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Showing posts from January, 2024

Benin and Ubulu-Uku in History: The Distinct Statehood

 Benin and Ubulu-Uku in History: The Distinct Statehood By Emeka Esogbue Pre-independent Benin and Ubulu-Uku were two independent states and neither of these two was a vassal state of the other as now erroneously claimed on social media The Ubulu-Uku Kingdom was never a vassal state of Benin at any point, not in recorded history at least because the community's history about its sovereignty is definitive. Benin and Ubulu-Uku continued to share a relationship as two distinct states with monarchs thrust as rulers. What Benin had, Ubulu-Uku had, in terms of the political system. The Ubulu-Uku community was one of the earliest in the political system of Enuani to develop the Onishe institution, saddled with the socio-political responsibility of crowning the kingdom's kings whereas the Issele-Uku king was still being crowned by the Oba of Benin until in recent times.  The Ubulu-Uku Kingdom presented one of the Enuani settlements with an organized political system since the days of E

T. B. Joshua and His wife, Evelyn were Traditionally Married in Ukala Okpunor, Anioma Community

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 T. B. Joshua and His wife, Evelyn were Traditionally Married in Ukala Okpunor, Anioma Community - Read Everything you need to know about the Marriage of Prophet Temitope and Pastor Evelyn Joshua By Emeka Esogbue  A video recently trended on social media that claimed that Prophet Temitope Balogun Joshua, Founder of Synagogue Church of all Nations (SCOAN), and his wife, Pastor Evelyn Joshua were never married according to the rites of the Anioma people and this aroused the curiosity of PEN MASTER who went on a fact-finding mission to ascertain the veracity of the claim. PEN MASTER'S findings show that Pastor Evelyn Joshua who inherited the headship of the church following the death of T. B. Joshua in 2021, hails from Ukala Okpunor, an Anioma community in Oshimili North Local Government Area of Delta State.  Ukala Okpunor is an agrarian community with a quiet life. It geographically lies close to Ezi and shares the same local government area with the fairly large sisterly communities

Ibusa Girl, Chionyedue Agetua Carts Home Four Igbinedion Varsity Prizes

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 Ibusa Girl, Chionyedue Agetua Carts Home Four Igbinedion Varsity Prizes - Emeka Esogbue Miss Chinonyedue Chioma Agetua is trending on social media for an excellent record in her university performance.   The young Ibusa lady, a student of the Igbinedion University, Okada, Edo State, is in the news for winning four out of the six academic awards available to the university's Department.  Academic information on the 2022/2023 Departmental Prizes for Best Students of the Department released to the public, a copy available to PEN MASTER shows that Miss Agetua emerged as the Best Student in Pharmaceutical Microbiology with an overall CGPA of 4.67.  Chionyedue Agetua went ahead to superbly win the Department's Best Student in Pharmaceutics/Pharmacy Technology with a CGPA of 4.67. She also won the Clinical Pharmacy, scoring 4.67 as the highest CGPA, and Pharmacology and Toxicology, where she recorded a CGPA of 4.67.  The Pharmacognosy, prize was won by Olaniyan Saleem who had a CGPA

Akwa-Ocha is the Attire for Anioma Traditional Marriage

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 Akwa-Ocha is the Attire for Anioma Traditional Marriage - Emeka Esogbue In case you are Anioma or getting married to an Anioma bride or groom, the pictures below will help your curiosity about how the Anioma people dress on the day of their traditional marriage.   Anioma is one of the ethnic groups in Delta State with the rest as Urhobo, Ijaw, Itsekiri, and Isoko. The traditional fabric of the Anioma people is generally called Akwa-Ocha but it is also called Otogwu and Ogbeyi-Akpani in other quarters of the region. It is an indigenous hand-woven material produced by the people, especially from the Aniocha axis.  The fabric traditionally comes in Ibe-ator (three layers) for men and Ibenabor (two-layers) for women though some huge women may go with Ibe-ator to support their large body size.  In the olden days, the possession of the Akwa-Ocha used to differentiate the wealthy from the poor because it was expensive to purchase yet a cultural necessity though cheaper ones also existed. Thi

Asaba, Ibusa, and Okpanam: A Trio of Delta Capital Territory Settlers with Colonial Names

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 Asaba, Ibusa, and Okpanam: A Trio of Delta Capital Territory Settlers with Colonial Names  - Emeka Esogbue The arrival of the British in the present Anioma Region changed the destiny of the people in different ways with some of the traces still living with the people today. One of the effects of the contact with the Europeans was the change of the names of the African societies and the people of Enuani Nation, an Anioma subgroup are not left out. However, while several African societies have reversed their pre-colonial traditional names, these Enuani communities are stuck with their colonial names. This work presents Asaba, Ibusa, and Okpanam as three sisterly communities renamed by the British. 1. Asaba (Official) and Ahaba (traditional) Asaba has been the capital of Delta State since 1991 when the state was created but before now, the Anioma city has served as the headquarters of the Southern Nigerian Protectorate. Located on the edge of the majestic River Niger, Asaba was originall