COMING OUT SOON!
Excerpt from Chapter Four: ABORIGINAL OKPU-IVITE AND AGULERI-UMULERI FALSE CLAIMS OF CRADDLE OF IGBO ORIGINS
THE BENIN-IGALA WAR OF 1507 AD AND THE FLIGHT OF ERI IGALA FROM IDAH TO AGULERI
In looking at the nexus of Igbo-Igala relations during the pre-colonial period, two episodes of Igala history readily come to mind. These episodes are not only connected with the three dynastic histories of Igala Kingdom but are equally defined by three major Igala wars which consequently resulted to the massive movement of Igala population southwards into Igboland. While the first episode produced Eri as the eponymous founder of Aguleri, the third episode resulted to rise of the Igala warrior named Onoja Oboni.
The first episode was the 16th century (1507 AD) Benin-Igala war which resulted to Benin conquest of the Igala Kingdom and subsequently led to the introduction of the second Igala dynasty.[1] On the other hand, the second episode was the 17th century (1687 AD) Igala-Apa (Jukun) war, which led to the conquest of Igala Kingdom by the Kwararafa (Jukun) Kingdom of Wukari, consequently heralding the third and present Atta Igala dynasty.[2]
In between these two episodes was the 1515-1516 Benin-Idah (Igala) war that saw two brothers of the same father—Oba Esigie of Benin Kingdom and Aji Attah of Igala Kingdom fighting each other for imperial supremacy. On the other hand, while the first episode led to Oggarah (Igara) Eri fleeing to Aguleri, the second episode led to the invasion of Onoja Oboni of Nsukka sub-culture area through Aguleri to as far south as Onitsha. Unfortunately, most Igala historians have often shied away from mentioning or giving detailed accounts of these two episodes of their history for nationalistic reasons.
The cause of Benin invasion of Igala Kingdom in 1507 AD according to Benin accounts and supported by Igala royal tradition, as recorded by Robert Arthur Sargent is traced to the rebellion of the Onogie of Uromi named Agba, against Benin Kingdom. Agba was said to have traveled to Idah to request the assistance of the Okpoto king of Idah named Eggarah Eri to confront the obvious invasion of Oba Okpame Ozolua. According to Robert Arthur Sargent:
Agba, the Ogie or Onogie of Uromi, rebelled and demonstrated a hostile attitude against his overlord, Ozolua, and urged all the people in Ishan to join him to make war on Benin…. Ozolua was ultimately compelled to declare war on Uromi and organized a sharp operation against the Onogie. At first Aba went to Idah to seek the help of the Attah but he was treated with every indignity and discourtesy. He therefore returned home to face whatever might be the consequences.[3]
Although as noted, Eggarah Eri turned down Onogie Agba’s request for fear of Benin reprisal, the idea of Onogie Agba requesting for support from Eggarah Eri seemed to have placed Idah on the list of potential enemies of Benin Kingdom. Oba Ozolua was subsequently led to consider Idah as further threat to Benin Kingdom, hence his decision to invade Idah.[4] According to Robert Arthur Sargent:
Ozolua was apparently informed of Agba’s mission to Idah; and the position and stature of the Okpoto polity was brought to his attention. He therefore dispatched his son Aji-Attah, toward the Okpoto capital on the Niger. Aji-Attah was supported in his campaign by a number of settlers, a substantial segment of Benin army and the moral support of his father.[5]
Sargent further noted that the Okpoto Kingdom of Idah had also constituted itself as the hub of refugees fleeing from the west bank of River Niger following incessant campaigns against them by Benin forces. These refugees no doubt were seen by Oba Ozolua as the core enemies of Benin Kingdom in Idah; hence conquering them would mean stopping future confrontations against Benin Kingdom. In the ensuing battle, Eggarah Eri and his army were soundly defeated by Aji Attah’s army.
Following the victory of Aji Attah over the forces of Idah, Eggarah Eri fled with his followers southwards through the Anambra River known among the Igala as Olamaboro and among the Igbo as Omambala. Indeed, being that the present Aguleri settlement which subsequently took his name, was the next significant settlement southwards after Ogurugu, it was not therefore surprising that he would find refuge there.
Eri’s migration to Igboland was followed by waves of his supporters who could not accept Aji Attah’s rule. According to Igala Mela traditional account as presented by Achayanwo Clan Heads who represent the original Okpoto nobility:
Eggarah Eri and his followers relocated at Nri and founded a relatively influential religious political dynasty of northern Igboland. His own impressive array of royal regalia, coupled with his connections to the Awka iron cult manufacturing center on Udi Plateau, contributed to the success of Nri as a ritual and political center.[6]
Although Sargent was not right when he indicated Oggarah Eri’s final destination to be Nri, his reference to the roles played by Awka Blacksmiths clearly confirms the veracity of the mythically colored Nri tradition of origin as recorded by M. D. W. Jeffreys in which Awka Blacksmiths played important roles of assistance for Eggarah Eri.[7] It is therefore instructive to assert that long before that the time of Eri migration from Idah, Awka Blacksmiths had been in contact with Akpoto kings of Idah.
Igala tradition associates Agwalo people of Ofiji Quarters of Idah who are the traditional Blacksmiths of the Attah Igala with origin from Awka in Anambra State. Indeed, their Igbo origin appears to be confirmed by their grouping under Igalogba Clan headed by the traditional Prime Minister of Igala Kingdom Achadu-Oko Attah, whose origin is remotely traced to Igboland as well.[8] This was further confirmed by the incumbent Attah Igal His Royal Majesty Agabaidu Dr Mathew Alaji Opaluwa Oguche Akpa during his visit to Awka in 2022.[9]
Indeed, the earliest written record on Eggarah Eri was that of Thomas John Hutchinson who visited Idah in 1854 and subsequently published his accounts the following year.
Hutchinson visited Idah at the period of the fourteenth reign in the third dynasty, during which he was informed that six Attah reigned under the second dynasty.[10] According to him:
Eggarrah was the name of the king who was regnant over the Appotto people—the aborigines of the country—before their subjugation to the first Attah. The latter…impelled perhaps by ambitions or urged by some imaginary insults, and strengthened by the accession of more of the natives of Ado (Benin) he attacked the Appotto and drove them away… and constituted himself the Attah or ‘father’ of Eggarah. From him twenty Attahs have descended.[11]
We can therefore readily assert that Eri was not only an Igala by ethnic extraction, but was the last Okpoto king of Idah. Indeed the foregoing accounts on Eri origin clearly confirms the opinions of the Aguleri-born M. C. M. Idigo, O. N. Njoku, M. D. W. Jeffreys, J. S. Boston, including M. A. Onwuejeogwu among others, on the Igala origin of Eri and by extension the Umueri and Umunri Igbo subculture groups.
The main thrust of the original Aguleri tradition of Eri migration is anchored in the work of M.C.M. Idigo, a member of the Idigo ruling dynasty in Aguleri, who hailed from Ezi Village of Ugwu-na-Adagbe (Enugwu na Ezi) Quarters. In his accounts, he described Eri as an Igala warrior who raided the Omambala (Anambra) valley with his soldiers. After defeating the existing Igbo communities, he and his followers, decided to settle among them. M. C. M. Idigo in his account wrote in his book published in 1955:
The Aguleri people originated from Igara (sic) and migrated to the present abode about three or four centuries ago. The leader, Eri, a warrior, took his people on a war expedition and after long travel and many fights established his camp at Eri-aka, near Odanduli stream, a place which lies between Ifite and Igbezunu Aguleri. Eri with his soldiers went out 5regularly from his settlement to Urada, Nnadi and other surrounding towns on war raids and captured many of the inhabitants. These were the Ibo speaking people and by mixing with them and intermarriage, the immigrants adopted the language.[12]
In accord with Idigo’s position on the Igala origin of Eri, Onwuka N. Njoku in his account wrote:
Explicit evidence indicates that Eri or Eri Igala was an Idah of the Akpoto (Okpoto) dynasty. He was ousted from the throne by a Bini prince Aji Attah, sometime before C.1507… Eri’s final destination was Aguleri, a settlement located at the Anambra Adada river confluence in the Anambra valley. Idigo is thus correct in stating that Eri came from Igala to Aguleri about 400 years ago. Onwuejeogwu’s dating of Eri to C. 948 AD is simply out of the questions. [13]
J.S. Boston in his account equally wrote:
The northern Umunri villages say that the clan was founded try a man called Eri who came to the Anambra area from Igala country, and settled at Aguleri…Eri’s son, Nri left his father’s home to found the town that bears his name, and other sons found the remaining towns in this group.[14]
Earlier before both Boston and Idigo, M. D. W. Jeffreys in his marathon research that resulted to his University of London doctoral thesis in 1930, including plethora of journal articles and intelligence reports, had repeatedly emphasized on the Igala origin of Eri, Umueri and Umunri. At one point, in his bid to link the origin of Ichi title scarification tradition administered by the Umudioka subgroup to Umunri, he emphatically stated that Umunri originated from Igala. In his words:
The Ibo evidence in support of an independent invention is nil. The Umundri group claim to have migrated to their present sites from the north and to be a branch of the Igala. The Igala ruling group claims to have come from the Jukun and the Jukun derive from the east.[15]
M. D. W. Jeffreys went further to assert in his “Awka Divisional Intelligence Report of 1931-33” at Enugu Archives that, “The Umundri tradition is that they came from the ruling stock of the Igala and are thus connected with the Atah of Idah.”[16] He again wrote in another outlet that, “The Umundri, though they speak only Igbo, yet like the Yoruba declare that they are not Igbo but settled amongst a people whom they call Igbo.”[17]
M. A. Onwuejeogwu even though short of explicitly stating that Eri was an Igala, however acknowledged it by inference when he agreed that Eri actually migrated to Aguleri through the Anambra River, without stating the point of his departure. Indeed, Onwuejeogwu had stated in the citation note 6 of chapter two of his book, An Igbo Civilization: Nri Kingdom and hegemony, that he did not accept the claim that Eri was an Igala. According to him:
I do not hold the view that Aguleri or Nri people are Igala. There is evidence to support the view that there were Igbo-Igala contacts in the past made easy by river communication. Oral traditions were collected from Aguleri, Nnan’do, Amanuke, Igboriam, Nteji, Awkuzu, Umuleri and Nri. Variations do occur but all are agreed about these being children of Eri who came down the river Anambra.[18]
Ironically this was his position:
The river Anambra, which is a tributary of the river Niger, flows southwards from the southern Benue watershed through a portion of Igala country and swings westward, emptying into the lower Niger a few miles north of Onitsha. The meagre evidence at our disposal is contained in the oral tradition that says that when Eri came down the Anambra he set out to unify the surrounding settlements.”[19]
If Onwuejeogwu agreed according to the above statement that Eri came down to Aguleri through the Anambra River, the question then is from which community did he migrate? The account also proves that the Igbo were already settled in the present town of Aguleri before Eri sailed down the Anambra River to the settlement. Thus Eri cannot be said to have founded the present Aguleri town.
It is obvious that Onwuejeogwu’s unethical denial of the Igala identity of Eri was one of his broader strategies in the fabrication and falsification of Nri history in an attempt to elevate the Umunri over and above other Igbo subgroups, he being of Nri ancestry. The well-known Igbo high-life music maestro Chief Akunwata Ozoemena Nsugbe & His Oliokata Singing Party in his single-hit album titled “Igbo” released on January 20, 2013 under Lex Records Ltd label, clearly asserted the Igala origin of Eri.[20]
But one fact which one cannot deny Onwuejeogwu is his acknowledgement of the fact that Eri on his arrival at Aguleri met an already settled Igbo group, the same way his followers met an already existing Igbo settlement at the present town of Nri. According to him:
According to the myth, Eri on arriving Aguleri met an autochthonous group who had no living memory of their origins …. Autochthony which is the claim of origin from the spot of present habitation by a maximal lineage generally named Umudiana (Children of the earth is found in many ancient Igbo towns such as the Umudiana in Nri town who claim they were there during migration to the present town called Nri. The Umudiana also claim “Amnesia which means they recall nothing of their origin.[21]
Having arrived at the conclusion that Eri was an Igala by ethnic extraction defined as the last Okpoto ruler of Igala kingdom, the next task will be to determine the actual people he met at Aguleri on his arrival. Also, from the foregoing evidence it is obvious that Eri did not flee Idah with his immediate family alone but with throngs of supporters. In other words, the claim that Eri begot all the communities that refer to themselves as Umueri and Umunri, is as fallacious as it is untenable. In fact, it is probable that those names oral tradition claims to be his children were indeed the leaders of specific groups that accompanied him in his flight to Aguleri from Idah.
[1] “IGALA KINGSHIP HISTORY” Kigalaonline July 7, 2017 https://kigalaonline.wordpress.com/2017/07/07/igala-kingship-history/
[2] “IGALA KINGSHIP HISTORY” Kigalaonline July 7, 2017 https://kigalaonline.wordpress.com/2017/07/07/igala-kingship-history/
[3] Robert Arthur Sargent, “Politics and Economics in the Benue Basin , c.13001700” Doctor of Philosophy thesis presented to Dalhousie University, Canada, 1984,117
[4] Sargent, “Politics and Economics in the Benue Basin , c.13001700”, 118
[5] Sargent, “Politics and Economics in the Benue Basin , c.13001700”, 118
[6] Sargent, “Politics and Economics in the Benue Basin , c.13001700”, 153
[7] M. D. W. Jeffreys, “Umundri Tradition of Origin” African Studies Vol. 15, 1956, 119-131
[8] A. A. Ayegba, “OFIJI PEOPLE: The Agwalo Attah Clan” Indigenous People of Igala Worldwide Facebook, November 2, 2020, https://www.facebook.com/people/Indigenous-Igala-People-Worldwide/100063708909935/
[9] “Attah Igala visits Awka, The origin of blacksmithing in Igala land” Igbo History (Igbos Since 3000 BC) Facebook November 10, 2022 https://www.facebook.com/groups/httpsyoutube.comchannelucwgna8mhaahnoxhhxlpi/posts/7968515899886941/
[10] Sargent, “Politics and Economics in the Benue Basin , c.13001700”, 176
[11] T. J. Hutchinson, Narrative on the Niger, Tchada and Binue Exploration: Including a Report on the Position and Prospects of Trade up those Rivers with Remarks on the Malaria and Fevers of West Africa London: Frank Cass, 54-55 (Originally published in 1855 in London by Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans,
[12] M. C. M. Idigo, The History of Aguleri Yaba-Lagos: Nicholas Printing and Publishing Co., 1955, 6
[13] O. N. Njoku, “Awka and Early Iron Technology in Igboland: Myths, probabilities and realities”, Odu No. 33, January 1988],141
[14] J. S. Boston, (1960) “Notes on Contact between the Igala and the Igbo” Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria Vol.2, N0. 1, 1960, 55
[15] M. D. W. Jeffreys, “The Winged Solar Disk or Ibo Itsi Facial Scarifications” Africa Vol. Xxi, April 1951, 107
[16] M.D.W. Jeffreys, “The Divine Umundri King” Africa Vol. VIII, 1935, 350; See also N.A.E. E8766: CSE, 1/85/4596, Intelligence Report on Awka Division, 1937, by M.D.W. Jeffreys and N.A.E. EP8529: 1/85/4510, Report on the Ozo and Eze Nri titles, Awka Division, Onitsha Province, 1931-32, by M.D.W. Jeffreys
[17] Jeffreys, “The Divine Umundri King” Africa Vol. VIII, 1935, 350
[18] Onwuejeogwu, An Igbo Civilization: Nri Kingdom and Hegemony, 30
[19] Onwuejeogwu, An Igbo Civilization: Nri Kingdom and Hegemony, 22
[20] https://youtu.be/3rrsFNQW-zw?si=W_Sf_yFH84RkyVUK.
[21] M. A. Onwuejeogwu, Ahiajoku Lecture 1987: Evolutionary Trends in the History of the Development of the Igbo Civilization in the Cultural Theatre of Igbo Land in Southern Nigeria Owerri: Culture Division, Imo State Ministry of Information Culture, 1987, 2
