The Historical Origin of Abakaliki - Onyeji Nnaji
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Details are in the book mentioned above.
Not much has been discussed about the population that formed the Nodo of the later days. The reason for this may be blamed on two varying factors. One, it appeared as though the population went into extinct during the flood, thereby concealing their name from the reach of historians. But this was not true. They too survived the flood, but not in their very abode. The second reason is that the population showed themselves relatively unsearchable following the heavy restrictive features of their languages. I have discussed the negative effects of this condition in my other book when I noted that, “The reason why some important historical movements and local evolutions go unnoticed or remain doubtful is because the unit on which the transmission is calculated is geographically too restrictive.” The geographical location of Nodo is somewhat restrictive, but the actual restriction was found in the language of the population that comprised this area.
A. E. Afigbo was the first historian to
launch a discourse into this area. But, perhaps for the restrictive nature of
the area, Afigbo failed to detail his discussion of the area compared to his
works on Nsukka, Okigwe and other parts of the Igbo race. He was rather
overtaken by the legendary roles of Nwa Iboko, an Izzi legend. On the origin of
the Izzi people, Afigbo grouped them into the number of Igbo settlements who have
lost detailed, specific memories of their initial migration paths due to the
nature of oral history. He however acknowledged the facte that consensus links
the Izzi closely to the Ekuma Enyi lineage within the Abakaliki region. What
had been the most difficult task Afigbo could not solve about the Abakaliki
people was to locate their link to other Igbo settlements. Afigbo was not alone
in this, even the present-day Abakaliki people have found it very difficult to
locate their migration route. One valid aspects of oral tradition is that it
does and always adopt indelible links that would help the inheritors to trace
themselves to their original sources. Does the Izzi tradition have this link?
The answer is yes. But historians are too fatigue to trace it.
In the 26th March, 2026 edition of Wikipedia
publications, the Izzi, Ezaa and Ikwo descended from Kogi State. According to
the source, “it has been traced and confirm from oral history that the people
of Izzi, Ikwo and Ezza are migrants from Abejukolo in omala local government of
present Kogi state.” I don’t know where the editor got his information from;
what is very clear, as I have tried to clarify from the beginning of this book,
is that no Igbo settlement has migrated from anywhere outside the Igbo race.
Any source that claims otherwise remains unproven. We have, however, the case
of Nkalaha claiming to have descended from Onoja Oboni. This tradition is still
disputed. For, while Nkalaha tradition referred to their progenitor as Onoja
Eze, the legend from Ida was called Onoja Oboni. In Nsukka, there are two
communities named after their progenitors, Onoja Eze and Onoja Edeoga. The
former is the conflicting evidence against the claim of Nkalaha tradition.
Izzi, Ezza and Ikwo have a common ancestor
collectively agreed to be Enyi Nwa Egu. He is often referred shortly to as,
Enyi. Enyi was a descendant of Aba. He shared the same ancestry with the Orlu,
Mba Ano and the host of others. Enyi was a hunter, the same activity was
believed to have brought him to the Abakaliki area. I believe that providence
was behind the relocation of this area by mr. Enyi. In the new land, Enyi gave
birth to Ekuma. When Ekuma grew up and began to have children, he was blessed
with three children. They are Ezekuna, Nodo, and Noyo. They survived today as
Ezza, Izzi and Ikwo respectively. The oral tradition is relatively conflicting
on the basis of their eldership. Some handlers of the tradition claimed that
Nodo was the eldest, while greater number of the handlers insist that Ezenuna
was the eldest. Historical marker favours Ezekuna more than Nodo. So, I have to
take him as the eldest.
The advantage Nodo has and for which reason
she contests eldership of the Ekuma Enyi is because she sits at the very abode
of their ancestors; Nodo is their ancestral home. The tradition suggests that Nodo
remained with his father while others had left to establish themselves at
different locations. Therefore, she is considered the traditional homeland,
especially for the entire Izzi people. Izzi does not have history of further
expansion away from the Abakaliki area. With the major concentration on the
heavy influence of Iboko market located at the present Abakaliki town, Izzi did
not have a clearly noted spread afar off, compared to Ezza and Ikwo. Ezza as
more viable and spread widely. Having their traditional home at Onunweke, they
are found in several communities in the neighbourhood and distant communities.
Ngbo in Ohaukwu and Ezillo are directly and indirectly descended from Ezza at
respective periods. Ikwo Noyo also have certain record of further spread away
from the Ikwo land. Okpomoroko Idaka was a descendant of Ikwo, particularly
Okpotuma, as their tradition claims. He travelled to the present-day Nkalaha
with his two sons: Eke and Egbu. Their community in Nkalaha today is
collectively referred to as, Amegu (Ama Egu). They also installed Enyi Nwegu
deity as a mark of the original ancestor.
We were able to trace his migration route
through two provable facts. The first proof is drawn from the version of Igbo
language spoken by the Izzi and Ezza in particular. I have not mastered Ikwo
language to show whether this affiliation would work for them. Izzi and Ezza
share certain lexicons with the Mba Ano, Obowo and some parts of Orlu. Few of
the examples are:
Imo Abakaliki English
Odo odo again/another
Msi msi I said
Gide ya gide ya hold/catch him
Ihula ya ihula ya do you see it/that!
Ugbolambo ugbolambo twice/two times
Jinni ya jinni ya ask him
I ni ya I ni ya do
you hear him/that!
Hafi ya hafi ya leave him
Dzim ya dzim ya show it to me
Owi ya owi ya it is true
Chafi ya chafi ya cut it off
Hani ya hani ya leave it
They also pronounce three and phone alike.
There are other instances of words used by these people together. What I have
shown above are the few that I could grab as one who is not a competent user of
both dialects.
I don’t think these lexicons were acquired by
the Izzi people; they were exact words and phrases used by their progenitor.
The second fact is the philosophy behind the name, “Abakaliki”. Story has it
that, in those days, when trade was more of shared relationship than the
circular buying and selling of commodities, Izzi used to have contacts with the
Nkanu people. This shared relationship had been maintained through the presence
of the Nkanu people in the market. Each time they made fun of words, the
referred to the Izzi as Aba people. Then, in return, they euphemized the joke
referring to themselves as the “Aba-ka-Like”. By these jokes, they directly
referred to their party’s ancestry. For the Nkanu descended from Like (Nike)
while the Izzi was descents of the Aba. With the passage of time, the Nkanu
shifted references to Abakalike whenever the wanted to refer to Iboko market. With
time, the term was blended to “Abakaliki” as it is known today.
Now, here is another people: neighboring
communities referring to them as Aba. This cannot be a coincidence or an enjambment of any kind. All the descendants of Aba, at
one point or the other, had a particular place within their territory called by
the ancestral cognate. We have them in Ngwa, we have them in Akwa-Ibom and
other places of similar historical records. In Reminiscence, I have
taken time to discuss the descendants of Aba/Abba and their present locations
within and outside Igbo settlements.
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