Part 2
The Truth about Benin Influence and Origins among Anioma and Southeast Igbo
Nwankwo T. Nwaezeigwe, PhD 30 July, 2025
Odogwu of Ibusa
Former Director, Centre for Igbo Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka
Email: Nwaezeigwe.genocideafrica@gmail.com
It is instructive to point out that this contentious issue of Igbo-Benin relationship was partly addressed in my chapter contribution titled: “NIGERIAN NATIONALITY QUESTION AND THE FACTOR OF BENIN ETHNO-POLITICAL PATERNALISM IN THE UNITY OF SOUTHERN NIGERIA”, in the book, THE NIGER DELTA: Oil, Politics and Culture—Festschrift in Honour of Professor Samuel Ovuete Aghalino Kaduna: Nigerian Academy Press, 2020, edited by Chukkwuma C. C. Osakwe and Lemuel Odeh.
So, I am going to take it up from there, more in scholarly fashion than public essay exposition, in order to curtail the increasing spate of analytical incongruity and pettiness from intellectual historical minions. In other words, we are going to approach the issues in contention from empirical historical research angle, so that those who need further proof with the sources readily available instead of engaging in bemused conjectures.
So far, from the first part, we were able to arrive at three incontrovertible facts. First, the fact that Olauda Equiano claimed to have been under Benin Kingdom in the first half of the 18th century proves that a large part of the present Southeast geopolitical zone were once part of the pre-colonial Benin Kingdom. But if scholars from the Southeast who have over time laid claim to Olauda Equiano’s origin from the Igbo of the Southeast region decide to think otherwise, let it be stated right away.
The second incontrovertible fact is that the Igbo of the Southeast have never denied the veracity of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe’s Igbo origin, even as they maintain their doubts as to the veracity his claim of Benin origin. But since Dr. Azikiwe on his part maintained his Benin origin till his death, then the question arises, which do we accept as the truth? Is it the doubts about his Benin origin by his Southeast Igbo kinsmen or his attachment to his tradition of Benin origin?
The point however is that if the Igbo of the Southeast accepted Dr. Benjamin Nnamdi Azikiwe, the Owelle-Osowe of Onitsha-Ado Kingdom who claimed Benin origin as their iconic political leader then, they have accepted a Bini man as Igbo leader. That is in one way acting like the people of Okpanam town, who forbid ram as taboo but eat sheep.
It is stated in Ibusa adage that, “where a child is pointing his finger consistently crying, if his father is not there, his mother is there. So our major task in this second part is to find out who actually is in that place the child is pointing his finger at. Should it be his father or his mother?
The Umuezechima have consistently maintained their tradition of Benin origin without qualms amid several counter-historical opinions. Consistency might not always define or validate a truth but it can provide a veritable ground for further questions if serious doubts arise. This is because within the context of multi-ethnic traditions of origin, migration and settlement among Anioma people, the Umuezechima case is not an isolated phenomenon.
Take for instance the case of Asaba, Professor Samuel Onwo Onyeidu affirmed that:
Like most Igbo-speaking elements in the Western bank of the Niger who distinguish themselves as ‘Enu-Ani’ (Uplanders) as distinct from the Eastern-Igbo whom they like to refer to as ‘Ndi-Igbo’ (Igbo People), Asaba people are of mixed origins. Their traditions of origin point to the ancient Kingdom of Benin, Yoruba Kingdoms and, Igbo, Igara and Ishan lands.[i]
In his dispatch to the Secretary of Church Missionary Society, (CA3/L1 Niger Mission, Bishop Crowther to R. Lang, Eggan, August 31. 1875),Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther who founded the Anglican Mission at Asaba wrote in relation to Asaba-Benin connection:
I found the people of that place [Asaba] claim relationship to Benin which they call ‘Idu’ and the King, Obba for whom they still retain great veneration. Tradition says they were obliged to migrate from that Kingdom from causes of war some generations past. The King of Onitsha said that their fore fathers came originally from “Odo” [Ado] and were compelled to cross to the left side of the Niger on the borders of the Ibo country, whose language and habits they have since adopted. Their word for salutation is Do!; the same as Asaba and Ado and Benin. The Ibo proper do not acknowledge the people of Onitsha and Asaba as well as Alenso as their pure race.[ii]
It is instructive to note from the last sentence above that Bishop Crowther emphatically made it known that the Igbo of the present Southeast did not acknowledge Onitsha and Asaba as pure Igbo. That statement was not made in the 20th or 21st century, but in the 19th century when the majority of the present Southeast were still in deep slumber away from modern civilization.
With a further hindsight based on added information, Bishop Crowther went further to state in his 1880 Report (G3A3/01 Niger Mission, Bishop Crowther, Report for 1880):
… The people of Asaba are offsprings of two distinct nations, namely, of Benin on the west, and of the Ibo on the east bank of the Niger; consequently they participate in the customs and superstitions of both nations; this is the foundation of our difficulty.[iii]
It was however the pioneer Anglican Missionary at Asaba, the Sierra Leonean-born Reverend Isaac B. Spencer that provided us with the first detailed history of Asaba people in his “Araba and Arabians” written as far back as 1879, in which Nnebisi featured prominently. (See:GA3/OI-O3 Niger Mission ‘Araba and the Arabans’ by I.B. Spencer, December 8, 1879)[iv]
Indeed the official history of Asaba is emphatic on the multi-ethnic character of their origins when it stated:
The founding father of this third and larger group of settlers is Nnebisi. His children subsequently married and mingled with fresh streams of immigrants from Igala (Igara), Ishan, Bini and eastern Ibos mainly and in this manner enriched Asaba with the varied and virile elements of culture of which we boast today.[v]
In 1878, a party of Anglican Missionaries led by Reverend Isaac B. Spencer visited Ubulu-Uku during the reign of Obi Nwajei, who was described by Reverend Spencer as Naradseri shortly after his ascension (SeeCA3/04 Niger Mission I. Spencer to Bishop Crowther, C. M. Araba, March 8, 1878). In answer to a question by Reverend Spencer on the nature of Benin influence among the people, one of the king’s brothers named Mordi responded:
That the King of Ubulu as well as all those on the route to Benin are tributaries to the King of that place, that his brother Naradseri, the present King of Ubulu having lately succeeded to the sovereignty on the death of their father, is about to send messengers with presents to the King of Benin to announce the same.[vi]
In 1891, another party of Anglican Missionaries led by Reverend Henry Dobinson visited Issele-Uku during the reign of Obi Egbuna. Reverend Dobinson reported that when the King was told abandon his traditional belief and convert to Christianity, he misunderstood the message to mean abandoning his allegiance to the Oba of Benin (G3A3/04-5 Niger Mission “Notes on a Journey into Iboland made by the Rev. H. H. Dobinson from the C.M.S. Station Onitsha, Niger River, West Africa, January 5, 10 1891.)[vii]
According to Reverend Dobinson, the King “thought what we meant by serving only God in Heaven was releasing him from his allegiance to the big King of Idu, (near Benin River), who is known as Head, by all the Kings of this country.”[viii]
It is therefore clear from the foregoing that the issue of historical attachment of Anioma people to the Kingdom of Benin and the wider Edo-speaking people cannot be subjected to historical revisionism nah by intellectual neophytes from both within Anioma and among the Southeast Igbo.
The third inconvertible fact is that the Southeast cannot deny the fact that their current artificial traditional kingship tradition with all the paraphernalia of office were borrowed from their Anioma kinsmen, who in turned were influenced by Benin kingship tradition—whether it is Igwe, Odogwu, Owelle or Onowu.
Recently, my professional colleague and friend, Prof Chima Jacob Korieh was appointed the Onowu (Traditional Prime Minister) of his Umuchieze Autonomous Community in Ahiazu Mbaise, Imo State. Onowu is the traditional salutation of Iyase in Anioma, who is the traditional Prime Minister and chief warlord in Benin Kingdom and, among Umuezechime Clan in Anioma.
As a professional historian Professor korieh knows he has just been clad with a Benin traditional political garb. It will therefore be intellectually absurd for him to turn around and question Anioma attachment to their Edo kinsmen either through cultural commonality or tradition of origins, since culture does not travel in isolation of its bearers. This is because the dynamism of any culture is defined by the movement of its bearers.
As Ibusa people often say, you cannot reject a sacrifice yet partake in the food offered to the same sacrifice. This is exactly what those Southeast Igbo criticizing Anioma people for their association with Edo people are doing. They reject a sacrifice yet eat the food offered to the same sacrifice.
May be it would more instructive at this stage to look at the opinions of two outstanding Igbo historians on the subject matter of Benin influence over the Igbo both east and west of the Niger. In his account, Prof Kenneth Onwuka Dike graphically stated:
Throughout medieval West Africa the kingdom of Benin was the dominant power in southern Nigeria and extended its conquests from Lagos in the West, to Bonny River in the east, and northward to Idah. It was the one state with which the Portuguese, during their early visit to Delta, maintained diplomatic relations. The persistence and universality of the claims to Benin origin in Delta traditions is evidence at least, of the powerful influence which this kingdom exerted over the imagination of her neighbours, particularly south eastern Nigeria, where her military power was felt by Ibos and the Ibo-speaking peoples east of the Niger.[ix]
Dike’s view no doubt appears more economical with the facts of the myth and legend of Benin influence and power than that of Olauda Equiano, yet the facts seem to be supported, if not by outright military conquest, but by copious traditions of migration from Benin Kingdom and royal links with the Benin monarchy.
Prof Adiele Eberechukwu Afigbo in his opinion described such traditions as “a vain search for a noble cultural ancestry; an over-reaction to the cultural snobbery of the West.”[x] Prof Alan F. C. Ryder in supporting Afigbo described such traditions as “the product of hankering after prestige.”[xi]
Both Afigbo and Ryder aptly acknowledged that there was acceptable degree of Benin political supremacy which gave rise to both assumptions. Moreover, it is obvious that some of such traditions of Benin origin could lay credence to a certain degree of truth owing to the fact that Benin kings occasionally used settlements as a way of consolidating their hold on power among conquered peoples.
Be that as it may, extant traditions whose authenticity might not be easy to question seem to defy the above hypothetical assertions by Professors Afigbo and Ryder. Even Afigbo seems to have paradoxically accepted this fact of Benin tradition among the non-Bini groups by acknowledging the wide influence of the Benin Kingdom among the Igbo of the West Niger, when he stated in Professor Kenneth Dike’s style:
Of all the neighbours of the Igbo mentioned above, the Edo Kingdom of Benin and the Igala State of Idah would appear to have had far-reaching impact on the evolution of Igbo culture. The influence of Benin was most felt in the Western Igbo area, the riverain region around Aboh and Onitsha. Benin influence was largely political and could be seen in the institution of village monarchies which exist all through the area. It is also seen in the character of the title systems as in the name of some of the titles.[xii]
In fact, there are some traditions of Benin origin, migration and settlement outside the West Niger Igbo traditions which are so popular that one does not need repeating them here—such as those of Lagos, Itsekiri, and some Eastern Yoruba towns in what we have today as Ekiti and Ondo States. So, the matter of Benin origin is not an exclusive contentious issue with the Igbo of West Niger.
Professor Ikenna Nzimiro has given us a vivid account of the respective traditions of Ezechime whom he described as “Chima Ukwu” and, Esumai Ukwu, both of which culminated in the foundation of Umuezechime Clan West of the Niger, of which Onitsha forms a part, including Aboh and Oguta.[xiii]
On his part, Professor Obaro Ikime equally provided us an account of the origin of the Olu of Warri dynasty from Benin through Prince Ginuwa.[xiv] In supporting Obaro Ikime, P. C. Lloyd affirmed that, “Itsekiri and Benin myths agree that Ginuwa was the son of Oluwa, an Oba of Benin who had to flee from the city, at a period that can be ascribed to the mid-15th century.”[xv]
Professor S. A. Akintoye on his own account noted that Benin armies first entered Akoko and Ekiti regions during the reign of Oba Ewuare I in the 15th century, and by the 16th century had overrun the entire territory, consequently pegging the limit of Benin Empire north of Yorubaland at Otun Ekiti.[xvi] Professor Robert Smith in supporting Akintoye went further to reveal the strong influence of the Benin Kingdom over the people of Akure through which are settled a large population of Yoruba indigenes of Benin origin.[xvii]
Beyond Benin military exploits are the copious traditions of migrations of waves of people out of the centre of Benin power to several places, mostly northwards, southwards and, eastwards, for reasons not unconnected with wars and conflicts in the heart of Benin Kingdom.
Professor Robert E. Bradbury in his study of the Ishan (Esan) and Urhobo-Isoko traditions of origin, migration and settlement stated that these migrations in many cases involved Igbo elements fleeing equally from Benin together with their Edo counterparts.[xviii]
Indeed, as Professor Obaro Ikime rightly put it, the present Isoko ethnic group consists of two migratory groups—one Benin and the other Igbo.[xix] According to him, the Benin group includes Aviara, Emevo, Iyede, Okpe,Owe, and Uzere; while Enwe and Ume claim Igbo origins. According to him, Erohwa, Igbide, and Olomoro claim to have no links with either Benin or Igbo. But he added that while Igbide might have been originally Benin in origin, it appeared that their ancestors first settled briefly in Igboland before coming to their present location. He further added that Olomoro might have originated from the Olomu Clan of the Urhobo.
Bradbury in his account noted a number of Urhobo and Isoko communities whose migrations from Benin included Igbo elements. These include Evbreni which remains wholly Ibo-speaking, Olomu, Arhavbarien, Orogun which though he did not attach Igbo origin, but remains Igbo-speaking todate, Okpe-Urhobo, Okpe-Isoko still partly Igbo-speaking, Ozoro, Aviarra, Iyede said to have conquered Igbo settlers, Enwhe and Igbide said to have been founded by Igbo from Awka, Olomoro and, interestingly Usere said to have migrated from Benin through Issele-Uku.[xx]
Both J. C. Anene[xxi] and E. J. Alagoa[xxii] have given us copious accounts of several waves of Ijo migration out of Benin to the Niger Delta Zone, of which space constrain will not permit us to recount. But the underlying fact of the traditions is that most Ijo-speaking settlements in Niger Delta today trace their origins to the Kingdom of Benin. The dominance of Ijo traditions of Benin origin without noticeable accounts of autochthones seems to support the earlier assertion that the present set of Ijo settlements in the Niger Delta was the result of continuous southward pressure of the Igbo group, which made it difficult for an autochthonous tradition to develop among the people.
Paradoxically describing the Ishan (Esan) as refugee-settlers from Benin, R. E. Bradbury noted, “The word ‘Ishan’ is a corruption of esa, which is said to be derived from esafu, meaning ‘those who fled.’ Many of the Ishan communities and immigrant elements within them claim to have been founded by people who left the Benin Kingdom to evade justice or escape oppression.”[xxiii]
Bradbury noted that out of the 34 Ishan communities he studied, Igbo immigrants joined to found 13 communities, outside Igala and other Edo and Yoruba immigrants. They include, Ekpoma, Okpoji, Uromi, Ebele, Amaho, Ugun, Igueben, Urho, Ekpon, Ewohimi, Ewatto, and Ewabba.[xxiv] In other words, Ishan would appear to represent Benin what Anioma is to Igbo in both linguistic and cultural terms. Thus as he put it:
The Ishan people are distinguished in their name, language, and in certain cultural and social characteristics, from neighbouring sections of the Edo-speaking peoples. They speak a series of closely related dialects, not far removed from the language of the Benin Kingdom, which shade off into Edo, Etsako, and Ivbiosakon dialects on the borders with these groups and probably show some Ibo and Igala influence in the east and south.[xxv]
The interesting account of the Benin origin of the Igbo Kingdom of Ogba in the present Rivers State;[xxvi] including the recent Ikwerre identity shift to Benin tend to support Kenneth Dike’s position on the extent of the influence of Benin Empire.
But one other tradition which although looks sensational but helps us to fully understand the extent of Benin influence that strongly guided Dike’s assertion is that of the present Abam-Ohafia head-hunter warrior clans of Southeastern Igbo, or what is also referred to as Cross River Igbo in the present Abia State.
The Abam-Ohafia head-hunters were indeed the power behind whatever influence the Aro claim to have exerted in the body history of Igboland. Professor Onwuka N. Njoku narrating from the evidence of Ejituwu, both of Abam-Ohafia Clan, stated that the Abam-Ohafia people migrated from Benin Kingdom to their present abode at the extreme Southeast Igbo borderlands.[xxvii]
According to the tradition they moved through Owa, possibly the present Owa-Riuzo Idu (Owa on the road to the Benin Kingdom) in the present Orhionmwon Local Government Area of Edo State, an account of the journey which is preserved in Ohafia war poetry and song. Their leader was named Uduma Ezema, who might have left the Benin Kingdom about the same time of the mythical Ezechime of the Umueze Chima Clan, and Esumei Ukwu of Aboh and Oguta traditions.
Their movement took them probably through Ndoni and Ibeku before arriving at their present destination where the earlier settlers referred to them as “Ndi Mben”, which was a corruption of “Ndi Bini” (Bini people). It would therefore appear that their present names—“Abam” and “Ohafia” developed overtime as honorific warrior titles given to them by their neighbours.
It should be recalled that the emergence of the Aro as a distinct Igbo sub-group was the consequence of the revolt of erstwhile Igbo slaves against their Ibibio masters through the support of Jukun (Akpa) invading forces—see G. I. Jones,[xxviii] Felicia Ekejuba,[xxix] and Nwankwo T. Nwaezeigwe.[xxx] It could therefore be right to state that one of the far reaching consequences of the Aro revolt is that it marked a vivid meeting point of Benin influence represented by the Abam-Ohafia settlers and, Jukun influence, marked by the Jukun (Akpa) elements involved in the Aro revolt. In other words, it could rightly be stated that not only did the presence of Abam-Ohafia settlers define the Northern Cross River Basin as the probable limit of Benin influence east of the Niger; it equally seems to have stopped the possibility of Jukun intrusion into Igboland through the Jukun-Aro elements.
Even within the present Southeast geopolitical region, outside the popular Onitsha claim of Benin origin, the Ogbaru town of Atani in Anambra State equally claims Benin Origin with the honorific title of Atani Idu na Oba. The same applies to the group of towns collectively known as Ogbe headed by Anaku in the present Ayamelum Local Government Area of Anambra State. These towns include Anam and Nsugbe in Anambra State, Okpanam and Utchi in Delta State.
The popular Umuezeora kindred of Aguleri in its original tradition of origins, migration and settlement before degenerating to Obu-Gad historical scam equally claim Benin origin. But most fascinating is the claim by the multiple-community town of Enugwu-Ezike in Igboeze North Local Government Area of Enugu State that their eponymous ancestor named Ezike-Oba was a Benin prince.
It is not only regrettable but an act of clannish pettiness that those intellectual neophytes from the Southeast and their Anioma cronies making all sorts of noise including insult-laden diatribes against Anioma people for claiming Benin origin, have not demonstrated the same moronic boldness to question those in the present Southeast who equally claim Benin origin.
It is important to further reveal that within the East Niger Delta region, Benin influence also held sway up to the present historic town of Bonny. The British Slave merchant Captain Hugh Crow in his Memoirs published in 1830 after his death, informed us that not only was Bonny a vassal State to Benin Kingdom, but gave account of the visit of Benin agents to Bonny for the purpose of collecting tributes.
In his description of the extent of the Benin Kingdom to the east Captain Crow stated: “The streets of Benin are long and broad, so that it covered a considerable extent of ground. The kingdom extends twenty days’ journey from north to south, and it claims sovereignty over Bonny and New Calabar.”[xxxi]
On the visit of Benin officials to Bonny for the purpose of collecting tributes for the Oba, the Memoirs recounts:
Our author was not perhaps aware that Bonny owes its sovereignty to Benin, otherwise he would naturally attribute the visit, which he records in the following passage to that circumstance. ‘While I lay’ he remarked, ‘at Bonny, on my last voyage, two large canoes arrived from Benin, full of presents, consisting of the manufactures and produce of the country, and with these canoes two remarkably fine looking men of from thirty to forty years of age, well formed, and about six feet high, their look and manner were of a superior order, and they walked in a majestic style, followed by a retinue of servants. They were robed in a loose flowing dress; I found they spoke pretty good English, and I conversed with them on several occasions, particularly on the subject of slave trade. They expressed their conviction that so long as there were lands to cultivate, and seas for ship to sail on, slavery would continue to exist. These men were near relations of King Pepple, and had been sent to Bonny, as ambassadors by the king of Benin. They remained about one month feasting in their way, and then returned with their large canoes laden with presents.[xxxii]
From the foregoing we can arrive to the conclusion that the issue of some groups of Anioma people of Delta State claiming Benin origin cannot be taken as an isolated historical phenomenon, but part of a larger web of migrations that fanned out of the Benin center of power encompassing the greater part of Southern Nigeria.
Arising from this therefore, our next task will be to determine the actual points of such migrations within the Benin Kingdom. In determining this issue, we should bear in mind that before the 16th century, the present kingdom of Benin was not one whole kingdom but consisted three rival kingdoms.
[i] Samuel Onwo Onyeidu, “The Anglican Mission to Asaba Nigeria 1875-1930” A thesis presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Aberdeen. April, 1985
[ii] Onyeidu, “The Anglican Mission to Asaba Nigeria 1875-1930”, 2
[iii] Onyeidu, “The Anglican Mission to Asaba Nigeria 1875-1930”, 3
[iv]Onyeidu, “The Anglican Mission to Asaba Nigeria 1875-1930”, 3
[v] Asaba, History and Development Asaba: Asaba Development Association, 1978, 14; see also Onyeidu, “The Anglican Mission to Asaba Nigeria 1875-1930”, 8
[vi] Onyeidu, “The Anglican Mission to Asaba Nigeria 1875-1930”, 8
[vii] Onyeidu, “The Anglican Mission to Asaba Nigeria 1875-1930”, 8
[viii] Onyeidu, “The Anglican Mission to Asaba Nigeria 1875-1930”, 9
[ix] Kenneth O. Dike, (1956) Trade and Politics in the Niger Delta 1830-1885 Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1956, 21
[x] A. E. Afigbo, An Outline of Igbo History Owerri: Rada Press, 1986, 1
[xi] Alan F. C. Ryder, Benin and the Europeans 1485-1897 London: Longmans, 1969, 3
[xii] A. E. Afigbo, “Prolegomena to the Study of the Culture History of the Igbo-Speaking Peoples of Nigeria”, in F. C. Ogbalu and E. N. Emenanjo (eds) Igbo Language and Culture Ibadan: Oxford University Press, 1975, 46
[xiii] Ikenna Nzimiro, Studies in Igbo Political System: chieftaincy and politics in four Niger States Berkeley: University of California Press, 1972, 7
[xiv] Obaro Ikime, The Isoko People: a historical survey Ibadan: Ibadan University Press, 1972, 9
[xv] P. C. Lloyd, “The Itsekiri” in Daryl Forde (ed) Ethnographic Survey of Africa—West Africa Part XIII London: International African Institute, 1957, 170
[xvi] S. A. Akintoye, Revolution and Power Politics in Yorubaland 1840-1893 London: Longman, 1971, 26
[xvii] Robert Smith, Kingdoms of the Yoruba London: Methuen and Co, 1969, 66
[xviii] R. E. Bradbury, “The Benin Kingdom and the Edo-Speaking Peoples of South-Western Nigeria” in Daryl Forde (ed) Ethnographic Survey of Africa—West Africa Part XIII London: International African Institute, 1957
[xix] Obaro Ikime, The Isoko People: a historical survey Ibadan: Ibadan University Press, 1972, 1
[xx] R. E. Bradbury, “The Benin Kingdom and the Edo-Speaking Peoples of South-Western Nigeria” in Daryl Forde (ed) Ethnographic Survey of Africa—West Africa Part XIII London: International African Institute, 1957, 130-2
[xxi] J. C. Anene, (1966) Southern Nigeria in Transition 1885-1906: theory and practice in a colonial protectorate Cambridge: At the University Press, 1966, 6
[xxii] E. J. Alagoa, A History of the Niger Delta: an historical interpretation of the Ijo tradition Ibadan: Ibadan University Press, 1972, 53
[xxiii] Bradbury, “The Benin Kingdom and the Edo-Speaking Peoples of South-Western Nigeria”, 61
[xxiv] Bradbury, “The Benin Kingdom and the Edo-Speaking Peoples of South-Western Nigeria”, 66-7
[xxv] Bradbury, “The Benin Kingdom and the Edo-Speaking Peoples of South-Western Nigeria”, 61
[xxvi] Ebere Ukakwe Abali and Kingdom Eke Orji, “The Origin of the Ogba People: Linguistice Evidence” Port Harcourt Journal of History & Diplomatic Studies Vol.10 N0. 3 September, 2023
[xxvii] Onwuka N. Njoku, formerly Professor of History, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, September 28, 2018
[xxviii] G. I. Jones, “Who Are the Aro?” The Nigerian Field vol. No3, July 1939
[xxix] Felicia Ekejuba, “The Aro System of Trade in the Nineteenth Century” Ikenga vol. xx, No 1, 1972
[xxx] Nwankwo T. Nwaezeigwe, ‘’THE ARO AND THE CONCEPT OF ARO-OKIGBO: Facts and Fallacies of a Histrionic Igbo Hegemony’’ IKENGA: The International Journal of African Studies, Vol. 15, No. 2, 2013, 406-421
[xxxi] Memoirs, of the Late Captain Hugh Crow, of Liverpool: Comprising a Narrative of His Life, Together with Descriptive Sketches of the Western Coast of Africa London: Longman, Rees, Brown, and Green; and G. and J. Robinson, Liverpool, 1830, 190
[xxxii] Memoirs, of the Late Captain Hugh Crow, of Liverpool: Comprising a Narrative of His Life, Together with Descriptive Sketches of the Western Coast of Africa, 218-219
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