IGBO MIGRATIONS AND SETTLEMENT FROM LOKOJA VICINITY TO ILE-IFE (IGBO- MOKUN)

Part 3

Much of West Niger Igbo Originated From Ile-Ife and Not Southeast

Nwankwo T. Nwaezeigwe, PhD                                                                                August 3, 2025

Odogwu of Ibusa

Former Director, Centre for Igbo Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka                                                                     

Email: Nwaezeigwe.genocideafrica@gmail.com                                                                 

From the foregoing two parts, we have been able to prove that the issue of Benin origin, migration, settlement and, most importantly influence, are not exclusively limited to the people of Anioma—West Niger Igbo, but involved the Yoruba, Ijaw up to the Kingdom of Bonny, Urhobo, Isoko, Itsekiri, the present Igbo of the Southeast geopolitical zone, and the Igala, as we shall later show.

It is equally evident that there are strong historical indications that those Igbo groups that joined the mainly Esan, Urhobo and Isoko migrations from the nucleus of Benin Kingdom, like their Anioma counterparts, might not have originated from the Igbo of Southeast but from earlier Igbo aborigines in the present Southwest geo-political zone.

There is equally the clear evidence of loss of their original language by those Igbo communities among the Esan, Isoko and Urhobo, the same way the Edo, Igala and Yoruba settlers among Anioma people lost their original language.

Unfortunately, while the assimilation of these Igbo groups among the Esan, Isoko and, Urhobo has not questioned or obliterated their claims of Igbo origins, some hyper-historical novices and Biafran nation agitators from the Southeast geo-political zone take such assimilation in respect of Bini settlers among Anioma people as not only impossible, but faked historical concept. This is not only ridiculous in historical terms but a clear case of infantile exhibition of polluted arrogance in ignorance.

The issues before us therefore go beyond the cacophony of social media exhibitions of historical ignorance by some queer opportunistic emergency untrained historians, who think that the knowledge of history is like one who claims expertise in oceanography by a casual visit to the Atlantic Ocean Lagos Bar Beach.

Thus in continuing our historical promenade to the historic land of Ile-Ife we shall determine how the Igbo found themselves themselves there. Did the original Igbo settlers of the present Ile-Ife and parts of Yorubaland migrate from the east, west, south or north? This question is clearly predicated on ethno-linguistic determinism explained by the primordial origins of languages in Africa; in the case of Nigeria through what ethno-linguists refer to as the Niger-Benue Confluence theory of origins of Nigerian peoples.

 According to this theory, the Kwa language family, which is a branch of the larger Niger-Congo language family of Africa, gave birth to such languages as the Igbo, Yoruba, Edo, Idoma, Igala, Igbira (Ebira), Gwari (Gbagi),  Ewe, Akan Fon, Nupe, Ebira, Bassa, Igede, and Itsekiri among others; most of which are domiciled within the West African sub-region.

It is believed that the original home of the Kwa language was within the vicinity of the Confluence of Rivers Niger and Benue, from where it branched off to form those separate and distinct languages. The branching off took different directions—North, South, East and West. In other words, through ethno-linguistic evidence, the vicinities of the present City of Lokoja was the ancestral home-base of the Igbo, Yoruba, Igala, Edo, Idoma, Ebira, Nupe, Gwari and Ijon ethnic groups in Nigeria among others.

Ijon (Ijaw) on the other hand is a contemporary of Kwa language, thus senior to the rest members of the Kwa language family. Similarly, the Ibibio group of languages made up of Ibibio proper, Efik, Anang and, Oron, together with much of the Ekoi group of languages in Northern Cross River Basin are of Semi-Bantu origins which lately, like the Bantu Tiv, moved into the present geopolitical Nigeria from southern and central part of modern Republic of Cameroon.

The Niger-Benue Confluence theory is hinged on the linguistic theory of glottochronology and lexicostatistics. Dell H. Hymes explains glottochronology as the evolution of a language in terms of rate of change of its basic vocabularies over a thousand years, and lexicostatistics as “the study of the statistical calculation of vocabularies of languages arising from glottochronology for the purpose of historical inferences.”[1]

Earlier classification by Joseph H. Greenberg identified five distinct language families of considerable importance in the Continent of Africa to include the Niger-Congo, Afro-Asiatic, Macro-Sudanic, Central Saharan, and the Click families. He further identified seven individual languages that possess relatively insignificant characteristics that qualify them to be defined as distinct language families.[2] Greenberg further noted that these include Songhai, Maban, Fur, Koman, Kordofanian, Temainian, and Nyangiya, thus arriving at a dozen language families.[3] 

From the Niger-Congo family, seven sub-families were identified. They include West Atlantic, Mandigo, Gur, Kwa, Ijo (Ijaw), Central, and Adamawa-Eastern. The central thesis governing this classification in respect of glottochronology is that, at a point in the history of Africa Continent, a Proto-Niger-Congo language was spoken by almost all the peoples in Africa.

This Proto-Niger-Congo language later diverged into several other groups of languages, of which the Niger-Congo was among. This was again followed by the separation of the Niger-Congo into yet another set of sub-groups of which the Kwa and Ijaw (Ijo) were part. It was from this Kwa sub-family that the Edo, Igbo, Igala, Idoma, Igede, Yoruba, Bassa, Ebira, Nupe and Gwari among other Nigerian languages of the same family emerged as distinct languages.

According to R. G. Armstrong, the language ancestral to the Niger-Congo family, that is the proto-Niger-Congo language, is believed to have been spoken about ten thousand years ago. Subsequently, Igbo and Yoruba are believed to have separated from the Kwa language between, 4,000 and 6,000 years ago; while Edo was also believed to have diverged from Yoruba parent-stock between 3,200 and 4,000 years ago.[4]

But R. E. Bradbury in agreeing with Armstrong however disagreed with the Yoruba origin of the Edo language, believing instead that the Edo language is closer to Igbo than the Yoruba, thereby hazarding the belief that the Edo language might have instead diverged from Igbo against the earlier assumption of divergence from Yoruba.[5]

Bradbury seems to agree with the earlier observations of Northcote W. Thomas on what he described as unexplained closeness of Edo and Igbo languages. According to Northcote W. Thomas:

There are certain resemblances between the Edo and Ibo languages which are more difficult to explain. Parts of the body for example, like the mouth (unu), are known by identical names, and here it is difficult to suggest and explanation.[6]

Although Armstrong has suggested as did Hymes, that there exists an inherent error in the use of glottochronology through the under-estimation of the time depths.[7] But having been considered in the light of the above instances vis-à-vis the close relationships between the related languages, we cannot, but accept the facts as the probable approximation of the time depth of the separation of the languages, given the characteristic small margin of error.

This theory no doubt explains the closeness between the Igbo, Edo, and Idoma, as well as the Igala, Itsekiri and the Yoruba, suggesting that they might have separated from the other in more recent times than between the Igbo and Yoruba. It also explains the existence of some common vocabularies among the Igbo, Idoma, Igala, Yoruba, Edo, Bassa, Igede, Igbira (Ebira), Gwari (Gbari) and Itsekiri among other neighboring languages of the same family.

Thus among the Igbo, Yoruba, Edo and other Kwa sub-family languages, there have always been frequent occurrences of common vocabularies. For instance, the common food item of tropical origin with one common name among the Igbo, Igala, Idoma, Igbira, Edo and Yoruba, is Ogede (Plantain/Banana).

Among the Igbo, Igala, Idoma and Edo, one equally finds almost identical names for their traditional four-market-day week. Thus the Igbo four market days – Eke, Olie, Nkwo, and Afor are similar to those of the Igala, except Olie (Oye) which is called Ede. Similarly, the same four-day market week among the Edo— Eken, Okuo, Orie, and Aho, corresponds with the West Niger Igbo (Anioma) four-day market week of Eke, Nkwo, Olie and Afo. Other similar common vocabularies include rock (stone) which is commonly known as Okwute  among West Niger Igbo and, Okuta in Edo and Yoruba. The Igbo Onu and Edo Unu equally correspond to the Yoruba Enu.

 All these similarities in vocabularies tend to point to one direction.— that the Igbo, Edo, Yoruba, Igede, Igala, Idoma, Nupe, Bassa, Gwari (Gbari), and Igbira (Ebira) among others once lived together as one people in one common area in the remote past where they spoke one common language.

The explanation here is that while it is not possible to isolate a people’s origin from the origin of their language, since communication is the essence of being, either of them could go into extinction, or both could jointly go out of existence. Equally notable is the fact that a new language could evolve as a result of circumstances arising from cultural and environmental confrontations. Examples of the latter occurrences could be noted in the existence of virtually unintelligible dialects in a given language.

For instance, among the Igbo, the Ikwerre, Abakiliki, Nsukka, and Ika dialects of Igbo language which are mainly spoken at the fringes of the ethnic boundaries, assume distinctively dialectal tones which make first-time Igbo visitors from the central zone assume that they are not part of the wider Igbo linguistic group. From this dialectal inference one can look at Igbo origins in relation to the peopling of Southern Nigeria by the other ethnic groups.

One fact is clear from the foregoing linguistic analysis—the continuous settlement of Southern and by extension Central parts of Nigeria goes back to antiquity with evidence of Stone Age cultures. In this case we are greatly indebted to the copious evidence of archaeology which provided material evidence of human occupation of the areas presently defined as Southern and Middle Belt regions of Nigeria, of which the Niger-Benue Confluence forms the central radiating point of dispersal.

Professor Adebisi Sowunmi of University of Ibadan, aptly basing her findings on palynology, suggested that as early as 3,000 years ago, there were already settled populations in parts of what is today Southern Nigeria, who were already engaged in agriculture.[8] Professor B. E. b. Fagg equally revealed with evidence from Nok by means of Carbon-14 Dating Method that the Middle Belt region was already in continuous occupation by the manufacturers of the historic clay-caked figurines— the bearers of the Nok Culture around 3,500 B.C.[9]

Professor Donald D. Hartle in his marathon archaeological excavations in different parts of Igboland revealed copious evidence of antiquity of continuous occupation of what is today defined as Igboland.  The most spectacular of these archaeological sites was the excavation carried out at the University of Nigeria Agricultural farmland which yielded artefacts of Pottery Sherds among other finds.[10] According to Hartle, two Carbon-14 dates associated with some of these pottery materials were shown to read 2,555 B.C. 130 and 1,460 B.C.  115.[11]

Thus from the above body of evidence, it could be inferred that by about 4,500 years ago, pottery-making was already in vogue in Southern Nigeria which further suggests an earlier date of settlement.  In all these archaeological body of evidence, the ethnic identity of the culture-bearers remained unknown.

From the foregoing ethno-linguistic analysis, it is pertinent to place the Ijon (Ijaw) language as the oldest and, by extension the Ijon-speaking people as the earliest ethnic group to settle in the present Southern Nigeria, having pushed southwards before their Kwa linguistic brothers. This can be understood against the background of the age of the language in relation to other languages of Southern Nigeria of Kwa origin. Professor Barry Floyd affirms this fact when he re-counted Talbot’s classification of Ijon as “one of the most ancient tongues in West Africa.”[12]

It is therefore clear that while most of the Kwa languages pushed southwards out of their original Confluence home-base probably following the trail of the Ijon movement, some, such as Gwari (Gbari), Nupe, and Ebira among others moved northwards. A subsequent attempt by the Ebira to recoil southwards from their original northward push eventually cut off the Igala from the Yoruba at  the point of Lokoka, with the Bassa pushing westward to cut off what is known today as Ebira Koton from Ebira Okene.

Looking at Ijon southward movement, it is clear that it took both sides of the Niger— East-wing and West-wing, consequently terminating to the present Eastern Ijon and Western Ijon in the Niger Delta. The Ijon southward movement was followed rapidly by the Igbo who pushed them southwards, similarly taking both wings of the Niger, with the West-Wing terminating at the present Ile-Ife originally known as Igbo-Mokun and expanding further east to the Niger to form the present Edo ethnic group and West Niger Igbo.

On the other hand, the East-Wing pushed from the Kwa vicinity of Lokoja through the location of the present Igala ethnic group consequently terminating at the present Southeast geo-political zone, with original settlements along the Nsukka-Udi-Enugu-Okigwe Cuesta—the line of undulating hills running from Nsukka through Udi, Enugu, Awgu to Okigwe.

Anyone travelling from Nsukka to Enugu and, Enugu to Okigwe along Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway will notice this symmetrical line of hills. Indeed for those living at or passing through the Ogbete suburb of Enugu will notice part of this line of hills, from where the popular Miliken Hill passage was created. It was this point further Igbo dispersals occurred.

Daryll Forde and G. I. Jones descried these hills as “two ridges which run roughly north and south across the [Northern Igbo] area.[13] According to Professor Adiele Afigbo, “From all available data it was the first place to be settled by the Igbo after they came into the forest, it was there that they evolved a distinct culture, it was from that they moved out to occupy the other areas they now inhabit.”[14]

The southward movement of the Igbo was followed later by the southward push of the Yoruba group known variously prior to the 19^th century as Olukwumi, Anago and Aku, before the popularization of the present Hausa term of Yoruba by the Oyo-born Bishops Samuel Ajayi Crowther and Samuel Johnson in the late 19^th century. In fact, the term Yoruba only refers to Oyo sub-group of Anago ethnic group.

But it appears that the oldest term used for the Yoruba was Olukumi (Olukwumi), a term it appears was first applied by the original Igbo settlers of Igbo-Mokun (Ile-Ife) to describe the invading Oduduwa and his people, and which was later adopted by the Bini and the Igbo of the West Niger. The reason is that earliest Portuguese and English visitors to the Kingdom of Benin described the Yoruba variously as Ulkami and Alkomy which are no doubt corruptions of Olukumi.[15]

While the east-wing southward push by the Yoruba gave birth to the present Igala ethnic group, their west-wing southward push led to the later occupation of the present Southwest geo-political zone of Nigeria with further spill-over to the present Republics of Benin and Togo where they still retain their old name of Anago and not Yoruba.

The Yoruba southward push led to by the eponymous warrior named Oduduwa subsequently pushed out the Igbo from their core Igbo-Mokun (Ile-Ife) center southward and eastward. The Southward migrations of the Igbo from Igbo-Mokun eventually gave rise to the Ijebu sub-group southwest of Igbo-Mokun, while further south the Igbo migration collided with the already settled Ijon ethnic group, giving birth to the present Ilaje sub-group, of which the Kingdom of Igbo, later Yorubanized as Ugbo, was the focal settlement. Ironically, while their king changed from the title of Olu-Igbo of Igbo to Olugbo of Ugbo, the King of Ijebu Remo has continued to retain the original Igbo-Mokun title of Akari-Igbo of Remo.

On the other hand, the eastward migration of the Igbo from their Igbo-Mokun core center led to their collision with the Ijon ethnic group at the present Benin core area, eventually giving birth to what is known today as the Edo ethnic group.

The earlier waves of Igbo migration which pushed eastward before the consummation of the ethnic amalgam between the Igbo and Ijon to form Edo ethnic group, eventually became the original settlers of the West Niger Igbo area—Anioma. Their Igbo identity was later enriched and sustained with later immigrants from east of the Niger. This explains why most aboriginal West Niger Igbo settlers claim Benin origin.

Meanwhile, east of Niger, similar collision between the Igbo and the already settled Ijon ethnic group gave birth to the present Ijon hybrid ethnic groups of Okrika, Kalabari and Ibani (Bonny and Opobo). It is therefore likely that the subsequent settlement of the Ijon at the southern-most central point of the present Nigeria was the result of the pressure exacted by the later southward migrations of their Kwa language nephews, notably led by the Igbo and followed by the Yoruba.

Having arrived at the point of earliest Igbo settlement at Igbo-Mokun (Ile-Ife) and, the subsequent invasion of Oduduwa, we shall now look at the Igbo characteristics of Igbo-Mokun and how the names “Bini” (Benin), “Ado”, “Idu” and, “Edo” became historical phenomena.

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[1] Dell H.  Hymes, “Lexicostatistics so far” Current Anthropology vol. 1, 1960, 4

[2] Joseph H. Greenberg, Language of Africa Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1966, 8

[3] Joseph H. Greenberg, “Africa as a Lindquist Area” in Bascom, William R. and Herskovits, Nelville J. (eds) Continuity and Change in African Culture Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1950, 17

[4] R. G. Armstrong, The Study of West African Languages Ibadan: University Press, 1964, 13

[5] R. E. Bradbury, (1964) “The Historical Uses of Comparative Ethnography with Special Reference to Benin and Yoruba”, in Vansina, J.; Mauny, R. and Thomas, L. V. (eds) The Historian in Tropical Africa London: Oxford University Press, 1964, 150

[6] Northcote W. Thomas, Anthropological Report of the Edo-Speaking Peoples of Nigeria Part I Law and Custom London: Harrison and Sons, 1910, 7

[7] R. G. Armstrong, “The Use of Linguistic and Ethnographic Data in the Study of Idoma and Yoruba History” in Vansina, J.; Mauny, R. and Thomas, L. V. (eds) The Historian in Tropical Africa London: Oxford University Press, 1964, 284

[8] Adebisi Sowunmi, “Human Ecology in South-Central Nigeria: An Appraisal” Seminars on Two Decades of Igbo-Ukwu,, Institute of African Studies, University  of Nigeria, Nsukka, 1991, 4

[9] B. E. B. Fagg, “The Nok Culture in Prehistory Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria Vol. I, No. 4, December 1959, 291

[10] D. D. Hartle, “Archaeology in eastern Nigeria” Nigeria Magazine, No. 39, 1967, 136

[11] D. D. Hartle, “Archaeology in eastern Nigeria” Nigeria Magazine, No. 39, 1967, 137

[12] Barry Floyd, Eastern Nigeria: a geographical review London: Macmillan, 1969, 23

[13] Daryll Forde and G. I. Jones, The Ibo and Ibibio-Speaking Peoples of South-Eastern Nigeria London: International African Institute, 1950, 28

[14] A. E. Afigbo, “Prolegomena to the Study of the Culture History of the Igbo-Speaking Peoples of Nigeria”, in F. C. Ogalu and E. N. Emenanjo (eds) Igbo Language and Culture Ibadan: Oxford University Press, 1975, 36

[15] H. Ling Roth, Great Benin: Its Customs, Art and Horrors Halifax England: F. Kings and sons, 1903, 11