In his reaction to Nigeria’s igbo problem, Ezebunwo Wike who’s challenged by a marginal identity crisis says he is not Igbo in an acrobatic ploy to gain the acceptance of those he believes won’t vote an Igbo for president, that’s fine . His kinsman and political mentor, Senator John Azubuike Mbata from Eneka, In Obio-Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State is the current President-General of Ohaneze Ndigbo. No one should be Igbo by force if their mother confessed something to them about the true identity of their biological father. But the same Wike and other protagonists of one Nigeria want Igbos to be Nigerians by force.
The same self-determination they want for themselves is what they deny Biafrans as a people. I am proudly Igbo yet I believe that in a plural society like Nigeria, people should have the right to dissent legally. Ikwerre has been an Igbo sub group since Nkwerre people settled in Igweocha in 1512.
I was born at Zion maternity, 60 Ihediohama Street Mile 2, Diobu, Igweocha, which was renamed Port Harcourt in 1913 to honor Lord Vernon Harcourt who was secretary of the colonies in the British government at the time. My kinsman, Francis Umelo Ihekwaba was Mayor of Port Harcourt at the time of my birth.
Igweocha was a principal port of the Aro confederacy (1640-1903) and never had any history of migration of the Bini to it. The nearest settlement of the Bini in the old Eastern Region was during the banishment to Calabar of Oba Ovonramwen Nogbaisi, also called Overami, who was the 35th Ọba of the Kingdom of Benin reigning from c. 1888 – c. 1897, up until the British punitive expedition of 1897, which led to his forced removal to Calabar where he resided with other Benin people till his death in 1914. His son Eweka 11 was Oba, his grandson Akenzua was also Oba. He died in 1914 in Calabar, a year after the renaming of Igweocha to Port Harcourt.
The Aro descendants of Eze Chima who left Benin during the exodus of 1517-1520 were all Igbos who left Sikilu and Ikpoba in Benin and founded Isele Uku, Onicha Ugbo, Onicha-Olona, Abor , Onicha Mmili on the Obosi waterfront and other places in the middle Niger. They kept their historic Igbo traditions, culture, language and names, their market days remain Afor, nkwo, Eke, Orie.
The plot to de-Igbonise the riverine areas of eastern Nigeria was started by the British in 1958 due to the discovery of hydrocarbons and accelerated during and after the civil war that followed with the abandoned properties catastrophe. It all failed when Sani Abacha, a Kanuri, created the Izon majority Bayelsa State which left Rivers State as an Igbo majority society as it was dating back to the period of the Aro confederacy. That’s why all the Governors of Rivers State since 1999 had come from indigenous Igbo communities of Rivers state.
Those who promised to give Port Harcourt to the Izon people as a war trophy failed to stop Sani Abacha from creating Bayelsa State. The Ogonis who are not Igbos were settled in their present location after the emancipation proclamation.
I was happy to be amongst members of Ime-Obi Ohaneze Ndigbo on the 10th of January in Enugu when we affirmed the man who made Nyesòm Wike a local government chairman in Obio-Akpor as the new President-General of Ohaneze Ndigbo. Senator John Azuta-Mbata is an Ikwerre elder statesman from Eneka in Obio Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State.
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KATCH ONONUJU is a commentator on socio-political and cultural affairs.
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