where is ijaw originated from?
Ijaw people (also known by the subgroups "Ijo" or "Izon") are people in Niger Delta in Nigeria, inhabiting regions of the states of Ondo, Bayelsa, Delta, Edo, Akwa Ibom and Rivers state.
Many are found as migrant fishermen in camps as far west as Sierra Leone and as far east as Gabon.
Population figures for the Ijaws vary greatly, though most range from 13 million to 15 million. They have long lived in locations near many sea trade routes, and they were well connected to other areas by trade as early as the 15th century.
Formerly organized into several loose clusters of villages (confederacies) which cooperated to defend themselves against outsiders, the Ijaw increasingly view themselves as belonging to a single coherent nation, bound together by ties of language and culture. This tendency has been encouraged in large part by what are considered to be environmental degradations that have accompanied the exploitation of oil in the Niger delta region which the Ijaw call home, as well as by a revenue sharing formula with the Nigerian Federal government that is viewed by the Ijaw as manifestly unfair. The resulting sense of grievance has led to several high-profile clashes with the Nigerian Federal authorities, including kidnappings and in the course of which many lives have been lost. The Ijaw people are resilient and proud. Long before after the colonial era, the Ijaw people traveled by wooded boats and canoes to Cameroun, Ghana and other West African countries. They traveled up the River Niger from River Nun.
The Ijaw speak nine closely related Niger–Congo languages, all of which belong to the Ijoid branch of the Niger–Congo tree. The primary division between the Ijo languages is that between Eastern Ijo and Western Ijo, the most important of the former group of languages being Izon, which is spoken by about five million people.
There are two prominent groupings of the Izon language. The first, termed either Western or Central Izon (Ijaw) consists of Western Ijaw speakers: Tuomo Clan, Egbema, Ekeremor, Sagbama (Mein), Bassan, Apoi, Arogbo, Boma (Bumo), Kabo (Kabuowei), Ogboin, Tarakiri, and Kolokuma-Opokuma. Nembe, Brass and Akassa (Akaha) dialects represent Southeast Ijo (Izon). Buseni and Okordia dialects are considered Inland Ijo.
The other major Ijaw linguistic group is Kalabari. Kalabari is considered an Eastern Ijaw language but the term "Eastern Ijaw" is not the normal nomenclature. Kalabari is the name of one of the Ijaw clans that reside on the eastern side of the Niger-Delta (Abonnema, Buguma, Bakana, Degema etc.) who form a major group in Rivers State, Other "Eastern" Ijaw clans are the Abua, Andoni, Okrika, Ibani (the natives of Bonny, Finima and Opobo), and Nkoroo. They are neighbours to the Kalabari people in present-day Rivers State, Nigeria.
Other related Ijaw subgroups which have distinct languages but very close kinship, cultural and territorial ties with the rest of the Ijaw are the Epie-Atissa, Engenni (also known as Ẹgẹnẹ), and Degema (also called Udekama or Udekaama). The Ogbia clan, as well as residents of Bukuma and Abuloma (Obulom).
It was discovered in the 1980s that a now extinct Berbice Creole Dutch, spoken in Guyana, is partly based on Ijo lexicon and grammar. Its nearest relative seems to be Eastern Ijo, most likely Kalabari (Kouwenberg 1994).
The Ijaws were one of the first of Nigeria's peoples to have contact with Westerners, and were active as go-betweens in the slave trade between visiting Europeans and the peoples of the interior, particularly in the era before the discovery of quinine, when West Africa was still known as the "White Man's Graveyard" because of the endemic presence of malaria. Some of the kin-based trading lineages that arose among the Ijaws developed into substantial corporations which were known as "houses"; each house had an elected leader as well as a fleet of war canoes for use in protecting trade and fighting rivals. The other main occupation common among the Ijaws has traditionally been fishing and farming.
Being a maritime people, many Ijaws were employed in the merchant shipping sector in the early and mid-20th century (pre-Nigerian independence). With the advent of oil and gas exploration in their territory, some are employed in that sector. Other main occupation are in the civil service of the Nigerian states of Bayelsa and Rivers where they are predominant.
Extensive state-government sponsored overseas scholarship programs in the 1970s and 1980s have also led to a significant presence of Ijaw professionals in Europe and North America (the so-called Ijaw diaspora). Another contributing factor to this human capital flight is the abject poverty in their homeland of the Niger Delta, resulting from decades of neglect by the Nigerian government and oil companies in spite of continuous petroleum prospecting in this region since the 1950s.
The Ijos (Ijaws) of the Niger Delta are the descendants of the autochthonous people or ancient tribe of Africa known as the (H) ORU. They were known by this name by themselves and their immediate neighbors. The Ijos have kept the ancient language and culture of the ORU. The Ancient ORU People. As to what time the ancient ORU people started to settle the Niger Delta is not clear as language studies cannot properly indicate when a people settled at the region.
What is known is that they have existed as a distinct language and ethnic group for upwards 5000 years. Their settlements in the Benin region, Lower Niger & Niger Delta were aboriginal (i.e. being the first) and by 500 BC they may have started inhabiting the Niger Delta. The traditional Ijo narratives refer to the ancestors (the Oru-Otu) or the ancient people (Tobu Otu) who descended from the sky (were of divine origin). They are also referred to as the WATER-PEOPLE (Beni-Otu). It is ORU who established the ancient communities of mask-spirits and mermaids (mami-water) dedicated to spiritual initiation culture.
"Language and cultural studies prove that they are related to the founders of the Great Nile Valley civilisation complex (and possibly the lake Chad complex). They immigrated into West Africa from the Nile-Valley during antiquity. The ORU people who went and founded the Nile-valey civilisation complex of ancient Egypt and Sudan were also known as the ONU or ANU people or followers of HORU (HORUS). Another of their names seems to have been KUMONI. It was during the time of King ADUMU-ALA (alias ODUDUWA), that ORU Princes who derived ultimately from Nubia (ancient Sudan) established city states in the Southern Nigeria region. Their names have come down to us as the ancestors ADUMU, ASARA, UJO, IGODO, NANA, ALA-FUN. These city states gave birth to different ethnic nationalities through the process of fusion and ethnic intermarriage. This is reflected in the ancestral traditions of the Ijos.
The ancestor who is known as Ujo or Ijo is also known in traditional Ile-Ife history as Idekoseroake. He is also known by the titles “Kalasuo" and "Indo-Oru'. His identification as ORU, means that he was of the tribe of Oru. His identification as Kumoni, means that he was of the tribe of Kumoni (the section that hailed from Upper Egypt), therefore he was Kumoni-Oru. In Ife traditional history it is believed that he died before his father. It is also stated that he died at Ife, although it is not known for sure that he did. All that is known is that King Adumu (alias Oduduwa) lost the service of a number of powerful and warlike sons early on during his reign. Where they went or what happened to them has never been explained by contemporary accounts at Ife. On the other hand Ijo traditions maintain that Ujo (i.e. Idekoseroake) migrated from Ife along with some brothers and a large entourage. Since these traditions are accurate and can be corroborated in regards to the foundation of Benin and Ife , then we can take it that they are also true in regards to the origins of the ancestors of the Ijo people.
The 1st migration out of Otu-Ife (or Ile-Ife as it was later to be known) was led by Prince Ujo (alias Idekoseroake) mentioned in the ancestral tradition as being the first son of King Adumu . Prince Ujo along with the warlord Ogu (Ogun) were war commanders in the military alliance, who took part in the battles that were fought to subdue the hostile Ooyelagbo communities and establish the Yoba Kingdom. Between 650 -700 AD Prince Ujo led his migration out of Ife to the Benin region, where he encamped and established a settlement (Uzama) that later was to become the basis of Benin City. At this time other ORU people, as well as the EFA people were settling the Benin region.
Prince Ujo`s instructions were to go to the Niger Delta, and establish a strategic base from which to defend the coastal region. Clearly his father King Adumu, regarded the whole southern region as a virgin territory which he would bring under his direct control. Prince Ujo proceeded to the central Niger Delta with his followers and came across isolated ancient communities of ORU people in remote settlements of the central delta. Together with these people they formed viable communities in the central delta originally based on the City-state formation. This was the birth or genesis of the Ijo people. The Kumoni-Oru who settled the Niger Delta with the most ancient inhabitants known as the ORU (TOBU OTU) gave birth to the Ijos. The original settlements were in the western & central delta, from where they spread out to people the whole Niger Delta. This period has been estimated to have occurred between 500 BC to 1000 AD. These original ancestors were spiritual initiates of the ancient African spiritual initiation system of the CREATOR TEM (TEMUNO). They made heavy symbolic ritualistic use of the water, and hence have been referred to as the "water people" (beni-otu). Later on between 1200 ? 1600 AD the Ijos of the Niger Delta received immigrants from their relatives living at Benin and the lower Niger regions, who were fleeing the various upheavals and power struggles of Benin city during the time of the 2nd dynasty. They collectively gave birth to the Ijo nation with its City-states and collective Clan communities. This is the birth of the Ijo people, otherwise known by the ancient name of ORU.
Some of the Kumoni/Oru remained behind at Benin region, indeed a section of the Oru known as the Beni, who had come from the Sudan (NupaTU or Napata) through Nupe, gave the name Beni to some of the newly emerging settlements. These were the Oru or Ijos of Benin City who later on between the 12th ?15th centuries AD fled into the delta to escape the upheavals of Benin City. Along with the EFA people they were quite prominent at Benin during the 1st kingdom between 650-1150 AD.
The ancestor UJO, IJO (alias IDEKOSEROAKE), also known as UZON, IZON, IZONOWEI, KALASUO, ORU, INDO-ORU & OGULABIOWEI. THE FIRST PERE (RULER) and ancestor of the whole ethnic nationality. The Ijaw ethnic group consists of 40 loosely affiliated tribes. These clans are based along kinship lines and/or shared cultural and religious traditions.
The Ijaw speak nine closely related Niger–Congo languages, all of which belong to the Ijoid branch of the Niger–Congo tree. The primary division between the Ijo languages is that between Eastern Ijo and Western Ijo, the most important of the former group of languages being Izon, which is spoken by about four million people.
There are two prominent groupings of the Izon language. The first, termed either Western or Central Izon (Ijaw) consists of Western Ijaw speakers: Ekeremor, Sagbama (Mein), Bassan, Apoi, Arogbo, Boma (Bumo), Kabo (Kabuowei), Ogboin, Tarakiri, and Kolokuma-Opokuma (Yenagoa).[citation needed] Nembe, Brass and Akassa (Akaha) dialects represent Southeast Ijo (Izon).[citation needed]. Buseni and Okordia dialects are considered Inland Ijo.
The other major Ijaw linguistic group is Kalabari. Kalabari is considered an Eastern Ijaw language but the term "Eastern Ijaw" is not the normal nomenclature. Kalabari is the name of one of the Ijaw clans that reside on the eastern side of the Niger-Delta (Abonnema, Buguma, Bakana, Degema etc.) who form a major group in Rivers State, hence their involvement in the fight for greater oil control. Other "Eastern" Ijaw clans are the Okrika, Ibani (the natives of Bonny, Finima and Opobo) and Nkoroo. They are neighbours to the Kalabari people in present day Rivers State, Nigeria. Other related Ijaw subgroups which have distinct languages but very close kinship, cultural and territorial ties with the rest of the Ijaw are the Epie-Atissa, Engenni (also known as Ẹgẹnẹ), and Degema (also called Udekama or Udekaama). These groups speak Delta Edoid languages. The Ogbia clan, Andoni people, as well as residents of Bukuma and Abuloma (Obulom) speak Cross River languages.
It was discovered in the 1980s that a nearly extinct Berbice Creole Dutch, spoken in Guyana, is partly based on Ijo lexicon and grammar. Its nearest relative seems to be Eastern Ijo, most likely Kalabari (Kouwenberg 1994).
The Ijaw were one of the first of Nigeria's peoples to have contact with Westerners, and were active as go-betweens in the slave trade between visiting Europeans and the peoples of the interior, particularly in the era before the discovery of quinine, when West Africa was still known as the White Man's Graveyard because of the endemic presence of malaria.
Some of the kin-based trading lineages that arose among the Ijaw developed into substantial corporations which were known as "Houses"; each house had an elected leader as well as a fleet of war canoes for use in protecting trade and fighting rivals. The other main occupation common among the Ijaw has traditionally been fishing and farming.
Being a maritime people, many Ijaws were employed in the merchant shipping sector in the early and mid-20th century (pre-Nigerian independence). With the advent of oil and gas exploration in their territory, some are employed in that sector. Other main occupation are in the civil service of the Nigerian States of Bayelsa and Rivers where they are predominant.
The Ijaw people live by fishing supplemented by farming paddy-rice, plantains, yams, cocoyams, bananas and other vegetables as well as tropical fruits such as guava, mangoes and pineapples; and trading. Smoke-dried fish, timber, palm oil and palm kernels are processed for export. While some clans (those to the east- Akassa, Nembe, Kalabari, Okrika and Bonny) had powerful chiefs and a stratified society, other clans are believed not to have had any centralized confederacies until the arrival of the British. However, owing to influence of the neighbouring Kingdom of Benin individual communities even in the western Niger Delta also had chiefs and governments at the village level.
People in the eastern region of the delta traditionally lived in small villages and towns that were run by a system of chiefs who were family or clan heads. High status is normally awarded in accordance with elaborate hierarchical systems and often results only after payments have been made to those already holding titles. People from the western and central Delta regions acknowledged no central authorities until the British.
Like many ethnic groups in Nigeria, the Ijaws have many local foods that are not widespread in Nigeria. Many of these foods involve fish and other seafoods such as clams, oysters and periwinkles; yams and plantains. Some of these foods are:
There are two forms of marriage, both involving bride-wealth. In a small-dowry marriage, the groom must offer a payment to the wife’s family, which is typically cash. In this type of marriage, the children trace their line of inheritance through their mother to her family. This means that when they grow up the children have more choices as to where they can live: with their father’s or mother’s people.
The second type of marriage is a large-dowry marriage, which means that the children belong to the father’s family. These marriages are rare, and wives are not usually from the local community.
There is high rate of polygamy among the Ijaws. Most men have at least two wives. Each wife has her own bedroom and kitchen, usually in a single house. Ijo wives are not ranked, and ideally, each is treated equally and has equal access to her husband.
Funeral ceremonies, particularly for those who have accumulated wealth and respect, are often very dramatic. Traditional religious practices center around "Water spirits" in the Niger river, and around tribute to ancestors.
Egbesu is the god of warfare and the spiritual foundation for combating evil. He can can only be invoked in defence or to correct an injustice by people who are in tune with the universe.Recently, members of the cult, known as the Egbesu Boys, have been fighting against authorities in the Niger Delta in response to environmental and economic problems caused by oil exploitation. Young men who have joined the cult undergo initiations which impart the powers of Egbesu. The initiation involves being etched with scars on some hidden part of the body. Followers often believe the charms and the cult initiations make them bulletproof.
Although the Ijaw are now primarily Christians (95% profess to be), with Catholicism and Anglicanism being the varieties of Christianity most prevalent among them. The Ijaw also have elaborate traditional religious practices of their own. Veneration of ancestors plays a central role in Ijaw traditional religion, while water spirits, known as Owuamapu figure prominently in the Ijaw pantheon. In addition, the Ijaw practice a form of divination called Igbadai, in which recently deceased individuals are interrogated on the causes of their death.
Ijaw religious beliefs hold that water spirits are like humans in having personal strengths and shortcomings, and that humans dwell among the water spirits before being born. The role of prayer in the traditional Ijaw system of belief is to maintain the living in the good graces of the water spirits among whom they dwelt before being born into this world, and each year the Ijaw hold celebrations in honor the spirits lasting for several days. Central to the festivities is the role of masquerades, in which men wearing elaborate outfits and carved masks dance to the beat of drums and manifest the influence of the water spirits through the quality and intensity of their dancing. Particularly spectacular masqueraders are taken to actually be in the possession of the particular spirits on whose behalf they are dancing.
The Ijaw are also known to practice ritual acculturation (enculturation), whereby an individual from a different, unrelated group undergoes rites to become Ijaw. An example of this is Jaja of Opobo, the Igbo slave who rose to become a powerful Ibani (Bonny) chief in the 19th century.
“There was a once a large field,and in this field stood an enormous Iroko tree with large buttresses. At the sides of the field appeared pairs of men and women, each woman holding a broom and each man a bag. As the women swept the field the men collected the dirt into their bags. And the dirt was manilas [wealth]. Some collected ten or more manillas, others none, and when the field was swept clean they disappeared back into the edges of the field, two by two. The sky darkened, and there descended on the field a large table, a large chair, and an immense ‘Creation Stone’, and on the table was large quantity of earth. Then there was lightning and thunder; and Woyingi descended. She seated herself on the chair and placed her feet on the ‘Creation Stone’.
Out of the earth, on the table Woyingi moulded human beings. But they had no life and were neither man nor woman, and Woyingi, embracing them one by one, breathed her breath into them, and they became living beings. But they were still neither men nor women, and so Woyingi asked them one by one to choose to be man or woman, each according to their choice. Next Woyingi asked them, one by one, what manner of life each should like to lead on earth. Some asked for riches, some for children, some for short lives, and all manner of things. And these Woyingi bestowed on them one by one, each according to their wish. Then Woyingi asked them one by one by which manner of death they would return to her. And out of the diseases that afflict the earth they chose each a disease. To all these wishes Woyingi said, ‘So be it’.
The most famous of the Ijaw art is definately the traditional river masks made from carved wood, which embody water spirits (owuamapu). Mostly these are depictions of human heads built up of geometric shapes and combined with animal and abstracting qualities.
Musically, the Ijaw have traditionally used drums, percussion planks and other idiophones. These are still used during cultural festivals to accompany dances such as the Fisherman’s Dance, the Egbelegbele Sei and the Wind and Trees Dance in addition to horns and other contemporary instruments. New types of music have popped up over the years as well, including a genre of gospel which sounds a bit more like reggae or ska, making much use of trumpets and other horns, than American gospel. Popular music of the Ijaw seems to hold to this emphasis on horn, percussion, and steady, slow beats as well.
Another art form the Ijo are famous for is the memorial screen, which is a carved plank of wood depicting the deceased. They were made when members of trading families died and were kept in the trading house and given offerings of food and drink.
It is believed that one is always being watched by the spirit of his ancestors and must show appreciation to the dead and pray to them for future well being. Before each meal, one offers a bit of their food to the ancestors by tossing it to the ground and calling out the names of his ancestors, and every eight days, food and drink are set out specifically for them. Every seven years a goat’s blood is sprinkled in front of images or pillars representative of the ancestors. It is against tribal law to speak badly of a spirit. If someone does speak ill of the dead and refuses to apologize, the insulted family retaliates by speaking against his dead family. When apologies are made, they all perform an atonement ceremony.
One can also pray to the spirits at special shrines to ask for help in emergencies. Everyone has two souls - the eternal ego and the life force that dies with the body. Both souls leave the body with the last breath, but the life force can also leave before death at times of great fear. If this soul does not return, the body dies. The eternal soul leaves the body on the last breath and takes the form of a ghost, shadow, or reflection, so it’s considered dangerous to step on a shadow. Mirrors are often used so evil spirits will strike the image of the soul reflected in the mirror and not the actual soul. As in many religions across the world, there is a Ghost King, Nduen-Ama; and a ghost messenger, Ffe,who appears as a skeleton and brings death upon a person by striking him at the base of the skull with a large staff; a ferryman, Asasaba, who brings good souls across the river of death to be reincarnated into trees, animals or other living things.Although different ethnic groups believe in different forms of reincarnation for good and bad souls, all believe in karma. For example, in one tribe, a good soul could become a cow, elephant, or leopard; in another tribe, good people may be reborn as trees, whereas in a third tribe, only evil people become plants after they die.
Ijaws give respect their ancestors. Ancestors are revered and loved. To speak ill of them, though, is taboo.
Women braid their hair or crop it close and wear it under a head cloth. Men crop their hair short. Both men and women of all ages wear necklaces of huge coral beads on formal occasions. Beads are also made of ivory, but only the rich wear these.
The day to day wears of the Ijaw man is a shirt and trouser made of a wax material. While the ceremonial dress of the Bayelsa man is a big long-sleeved shirt worn over a long piece of wrapper tied from the waist down to the ankle and most times thrown over the shoulder.
A blouse is worn over a wrap tied from the waist to just below the knee for young girls and unmarried women, while married women wear a wrap from waist to ankle and the blouse worn on top with a wrap tied over it from waist to knee. The ceremonial dress for women is the same pattern, but with higher quality fabric and worn with a head tie and beads. Women of royal blood may wear the two wraps without the blouse, as can maidens during wedding ceremonies.
THE PREHISTORY
The Ijo (Izon, Ijaw) People are one of the oldest peoples of Africa and one of the oldest in present day Nigeria. Language studies indicate that the Ijo (Ijoid) language is one of the oldest languages of Africa and differentiated from a parent language at a very early period at least 5000 years before the birth of other neighbouring language groups.[1]
Based on language studies, thousands of years ago, the ancestors of the Ijo People originated from a north eastern location, around Lake Chad and beyond to the Sudanic Nile Valley.[2] This north eastern and Sudanic origin is also traced to the ancient aquatic civilization that stretched across middle Africa on the ancient waterways linking West Africa River Niger and Benue with the Lake Chad Mega Sea and Nile Valley.[3] Using these language studies, it is proposed that the ancestors of the Ijo People, the ancient ORU (H)ORU people, migrated in ancient times following the waterways and rivers that connected the Nile valley with the Lake Chad inland sea and the Niger/Benue river systems. Some also would have followed overland routes that traced through the waterways of antiquity. Consequently they were one of the first and aboriginal (autochthones) peoples of the West Africa region of the Niger/Benue.
Based on ancestral tradition, the ancestors of the Ijo People referred to as the ORUS or ORU People mythological descended from the sky or emerged from the sacred waters and settled the Nupe, Ife and Benin Regions, Lower River Niger and Niger Delta in antiquity as the ancient autochthones or aborigines.[4]
Based on ancestral tradition, the Ijo People are named after the ancestor known as Father Ijo, who was an ORU ancestor, and son of the Great and Mysterious King ADUMU, also referred to as ODUDU, who founded his Theocratic City State confederacy at Ife during ancient times[5]. Ijo ancestral traditions mention Ife and Benin regions as points of immediate origin, therefore these places are worthy of investigation as to their link to Ijo historical origins. It has been established by historical research that there are at least two dynastic periods for the ancient City states of Ife and Benin (Ado-bou)[6] or Igodomigodo (Igede-me-Igodo). That the first period started before or about 600 AD (CE), and ended about 1190 AD. After this was the second period, starting from about 1190 AD, and maybe a third from 15th century AD to colonial times; the various aboriginal people such as the ancient ORU and others, living in these regions come together to establish centralised autonomous city states, and confederacies, before people started migrating from them. Ijo ancestral traditions mention these two regions as points of immediate origin, and therefore they will be considered for investigation. Any references to Ife and Benin in Ijo traditional history refer to the first aboriginal period that started before 600 AD, when the ancient ORU once inhabited the Ife and Benin regions.
Based on archaeological research the Ijo Niger Delta was settled at least by 800 BC (BCE), and some ancient towns archaeological records can be traced to 700 AD[7]. There is indirect evidence of human activity in the central Niger Delta going back to about 800 BC[8]. While further direct evidence from archaeological expeditions in the Niger Delta takes us back to about 700AD. This does not contradict the ancestral oral traditions. This gives us a time frame of approximately 3000 years of human settlement of the Niger Delta. Further work may provide more ancient data.
In summary, Ijo is Oru and Oru is Ijo, what do we mean? In the beginning the ancestors of the Ijo people were the ancient tribe or aboriginal people known as the (H)ORU. The ORU were the ancient inhabitants or dwellers of the waterways and riversides of Africa. The spiritual initiates into the divine principles symbolised by the water. The (H)ORU inhabited during ancient antiquity the Nile Valley, the Lake Chad region and the Upper Niger, before settling and becoming the aboriginal inhabitants of the Benin, Lower Niger and Niger Delta.
THE HISTORY
The aboriginal ORU people or autochthones, ancestors of the Ijo People, also referred to as the Ancient People (TOBU-OTU), and Water People (BENI-OTU), THE SPIRITUAL INITIATES of the divine principles symbolised by water, began to settle the Niger/Benue region in antiquity at least prior to 1000 BC. They came mainly through the ancient waterways that linked up the Nile valley with West Africa. Others come through overland routes. These migrations into West Africa were in phases over long periods of time.
The Ijo People are the majority inhabitants of the Niger Delta and its outskirts. The ancestors of the Ijo People have inhabited the Niger Delta since antiquity, and the timeframe for settlement is still being researched. The ancestors of the Ijo People settled the Core Niger Delta and specific islands along the deltaic coast. As the people started to spread and migrate through the many islands and waterways they formed various clans and kingdoms as autonomous aboriginal communities. Starting from the 15th Century AD, other people from the hinterlands of the Niger Delta starting settling the delta fringes, due to trade and internal wars. These people settled both the western and eastern fringes amongst the aboriginal Ijo People. They constitute the ethnic neighbours of the Ijos in the Niger Delta.
The ancestral mythological narrative by S K Owonaro published in 1949 (The History of Ijo and Her Neighbouring Tribes in Nigeria) gives us a broad outline as to how the ancestors of the Ijo People settled the Niger Delta. In summary following the narrative, the ancestors of the Ijo People arrived from the hinterlands of ancient Africa, and were known as the ORU people, they had a previous abode within the Borgu/Nupe and Ife regions. They became the aboriginal inhabitants of the Benin region and Lower Niger. They first penetrated the Niger Delta from the western Niger Delta fringe through the ancient Benin waterways (Warifi and Warigi sites), and also the northern delta apex, and had permanent settlement. From western delta fringe ancestors made their way along the coastal creeks and arrived in the central delta making their way up the main outlets of the River Niger before founding a central city state complex in the central delta remembered as Agadagba-bou (Agadagba-bou, Isoma-bou, Opuan-bou, Orubiribai, Oru-bou, Boupere-bou) situated on what is now known as Wilberforce Island of present day Bayelsa State. From here subsequent ancestors dispersed to both the east and western Niger Delta establishing settlements in the rivers and creeks and at the mouth of the major estuaries of Oporoza Toru (Escravos) Iduwini Toru (Forcados) Akassa Opu Toru (Nun). Brass Toru, Kula Toru, Ke Toru and Asarama Toru of the Eastern Delta.
The ancient Oru people that settled along the banks of the lower River Niger to just above the delta apex integrated with some of the upland people (Igbo-Otu), and became known as the Oru-Igbo amongst the Igbo people[9].
THE ANCESTOR FATHER IJO (IZONOWEI) REFERS TO BOTH OUR SPECIFIC ORU ANCESTOR SITUATED IN A SPECIFIC TIME FRAME, AS WELL AS A SYMBOL OF THE ORU ANCESTORS WHO CAME WITH HIM TO ESTABLISH A CITY STATE IN THE CENTRAL DELTA. PRIOR TO FATHER IJO, THE ORU PEOPLE EXISTED AS AN UNIQUE ETHNIC NATIONALITY AND SOME OBVIOUSLY HAD PENETRATED THE NIGER DELTA PRIOR TO FATHER IJO AND HIS PART OF EXPLORERS. NEVERTHELESS THE IJO PEOPLE TAKE THEIR NAME FROM FATHER IJO AS AN INDIVIDUAL AND AS A UNIQUE NAME FOR THE ABORIGINAL NIGER DELTA PEOPLE. THE NARRATIVE BELOW EXPLORES THE ANCESTRAL TRADITIONS CONCERNING THE ORIGINS OF FATHER IJO AND HOW HE CAME TO THE MAIN NIGER DELTA.
NARRATIVE OF HISTORY BASED ON ANCESTRAL TRADITION
VERY MANY CENTURIES AGO PRIOR TO 600 AD (CE), THERE EXISTED OTU-IFE, WHERE THE GREAT AND MYSTERIOUS RULER KING ADUMU (ALIAS ODUDU), THE FIRST AND ANCIENT KING OF IFE, AND FOUNDER OF THE KINGSHIP AT OTU-IFE, REIGNED SUPREME. LEGEND HAS IT THAT HE DESCENDED FROM THE ANCIENT KINGS OF THE ANCIENT NILE VALLEY (NUBIA KUSH AND KEMET). MYTHOLOGICALLY AS A SPIRITUAL INITIATE HE CAME DOWN FROM THE SKY (SENT FROM HEAVEN OR FROM ANCIENT ORU COUNTRY) TO ESTABLISH KINGSHIP IN THE NEW LANDS.
PRINCE ADUMU OF THE ANCIENT ORU PEOPLE ARRIVED IN THE IFE REGION AFTER TRAVELLING THROUGH LANDS AND RIVERS WITH HIS PEOPLE. LEGENDS HAVE IT THAT HE ARRIVED IN THE NIGER BENUE REGION AND FIRST MADE SETTLEMENT WHERE THE OLD CITY OF BUSSA ONCE STOOD. IT WAS FROM THIS PLACE THAT HE DISCOVERED THE REGION OF IFE. AT THE TIME OF HIS ARRIVAL AND NEW DISCOVERIES ANOTHER PEOPLE KNOWN AS THE UGBOS HAD ALSO ARRIVED AND SET UP CAMPS IN THE AREA. FURTHERMORE OTHER ANCIENT PEOPLE ALSO ARRIVED IN THE AREA AND IT INCREASED IN POPULATION.
AFTER SOME YEARS OF PEACEFUL SETTLEMENT, BEFORE LONG, DISCONTENT BROKE OUT AMONG THE VARIOUS PEOPLES DUE TO COMPETITION, TYRANNY AND MALADMINISTRATION. PRINCE ADUMU AND HIS WISEMEN CONSULTED THE ORACLE, AND IT ORDERED THAT IT WAS NOW TIME TO SET UP THE NEW KINGDOM. A NEW CONSTITUTION WAS DRAWN UP WITH PRINCE ADUMU AT THE HEAD OF A NEW THEOCRATIC GOVERNMENT. AND SO PRINCE ADUMU FORMED AN ALLIANCE WITH SOME OF THE DISCONTENTED COMMUNITIES OF UGBOS TO DEFEAT THEIR ENEMIES. THIS WAR IS RETOLD IN THE ANCESTRAL LEGENDS AS THE WAR BETWEEN ADUMU (AKA ODUDU, ODUDUWA) AND OBATALA AND THE BIRTH OF THE 15 OR 16 DEITIES. IN REALITY IT WAS A THEOCRATIC AND POLITICAL WAR BETWEEN MEMBERS OF THE TEMPLE OF THE GREAT MOTHER GODDESS (WOYINGI) AND THE GODHEAD (OBATALA).
THE ALLIANCE OF THE GREAT MOTHER GODDESS OBTAINED THE VICTORY AND PRINCE ADUMU, WHO WAS ALSO AN ADUMU (ATUM) PRIEST INITIATE WAS INVITED TO CONSTITUTE A VIABLE GOVERNMENT. FOR HIS SERVICES PRINCE ADUMU WAS REWARDED AND PROCLAIMED THE FIRST AND ANCIENT KING WITH THE TITLE ADUMU-ALA (ADUMU THE LORD) AND ALA-AFIN (LORD OF THE PALACE OR FORTRESS). THEREIN KING ADUMU AND HIS ADVISERS PROCLAIMED THAT THE VARIOUS ANCIENT PEOPLES IN THEIR COMMUNITIES RESIDING IN DIFFERENT SECTIONS OF THE CITY SHOULD INTERMARRY AND FORM ONE NATION SO THAT PEACE REINS SUPREME, AND THIS WAS HOW OTU-IFE BECAME THE FIRST CITY STATE AND THEOCRATIC CONFEDERACY IN THE REGION (IFE).
MANY OF KING ADUMU’S COMPANIONS HELPED HIM CONSOLIDATE HIS REIGN AS KING, THESE INCLUDE, PRINCE OGUN, PRINCE IJO (IZONOWEI), PRINCE IGODO AND PRINCE NANA. EARLY ON MANY OF THESE PRINCES DECIDED TO LEAVE IFE FOR OTHER LANDS FARAWAY AS A PART OF GREATER EXPLORATION AND OPPORTUNITIES OF DISCOVERING NEW LANDS AND PLACES TO SETTLE DURING THE GREAT MIGRATIONS.
AFTER DISAGREEMENT AND SETTLEMENT WITH HIS ELDEST SON AND COMPANION PRINCE IJO (IZONOWEI), KING ADUMU SENT PRINCE IJO (THE KALASUO-ORU, THE ETEKURO-SERIAKE OR IDEKOSEROAKE) WITH A LARGE RETINUE OF ORU PEOPLE ALL THE WAY FROM IFE TO GUARD THE COASTAL WATERWAYS AND ESTABLISH A KINGDOM IN THE PRESENT DAY BENIN & NIGER DELTA REGIONS. WHILE HE KING ADUMU REMAINED REIGNED AND DIED AT IFE. HE IS REMEMBERED AS THE GREAT ODUDU (ODUDU-OWEI, ODUDUWA, ADIMULA, ODUM’LA) IN ANCESTRAL TRADITIONS.
THE LEGEND OF IJO (IJON, IZON) (ADAPTED FROM S. K. OWONARO, HISTORY OF IJO AND HER NEIGHBOURING TRIBES IN NIGERIA, 1949)
“…THE MANHOOD OF PRINCE IJO.
PRINCE Ijo grew up to be a stalwart man of exquisite physique. He was very powerful, warlike and brave. He gallantly fought with his father in many a battle to subdue their enemies. For such acts of valour, courage and power coupled with intelligence and amazing personality, Ijo became very important and respectable in the city.
As KING ADUMU was becoming somewhat old, he desired his son Ijo whom he dearly loved, to understudy him in the management of the affairs of the city and the art of its government. KING ADUMU thereon entrusted some of the important duties of the city to Ijo. At this Ijo became elated and began to pose as the Lord of the city, and he desired the people to recognize him as such.
His house was by the gate of the city, WHICH WAS A GREAT FORTRESS, As the citizens both male and female left and entered the city, he ordered them to remove their headdress and kneel down to salute him before passing. He made many such efforts to get the people to pay him obedience and homage as if he were the king of the place, he even went to the extent of monopolizing the use of the water of the spring of the place.
When his father King ADUMU heard all that, he sent for Ijo who appeared before his father with all the airs of defiance characteristics of a warrior. His father seriously reproached Ijo for those unbecoming acts and told him that he could only rule the people after the death of his father the king, and as such Ijo should wait meekly for his time. Ijo replied his father that he (the father) was getting rather toO old and could not efficiently manage the affairs of the city and as such his father should step down and allow him who had the stamina and virility to rule the people more efficiently. This enraged King ADUMU and a fencing duel between father and son ensued. Sharp arms were freely used in the combat but as both combatants were expert fencers no bodily injuries were inflicted on either of them before they were successfully parted. The priests and some elderly people in the town intervened in the matter and settlement was later made.
KING ADUMU’S COMMAND FOR PRINCE IJO TO LEAVE IFE (PRE – 650 AD).
After the incident King ADUMU gracefully seated himself at his majestic palace (THE AFIN OR FORTRESS and sent for PRINCE Ijo. Ijo buoyantly appeared before the king, but this time with sobriety and reverence, and humbly enquired at the purpose of the call.
His father the king, then said to Ijo –
“My dear son, you are a powerful and warlike fellow. You have a fervent desire to rule, a burning love for authority and AVIDITY for water and the living creatures therein. I have a majestic river (the lordly Niger) with numerous tributaries running most in a downward direction to a fathomless deep, the waters of the river, myriad of fishes abound and in the woods around its banks can be found abundance of wild animals for your food. Go and guard the mouth of this magnificent river with its beautiful sand banks, its graceful delta and the valuable extensive land through which it glides down. For if this river is not guarded, foreigners will come to seize it and possess it. I give you nine days to prepare and leave the city and proceed to that part of the country and rule there.
Ijo accepted the order with a nod, but asked for a sceptre to rule and as heir to the throne, he demanded the submission of the crown to him before setting out on such a far journey to an unknown destination. The king replied that his word was the sceptre and that a city such as his could not be without a crown and as such the crown could only be sent to him after the death of the king. The king also told him that the place of his final settlement would be indicated to him by the presence of cowries spread over the ground and at that place he would also find a crown to rule that part of the country.
KING ADUMU blessed PRINCE Ijo and wished him to wax more and more in strength and endowed him with gifts of great powers to vanquish his enemies. He however cursed him to receive no respect nor submission from his children who should be stubborn obstinate and unruly as he (Ijo) had been to his father. He pronounced that war and strife should haunt Ijo wherever he should go. The curse is believed to be responsible for the unruly behaviour of the Ijos and their insubordination to kings, but the endowment of power on Ijo by his father, King ADUMU gave the Ijos that enviable strength mentally and physically.
THE DEPARTURE FROM IFE.
After the expiration of nine days, Ijo left the GREAT city of Ife with a large retinue and a seer as a guide. They continued for several days, and the first place of encampment was the site where Benin City now stands Here ACCORDING TO LEGEND mysterious change in their dialect came upon them and as a result, at the time of departure, some people out of the retinue with the most perculiar of dialects remained behind. Those that remained behind became the first settlers of the place and these were the people whom ORANMIYAN AND HIS PEOPLE met when they immigrated to the place OVER FIVE HUNDRED YEARS LATER FROM THE HINTERLANDS IN ABOUT 1190 ad, and whose language they later spoke. What actually happened was that some of the Ijos people the Orus stayed behind and intermarried with the Efas, which centuries later caused the modification or mysterious change in dialect, other explanations include the arrival of other immigrants.
From here PRINCE Ijo and his retinue wended their way southwards and taking a more easterly direction they got to the Sapoba river, the first of the lateral creeks and tributaries to the Benin river. Here the difficult task of crossing the streams confronted Ijo and his party as they could neither return nor proceed. At this juncture Ijo with his supernatural powers endowed on him by his father, simply pronounced some words of incantation and land appeared across the stream. Along that land Ijo and retinue gleefully walked over to the other side of the stream and the land across the stream immediately disappeared. That same sort of power enabled Ijo with his people in overcoming other difficulties in his arduous and circuitous journey till they reached the banks of the main river Benin ESTUARIES. Here at a spot the weary travellers sojourned [encamped stayed for some time]. Through the advice of the seer, they undertook the manufacture of wooden crafts for their tour of exploration on the Niger. That gave birth to the art of canoe making in Nigeria.
The spot where the trees were felled and carved was called Wari-Igi and where the finished canoes were floated and fastened was called Wari-Ife. The two Urhobo towns of Warigi and Warife derive their names from these two words- Warigi from Wari-Ige and Warife from Wari-Ife. Wari means house or home, Ige is an obsolete word for trees, Ife means bubbles in the Ijo language….The explorers on leaving the place never returned and PRINCE Ijo’s follower who remained there with his wife became multiplied and founded the Urhobo race…..” END OF ADAPTATION
EXPLAINING FURTHER AT THE MOMENT OF HIS DEPARTURE PRINCE IJO’S FATHER, KING ADUMU CONFERED ON HIM, THE MYSTIC POWERS OF AUTHORITY TO INVEST HIM WITH ABSOLUTE POWER AND RIGHT OVER THE LANDS AND RIVERS THAT SHOULD COME UNDER HIS OWNERSHIP THROUGH EXPLORATION. THEIR FIRST ABORIGINAL HABITATION AND SETTLEMENT WAS THE SITE OF UZAMA (UZON-AMA, MEANING IJO-AMA), WHERE BENIN CITY NOW STANDS. SUBSEQUENTLY PRINCE IJO AND HIS PEOPLE SET UP THEIR FIRST SETTLEMENT. OTHER ABORIGINAL ORU PEOPLE HAD ALSO SETTLED THIS PLACE COMING IN FROM THE ANCIENT WATERWAYS THAT CONNECTED UZAMA WITH THE ANCIENT RIVER NIGER, WHICH HAS SINCE DRIED UP.
PRINCE IJO LEFT SOME OF HIS PEOPLE AT HIS FIRST ABORIGINAL SETTLEMENT OF UZON-AMA (UZAMA) IN BENIN SITE (ADO-BOU) TOOK SOME OF HIS BRAVE MEN AND WOMEN AND CONSTITUTED AN EXPLORATION TEAM TO EXPLORE THE WATERWAYS. THEY PROCEEDED TO SAIL DOWN THE MAIN RIVERS LINKING BENIN TO THE COAST. THEIR FIRST SETTLEMENT ALONG THE COASTAL ESTUARIES WAS THE SITE OF WARIFI AND WARIGI. HERE SOME SETTLED. FROM THIS SITE THE EXPLORATION TEAM MOVED ON TO EXPLORE THE COASTAL REGIONS WITH SOME SETTLING IN THE OPOROZA AND IDUWINI ESTUARIES, WHILE THE FINAL JOURNIES TOOK THEM UP TO THE CENTRAL DELTA. HAVING DISCOVERED AN ANCIENT ISOLATED COMMUNITY OF ORU PEOPLE LIVING IN THE CENTRAL DELTA, RULED BY THE PRIESTESS OR QUEEN ORU-YINGI, FATHER IJO AND HIS PEOPLE DECIDED TO SETTLE AT THIS SITE REMEMBERED AS AGADAGBA-BOU AND TOGETHER WITH THE OTHER ORU ANCESTORS (TOBU-OTU – THE ANCIENT PEOPLE) UNDER THE RULERSHIP OF THE ORU-YINGI, FORMED A CITY STATE KNOWN AS IJO CITY OR AGADAGBA-BOU. LEGEND ALSO HAS IT THAT THE ORU-YINGI PRIESTESS OR QUEEN GAVE HER AUTHORITY TO PRINCE IJO BY HANDING HIM HER SACRED CROWN OF COWRIES. HE THUS BECAME THE FIRST PERE OR KING WITH THE TITLES, THE KALASUO-ORU (KALA-SUO) THE INDO-ORU, THE OGULABIOWEI AND ETEKURO (ETEKURO-SERIAKE). ONCE THE NEW CITY STATE WAS FOUNDED MORE AND MORE ANCESTORS MIGRATED TO THE CENTRAL DELTA FOR THE PURPOSES OF COMMERCE, INDUSTRIAL ACTIVITIES, FISHING AND FARMING AND ENHANCED COMMUNITY LIFE. THIS CONTINUED UP TO ABOUT 1050 AD, WHEN A GENERAL DISPERSAL FROM IJO CITY (AGADAGBA-BOU) SET IN.
THE ORU PEOPLE THAT REMAINED BEHIND AT UZAMA (BENIN) MULTIPLIED AND WERE JOINED BY MORE PEOPLE FROM IFE LED BY PRINCE IGODO. THESE PEOPLE TOGETHER CONSTITUTED THE ABORIGINES OR AUTOCHTONES OF BENIN. PRINCE IGODO TOOK THE TITLE OGI-SUO (OGISO – PRINCE OF THE SKY, MEANING PRINCE OF THE REALM) AND WITH HIS FOLLOWERS, AND THEY EVENTUALLY ESTABLISHED THE FOUNDATION OF THE OGISO KINGSHIP AND SOVEREIGN NATION OF IGODO-MI-GODO (IGEDE-ME-IGODO – QUARTERS, PLACE OR LAND OF IGODO). ORIGINALLY UZON-AMA (UZAMA) AND IGEDE-ME-IGODO, WERE TWO SEPARATE SETTLEMENTS BEFORE FUSING TO BECOME THE FOUNDATION OF ANCIENT BENI KINGDOM. ALSO NEARBY LIVED THE EFA PEOPLE AND THEY INTERMARRIED WITH THE ORU PEOPLE, WHICH THROUGH TIME CAUSED THE LANGUAGE CHANGE AND MODIFICATION, ALTHOUGH THE SAME LANGUAGE OF ORU (IJO LANGUAGE) CONTINUED TO BE SPOKEN AT UZAMA AND IGEDE-ME-IGODO WELL UP TO THE 16TH CENTURY AD. THOSE ORU ANCESTORS THAT INTERMARRIED WITH THE EFA BECAME THE FIRST ANCESTORS OF THE URHOBO (FROM ORUBO, AND SOBO FROM UZOBO[11]). THROUGHOUT THIS EARLY PERIOD FOR A 1000 YEARS PLUS, THE IJOS OR ORUS OF THE CENTRAL DELTA HAD COMMUNICATION WITH THEIR BROTHERS WHO LIVED AT UZON-AMA (UZAMA) AND IGEDE-ME-IGODO (ADO-BOU REFERRED TO AS BENIN).
THE FIRST IFE DYNASTY FOUNDED BY KING ADUMU LASTED FOR OVER 500 YEARS. THE ORU PEOPLE THAT REMAINED BEHIND IN IFE WITH KING ADUMU, CONTINUED TO LIVE IN THE ANCIENT CITY AND OCCUPIED THE SECTION THAT IS REFERRED TO AS IGBO-OLOKUN. EVENTUALLY THEY INTERMARRIED WITH THE OTHER ABORIGINAL COMMUNITIES AND LATER IMMIGRANTS AND GAVE BIRTH TO WHAT IS NOW REFERRED TO AS IFE PEOPLE OR YORUBA. THE FIRST DYNASTY CAME TO AN END AND WAS REPLACED BY A NEW DYNASY LED BY ORANMIYAN FROM THE HINTERLANDS IN ABOUT 1200 AD.
(LEGENDS OF IJO ADAPTED FROM S. K. OWONARO, HISTORY OF IJO AND HER NEIGHBOURING TRIBES IN NIGERIA, 1949)
“…EXPLORATION ON THE NIGER BY IJO AND HIS FOLLOWERS.
Ijo and his followers commenced their exploratory journey IN the newly manufactured canoes in a southwesterly direction. After a long and arduous cruise, they were ushered as if by a magic wand, to the extreme northern end of Lagos lagoon. As they drifted listlessly along the lagoon, their peeping eyes caught sight of a graceful archipelago. The Iddo island, the Lagos island and other adjoining isles stand as relics of that once picturesque archipelago. Being attracted by that scenic sight, they made their way to the island immediately following the mainland. This island the Iddo island they so-journeyed and the temporary settlement became known as Ijora, being a corruption of Ojo-Orun ( OR IJO-URAU) the original name of Ijo. The title of chief Ojora of Ijora as a nomenclature for the head of Ijora family is simply reminiscent of THE Ijo’s (or Ojo’s) first settlement at Ijora.
From Ijora, Ijo crossed over to Lagos island and on rising land he settled and cultivated a pepper farm. This farm became known as Idumu Iganran, meaning the land of pepper – Idumu being an old Ijo word for land and Iganran for pepper. Iga-Iduganran the famous palace of the king of Lagos was a contraction of Idumu Iganran. The chief attendant of the farm was known as Opu Odubo meaning great servant in Ijo language. The word Odubo is still retained and used as one of the titles of the chiefs in the palace. After some time Ijo entrusted this farm to the charge of some of his able men and left with others for the eastern region of the Niger. Those that remained in Lagos took to farming and fishing and flourished there. In the course of time Benin hunters and farmers filtered into Lagos. These were friendly and the Ijos willingly ferried them to and from the island across the lagoon. When the Benis [Benin kingdom of the 16th century] immigrated to the island in overwhelming numbers, some of the Ijos migrated to the creeks near by, these include the Ojos in Badagiri creek, the Ilajes and other Yoruba speaking people in the creeks near Lagos. Those who stayed on the island of Lagos were later absorbed into the early settlers and original Yoruba inhabitants of Lagos [i.e. mainland].
When the new Benin KINGDOM rose to power IN THE 16TH CENTURY AD and started to harass ABORIGINE settlers in Lagos, a valiant grandson [descendant] of IJo named Arigbo- THE ARIGBOS was sent by his father Gbaran [GbaraUN] from EscRavos (OPOROZA TORU) River to stem their agression. The spot where Arigbo established his depot was Idumagbo (in Lagos) which is a corruption of Idumu-Arigbo, meaning the land of Arigbo. Arigbo fought gallantly against the BeniN ARMY at Lagos and along the creeks up to Benin River and succeeded in stemming the advance of the BeniN KINGDOM to the eastern region of the Niger DELTA.
On leaving Lagos Ijo endeavoured to trace his course back to Warigi with a view to reuniting with his brother the ancestor of the Urhobos, but unfortunately this could not materialise as that eventful journey was destined for further discoveries and further higher service…..”
“…Along tortuous creeks Ijo and his followers rowed and through weedy swamps they pulled till they got to the estuary of the ExcRavos river. Here Ijo AND PEOPLE settled for some time and founded along the river, villages, the people of whom are known as Tobu Otu (ancient people) among the Ijos. After some time Ijo placed his son Gbaran in charge of this place and pursued his adventurous journey. Leaving this place Ijo continued his journey eastwards along the littoral zone….. Leaving his brilliant son Ogbo with a few other people at Warri, Ijo with his COMPANIONS and retinue set out on a further exploration of the Niger. The appearance of numerous openings of various creeks along the route presented a rather tough and contesting task in the choice of the right course to take, however, the wise seer ASSAIN was alive to his job and ably guided the way.
Through sinuous creeks highly clothed in dense vegetation they rowed and against impeding weeds, and adverse tide they plodded northwards till the got to a certain confluence in the Forcados branch of the Niger. There they found the water fresh and flowing in one downward direction, there they gazed at the branches of the river and observed them enclosing a graceful little delta like a giant mother fondly embracing a child, and the main river was seen to stretch far north and to be lost to sight in a hazy mist.
PRINCE Ijo was apt to maintain that they had reached the main river and felt inclined to settle there, but the discovery of the river Nun which was the main branch of the Niger to the sea at the time was bound to come, and on the advice of the seer, they pulled on. Coursing in a south-easterly direction they rowed from one river to the other of the deltaic rivers through the numerous inter-connected creeks till they emerged at the estuary of the Nun branch of the Niger. At a suitable spot in the hinterland in the vicinity of Ibiama they settled. A pepper plant that was planted there then it is said lives to this day and has grown up to the size of a very large Kapik or wild cotton bearing tree.
PRINCE Ijo was not to rest until his promised land was reached. Consequently, after staying for some time he left there with his people and journeyed north-wards up the Niger. As they advanced up the river the advantage of moving occasionally with the tide got lost to them and they were forced to face a forceful current flowing in only one downward direction. At certain projections the force of the current of the current was to strong for them and their canoes were forced backwards many a time but with dogged determination they plodded on. They had to improvise some bamboo poles which greatly assisted them in pushing on their canoes faster when rowing along sand banks and other shallow water.
The journey carried them to Emete creek where at the present site of the village Emete in Boma clan they settled. After some time they set out again on their tour up the Niger. The journey was directed northwards till they got to the site where the Aboh town of Onyan now stands. Here a wonderful confluence of the Niger was found. At this confluence four rivers namely the Niger flowing from the north, the Nun, the Ofoni-toru and the Forcados met.
From here Ijo sent some of his followers to tour up the Niger. Those went and founded towns and villages along the banks of the Niger up to Atani. These are the Ibos of the lower Niger who now speak the Aboh dialect. Aboh was founded by Assain the accredited seer of Ijo. Like other Ijos and Urhobos these people now claim direct descent from Benin city though a few who immigrated to this part later are right to make such claim. The apex of the massive delta of the Niger was just at a point opposite the present site of Onyan but it has been washed further down by the forceful current. The stream known as Ofoni-Toru was a large stream rising from the apex of the Niger and running between the Forcados branch of the Niger and the Nun which was then known as Ikolo-Toru. It is a wonder to see this Ofonitoru so completely silted up that navigation in it is absolutely impossible for even the tiniest fish during the dry season. It now leaves only a trait of its mouth in the form of a ravine near the Isoko town Canaan, and its course inland is just a chain of little lakes and ponds.
Into this Ofonitoru Ijo and the rest of his people entered. Along the stream they glided down till they got out to the Igbedi creek. They moored alongside a spot at the banks of this creek, and as they wandered about the bush, they discovered some cowries lying scattered along the ground and at this spot the crown too was found as promised by King ADUMU (ALIAS ODUDU). Here in the bush known as Agadagba Bou [ie the place or forest of Agadagba – bou=place] they settled. Legend has it the other way, that after their settlement at this place, PRINCE Ijo seized the crown from water mermaids (PRIESTESSES OF ZIBARAU) who were found dancing at a meadow on the bank of a river.
FATHER IJO AT HIS SETTLEMENT –
Here FATHER Ijo AND HIS PEOPLE prospered and became greatly multiplied. THEY beget many children and had many grand and great grand children. FATHER IJO’S children honoured him and wished him to live long. This they expressed in the Ijo language Indo O and Ujo became nicknamed “Indo” by some of his children while the Abohs call him “Indo Oru”. At times Ujo’s children called him “Kalasuo” meaning “Small God” and at times they called him “Ogulabiowi” at other times they called him “Kumoni”…..”
AT AGADAGBA-BOU FATHER IJO AND HIS PEOPLE JOINED WITH OTHER ANCIENT ORU SETTLERS AND ESTABLISHED THE FIRST CITY STATE IN THE CENTRAL DELTA KNOWN AS IJO – CITY (IJO-AMA, UZAMA, EXACTLY THE SAME AS THE ONE IN THE BENIN REGION) THIS CITY STATE BECAME REMEMBERED AS AGADAGBA-BOU BECAUSE IT WAS ONCE THE BURIAL GROUND OF THE EGBESU PRIESTHOOD.
AT IJO CITY, FATHER IJO NOW PERE-IJO, THE IBENANAOWEI AND IBEDAOWEI OF IJO-IBE (IZON-IBE) SENT THE ANCIENT ADUMU (SUPREME INTELLIGENCE SYMBOLISED BY THE SACRED GREAT PYTHON) PRIESTHOOD TO THE EASTERN DELTA TO GUARD AND SETTLE THAT REGION. THIS PRIESTHOOD WAS LED MY THE ADUMU PRIEST KENI-OPU-ALA, STATED IN THE LEGENDS TO HAVE DESCENDED FROM THE SKY AND SENT BY ADUMU HIMSELF. KENI-OPU-ALA AND A SMALL RETINUE WENT AND FOUNDED THE ANCIENT TOWN OF KE IN THE EASTERN DELTA. FROM KE OTHER ANCIENT SETTLEMENTS WERE FOUNDED IN THE EASTERN NIGER DELTA.
FATHER IJO DIED AT HIS IJO CITY STATE OF AGADAGBA-BOU. AND AFTER HIM THE IJO-CITY CONTINUED TO FLOURISH FOR MORE THAN 400 YEARS. IN ABOUT 1050 AD MALADMINISTRATION, CONFUSION AND COMPETION SET IN, AND COMBINED WITH THE NEED FOR NEW LANDS TO ACCOMMODATE GROWING POPULATION, ANCESTORS DECIDED TO MIGRATE OUT OF AGADAGBA-BOU. DURING THIS PERIOD ANCESTORS LEFT AGADAGBA-BOU AND ESTABLISHED ISOMA-BOU IN THE SAME GREATER ISLAND AREA NOW KNOWN AS WILBERFORCE ISLAND. OTHER ANCESTORS WENT AND SETTLED FURTHER DOWNSTREAM IN THE NOW OPOROMA AREA OF BOUPERE-BOU, AND OTHERS DOWN TO FORM THE APOI OR KALASUO KINGDOM.
FROM THE ANCIENT IJO CITY STATE OF AGADAGBA-BOU, ISOMA-BOU, BOUPERE-BOU, ANCIENT APOI AND KE, DESCENDANTS OF THE FOUNDING ANCESTORS MIGRATED TO BOTHER THE EASTERN AND WESTERN NIGER DELTA TO GIVE BIRTH TO THE IJO NATION AS WE KNOW IT. THEY WERE LATER TO BE JOINED BY IJO (ORU) DESCENDANTS, IGODO (OGISO) DESCENDANTS AND EFA MIGRANTS, WHO MOVED INTO THE MAIN NIGER DELTA AT THE TIME OF THE COLLAPSE OF THE OGISO GOVERNMENT OF ANCIENT BENIN, AND ALSO ESCAPE THE TYRANNY OF THE NEW OBA RULERS DURING THE 16 CENTURY AD.
(LEGENDS OF IJO ADAPTED FROM S. K. OWONARO, HISTORY OF IJO AND HER NEIGHBOURING TRIBES IN NIGERIA, 1949)
“…THE BENIS – PRINCE IGODO OR GODO, the ancestor of the OGISO-BENIS was the forth son of THE GREAT ADUMU (ALIAS ODUDU), king of Ife. At the death of KING ADUMU, PRINCE Igodo was also sent to look for PRINCE Ijo the eldest son, to succeed their father on the throne. After a long and futile search, Igodo returned only to tell the citizens of Ife the unpleasant story of the failure to find Ijo. The priests and lords of the city sent Godo again to call back Lufon, the second son, from Oyo to assume the reigns of the place in place of his elder brother, but Lufon refused the offer and simply sent back Godo and his followers with a cow for the funeral ceremonies of their father. On his return to Ife, Godo was upset to find that his father’s estate had already been shared off by his other brothers and sisters and that nothing was left for him save an aged widow of their father. The old woman invited Prince Godo to her house but, as he loathed her company, he refused. The old woman riddled, “Good and bad things often go together,” Being curious of that saying, he followed her to her house; on getting to the house, she riddled again, “It is a person that closes a door and it is a person that opens a door,” “and I have opened your door for you,” With these words she unveiled a screen at the corner of her house and there Prince Godo was amazed to find the mystic regalia of authority and conquest of King ADUMU (ALIAS Odudu). During the fracas which followed the disorderly disposition of the king’s property the old woman sneaked into the palace and removed that regalia to her house. The regalia of authority and conquest was something like a piece of wood with a string hung at lintels of doors of some native homes in keeping doors closed. The old woman suggested to the prince that she would hand over that powerful regalia to him if only he would consent to marry her and maintain her. To this proposal Prince Igodo readily consented. He thereon left Ife with the old woman, A RETINUE and the regalia of authority and conquest to found his own kingdom. He migrated southwards till he got to the present site of Benin City where he met the remnants of Ijo’s followers (The Orus) who remained behind during Ijo’s journey with them from Ife and these people with WHOM PRINCE Igodo settled along with the Efas gave birth to the Benin language. Prince Igodo was installed the king of the place with the title “Ogiso” and his was remembered centuries later as Obagodo (the prefix, Oba being a Yoruba word for king during the times of the Eweka Oba dynasty, even though Ogiso Igodo and all other Ogisos never bore that Oba title).
With the gift of conquest believed to be inherited from his father through his only heirloom, the regalia of authority and conquest, Ogiso-Igodo conquered all neighbouring settlements in battle or they agreed to form the Igede-me-Igodo confederacy.
Later centuries when the Ogiso rule collapsed, many of the descendants of the Ogisos, including Ogiso Igodo descendants fled into the main Niger Delta and joined their ancient Ijo kin or brothers in the central Niger Delta”
END OF ADAPTATION
This is the man account of the Ijo ancestral tradition regarding the ancestors settling the Niger Delta and the relationship between Ijo, Ife and Benin.
Father Ijo and his people, first made permanent settlement at this place remembered as Agadagba-bou and built it into a City State. It was here that they discovered his crown (given legitimacy and authority to rule) and also he met some priestesses (the mermaids or mamiwater) through which he also gained legitimacy to rule the Niger Delta.
These journeys by waterways in huge canoes did not take very long, temporary settlement may have been months or years before getting to the final settlement. As recently as the 1940’s people still travelled by canoe from the central Niger Delta to Lagos by hand pulling canoes. It took them 18 days with stops on the way to do the trip. So ancient Ijo people could travel from the Benin region to the central delta with enough foodstuff and fishing on the way in a similar timeframe. Because of water transportation, ancient Ijos could travel long distances and penetrate the most isolated of environments.
Under the administrative authority and jurisdiction of Father and Pere Ijo of the ancient ORU People and with administrative headquarters in the central Niger Delta at a place remembered as Agadagba-Bou (the lost City of Ijo) 9 families or lines of descent (the Isena-Ibe) consisting of the original exploration families and other Oru aboriginal settlers came together and gave birth to the Ijo nation, with Father Ijo (Ijo, Izonowei) as the first Pere (King) titled THE INDO-ORU, THE KALASUO, THE OGULABIOWEI and THE ETEKURO (ETEKURO-SERIAKE, corrupted to Idekoseroake, the title he was remembered by at Old Ife). Organised into nine lines of ancestral descent (family lines), they all come under the authority and traced descent from the main ancestor Father IJO as the direct sons or children, either actually and symbolically (for the purposes of unity). These nine lines of descent are remembered and represented by the following primary ancestors; they are the primary ancestors who helped establish the new political and social entity of IJO.
THE LOST CITY OF IJO 650 – 1050 AD APPROXIMATELY
After establishing at Igbedi creek (the lost city of Ijo or Agadagba-bou), Father Ijo sent for more of his people who were at WARI-IFE, WARI-IGE, OPOROZA, and ADO (BENIN). The city-state founded in the central delta area of Igbedi Creek remembered as AGADAGBA-BOU, is now inhabited by the Kolokuma Ijo. Other towns established as a part of this extant kingdom include ORU-BOU, and ISOMA-BOU in the same vicinity and KE in the eastern delta coast.
Ancestors converged into this new city-state with the common objectives of taming the wild Niger Delta environment and utilising the natural resources for their daily living. Centuries later all these ancient towns were eventually abandoned accept Ke because of several reasons such as erosion, civil strife, fishing expeditions and population migration.
The lost City of Ijo and other settlements within the Igbedi Creek area (Wilberforce Island) and central delta under one central unified authority (The Pere, The Indo-Oru) appears to have existed from upwards 400 years starting from about 650 AD to about 1050 AD, but built on earlier foundations. During this time the ancestors evolved the Ijo ethnic identity, and the ancestors formally adopted the name IJO as representing the emerging ethnic nationality. By the time they started to disperse, 400 years later, the ethnic identity had become fully established; customs and culture had evolved in harmony with the delta water environment, so that their descendants described themselves as such, ‘THE IJO PEOPLE – IZON OTU, even though they were also formally known by our ancient names of ORU, and KUMONI. Lastly the proto-ancestors of the Ijo People were also referred to as the “water people” (BENI-OTU) and by ethnic neighbours such as Itsekiri, as the “spirits-ancestors of the sea” (UMALE-OKUN).
AGADAGBA-BOU (Prior to 7th Century AD): Nine families (The Isena-Ibe) of the ancient Oru-Ijos eventually came together and gave birth to the first Ijo City State in the Niger Delta remembered as AGADAGBA-BOU, situated in the Wilberforce island region of present day Bayelsa State (although the first City State, it was not the first or only settlement at the time). Furthermore during this period they also established coastal settlements as spiritual centres and guard points in the following ancient sites – Oporoza (Gbaranmatu), Amatu (Iduwini), Kula and Ke, all directly linked to the Ijo City State of Agadagba-bou.
Early on, the Priests of Adumu Lodge went and founded Ke, led by the High Priest Keni-Opu-Ala, while Egbesu Lodge priests were in charge of the Oporoza-toru and Iduwini-toru coastal estuaries. It was at Agadagba-bou that Father-Ijo was formally crowned as King/Priest PERE IJO (THE INDO-ORU) having been conferred the powers of the ORUYINGI Priestess of the primordial titular Divinities representatives of ZIBARA WOYENGI, The Supreme Mother Goddess, to rule with authority and power over the Niger Delta regions. He became known as Father-Ijo (Izon) and ancestral founder of the Ijo Ethnic Nation in the ancestral tradition lodges.
Main Niger Delta – 7th to 11th Century AD: The Ijo City State of Agadagba-bou existed for about 400 years or more up to about 1050 AD. Due to internal strife, and environmental factors, the descendants of the founding ancestors abandoned the ancient city, taking with them their various family and royal symbols of office and Titular Divinities, the main ones being ADUMU, BENIKURUKURU, EGBESU (SUO-EGBESU), OPUOGULA, OBOROWEI, DIRIMOGBIA, and traditional titles such as KALASUO, INDO-ORU, PERE, AGADAGBA and AMANANABO (AMAYANABO). Traditional historians maintain that Gbaraun inherited the sceptre of Ijo and Gbaraun descendants took with them the Agadagba title being members of the Egbesu Lodge. Meanwhile the descendants of Opu-Ogbo took the Opu-Ogula lodge with them and set up their own autonomous community in Isoma-bou.
11th Century to 16th Century AD – From Agadagba-bou, Isomo-bou was founded. The ancestors that took OPUOGULA titular divinity went and founded an ancient town remembered as Isomo-bou (Isoma-bou or Opuan-bou); also in the central delta Wilberforce island vicinity. From Isomo-bou descendants went and founded Obiama (Ibiama) led by ancestor Obia (Ibia or Ibi). From the demise of these two ancient settlements many ancestors left to establish their own towns and villages giving birth to a number of Ijo clans and kingdoms in the central, eastern and western Niger Delta.
From Agadagba-bou demise or even before the demise, ancestors went and established an ancient town remembered as Bou-pere-Bou taking with them the Egbesu and Boupere Titular Divinities, amongst others, and from the demise of this ancient town ancestors left to establish their own towns and villages giving birth to a number of Ijo clans and kingdoms in the central, eastern and western Niger Delta.
From Agadagba-bou a second Agadagba-bou was founded taking with them Egbesu and Oborowei Titular divinities and others. At the demise of this second ancient settlement many ancestors left to establish their own town and villages giving birth to various clans and kingdoms in the central and western Niger Delta.
Also during this period (12 century AD to 16 century AD) Ijo aborigines of Benin, due to the insecurity and other factors left Benin and joined their relatives in the main Niger Delta. They settled amongst the ancestors of the various sub-groups, but are also chiefly represented by the Mein (Meinyi) Clan or subgroup.
Thus we can see how most of the Ijo Niger Delta was peopled by the primordial communities that once lived in the ancient City state (remembered as Agadagba-Bou) situated in the now Wilberforce Island of present Day Bayelsa State, and the aborigine Ijo inhabitants of the Benin region (Ado-bou).
THE FLIGHT OF THE IJOS FROM BENIN CITY (UZAMA AND IGEDE-ME-IGODO)
The Ijos or Orus are the aborigines of Benin City and riverine (waterways) environment. The ancient Ijo ancestors lived at two main towns or settlements, these were Ijo-ama (Ujo-ama, Uzon-ama, Uzama, Usama, meaning the town of Ijo) and Igede-me-Igodo (Igodomigodo, meaning the quarters of Igodo, now land of Igodo). Igede-me-Igodo further become the name of the ancient Beni kingdom or confederacy. All this is prior to 600 AD.
Now, Father Ijo left some of his people at his first settlement which became known as Uzama, and they with other Oru became the first aborigines or autochthones of Benin region. They were soon joined by Prince Igodo and his retinue from Ife, and also the ancient Efas who migrated from the immediate northern hinterlands. They are lived side by side autonomous communities before Prince Igodo organised them into a confederacy with allegiance to him due to his prowess in warfare and battle. Prince Igodo was given the title the OGI-SUO (prince or ruler of the sky, meaning ruler of the realms, also pronounced OGISO, both SUO AND ISO mean sky in Ijo and Benin language). After the death of Ogiso-Igodo he was succeeded by his grandson Prince ERE and after Ogiso Ere at least 30 Ogisos ruled the Benin confederacy for at least 500 years before internal confusion and external invasion ended their rule.
During the time of the Ogisos Beni city state made up of Uzama, ruled by the Ondo (Indo) Oru, Igede-me-Igodo, ruled by the Ogiso (who also was the overall ruler) and Efa territory, ruled by the Ogi-Efa, became an urban centre and the surrounding outskirts was settled by many different immigrant groups. Many of these people emigrated to different parts of West Africa after the collapse of the Ogiso government.[1]
About 1190 AD, one Oranmiyan (Oranjan) the son of Laro from the hinterlands arrived in the Ife city state and conquered the inhabitants. He was driven back and he retreated to Okuland, where he became king dwelling in Oduma-Ushe (Uhe). From Oduma-Ushe (Uhe) and not Ife, Oranmiyan made war on the Beni confederacy, which was going through a crises of government with the collapse of the Ogiso dynasty. Many of the Ogiso descendants had by this time emigrated into the main Niger Delta to settle with their ancient kindred Ijo in the central delta and coasts.
Oranmiyan or Oranyan, on his first attempt to conquer Beni confederacy, encountered stiff resistance at the Ovia River by the local Ijos autonomous communities at Ikoro. After several attempts Oranmiyan circumvents the Ovia river route and infiltrates Uzama (the aboriginal Ijo settlement of Beni) to try and settle peacefully. It is at Uzama that he sets up base, but due to stiff opposition from the aborigines he is forced to leave. By the time he has left with his forces, he has formed an agreement with some of the Uzama chiefs (the seven Uzama) and also some of the leaders of the Efa (i.e. Ogiefa). It is whilst here that Oranmiyan has a son by an Efa (Egor) woman. This son is named Eweka. Eweka does not grow up in Uzama, and some traditions maintain that he grew up in Ugbo in old Ilaje territory. Once a man, Eweka is assigned to conquer Beni Confederacy. He and his troops also encounters stiff opposition in trying to establish a foothold over the Beni Confederacy but is restricted by the Uzama Ijo aborigine chiefs. There is continuous struggles for power between Eweka descendants and the Uzama aborigines up to the fourth generation of Ewedo. It is only after the forth Oba Ewedo that they gain some success in establishing dynastic control over the half of Benin towns and settlements (the confederacy) under the control of the Uzama aborigines. Which is to say that before Ewedo, the previous Obas did not exercise monarchical power over the entire Beni confederacy and had to contend with the Uzama aborigines? The Uzama were the aboriginal Ijos of Benin, along with their relatives the Ogisuo (Ogiso) descendants (Ogiamen).
Ewedo also encounters major resistance from the Ijo aborigines of the Ovia river complex and also the inhabitants of Igede-me-Igodo (the Ogiamen). It was during one decisive battle that Ewedo captured the royal stool of the Ogisos from the Ogiamen. In the ensuring peace treaty there was the ritual division of the land between the Oba Ewedo and the Ogiamen (Ogiso descendants), and this is known as the treaty of Ekiopagha. The remnant leaders of the Ogiamen, custodians of the Ogiso stool and the leaders of the Uzama were then invited to form a government and administrative jurisdiction with Ewedo at the treaty of Ekiopagha. The treaty specified the division of the confederacy into two regions, one ruled by the Oba and the other ruled by the Ogiamen. On the death of an Oba, the new Oba had to pay a token fee to the Ogiamen on the right to rule over his domain.
Therefore the 2nd EWEKA Benin dynasty was established not be peaceful invitation, but by force of arms, combined with the crises of government of the Ogiso dynasty. The 2nd Benin dynasty established the Obas as the new rulers and the Beni confederacy was changed to an autocratic kingdom. It was because of these factors during the long struggle between the new imposter kings (Obas) and the indigenous Ijo (Oru) and Efa inhabitants that many ancestral Ijos left Benin for the Niger Delta, between 12th and 16th century AD, because the Obas started to confiscate the lands of the aborigines.[2] But resistance was still put up by some sections of the kingdom. The Eweka dynasty was not fully accepted. From time to time the leaders of the Uzama presented resistance to the illegitimate regime at Benin. The Eweka dynasty only becomes fully accepted when Ogun (Ewuare) ascended the throne.
Ewuare (Ogun) it is stated was the child of a noble woman who descended from the Ogisos, i.e. to say she was an Ogiso princess, an Ogiamen so to speak, he could therefore claim matrilineal descent from an aboriginal indigenous princess. This may have been a deliberate process on the part of the indigenous element to put in place a ruler who was favourable to their interests. As a young man Prince Ogun was banished or forced into exile, but with the help of some of the aboriginal elements of Benin (the Ijos), Ogun ascended to the throne after a great battle that lasted two days and two nights. Because of the services rendered to him by his aboriginal loyalists he renamed the kingdom officially ADO, the nickname of the aborigines by the Obas, due to their greeting form ADO O’ DOLO O’ DO TEME’ They were also further rewarded for their services. So Ogun ascended the throne of the Ogisos and united in himself the two dynasties (the older indigenous Ogiso dynasty and the younger Oranmiyan-Eweka dynasty. It was during Ogun’s time that the trouble ceased. But they still had to keep to the terms of the Ekiopagha treaty. It was from his time that the monarchy became semi legitimate and stabilised by Ogun Ewuare creating a state council integrating the Indigenous chiefs in a power sharing arrangement.
We have learnt that the aboriginal Ijos (Oru) and Efa population of Benin (ADO-BOU) were remembered as the UZAMA and the OGIAME (OGIAMEN), also called the Ados (corrupted to Edo), while the new settler dynasty were the so called Yorubas or Iweres. With the ascension of Oba Ogun Ewuare, the process of the integration between the remaining indigenous aboriginal inhabitants the IJOS (ORUS), the EFA, summarised as the remnants of the ADOS (OGIAME and UZAMA) and the later emigrants (IWERE-YORUBA) was completed. But by this time the Ijo speaking element of Benin had become a minority in the Benin region, due to intermarriage with the EFA amongst other things. This intermarriage gave birth to some of the Orubo (Urhobo) clans so to speak. Subsequently the Oranmiyan-Eweka dynasty started a tyranny of rulership, confiscating the land of the aboriginal inhabitants of the Benin region (the ancestors of some of the Urhobos and Isokos and sections of Ijos), which led to massive migrations out of Benin.
We have learnt of the power struggles or battles between the new ruling Oba-Eweka dynasty (Iwere) and the Ados – the Uzama/Ogiame indigenous population of Beni, descendants of the ORU and EFA aborigines of ancient Benin kingdom (IGEDE-ME-IGODO). The battles and the following tyranny led to sections leaving Benin for the Niger Delta. Herein is the reason for the Ijo narratives which attest to such actually occurring.
Many of these people moved into the main central delta and coast to join their kith & Kin already established in the region. This is the reason why between the 12th to 16th centuries, a large section of the Ijo ancestors who once lived at Benin, migrated into the Niger Delta. Lastly the civil war between Prince Oru-Ayan (who appears to have been an Uzama Prince) and Oba Esigie was the final catalyst that led to the last remaining Ijo elements to leave Benin and move into the main Niger Delta. The route of migration was Aboh, then central Niger Delta, or western Niger Delta first, on to the central delta coast and up to Aboh.
Nothing is known much about Prince Oru-Ayan, who was he? Was he another descendant Prince of the Ogiso dynasty or Uzama aboriginals that attempted to reclaim the throne of the Ogisos? Further historical investigations should throw more light on the above.
So where did the Ijos of Benin go when they settled in the Niger Delta with their ancestral kindred? During the early phases of the collapse of the Ogisos (1190 AD), the Beni-Ijos moved first to Oporoza near the Atlantic coast (Escravos) and then eastwards (1400 AD) to the central delta. These people founded sections of the Kalabari Clan. During the time of the civil war at Benin (1500 AD), others moved first to Aboh, which was still Ijo speaking, From Aboh they moved into the central Delta and settled with the ancestors of the Tarakiri, Kolokuma, Opokuma, and Ogbein, to collectively give rise to the Tarakiri, Kolokuma, Opokuma, Ogbein and Beni (Oyiakiri) and Mein and Kalabari clans or sections of Ijo and maybe others. Hence the tradition of Benin origins from these clans citing civil war and tyranny as the reason for leaving, even though Benin is not the place of ultimate origin.
FORMATION OF THE CLANS AND KINGDOMS
The primary clans and communities under the names of their founding ancestors are the most ancient of the Ijo communities. From these primary clans and communities in the central delta, western delta, eastern delta and Benin region, and interaction and migrations between the related communities between 800 – 1800 AD, the Ijo Ethnic Nation came into existence. These primary ancestors are –
The ancestor GBARAUN, ancestor of IJO-GBARAUN (Southern-Ijo), GBARANMATU (OPOROZA I), AROGBO, TUOMO, KABO, KUMBO AND GBARAN & (EFFERUN, UVWIE, OKPARABE AND OLOTO URHOBOS. And other Ijos
The ancestor OPU-BENI, ancestor of the MEIN, IBENI (OYAKIRI), OBOTEBE sections of KALABARI and other Ijos
The ancestor OPU-OKUN, ancestor of the OPUKUMA and other Ijos
The ancestor KALA-OKUN (alias ALUKU-DOGO), ancestor of the KOLOKUMA, APOI, IBANI and sections of NEMBE, TUNGBO, BUSENI, OKODIA and other Ijos
The ancestor APOI, ancestor of the APOI, UKOMU & AKASSA CLANS and other Ijos
The ancestor TARA, ancestor of the TARAKIRI, & ANDONI and other Ijos
The ancestor OPU-OGBO, ancestor of the EKPETIAMA & SEIMBIRI, EPIE-ATISSA, OBIAMA, and sections of WAKIRIKE & NKORO and other Ijos
The ancestor KALA-OGBO (alias OGURU), ancestor of the IDUWINI, sections of OGBE-IJO & EGBEMA and other Ijos
The ancestor OPORO, ancestor of the OPOROMA & OPEREMO, sections of BASAN, FURUPAGHA, sections of OGBE-IJO & EGBEMA and other Ijos
The ancestor OLODI (alias IGBEDIGBOLO), ancestor of the OLODIAMA and sections of NEMBE and other Ijos
The ancestor OGULA, ancestor of the OGULAGHA and other Ijos
The ancestor KURU, ancestor of the KRUS’ of Liberia and sections of Ijos
The ancestor OYAN, ancestor of the OGBO-OYAN (OGBEYAN or OGBIA) and other Ijos
The ancestor BOMOU, ancestor of the BOMA and other Ijos
The ancestor IBI (OBI, OBIAMA), ancestor of the OGBOIN, BOMOU, sections of TARAKIRI CENTRAL, WAKIRIKE, and sections of NEMBE and other Ijos
The ancestor ORU, ancestor of the KE, KULA, TOBU, and hence sections of KALABARI and other Ijos
The ancestor KENI-OPU-ALA, High Priest of Adumu, ancestor of the KE and hence KALABARI sections and other Ijos
Some Secondary ancestors
The ancestor OPOROZA II, ancestor of the KABO, KUMBO AND GBARAN
The ancestor MEIN, ancestor of the MEIN & sections of KALABARI
The ancestor PEREBO-KALAKEBARI (KALABARI), the grandson of MEIN, ancestor that gave name to KALABARI
The ancestor KALA-BENI (ALAGBARIGHA), ancestor of the IBENI (IBANI, OR BONNY)
The ancestor OPUBO-PEREKULE of IBANI, ancestor of the OPUBO (OPOBO)
ANCESTRAL IJOS & OTHERS founded ZARAMA, EPIE-ATISSA, ENGENNI and other neighbouring peoples
From ancient times up to 1000 AD nine (9) ancestral lines gave birth to 19 communities that were the primary clans of Ijo. Between 1000 – 1800 AD, these 19 clans also combined and interacted with each other and gave birth to a further 40 + clans/kingdoms. Combined they make up the Ijo Autonomous Communities or Ijo Ethnic Nationality.
The Ijo Ethnic Nation inhabit the Niger Delta, and the individual communities, clans and kingdoms functioned as autonomous communities for centuries as their own sovereign entities, but defended and allied together against external threats from time to time. This was the state of affairs up until the arrival of the Europeans in the 1400’s AD, where the Niger Delta was engulfed in the Trans-Atlantic slave trade that destabilised the Niger Delta. After the slave trade era there was the period of trading in raw commodities, and then the British colonial subjugation. Towards the end of the colonial period, Ijo Ethnic Nation was organised under the Native Authority system. During this period of colonisation, the Protectorate and Colony of Nigeria were divided into provinces for the purposes of administration. We had the Northern Provinces, the Western provinces and the Eastern Provinces. Of the Eastern and Western Provinces, the Ijos were aboriginal or indigenous to the following provinces. West – Ondo, Benin and Warri (Delta), while in the East we had Rivers and parts of Calabar Provinces. For the purposes of administration the following Ijo (Ijaw) Native Authorities were established under the Native Authority Ordinance of 1943. These Native Authorities affirmed the traditional and natural boundaries of the autonomous Ijo Clans and Kingdoms, as well as the traditional and natural boundaries of the Ijo Ethnic Nationality in relationship to its neighbours in the Niger Delta. We have the following:
WESTERN IJO (IJAW)
ONDO PROVINCE:
WARRI (DELTA) PROVINCE:
EASTERN IJO
CALABAR PROVINCE
RIVERS PROVINCE
REFERENCES ON REQUEST
The Ijaws (also stylized as ‘Ijo’ or ‘Izon’) are native to the Niger-Delta region of Nigeria.
Bayelsa, Delta, Rivers and Ondo State are places the Ijaw tribe have large communities in.
The Ijaw people are believed to be part of the earliest settlers in what is known today as Southern Nigeria. The population of the Ijaw tribe is estimated to be 14 million.
Origin of Ijaw People
The Ijaws are considered to be descendants of an ancient tribe in Africa known as ‘Oru’. The word ‘Oru’ can be traced to the Egyptian sky god ‘Horus’. Myth explains that the early ancestors of the Ijaw people descended from the sky.
The earliest settlement of the Ijaws can be traced to the Nupe region, after a series of migration from Sudan and Egypt. The migration took place and they moved to the Benin region after settling in Ile-Ife. The early Ijaw people believed in consanguinity — the act of being descended from the same ancestor, hereby they all saw themselves as one.
Research proves that the Ijaws are related to the founders of the great Nile Valley Civilization Complex. There are claims by an Ijaw organization that they (the Ijos) were the first settlers of what we know now as modern-day Benin.
Language of Ijaw People
There are two major groups of Ijaw language, though the tribe as a whole has 9 different but closely related Niger-Congo languages (the world’s third-largest language family). The two major languages spoken by the natives include Western or Central Izon and Eastern Ijaw – Kalabari.
The western Ijaw speakers include Tuomo clan, Bassan, Boma, Apoi, Egbema among others while the eastern Ijaw speakers include Andoni, Okrika, Ibani and Nkoroo.
Belief System of the Ijaws
Natives of Ijaw believe in ancestor veneration. The aboriginal Ijaw people believed in elements of the supernatural.
Water spirits known as Owuamapu are the most notable deities in the Ijaw pantheon. The Ijaws practice a style of divination known as ‘Igbadai’ – a medium of interrogating recently dead people to discover the cause of death.
Ijaw people also practice ritual acculturation, where a non-native from a different tribe goes through specific rites to become Ijaw. The most prominent example of this is King Jaja of Opobo who was originally of Igbo origin. Unlike in other cultures where it is believed that the gods are flawless and all-powerful, the Ijaws believe their idols are like humans.
They believe their deities have flaws as well as a good side. In modern times, Christianity is the religion that has been adopted by most of the people with over 65% of the Ijaw nation practising Christianity today.
Occupation of Ijaw People
As a result of their proximity to water, the early Ijaw settlers were mostly fishermen and traders. The Ijaws are said to be one of the first tribes to make contact with the colonialists. Native Ijaw people engage in fishing, farming and trading. Timbers, palm kernels, palm oil and smoked fish are some of the products produced by the people.
Food
Most of the food eaten by the Ijaws have fish in them since that is what was (still is) in abundance during the period of the early settlers. Ijaw delicacies aren’t popular around Nigeria, maybe due to their relatively average population, but this is not to say the meals aren’t tasty.
Here are some of the local food of the Ijaw people:
Kekefiyai – also known as ‘kekefia’ is a plantain pottage prepared with unripe plantain, yam and an assortment of seafood.
Polofiyai – a variation of yam porridge, prepared with yam and red palm oil.
Owafiya – is a thick bean soup made with beans, fish, palm oil and yam. It can be eaten with processed cassava or edible starch.
Onunu – is a dish of boiled yams and overripe plantains, popular among the Okrikans.
Traditional Dressing
The women wear a blouse and tie a wrapper around their waists along with adornments like beaded caps and bead necklaces. The men’s outfit consists of a shirt, shorts and a loose cape.
Another outfit for men is a shirt and a long wrapper tied around the waist. Another wrapper is then draped over the shoulder to run across the body in a diagonal line.
Ijaw Festivals
The most notable festival of the Ijaw people is the Ama-Ikiye festival. The festival’s main aim is to promote unity among the different subgroups and is therefore culturally significant to the Ijaws. Traditionally, the Ama-Ikiye festival is a masquerade dance and traditional wrestling competition that has undergone minute modifications in recent times.
The most important element of the festival is the masquerade, whose costume is intricately crafted. During festivals, the masquerades are said to be possessed by the spirit of the deity they are representing.
Traditional music
The Ijaws have an authentic form of highlife music known as Awigiri. Awigiri is produced with the use of percussion instruments and hauntingly poetic lyrics. Other musical instruments used are the keyboard and guitar. The most prominent performers of Awigiri music include King Robert Ebizimor, Anthony Cockson & his Oyadonghan Dance Band of Tarakiri, A.S Eseduwo & his Top Stars Dance Band of Angalabri, among others.
How the Ijaws marry:
The traditional Ijaw marriage process begins with the introduction called ware ogiga gbolo which loosely translates to knocking. On a previous visit, the suitor would have let the bride’s parents know of his intention to marry their daughter.
He would be presented with a list on this first visit. The list will contain the things he and his kin will come with on the day of the introduction.
He is expected to come with some bottles of local gin, alcohol and other beverages. If the groom is not an Ijaw man, he could be allowed to come with kola nuts as it is generally not a tradition for the Ijaws to break kola nut for prayers.
The significance of this visit by the groom and his family is for the groom to be formally introduced to the bride’s family, and for both families to formally meet themselves and socialise together. Light refreshment is given, courtesy of the bride’s family.
Both families would have a spokesman and the date for the proper traditional marriage would be discussed. Another list which is the main list proper for the traditional marriage is given to the groom’s family and necessary adjustment is made.
Marriages are completed by the payment of a bridal dowry, which increases in size if the bride is from another village (so as to make up for that village’s loss of her children).
Wise words of the Ijaws
The Ijaws, like most other tribes in Africa have proverbs and wise sayings. These utterances are used to preach caution and to give advice.
Below are some interesting Ijaw proverbs:
The Ijaws (also stylized as ‘Ijo’ or ‘Izon’) are native to the Niger-Delta region of Nigeria.
Bayelsa, Delta, Rivers and Ondo State are places the Ijaw tribe have large communities in.
The Ijaw people are believed to be part of the earliest settlers in what is known today as Southern Nigeria. The population of the Ijaw tribe is estimated to be 14 million.
Origin of Ijaw People
The Ijaws are considered to be descendants of an ancient tribe in Africa known as ‘Oru’. The word ‘Oru’ can be traced to the Egyptian sky god ‘Horus’. Myth explains that the early ancestors of the Ijaw people descended from the sky.
The earliest settlement of the Ijaws can be traced to the Nupe region, after a series of migration from Sudan and Egypt. The migration took place and they moved to the Benin region after settling in Ile-Ife. The early Ijaw people believed in consanguinity — the act of being descended from the same ancestor, hereby they all saw themselves as one.
Research proves that the Ijaws are related to the founders of the great Nile Valley Civilization Complex. There are claims by an Ijaw organization that they (the Ijos) were the first settlers of what we know now as modern-day Benin.
Language of Ijaw People
There are two major groups of Ijaw language, though the tribe as a whole has 9 different but closely related Niger-Congo languages (the world’s third-largest language family). The two major languages spoken by the natives include Western or Central Izon and Eastern Ijaw – Kalabari.
The western Ijaw speakers include Tuomo clan, Bassan, Boma, Apoi, Egbema among others while the eastern Ijaw speakers include Andoni, Okrika, Ibani and Nkoroo.
Belief System of the Ijaws
Natives of Ijaw believe in ancestor veneration. The aboriginal Ijaw people believed in elements of the supernatural.
Water spirits known as Owuamapu are the most notable deities in the Ijaw pantheon. The Ijaws practice a style of divination known as ‘Igbadai’ – a medium of interrogating recently dead people to discover the cause of death.
Ijaw people also practice ritual acculturation, where a non-native from a different tribe goes through specific rites to become Ijaw. The most prominent example of this is King Jaja of Opobo who was originally of Igbo origin. Unlike in other cultures where it is believed that the gods are flawless and all-powerful, the Ijaws believe their idols are like humans.
They believe their deities have flaws as well as a good side. In modern times, Christianity is the religion that has been adopted by most of the people with over 65% of the Ijaw nation practising Christianity today.
Occupation of Ijaw People
As a result of their proximity to water, the early Ijaw settlers were mostly fishermen and traders. The Ijaws are said to be one of the first tribes to make contact with the colonialists. Native Ijaw people engage in fishing, farming and trading. Timbers, palm kernels, palm oil and smoked fish are some of the products produced by the people.
Food
Most of the food eaten by the Ijaws have fish in them since that is what was (still is) in abundance during the period of the early settlers. Ijaw delicacies aren’t popular around Nigeria, maybe due to their relatively average population, but this is not to say the meals aren’t tasty.
Here are some of the local food of the Ijaw people:
Kekefiyai – also known as ‘kekefia’ is a plantain pottage prepared with unripe plantain, yam and an assortment of seafood.
Polofiyai – a variation of yam porridge, prepared with yam and red palm oil.
Owafiya – is a thick bean soup made with beans, fish, palm oil and yam. It can be eaten with processed cassava or edible starch.
Onunu – is a dish of boiled yams and overripe plantains, popular among the Okrikans.
Traditional Dressing
The women wear a blouse and tie a wrapper around their waists along with adornments like beaded caps and bead necklaces. The men’s outfit consists of a shirt, shorts and a loose cape.
Another outfit for men is a shirt and a long wrapper tied around the waist. Another wrapper is then draped over the shoulder to run across the body in a diagonal line.
Ijaw Festivals
The most notable festival of the Ijaw people is the Ama-Ikiye festival. The festival’s main aim is to promote unity among the different subgroups and is therefore culturally significant to the Ijaws. Traditionally, the Ama-Ikiye festival is a masquerade dance and traditional wrestling competition that has undergone minute modifications in recent times.
The most important element of the festival is the masquerade, whose costume is intricately crafted. During festivals, the masquerades are said to be possessed by the spirit of the deity they are representing.
Traditional music
The Ijaws have an authentic form of highlife music known as Awigiri. Awigiri is produced with the use of percussion instruments and hauntingly poetic lyrics. Other musical instruments used are the keyboard and guitar. The most prominent performers of Awigiri music include King Robert Ebizimor, Anthony Cockson & his Oyadonghan Dance Band of Tarakiri, A.S Eseduwo & his Top Stars Dance Band of Angalabri, among others.
How the Ijaws marry:
The traditional Ijaw marriage process begins with the introduction called ware ogiga gbolo which loosely translates to knocking. On a previous visit, the suitor would have let the bride’s parents know of his intention to marry their daughter.
He would be presented with a list on this first visit. The list will contain the things he and his kin will come with on the day of the introduction.
He is expected to come with some bottles of local gin, alcohol and other beverages. If the groom is not an Ijaw man, he could be allowed to come with kola nuts as it is generally not a tradition for the Ijaws to break kola nut for prayers.
The significance of this visit by the groom and his family is for the groom to be formally introduced to the bride’s family, and for both families to formally meet themselves and socialise together. Light refreshment is given, courtesy of the bride’s family.
Both families would have a spokesman and the date for the proper traditional marriage would be discussed. Another list which is the main list proper for the traditional marriage is given to the groom’s family and necessary adjustment is made.
Marriages are completed by the payment of a bridal dowry, which increases in size if the bride is from another village (so as to make up for that village’s loss of her children).
Wise words of the Ijaws
The Ijaws, like most other tribes in Africa have proverbs and wise sayings. These utterances are used to preach caution and to give advice.
Below are some interesting Ijaw proverbs:
Ijo, also called Ijaw, people of the forests of the Niger River delta in Nigeria comprising a large number of formerly autonomous groups. They speak languages of the Ijoid branch of the Niger-Congo language family.
The Izon people or Izon Otu, otherwise known as the Ijaw people due to the historic mispronunciation of the name Izon, are an ethnic group majorly found in the Niger Delta in Nigeria, with significant population[2] clusters in Bayelsa, in Delta, and in Rivers.[3] They are also found in other Nigerian states like Ondo, and Edo State.[4] Many are found as migrant fishermen in camps as far west as Sierra Leone and as far east as Gabon. Population figures for the Ijaws are placed at just over 4 million, accounting for 1.8% of the Nigerian population.[5][6][7][8] They have long lived in locations near many sea trade routes, and they were well connected to other areas by trade as early as the 15th century.[9][10]
The Ijaws speak nine closely related Niger-Congo languages, all of which belong to the Ijoid branch of the Niger-Congo tree.[11] The primary division between the Ijo languages is that between Eastern Ijo and Western Ijo, the most important of the former group of languages being Izon, which is spoken by about five million people.
There are two prominent groupings of the Ijaw language. The first, termed either Western or Central Izon (Ijaw) consists of Western Ijaw speakers: Tuomo Clan, Egbema, Ekeremor, Sagbama (Mein), Bassan, Apoi, Arogbo, Boma (Bumo), Kabo (Kabuowei), Ogboin, Tarakiri, and Kolokuma-Opokuma.[12] Nembe, Brass and Akassa (Akaha) dialects represent Southeast Ijo (Izon).[13] Buseni and Okordia dialects are considered Inland Ijo.[14]
It was discovered in the 1980s that a now extinct Berbice Creole Dutch, spoken in Guyana, is partly based on Ijo lexicon and grammar. Its nearest relative seems to be Eastern Ijo, most likely Kalabari.[15][16][17]
[18]
The Ijaws were one of the first of Nigeria's peoples to have contact with Westerners, and were active as go-betweens in the trade between visiting Europeans and the peoples of the interior, particularly in the era before the discovery of quinine, when West Africa was still known as the "White Man's Graveyard" because of the endemic presence of malaria. Some of the kin-based trading lineages that arose among the Ijaws developed into substantial corporations which were known as "houses"; each house had an elected leader as well as a fleet of war canoes for use in protecting trade and fighting rivals. The other main occupation common among the Ijaws, has traditionally been fishing and farming.[20][21]
Being a maritime people, many Ijaws were employed in the merchant shipping sector in the early and mid-20th century (pre-Nigerian independence). With the advent of oil and gas exploration in their territory, some are employed in that sector. Another major occupation is service in the civil service sector of the Nigerian states of Bayelsa and Rivers, where they are predominant.[22]
Extensive state-government sponsored overseas scholarship programs in the 1970s and 1980s have also led to a significant presence of Ijaw professionals in Europe and North America (the so-called Ijaw diaspora). Another contributing factor to this human capital flight is the abject poverty in their homeland of the Niger Delta, resulting from decades of neglect by the Nigerian government and oil companies in spite of continuous petroleum prospecting in this region since the 1950s.[23]
The Ijaw people live by fishing supplemented by farming paddy-rice, plantains, Cassava, yams, cocoyams, bananas and other vegetables as well as tropical fruits such as guava, mangoes and pineapples; and trading. Smoke-dried fish, timber, palm oil and palm kernels are processed for export. While some clans (those to the east- Akassa, Bille, Kalabari, Okrika, Andoni and Bonny) had powerful kings and a stratified society, other clans are believed not to have had any centralized confederacies until the arrival of the British. However, owing to the influence of the neighbouring Kingdom of Benin, individual communities even in the western Niger Delta also had chiefs and governments at the village level.[24]
Marriages are completed by the payment of a bridal dowry, which increases in size if the bride is from another village (so as to make up for that village's loss of her children). Funeral ceremonies, particularly for those who have accumulated wealth and respect, are often very dramatic. Traditional religious practices center around "Water spirits" in the Niger river, and around tribute to ancestors.[25]
Although the Ijaw are now primarily Christians (65% profess to be), with Roman Catholicism, Zion Church, Anglicanism and Pentecostal being the varieties of Christianity most prevalent among them, they also have elaborate traditional religious practices of their own.[citation needed]
Veneration of ancestors plays a central role in Ijaw traditional religion, while water spirits, known as Owuamapu figure prominently in the Ijaw pantheon. In addition, the Ijaw practice a form of divination called Igbadai, in which recently deceased individuals are interrogated on the causes of their death. Ijaw religious beliefs hold that water spirits are like humans in having personal strengths and shortcomings, and that humans dwell among the water spirits before being born. The role of prayer in the traditional Ijaw system of belief is to maintain the living in the good graces of the water spirits among whom they dwelt before being born into this world, and each year the Ijaw hold celebrations to honor the spirits lasting for several days. Central to the festivities is the role of masquerades, in which men wearing elaborate outfits and carved masks dance to the beat of drums and manifest the influence of the water spirits through the quality and intensity of their dancing. Particularly spectacular masqueraders are taken to actually be in the possession of the particular spirits on whose behalf they are dancing.[26]
There are also a small number of converts to Islam, the most notable being the founder of the Delta People Volunteer Force, Mujahid Dokubo-Asari.
Jeremiah Omoto Fufeyin, Abel Aboh, [27] Edwin K. Clarke come from the Izon ethnic group, as does the current Nigerian Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development, Heineken Lokpobiri.[28]
Like many ethnic groups in Nigeria, the Ijaws have many local foods that are not widespread in Nigeria. Many of these foods involve fish and other seafoods such as clams, oysters and periwinkles; yams and plantains. Some of these foods are:[29]
Formerly organized into several loose clusters of villages (confederacies) which cooperated to defend themselves against outsiders, the Ijaw increasingly view themselves as belonging to a single coherent nation, bound together by ties of language and culture. This tendency has been encouraged in large part by what are considered to be environmental degradations that have accompanied the exploitation of oil in the Niger delta region which the Ijaw call home, as well as by a revenue sharing formula with the Nigerian Federal Government that is viewed by the Ijaw as manifestly unfair. The resulting sense of grievance has led to several high-profile clashes with the Nigerian Federal authorities, including kidnappings and in the course of which many lives have been lost.
The Ijaw people are resilient and proud. Long before the colonial era, the Ijaw people traveled by wooded boats and canoes to Cameroon, Ghana and other West African countries. They traveled up the River Niger from River Nun.
One manifestation of ethnic violence on the part of the Ijaw has been an increase in the number and severity of clashes between Ijaw militants and those of Itsekiri origin, particularly in the town of Warri.[32]
Deadly conflicts had rocked the South-South region, especially in Delta State, where intertribal killings had resulted in death on both sides.[33] [34] In July 2013, local police discovered mutilated corpses of 13 Itsekiris killed by Ijaws, over a dispute on a candidate for a local council chairman. Several Itsekiri villages, including Gbokoda, Udo, Ajamita, Obaghoro and Ayerode-Zion on the Benin river axis, were razed down while several Itsekiris lost their lives.[35]
The December 1998 All Ijaw Youths Conference crystallized the struggle with the formation of the Ijaw Youth Movement (IYM) and the issuing of the Kaiama Declaration. In it, long-held Ijaw concerns about the loss of control of their homeland and their own lives to the oil companies were joined with a commitment to direct action. In the declaration, and in a letter to the companies, the Ijaws called for oil companies to suspend operations and withdraw from Ijaw territory. The IYM pledged “to struggle peacefully for freedom, self-determination and ecological justice,” and prepared a campaign of celebration, prayer, and direct action 'Operation Climate Change' beginning December 28, 1998.[36]
In December 1998, two warships and 10–15,000 Nigerian troops occupied Bayelsa and Delta states as the Ijaw Youth Movement (IYM) mobilized for Operation Climate Change. Soldiers entering the Bayelsa state capital of Yenagoa announced they had come to attack the youths trying to stop the oil companies. On the morning of December 30, 1998, two thousand young people processed through Yenagoa, dressed in black, singing and dancing. Soldiers opened fire with rifles, machine guns, and tear gas, killing at least three protesters and arresting twenty-five more. After a march demanding the release of those detained was turned back by soldiers, three more protesters were shot dead. The head of Yenagoa rebels- Chief Oweikuro Ibe- was burned alive in his mansion on December 28, 1998. Amongst his family members to flee the premises before the complete destruction was his only son, Desmond Ibe. The military declared a state of emergency throughout Bayelsa state, imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew, and banned meetings. At military roadblocks, local residents were severely beaten or detained. At night, soldiers invaded private homes, terrorizing residents with beatings and women and girls with rape.[37]
On January 4, 1999 about one hundred soldiers from the military base at Chevron’s Escravos facility attacked Opia and Ikiyan, two Ijaw communities in Delta State. Bright Pablogba, the traditional leader of Ikiyan, who came to the river to negotiate with the soldiers, was shot along with a seven-year-old girl and possibly dozens of others. Of the approximately 1,000 people living in the two villages, four people were found dead and sixty-two were still missing months after the attack. The same soldiers set the villages ablaze, destroyed canoes and fishing equipment, killed livestock, and destroyed churches and religious shrines.[38]
Nonetheless, Operation Climate Change continued, and disrupted Nigerian oil supplies through much of 1999 by turning off valves through Ijaw territory. In the context of high conflict between the Ijaw and the Nigerian Federal Government (and its police and army), the military carried out the Odi massacre, killing scores if not hundreds of Ijaws.[39]
Recent actions by Ijaws against the oil industry have included both renewed efforts at nonviolent action and militarized attacks on oil installations but with no human casualties to foreign oil workers despite hostage-takings. These attacks are usually in response to non-fulfilment by oil companies of memoranda of understanding with their host communities.[40]
Coordinates: 5°21′00″N 5°30′30″E / 5.35000°N 5.50833°E / 5.35000; 5.50833
