NED NWOKO’S BENIN ANCESTRY, HIS ROGUISH IGBO IDENTITY AND WHY WE DON’T NEED ANIOMA STATE
Nwankwo T. Nwaezeigwe, PhD September 6, 2025
During the last kangaroo conference purportedly organized by one unknown Igbo band of political and intellectual scavengers held at Okpanam on the 29th day of August, 2025, the pariah Senator representing Delta North Senatorial District Alhaji Ned Munir Abdullahi Nwoko was reported saying in respect of the origin of his purported denial of his purported Igbo identity:
“During the genocide against IGBO Nation, I was 9 years old. I was in my village during the genocidal war. The federal troops started killing my community people. My parents started telling me to say I am not IGBO and to make sure I deny being Igbo wherever I go if I must stay alive. That was how we started to deny our IGBO identity for us not to be killed by the federal troops.”
The above statement reminds me of the popular Yoruba adage: “Ota die, Ore die, ni ipani” (A little enmity and a little friendship is always fatal to life). The on-going attempt by Senator Ned Nwoko to fan the ember of enmity among Anioma people while purporting to create corrupted friendship with our kinsmen east of the Niger can only prove fatal to whatever he is striving at—both the fake quest for Anioma State and his ambition to return to the Senate in 2027.
We were originally informed that the purpose of the said kangaroo conference was to humiliate our revered Asagba of Asaba His Royal Majesty Obi (Prof) Epiphany Azinge, SAN, for calling Senator Ned Nwoko to order over his Anioma State scam; hence the decision to hold the conference at Asaba as earlier advertised. Whatever compelled them to shift the venue to the neighboring town of Okpanam was their business.
On the issue of the purported denial of Igbo identity, let me begin by saying that real Igbo people have no reason or time to indulge themselves in scavenging for people who deny or accept their Igbo identity. The real Igbo men of real pristine Igbo origin are too proud and too occupied with gainful responsibilities to engage themselves in the reprehensible search for those who claim or deny their Igbo identity.
Indeed, a closer study of the ancestral roots of the champions of the so-called Igbo identity project has shown that majority of them are not even of real Igbo origins, but descendants of assimilated Osu and Ohu elements among their people. And for Anioma people, it is not only sacrilegious but a customary insult of the highest order for ancestral strangers among their people to question their ethnic identity.
If these people are well acquainted with history, they would have been properly informed that it was their type the ancestors of Anioma people once used for sacrifices to their revered Deities. The people of Anioma land know themselves; they know their people; they know their history; they know their customs and tradition; and therefore do not need outsiders to educate them on whom they are or, who they are not. Most disgusting is that these people are even those who do not know a pinch of their own history, much more the history of the people they are talking about.
May be we might ask, does Senator Ned Nwoko actually know his history, before propounding the Igbo identity of Anioma people? If Senator Ned Nwoko knows his actual ethnic identity, he should be the least among those who claim Igbo identity among Anioma people. He claims that it was in order to avoid the genocide against the Igbo that led his mother to advise him to deny his Igbo identity. Was that not ridiculous and impertinent pettiness for a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to indulge in convulsive lies in public?
In the first place, Ned Nwoko’s town Idumuje-Ugboko never experienced any contact with Federal troops throughout the Nigerian civil war, being located in isolated zone off the routes of the advancing Federal troops and, thus there was no question of his mother advising him at the age of nine years to deny his Igbo identity. The Federal troops during their advance from Benin to Asaba massacred our people, first at Benin City, a little at Ogwashi-Uku, and then the major pogrom at Asaba.
And as I have earlier pointed out, the massacre of our people was indirectly instigated by our Southeast Igbo kinsmen through their Midwest and Ore invasion; otherwise before that sad episode, Midwest was neutral in the civil war, serving as the point of meeting by both belligerents for possible resolution of the conflict. We were living peacefully with our Bini, Esan, Isoko, Urhobo, Itsekiri and Ijaw neighbors until the Biafran invasion, which our people were accused of collusion with our Biafran Igbo kinsmen.
So we do not need any form of sympathy from our Southeast Igbo kinsmen for the genocide because they brought it upon our people. And right now we can notice the same heinous crime being committed against our people by the same Southeast elements who claim to be fighting for their Igbo unity scam by insulting the revered Oba of Benin in the name of supporting the people of Igbanke.
As earlier pointed out, Ned Nwoko is the least person in Anioma to disturb the peace of Anioma people with his fake Igbo identity campaign and Anioma State scam. Nothing about Ned Nwoko, from his physiognomy through his ancestral lineage to the etymology of his family name and that of his town, is linked to the Igbo of Southeast. Ned Nwoko’s alienist dark complexion and distinctive rhombus facial configuration not only depict the alienism to core Anioma identity but strikingly betray possible Nupe ancestral pedigree.
“Idumuje” the prefixed identity of his town, is of Esan-Edo ethnic origin and not Igbo. “Ugboko”, the suffixed identity of his town, is of Edo origin, against its Igbo counterpart “Agu”, meaning thick forest. The named “Nwoko” is a combination of the Igbo “Nwa” and Edo “Oko.” So, what are the elements of Igbo identity in the person of Ned Nwoko that he should be disturbing Anioma people with his Southeast mercenary elements?
Let us even look at the brief history of Ned Nwoko’s town named Idumuje-Ugboko and see if anything Igbo connects them with Southeast outside Igbo language which history has proven came from the Igbo aborigines of the present City of Ile-Ife. To quote Idumuje-Ugboko Development Union, United Kingdom Branch:
“Idumuje-Ugboko is made of four villages. They are Atuma, Ogbe-Obi, Ogbe-Ofu and Onicha-Ukwu (Ogbe-Akwu). The four villages are reputed to have migrated from various towns and kingdoms in and around the present states of Delta, Edo and Ondo states. For example, the Atuma village is said to have migrated from Owo, a town in present-day Ondo state, the Ogbe-Ofu from Emu, an Ishan speaking town in present-day Edo state, the Ogbe-Obi from Uzebu in the old Benin kingdom and Onicha-Ukwu from Onicha-Ukwu, a town in present-day Delta state. Of four villages, the Onicha-Ukwu was the last of the villages to settle in Idumuje-Ugboko.”
In Ogbe-Obi which is Senator Ned Nwoko’s Quarters, we have the following extended families: Uzebu, Idumu-Ugo, Owu, Idumu-Isagbeme, Umu Omile and Ahama. Which of these names correspond to Igbo of Southeast?
In Ogbe-Ofu Quarters we have the following extended families: Idumu-Obu, Idumu-Uzu, Idumu-Okhohue and Idumu-Uhu. Again, which of the names is Igbo in origin? The following extended families make up Atuma Quarters: Onije, Idumu-Ina, Idumu-Ekwulu, Idumu-Ona, Ikoko-Iyala and, Idumu-Ezi. Which is Igbo among them? For Onicha-Ukwu Quarters, Idumu-Uwadia, Idumu-Ukwu and, Idumu-Isa make up the extended families.
The Edo or rather Benin origin of Senator Ned Nwoko’s town of Idumuje-Ugboko is so glaring that it does not need a professional historian like the present writer to impress on people. Idumuje-Ugboko was founded just in the 19th century by Benin migrants from Idumuje-Unor led by one Onaifo whose grandfather named Ogbeide with his two sons named Aluya and Ologbo had earlier settled among the people of Idumuje-Unor in a special Quarter designated for strangers named Ime-Ogbe Isagbeme.
Onaifo who was the son of Ologbo was nicknamed Nwoko because of his constant use of the Bini term “Oko” to address his peers. Nwoko (Onaifo) eventually became the founder and first Obi (King) of Idumuje-Ugboko till his death in 1892. He was succeeded by his son named Amoje who unfortunately died in 1893, having reigned for just a year. Amoje was succeeded in 1893 by Obi Omorhusi who died in 1928, when Obi Nkeze who died in 1955 took over. From the following names, there is no hiding the fact of Benin origin of Idumuje Ugboko.
Senator Ned Nwoko should therefore properly reinvestigate his actual origin in the context of the following overwhelming evidence of Benin origin of Idumuje-Ugboko. Indeed, no bona fide son or daughter of Idumuje-Ugboko will heartlessly deny his Benin ancestry in favor of Igbo for any selfish political adventure.
It takes only somebody with questionable historical root in Idumuje-Ugboko to do so. Here we might be tempted to look into the detailed historical roots of all those who claim to belong to the Nwoko royal family of Idumuje-Ugboko, given that in the olden days all sorts of people lived around the Obi’s Palace for different purposes and reasons.
Let me remind the roguish Senator Ned Nwoko and those roguish political scavengers who call themselves Igbo Bu Igbo or whatever, that some of us have staked our necks several times fighting for the cause of Ndigbo without vagabonds like them telling us whether we our Igbo identity or not. Anioma people fought on the side of Biafra more bravery than the fathers of these vagabonds who were busy sabotaging the same cause of Biafra; yet their children are today parading as the scions of real Igbo identity.
Our identity as Anioma people has never changed ever since the beginning of modern Nigerian nation and before. We understand; we appreciate and; we accept our multi-ethnic identity and origins; and we will not allow political nonentities from both within and without Anioma land to insult us and disrespect our leaders for what they think we are and which we are not.
It is not anybody’s business if we decide to change our identity for whatever reason. Even the current insecurity and unsettled political situation in the southeast is enough to scare those bearing Igbo identity to change to something else. The Itsekiri are Yoruba by every element of ethnic definition, yet no individual or group from the Southwest has come up to insult or accuse them of denial of their identity.
Historically, the people of the present Onitsha, Ogbaru, Oguta and Nri refer to the other people living around them as Ndigbo and, nobody has insulted them for that. Historically, Anioma people never referred to themselves as Igbo but rather refer to the Igbo east of the Niger as Ndigbo. Historically, Bini people refer to Anioma people as Ika. And in recent history, Anioma people have decided to refer to themselves simply as Anioma. Is that anybody’s business?
To those roguish Igbo unity scavengers who call themselves Igbo Bu Igbo, whatever such means, should be reminded that Anioma land will prove fatal to anyone of them who chooses to do battle with the people. The so-called Igbo Bu Igbo should check the history of Anioma people and see if they are push-overs politically and militarily. What our fathers did militarily in history before the British colonial forces none of the communities in the present Southeast did a tenth of.
The Igbo Bu Igbo scavengers should refer to the history of the Nigerian Armed Forces in the First Republic and check which people dominated the Officer corps. Ibusa alone had Lt. Colonels Okwechime, Igboba, Nwajei; Majors Okonkwo and Emelifeonwu among many subalterns and non-commissioned officers. They all lost their commissions, with some of them killed, simply because of the intra-ethnic conspiracy of our Southeast officers who sabotaged the good and patriotic intentions of the illustrious son of Anioma Major Nzeogwu to change the Nigerian nation.
It should be noted that in the said failed Republic of Biafra where Anioma people risked their lives as fearless and notable commanders, none of them was given a single political appointment by Lt. Col Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Odkwu. We need not go into Col. Ojukwu’s dastard act of killing our kinsman Major Chukwuma Nzeogwu in cold-blood.
Prominent Anioma leaders under the umbrellas of Ohaneze Ndigbo and World Igbo Summit Group joined their Southeast Igbo counterparts to propose and demand a Nigerian President of Igbo extraction; only for the Anioma group to be later marginalized by converting the Igbo President agitatin to Southeast Igbo President Project.
They even shamelessly employed the late Ijon leader Chief Edwin Clerk to openly exclude Anioma from the Igbo President project, citing their South-South location as the reason. And here the same people are without the slightest shame telling us we are all Igbo. I need not delve into my personal experience at this stage till another time.
Chief Ralph Uwaechua died as President-General of the so-called Ohaneze Ndigbo without any Igbo State Governor from the Southeast attending his funeral. Anioma leaders led by the late Col. Joseph Achuzia were invited together with the present Asagba of Asaba His Royal Majesty Obi (Prof) Epiphany Azinge, Professor Pat Utomi and the present writer by Southeast Igbo leaders to co-found World Igbo Summit Group. Today the same organization has been changed to Southeast Summit Group, thereby excluding Anioma people.
A popular adage among our people says, to use our national English style: “Person wey dey cry dey see road” (A weeping person sees the road). Anioma people are not fools and they are not unintelligent and cowards either. Some people will therefore be deceiving themselves to think in their foolishness and wildest imagination that by coming from the southeast they have the audacity and capacity to dictate the ethnic identity and political vision of Anioma people.
Anioma people have never sought political support from the Southeast against their Edo neighbors; rather it is the other way round. They should check the records properly. Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe’s NCNC got a foothold among the Edo and Urhobo simply through the influence of Anioma people. Anioma people led the agitation for the creation of defunct Midwestern Region.
Thanks to Chief Festus Okotie-Eboh the then Federal Minister of Finance who used his influence and closeness to the Prime Minister Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa to effect the creation of the State. Similarly, the present Delta State was created out of our people’s agitation for Anioma State. So in the present Delta State we have our Anioma State. Any person or group agitating for the creation of another Anioma State is simply on his own.
When the entire people of Delta State without ethnic distinction supported Chief Godswill Obielum from Ndokwa East Local Government Area as the most popular PDP Gubernatorial aspirant, it was the Imo State-born Major General Anyanwu who collected bribe from Governor James Ibori to rig him out of the contest in favor of his Itsekiri-born cousin Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan. And some addle-brained political touts from Southeast and their political moron called Ned Nwoko are telling us we are all Igbo, simply because we speak related languages.
Igala and Yoruba speak the same language. Does that make them one ethnic entity? Itsekiri and Yoruba speak one language. Does that make them one ethnic group? Isoko and Urhobo speak one common language. Does it make them one ethnic group? Efik, Ibibio, Annang and Oron are virtually one language yet they are treated as different ethnic groups. Today, we cannot count the number of ethnic groups in the North that speak Hausa as their first language. Does that mean that anybody that speaks Hausa language as his first language is Hausa by ethnic definition?
It is only unfortunate that the real educated and intelligent Igbo elements from the Southeast who could have known better the real definition of ethnicity than these half-educated failed-business apprentices-turned emergency ethnic irredentists, are divested from active participation in politics by the their roguish political leaders.
Language cannot be the sole characteristic of ethnic identity neither can the absence of language invalidate ethnic identity. Those who think that common language and common names are the only indices of defining ethnic identity are only exposing their repulsive level of low intelligence. Indeed, time has come for people to investigate the quality and authenticity of Ned Nwoko’s qualification as a lawyer; because the obtuse character of his intellectual carriage tends to put everything around him into question.
Let it be made clear here and now that Anioma people are not denying their identity, even among those who are not historical Igbo in origin. Anioma people are only denying the type of Igbo identity that exists among the Igbo of Southeast. I need not again delve into what makes Anioma different from the Igbo of Southeast at this stage.
But the fact should be made clear that even those in Anioma and Southeast making noise about their Igbo identity are not more Igbo in every ramification than some of us who are vigorously advancing the multi-ethnic identity of Anioma people. Anioma people cannot therefore be cowered into accepting what they are not by political and ethnic minions. Indeed, at the appropriate time we will prove to these political and ethnic nonentities that their so-called lord of Anioma political manor and champion of Igbo identity called Ned Nwoko is no more and no less a paper political tiger among our people.
And to those who care to understand, whether they like it or not, the creation of Anioma State is not on top of the priorities of the people of Anioma. The present Delta State belongs to Anioma people as much as it belongs to the Urhobo, Isoko, Ijaw and Itsekiri. Anioma people have never reported to anybody or group of people in Southeast that they are experiencing marginalization by any group in the present Delta State.
We love Delta State the same way we loved the defunct Bendel and Midwest States. We have always lived within the atmosphere of multi-ethnic equity and justice and, where slight ethnic sentiments exist, it cannot be compared to the toxic nature of the vile intra-ethnic conspiracies, incendiary sectional cleavages, pristine clannish hatred and, unending cloud of insecurity that pervade the entire five States that make up the Southeast Geopolitical Zone.
There is nothing the Urhobo, Isoko, Ijaw and Itsekiri people enjoy in the present Delta State which the people of Anioma do not enjoy. It is ridiculous that those who cannot effectively manage their geo-political zone in matters of intra-ethnic unity, political stability, ethnically-driven patriotism and, security concern, are the same people busy campaigning for the inclusion of other people in their fold.
In 2017 when the matter of regionalism came up, Enugu and Ebonyi States dissociated themselves and vowed never to be lumped together with Anambra, Abia and Imo States. Not long ago, the people of Egbema/Ohaji Local Government Area of Imo State rejected their inclusion in the proposed Orlu State “citing cultural, social, and geographical differences with Orlu people. We also heard the National President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council, one Okwu Nnabuike, telling the press that the creation of Orlu State was an invitation to chaos.
But the most disgusting statement on Southeast anti-State creation came from the Member of Federal House of Representatives representing Orumba North/Orumba South Hon. Princess Chinwe Nnabuife. To quote her verbatim:
“The people of Orumba North and South have unequivocally rejected the idea of being included in the proposed Orlu State. Umunze, the heart and Capital of Orumba South has always been and will always remain an integral part of Anambra State. As the duly elected representative of Orumba North and South Federal Constituency, it is my duty to protect the interests and the wishes of my Constituents. Any attempt to alter the status of our constituency without proper consultation and agreement is unacceptable. The historical, cultural, and administrative ties of Umunze to Anambra State are deeply rooted and cannot be overlooked or undermined by this proposed bill.” (247ureports.com, Saturday, September 6, 2025)
For those who might like to know, as Delta State stands today, if any ethnic group is in quest of new State it should not be Anioma people. We want our Southeast kinsmen to understand this properly and stop wasting their time purporting to support the creation of Anioma State. Anioma people already have their own State and that is the present Delta State. We are not interested in any new State. Those who would not like this position have the River Niger to jump into.
Dr. Nwankwo T. Nwaezeigwe is the Odogwu (Traditional Generalissimo) of Ibusa, Delta Sate & President, International Coalition against Christian Genocide in Nigeria (ICAC-GEN). He was formerly Director, Centre for Igbo Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He lives in exile in Manila, Republic of the Philippines.
Email: Nwaezeigwe.Genocideafrica@gmail.com
Visit our: https://icac-gen.org to understand the core reason of my struggles and exile in Republic of the Philippines.