Former Secretary General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Uche Okwukwu, speaks to CHUKWUDI AKASIKE on the controversy over the identity of Ikwerre people in Rivers State and whether they belong to the Igbo tribe, among other related issues

What do you make of the disagreement between the President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, and the President of Iwhnurohna Progressive Organisation, Dr Okachikwu Dibia?


As an Ikwerre man, I know we have the Ogbako Ikwerre; we have the Ikwerre Development Organisation, IDO. So, we don’t have anything called Iwhnurohna Progressive Organisation or IPO. So, the young man (Dibia) wanted to score a point by issuing a statement to challenge Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu. I wish him good luck. That is what I will say in that regard.

But the man is the President of IwhnurohnaProgressive Organisation.

Ikwerre land is Igbo land. The man (Dibia) wanted to become popular by issuing a statement challenging Iwuanyanwu. For example, if Ango Abdullahi says something, and somebody wants to reply to him from Igbo land or Yoruba land, it should be a known name. So, who is this person, and what organisation does he represent?

But Dibia, who is an Ikwerre man, is saying that the Ikwerre are not Igbo. How will you respond to his claim?

I want to be recorded very well. The Ikwerre people are Igbo. If you say something that is not predicated on fact, either circumstantial or real, it is neither here nor there. The Portuguese got to Ikwerre land in 1400AD. Now, go and look at ‘People from Southern Nigeria’ by Amaury Talbot, Volume 1, Page 238. The Portuguese got to Isiokpo which is the headquarters of Ikwerre Local Government Area today; they got to Amaafa, which was the name Emuoha was answering. They recorded that people were here with these names.

Now, the Ikwerre people claimed that they left Benin under the reign of Oba Ewuare, and Oba Ewuare came to power in the Benin Kingdom in 1430 AD. That was after the Portuguese had visited Ikwerre land in 1400. Assuming without conceding that the Ikwerre people came from Benin, it then means that the Ikwerre people who came from Benin met people here (Ikwerre land). The people had been here when the Portuguese came.

Again, the Oba of Benin wrote a book titled, ‘Yes, my obedient servant’. The Oba of Benin I am referring to is Omo N’Oba Akpolokpolo, Oba Erediauwa. He (Oba Erediauwa) served as an Assistant District Commissioner in Ahoada Division (in today’s Rivers State) between 1954 and 1965. In his book titled, ‘Remain, sir, your obedient servant’, published in 2004, Omo N’Oba Erediauwa Akpolokpolo wrote it.

He (Erediuwa) said that the Ikwerre and the Etche were typical Igbo. Also, at the Henry Willink’s Commission in 1957, the Ikwerre presented their position through their leaders that from Port Harcourt to Onitsha was Igbo land, and when Henry Willink published his report in April 1958, he made it very clear that the Ikwerre were Igbo. He went to the point of stating in black and white that Port Harcourt was an Igbo town. It is there in black and white.

Now, let us go to human beings. Illustrious Ikwerre sons, more prominent than Dibia, had stated clearly that they were Igbo. Chibuike Amaechi, who is the former governor of Rivers State, former speaker of the House of Assembly, Rivers State, and first Nigerian Minister of Transportation, says he is an Igbo man.

The question I ask is, why are people not reporting it? Now, they are giving front-page headlines to Dibia. The first Ikwerre principal of any college; Saint John’s College, Diobu, first provost of the Rivers College of Education, now Ignatius Ajuru University, and first Ikwerre minister, Chief Emmanuel Aguma, said he was an Igbo man. The First Ikwerre poet, Okogbule Wonodi, who was a one-time registrar of the University of Port Harcourt, said he was an Igbo man.

The first Ikwerre senator, first Ikwerre to obtain a PhD, first Ikwerre commissioner, and first Ikwerre member of the Constituent Assembly, Constitution Conference, 1975 and 1977, Dr Obi Wali, said he was an Igbo man. The question I will ask Dibia is; ‘why do you say you are not an Igbo man?’

What do you think may have made him say the Ikwerre are not Igbo people?

Well, he knows what made him to say so. I don’t know. He (Dibia) wrote a book titled, ‘The Challenge of Ikwerre Development in Nigeria’, published in 2011. From Page 146 to 147 of that book, this is Dibia talking; he said, ‘Ikwerre names that are Igbo have remained unchanged because they were left as part of Ikwerre historical relics. They have no other meaning than that. For example, my name, Dibia, does not in any way assist in defining my personality despite the pressure to change it. I had decided to retain it to remember what Ikwerre people passed through in the past, representing the experiences needed to rebuild Ikwerre.’

Now, the question you will ask him is why he has not changed his name. Dibia means in Igbo land, a knowledgeable person and a healer. A professor can be called Dibia of History, Dibia of Law, Dibia of Journalism, or a healer. So, let him change his name, because he has no other names to answer. We are not Iwhnurohna people; we are Ikwerre people. He used the word ‘Iwhnurohna’. Let the people be bold to change all their organisations’ names from Ikwerre to Iwhnurohna, and they will lose their bearing and relevance.

Why did you say so?

Of course, if you change your surname today, you will lose your track. Why is it that the Afro-Americans are still insisting that they are Africans? Why are they not saying that they are Spanish? Why are they not saying that they are Germans or British? Why are they still insisting that they are Africans? Blacks and Afro-Americans have their root in Africa. This is because it is the identity that defines their mission and purpose and that they are blacks and Africans.

The Ikwerre are Igbo, and from time immemorial, the Ikwerre have remained in Ohanaeze. From 1939, the Ikwerre were members of the Igbo State Union which existed from 1939 to 1966 when the military proscribed it. Since the formation of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo in 1976 with Akanu Ibiam as President General and Jerome Udorji as first Secretary General, the Ikwerre were members of Ohanaeze.

I have served as Secretary General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo; many prominent sons and daughters of Ikwerre have served as Ohanaeze members. Chibudom Nwuche, former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives from Ekpeye is a member of the Board of Trustees of Ohanaeze as I am talking to you. His father, the late C.C Nwuche, once served as the chairman of Ohanaeze’s Elders’ Council. The late Senator Francis Ellah of Ogba, the most outstanding Ogba man to live on earth, was a senator; he was a district commissioner, he was the registrar of the Rivers State University at a time, he was Secretary to the Government, he was a minister, and remained Ohanaeze till he died

So, I don’t know where the likes of Dibia are coming from. If he knows the people that sent him on an errand, he should tell them that the Igbo will not surrender Ikwerre to anyone or tribe; and I want to be recorded. Any attempt to remove Ikwerre land from the Igbo will be resisted. No nation in modern history will want his side to be shrunk. That is the whole crisis in Kremia and Ukraine. Russia said you cannot remove Russians from us.

Why do you think Ikwerre land is important to the Igbo?

No nation will want itself to be cut off from the sea. Ikwerre land is the tongue of the Igbo nation to the sea. The Ohanaeze President General (Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu) is coming to Rivers State in January 2025, because constitutionally, it is the turn of River State (to produce the next president general). So, the likes of Dibia are on a mission to undermine the Ikwerre in Ohanaeze. He should tell those who sent him that they have failed because some of us are still alive.

Some have said that the reason why some Ikwerre people are claiming that they are not part of Igbo and Igbo land is because of an alleged expansionist tendency of Igbo people. How will you react to this?

Who is expanding to where? Under the constitution, where are you expanding to? Nigeria is an indivisible and indissoluble country under Section 2 of the Constitution. Local governments have been created, and states have been created. Nobody from Ebonyi State will rule Enugu State; nobody from River State will rule Delta State. The clannish nature of Nigeria is so high that you cannot even be a councillor outside your village. Even in Yoruba land, you cannot come from Oyo State and be a councillor in Osun State.

So, I don’t know who is expanding to where. Is anybody controlling a local government except the chairman who is from there? Rivers State was created in 1967, almost 60 years ago. So, the Igbo came back to Rivers State after the war as non-Rivers indigenes and struggled for survival. Rivers people are in Lagos State as non-Lagosians struggling for survival. Anywhere you find yourself in Nigeria, you struggle for survival as a non-indigene. You battle; if you go to the university, you pay different school fees from the ones those from the state pay.

So, which expansionist tendency are these people talking about? If you go anywhere, you buy land with your money; nobody will dash you land. You are in Lagos today, if you have money to buy land, you buy from the natives. The Lagosians go to Ogun State and buy land. Even the Ijebu people buy land in Ijebu. Tell those saying this to tell us where we are expanding to. It is just a case of calling a dog a bad name to kill it. Tell the person that it is not true.

Ohanaeze Ndigbo will likely have a new president general next year and it is said that the position will go to Rivers State. How ready are your people to take this position?

That is the same question they ask when it comes to politics. What is the qualification to become a President of the country? Is it not a School Cert? (Umaru Musa) Yar’Adua was the first Nigerian President that went through the university. So, didn’t those who ruled before him do well? The Igbo-speaking people in Rivers State; the Ogba, the Ekpeye, the Ndoni, Ikwerre, Etche, Obigbo; don’t they have people? Is Amaechi not an Ikwerre man? He has said he is Igbo.

Are you saying a man, who has run presidential primary cannot be Ohanaeze’s president general? Are you saying that Chibudom Nwuche, who was deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, is not qualified to be Ohanaeze president general? Are you saying I am not qualified as a lawyer to become president general of Ohanaeze? I have also served as secretary general. Are the qualifications of the president general and secretary general of Ohanaeze different? It is like saying (Prof Yemi) Osinbajo cannot be President, even when he has been Vice President.

All those things are cheap blackmail. The Rivers people are very prepared. We are very prepared. Constitutionally, it is only people from Rivers State who can contest the position of the next president general of Ohanaeze. It is zoned to Rivers State, and after Rivers State, it will go to Abia State.

What is your advice to those who may unwittingly try to distort history over the current controversy on the identity of the Ikwerre people?

If something is not your name, you change your name. For example, my name is Uche Okwukwu. If I find out that it is not my name, I change it. Go to court, do an affidavit, and publish it in a newspaper. So, some Ikwerre who are saying Ikwerre are not Igbo should change their names.

Some have also said that language is not enough to determine where a person comes from.

Dibia is saying that he is retaining his name as an Igbo relic. Now, you are saying that a name is not important.

No, some people said, not me.

Let me quote what Oliver Wendell said in 1866 about language. ‘Every language is a temple in which the soul of those who speak it is enshrined. Language is by its very nature communal. It expresses never the exact thing, but a compromise that is common to me, you, and everybody.’ Now, language is very important. That is why the Yoruba of Kogi, Kwara, and Edo states are still saying they are Yoruba. This is because of language and name. If you say the Igbo should change their names. How? How can that kind of influence be there that the person does not retain anyone?

It is important I also give you this source; the famous Benin historian, Julius Egharevba, wrote a book titled, ‘Short History of Benin’. In that book, he said that the earliest migration of people out of Benin was in 1440, by which time the Portuguese had already visited Ikwerre and met the Ikwerre people. Remember that the Portuguese were here by 1400. So, I don’t know where they are getting their facts from. You must be armed with history to make a statement; you don’t just say things, and when they bring you out on national television, you can’t defend it.

Igbo women are said to always tie two wrappers and that is also one of the ways a person can determine who an Igbo woman is. How will you react to this claim?

These days, globalisation has made people open their noses, open ears in five places. Some almost go naked, which the government is fighting in all higher institutions. I know that Ikwerre women tie two wrappers. You must visit Ikwerre with your camera and take snapshots. We wrestle like Igbo and our women tie two wrappers.

There is an arranged protest in front of uniport Teaching Hospital on 17th January to protest Ikwerre not Igbo and Mbata is acting unanimously on his own hashtags.

It's getting heated

Ebubu6:
There is an arranged protest in front of uniport Teaching Hospital on 17th January to protest Ikwerre not Igbo and Mbata is acting unanimously on his own hashtags.

It's getting heated

LOL AT THEM, NEXT WE WILL REFORM THE CONSTITUTION TO REMOVE ALL THAT NONSENSE GOWON PLACED THEIR UNDER MILITARY RULE AFTER BIAFRA WAR.


AFTER THAT WE WILL START TO ARREST THEM AND LOCK THEM AWAY, STARTING FROM OGBAKOR IKWERRE SPOKESMAN THAT CALLED FOR ANY IKWERRE THAT SAY HE IS IGBO TO BE ARRESTED.




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtG2DRHXW7k

U cannot free to say you are not igbo but want to jail others that say they are Igbo.

Wen we are all still here.

The time of your generation is drawing to wrap, the next generation want unity.

Coming from someone who is a product of Ikwerre and Igbo intermarriage.

Very insincere lot!

NaMe4:
Coming from someone who is a product of Ikwerre and Igbo intermarriage.

Very insincere lot!

U sound educated so let's take history lessons, the Portuguese came to ikwerre land which is igbo in 1400AD and met igbo communities there and their names re igbo names and their villages hv igbo name, the first time people left benin to migrate anywhere according to recorded history was 1430. My question to you are who are the ikwerre people?

NaMe4:
Coming from someone who is a product of Ikwerre and Igbo intermarriage.

Very insincere lot!

The the greatest oba of modern history stated in his book that etche and ikwerre people are Igbos, what answer do you hv for that?

Ebubu6:
There is an arranged protest in front of uniport Teaching Hospital on 17th January to protest Ikwerre not Igbo and Mbata is acting unanimously on his own hashtags.

It's getting heated

nothing is getting heated, we are an educated generation, if some still thinks they are from Benin we are open to public debate and presentation of recorded history not just imagination.

o42austino:
nothing is getting heated, we are an educated generation, if some still thinks they are from Benin we are open to public debate and presentation of recorded history not just imagination.

I think there are two kindreds in that Ikwerre, the one who are kith and kin with their brothers in Ohaji/Egbema and the kindred that migrated from Bini in around 15th century and got assimilated into Ikwerre land.

It happens in Izzi (Ebonyi as well), the pure Izzi kindred and the Kindred that migrated from Aro, two different dynasties.

The plot of Ikwerre being Bini depends on which leader that is talking, the Kindred he belongs to.

The Wike dynasty may have been the latter migrants who migrated from Bini.

There are two plots here.

But I also believe the ones who joined from Bini on a latter date can't outnumber the original pure blood Ikwerre, it is just unfortunate that Power got to those ones and they tried to tie the original Ikwerre ancestry all to Bini.

Fear Mazi Nnamdi kanu

Igbo metaphysics at play

Damn,Igbo politics can be so elementary... Ikwerre and Igbo parted ways a long time ago. That someone has to be told where they're from by another party ? How does that work again ?

Azuta Mbata from Eneka who collected the title yesterday doesn't even enjoy the confidence of his ppl on that trip he made.

Ikwerre no b Igbo.

Igbos are just looking for every way to prove ikwere is Igbo so they can start claiming River state

Ebubu6:


I think there are two kindreds in that Ikwerre, the one who are kith and kin with their brothers in Ohaji/Egbema and the kindred that migrated from Bini in around 15th century and got assimilated into Ikwerre land.

It happens in Izzi (Ebonyi as well), the pure Izzi kindred and the Kindred that migrated from Aro, two different dynasties.

The plot of Ikwerre being Bini depends on which leader that is talking, the Kindred he belongs to.

The Wike dynasty may have been the latter migrants who migrated from Bini.

There are two plots here.

But I also believe the ones who joined from Bini on a latter date can't outnumber the original pure blood Ikwerre, it is just unfortunate that Power got to those ones and they tried to tie the original Ikwerre ancestry all to Bini.

Ur argument is possible but, lack culture standards, if the Benin people came later and outnumber the aboriginals their must be evidence of their tradition or art still present in today people.

Godwin4444:
Igbos are just looking for every way to prove ikwere is Igbo so they can start claiming River state

ndi Igbo are not proving anything, the first white people that came here are the Portuguese around 1400AD and it's noted in their record that ikwerre people are Igbos and identify as ndi Igbo. Benin started around 1430AD so Igbo are already recorded to be staying in present day rivers long before Benin

o42austino:
U sound educated so let's take history lessons, the Portuguese came to ikwerre land which is igbo in 1400AD and met igbo communities there and their names re igbo names and their villages hv igbo name, the first time people left benin to migrate anywhere according to recorded history was 1430. My question to you are who are the ikwerre people?

Of course, explorers and foreign merchants would definitely meet Igbo communities just about anywhere because in additional to Igbos being itinerant, these areas were commercial/trade centers around the coastal areas which was home to many ethnic groups.

There are documented accounts of the Ikwerres being a distinct group of poeple as observed by German and English explorers in the 1800s. They also observed attempts by Igbos to undermine the culture and languages of these people in these areas, even in these earlier periods.

Attached are excerpts from a few of such accounts.

How all of a sudden, are Ikwerres now Igbos? Their people, elders and documented history keep saying otherwise.

For the argument that Ikwerres began to distance themselves from Igbos after the civil war, the link below is a video of Ikwerres alongside Rivers indigenes protesting against biafra at the early periods of the war, at least TWO years before it ended.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuG2KZfpYPg?si=BMYT6TvBQHoSUiHe

o42austino:
Ur argument is possible but, lack culture standards, if the Benin people came later and outnumber the aboriginals their must be evidence of the tradition

True, there is no cultural evidence. Also I didn't say the Bini latter migrants were multitude enough to swallow the indigenes in culture and language. I said their host were more than them so they got swallowed in culture and language.

NaMe4:


Of course, explorers and foreign merchants would definitely meet Igbo communities just about anywhere because in additional to Igbos being itinerant, these areas were commercial/trade centers around the coastal areas which was home to many ethnic groups.

There are documented accounts of the Ikwerres being a distinct group of poeple as observed by German and English explorers in the 1800s. They also observed attempts by Igbos to undermine the culture and languages of these people in these areas, even in these earlier periods.

Attached are excerpts from a few of such accounts.

How all of a sudden, are Ikwerres now Igbos? Their people and elders keep saying otherwise.

Doctored book. What is the name let's trace the page

NaMe4:


Of course, explorers and foreign merchants would definitely meet Igbo communities just about anywhere because in additional to Igbos being itinerant, these areas were commercial/trade centers around the coastal areas which was home to many ethnic groups.

There are documented accounts of the Ikwerres being a distinct group of poeple as observed by German and English explorers in the 1800s. They also observed attempts by Igbos to undermine the culture and languages of these people in these areas, even in these earlier periods.

Attached are excerpts from a few of such accounts.

How all of a sudden, are Ikwerres now Igbos? Their people, elders and documented history keep saying otherwise.

For the argument that Ikwerres began to distance themselves from Igbos after the civil war, the link below is a video of Ikwerres alongside Rivers indigenes protesting against biafra at the early periods of the war, at least TWO years before it ended.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuG2KZfpYPg?si=BMYT6TvBQHoSUiHe

The train has already left the station.
See the calibre of delegates that was sent to Enugu fully supported and sponsored by the state governor.
The delegates includes two Ikwerre LGA chairmen and a commissioner including other dignitaries from Rivers state government.
Who are you to be making noise on social media?
The question of Ikwerre is sealed.

NaMe4:


Of course, explorers and foreign merchants would definitely meet Igbo communities just about anywhere because in additional to Igbos being itinerant, these areas were commercial/trade centers around the coastal areas which was home to many ethnic groups.

There are documented accounts of the Ikwerres being a distinct group of poeple as observed by German and English explorers in the 1800s. They also observed attempts by Igbos to undermine the culture and languages of these people in these areas, even in these earlier periods.

Attached are excerpts from a few of such accounts.

How all of a sudden, are Ikwerres now Igbos? Their people, elders and documented history keep saying otherwise.

For the argument that Ikwerres began to distance themselves from Igbos after the civil war, the link below is a video of Ikwerres alongside Rivers indigenes protesting against biafra at the early periods of the war, at least TWO years before it ended.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuG2KZfpYPg?si=BMYT6TvBQHoSUiHe

they did not meet Igbo merchants, they met ikwerre people that identified themselves as ndi Igbo and their villages and communities has Igbo names.