gidgiddy: Mbata and Wike are two Ikwerre men from the same LGA. One says he is Igbo, the other said he is not Igbo. Some Ikwerres says they are Igbo, others say they are not. I suspect that those who trace their ancestry to Bini are the ones who say they are not Igbo, who can blame them? They are Bini people, like Wike
The Igbo nation already has enough population, we don't necessarily need more
Indeed! But una de beg for this unity with Ikwerre people too much. Biafra de claim land all the way to the north.
Insightful. Love to see people abreast with history and truth!
One thing I've learnt over time is history can never be hidden. It always manifests itself in various ways, even through the behaviour of individuals and people. It should be perceived as motivation for improvement rather than a burden.
@NaMe4
I appreciate... Indeed what you posted in the bolded resonates deeply with me. We live in a world of cycles (business cycles, product cycles, lunar cycles, etc) and cycles can easily be predicted by studying patterns in world history. People have made millions from simply having a deep knowledge of what happened in the past decades either due to wars or due to stock market crashes.
DNA testing results from DNA testing companies such as 23andme and AncestryDNA have ALSO revealed a lot about the human past hence corroborating OR disputing some historical narratives and this segues right into what you posted here that "history ALWAYS manifests itself in various ways." Last but not least, you may wish to read my original post again (which I've just re-edited and corrected due to some annoying typographic errors I detected a few minutes ago).
So, Brazilians are Portuguese because they both speak Portugese? Mexicans are Spaniards because they both speak Spanish? Americans are British because they both speak English? Egyptians are Saudis because they both speak Arabic?
No body is forcing anybody. If Ikwerre man's language is same as that of an Owerri or Umuahia man but he claims not to be Igbo. The Owerri or Umuahia man will surely be confused but will only keep silent and walk away considering the Ikwerre man a fool.
Absolutely well said. The original folks who constitute the Ikwerres claim NOT to be Igbos, but it's a historical fact that during the slave trade, some Aros and their allies settled among the Ikwerres and Ijaws to facilitate that insidious trade in human slaves who the Aros brought from the interior Igbo areas. The folks who descend from the Aros know themselves but are in the minority. The Ogbakor Ikwerre Worldwide which was founded in 1963 (before the 2 years and 6 months Nigerian Civil War of July 1967 to January 1970) have since 1963 emphasized that they are distinct from the interior Igbos and also affirmed in the January 9 2025 Press Release video right BELOW that they NOT Igbos but of the Ikwerre ethnic nationality which is known to the Nigerian constitution.
TODAY AT OGBAKOR IKWERE PRESS CONFRENCE! IPOB IGBOS WILL LEARN IN THE HARD WAY
Did you know that Alex Otti, the current Abia State Governor is also of Aro descent whose ancestor migrated from Arochukwu in Abia State and settled in the Aba region in the 1800s? He actually said this himself in an interview he granted to Punch newspaper in the 2010s when he wanted to contest under a different political party. He went on to say that their was some resistance to his becoming a Governor then because he was of Aro descent. He further claimed that the Aros and Ibibio migrants of centuries back in the Aba axis constituted about 10% of the population while the Ngwas who migrated from Mbaise in Imo State were in the majority in the Ngwa/Aba area.
I remember that interview because of my gravitation towards advanced world history for decades now and I have a fascination with how the Aros evolved (from the original Ibibio settlement of 400 years ago) and went about organizing small colonies in areas outside their enclave while engaging in the notorious slave trade of majorly Igbos of the interior and more.
Oga, you are wrong. Absolutely wrong in your narrative. I'm not here to argue with you about ikwerre this or that....but to correct you. IGBOS are not forcing ikwerres to become Igbo, is just that they have something that belongs to the IGBOS that will alway make IGBOS come for them. The Land, language, cities and individual names ,customs and traditions. You claim to know history but you haven't read about the 1954 supreme court declaration of port Harcourt as Igbo land. During when the IGBOS and ijaws were tustling for the ownership of port Harcourt. By then ikwerres fully identified and aligned with the hinterland IGBOS. The ikwerres that are denying and touting IGBOS do not know the gravity of what they are doing.
They don't know they are currently at war with the IGBOS. In politics, issues that cannot be settle in a round table, will definitely be settled at the war front. Akalala their ancestor which they claimed that came from bini bears Igbo name. He was returning to Igbo land (presently ikwerre) from slavery which he was condemned to in bini. Port Harcourt is very important to the IGBOS. When the time comes those that do not identify with IGBOS will be send back to bini where they came from. If you are not Igbo, you are definitely a nuisances in Igbo land.
Do you want to tell me that those slave returnees that are currently lagosians but still bearing Portuguese and labanese names in Lagos are not Yoruba?
Or you want to tell me that Rumuokoro, Rumuola, Rumuji, isi-okpo, Rumuodomanya, elele nta, elele ugwu, Rumuigbo etc are bini names. For your information, cities name shows the kind of people that were there in the earliest time. Although most of these nam have been altered, But we still have their original name it in our achives. Obigbo is now oyigbo, the R have been added to Umu, and Obi-akpor has become Obio/akpor. I can go on and on....but for time sake. IGBOS knows where their boundary end. Go and ask an elderly okirika man, he will always tell you that ikwerres are IGBOS who came from south central part of Igbo many centuries ago, in search of farmland, and they eventually settled in their presents location.
So oga, don't intrude into issues you know little or nothing about.
Oga, you are wrong. Absolutely wrong in your narrative. I'm not here to argue with you about ikwerre this or that....but to correct you. IGBOS are not forcing ikwerres to become Igbo, is just that they have something that belongs to the IGBOS that will alway make IGBOS come for them. The Land, language, cities and individual names ,customs and traditions. You claim that know history but you haven't read about the 1954 supreme court declaration of port Harcourt as Igbo land. During when the IGBOS and ijaws were tustling for the ownership of port Harcourt. By then ikwerres fully identified and aligned with the hinterland IGBOS. The ikwerres that are denying and touting IGBOS do not know the gravity of what they are doing. They don't know they are currently at war with the IGBOS. In politics, issues that cannot be settle in a round table, will definitely be settled at the war front. Akalala their ancestor which they claimed that came from bini bears Igbo name. He was returning to Igbo land (presently ikwerre) from slavery which he was condemned to in bini. Port Harcourt is very important to the IGBOS. When the time comes those that do not identify with IGBOS will be send back to bini where they came from. If you are not Igbo, you are definitely a nuisances in Igbo land.
Do you want to tell me that those slave returnees that are currently lagoscians but still bearing Portuguese and labanese names in Lagos are not Yoruba?
Or you want to tell me that Rumuokoro, RumuOla, Rumuji, isi-okpo, Rumuodomanya, elele nta, elele ugwu, Rumuigbo etc are bini names. For your information, cities name shows the kind of people that were there in the earliest time. Although most of these nam have been altered, But we still have it in our achives. IGBOS knows where their boundary end. Go and ask an elderly okirika man, he will always tell you that ikwerres are IGBOS who came from south central part of Igbo many centuries ago, in search of farmland, and they eventually settled in their presents location.
So oga, don't intrude into issues you know little or nothing about.
crazy way to think is to think anybody owes you anything in this world.... you are askin for endless fights....
we speakin english doesnt mean we have any claim to british.... they owe us but not this way....
Absolutely well said. The original folks who constitute the Ikwerres claim NOT to be Igbos, but it's a historical fact that during the slave trade, some Aros and their allies settled among the Ikwerres and Ijaws to facilitate that insidious trade in human slaves who the Aros brought from the interior Igbo areas. The folks who descend from the Aros know themselves but are in the minority. The Ogbakor Ikwerre Worldwide which was founded in 1963 (before the 2 years and 6 months Nigerian Civil War of July 1967 to January 1970) have since 1963 emphasized that they are distinct from the interior Igbos and also affirmed in the January 9 2025 Press Release video right BELOW that they NOT Igbos but of the Ikwerre ethnic nationality which is known to the Nigerian constitution.
TODAY AT OGBAKOR IKWERE PRESS CONFRENCE! IPOB IGBOS WILL LEARN IN THE HARD WAY
Did you know that Alex Otti, the current Abia State Governor is also of Aro descent whose ancestor migrated from Arochukwu in Abia State and settled in the Aba region in the 1800s? He actually said this himself in an interview he granted to Punch newspaper in the 2010s when he wanted to contest under a different political party. He went on to say that their was some resistance to his becoming a Governor then because he was of Aro descent. He further claimed that the Aros and Ibibio migrants of centuries back in the Aba axis constituted about 10% of the population while the Ngwas who migrated from Mbaise in Imo State were in the majority in the Ngwa/Aba area.
I remember that interview because of my gravitation towards advanced world history for decades now and I have a fascination with how the Aros evolved (from the original Ibibio settlement of 400 years ago) and went about organizing small colonies in areas outside their enclave while engaging in the notorious slave trade of majorly Igbos of the interior and more.
interesting stuff Chief. Very fascinating. What has been hidden in darkness surely is coming to light because of brilliant researchers like yourself, respect to you my kind Sir 🙌
Bede2u: The indigenous population of Brazil are less than 3%. The vast majority (97%) are of African or European decent. Majority of the European (White) Brazilians come from Portugal. Just as majority of Australians come from UK So what is the mother tongue of Ikwere people? I can tell you now that as an igbo man I can understand 'Ikwere' 100% I won't respond to you again because your arguments are childish and I don't have time for inconsequential talk with a toddler.
Toddler you say! When they're defeated by superior arguments, they resort to insults.
chucky101: So, Brazilians are Portuguese because they both speak Portugese? Mexicans are Spaniards because they both speak Spanish? Americans are British because they both speak English? Egyptians are Saudis because they both speak Arabic?
Tochitee: Two pains the ibos will continue to pass down from generations to generations! 1. Gowon with the help of awolowo stopping ojuku and his people from dominating the south south and snatching them from ibos domination of their oil! 2. Tinubu pummelling them with all the lies and propangandas against him in the latr election!
As long as it's Nigeria dominating their oil all is well abi🤔
You are not exactly right. A man who knows his ancestry is telling you that he is not Igbo and you are saying another thing. Wike's father is alive and knows where they came from. Rivers State is far from been homogeneous.
They are not Igbos, but they speak the same language, oga rest.
Oga, you are wrong. Absolutely wrong in your narrative. I'm not here to argue with you about ikwerre this or that....but to correct you. IGBOS are not forcing ikwerres to become Igbo, is just that they have something that belongs to the IGBOS that will alway make IGBOS come for them. The Land, language, cities and individual names ,customs and traditions. You claim to know history but you haven't read about the 1954 supreme court declaration of port Harcourt as Igbo land. During when the IGBOS and ijaws were tustling for the ownership of port Harcourt. By then ikwerres fully identified and aligned with the hinterland IGBOS. The ikwerres that are denying and touting IGBOS do not know the gravity of what they are doing.
They don't know they are currently at war with the IGBOS. In politics, issues that cannot be settle in a round table, will definitely be settled at the war front. Akalala their ancestor which they claimed that came from bini bears Igbo name. He was returning to Igbo land (presently ikwerre) from slavery which he was condemned to in bini. Port Harcourt is very important to the IGBOS. When the time comes those that do not identify with IGBOS will be send back to bini where they came from. If you are not Igbo, you are definitely a nuisances in Igbo land.
Do you want to tell me that those slave returnees that are currently lagosians but still bearing Portuguese and labanese names in Lagos are not Yoruba?
Or you want to tell me that Rumuokoro, Rumuola, Rumuji, isi-okpo, Rumuodomanya, elele nta, elele ugwu, Rumuigbo etc are bini names. For your information, cities name shows the kind of people that were there in the earliest time. Although most of these nam have been altered, But we still have their original name it in our achives. Obigbo is now oyigbo, the R have been added to Umu, and Obi-akpor has become Obio/akpor. I can go on and on....but for time sake. IGBOS knows where their boundary end. Go and ask an elderly okirika man, he will always tell you that ikwerres are IGBOS who came from south central part of Igbo many centuries ago, in search of farmland, and they eventually settled in their presents location.
So oga, don't intrude into issues you know little or nothing about.
Oga, you are wrong. Absolutely wrong in your narrative. I'm not here to argue with you about ikwerre this or that....but to correct you. IGBOS are not forcing ikwerres to become Igbo, is just that they have something that belongs to the IGBOS that will alway make IGBOS come for them. The Land, language, cities and individual names ,customs and traditions.
You claim to know history but you haven't read about the 1954 supreme court declaration of port Harcourt as Igbo land. During when the IGBOS and ijaws were tustling for the ownership of port Harcourt. By then ikwerres fully identified and aligned with the hinterland IGBOS. The ikwerres that are denying and touting IGBOS do not know the gravity of what they are doing.
They don't know they are currently at war with the IGBOS. In politics, issues that cannot be settle in a round table, will definitely be settled at the war front. Akalala their ancestor which they claimed that came from bini bears Igbo name. He was returning to Igbo land (presently ikwerre) from slavery which he was condemned to in bini. Port Harcourt is very important to the IGBOS. When the time comes those that do not identify with IGBOS will be send back to bini where they came from. If you are not Igbo, you are definitely a nuisances in Igbo land.
Do you want to tell me that those slave returnees that are currently lagosians but still bearing Portuguese and labanese names in Lagos are not Yoruba?
Or you want to tell me that Rumuokoro, Rumuola, Rumuji, isi-okpo, Rumuodomanya, elele nta, elele ugwu, Rumuigbo etc are bini names. For your information, cities name shows the kind of people that were there in the earliest time. Although most of these nam have been altered, But we still have their original name it in our achives. Obigbo is now oyigbo, the R have been added to Umu, and Obi-akpor has become Obio/akpor. I can go on and on....but for time sake.
IGBOS knows where their boundary end. Go and ask an elderly okirika man, he will always tell you that ikwerres are IGBOS who came from south central part of Igbo many centuries ago, in search of farmland, and they eventually settled in their presents location
So oga, don't intrude into issues you know little or nothing about.
I will deal with some specifics here and give succinct keypoints with CLEAR videos and Weblinks as evidence. I CLEARLY stated in an earlier thread post on the page before this one that both Ebiras and Akoko Edos (Akoko Edos are ancestrally largely related to the Ebiras of Kogi State) of Northern Edo State share common land boundaries with the indigenous Okun-Yorubas of Kogi State and Akokoland in Ondo State. These ethnic groups speak Yoruba language and some bear Yoruba names due to acculturation and intermarriages with the Yorubas who are more than 60 million people worldwide, BUT you will NEVER find Yorubas claiming them in bogus expansionism because the Ebiras and Akoko Edo have their own distinct languages and cultures! There are many cases of ACCULTURATIONS around the North and South of Nigeria and the world.
First off, I lived in Port Harcourt and worked with a major multinational oil and gas company back in the 1990s right into the 2000s. So, I'm well-informed about the historical geopolitical dynamics of Port Harcourt and Rivers State. My first contact with Ikwerre folks was back in the 1980s with 2 buddies of mine who are individually prominent or well-known today from a very prominent Ikwerre family in PH. ALL the Ikwerre folks that I knew in PH told me they are NOT Igbos and I did ask how they came to bear Igboid names and some similarities in culture. Acculturation was the reason given
An Ikwerre friend of mine who's based in Lagos (He's now in his early 70s) told me just over a decade ago that he is Ikwerre NOT Igbo, though he's married to a woman from Imo. He told me how Nigerian Federal troops liberated Ikwerres from the repression of secessionist rebels because he was right in Port Harcourt region as of May 1968 when the city was liberated. On the other hand, a young man I knew in PH back then in the late 1990s who wasn't even from Rivers State but originally from Imo State got so impulsively irritated and volatile while angrily insisting that Ikwerres are "Igbos."Even after I left Port Harcourt and Rivers State down the road, I never forgot Rivers State and the intelligent, beautiful Ikwerre, Okrika, and Ogoni friends and other who left positive imprints on my mind. So, contrary to that last paragraph you IGNORANTLY posted, I very well have a RIGHT to "INTRUDE" into the issues and history of the Ikwerre people. YOU DON'T tell me what to get involved with or NOT! Right from 1981 till date, I've had a vast body of knowledge of advanced Nigerian history with massive collections of rare historical and archival materials in my home library and some of them are rare history books purchased in England (including old colonial records published before 1900)
Historically, [b]as far back as 1956, the Ikwerres along with other ethnic minorities were part of the "Calabar-Ogoja-Rivers Movement" (OR COR Movement) demanding for a separation from alleged Igbo domination in the Old Eastern Region. The Southern Cameroonians NEVER hid the fact that they left the Old Eastern Region for Cameroon in 1963 because of perceived Igbo domination of other groups. As of 1963, the Ikwerres FINALLY established a new umbrella socio-cultural group named "Ogbakor Ikwerre Worldwide" with E. J. A Oriji as the pioneer Chairman and CLEARLY emphasized that they are NOT Igbos but of the Ikwerre ethnic nationality. This was way back in 1963 before the exactly 30 months Nigerian Civil War ever started in July 1967 to January 1970. (This wasn't a case of "denial" after the Civil War ended as alleged by highly ill-educated young groups of ipob Igbo members online and offline). It happened in 1963 right BEFORE the Nigerian Civil War. As of today, the Nigerian constitution recognizes the Ikwerre ethnic nationality as a distinct group[/b] in Rivers State.
In the 2016 NL thread BELOW that was created by an Ikwerre NL member, he detailed out exerpts from a biography book about Captain Elechi Amadi, a Nigerian Civil War veteran who served in Nigerian Army's 3rd Marine Commando Division:
As of the commencement of the construction of modern Port Harcourt, it was located at Rebisi, but expanded to incorporate neighboring villages, which include those from Ogoni and Okrika villages. Lord Frederick Lugard founded Port Harcourt originally at the Ikwerre and Ijaw settlement areas previously called Rebisi. (Years later this place became the epicenter of clashes over land ownership and court cases). Umuahia and Enugu were also founded by Lord Lugard around the same time frame as Port Harcourt.
There's NO doubt, people such as Azuta Mbata and the lawyer Uche Okwukwu (who I see from his recent video interviews to be an irredentist based on some of his highly volatile or incendiary comments) align with an "Igbo" identity. I have it on record from direct Ikwerre sources that some of those who claim to be Igbo in Ikwerreland are either of Aro settler descent or have Igbo mothers which are responsible for them identifying as Igbos. The core OGBAKOR IKWERE Worldwide STRONGLY affirmed in the Press Conference video of January 9, 2025 that Ikwerres are officially and legally recognized as a distinct ethnic nationality and any attempt to violently undo that status quo by especially the ipob Igbo with the relentless expansionist agenda against the Ikwerres in PH and environs, and the Benin-Edos, the Esan-Edos, the Ijaws, etc, will be met with very severe consequences.We've seen some viral videos of highly irresponsible young ipob Igbo members openly threatening to include OR annex the homelands of the Ikwerres, Benin-Edos, Isan-Edos, Ijaw communities, parts of Igalaland, etc, into the rest of Igbo land claiming those land as Igboland. These have led to a strong backlash of videos from angry male and female Edos from Benin, Esan, and Ijaws vowing to deal with Igbos in retaliation for the relentless unprovoked aggressions and toxic hate speech henceforth. All these have definitely been triggered by the hate videos created and uploaded online by highly irresponsible Igbo ipob aggressors. Those who FAIL to learn from verifiable history will learn the very hard way. Period.
[b]I DON’T HAVE ISSUES WITH IGBOS, I’M AN UNREPENTANT IKWERRE MAN
Last but not least, NO single Yoruba returnees and their descendants (from Brazil, Cuba, Sierra Leone, etc) to Eko Island (Lagos Island) OR Abeokuta from the mid to late-1800s bears a "Lebanese" name (sic) like you incorrectly stated in your post. What they have are Spanish surnames for returnees from Cuba, Portuguese-Brazilian surnames, British surnames for Yoruba returnees from the United States (such as the Vaughan and Jackson families) and Sierra Leone, the former British Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, etc.
As part of a wave of African nationalism, some Yoruba returnees from Brazil and elsewhere dropped their foreign names (such as the famous Prince of the Egba-Yoruba Royal family lineage of Abeokuta, Sir. Adeyemo Alakija, who founded Daily Times newspaper and he was the FIRST Nigerian to become a Queen's Counsel (QC) who dropped his old names after returning from his law studies in London to Nigeria in the 1910s. His former Brazilian name was Placido Adeyemo Asumpcao). Sir. Adeyemo Alakija is the direct patriarch of the lawyer, Modupe Alakija (the spouse of the Ikorodu, Lagos indigene and business mogul, Mrs. Folorunso Alakija).[/b]
Caseless: Indeed! But una de beg for this unity with Ikwerre people too much. Biafra de claim land all the way to the north.
First nothing concerns Biafra in this discussion. We are not begging for Ikwere unity but Igbo unity. There are many Igbo of Ikwere stock there must be respected. Those Ikwere is Ikwere must be respected. But making noise to undermine those who recognise their Igbo heritage will not be tolerated.
I will deal with some specifics here and give succinct keypoints with CLEAR videos and Weblinks as evidence. I CLEARLY stated in an earlier thread post on the page before this one that both Ebiras and Akoko Edos (Akoko Edos are ancestrally largely related to the Ebiras of Kogi State) of Northern Edo State share common land boundaries with the indigenous Okun-Yorubas of Kogi State and Akokoland in Ondo State. These ethnic groups speak Yoruba language and some bear Yoruba names due to acculturation and intermarriages with the Yorubas who are more than 60 million people worldwide, BUT you will NEVER find Yorubas claiming them in bogus expansionism because the Ebiras and Akoko Edo have their own distinct languages and cultures! There are many cases of ACCULTURATIONS around the North and South of Nigeria and the world.
First off, I lived in Port Harcourt and worked with a major multinational oil and gas company back in the 1990s right into the 2000s. So, I'm well-informed about the historical geopolitical dynamics of Port Harcourt and Rivers State. My first contact with Ikwerre folks was back in the 1980s with 2 buddies of mine who are individually prominent or well-known today from a very prominent Ikwerre family in PH. ALL the Ikwerre folks that I knew in PH told me they are NOT Igbos and I did ask how they came to bear Igboid names and some similarities in culture. Acculturation was the reason given
An Ikwerre friend of mine who's based in Lagos (He's now in his early 70s) told me just over a decade ago that he is Ikwerre NOT Igbo, though he's married to a woman from Imo. He told me how Nigerian Federal troops liberated Ikwerres from the repression of secessionist rebels because he was right in Port Harcourt region as of May 1968 when the city was liberated. On the other hand, a young man I knew in PH back then in the late 1990s who wasn't even from Rivers State but originally from Imo State got so impulsively irritated and volatile while angrily insisting that Ikwerres are "Igbos."Even after I left Port Harcourt and Rivers State down the road, I never forgot Rivers State and the intelligent, beautiful Ikwerre, Okrika, and Ogoni friends and other who left positive imprints on my mind. So, contrary to that last paragraph you IGNORANTLY posted, I very well have a RIGHT to "INTRUDE" into the issues and history of the Ikwerre people. YOU DON'T tell me what to get involved with or NOT! Right from 1981 till date, I've had a vast body of knowledge of advanced Nigerian history with massive collections of rare historical and archival materials in my home library and some of them are rare history books purchased in England (including old colonial records published before 1900)
Historically, [b]as far back as 1956, the Ikwerres along with other ethnic minorities were part of the "Calabar-Ogoja-Rivers Movement" (OR COR Movement) demanding for a separation from alleged Igbo domination in the Old Eastern Region. The Southern Cameroonians NEVER hid the fact that they left the Old Eastern Region for Cameroon in 1963 because of perceived Igbo domination of other groups. As of 1963, the Ikwerres FINALLY established a new umbrella socio-cultural group named "Ogbakor Ikwerre Worldwide" with E. J. A Oriji as the pioneer Chairman and CLEARLY emphasized that they are NOT Igbos but of the Ikwerre ethnic nationality. This was way back in 1963 before the exactly 30 months Nigerian Civil War ever started in July 1967 to January 1970. (This wasn't a case of "denial" after the Civil War ended as alleged by highly ill-educated young groups of ipob Igbo members online and offline). It happened in 1963 right BEFORE the Nigerian Civil War. As of today, the Nigerian constitution recognizes the Ikwerre ethnic nationality as a distinct group[/b] in Rivers State.
In the 2016 NL thread BELOW that was created by an Ikwerre NL member, he detailed out exerpts from a biography book about Captain Elechi Amadi, a Nigerian Civil War veteran who served in Nigerian Army's 3rd Marine Commando Division:
As of the commencement of the construction of modern Port Harcourt, it was located at Rebisi, but expanded to incorporate neighboring villages, which include those from Ogoni and Okrika villages. Lord Frederick Lugard founded Port Harcourt originally at the Ikwerre and Ijaw settlement areas previously called Rebisi. (Years later this place became the epicenter of clashes over land ownership and court cases). Umuahia and Enugu were also founded by Lord Lugard around the same time frame as Port Harcourt.
There's NO doubt, people such as Azuta Mbata and the lawyer Uche Okwukwu (who I see from his recent video interviews to be an irredentist based on some of his highly volatile or incendiary comments) align with an "Igbo" identity. I have it on record from direct Ikwerre sources that some of those who claim to be Igbo in Ikwerreland are either of Aro settler descent or have Igbo mothers which are responsible for them identifying as Igbos. The core OGBAKOR IKWERE Worldwide STRONGLY affirmed in the Press Conference video of January 9, 2025 that Ikwerres are officially and legally recognized as a distinct ethnic nationality and any attempt to violently undo that status quo by especially the ipob Igbo with the relentless expansionist agenda against the Ikwerres in PH and environs, and the Benin-Edos, the Esan-Edos, the Ijaws, etc, will be met with very severe consequences.We've seen some viral videos of highly irresponsible young ipob Igbo members openly threatening to include OR annex the homelands of the Ikwerres, Benin-Edos, Isan-Edos, Ijaw communities, parts of Igalaland, etc, into the rest of Igbo land claiming those land as Igboland. These have led to a strong backlash of videos from angry male and female Edos from Benin, Esan, and Ijaws vowing to deal with Igbos in retaliation for the relentless unprovoked aggressions and toxic hate speech henceforth. All these have definitely been triggered by the hate videos created and uploaded online by highly irresponsible Igbo ipob aggressors. Those who FAIL to learn from verifiable history will learn the very hard way. Period.
[b]I DON’T HAVE ISSUES WITH IGBOS, I’M AN UNREPENTANT IKWERRE MAN
Last but not least, NO single Yoruba returnees and their descendants (from Brazil, Cuba, Sierra Leone, etc) to Eko Island (Lagos Island) OR Abeokuta from the mid to late-1800s bears a "Lebanese" name (sic) like you incorrectly stated in your post. What they have are Spanish surnames for returnees from Cuba, Portuguese-Brazilian surnames, British surnames for Yoruba returnees from the United States (such as the Vaughan and Jackson families) and Sierra Leone, the former British Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, etc.
As part of a wave of African nationalism, some Yoruba returnees from Brazil and elsewhere dropped their foreign names (such as the famous Prince of the Egba-Yoruba Royal family lineage of Abeokuta, Sir. Adeyemo Alakija, who founded Daily Times newspaper and he was the FIRST Nigerian to become a Queen's Counsel (QC) who dropped his old names after returning from his law studies in London to Nigeria in the 1910s. His former Brazilian name was Placido Adeyemo Asumpcao). Sir. Adeyemo Alakija is the direct patriarch of the lawyer, Modupe Alakija (the spouse of the Ikorodu, Lagos indigene and business mogul, Mrs. Folorunso Alakija).[/b]
@ Konquest
I do wonder what you benefits from this rift. You didn't say anything about the community names I mentioned in my earlier post. The establishment of ogbakor ikwerre in 1963 was not to identify as a distinct ethnic group as you claim, rather it was for political mobilization. There was similar groups like that among various Igbo subgroup. Like the orlu progressive union.
Elechi Amadi that you mentioned, registered in the Nigerian army as Igbo man. He only started fabricating lies when he saw that IGBOS were no longer in advantageous position in Nigeria after the civil war. I lived in ikwerre land for decades and I can tell you emphatically that there is no doubt that some individual might have migrated from bini centuries ago. Those set of individuals are at the minority. They eventually rose among the elites in new rivers state after the war, and generalized that all ikwerres are not Igbo. I really don't blame them for their misguided attitude because during the war, the Nigerian grand design was to wipe out the entire Igbo race. So it was logical and justifiable to deny being Igbo at that time.
for your information, Elechi Amadi hails from a village called mbodo, which means 'foreigners' in Igbo language.in the olden days, that village was often segregated among the near by community. they were always the last to participatew in community rites. What do you expect from someone from that community? Aro that you mentioned. Do you know the history of Aro in lkwerre land? Do you know that Aros were in that land before the arrived of the so called akalala from bini?
IGBOS do not really need ikwerres for anything provided they let go of what belongs to the IGBOS that they have. If you are in Lagos or southwest, you should know better that an average Igbo man don't give a dime about ikwerre being Igbo or not. Just as I said before, anyone who is not Igbo is definitely a nuisance. Port Harcourt is to IGBOS what Lagos is to Yorubas. I know many ikwerres that proudly identify as Igbo. This is a photo of an ikwerre chief back then in the early 1900s. Before independence.
Bede2u: if you know of a local government in this our one Nigeria that speaks your language 100% and follows your customary practices but says they have 'nothing' to do with you, won't you find it strange? That's what's happening here bro, nothing to do with oil or Biafra. I never hear say Enugu man steal Imo state oil. Even Ebonyi that accepts being Igbo said they are not part of Biafra. Ikwere can be Igbo and still refuse to be part of Biafra or share their oil with SE. We have more oil in SE than ALL ikwere local government areas combined, not to even talk about gas.
: for the record ikweres no get oil for river state. They are parasite in River state, they have the biggest land. Simply put they're what Northern Nigeria is to Southern Nigeria. They contribute nothing to River state just using their numbers to oppress other minorities in the State. And this number is aided because of other Igbos speaking ppl
