just silly, however. Who on earth is H.U. Isichei and what did he actually do in psychiatry to make him "notable"? He's unheard of. Don't know why you even brought him up.


As for the claim that Dr. Binitie is Itsekiri, I would like to see evidence of that. I read where he was described as a native of  Benin City. I now think he may not have been Bini but he was not necessarily Itsekiri and he was definitely from one of the groups in Edo state. You may be making the assumption that the name Binitie is exclusive to Itsekiri but that is completely and totally false.


Regarding Dr. Chike Onwuachi, I'm sure he's a pioneer in a sense, but if you're talking about political science (not anthropology), he definitely does not rank ahead of Dr. Eghosa Osaghae. Unlike Dr. Giwa Osagie and some others, Dr. Osaghae does post easily accessible lists with his awards and fellowships listed (http://www.iuokada.edu.ng/AboutUS/ViceChancellor.aspx is one example) and you can clearly see that he's definitely ahead of Dr. Onwuachi by any objective assessment (and without even using any reference to any of the many "Who's who" lists Osaghae is on) though I am not sure that you could look at things objectively and admit that Dr. Osaghae is the more accomplished and prominent of the two.

Let me perhaps give more names to spice up another mismatch of names from you, Mrs Rose Nsolo the first female architect in Nigeria,

Mismatch? lmao

This is coming from someone who brought up H.U. Isichei as a bragging point because his name was on wikipedia!

Never heard of Rose Nsolo.

Anyway, I'm pretty sure that Professor Rebecca N. Agheyisi was the first woman from Nigeria to earn a doctorate in linguistics (Stanford University, 1971).

Dr Vincent Maduka the first Director General of the NTA and once president Nigerian Society of Engineers,

LMAO!

So now the Nigerian Society of Engineers is worth mentioning despite "not being an academic institution" and the president "not needing to hold a Ph.D" !!

And Mr. Maduka, who holds an M.Eng.Sc. in Applied Acoustics from UCD, Dublin, and not a Ph.D or D.Sc (so why are you calling him Dr,?) is mentionable, despite lacking the Ph.D you were fussing about earlier when I mentioned Aiwerioba!!

Lol. Why do you keep making yourself ridiculous with these contradictions?

I'll just assume that he received at least one honorary doctorate (not a real Ph.D) from somewhere that hasn't been listed and that you didn't make a mistake in calling him Dr. If I were like you I would accuse you of deliberately trying to mislead people in order to cover up your own statement about Aiwerioba, the Nigerian Society of Engineers and the Ph.D stuff.

However, I'm not going to do that, and I'll just take it as a genuine omission or error. I still find  this total volte-face about the Nigerian Soceity of Engineers funny though. It's just hypocritical. You have completely and totally contradicted yourself here.

Anyway, if you want to talk about first Director General of this or that, Vincent Maduka is comparable to Hayford Alile. If you read their full biographical summaries/sketches, their careers are basically parallel, except that Hayford Alile has held a few more important positions.

Mrs Monica Mbanefo Director of Technical Cooperate Division IMO and once contested as Secretary General of the Organization

Female achievers huh? Okay. No problem, although I have to say, some of the stuff you're picking is just too specific (the International Maritime Organization) to be exactly matched.

There is Mrs. Esther Eghobamien, a former Eisenhower Fellow, who is Head of Gender issues at the Commonwealth Secretariat, and involved with CEDAW at the UN.

There is also Professor Yinka Omorogbe, the former Dean of Law at the University of Ibadan, past Secretary General of the Nigerian Society of International Law, and the only African member of the Academic Advisory Group of SEERIL (the Energy, Environmental, Natural Resources and Infrastructure Law group).

And of course, there is Claire Ighodaro CBE, who has been on the board of multiple prestigious business organizations in the UK, is a non-executive director of Lloyd’s of London, the Lending Standards Board and the British Council and is the first black person and the first woman to be president of the CIMA.

Mr EC Osondu Caine Prize winner 2009,

Never heard of him. Let's hope he has more than that one story to his credit.

Ms Buchi Emechete famous writer,

I'll definitely give you this one. She's definitely a standout.

I've only read one of her books, but she is definitely more acclaimed than Festus Iyayi (only Nigerian to win the Commonwealth Prize for Literature). I'll concede that point.


But I don't think in visual arts, you could muster up names like Felix Idubor, Erhabor Emokpae, Festus Idehen, Ovia Idah,  Felix Eboigbe, or Paul Osagie Osifo. In fact, I don't know if any group in Nigeria could roll out a list of Nigerian visual artists as acclaimed as those 6 for their group. I also don't know whether you could muster up newer artists like Leo Asemota, Stanley Agbontaen, Bayo Iribhogbe, or Richardson Ovbiebo either.

I'll give you guys credit on the literary contributions though.

Prof Maxwell Meju award winner in Geophysics,

 

I went to his university page. The shaft picture was funny. The prof seems to have a good sense of humor.

Anyways, I actually know that there are lots of winners of small awards (such as the Gerald Hohmann Award for Excellence in Applied Electrical Geophysics that you're referring to) here and there from both Anioma and Edo.

All of these people have won research awards at one time or another:

Zuwa Omoregie (won the AIME Rossiter W. Raymond Memorial Award)

Nosa Egiebor (United States Department of Energy Professorial Chair of Excellence in Environmental Science & Engineering at Tuskegee University, formerly a professor of Mineral and Environmental Engineering at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada). You can see some of his awards on these three sites:

http://www.massiechairs.com/egiebor.htm

http://www.massiechairs.com/egiebor_Prof_Accom.htm

http://arist-edu.org/Pages/FacultyView.aspx?FacultyId=9

Nosakhare Omoigui and Christopher Oriakhi that I mentioned earlier have also won awards.

The same Professor Osato F. Giwa-Osagie mentioned above won a prize of the Anatomical Society of Great Britain in 1984 along with  Dr. Ashiru.


Johnson A. Edosomwan (a Fellow of the IIE (Institute of Industrial Engineers), formerly at a high position at IBM) has won some awards (the 1988 Outstanding Young Industrial Engineer Award from the Institute of Industrial Engineers, among many others) from the IIE in the U.S. as well. He has also won awards from IBM.

In his area of industrial engineering, Edosomwan is recognized authority and has won bigger awards than the Gerald Hohmann Award that you mentioned for Dr. Meju


And I could mention Professor Collins O. Airhihenbuwa who has won many awards as well

well i do know that many igbo propagandist and revisionist on this web page are cheap liars that distort history , and i know many of them hate to hear the truth , and i know that is their charracter ,as a group of peope who dwell on cheap propaganda inorder to achievie a selfish aim. i do know that most of the writers who are igbo on this net are not from delta state because if they are they will know that bojiboji owa and owa kingdom is one of the most developed urban areas in delta state. please i would like to ask these igbo propaganda machines to tell me which area apart from asaba the capital of delta state in delta north is more developed than bojiboji owa ?
bojiboji is a commercial nerve centre in delta north and delta state , with secondary schools both government and private, modern shopping complex, business centres with internet cafes, many banks, small scale industries like plastic manufactures, paint making, fruit juice manufacturing, auto-spare parts market, well planned streets, and other facilities , and most of all owa is a local govt.headquaters with a divisional police headquarters, magistrate courts, high court, delta state revenue office, and the largest railway heasquarters in niger delta in owa-oyibu, with a 450 housing unit estate,and other facilities , so please tell me which area or town in delta north is more developed than owa kingdom , apart from asaba?
2. as for education the first school in ika land is government school agbor founded in 1906, and later C.M.S. school was founded in owa oyibu in 1915, by obi steven ikokoh obaigbena, he was one of the early owa people that were literate, he attended agbor government school agbor, this obi of owa is the first christian obi that we have in owa ,and he also founded the first anglican church in owa-kingdom in 1915, this will later metamorphose into an owa person becoming the primate of anglican church in nigeria , in the person of rt. colonel dikenriehi orogodo okoh, the first ika and non yoruba to attain such postiton ,and he also made history when he was the officiating priest that conducted the swearing in of the president of nigeria ,goodluck jonathan, and bishop okoh is presently the chairman of nigerian pilgrims board ,another first again in ika land,.obi obaigbena is on record as one of the earliest contractors to nigerian prisons and the U.A.C ,in benin province of old.he would have gone further with his education , which was cut short , when his father obi ogboko okundaiye died ,so he took the leadership mantle and became king of owa.
3. most early owa people that went to school schooled in benin ,when there was no school in ika land and later in agbor and then much later in 1915 ,schooled in owa ,as at 1900 to 1920 , we have it on our record that these persons within our community were educated and they could read and write in english ----
1.ernest eseka
2. hezekiah iduh okoh.
3.ayokor eruh ogbeide
4. osebor ufagban
5.daniel iwerebor
6.gabriel ille
7.u. ogboi
8.aziken oseji
9.stephen usiade
10.patrick osagie
11.imoudu osabohien
12.ehiabor aisabor
13. anthony aidonoje
14. osahon igumbor
15. emeke ovwiagbon
and others mentioned.
we also have it on record that deacon j.k. mgbejume ukwute became a masters degree holder in geography from america in 1963- he became one of the earliest owa person to have masters ,then later our present obi had masters also from america.
3. owa first school is C.M.S. school oyibu in 1915, we also have one the best school called mary mount college founded in 1954 ,this school is famous in old midwest and ika grammar school ,right now i can say that there is no family in owa with one or two graduates and we have many professors from owa kingdom that i will later mention.so that put paid to the igbo propaganda that our people could not have written letters as at 1930.
4. some of the igbo propagandist writing on this forum , have no proper history of their place and they cannot even mention the name of their place , like i said i am owa and very proud of it ,also having hailed from a royal village with royal ancestors in owa , and my family history can be traced some 700 years plus , so we are not just some people they gave land to like many igbo propagandist will say i am a son of the soil ,and of royal ancestory who can attain the highest rank of the ihama of owa kingdom, only reserved for people with royal ancestors in owa kingdom.
5. right from colonial and pre colonial times till now , owa kingdom have been recognised by all governments and hence our king -the obi of owa and dein of agbor have been giving commanding heights in govt.
6. I HEREBY CHALLENGE ANY OTHER IKA PERSON APART FROM AGBOR, TO GIVE ME A DOSSIER OF THEIR KINGS AND TELL ME THERE ACHIEVEMENT? AND IN DELTA NORTH , I KNOW KINGDOMS THAT HAVE RECOGNITION LIKE ISELE UKU, UBULUKU,ASABA,OGWASHI , and not a village king like we have in some other communities in ika and other delta north area, least i forget - UMUNEDE ,AND ABAVO , ARE ALSO GREAT AND HIGHLY RECOGNISED KINGDOMS IN IKA /DELTA, in fact umunedes real name was UKPEHORO KINGDOM, BEFORE IT WAS CHANGED.
7.i do not know if anioma will be created now because of some reasons, but i know that if it is created it will also be divided into those that believe they are igbo and we that believe we are not igbo, and news will be read in ozzara and ika for ika people, igala for ebu and others, olukunmi old yoruba and igbo for some others.so this idea that the whole area are igbos will be defeated.
8.let me state that the ika people are not wishing to be any one else , we only wish to be left to be ika, or did the civil war lessons from ika land not show you that in times of critical decision the majority of ika kingdoms will not follow igbo, because they believe they are ika ,but you can make do with igbodo and may be ekwuoma people , because their cultural traits are almost like yours.

CHIEFTANCY TITLES IN OWA KINGDOM----
1. due to the fact that owa people migrated from many places, our ancestors created many titles called ohaime ,so as to make every component of owa to feel secure and to live in harmony with other owa people.these various people that have been living seperately for hundreds of years were brought together by the great warrior odogun/edogun around 12th century.
2. owa has three level of chiefthancy ( the town, village and palace chiefs) and an edaiken ( crown prince)
3. i will under take to name some chiefthacy titles ,especially for igbo propagandists that like to say owa system of kingship came from nri , but if you ask them to expantiate they will only quickly google things relating to owa and igbo or at best show an extract to a book,while they completely deny other aspect of owa kingdom that is non igbo or benin in nature.
4. my observation, study and from oral histories i collected about our chiefthancy ,i observed that 95 percent of owa titles have their root and function in benin, while some others are of igbo roots and the ones from benin are more important and ancient than the igbo titles in owa kingdom, which appears more recent.
5. 1. olotor
2. alasi- queen
3. ajie
4.akpe
5.akwe
6.asohie
7.asuen
8.ayobaha
9.eghe-obamie
10. eghobase
11.eko-odi
12. elerne
13.eroh
14. erosokua
15. ihordor
16. ihoise-oba
17.ihornor
18.inneh
19. isor
20.inson
21 .nzererihale
22. obahare
23.obahujie
24. obamedo
25.obase
26.obaseki
27.obasuyi
28.obawonyi
29.obazuwa
30.obazuwaye
31. odafiekaze
32.odogun
33. ohobamu
34.ojuyagbe
35.onyenkaonye
36.osegieobare
37.osiabofo
38.osume
39.ozomor
40.rerefo
41.uboh
42.uwagire
43.ezewenali
44.ogifurueze
45.osula
46.ihama( oldest man/royal)
47.olihe -ovia
48. uhozama
49. esama
50. ologboshere
51. iyase
52.inenigun
53.okiroro
54.akpara
55.adolor
56.ogidigan
57.ikpoza
58.oweh
59.obazenu
60.odonziali
61.ogbuni( next brother to obi)
62.elewu( a chief that is buried with obi of owa in ancient times)
63.ojeba
64.osague
65.ojenebo
66.oshodin
67.ojefo
68.isa
69.erisenaye
70.odabameze
71. ezenugede
72. arase
73.obayangbon
74. obadagbonyi
75. ihaza
this titles have ranking system and some are hereditory from father to son,the osume is the fourth in rank in owa kingdom , and you also have the ihaza being one of the great titles in owa.in owa we also have village heads who rule the different villages and other town heads that rule each town, all these people listed above are subjects of the obi of owa who has absolute powers in the kingdom.some of these chiefs when seen look like kings too.with their own ogua- palace.
6. to some propagandist , who instead of writing about what they know ,will attempt to write rubish about other kingdoms,
in owa we crown our obi in an area we call USELU ( meaning sacred ground)
we have an edaikenship( crown prince)
in ancient owa when an obi dies , many people are buried along with the obi ,we have a chief called elewu who also accompanies the obi along with the obis first wife, albinos, and others in ancient times ,but this have been changed to the use of animals like cows , dogs etc. this is very ancient practices in places like egypt, benin and others , because like i said the first word for king that owa people and agbor people knew was ogiso- they were semi-divine kings , so the obi of owa in ancient times are refered to as second to OSELOBUE( almighty God). the ancient owa people believed that the obi must have servants and wifes when going to the spirit world orimi.their concept about death as at that time was different from our europeanised concepts of living or dying.
7. as owa and ika people we are mindful of our past history with benin and igbo and others but right now we are ika people.

@agbotaen.I have a feeling you are suffering from a mental disorder.You have created several internet sites and facebook pages trying to distort obvious fact.I do not think anyone here disagrees with you on your personal belief but your Obi has a book and Owa people had an open website which you were instrumental to its closure.There is nothing hidden under the sun.Even Ogbuefi(A man in his 40s) and of Ika extraction has tried to correct you from this self-denial but you are still here wasting your time trying to show your differences with some other parts of Igbo which everyone including non-Nigerians already know.

A look at the chart will show you that Igboid languages are only two viz Ekpeye and Igbo.It is also acknowledge that various versions of Igbo is spoken while Ekpeye has only one version.So for thos e who did not know Ika is Igbo and not Igboid.

well i think you and your rest igbo propagandist are the crazy ones here and i know as an igbo man you do not know the meaning of the word royal , you think owa and ika royalty is like the ones bought with money in igbo land , were every known 419 has become an igwe or king. and for you information ogbuefis town is 30 miles away from owa or agbor kingdom, 30 miles is about 60 kilometres. that is very far. igbodo is the last ika town and their culture is close to igbo .and they were the ones that supported igbo during the civil war that was why they suffered the fate that befell them , and that led to his continous hatred of the word benin, as for the majority of ika kingdoms , you know they did not allign with igbo ,because they know they are ika people.
2. and no amount of igbo propaganda or funny pages or igbo influenced publications on google or wikipeadia or other non sence written by any igbo propagandist will change majority of ika people.
3. most igbo people are loud mouthed and braggards and propagandist that is their jobs like we say in owa language they are oyioro- loud wailers.if we go by the propaganda mounted by igbos during civil wars ,you will think they will win the war.
4. if you are objective why dont you challegenge my write ups of owa chiefthancy lists, history and tradition , whatever i write cannot be gotten from books because it is a result of both family history, talking to old men and chiefs and research efforts , and do you know how old ,i am ? or do you think i am in my 20s or 30s ? you have not even meet me and you magically know that ogbuefi is older than me ,that is very funny , but i wont mind as i know you are just a cheap igbo propangandist. that was how you people want to steal our ika land ,but thank goodness like our fathers rejected belonging to any known ethnic group in 1930, the vast majority of ika people rejected biafra during the civil war , and we will still reject you in times of critical descision.
5. i make bold to say that there is no agbor, owa, umunede, mbiri, ute ogbeje, ute okpu, idumu esah, otolokpo,akumazi, abavo and igbanke king that belong to ohaneze ndigbo ? do you know why ? it is because they know they are ika people.
6. when anioma will be created it will be in south south geo political zone , it cannot be a south east state and the ika people and others who are not igbo will still say so .and those that are igbo in anioma will stand by it.
7. let me tell you if many of the kingdoms in ika or even owa have an intricate problem , if we want advice , we will not turn to nri , but we will turn to benin monarchy.till date we still have many owa towns and people living safely under the custody of the oba in abudu in edo state in owa iru iguaza, owa ni ikeke, owariuzo, obazagbon, ute oheze and other places. so those igbo propagandist who want to die should die, .
8. please be proud to tell us your town and culture on this web page , this is for most igbo propagandists.

agbotaen:

well i think you and your rest igbo propagandist are the crazy ones here and i know as an igbo man you do not know the meaning of the word royal , you think owa and ika royalty is like the ones bought with money in igbo land ,

To be honest, some Ika "royalty" are so useless they may as well not be there.

1. ewobi  amani  ihien wera men imughe  wera men isere .
 2. emeni ulor egbunihian  isere  ara saka
 3. demedon ali  enwen ihien we a rua
 4. okpoho  ni rie bi etita iwe nedi e, ihien uyaghami kowu ni hunko mgba .
 5.oselobue dodo hani mu uya ni rie kpokpo m
6.   chukwu  nedim , dodo  gbodon ni m  uloro le  ukpokpo, yem  ozegbe imen  idumu enyi .
 7. ihionghai le uhuki  gbu  ihian , onye hun arasaeka ban orimi
8.    ya okenyen  hun no gbama ukpeukpe ria kpanmin  ehi  e  ,hun o gi  gbodon ne uya .
9.  idoboro wu ejei ihien, oselobue anilem hun idoboro
10.  oselobue  ri ma zun , ya hain ngia ghogho, nje konda kpanmin a ,nozo menim ozo.
11. ya eduke no bigbo ologbo , sia ya bihia ogwo, ya o no  bihia, omegu , ogwo no kpanmin eduke .
13. we si ni onumonebie , onu kona kere , nwan okete ehenrin e  okete hiogbe.
14.   ohai ohai ke ye jen, i jen ko de gi  ighogho le oyo luakin, iluakin ye ye ni oselobue oyinmiseme.
15. odede  dodo  wuzo , ni nlala  de gbeni yi  igarri .
16.  wene  ihian  ara ri  isi  udara ,ora ukutuba
17, osisi ni a wa agalaba , ono ke  aduaran
18.orun oma oselobue e hikogbe, erere ri  imen hua itebite
19.  nani  iri- ohunma, ki hain igi  ronme nim ihun ? ya ma rin ni irehun rie menmem , le uku re ronim,  i jenko ni uwaya ya ju ukwere m. ni  me le yu wi  da hun ujobu.
20. ize zeke ihian, oselobue a gbakito a .

http://www.ethnologue.com/show_family.asp?subid=2008-16

@agbotaen.The above link shows you Edoid languages and since according to you,Ikas speak more of Edo than Igbo,you should help me find Ika there.Again "Mgbojume" is an Igbo name.

please  mr  igbo propagandist tell me the obis in ika land that are useless ?
is the dein of agbor  that became the youngest crowned monarch in the world and the youngest pro chancellor of a federal university in africa and got the highest royal award from the king of holland ,or is it the well educated and respected obi of owa that has headed many boards for federal and state govt since 1960s  or is it the obi of abavo ,or umunede or obi osagie of akumazi that has been on the throne for more than fifty years or mbiri , idumuesah or ute okpu or ute ogbeje monarch so who is the useless obi in ika land. my friend wake up our kingship is not for sale it is very traditional and it is from father to son, and it was not created by the british as warrant chief that were created of recent by the british in igbo land and they are now called kings , owa and most ika kinship have lasted for several hundreds of years. so tell me your town and be proud of it , stop mentioning other peoples town.
    i  am proud of our obiship and very soon i will inundate you with the uncountable achievements of owa kings from 1900- till date , to show you how recognised they have been from pre-and post european rule and currently in delta / nigeria.

my name is mgbejume and i bet you dont even know the meaning and ika people have both igbo and benin names and their family names are usually benin names. so dont distort thinks nduka irabor is from owa , nduka is igbo while irabor is benin.
2. i never said we speak more benin , i only said a careful study of owa language have revealed a mix of igbo and benin that makes owa and most ikas unique.

Obi of Owa seems to be good, I don't know about Umuede. The rest, eeeh . . . . . .

the problem most propagandist on this site have is that they cannot bear to listen to the truth and some people are bent on saying that certain people belong to their ethnic group is it by force , they cannot present a factual story without twisting it , it is a known fact that owa people and infact ika people have many migrations from different place they are however today a different ethnic group.whether some like it or not ika people will always be ika.
 2. we have many groups in nigeria today that have foundations from different ethnic groups but they have become a different entity, example is itsekiri -they have both yoruba and benin  origin, and today they are a different group, we do not see the yorubas  or benins fighting to make itsekiri yoruba or benin they just acknowledge them as having been part of them, but for the igbos , it is not thesame , they are always engaging people in arguements telling them they are igbo, most especially when they see or notice any word or thing that is igbo , and were it not for the coming of the europeans , that tried to amalgamate many people as igbo, who are the igbos ? where do they live ? did they have any outstanding kingdom that welded the people together ? the answer is that they did not. so i think they should just thank the british for helping to bring various people together as igbos.
3.  at  best the arguement they have is that any language that is similar or sound like igbo  means the people are igbo, what they fail to realise is that language can change due to the following reasons
1.  due to war  language can change as those who conquer can impose their language
2. due to  migration and mix of many people , language can  change
3. one language can become extinct ,just like latin is not spoken today again.
4. america is a mix of many people and they speak english today but they are and cannot be called english, brazil speaks purtuguese but they are not purtuguese.
5. language can change due to trade .
6. language can also change due to the fact that a people might want to create an  identity of their own.
7.   i  have written some sentences in owa (ika) dialect ,and i want some to interprete it.

as you have accepted that obi of owa is good , then let any other ika person on this net tell us the recognition that their obi have right now or in the past ?
2. many people on this site create stories that do not exist and try to distort history , there is a particular person that claims to be ika on this forum who have questioned the leadership role of agbor kingdom amongst ika people .he even equated his monarch with dein of agbor or obi of owa ,but if you tell him to list his obis achievements he would not be able to.
3. i am from owa kingdom ,but i know and recognise the prime position of the dein of agbor in ika land , then followed by the obi of owa, infact the whole of ika land including igbanke to igbodo was called agbor district before.
4. but in terms of political power the owa people are very much ahead than other ika people.

@agbotaen, u claim to know d history of ikaland but ur arguement lacks merit. No matter how long ur write-up is, u can't twist and rewrite history of owa people and other IKA IGBO groups.

From ur standpoint, i can confidently say u are either a migrant from benin who has adopted owa as ur home or u are an ika man in disguise with an intention of dividng igboland.

It's a generally accepted fact that Ute okpu, and owa originated from Nri. This view is VERY POPULAR in owaland and this view can NEVER be corrupted by long aimless write-up tainted with bias and unfounded hatred for igbos.

It's not a thing of surprise that the ika igbos adopted the political structure of binis for 2 reasons. 1. Ikaland came under bini empire and that changed the political system of ikaigbos. 2. Ikaland shares boundary with edo. Hence, exchange of ideas and culture is possible.

There are two questions u need to answer: 1.Bini people call ika people ovieigbo-sons of igbo. Why is it so? 2. How come ika people speak a dialect of igbo and engage in some igbo traditions despite there is no history of dormination by any igbo group?
Agbotaem u are stranger in igboland. When anioma state is created, it will go to SE. Those that do not want can leave igboland n go to edo state or kogi state where they belong.

agbotaen:

my name is mgbejume and i bet you dont even know the meaning and ika people have both igbo and benin names and their family names are usually benin names. so dont distort thinks nduka irabor is from owa , nduka is igbo while irabor is benin.
2. i never said we speak more benin , i only said a careful study of owa language have revealed a mix of igbo and benin that makes owa and most ikas unique.

ISP Onovo is also of a different ethnic group which is a mix of Igala and Igbo and a careful study of their language will reveal many Igala similarities.His surname Onovo is more of Igala.Neutral international linguists have tried to no avail in creating a distinct Ika language but it was not possible,hence calling it a separate language in the Igbo language cluster.If it was possible for you a new language would have been created and Igbo banned in Owah.