Ebubu:
Some of their leaders prefer grouping Anioma as SS state.

It can't fly. Because SS has 6 states already while SE has 5 states only. Do they want to have 7 SS states whereas SW with two Presidents have only 6 states. Do they want to have 7 states like North West the owners of Nigeria? Inequality is trying to be solved by giving SE 6 states and you're trying to create more inequality. If that's the only way to go about it they will jeopardise the Anioma state dream and it becomes an unrealistic dream once again, filled with dust and kept in the shelf by the Presidency.

Declaring Anioma can come to the SE but will never be part of IPOB or Biafra or pro-secession would be better. About not having historic ties with SE, that does not matter. There are legitimate Igala communities in Anambra and Enugu states.

Donarozzi:


Blood is thicker than water. Bonny and Opobo people know deep inside their hearts that they are Igbo. The Igbo nation will never wage a war in order to unify any Igbo tribe with the larger Igbo populace. And when it comes to Igbo unification, there shall be no referendum because a referendum in this situation is an insulting vote that questions the Igboness of an authentic Igbo tribe and as such gives a section of Igbo people a mischievous chance to decide whether to opt in or opt out of the Igbo nation. Referendum does not determine where a tribe truly belongs.

What Igbo leadership needs to do is to reach out and have a brotherly dialogue with the people of Bonny and Opobo, embrace them in concrete terms as part of the Igbo nation, ask them to disregard the fraudulent political narrative that ascribes their origin to a different nation, engage them in a debate on their origin using linguistic, sociocultural and historical records, encourage them to uphold the Igbo language as a sacred ancestral inheritance which points to their true origin, advise them to ward off any ideology that threatens to supplant the Igbo language with a different language, embolden them to assert their Igbo identity by giving their children Igbo names and by taking the Nze na Ozo titles, and cordially empower them with strategic positions in various Igbo organizations.

AlexBells:
I may be a gentle person but you need to read the handwriting on the wall. My people is not going to let Opobo and Bonny go without a fight. That’s a fact. If BNL is fighting in Bakassi, what makes you think there will be no war in Bonny and Opobo. Like someone like me I try to seek humanity first. You can’t think that a people that have been facing Nigerian military and police will think twice before matching to Opobo and Bonny, reasonable people need to go for humanity we have it all it won’t be funny if peace fails.

AlexBells:

The narratives you gave is those of history, when you are ready to give those of war, I would take you serious. History and blood ancestry is nothing when the battle line is drawn. The question is would you be willing to enlist to fight for Bonny and Opobo. Nobody really cares about reason but the ability to take by force.

AlexBells:

Opobo, Bonny situation would be settled when the time is right. For now we have the Federal Republic of Nigeria as a gift from our heroes and ancestors. If the division of Nigeria becomes eminent in our time. Then There are three workable option in Opobo and Bonny. The Ijaws can keep Bonny while we keep Opobo. Both Opobo and Bonny becomes independent city states or a war option whereby we seize both Opobo and Bonny and take even more land. Peace is the best. I know that both Opobo and Bonny have both Igbo and Ijaw heritage of a truths but if they try to be selfish then we seize both and more

AlexBells:

Opobo, Bonny situation would be settled when the time is right. For now we have the Federal Republic of Nigeria as a gift from our heroes and ancestors. If the division of Nigeria becomes eminent in our time. Then There are three workable option in Opobo and Bonny. The Ijaws can keep Bonny while we keep Opobo. Both Opobo and Bonny becomes independent city states or a war option whereby we seize both Opobo and Bonny and take even more land. Peace is the best. I know that both Opobo and Bonny have both Igbo and Ijaw heritage of a truths but if they try to be selfish then we seize both and more

AlexBells:

Opobo, Bonny situation would be settled when the time is right. For now we have the Federal Republic of Nigeria as a gift from our heroes and ancestors. If the division of Nigeria becomes eminent in our time. Then There are three workable option in Opobo and Bonny. The Ijaws can keep Bonny while we keep Opobo. Both Opobo and Bonny becomes independent city states or a war option whereby we seize both Opobo and Bonny and take even more land. Peace is the best. I know that both Opobo and Bonny have both Igbo and Ijaw heritage of a truths but if they try to be selfish then we seize both and more

AlexBells:

Well as at today there is really an ongoing assault to our enterprises, industry and technology. It may attract maximum retaliation but I prefer the part King Jaja of Opobo took when his empire was threatened in Bonny, he left quietly and found Opobo, I guess from now you could see where I’m going, we are heading and staying back to build AlaIgbo.

deekseen:
My friend, @AlexBells

A very peaceful resolution is very possible. It is evident from our positions on this thread that the Igbos don't have much grounds as to why either Opobo or Bonny should belong to them.

If King Jaja of Opobo and the Igbo dialect are the main points from Alaigbo, then what about the people, the culture, the land?

A whole ethnic tribe cannot be handed over to another because of one man who introduced his language to his subjects, and because they loved and reverenced him decided to adopt it.

As a matter of fact, a whole ethnic tribe cannot be subject to being slaves to the distant descendants of the slave they chose to be their king.

Igboid:
But the question is: Should Ndiigbo also be worried about Amaechi emergence?

The answer to the above question is Yes and No!
If Amaechi is contesting as an Ikwerre/Rivers man or South South man, then Ndiigbo should have no cause for alarm.
But if he is going to compete under the pretense of being Igbo, then every well meaning Igbo should be worried and must fight against that.

Igboid:
Bkayy.
Our ancestors were truly a special breed of people.
Igbo di egwu, di omimi ma dikwa ebube.

Pecuman:


Igbo bu Igbo

They are all real Igbos and no one is more Igbo than the other

bigfrancis21:
For what is is, Ika is simply an Igbo dialect with Bini loan words and sometimes Bini inflections, the Bini influence thereof being due to massive settlers from Edoid areas in Ika land. This phenomenon of bini families settling in Ika land was noted by a writer in one of his books I do not remember currently. Thus those Ika people with Bini surnames who are anywhere between 10% to 25% of Ikas may be right after all when they say they[the settlers] are from Bini but it is wrong to drag the 'ndi nwe ana' or entire Ika people (those with Igbo surnames) into their Bini ancestry tirade. If these settlers care so much about their bini ancestry, would it not be reasonable for them to return back to Edo state? I am sure that the Oba of Bini would gladly welcome these Edoid returnees back after so many centuries.

Yujin:
It's so funny how some people wish to perpetuate this Benin origin for a lot of communities in Anioma.

frankdoz28:
Aniocha, Ndokwa, Ika and Oshimilli are Igbo people and nothing can change it. Our Ancestral igbo state is known as Anioma. They forced us into delta state and that's why today if they want to call us they will refer to us as Delta-Igbos meaning the Igbos in delta state.
But today it is a pity and very shameful to see some Ika people saying they are not Igbos all because they want to answer Niger-Delta which they don't even know the meaning; some even claim to be bini of which they don't even understand come in bini language. How can you be speaking bia which is an igbo dialect and be claiming bini? are you normal? How can you be bearing an igbo name and you are claiming bini? are you sure you are okay?
If you are one of such Ika people who deny their igbo identity my dear it is high time you wake up from ignorance and tell yourself some truth. can a Yoruba man give birth to a child and give him or her an igbo name? No! Then ask yourself why our parents in Ika are always giving their children an igbo names.
I am proudly Nwa-Aba from Abavo kingdom.
Udo diri unu........

Bkayyy:

The only part of anioma that Ndigbo have a high chance of getting is Enuani. As for the ika part, it is as good as gone. The Nigerian lawyers have enough evidence based on the views of contemporary inhabitants to prove that they are not Igbos even if most of them would be crying and shouting at home that time.
All the quotes by their politicians, groups and notable individuals will be used as evidence that day

AjaanaOka:


Interesting. I've suspected for sometime now that Oye (Yoruba), Ogie (Benin), Ovie (Urhobo) and Eze (Igbo) are cognates, despite Eze looking nothing like the rest.

This suspicion was strengthened when I read Dr Blench's reconstruction of proto-Igboid, where he postulated that in the proto-Igboid stage of Igbo linguistic evolution, Eze was Eje. The interchangeability of Z and J is well-known. Examples: Izon/Ijọ, Oja/Oza (market in Yoruba and Olukumi), Nzele/Njele (titled men in different parts of Anioma, Ezomo/Ojomo (war title in Benin and Eastern Yoruba); and, taking an example from Indo-European, Zeus-Pater/Jupiter (the head of the Indo-European pantheon in Greek and Latin).

With this knowlege, the relationship is easier to see:

Oche (Idoma) - Oye (Yoruba) - Ovie (Urhobo/Isoko) - Ogie (Benin) - Oje (Esan) - Eje (Blench's Proto-Igboid) - Eze (modern Igbo)

It is highly unlikely that the proto-YEAI ancestor of these words meant 'king'. The neolithic small-scale society of the proto-YEAI period of our history probably didn't have kings, and thus no words for it.

It is more likely that the word was used for distinguished men that commanded respect. Much, much, later after proto-YEAI had diverged into its daughter language groups(Yoruboid, Edoid, Akokoid, Igboid) and some of those groups had gone on to develop mini-states and kingdoms, new words were either coined for 'king' (e.g., oba, obi, etc), or the old word underwent semantic change to accommodate the novel institution.

E2easy:


You people are really funny! You claim to be Esan and you don’t even know your origin. Even Nnamdi Azikwe said “the reason why the Onitcha people are so proud and claim superiority to other Igbo tribes , it is because Onitcha were descendant of the Royal palace of Benin”

Kirigidi:
Mr man, you that is from South East cannot tell an Agbor man his history because you are not from there.

RareDiamonds:
Delta Igbos are Igbos across the river niger Anambra Igbos are those around the Anambra river, Imo Igbos are those around Imo river etc BUT IN THE FINAL ANALYSIS WE ARE ALL IGBOS. WE ARE THESAME PEOPLE WITH THESAME LANGUAGE, CULTURE, TRADITION AND HISTORY.

ALA IGBO WU OBODO OMA

RedboneSmith:


This same Zik they keep calling wrote an article in the 1930s, long before his autobiography came out, where he said Chime and his people came from a kingdom near Benin (most probably in Anioma) and were driven out in a war with Benin.

But even though I've brought this article to their attention, they conveniently choose to act like there are no alternative (more logical) accounts of Ezechime's origins than the He-came-from-Benin account.

Go to Obomkpa, an Ezechime-descent town in Delta. They'll tell you Ezechime came from a now-destroyed Anioma town called Ogidi, near where Agbor is situated today and was driven out in a war with Benin. Note how Obomkpa traditions closely parallels what Zik wrote in the 1930s.

Even apart from the names being Igbo names, all the traditions affirm that Ezechime left with ofo and ufie. Ask Benin people if Ofo and Ufie are part of their culture. And if not how did a Benin man leave Benin with ofo and ufie?

Yujin:

Every Igbo clan is blessed including Ikwerres. That few quality human resource have emerged from their will tell you that they're suffering from the level of self denial. Most Ikwerres don't even have confidence outside Rivers state. This is what that self hate has done to them. Their level of self denial grew beyond what other similar Igbo clans had such that it affected their performance. They will pick up when they correct this problem.
It's not all about what you can gain from them or not. They're just one clan and their shenanigans shouldn't be taken seriously.
That there is Igbophobia pervasive in a good number of them doesn't mean we must just toss them away. There are still a good number that are proud of their ancestry. This is why some of us insist on still sharing the same ethnicity with them. A referendum will clear all doubts.
NB: while some of us are so eager to toss them away already, some others hundreds of kilometers are very interested in them being a minority group. Think about it.

proeast:


Whichever side Asaba goes, the rest of Anioma will join it.
Again, Asaba has merged with Onitsha.

RedboneSmith:


Nobody says o malu mma in any Ikwerre dialect. It is o maru mma. Nobody says yi either.

wingmanIII:


Well spoken!
Truth is, only a section of ikwerres see themselves as non Igbos.

Tivdoo:

Ikwerre is part of Igbo that will forever be

mbos:

Nze and Ozo

mcharles:
Igbo amaka

preZidO1:
Go to Dien palace and ask all your question.
Somebody is there to answer you with fact.