Nwankwo T. Nwaezeigwe, Odogwu of Ibusa
President, International Coalition against Christian Genocide in Nigeria (ICAC-GEN)
Former Director, Centre for Igbo Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka
Nwaezeigwe.genocideafrica@gmail.com May 19, 2025
Let me begin by stating that I am a proud historian both by training and practice. My works are widely read across intellectual boundaries and most are accessible to scholars as well as members of the public. Following my recent essays on Benin-Igbanke relationship, a lot of invectives of different kinds were and still continued to be rained on my person; most of which were of course based on infantile delusions founded on intellectual declivity. Some even claimed that I used another person’s school certificate to gain admission to University of Nigeria.
Among these ignoramuses however, emerged one Dede Chibu a Facebook tout who specializes in dubious intellectual “cut and paste” byway Facebook historicism. Mr. Dede Chibu in his normal cut and paste manner boldly came out to question my thesis on Arochukwu origins with frivolous and disjointed facts.
Although, it is not my tradition to engage the like of Dede Chibu in irrelevant historical discourses, I am however compelled to do so because of those who might have read him and would expect a rebuttal from me. I have therefore decided to tackle his perverted intellectualism with historical precision.
For those disgruntled elements peddling the false impression that I used another person’s Secondary School certificate to gain admission to University of Nigeria, let first x-ray my intellectual background prelude to my study of History at University of Nigeria, Nsukka, before proceeding further.
I studied history at the university as a matter of passion and not because I was not qualified to study medicine or engineering. In my High School Class of 1980 at Anglican Boys Grammar School, Akwukwu-Igbo, Oshimili North Local Government Area, Delta State, I was one of the best students in sciences and, as a matter of fact, I was the only one that combined best in arts and sciences.
As a science student in Class 5A, History was not part of my subject timetable; so I never attended History classes and had to borrow notebooks from my friends. Eventually I emerged as the best student in History with “A2” grade, as well as in Chemistry and Biology with “A3”, all from my home after expulsion from school.
As the Deputy Senior Prefect, I was expelled from my High School on January 1980 for leading Students’ agitation against poor feeding by our new Principal, Mr. Iloh from Issele-Azagba. I eventually relocated to my hometown Ibusa, sat in my room in my father’s house, studied my subjects, came back to the school in June, and rented a room at the neighboring town of Atuma-Iga, from where I took my West African Examination Council (WAEC) examination. I returned to the school in September the same year to collect my result which was adjudged as one of the bests in that session.
I opted to study mechanical engineering at the university at the dictates of my father and as a preliminary to that, I got a job as an Aviation Signal Telecommunication Trainee with Federal Civil Aviation Authority, Enugu Airport, Emene. The written test for the interview was in Mathematics and Physics and my sponsor was one Mr. Buzugbe from Ezi town in Delta State. After the exam, Mr. Buzugbe who was not part of the panel stepped in to lobby for my selection, but he was promptly told that there was no need for such because I was the best among the applicants, scoring 75 percent in mathematics and 85 percent in physics.
For four years I was trained on the maintenance of such Aviation air-traffic safety landing equipment as High Frequency radio wave transmitters, Non-Directional Beacon (NDB) and, Very High Frequency Omnidirectional Range (VOR) situated along Abakiliki Road, Emene, after the NNPC Depot and, was in fact the site of the 1983 Crash of Nigerian Airways Fokker 28 Fellowship aircraft in which Bianca Ojukwu’s elder sister and Uche Offia-Nwali died. In fact, I was on duty that very day.
I was the technical backbone of the maintenance of the intercom system of the now modified Enugu Airport Terminal and, as soon as I left the job to study history at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, the whole system collapsed, till the upgrading of the terminal to International status.
It was for this reason that my boss, Mr. Ukwem Kalu from Ututu in Arochukwu Local Government Area, Abia State, rejected both my application for study-leave and resignation letter. When I insisted on leaving the job, he annoyingly converted it to dismissal for negligence of duty and gave me the option of reinstatement if I decide to abandon my History and wait to study Electrical/Electronic Engineering.
It is important to state that for abandoning mechanical engineering to study history, my father refused to sponsor my university education for the first three years, insisting that he was not ready to waste his money on a course that does not provide ready-job for its graduates. But I was determined, and with the support of my dear mother, the indomitable War Princess of Ibusa Clan, Elizabeth Nwankwo Nwaezeigwe, nee Sinoje Ikwelle Onyeachonam, I was able to wade myself through to the point where my father decided to intervene.
In any intellectual adventurism, it is often traditional to begin with existing authorities on any subject matter in other to prove the authenticity of one’s research findings. In the case of the Aro with Arochukwu as the revolving center, there are known authorities in Arochukwu history, of which I am one. They include: G. I. Jones, H. F. Matthews. Adiele Afigbo, Felicia Ekejuba, my teacher and supervisor James Okoro Ijeoma and myself. Mr. Dede Chibu and all the names mentioned in his Facebook intellectual caricature do not fit into this category of scholars.
I am dropping this my highly referenced article on the Aro from online sources for educated and cerebral readers to compare with the trash posted by Dede Chibu:
“THE ARO AND THE CONCEPT OF ARO-OKIGBO: FACTS AND FALACIES OF A HISTRIONIC IGBO HEGEMONY” IKENGA: International Journal of Institute of African Studies, 2013, Vol. 15, https://openurl.ebsco.com/EPDB%3Agcd%3A2%3A30734610/detailv2?sid=ebsco%3Aplink%3Acrawler&id=ebsco%3Agcd%3A113698352&link_origin=www.google.com
Let us begin with Dede Chibu’s rebuttal. There are five topical paragraphs in his rebuttal which I numbered seriatim and will take each in situ. In DEDE Chibb’s words:
“NTony Nwaezeigwe here is my brief rebuttal to your false claim and amateur knowledge of Arochukwu:
- To begin, there is no deity in Igbo, Efik, nor Ibibio lands named Ibritam and there never was one. The word Ibiritam was one of three different spellings Hugh Goldie, a British colonial reverend, used when speaking of Eburutu, also known as Ebiritu or Oburutu. The three misspellings of Goldie are as follows: Ibrutum, Ibiritum, and Ibiritam. Being the historian that you claim you are you should have known this.
- You went on to claim that the Ibibio referred to the Chukwu deity as Ibiritam while the Ekoi referred to it an Ibini Ukpabi. This is also incorrect. The Ibibio referred to the Chukwu as Ekpe Anyong, while the Efiks who were originally bilingual Igbos referred to it by its Igbo name or by the name Ekpe Enyong. The name Ukpabi is purely an Igbo name and has no meaning in Ekoi language. The name you wrote as Ubini Ukpabi or Ibini Ukpabi shows that you need to brush up on your history and research. Neither of the two spelling are correct. The correct speaking is Ebiri Ukpabi. The same Ebiri here is the same in Ebiritu or Eburutu: Ebiri Itu, Eburu Utu, and Oburu Utu, mentioned earlier—Igbo words. It is also the same Ebiri found in the name Ebiriba (Abiriba), the name of the people you also claimed not to be Igbo to impress non-Igbos.
- Ukpabi, here is its meaning in Igbo language and its breakdown, since you clearly don’t know it: Ụ̀kpá: desolate forest, barren bush, wasteland and Bị̀: damp, misty, wet. Ụ̀kpábị̀ means Damp forest. It is the identification and description of where the Chukwu deity was located.
- You claimed claimed there are Jukun villages in Arochuwku, according to you, what are those villages and where are the Jukun villages in the neighboring Ibibio areas? Or was this another failed attempt to dilute their Igboness for your obvious agenda?
- You mentioned Arochukwu was in the Enyong Division prior to 1960. Big deal. It is no different from Ibibio, Efik, and others being in the Owerri Province or Aboh being in the Warri Province. You forgot to mention that Enyong was in the Calabar Province along with Opobo and Ogoni divisions. Will you now make a case that Opobo and Ogoni are Ibibios? Abiriba is located in Ohafia LGA, are the Abiribas Ohafia people now? You claimed there are Igalas in Igbo states, so why aren’t you suggesting that they are Igbo as you are suggesting the Aro are Ibibios, or non-Igbos, because they were put under a division called Enyong (which they protested by the way)? Let me stop here. Go and continue embarrassing yourself and rewriting history out of emotions. At the end, you’ll look back and regret it.”
Beginning with paragraphs one and two, let’s see how the intellectually degenerate Dede Chibu’s ignorance of the subject he claims to expertise is exposed to the shames of his town and extended family.
First, he talked of one Hugh Goldie who was a British Colonial officer. But the Hugh Goldie he mentioned was never a British Colonial administrative official. Hugh Goldie was a Presbyterian Missionary who worked in Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria. If he meant the Goldie that worked as British Colonial administrator then that should be Sir George Taubman Goldie who founded the Royal Niger Company in 1886. Sir George Taubman Goldie was neither a scholar nor did he study the Aro.
Still on paragraph one, Dede Chibu tells us that the term “Ibritam” was never the Efik/Ibibio term for the Arochukwu oracle, “Long Juju.” Now let’s briefly look at two recent publications by scholars on the subject matter.
Uwem Jonah Akpan of the Department of History and International Studies, University of Uyo, Uyo, in his scholarly article titled, “Ibibio/Igbo Diplomatic Relations: the pre-colonial perspectives” published in Polac International Journal of Humanities and Security Studies, Vol. 3, No. 1, 2018, page 74, states:
“The bilingual disposition of the frontier communities as well as the influence of the imperial Aro oracle, Ibritam Inokun (Long Juju of Arochukwu) and warfare.” Did this come from me?
Uwem Jonah Akpan’s article is accessible at: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Uwem-Akpan-5/publication/363150705_IbibioIgbo_Diplomatic_Relations_The_Pre-colonial_Perspective/
Rosalind I. J. Hackett in his book, Religion in Calabar: The Religious Life and History of a Nigerian Town, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 1988, page 14, wrote:
“During this period, the Efik reportedly clashed with the Aro people for refusing to worship Ibritam, the Aro oracle, sometimes referred to as “Long Juju.”
Did this also come from me?
Hackett’s book can be accessed at: https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110846737.18/pdf?licenseType=restricted
Rev. Innocent’s article “A Critical Study on the Ibini Ukpabi (Arochukwu Long Juju) Oracle and its Implications on the International Relations During the 20th Century” published in London Journal of Research in Humanities and Social Sciences, clearly answers the question whether Ibinu Ukpabi is another name for the Long Juju oracle.
This article is again accessible at: https://journalspress.com/LJRHSS_Volume20/1150_A-Critical-Study-on-the-Ibini-Ukpabi-Arochukwu-Long-Juju-Oracle-and-its-Implications-on-the-International-Relations-During-the-20-th-Century.pdf
In paragraph 3 Dede Chibu wrote: “Ukpabi, here is its meaning in Igbo language and its breakdown, since you clearly don’t know it: Ụ̀kpá: desolate forest, barren bush, wasteland and Bị̀: damp, misty, wet. Ụ̀kpábị̀ means Damp forest. It is the identification and description of where the Chukwu deity was located.”
Unfortunately, Dede Chibu in the above cacophonic infantile hypothesis did not tell us the dialectal source of his definition of the term “Ukpabi”, because Igbo language is not dialectally uniform. He also shamelessly skipped the prefix— “Ibini.” May be what he meant to say was “Ikpa” which is a very long uncultivated forest, and not what he ignorantly referred to as “desolate forest, barren bush, wasteland.” Arochukwu terrain and its surrounding environment, including the location of the Long Juju were never desolate and barren. They were arable and rich cultivatable lands and still remain so till date. Dede Chibu’s moronic attempt to construct a fictitious term “Bi” to mean “damp, misty, wet” in Igbo language is laughable beyond intellectual comprehension. Which dialect of Igbo language has “bi” as damp, misty and wet?
For the special tutorial of “Mr. Doubting Thomas Dydymus” Dede Chibu, the term “Ukpabi” is a generic name for God among the people of Upper Cross River which was later adopted by the Efik/Ibibio and their Cross River Igbo neighbors. In its strictest meaning, Ibini Ukpabi stands for the “Drum of the Creator God.” So, all those shameless fabrications of meaningless words have no place on the pages of Igbo historical studies.
Among the Igbo, there are two genres of deities (Alusi). There is the terrestrial referred to as “Ogwugwu” and the Water Deities (Alusi-mmili) referred to as “Aro.” While Ogwugwu are generally terrestrial and situated within human habitation, Aro are often located far away from human habitation and associated with streams, rivers, lakes and, sea. This explains why they are generally referred in Afa divination as “Aro bi na Agu” (Forest Dwelling Deities). This again explains why Ibini Ukpabi which is associated with a stream was known among the Igbo as Aro Chukwu (the Deity of God). Arochukwu was therefore not the original name of the present Arochukwu town but the name of its deity.
Let us further look at what Mr. Dede Chibu said in paragraph 4:
“You claimed claimed there are Jukun villages in Arochuwku, according to you, what are those villages and where are the Jukun villages in the neighboring Ibibio areas? Or was this another failed attempt to dilute their Igboness for your obvious agenda?”
Up to early 19th century, the present Northern Cross River Basin popularly known as Ekoi people were constantly raided by the Jukun warriors of the Kingdom of Kwararafa with its seat at the present Wukari, Taraba State. At some points in Nigeria’s history, the Kwararafa kingdom conquered and ruled the present Igala Kingdom and much of Tivland and up to Kano, until the 17th century when the Igala revolted and gained its independence. The present Atta-Igala is descended from Jukun Royal Family.
The Jukun who are known as Akpa among the Igbo invaded the present Arochukwu town then an Ibibio settlement known as Ibom on the invitation of Igbo slaves who revolted against their Ibibio masters, through the Ejegham people who acted as their agent for the Akpa invaders. The Ibibio people were eventually defeated by the invading Jukun (Akpa) who subsequently imposed their authority on the people; although over time this authority has changed hands among the diverse groups.
The remnants of Ibibio aborigines are the present six Ibom-Isi groups of Villages. Another group fled northwards and founded the present town of Nkporo in Ohafia Local Government Area of Abia State, the hometown of Prof Obasi Igwe; while the bulk of the Ibom people fled through the Enyong River and settled at Oron where they founded the present town of Enwaang in Mbo Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State. Enwang is the hometown of the former Inspector General of Nigeria Police Force Mr. Etim Inyang.
The people of Enwang in Akwa Ibom State together with the Ibom-Isi and Nkporo people were the original owners of the present Arochukwu town. The fact that none of those who claim Igbo origin in the present Arochukwu can link their tradition of origin, migration and settlement to any Igbo town or settlement outside Arochukwu is clear evidence that Igbo elements in the present Arochukwu are descended from strangers to Ibibio aborigines. In fact, as I am writing this essay, the people of Ibom-Isi who represent the aboriginal Ibibio settlers in Arochukwu do not traditionally accept the Eze-Aro as their traditional monarch.
G.I Jones, one of the most respected Colonial anthropologists stated in agreement to the above assertion that:
“The Aro themselves say, and always have said, that their clan originated from a revolt of an Igbo slave or group of slaves who called in Akpa mercenaries from further up the Cross river. The revolt was successful and the Igbo, the Akpa and what remained of the Ibibio amalgamated to found the present clan. Today this consist of 19 villages, 6 of which Claim an Akpa, 5 were descended from Igbo elements who came in later either freely or as captives. The seniority was originally with the Akpa, but almost immediately passed to the ancestor of an Igbo village, a certain Okenachi and from that time the clan appears to have become an Igbo one.”
(See Jones, G. I “Who Are the Aro?” The Nigerian Field Vol. 1, No. 3, July 1939, page 102)
In affirmation to the above account, the people of Amanagwu Village of Arochukwu, in a petition to the District Officer dated September 4, 1945, questioned the traditional right of the Eze-Aro Chief Oji, to claim the headship of Arochukwu.
(See National Archives Enugu Records: N.A./AD.635/vol. ii /Aro sub-tribe/ ARODIV 3/1/56, “Amanagwu Arochukwu to District officer, Arochukwu” (petition dated 4th September)
In that petition the people of Amanagwu Village stated: “It is contended by your humble petitioners, and by the Ibom-Isis, that the three Aro elements, viz: Ezeagwu, Okenachi and Ibom Isi are separate, distinct and equal in status.”
But it was the Aro-born anthropologist, Prof Felicia Ekejuba, formerly of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, who fully nailed the coffin of Jukun (Akpa) conquest of the present Arochukwu town in line with G. I. Jones’ thesis of Aro origins. According to her:
“Before mid-seventeenth century, the population of the area now known as Arochukwu was made up of groups of varied ancestry known as Losi, Nkalaku, Iwerri, Ohadu. These like their Igbo and Ibibio neighbours were subsistence farmers and did not travel beyond the boundary. The ethnic composition and economy of these autochthonous groups were changed considerably by what is known in Aro historiography as ‘Aha Ibibe’ (the Ibibio war)… The war resulted from a succession dispute between the autochthones of Arochukwu territory, who were medley of unrelated tribes of Igbo and Ibibio groups. While the intermittent clashes lasted between the opposing group, the Akpa, whom the Aro and non-Aro traditions claim had been raiding the Cross river basin invaded the area. They took advantage of their superior arms and their military organization to over-awe the area and scatter most of the original groups. Some of the autochthones surrendered and settled side by side with the invaders with whom they were incorporated politically to constitute the Aro political community.”
(See: Felicia I. Ekejuba, “The Aro System of Trade in the Nineteenth Century” Ikenga vol. xx, No. 1., 1972, page 13)
Finally, coming to paragraph 5, we saw a man confused with chronic insanity of ignorance woven in arrogance bleating with the cacophony of syntactical incompatibilities. In the first part of the paragraph Dede Chibu wrote:
“You mentioned Arochukwu was in the Enyong Division prior to 1960. Big deal. It is no different from Ibibio, Efik, and others being in the Owerri Province or Aboh being in the Warri Province.”
Let me put it to Dede Chibu that it was really a big deal in historical terms for Arochukwu to be part of Enyong District or Division, because her location was historically and culturally supported by incontrovertible evidence. On the other hand, Aboh remained part of Delta Province until the creation of the present Senatorial Districts. Furthermore, there was no point in Nigeria’s history when the Efik and Ibibio formed part of Owerri Province. Dede Chibu was therefore assertively ignorant. The case of Arochukwu was therefore based on common Ibibio ancestry.
In his concluding sentence, Dede Chibu wrote: “Go and continue embarrassing yourself and rewriting history out of emotions. At the end, you’ll look back and regret it.” From the foregoing I want our readers to judge between Dede Chibu and I who is embarrassing himself and who lives to regret it.
Dede Chibu is encouraged to go and obtain his O/Level credit in elementary history, apply for JAMB, and secure university admission to study history, before coming on Facebook to shit out those nonsense he miscalls history. History is a discipline of the arts as much as it is science with defined methodological approach driven by empirical logical analysis founded on evidence. History is not like MGBUKA OBOSI where a tradesman will fabricate a motor spare-part and claim to be more knowledgeable than an Engineer.
It is only in Igboland that empty braggarts like Dede Chibu would wake up one morning with their little brain and confused touting mindset and claim that they know the history of Igboland better than expert historians. One cannot see such class of people among the Yoruba, Hausa and Fulani. It is also among the Igbo that ignorance of a particular subject matter is greeted with reckless abuses and insults and not the desire to learn. This is the foundation of Dede Chibu’s poverty of historical ignorance clothed in acute humpty-dumpty syndrome of arrogance.