Ala-Ngwa,I can see you peeping through the window

Odenigbo Aroli:

I spent close to seven years in Benin,Idehen street by Ohoro road to be precise,had cousin that owned business on mission road,ring road,Omo street,lagos road,Akpapava,Lawanson but I never heard anything like "new yam festival". I know of Igue and others but not yam festivals....Danm,memories. I don't have problems with Edo people and I have about five of them as friends but you need to show
respect!

Ask your five Edo friends about EMA ORHO.

bokohalal:

Ask your five Edo friends about EMA ORHO.

Guy,go to sleep,abeg.

There is no Lawanson street in Benin city. It is apparent that you did not learn much in your seven years there. And it is OKHORO not OHORO.

AKPAKPAVA. Abi you have visited Benin seven times?

Odenigbo Aroli:

Guy,go to sleep,abeg.

With your head in kolobi,I knew you were going to plead for mercy. Nwanem,no try me next time.ka ji?

bokohalal: AKPAKPAVA. Abi you have visited Benin seven times?

Nawaa oo; How do you expect me to remember every little letter in the word,even when I'm not Benin ? I wrote Okhoro the way we Igbo pronounce it. Hell,I left Benin in '93 !

bokohalal:
With your head in kolobi,I knew you were going to plead for mercy. Nwanem,no try me next time.ka ji?

Try you? Like its a competition. And who is pleading for "mercy" ? I made my point and its up to you to agree or disagree. I have a life,dude. Ka ji kwo ?

bokohalal: There is no Lawanson street in Benin city. It is apparent that you did not learn much in your seven years there. And it is OKHORO not OHORO.

There is a lawason street on lagos road,right before EBS,heading toward Okhoro from New Benin. Unless if I got the spelling wrong.

ChinenyeN:

[s]It is my suspicion that you simply created the "Omuma LGA" example to make your point, without any real knowledge of the etymology of the name. You were attempting to stretch thing. Nevertheless, the information is incorrect, so I put a strike through the comments to indicate as such.[/s] The rest of the information should prove sufficient as examples to any reasonable person.

When I say things I always ensure I say the right thing. I always avoid fabricating things. You could go on a confirmation tour of every single point I've made on this thread. I was actually surprised to discover 'Omuma' was actually 'Omumma' as I had wondered what it probably meant. I am very well-versed in the Igbo situation than you think.

Did you actually bother to verify my 'claim' on google before pronouncing judgment on it?

http://www.nairawall.com/rivers/omumma/business-directory/government

http://unjobs.org/duty_stations/nigeria/rivers/ahoada-west

Or simply type, 'omumma LGA rivers state' in your google search engine, that should educate you.

By the way, here's a map of rivers state for your viewing pleasure.

Odenigbo Aroli:

There is a lawason street on lagos road,right before EBS,heading toward Okhoro from New Benin. Unless if I got the spelling wrong.

LAWANI

Odenigbo Aroli:

Nawaa oo; How do you expect me to remember every little letter in the word,even when I'm not Benin ? I wrote Okhoro the way we Igbo pronounce it. Hell,I left Benin in '93 !

That has been the main issue of the entire thread:the IGBONIZATION of IKALAND and some other parts of ANIOMA.Where town names and history are being changed to fit into Igbo world . IGBANKE-IGBO AKIRI, for example. Edo language is about to go through same,according to you.

bigfrancis21:

When I say things I always ensure I say the right thing. I always avoid fabricating things. You could go on a confirmation tour of every single point I've made on this thread. I was actually surprised to discover 'Omuma' was actually 'Omumma' as I had wondered what it probably meant. I am very well-versed in the Igbo situation than you think.

Did you actually bother to verify my 'claim' on google before pronouncing judgment on it?

http://www.nairawall.com/rivers/omumma/business-directory/government

http://unjobs.org/duty_stations/nigeria/rivers/ahoada-west

Or simply type, 'omumma LGA rivers state' in your google search engine, that should educate you.

By the way, here's a map of rivers state for your viewing pleasure.

Nde Omuma means "people living across the river" in Etche dialect. You can get that of. Rivers State from here

https://www.nairaland.com/548902/origin-various-igbo-clans/4

There are several Omumas in Igboland and none has the meaning you ascribed. For example there's another Omuma in Oru Imo State.

bigfrancis21:

When I say things I always ensure I say the right thing. I always avoid fabricating things. You could go on a confirmation tour of every single point I've made on this thread. I was actually surprised to discover 'Omuma' was actually 'Omumma' as I had wondered what it probably meant. I am very well-versed in the Igbo situation than you think.

Did you actually bother to verify my 'claim' on google before pronouncing judgment on it?

http://www.nairawall.com/rivers/omumma/business-directory/government

http://unjobs.org/duty_stations/nigeria/rivers/ahoada-west

Or simply type, 'omumma LGA rivers state' in your google search engine, that should educate you.

By the way, here's a map of rivers state for your viewing pleasure.

Nde Omuma means "people living across the river" in Etche dialect. You can get that of. Rivers State from here

https://www.nairaland.com/548902/origin-various-igbo-clans/4

There are several Omumas in Igboland and none has the meaning you ascribed. For example there's another Omuma in Oru Imo State.

bigfrancis21: When I say things I always ensure I say the right thing. I always avoid fabricating things. You could go on a confirmation tour of every single point I've made on this thread. I was actually surprised to discover 'Omuma' was actually 'Omumma' as I had wondered what it probably meant. I am very well-versed in the Igbo situation than you think.

Did you actually bother to verify my 'claim' on google before pronouncing judgment on it?

http://www.nairawall.com/rivers/omumma/business-directory/government

http://unjobs.org/duty_stations/nigeria/rivers/ahoada-west

Or simply type, 'omumma LGA rivers state' in your google search engine, that should educate you.

By the way, here's a map of rivers state for your viewing pleasure.

Just looking at your linked sources, it is apparent to me that you have nothing cultural or historical to tie your "Omumma" discovery to. As far as the facts on the ground are concerned, you simply fabricated a meaning for "Omumma" and created the "Omuma LGA" example in order to make your point, and you did so without any real knowledge of the etymology of the name nor the cultural history of the people. Whether or not you know it, you spread misinformation. The communities that make up Omuma use "umu" for children and not "omu". The name is "Omuma" not "Omumma", and the etymology has nothing to do with the [mis]interpretation that you gave.

bigfrancis21:

When I say things I always ensure I say the right thing. I always avoid fabricating things. You could go on a confirmation tour of every single point I've made on this thread. I was actually surprised to discover 'Omuma' was actually 'Omumma' as I had wondered what it probably meant. I am very well-versed in the Igbo situation than you think.

Did you actually bother to verify my 'claim' on google before pronouncing judgment on it?

http://www.nairawall.com/rivers/omumma/business-directory/government

http://unjobs.org/duty_stations/nigeria/rivers/ahoada-west

Or simply type, 'omumma LGA rivers state' in your google search engine, that should educate you.

By the way, here's a map of rivers state for your viewing pleasure.

That's the mistake you have been making. That's how you said Ewuru and Oyemen are no longer used in Ikaland because one Dr. said so. You can't just take one man's opinion as fact even without investigating further. Dont believe everything you read online.

ChinenyeN:

Just looking at your linked sources, it is apparent to me that you have nothing cultural or historical to tie your "Omumma" discovery to. As far as the facts on the ground are concerned, you simply fabricated a meaning for "Omumma" and created the "Omuma LGA" example in order to make your point, and you did so without any real knowledge of the etymology of the name nor the cultural history of the people. Whether or not you know it, you spread misinformation. The communities that make up Omuma use "umu" for children and not "omu". The name is "Omuma" not "Omumma", and the etymology has nothing to do with the [mis]interpretation that you gave.

I think I know where your problem lies. You don't even seem to know that there's a LGA in Rivers state called 'Omumma/Omuma LGA'. You think I fabricated that up. Did you even look at the map I gave you? I didn't make Omuma up. The alternative 'Omumma' spelling abounds on the internet. Can you please explain that? Its just like me deciding to call Enugu 'Enugwu' which is the proper spelling and I get reprimanded for it just because I didn't use the british anglicized name. That also means that if I decide to spell Ibusa as Igbouzo or Onitsha as Onicha, I also get chided for it, right?

When travelling from Owerri to Portharcourt, you pass a few villages that are spelt with 'omu'. One of which is 'omuanya'(umuanya). The 'omu' prefix is common in Rivers state and also among Ikwerre names. Omuokiri village in Aluu community is another example. The same 'o' preference also reflects in the Ikwerre pronounciation of earth as 'owa' instead of 'uwa', the latter of which is standard Igbo. I know one popular ikwerre family that bears 'Omunnakwe' (Umunnakwe) as surname. In Umuguma village in Owerri West LGA, I know 3 sub villages there that are spelt 'Omunwanyi' and 'Omuojukwu'.

Google up 'Omumma LGA' and several websites abound that spell it that way. Why's there an alternative spelling? Why are the people now using a more recent spelling than the one of old, 'omuma'?

I do know omuma as a word has an igbo meaning of which I've forgotten the meaning. But then after discovering that the actual spelling is 'omumma', it then follows that its only following the usual naming conventions like other village names in Rivers state. So many villages within this 'Omumma LGA' are spelt with the 'umu' prefix, in accordance with the recent igbo spelling convention(Onwu Orthography) which was only created recently.

You should know that proper igbo village names only started getting spelt correctly in recent times, following the release of the standard igbo orthography by Mr. Onwu. Onitsha town, which had contact with the white man before other towns was spelt 'onitsha' by the british. Other towns with 'onicha' as names which weren't discovered by the whites to be given anglicized names got to spell their names much later and when they did, they followed the proper igbo orthography of recent. Towns such as 'Onicha-Ugbo', 'Onicha-Olona' in delta state and 'Onicha LGA' in Ebonyi state. The same way 'Omuma/Omumma' got spelt with 'O' and the subvillages with 'u' later.

That village names within Omumma LGA are spelt the 'Umu' way, following the recent Igbo spelling convention, doesn't mean the natives don't have their original way of pronouncing them. Ogbuosisi is a place in Owerri spelt with 'Osisi' which is standard igbo but yet you rarely hear owerri people pronounce it 'osisi', rather they still pronounce it 'oshishi' even though it is officially spelt 'osisi'.

My point is, 'omumma' may have another meaning which I may not know, but it can be said with confidence that it is following an old time spelling convention but with the same meaning with current spelling conventions.

http://www.citypopulation.de/php/nigeria-admin.php?adm2id=3219

http://www.nairawall.com/rivers/omumma/business-directory/fashion

Idun'oba ehis:

That's the mistake you have been making. That's how you said Ewuru and Oyemen are no longer used in Ikaland because one Dr. said so. You can't just take one man's opinion as fact even without investigating further. Dont believe everything you read online.

Why shouldn't I go with what a man with a PhD degree who actually carried out indepth research said?

I find it hard believing anything you say because you don't say the truth and all your claims on this thread I debunked all of them. First you started by giving unpopular ika words which are used solely by the Ika village sharing boundary with Esan land, not used in central Ika. I debunked your claim by giving you evidence in the form of an official published research by an elder in the Ika community who carried out proper research and also who is well versed in Ika history. Agbontaen has all these while been parading a fake list of so-called contemporary ika words which I debunked using Mr. Onyeche's research findings. Next, you fabricated your 'Ehinze', 'Ogwaehi' moonlight tale which I debunked. Then you came up with Flemish/Dutch Language difference as reason to support Ika/Igbo difference which I also debunked. In case you don't know, any true webmaster, book writer, website etc will always go by published facts and works and not hearsay. That is why it is required in publishing that you quote a published work to support whatever theory you're pushing forward. So far, you just haven't come up with any link/source that supports your isolation propaganda. Its just you and your fantasies.

@Bolded...yea. It starts with your own fallacies first. I'd never believe them.

Bigfrancis21, I did not come here to engage in back and forth communication with you. I just so happen to be Ngwa, and our community is contiguous with Omuma. So unlike yourself, my awareness/knowledge of Omuma is neither recent nor based off Internet reads. I am in fact familiar with the history of much of Omuma, well enough to tell you that you fabricated misinformation. It isn't to say that I believe your intent to be malicious. In all likelihood, you probably came across the spelling of Omuma as "Omumma" on the Internet and for whatever reason thought it sensible to interpret and claim it as "Umumma" in this thread without actually knowing the cultural history of the community.

Regardless of how it happened, it was incorrect. Both your interpretation and your attempt to claim something about a community you have clearly demonstrated yourself to know little about was incorrect of you, but I didn't come here to condemn you on it. I only came to inform you and everyone else of your mistake and put a stop to the misinformation before it spread.

ChinenyeN: Bigfrancis21, I did not come here to engage in back and forth communication with you. I just so happen to be Ngwa, and our community is contiguous with Omuma. So unlike yourself, my awareness/knowledge of Omuma is neither recent nor based off Internet reads. I am in fact familiar with the history of much of Omuma, well enough to tell you that you fabricated misinformation. It isn't to say that I believe your intent to be malicious. In all likelihood, you probably came across the spelling of Omuma as "Omumma" on the Internet and for whatever reason thought it sensible to interpret and claim it as "Umumma" in this thread without actually knowing the cultural history of the community.

Regardless of how it happened, it was incorrect. Both your interpretation and your attempt to claim something about a community you have clearly demonstrated yourself to know little about was incorrect of you, but I didn't come here to condemn you on it. I only came to inform you and everyone else of your mistake and put a stop to the misinformation before it spread.

With your acclaimed wealth of knowledge, please explain why 'omumma' is more preferred in usage in recent times than 'omuma'?

I never gave 'Omuma' any special meaning or conjured it to mean anything in English. I never interpreted it to mean any particular thing. My focus on that word was on the 'omu' part, which drew my attention after I came across an alternative 'omumma' spelling on the internet. If I hadn't seen such alternative spelling on the internet which led me to believe it was the native's own way of pronouncing 'umumma', I would never have used 'Omuma LGA' in its old form as an example. All examples I give here I have actually experienced, came across, researched or read about. In conclusion, I never fabricated anything because I've given you enough links that shows that my 'fabrication' wasn't fabricated after all.

You should have started initially by telling me I misinterpreted the meaning of the word (which I never did anyway), rather than false accusations of fabrication.

In the same vein, I am still right because if we go by the more recent 'omumma' usage, rather than 'omuma', then out of all the possible meanings of 'omumma', one of such meanings is the same with 'umumma'.

This is not a topic that is up for debate. Omuma is the collective name of a group of communities in Rivers state. These communities also constitute a single LGA in Rivers state known as Omuma LGA, which is obviously named after them. The use of "Omumma" in some administrative documents [and also in other places] is a misspelling. The indigenes of Omuma LGA do not call themselves "Omumma", neither do they call themselves "Umumma", as you so erroneously preconceived.

1. i might be repeating my self often, but igbo people are just on this web to spread false hood against ika but it will never work as our fathers distanced themselves from them and pushed them out of ika land.
2. anioma cannever be complete without ika land , as it was made up by a-aniocha, n- ndokwa, o- oshimili, i-ika , while oma was added , and they reason denis osadebe and others formed it was that most anioma people cannot be classified as any of nigerias major tribes because we are diverse with people coming from edo, igbo, igala, yoruba , isoko, ijaw and others .
3. i saw what one of the writters wrote as things that qualifies one to be an igbo person, and those are not what qualifies a man to be an ika person.
4. ika language has about 5 major variants , and it depends on your clan, and ika also has another language called ozara spoken by some ika towns in agbor area ,
5. THINGS THAT MAKES A PERSON IKA , AND UNIQUELY IKA ,
1. THE PERSON BELIEVES in god as oselobue or osenobue
2. guardian spirit as ehi and not chi used by igbos,
3. the person believes that the land of the dead or spirit world is orinmin
4. their town is divided into ebon, idumu and ogbe
5. they must have an obiship or enogieship or deinship that is from father to son , following the benin uselu style , and having an edaiken .
6. the chietancy or ohaimen must be divided into three levels of 1. village chiefs , town chiefs and palace chiefs with some of the titles being hereditory , with some of the titles having this names obasogie, ologboshere, iyase , ihama, obaseki, obazuaiye, esama, ozomor , isekure and others
7. your four market weeks are eken, orie, afor and ogbe
8. the final burial place of an ika person is called ikpekpe
9. the ika culture performs igue and ibiewere festival as new year day with the words obi iselogbe , which means happy new year,
10. ikas perform the new yam festival ,
11. ikas are people whose ancestors worshipped olokun as deity of river, ogun or idigun as god of iron and war, ovia, ohunwedeen , ikenga and others,
12. we call cloth or shirt ewuru,
13. ikas use to have an ancient tribal marks called igu ,
14. we call palace ogua or egua ,
15. we also perfomed ikaba festival, ogbanigbe and others,
16. ika perfoms the naming of a child in 7 days called igbeidayi
17. ika world view is that oselobue created this world and sent down his son olokun, who descended into the great sea , and later assisted in creating the earth , which we call agbon , and the royal families were the first children of olokun on earth ,
18. ika people are people that speak any variation of ika language , that is approved by ika people as ika.with the right words and accent,
6. 99 percent of ika people have edo ancestral name , unless the person cannot trace their ancestory to more than 200 years in ika land , and except they are recent migrants, even if an ika man is named okafor ugochukwu , if you ask him his grand father or great grandfathers name it will end up being an edo name , so you cannot take that away from ika people , even most of our villages are named in edo , examples,
1. jim ovia , former m.d. zenith bank , ovia is an edo name
2. steve omojafor president APCOON , omojafor is an edo name
3. nduka obaigbena -publisher this day newspaper , obaigbena is an edo name ,
4. nduka irabor , journalist and former member of house of reps , irabor is an edo name,
5. steven osagie the obi of akumazi , osagie is an edo name,
6. emmanuel efeizomor , obi of owa , efeizomor is an edo name ,
7. timothy ojekpolor , a banker from agbor , ojekpolor is an edo name,
8. major genetral ugo buzugbe , secretary nigeria army , buzugbe is an edo name,
9. major general usiade retired , former director army finance , usiade is an edo name ,
10. major general nick aigbogun , aigbogun is an edo name,
11. chief dr okunbor , chief of staff delta govt, okunbor is an edo name ,
12. joe orewa , former boxing champion , orewa is an edo name ,
13. professor mathew jegbefume , jegbefume is an edo name,
i think we have settled this issue that ika people bear both igbo and edo names , but the edo names are their surname and it is older in ika than the igbo names ,
NAMES OF SOME VILLAGES ,-
1. IDUMU ezomor,
2. idumu usuma.
3. idumu ikekeh,
4. ikokogbe,
5. idah,
6. idumu eki,
7. idumu isogban ,
8. idumu ojezua ,
and many more edo names , although some also have igbo names , showing their migration pattern,

7. majority of ika people just want to be ika , we do not claim to be any other tribe ,but around igbodo and ekwuoma town , their are some ika people who say they are igbos , i do not disagree with them due to their migratory origin, but they are still not enough to sway the majority of ika people who know and believe they are ikas,
that is why our elders set up ogua/onu ika as the highest socio-cultural body for the ika ethnic nationality , and if any igbo man want to argue that , this is my question ?
1. which ika king or noble is a member of ohaneze ndigbo ?
2. when have you seen or heard an ika person speaking on national t.v. or papers for igbos ?
3. why did majority of ika people dissociate themselves from igbos during the war?
4. why is it that the membership of ohaneze ndigbo is filled with people and royalties from aniocha and oshimili areas?
finally even in the olukunmi area of anioma , they are now making efforts to preserve their language and culture and to assert themselves.

1. while i acknowledge the fact that igbos celebrate new yam festival , just like ika people also do, the way ika celebrates it is quite uniquely ika , but they might have taken it from igbos ,but one thing i know is that most african villages celebrate new yam , like i have witnessed it in ekiti, ibadan and other towns even in aflao , around ghana, in ibadan it will take place around september and after that yemoja festival will start.
2. as for muritala , he was a friend of owa and ika people , but i cannot say if he did well to all ika people , but he did well to majority as he assisted in expelling biafra from ika land and protection ika , he lived in owa during that exercise and he was giving the title ojeba of owa by obi efeizomor , and he was a friend of my late father ,
3. there were too many lies and propaganda spread by igbos during the war , like the oba akenzua telling muritala to kill all people from ika to onitcha , was oba a soldier , what control does he have over the hausa controlled nigeria army as at that time ?
4. igbos should stop sowing seeds of discord and the relationship between ika and bini cannever be broken , it is eternal and has spanned many thousand years of inter cultural exchange ,the binis respect the ikas need to be on their own as a tribe , we also have a realtionship with igbos , but the over possessiveness of igbos makes it , difficcult for the relationship to work

Murtala was good to the Ika people during the war. During the war, it was only Ika language that helped Ika people that were going to Benin to buy salt, snuff powder and other goods that were bound during war. Many elders told stories of how they were stopped by soldiers and interrogated because they were thought to be igbos, they don't believe them when they said they were Ikas not Igbos until they spoke the Ika language. They all said that there was always an Ika person in each batalion to speak Ika to them to respond.

Murtala was good to the Ika people during the war. It was only Ika language that helped Ika people that were going to Benin to buy salt, snuff powder and other goods that were banned during war. Many elders told stories of how they were stopped by soldiers and interrogated because they were thought to be igbos, they don't believe them when they said they were Ikas not Igbos until they spoke the Ika language. They all said that there was always an Ika person in each batalion to speak Ika to them to respond.

Idun'oba ehis:
Murtala was good to the Ika people during the war. It was only Ika language that helped Ika people that were going to Benin to buy salt, snuff powder and other goods that were banned during war. Many elders told stories of how they were stopped by soldiers and interrogated because they were thought to be igbos, they don't believe them when they said they were Ikas not Igbos until they spoke the Ika language. They all said that there was always an Ika person in each batalion to speak Ika to them to respond.

So you are glad your fathers betrayed Igbos who took them as one of their own just because of food. Why didn't the soldiers mistake Binis for Igbos or Urhobos and Esans for Igbos? A clarification was needed to identify who is Ika. That goes a lot to support the Igboness of Ika.

Abagworo:

So you are glad your fathers betrayed Igbos who took them as one of their own just because of food. Why didn't the soldiers mistake Binis for Igbos or Urhobos and Esans for Igbos? A clarification was needed to identify who is Ika. That goes a lot to support the Igboness of Ika.

;->
Who told you the binis, urhobos and esan were not mistaken for the igbos. During the biafran invasion of the midwest, anybody seen in lonely expressway could be mistaken for the Igbos that is why you have to speak your language for them to be able to ascertain where you're from. Is there any physical characterics, apart from language to distinguish between binis and igbos? I have been told many times that I look like binis and few times igbos, but I was alway quick to explain to them that I was neither bini nor igbo but that my people have many things in common with the binis and language similarities with the igbos.
How did the Ikas betray the igbos because of food? Ika people are not hungry people. We were never part of biafra. When biafra was created we were not included and rightly so. So, how did we betray them?

Igbo - Orientation

Identification. Igbo is the language spoken in Ala Igbo or Ani Igbo (Igboland) by the people who are collectively referred to as "Ndi Igbo"; their community is known as "Olu no Igbo" ("those in the lowlands and uplands". Before European colonialism, the Igbo-speaking peoples, who shared similarities in culture, lived in localized communities and were not unified under a single cultural identity or political framework, although unifying processes were present via expansion, ritual subordination, intermarriage, trade, cultural exchange, migration, war, and conquest. Villages and village groups were generally identified by distinct names of their ancestral founders or by specific names such as Umuleri, Nri, Ogidi, Nnobi, Orlu, Ngwa, Ezza, and Ohaffia.

There are several theories concerning the etymology of the word "Igbo" (wrongly spelled "Ibo" by British colonialists). Eighteenth-century texts had the word as "Heebo" or "Eboe," which was thought to be a corruption of "Hebrew." "Igbo" is commonly presumed to mean "the people." The root -bo is judged to be of Sudanic origin; some scholars think that the word is derived from the verb gboo and therefore has connotations of "to protect," "to shelter," or "to prevent"—hence the notion of a protected people or a community of peace. According to other theorists, it may also be traced to the Igala, among whom onigbo is the word for "slave," oni meaning "people."

Igbo-speaking peoples can be divided into five geographically based subcultures: northern Igbo, southern Igbo, western Igbo, eastern Igbo, and northeastern Igbo. Each of these five can be further divided into subgroups based on specific locations and names. The northern or Onitsha Igbo are divided into the Nri-Awka of Onitsha and Awka; the Enugu of Nsukka, Udì, Awgu, and Okigwe; and those of the Onitsha town. The southern or Owerri Igbo are divided into the Isu-Ama of Okigwe, Orlu, and Owerri; the Oratta-Ikwerri of Owerri and Ahoada; the Ohuhu-Ngwa of Aba and Bende; and the Isu-Item of Bende and Okigwe. The western Igbo (Ndi Anioma, as they like to call themselves) are divided into the northern Ika of Ogwashi Uku and Agbor; the southern Ika or Kwale of Kwale; and the Riverrain of Ogwashi Uku, Onitsha, Owerri, and Ahoada. The eastern or Cross River Igbo are divided into the Ada (or Edda) of Afikpo, the Abam-Ohaffia of Bende and Okigwe, and the Aro of Aro. The northeastern Igbo include the Ogu Uku of Abakaliki and Afikpo.

Location. Today Igbo-speaking individuals live all over Nigeria and in diverse countries of the world. As a people, however, the Igbo are located on both sides of the River Niger and occupy most of southeastern Nigeria. The area, measuring over 41,000 square kilometers, includes the old provinces of Onitsha, Owerri, East Rivers, Southeast Benin, West Ogoja, and Northeast Warri. In contemporary Nigerian history, the Igbo have claimed all these areas as the protectorate of the "Niger Districts." Thus began the process of wider unification and incorporation into wider political and administrative units. Presently, they constitute the entire Enugu State, Anambra State, Abia State, Imo State, and the Ahoada area of Rivers State; Igbo-speaking people west of the Niger are inhabitants of the Asaba, Ika, and Agbo areas of Delta State.

Demography. In 1963 the Igbo numbered about 8.5 million and by 1993 had grown to more than 15 million (some even claim 30 million, although there has been no widely accepted census since 1963). They have one of the highest population densities in West Africa, ranging from 120 to more than 400 persons per square kilometer. Igbo subcultures are distributed in six ecological zones: the northern Igbo in the Scarplands, the northeastern Igbo in the Lower Niger, the eastern Igbo in the Midwest Lowlands, the western Igbo in the Niger Delta, the southeastern Igbo in the Palm Belt, and the southern Igbo in the Cross River Basin.

Linguistic Affiliation. Igbo is classified in the Kwa Subgroup of the Niger-Congo Language Family, which is spoken in West Africa. It is thought that between five and six thousand years ago, Igbo began to diverge from its linguistic related neighbors such as the Igala, Idoma, Edo, and Yoruba languages. There are many dialects, two of which have been widely recognized and are used in standard texts: Owerri Igbo and Onitsha Igbo. Of the two, Owerri Igbo appears to be the more extensively spoken.

Read more: http://www.everyculture.com/Africa-Middle-East/Igbo-Orientation.html#ixzz2bIR083VR

Idun'oba ehis:
;->
Who told you the binis, urhobos and esan were not mistaken for the igbos. During the biafran invasion of the midwest, anybody seen in lonely expressway could be mistaken for the Igbos that is why you have to speak your language for them to be able to ascertain where you're from. Is there any physical characterics, apart from language to distinguish between binis and igbos? I have been told many times that I look like binis and few times igbos, but I was alway quick to explain to them that I was neither bini nor igbo but that my people have many things in common with the binis and language similarities with the igbos.
How did the Ikas betray the igbos because of food? Ika people are not hungry people. We were never part of biafra. When biafra was created we were not included and rightly so. So, how did we betray them?

No part of Delta State was included in Biafra because they were in Mid-West. The plans they had was for a country to be called "Benin". Biafra wasn't an Igbo thing but Eastern region. It was rather narrowed to an Igbo thing because non-Igbos and some few Igbo groups exonerated themselves because they knew it would not succeed.

Why I called it betrayal is because what caused the whole Igbo and Biafra crisis was the sins of Delta Igbos and Igbos were fighting to save their brothers in the Mid-West from extinction of which they considered Ikas as one, but when the chips were down, Agbotaen claimed Ikas aided Nigerian forces to kill non-Ika Igbos including some Ikas at the fringe. He boasts about it. If an Efik or Yoruba man that considers me his brother is in my community and Nigerian soldiers are looking for them, I wouldn't aid in killing them.

1. ika did not betray igbo , because in the first place we are not igbo , and secondly when your biafrans invaded ika , did they consult our fathers ,? the answer is they did not consult us ,.
2. ika had so much food during the civil war and up till now ika people are known as great farmers all over old mid west , we are great farmers called owe in ika language .
3. ika has always maintained her independence of the two dominant tribes around us , which are binis and igbos , and we shall continue like that , as one great ika tribe,we are not interested in being any other tribe than ika and we have made great progress as ikas in nigeria, i am proud of being an ika man ,because there is no field our people have not made progress , we might not be big , but we have excelled in all fields of life with notable people in nigeria,
4. we are proud of the ovia, and emefiele and iwerebor in the banks, ovia in telecommunication, the ugbaja,okoro , in the police, uzums in shipping, ebie fortune in esate and surveyur, buzugbe, aigbogun,usiade, eluma s in the military, obaigbena, irabor in journalism , ogbemudia, okowa, osunhon, anukus in politics, omojafor in advertising, orewas in sports, hanks anuku , alariwo , stella monyes in music, jegbefume, okoh, osaigbovous in education, dein of agbor, and obi of owa in traditional rulership, and many others , so what do we need , we are just proud,

1. i said push out biafra , from ika land , i did not use the word kill , why are igbos used to propaganda and lies ?
2. ika people were not being exterminated , that is another lie , i am from owa kingdom and my ancestors also founded villages in owa iru iguaza , owa nikeke and owariuzor idu all in edo state and our relatives still live there till date and they were not killed or exterminated , so why do you have to lie or do you think ika is the same with many aniocha/oshimili towns ?
3. the dein of agbor , plus obi of owa, obi of umunede and all ika kings were part of midwest leaders of thought during the civil war