HISTORY OF IKWERRE PEOPLE-WPS Office

J.N.
Olise (1971) averred that: “Akalaka, a member of the Benin royal family, fled with his wife from
Benin to Ndoni, a community located close to the River Niger, to save the life of his new born baby
(Ekpeye) …
While at Ndoni, Akalaka took a second wife. … Akalaka had two sons, Ekpeye – born to him by his Benin
wife, and Ogba – born to him by his Ndoni wife. According to F.E. Otuwarikpo (1994): ” After the death
of Akalaka in 1462 AD, his two sons, Ekpeye and Ogba had conflict, which compelled Ogba, the younger
son, to move northwards where he founded Ohiakwo (Obigwe) and settled with his family. Ekpeye who
remained at Ula-Ubie had seven sons – Ubie, Akoh, Upata, Igbuduya, Ekpe, Awala and Asa. The last
three sons – Ekpe, Awala and Asa crossed to the other side of Sombreiro River (present day Ikwerreland
and settled there since 1538 AD.” He added that: “Ekpe migrated to present day Rumuekpe and spread
through Elele (Alimini), Ndele, Rumuji and part of Ibaa. Awala migrated to present day Isiokpo …”
Amadi-Nna (1993) also said Akalaka migrated with his half brother called Ochichi from the area of Benin
Empire.
Ochichi sons were Ele (Omerele, now Elele), Elu (Elumuoha, now Omerelu), Egbe (Egbeda) and Mini
(Alimini, Isiokpo). The crucial point here, which is of great importance in tracing the joint origin of the
ancestors of the Old Ahoada Division (in the Governor Diete-Spiff administration), is the mention of the
number of children that Akalaka had, namely: Ekpeye, Ogba and Ihru ọ ha (Ikwerre). It is noteworthy
that the pedigree and name of Ikwerre people, Iwhnurọhna, obviously took its root from this original
name – Ihruọha. Chief Solomon therefore establishes a very vital historical link, which has been missing
in literature on Ikwerre origin that would assume more significance in the discourses of Ikwerre
genealogy in the future – the fact that Akalaka was the direct father of Ihru ọha (Ikwerre). Iwhnurọhna,
in Ikwere parlance, means the face of the community (town, city or village). Nigerian colonial history
records that the name “Ikwerre” was given by the colonial administration when they wanted to acquire
the Rebisi waterfront to build the wharf. Using an Ibo interpreter to talk to the illiterate Rebisi (Port
Harcourt) chiefs, they asked them: Would you permit us to use the waterfront to build the wharf for
ships to berth? And they answered: A KWERULEM , meaning – “We have agreed.”
What the white-man was hearing was “Ikwerre,” so he recorded it in the official gazette that the
IKWERRE PEOPLE have agreed for the colonial administration to build the wharf. And since it was the
official record of government, the name Ikwerre became the name of the Iwhnurohna people in all
official documentations till date. Similar cases of Anglicization of native names in the NigerDelta region
by the colonial administration are Benin for Bini, Okrika for Wakrike, Degema for Udekema, Abonnema
for Obonoma, Brass for Gbara sni, Bonny for Ibani, Pepple for Perekule, Ahoada for Ehuda, etc Even so,
“… there were dissenting voices, … who believed that Ikwerre origins lay outside Igbo land, … in the
Benin Kingdom of old. It is, therefore, obvious that the interminable debate about Ikwerre origins and
migrations including the repudiation of the Igbo tradition is not a phenomenon of the post-civil war
period. The controversy, as it were, is not necessarily the product of the present political realities
wherein groups which hitherto were seen to have cultural affinities now find themselves in different
states or administrative systems.” — K.O. Amadi (1993)
The Ogbakor Ikwerre Convention, a cultural organization of Ikwerre people, in a paper presented to the
Human Right Violation Commission headed by Rtd. Justice Chukwudifu
Oputa on 10 October 2001, said: “Ikwerre ethnic nationality is not and has never been a sub-group of
any other tribe in Nigeria including Ndi-Igbo. There is no doubt that the advent of the British and later
regionalization put Ndi-Igbo at the helm of affairs in Eastern Nigeria. This brought Ndi-Igbo into Ikwerre
land. In course of time, the Igbo took advantage of their position in the then Eastern Regional
Government to grab land in Ikwerre and occupy political positions such as the mayor of Port Harcourt. In
the process, Ikwerre along with other minority groups were marginalized and driven to the
background.” Professor Godwin Tasie noted that in 1913 the Rt Rev Herbert Tugwell, the Anglican
Bishop on the Niger, undertook an experimentation tour of Ikwerre towns and villages assumed to be
Ibo-speaking to test the Union Ibo Bible Nso being introduced in Iboland. “Tugwell discovered from the
tests he carried out that although the Ikwerre were often regarded as Ibo… the Union Ibo Bible
translation, surprisingly, was not easily understood by the Ikwere.” This is obviously why Igbo vernacular
was compulsorily introduced and taught in all schools in Ikwerre land before the Nigerian Civil War to
the assimilation (i.e. destruction) of the Ikwere language.
This also obviously led to the Rumuomasi Declaration in 1965. ” … in their meeting at Rumuomasi in
1965 the Ikwerre had, under the umbrella of a highly promising new
body that was to get the Ikwerre together as a people of new and clearer vision, they had declared
themselves as a people of the distinct identity of Ikwerre Ethnic Nationality – not Ibo, not Ijo, not
anything else but Ikwerre, Iwhnurọhna. This was the historic Rumuomasi Declaration of 1965 (G.O.M.
Tasie, 2000). The full implication is that Ikwere people began to assert themselves forcefully as an ethnic
nationality of their own and not Ibos or Ijos, and efforts were made to revert to the original Ikwere
names for families, villages, communities and landmarks. For instance, there was the change from
Umuola to Rumuola, Umuoro to Rumuoro , Umukrushi to Rumuokwurusi , just to name a few.

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