EMMAUGOH:
I have come to understand some people from Delta, Isoko, Urhobo...people from Kogi and Akwaibom share alot with the Igbo people>>THere is every tendency that 97% of them are igbo in maybe last 3 generations before now... Looking at them closely u call them igbo only for them to prove you wrong with their language.

I personally have been studying people now at my place of business, inshort whenever i come across people almost every day, i do ask them where they are from, but looking at the Igalas and URbobos and issokos, i tend to believe they are igbos until intentionally speaks igbo to them. it marvels that by facial identification they are 100% igbo but something just got wrong when it comes to language...

Alot happened after the Biafran war, alot, something tells me most of this confusion started when the NIgerian army terminated most of igbos from their ancestral ground thereby allowing close regions to claim this Lands.

I don't this is true. Many Africans look alike. Igbo homeland includes some places in Kogi,Benue,Edo,Cross river,Akwa Ibom,Delta,Rivers and the south eastern states.

This is why we have three major ethnic groups in Nigeria vis a viz Igbo, Hausa and Yoruba.

The minorities have always been there.

Igboid:


Ette is not an Igala town. It was never an Igala town and won't be in the future. The Igalas and Idomas invades Ette in the old, by the Idomas retain the majority their now, and they still have few Igbos there.

The Idomas there being the majority are eager to assimilate into the Igbo culture. Even if a referendum is held today to determine where Ette will be, the Idomas will team up with few Igbos there and ensure Ette remains part of Igboland.

U are not idoma and i dont think u have the right to speak on behalf of idomas.
Idomas and Igalas are brothers, the issue would be very well settled by Middlebelt elders when the need arises, just that people dont see this as a big issue now.
There are idoma speakers in Kogi as well as Igala speakers in Benue due to boundary misadjustments. The igbo migrants in Ette town are just hiding under Idoma umbrella to make it look like the town does not want to join Kogi.
Igalas and idomas are used to each other, we were together in old Benue state for decades b4 Kogi creation.

The traditional leaders and titles of Ette town are all Igalas and in Igala, that shows who actually owns the towns

bigfrancis21:


You see the issue with many online articles is that they do not tell the story in full most times or they fail to portray the actual situation on ground. Many give hasty news also. For example, the olumbanasaa villages in Anambra north, an isolated island on the side of the anambra river that falls in Anambra state. Many articles you find online describe them as 'the 7 Igala speaking villages of Anambra state', and from reading the articles one would think that they speak only Igala however in reality all of these people speak Igbo fluently and many bear Igbo names as well. However, these factual details are left out in many articles online.

Coming to the Ugbodus/Ilukwobis of Delta state. Many articles would call them the olukwumi-speaking people of Delta state. Again, the impression most people would have is that they speak 'mostly' or 'only' Olukwumi or Olukwumi is their native language. But the actual situation on ground is that everyone, I mean everyone, speaks Igbo as first language from children to adults. Majority bear Igbo names except for recent efforts by a few to adopt Olukwumi names. Then some speak Ilukwobi, who are mostly the adults. In addition, the Ilukwobi they speak has heavy Igbo influence, pronunciation and words adapted into it. The street language in Ugbodu is Igbo. Infact in Ugbodu no Ugbodu person will speak Olukwumi to another person on the street except he/she knows that the other person can speak/understand it because not everyone speaks it but instead Igbo because everybody speaks it in Ugbodu.

Coming back to the Iggas and Ogurugus. These people are not any more different from the Ilukwobis/Olukwumis of Delta state. Igbo is their native language, as evidenced in their native names. Igala is another language many learn to speak while growing up. That's the situation on ground.

Seriously i wonder why u guys love to claim everything to be igbo. This is why many minority tribes call u guys land grabbers.
Igbo is a large tribe and as such would have influenced their neighbouring minority tribes. Almost every one in Borno and Yobe states speak hausa as a 2nd language, due to hausa influence but hausas will not claim these places as hausa land.
Most Nupe and Bariba people in Kwara and Niger speak yoruba fluently (especially at the boundary areas) as an additional language, Ogori magongo people of Kogi answer mostly yoruba names and speak yoruba as an additional language but yorubas never claim them as part of yoruba land.

If most minority tribes around igbos adopt igbo as a second language, i think u guys should see it as a plus and an increasing territorial influence of your language and try to work out some sort of social integration with these tribes. This will not work by claiming these people who speak your language as Igbos. It will only lead to arguments.
Hausas never claim other northern minority groups as hausas, all they did was to find a general name AREWA which helped to define all northernerns.
That is what u igbos should do instead of looking for ways to claim or argue with your neighbouring minority tribes on tribal areas. Things like this will only make your minority neighbouring tribes dread and resent u the more.

I have seen igbos arguing with Edos here over Igbanke, i have seen u guys arguing here with ijaws over Opobo and Bonny, u guys arguing over Benue igbos, arguing over Anioma, Ikwerre and even Akwa Ibom and Cross river. This is just terrible.
How many times have u guys seen yorubas arguing with Nupes, Egbirras, Baribas, Edos, Ogoris e.t.c over tribal boundaries? We igalas even speak a yoruboid language which many yorubas can understand to an extent, but they have never claimed us.

bigfrancis21:


I guess so. That was a funny way to describe upland Igalas. They indeed look different from southern Igalas.

The southern ones are those who look more like Igbos and they tend to be Christians more. Just like the Idomas who are mostly Christians and Catholics like their Igbos neighbours.

Yes u are right. Let's just agree that Igbos, Idomas and Igalas are very much related but i think this relationship is mostly by those of us at the peripheral areas e.g Southern Igalas/Nsukka and Northern anambra, Idomas/Ebonyi.
Political boundaries really need to be redefined in Nigeria. Its obvious that we Igalas and idomas have more in common with the south (especially igbos) than Arewa.

ianSweet:


U are not idoma and i dont think u have the right to speak on behalf of idomas.
Idomas and Igalas are brothers, the issue would be very well settled by Middlebelt elders when the need arises, just that people dont see this as a big issue now.
There are idoma speakers in Kogi as well as Igala speakers in Benue due to boundary misadjustments. The igbo migrants in Ette town are just hiding under Idoma umbrella to make it look like the town does not want to join Kogi.
Igalas and idomas are used to each other, we were together in old Benue state for decades b4 Kogi creation.

The traditional leaders and titles of Ette town are all Igalas and in Igala, that shows who actually owns the towns

I'm telling you the situation of things on ground and you are talking trash, like you have the right to speak for Idomas yourself. Idomas in Ette are cut off from contact with Idomas in anywhere else. They are aware of Igala plans to drag them to Kogi and use their majority status in Kogi to take away the current advantage the Idomas hold in Ette. They will resist every plan by Igalas to drag them to Kogi, together with Ndiigbo.

Ndiigbo in Ette are more than ready to accept and assimilate the Idomas there. And Ette is already part of Igboland. The status quo favours the Idomas in Ette, they wouldn't want to change it by getting dragged to Kogi and handing the initiative to the minority Igalas in Ette.

Igbos are also good neighbors of Idomas. Igbo indigenous communities have been co existing in peace with Idomas in places like Okpokwu, Obi, Oju LGAs of Benue state.
So don't make it seem like only Igalas have links with Idomas.

The Igbos in Ette are not Migrants. They are indigenous natives of the land.

All I know is that we have other Igbo brothers outside igboland like Kogi and Benue, though it might take time but we must bring them under one roof with love.

ianSweet:


Seriously i wonder why u guys love to claim everything to be igbo. This is why many minority tribes call u guys land grabbers.
Igbo is a large tribe and as such would have influenced their neighbouring minority tribes. Almost every one in Borno and Yobe states speak hausa as a 2nd language, due to hausa influence but hausas will not claim these places as hausa land.
Most Nupe and Bariba people in Kwara and Niger speak yoruba fluently (especially at the boundary areas) as an additional language, Ogori magongo people of Kogi answer mostly yoruba names and speak yoruba as an additional language but yorubas never claim them as part of yoruba land.

If most minority tribes around igbos adopt igbo as a second language, i think u guys should see it as a plus and an increasing territorial influence of your language and try to work out some sort of social integration with these tribes. This will not work by claiming these people who speak your language as Igbos. It will only lead to arguments.
Hausas never claim other northern minority groups as hausas, all they did was to find a general name AREWA which helped to define all northernerns.
That is what u igbos should do instead of looking for ways to claim or argue with your neighbouring minority tribes on tribal areas. Things like this will only make your minority neighbouring tribes dread and resent u the more.

I have seen igbos arguing with Edos here over Igbanke, i have seen u guys arguing here with ijaws over Opobo and Bonny, u guys arguing over Benue igbos, arguing over Anioma, Ikwerre and even Akwa Ibom and Cross river. This is just terrible.
How many times have u guys seen yorubas arguing with Nupes, Egbirras, Baribas, Edos, Ogoris e.t.c over tribal boundaries? We igalas even speak a yoruboid language which many yorubas can understand to an extent, but they have never claimed us.

Igbo as a large tribe is a recent construct. It's a colonial construct.
Igbo clans saw themselves as distinct entities before the arrival of the colonials.
So don't try to confuse the Igbo scenario with those of Yorubas who had an Oyo empire and Oduduwa myth to unite them all.

Igbo nation didn't interact with Igalas, instead distinct Igbo clans who were not larger than Igala interacted with Igalas. And this interaction was unknown by the rest of us in the hinterland until modern era. So don't make it seem like Igalas were up against the entire south East. Igalas were only up against Nsukka and Aguleri part of Igbo land, who were not bigger in population than Igalas.
As a matter of fact, it was Igalas who were the aggressors who sought to colonize those distinct Igbo clans.

The only marker of Igbo identity is Igbo language. And Maybe our four market days, Afiajioku/Ihejioku/ Ifejioku, reverence to Ani/Ala/Ali/Ana deity, reverence for Kola nut.
Once you have those markers, you are definitely Igbo.

Yorubas had an aggressive empire that went on colonizing their neighbors, so they know that not all that speak their language are Yorubas. Ndiigbo never had such empires.
Instead we were pushed from the west by expanding Bini empire, North by the Igalas and Idomas.

And lastly. No Igbo cares about Igala or any non Igbo speaking clan origins. The Yorubas don't drag Igalas because they know you are not part of their odua group myth story, neither were you part of their Oyo empire or other independent Yoruba kingdoms that challenged Oyo. The Yoruba commonwealth is well defined. And Igala is not part of it.

There are many non Igbo speaking towns in Edo, Rivers and Delta today with Igbo ancestry, but you don't see Ndiigbo talk about them. Because they are not Igbo speaking,and it's as simple as that.

ianSweet:


Seriously i wonder why u guys love to claim everything to be igbo. This is why many minority tribes call u guys land grabbers.
Igbo is a large tribe and as such would have influenced their neighbouring minority tribes. Almost every one in Borno and Yobe states speak hausa as a 2nd language, due to hausa influence but hausas will not claim these places as hausa land.
Most Nupe and Bariba people in Kwara and Niger speak yoruba fluently (especially at the boundary areas) as an additional language, Ogori magongo people of Kogi answer mostly yoruba names and speak yoruba as an additional language but yorubas never claim them as part of yoruba land.

If most minority tribes around igbos adopt igbo as a second language, i think u guys should see it as a plus and an increasing territorial influence of your language and try to work out some sort of social integration with these tribes. This will not work by claiming these people who speak your language as Igbos. It will only lead to arguments.
Hausas never claim other northern minority groups as hausas, all they did was to find a general name AREWA which helped to define all northernerns.
That is what u igbos should do instead of looking for ways to claim or argue with your neighbouring minority tribes on tribal areas. Things like this will only make your minority neighbouring tribes dread and resent u the more.

I have seen igbos arguing with Edos here over Igbanke, i have seen u guys arguing here with ijaws over Opobo and Bonny, u guys arguing over Benue igbos, arguing over Anioma, Ikwerre and even Akwa Ibom and Cross river. This is just terrible.
How many times have u guys seen yorubas arguing with Nupes, Egbirras, Baribas, Edos, Ogoris e.t.c over tribal boundaries? We igalas even speak a yoruboid language which many yorubas can understand to an extent, but they have never claimed us.

Arguing over Anioma and ikwerre really?
You should know that what the igboid race in nigeria of today is telling you doubters and enemies of the pan Igbo struggle is that the Igboid race don't begin and end in the SE zone..because for obvious reasons most of you guys are ignorant of this. The unification of all igboid group should be the absolute priority for anyone who choose to lead the igboid group...

Sometimes I wonder what the hell is wrong with Nigeria and its citizenry. Its fair enough to say there are other ethnic groups in the core igbo states, but when you tell them igbos are also indigenous in other states they are quick to term you a land grabber!!l I am personally working on a program where I will tour all this communities and hear straight from the source and will post the video evidence here for all to see...I am sick and tired of all this shit!!
Tova raba!!

Igboid:


Igbo as a large tribe is a recent construct. It's a colonial construct.
Igbo clans saw themselves as distinct entities before the arrival of the colonials.
So don't try to confuse the Igbo scenario with those of Yorubas who had an Oyo empire and Oduduwa myth to unite them all.

Igbo nation didn't interact with Igalas, instead distinct Igbo clans who were not larger than Igala interacted with Igalas. And this interaction was unknown by the rest of us in the hinterland until modern era. So don't make it seem like Igalas were up against the entire south East. Igalas were only up against Nsukka and Aguleri part of Igbo land, who were not bigger in population than Igalas.
As a matter of fact, it was Igalas who were the aggressors who sought to colonize those distinct Igbo clans.

The only marker of Igbo identity is Igbo language. And Maybe our four market days, Afiajioku/Ihejioku/ Ifejioku, reverence to Ani/Ala/Ali/Ana deity, reverence for Kola nut.
Once you have those markers, you are definitely Igbo.

Yorubas had an aggressive empire that went on colonizing their neighbors, so they know that not all that speak their language are Yorubas. Ndiigbo never had such empires.
Instead we were pushed from the west by expanding Bini empire, North by the Igalas and Idomas.

And lastly. No Igbo cares about Igala or any non Igbo speaking clan origins. The Yorubas don't drag Igalas because they know you are not part of their odua group myth story, neither were you part of their Oyo empire or other independent Yoruba kingdoms that challenged Oyo. The Yoruba commonwealth is well defined. And Igala is not part of it.

There are many non Igbo speaking towns in Edo, Rivers and Delta today with Igbo ancestry, but you don't see Ndiigbo talk about them. Because they are not Igbo speaking,and it's as simple as that.

An empire is not and can never be the only reason why a neighbouring tribe may adopt the language of her neighbours, far from it!
I am a student of history, so i have studied many ethnic groups in Nigeria and all over the world and i have seen cases where neighbouring tribes pick up each other's language without an empire or kingdom being involved. So, saying because igbo land never had an empire is a reason why anybody who speaks igbo today must be igbo is very very wrong. Ethnicity to a large extent today should be based on choice.
Germans, Austrians and majority of Swiss people speak German, but they choose to maintain different ethnic identities. The Portuguese and Spanish are practically the same people who speak a similar language and have same origin and cultures but they chose to identify differently, even the Catalonians and Galicians who are of Spanish nationality reject being labelled ethnically spanish.

There are Igala indigenes in Benue and many of these igalas speak idoma too, at the peripheral areas they speak each others language.
I have a friend who is Esan by tribe from Edo state but her people speak Ika as their mother's tongue. I made inquiries about that town and i found out that these Esan people were influenced by their Ika neighbours (Agbor) and their Esan language has now been replaced by Ika and only the elders still speak Esan, the younger ones have switched to Ika but the people's culture remain primarily Esan, can we now say that these people are Ikas or Igbos?
Most Plateau and Borno state people speak Hausa fluently and some of them are even dropping their languages for Hausa, but neither Hausas nor fulanis ever conquered Plateau or Borno people.
Yorubas never conquered or ruled Nupes, Baribas, Ogori magongo or Akoko edo at any point in time in history but many of these people speak yoruba in their homelands even more than their own native languages.
Calabar people never had an empire but many of their neighbours to the north in cross river still understand Efik. There are many more instances of these in Nigeria and the world over. Larger or more influential languages will always influence or even displace the smaller ones with or without the presence of an empire. Cultures too can also be shared.

Talking about market days (similar culture), Igalas and Idomas share the same market days with igbos, i guess this has made us igbos. Baseless.

nextdoor84:




Arguing over Anioma and ikwerre really?
You should know that what the igboid race in nigeria of today is telling you doubters and enemies of the pan Igbo struggle is that the Igboid race don't begin and end in the SE zone..because for obvious reasons most of you guys are ignorant of this. The unification of all igboid group should be the absolute priority for anyone who choose to lead the igboid group...

Sometimes I wonder what the hell is wrong with Nigeria and its citizenry. Its fair enough to say there are other ethnic groups in the core igbo states, but when you tell them igbos are also indigenous in other states they are quick to term you a land grabber!!l I am personally working on a program where I will tour all this communities and hear straight from the source and will post the video evidence here for all to see...I am sick and tired of all this shit!!
Tova raba!!

Only ignorant people will think or conclude that Igbo land ends in the south-east. Every place or nation will always have ignorant and enlighetened minds.
Yoruba land does not end in the south-west, Hausa land does not end in the North-west.
There are ethnic minorities in core hausa states, there are ethnic minorities in core yoruba states, so why wont there be in core igbo states?

One thing we must know and accept is that tribal boundaries are not recognized by the constitution of our country, neither of the 3 tiers of govt recognise tribal boundaries. So, there is really nothing like Igbo land, Hausa land, Yoruba land or Ijaw land in our constitution. States were not strictly created based on tribes.

People of different states, local governments and communities are free to choose their identities, associations and alliances. Nobody has the right to argue for another on where they should belong.

Igala people can wake up tomorrow and decide that they want to join yoruba nation and identify as yorubas. As long as the yorubas accept them, every other person can go to hell. But we igalas cannot just wake up and say we want to be part of Enugu state, the constitution and federal govt must grant us that. This is the way it is.

ianSweet:


An empire is not and can never be the only reason why a neighbouring tribe may adopt the language of her neighbours, far from it!
I am a student of history, so i have studied many ethnic groups in Nigeria and all over the world and i have seen cases where neighbouring tribes pick up each other's language without an empire or kingdom being involved. So, saying because igbo land never had an empire is a reason why anybody who speaks igbo today must be igbo is very very wrong. Ethnicity to a large extent today should be based on choice.
Germans, Austrians and majority of Swiss people speak German, but they choose to maintain different ethnic identities. The Portuguese and Spanish are practically the same people who speak a similar language and have same origin and cultures but they chose to identify differently, even the Catalonians and Galicians who are of Spanish nationality reject being labelled ethnically spanish.

There are Igala indigenes in Benue and many of these igalas speak idoma too, at the peripheral areas they speak each others language.
I have a friend who is Esan by tribe from Edo state but her people speak Ika as their mother's tongue. I made inquiries about that town and i found out that these Esan people were influenced by their Ika neighbours (Agbor) and their Esan language has now been replaced by Ika and only the elders still speak Esan, the younger ones have switched to Ika but the people's culture remain primarily Esan, can we now say that these people are Ikas or Igbos?
Most Plateau and Borno state people speak Hausa fluently and some of them are even dropping their languages for Hausa, but neither Hausas nor fulanis ever conquered Plateau or Borno people.
Yorubas never conquered or ruled Nupes, Baribas, Ogori magongo or Akoko edo at any point in time in history but many of these people speak yoruba in their homelands even more than their own native languages.
Calabar people never had an empire but many of their neighbours to the north in cross river still understand Efik. There are many more instances of these in Nigeria and the world over.

Talking about market days, Igalas and Idomas share the same market days with igbos, i guess this has made us igbos. Baseless.

Well, German speaking Austrians and Swiss are of the same stock with Germans in Germany, only that they were not part of the German tribes United by Otto von Bismarck to form Germany, likewise Lichtenstein. They don't deny being of same stock with those in the Rhines region of Germany.
And I never remembered saying that empire is the only reason a people might choose the language of their neighbors.
I only brought it up because you seemed to be painting a picture of all big and powerful ancient SE that dominated small Igala,which I already proved that no such big Igbo nation existed. So I will chalk off this part of your essay as irrelevant.

Portugal and Spain are two independent countries, I understand we are talking about intra country relationships . Spain is a country, not a nationality, just like Nigeria. Everyone knows that Spain is made up of distinct nationalists like Castilia, Catalonia, Basque, Galicia, et.c. so I don't know the point you are trying to score with bringing Spain into the discussion.

Yes, everyone knows about Ekpon, the Ika speaking Esan town, but we all know that Ekpon still kept all the Esan markers, like festivals, method of burial, music styles, culture, traditions, etc. And that even some sections of Ekpon still speak Esan. Once again, this is an epic failure from you, everyone knows Ekpon was originally Esan and that their town is still contagious with Esan speaking communities. So I don't understand the point you were trying to prove by bringing them into our discussion.

Fulanis conquered Hausas and adopted Hausa language as the lingua franca of their new Islamic emirate, in the North. Northern non Hausa tribes speak Hausa because of strong Fulani emirate system in place, subtly forcing everyone to learn Hausa as a language of communication, if they must fit into the society. Yet those non Hausa groups still have their own non Hausa first languages and cultures.

Akoko Edos don't speak Yoruba, infact, it's the Akoko ondos that speak languages many Yorubas struggle to understand.
Nupe and Yorubas had many clashes in the past, who is to say how many Nupe people today are actually assimilated Yorubas? Was Oyo ile not ransacked by the Tsoede Nupe in the past? Nupe conquered parts of Yoruba territories which explains Yoruba influence in Nupe.

Efik neighbors understand Efik, they don't speak Efik and certainly don't partake in most EFik traditions and culture. So once again, I don't understand the point you intended to make with this your long epistle.

Igala and Igbo market days are not exactly the same, neither Igala nor Idoma revered Ana/Ali/Ala/Ani the earth goddess, they obviously don't revere Kolanut like Ndiigbo do, don't think they have Afiajioku/Ifejioku/Ihejioku culture.
You simply have no point.

Igboid:


Well, German speaking Austrians and Swiss are of the same stock with Germans in Germany, only that they were not part of the German tribes United by Otto von Bismarck to form Germany, likewise Lichtenstein. They don't deny being of same stock with those in the Rhines region of Germany.
And I never remembered saying that empire is the only reason a people might choose the language of their neighbors.
I only brought it up because you seemed to be painting a picture of all big and powerful ancient SE that dominated small Igala,which I already proved that no such big Igbo nation existed. So I will chalk off this part of your essay as irrelevant.

Portugal and Spain are two independent countries, I understand we are talking about intra country relationships . Spain is a country, not a nationality, just like Nigeria. Everyone knows that Spain is made up of distinct nationalists like Castilia, Catalonia, Basque, Galicia, et.c. so I don't know the point you are trying to score with bringing Spain into the discussion.

Yes, everyone knows about Ekpon, the Ika speaking Esan town, but we all know that Ekpon still kept all the Esan markers, like festivals, method of burial, music styles, culture, traditions, etc. And that even some sections of Ekpon still speak Esan. Once again, this is an epic failure from you, everyone knows Ekpon was originally Esan and that their town is still contagious with Esan speaking communities. So I don't understand the point you were trying to prove by bringing them into our discussion.

Fulanis conquered Hausas and adopted Hausa language as the lingua franca of their new Islamic emirate, in the North. Northern non Hausa tribes speak Hausa because of strong Fulani emirate system in place, subtly forcing everyone to learn Hausa as a language of communication, if they must fit into the society. Yet those non Hausa groups still have their own non Hausa first languages and cultures.

Akoko Edos don't speak Yoruba, infact, it's the Akoko ondos that speak languages many Yorubas struggle to understand.
Nupe and Yorubas had many clashes in the past, who is to say how many Nupe people today are actually assimilated Yorubas? Was Oyo ile not ransacked by the Tsoede Nupe in the past? Nupe conquered parts of Yoruba territories which explains Yoruba influence in Nupe.

Efik neighbors understand Efik, they don't speak Efik and certainly don't partake in most EFik traditions and culture. So once again, I don't understand the point you intended to make with this your long epistle.

Igala and Igbo market days are not exactly the same, neither Igala nor Idoma revered Ana/Ali/Ala/Ani the earth goddess, they obviously don't revere Kolanut like Ndiigbo do, don't think they have Afiajioku/Ifejioku/Ihejioku culture.
You simply have no point.

It seems like u are the type that makes a comment and actually forget that u did.
These were your own words

Igboid:

The only marker of Igbo identity is Igbo language. And Maybe our four market days, Afiajioku/Ihejioku/ Ifejioku, reverence to Ani/Ala/Ali/Ana deity, reverence for Kola nut.
Once you have those markers, you are definitely Igbo.
Yorubas had an aggressive empire that went on colonizing their neighbors, so they know that not all that speak their language are Yorubas. Ndiigbo never had such empires.
Instead we were pushed from the west by expanding Bini empire, North by the Igalas and Idomas..

U claimed that the only marker of igbo identity is Igbo language and before the other points u attached a 'maybe'. So i took u for what u said, u used the reference of an agressive yoruba empire to prove that everyone who speaks yoruba might not be yoruba but everyone who speaks igbo must be igbo.
I really dont like debating with people who change their words or twists their tongues.

Who also made u a final say on what terms should be used in classifying who is Igbo or not? That's very shallow.
The Europeans were the ones who classified all Igbo speaking tribes and identified them as Igbos, likewise all the yoruba speaking tribes and called them yoruba for administrative convenience, and they did not use all the so called markers u listed above as their criteria.

Igboid:

Fulanis conquered Hausas and adopted Hausa language as the lingua franca of their new Islamic emirate, in the North. Northern non Hausa tribes speak Hausa because of strong Fulani emirate system in place, subtly forcing everyone to learn Hausa as a language of communication, if they must fit into the society. Yet those non Hausa groups still have their own non Hausa first languages and cultures.

Pls u really do not know anything about northern history, so i guess u stick to arguments on Igbo history.
First of Fulanis never conquered all the tribes in the north, they never conquered Kanem Bornu (Kanuri empire), they never conquered Plateau, Wukari (kwararafa kingfom), so there was absolutely no way they would have been able to force hausa language on these people. Islamic Emirates have never ruled the Kanuris, Plateaus or Souther Tarabans, they have only been ruled by their traditional rulers.
These people only embraced hausa as a trade language or Bible language (the bible for northern christians was first translated in hausa).

And pls, not all fulanis adopted Hausa as lingua franca, it was only those that settled in Hausa land that adopted hausa. The fulani emirates founded in Adamawa, Gombe and Muri (Taraba) never adopted hausa as a lingua franca and that is why till date if u go to Adamawa u find many fulanis who cannot speak hausa.

ianSweet:


It seems like u are the type that makes a comment and actually forget that u did.
These were your own words



U claimed that the only marker of igbo identity is Igbo language and before the other points u attached a 'maybe'. So i took u for what u said, u used the reference of an agressive yoruba empire to prove that everyone who speaks yoruba might not be yoruba but everyone who speaks igbo must be igbo.
I really dont like debating with people who change their words or twists their tongues.

Who also made u a final say on what terms should be used in classifying who is Igbo or not? That's very shallow.
The Europeans were the ones who classified all Igbo speaking tribes and identified them as Igbos, likewise all the yoruba speaking tribes and called them yoruba for administrative convenience, and they did not use all the so called markers u listed above as their criteria.

Igbiras and some idomas certainly look like igbos though. Genetically and linguistically speaking your languages are very close. Ive always maintained most middlebeltan and southern tribes share a similar ancestry.

Igboid:


Yes, everyone knows about Ekpon, the Ika speaking Esan town, but we all know that Ekpon still kept all the Esan markers, like festivals, method of burial, music styles, culture, traditions, etc. And that even some sections of Ekpon still speak Esan. Once again, this is an epic failure from you, everyone knows Ekpon was originally Esan and that their town is still contagious with Esan speaking communities. So I don't understand the point you were trying to prove by bringing them into our discussion.
.

The point i am trying to prove is that not everyone that speaks your language or shares cultures with u must identify with u. Esans, Binis and Etsakos share so much cultural and linguistic similarities but they identify differently.
I see that Igbos usually argue that Anioma people are Igbos (not as if i care) but these igbos forget that Binis and Anioma people too share so much cultural and ancestral ties too. So it would not be out of place for Anioma people to decide that they are not Igbos. People have the right to decide where they want to belong irrespective of language or cultural similarities with anyone.

sissoko22:
Abo Ankpa echei Ba?

Ogane-Aji anyigba

ianSweet:


The point i am trying to prove is that not everyone that speaks your language or shares cultures with u must identify with u. Esans, Binis and Etsakos share so much cultural and linguistic similarities but they identify differently.
I see that Igbos usually argue that Anioma people are Igbos (not as if i care) but these igbos forget that Binis and Anioma people too share so much cultural and ancestral ties too. So it would not be out of place for Anioma people to decide that they are not Igbos. People have the right to decide where they want to belong irrespective of language or cultural similarities with anyone.

I can categorically deduced from most of your posts that you often use this statement " People have the right to decide where they want to belong irrespective of language or cultural similarities with anyone " as a shield of which you are not far from the truth.

Howbeit, such circumstances of which we both know are politically motivated and can never last.

Speaking of the anioma issue , dont even venture there, igbos don't argue that Aniomas are igbo we all know they are Proudly Igbo... you can verify yourself from their fb page PROUDLY IGBO: PROUDLY ANIOMA......In addition the current eze ndigbo in Nigeria os from Anioma.... so case closed.

ianSweet:


Seriously i wonder why u guys love to claim everything to be igbo. This is why many minority tribes call u guys land grabbers.
Igbo is a large tribe and as such would have influenced their neighbouring minority tribes. Almost every one in Borno and Yobe states speak hausa as a 2nd language, due to hausa influence but hausas will not claim these places as hausa land.
Most Nupe and Bariba people in Kwara and Niger speak yoruba fluently (especially at the boundary areas) as an additional language, Ogori magongo people of Kogi answer mostly yoruba names and speak yoruba as an additional language but yorubas never claim them as part of yoruba land.

If most minority tribes around igbos adopt igbo as a second language, i think u guys should see it as a plus and an increasing territorial influence of your language and try to work out some sort of social integration with these tribes. This will not work by claiming these people who speak your language as Igbos. It will only lead to arguments.
Hausas never claim other northern minority groups as hausas, all they did was to find a general name AREWA which helped to define all northernerns.
That is what u igbos should do instead of looking for ways to claim or argue with your neighbouring minority tribes on tribal areas. Things like this will only make your minority neighbouring tribes dread and resent u the more.

I have seen igbos arguing with Edos here over Igbanke, i have seen u guys arguing here with ijaws over Opobo and Bonny, u guys arguing over Benue igbos, arguing over Anioma, Ikwerre and even Akwa Ibom and Cross river. This is just terrible.
How many times have u guys seen yorubas arguing with Nupes, Egbirras, Baribas, Edos, Ogoris e.t.c over tribal boundaries? We igalas even speak a yoruboid language which many yorubas can understand to an extent, but they have never claimed us.

Trash! Igalas in Anambra state are Igalas but Igbos in Kogi state are not Igbos.

Clap for yourself.

sissoko22:
What are you saying? The so called igbo's blood in the southern part of igala don't want anything to do with your race. Don't you get it or is it by force.

proof of where they made such statements or forever remain in abyss.

Seriously i wonder why u guys love to claim everything to be igbo. This is why many minority tribes call u guys land grabbers.
Igbo is a large tribe and as such would have influenced their neighbouring minority tribes. Almost every one in Borno and Yobe states speak hausa as a 2nd language, due to hausa influence but hausas will not claim these places as hausa land.

I'd say you are a confused fellow.

This was the part of your post that brought about the current argument we are having.
You tried to falsely create the impression that there was an existence of big Igbo nation prior to Colonialization that could have influenced Igala. You tried to make parallel of this by drawing to attention the Hausa language in the North.

When in truth, the Fulanis had colonized the entire Hausaland and United them under their Emirates system, making a unit out of them. Same wasn't applicable to Ndiigbo, I had argued, as there was no existence Of A large Igbo unit that could have influenced southern Igalas like you tried to paint, instead Igalas as unit interacted with smaller Igbo units like Nsukka areas and Northern Anambra areas which they ended up dominating and influencing.
Igbo groups existed as minorities and dealth with minorities in SS and NC ndependently in precolonial era.

ianSweet:


The point i am trying to prove is that not everyone that speaks your language or shares cultures with u must identify with u. Esans, Binis and Etsakos share so much cultural and linguistic similarities but they identify differently.
I see that Igbos usually argue that Anioma people are Igbos (not as if i care) but these igbos forget that Binis and Anioma people too share so much cultural and ancestral ties too. So it would not be out of place for Anioma people to decide that they are not Igbos. People have the right to decide where they want to belong irrespective of language or cultural similarities with anyone.

Exactly, those communities who are bilingual in Igala and Igbo in Anambra and Enugu identify with the Igbo nation.
So you might as well take your own advice here.

I'd advise you stay off Anioma issue, as you know next to nothing about it. Uwaechue, an Anioma son was the immediate past president of Ohanaeze Ndiigbo, and you don't know about his identity more than him.

ianSweet:


Pls u really do not know anything about northern history, so i guess u stick to arguments on Igbo history.
First of Fulanis never conquered all the tribes in the north, they never conquered Kanem Bornu (Kanuri empire), they never conquered Plateau, Wukari (kwararafa kingfom), so there was absolutely no way they would have been able to force hausa language on these people. Islamic Emirates have never ruled the Kanuris, Plateaus or Souther Tarabans, they have only been ruled by their traditional rulers.
These people only embraced hausa as a trade language or Bible language (the bible for northern christians was first translated in hausa).

And pls, not all fulanis adopted Hausa as lingua franca, it was only those that settled in Hausa land that adopted hausa. The fulani emirates founded in Adamawa, Gombe and Muri (Taraba) never adopted hausa as a lingua franca and that is why till date if u go to Adamawa u find many fulanis who cannot speak hausa.

They never needed to conquer all of those groups. They only needed to conquer the largest of them all, the Hausas, and create a strong powerful Hausa core in North that sucked in the rest of the smaller tribes there to fall in.

Even at that. Those non Hausa groups speak Hausa only as a language of trade and socialization. They still have their own non Hausa languages and. Cultures.
I refuse to see how this applies to Igbo speaking communities, who also speak Igala.

ianSweet:





Who also made u a final say on what terms should be used in classifying who is Igbo or not? That's very shallow.

I can ask you the same. Who made you a final say on the idea that any Igbo speaking town in Kogi is Igala but Igala speaking towns in Anambra and Enugu are not Igbos but Igalas?

Igboid:




The only marker of Igbo identity is Igbo language. And Maybe our four market days, Afiajioku/Ihejioku/ Ifejioku, reverence to Ani/Ala/Ali/Ana deity, reverence for Kola nut.
Once you have those markers, you are definitely Igbo.

This was the part of my post you were talking about.
My second part of in that Post where I used the plurals l "those", and "markers" instead of "that" and "marker".
Clearly showed that I consider those other factors markers too and not only Igbo language, just that I consider Igbo language a bigger marker.

ianSweet:
@BigFrancis, There are no indigenous ethnic igbos in Kogi.
Many Igalas from southern igala speak Igbos as a second language and may share Igbo origins, but today, we are all Igalas by ethnicity.
There are also igala speakers in Enugu and Anambra and Igbo speakers with Igala origin in these states.

May God bless you 10,000 times on Sundays and every other day for this post! See as some people want to attach themselves by force, to another ethnic group, o! Ok we are watching in 3D. Wey my mat, sef? Na on top this thread, I wan siddon today...hehehe!

ianSweet:
Ette is an Igala town with Idoma and Igbo migrants. The kingship titles and traditional rulers are in Igala.

Igga and i think Ogurugu towns in Enugu are of Igala origin, they are both billingual in igala and igbo, but because they are in Enugu, they seem to identify as Igbo, am not really sure.

The money spent on your education was NOT wasted!. I beg, take five!

mengho:
igbos trying hard to relate to some far off people, ok we get It, kogi is part of Biafra as Well, I think dats what you want right

I no know say you sef see am!

Igboid my brother!
You have done well.

But remember you once argued with a girl who claimed her father is Anioma, then later claim he is Benue. She kept tossing her family back and forth to make sure she ends up balkanizing Igbo land.

Someone here sounds alike.

Look closely at the motives used
You will notice that the same person exists here.

Chukwu gozie hi!

LorDBolton:
Bro I only pity these people sha, they keep overstepping boundaries.

This is why I'm anti-migration, migrants will come cap-in-hand n humble seeking aid, trade or asylum but 3/4 generations later their offsprings will be forming "it's our land" lols

Una wan take laugh kill person for here! Take time, o!

OmoIgala:
Exactly.
Igga, Ojjor, Ogurugu, Adani are all Original Igala towns that have now been labelled "Igbo" because of silly colonial mistakes.

Leave them, nah! Some of them are already hyperventilating over the fact that some of these communities speak Igbo as a second language. And so they are trying really hard to change their identity to 'Igbo,' without the permission of such communities, by disregarding their primary language which is Igala. In fact, if they had their way, they would use psychic means to transfer these communities to the South-East. Just keep watching this comedy of errors!

OmoIgala:
They read this as well.

http://www.ajol.info/index.php/mjas/article/viewFile/118497/108028

That is the actual situation of Ette townships. The people are an Igala-Idoma blend exhibiting native bilingualism. And someonly acquired Igbo as an additional third language due to their status as an Enugu community.

Bros, thanks again for educating them. That is how the guy you responded to, wanted to use half-truths to hoodwink others on this thread. Thank God, you pulled out another article to dispel his claims. Shey, you notice how he went quiet about Ette after your response, and stylishly changed the conversation to something else?

Hehehe! Am still scratching my head trying to find out which Idomas in Ette prefer being in Enugu state? When was a census conducted to determine this??

.

NSUKKA—Enugu State government has closed down about 16 primary and one secondary schools, as well government offices, including the local government secretarait in Ette, a border community with Kogi and Benue States following disturbances by some of the indigenes agitating to be merged with Kogi State.

According to sources, the area which is in Igbo-Eze North Local Government Area of the state was populated by Igbo, Idoma and Igalla communities who had been inter-marrying for ages.

An indigene of Etteh, Mr Tony Ogidi is cuurently representing the Igboeze North 11 Constituency in the Enugu State House of Assembly.

However, the agitation by a section of the community to be merged with Kogi State started sometime in 1980, during the administration of Chief Jim Nwobodo as governor of old Anambra State, just as the Igbo speaking part of the area had been opposing them, insisting that merging them with Kogi State would put them in minority.

Sources told Vanguard that the matter which had defied political solution was thrown out by the Supreme Court on February 8, 2007 for lack of jurisdiction.

The court in its ruling read by the former Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Justice Alloysius Katsina-Alu stated that it was the duty of the National Boundary Commission to delieanate boundary between Enugu and Kogi States, prompting the commission to the visit the disputed areas about two years ago.

Other members of the panel which sat on the case at the Supreme Court included Justices Umaru Kalgo, Mahmood Mohammed, Walter Samuel Onnoghen, Francis Talba and Ibrahim Tanko Mohammed.

It was not known if the boundary commission had made the demacartion but the matter was alleged to have degenerated during the last national census when some youths prevented officials of the National Population Commission, NPC, from coming to the area throughout the exercise.

However, officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, were chased away from some parts of Etteh during the registration of eligible voters by those protesting the inclusion of Etteh in Enugu State, resulting in the inability of some voters to be registered.

An official of the Enugu State government who spoke on the issue on the condition of anonymity said, ‘’it is true that Etteh community is under siege by pro-Kogi youths in the area.

Though Etteh has always been a flash point in Enugu State, the situation worsened as pro-Kogi youths of Ette, possibly aided by the Kogi State government, sacked all Enugu State Government’s institutions at Etteh, including the Igboeze North West Development Centre secretarait, a magisrate court, the education authority, and all about chased teachers in about 16 primary and one secondary schools out of their area.

’’During the last WAEC/NECO examinations, candidates who registered in Ette were moved to the neighbouring schools at Umuopu, Umuogbo and Aji as happened during the last general house of assembly election which was won by an indigene of the area, based on the zoning polical offices in Igboeeze North 11 Constituency (Umunana).

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/07/communal-clash-enugu-closes-schools/

However, the agitation by a section of the community to be merged with Kogi State started sometime in 1980, during the administration of Chief Jim Nwobodo as governor of old Anambra State, just as the Igbo speaking part of the area had been opposing them, insisting that merging them with Kogi State would put them in minority.

OmoIgala:
Sorry, I don't mean to sound rude, but Igbos have no right to Ette community, since it isn't Igboland.
In the latest ethnographic survey of Ette Area, only 5.7% of interviewed residents said they spoke Igbo regularly or took ethic pride in being igbo.
Ette isn't an equally tri linguistic area like u are trying to pant it, Igbos are a minority there.
Ettte is better off in Kogi state. There are already areas in Kogi with the same Igala-Idoma mix, and nobody is complaining.

But in the present Ette in Enugu state structure, katakata everywhere, because it isn't natural.

You have just spoilt some people's day. They have been holding calculators, trying to add up the new territories they will annex into their proposed republic and you just spoilt their fun. Chai!

ianSweet:
They are fluently billingual, i have also met people from that axis who speak igala.

https://www.nairaland.com/1256296/why-tussle-over-anambra-oil

In this link, a king from that axis even confirmed that his people are igala speakers (meaning first language speakers). So i really dont get u guys at all.
These people share boundaries with igala and igbo speaking communities. Some speak more of igala while some speak more of igbo, i think it depends on the families involved. But for their king to openly declare his people as igala speaking, we can now b convinced of their true ethnicity.

Don't waste your breath. Even if 10 kings send a confirmation that their people are Igala, they would still refute it because they want to attach other ethnic groups by force, to their proposed republic.