The ABS Documentary on the Origin of the Igbo: The Historical Review With Special Focus on Obu Gad in Anambra State, Nigeria

Title:

The ABS Documentary on the Origin of the Igbo: The Historical Review

With Special Focus on Obu Gad in Anambra State, Nigeria

Author:

Emeka Esogbue

Contact:

emekaesogbue2016@gmail.com 

© 2020 Emeka Esogbue

Research requested by Douglas Ibekeme

The ABS Documentary on the Origin of the Igbo: The Historical Review

With Special Focus on Obu Gad in Anambra State, Nigeria

Abstract

Against the background of scholarly debates and disagreements generated over the years on the origin of the Igbo, this work critically reviews the various theories and their relevance to this subject. It focuses on the review of the origin of Igbo ethnic group in Nigeria, West Africa in particular.

There have been several theories on the origin of the Igbo people of Nigeria as held by different scholars. However, this is particularly a review based on the documentary run by ABS in which a visit was paid to ancient Obu Gad, a settlement considered sacred to the Igbo of Nigeria traditionally and spiritually. The documentary as a derivable source from the legend of the settlement presented Obu Gad as the centre of origin and dispersion of the Igbo, a view well circulated on the social media thereafter with torrential comments and observations.

It is common for societies to seek to determine their origin from which they came to existence or take up shape and the Igbo in this case, are no exception in this regard. The Obu Gad history also borrows the popular claim of Eri as one of the sons of Jacob who was lost only to be later discovered in Southeastern Nigeria, West Africa with the procreation of children that would become the progenitors of other settlements and that place of discovery is Obu Gad.

In the light of this, this dissertation seeks to review the historical assertion or claim and consequently arrive at the conclusion on whether the Igbo originated from Obu Gad, anywhere within that vicinity or not and whether historical figure, Eri was the biological son of Jacob or not with the use of conventional historical methodology. In achieving its deduction, it delves into several other theories propagated over the time by different scholars and in the end offers its own conclusion from the critical analysis and interpretations that follow.  

Since this a pure historical account, the style historical narrative will be utilized in producing this work.  

Keywords

Igbo, Obu Gad, Hebrews, Ethnicity, Migration, Eri, Nri, Tribe, Igala, Yoruba, Benin, Jacob, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Idoma

Introduction

Igbo later in the course of colonial development of what later became Nigeria became was anglicized as “Ibo” due to inability of the Europeans of the period to pronounce the name effectively. They are a group in Nigeria, one of the largest in that country with inhabitants now spread far and wide. They are found in various parts of the country and are considered largely republican but by nature, a few though are politically fragmented with large number of central chiefdoms as has now been established¹.

The people are majorly located in Eastern part of the country geographically but a few other settlements with Igbo claim are by migration and origins found on the western side of the River Niger now called “Anioma”. They include principally the Ibusa, Isheagu, Ewulu and others in what is now Delta State of Nigeria. The Ibusa people are migrants from Nri and Isu², two Igbo subgroups.

In the burning argument of the age of Igbo, Levinson, David & Timothy J O’Leary (1995) have held that Igbo is an ethnic identity developed comparatively recently, in the context of decolonization and the Nigerian Civil War³. A few other authors have however, disagreed with him as shall be seen in the body of this work.

These writers may not be wrong considering that the various Igbo-speaking communities were historically fragmented and decentralized but only now united by language as an ethnic group. This may not by interpretation imply that the ethnic group was born after the Nigerian Civil War but that added to the group developmentally and in recent times are other settlements, speakers of the Igbo language thus, expanding the ethnic classification of Igbo to include them. This is also archetypally related to the Yoruba group which now equally has the people of Badagry, Epe, Egun and a few others added to its ethnic arrangement. Nevertheless, it appears safer to distinguish the Yoruba patriarchically as a group that homogenously submits itself to Oduduwa, the male head of the tribe.  Since the Nigerian ethnic groups were various categories made over the time, language was the major factor of the grouping. 

The above suggests that most Nigerian ethnic groups were put together for the administrative convenience of the British colonial administrators but in the case of the Igbo, the group developed more due to linguistic relationship. Indeed, different settlements that find Igbo intelligible are now known as Igbo irrespective of their ancestry. It is as a result of this that Achebe (2000:4) put forward that Igbo identity should be rightly situated between the point of a “tribe” and “nation”⁴.

Taking the above into consideration, the “Igbo people might score poorly on the Oxford Dictionary test for tribe…now, to call them a nation … this may not be perfect for the Igbo, but it is close. It was also a notion that propelled the classification of Igbo as a “stateless nation” in the Encyclopedia of Stateless Nations” by Minahan (2002:762)⁵.

Origin  

Over the time, different scholars have propounded theories on the origin of Igbo most notably weaving it around Nri in what is also known as Umueri-Igbo creation myth, Middle East or Israel theory generally defined in the word of Afigbo as: “Asiatic origin”. In other cases, there have also been Orlu and Awka theories which also hypothetically signify these areas to be the origin and places of dispersion of Igbo.  A. G. Leonard had in his writing of 1906 laid claim to all Igbo migrating from Nri. Jeffrey would follow suit in another writing of his also claiming in 1930 that all Igbo cultures came from Nri. These two works in no small way made popular the Nri theory. More indistinct is a relatively “strange” hypothesis also held by a few of Igbo settlements that Igbo and Igala are the same, gaining sustenance in the age-long aphorism of the Igbo that submits, “Igbo gwusia na ani Igbo, Igbo ka fokwa n’igala”. 

Remarkably, all of these theories have over the time gained currency depending on the spreaders, receptors and the particular part of the scene in the foreground.

In spite of this, the Nri theory which sometimes appears interwoven or jumbled with the Middle East theory appears to gain greater prominence. The Nri/Middle East theory establishes that the Igbo migrated from Nri, a settlement believed to have been founded by Eri whom early inhabitants referred to as the “Sky god”. Any understanding of this theory will require an understanding of Nri Kingdom which was also known as “Igbo Oraeze”. This is believed to be the earliest kingdom in Nigeria supported by the archeological findings of Prof Thurstan Shaw.

Historians put the date of this kingdom as lasting from 948-1911 AD. The most reliable date for the determination of Nri influence on Igbo acceptably dates back to the 9^th century as suggested by Anthropologist, Onwuejeogwu (1981:22)⁶. The place or prominence of Nri in the theorized origin of Igbo is best captured by Basden (1912) as quoted by Afigbo. Basden reported that “over the generations … one Igbo-speaking group, the Nri, have been held in great respect throughout Ibo-land. In the light of this, it has been suggested that the Ibo perhaps originated from Nri or that their original ancestors founded Nri several centuries ago”⁷.

Over the time too, the Eri, the Sky god has had his origin lost in scholarly controversies. The Igbo myth holds that the legendary patriarch was sent from the sky to the earth by Chukwu being the Igbo Supreme God where he sat on ant-hill because he saw watery marshy earth. Upon his complaint, Chukwu who delegated an Awka Blacksmith with fiery bellows and charcoals to dry the earth after which he was handed ‘Ofo” as a mark of authority. However, the Igala would on the contrary, claim Eri to be an Igala Prince who was a warrior. This particular argument is corroborated by a few scholars that including Anthony Nwaezeigwe who in his article titled “The Igbo and their Nri Neighbours” defined Eri as one of the princes of the Onoja Dynasty who was ruling the Kingdom at the time.

Still, a more documented origin of Eri as an Igala Prince is presented by Ezekwugo (1987:4) being one of the writers that submitted that Eri was a legendary war hero and an Igala war king who later settled in Anambra River Valley after he had successfully raided the area. For him, Eri was an Igala man⁸ and not Igbo. The decision to go with the Igala theory would question the variation in the language of Igbo and Igala to the extent that one may be inclined to probe more into the point at which the Igbo and Igala linguistics became separated but answers may be expressed in similarity or classification of linguistic families, nearness in cultural homogeneity and geographical proximity shared by both Igbo and Igala. For instance, Igbo is bounded to the north by the Igala neighbours in which case, inter-group relations in trade, marriage and wars between both ethnic groups became closely shared. This would in due course lead to cultural syncretism of the peoples.

The Igbo language is of Kwa sub-group, situated in the wider Niger-Congo language family with Edo, Idoma and Yoruba accommodated. Taking this linguistic categorization into consideration, a good number of scholars including Afigbo believes that members of the Kwa sub-language group were once united and that they were once a single body, which over the time started to deviate into the more diverse languages as they now exist today. Armstrong shares the belief that the assumption of their distinctive form may have occurred at least 6,000 years ago⁹, an idea completely bought and upheld by Afigbo.

The same Afigbo (1980:75) has illustratively concluded the above to mean that “since Igbo, as a mother tongue, is the most important single feature distinguishing Igbo people from say the Edo, Yoruba, Ijo or Idoma, it can then be suggested that the Igbo began emerging as a distinct people from about 6,000 years ago”¹⁰.

Two rational observations are to be drawn from this. The first is that all members of the Kwa sub-group i.e. the Igbo, Yoruba, Edo, Ijo and Idoma once existed as a body without distinctions linguistically in which case ethnic categorization was not as one would expect imposed to separate them. The second reasoning as already discussed is that rather than ancestry, linguistics is the most reliable instrument or factor used in the formation of Igbo ethnicity unlike the Yoruba that ancestrally claim Oduduwa, Hausa that claim Bayajidda or Itsekiri, a Nigerian ethnic group mixed with Yoruba and Benin that claim Ginuwa or Iginuwa. The Itsekiri also called “Ijekri are located in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria specifically Delta, Edo, Ondo, Lagos States. Historically, in the 15^th century, the Itsekiri people adopted Ginuwa from the Kingdom of Benin and immediately congregated as a Kingdom under his rule¹¹.

Situationally, every settlement that finds the Igbo language intelligible is a member of the Igbo ethnic group as arising from the above postulation. This is also applicable to Benin with several small settlements that evolved in kingdom, now also brought under the classification of Benin ethnic group due to intelligibility of language to all members of the Kingdom.  

The Obu Gad Theory of Origin

The Obu Gad Theory of Origin of Igbo as electronically documented by ABS, together with other aspects of the theory will form part of this discourse. Obu Gad lies in Enugwu Aguleri in Anambra East Local Government Area of Anambra State, Southeastern Nigeria. Aguleri stands on the shore of Omanbala River also known as Anambra River to the inhabitants. Obu Gad is traditionally noted to be the ancestral home of Eri already described in this work.

In the theories of Igbo origin, Obu Gad is hypothetically considered to be the ancestral home of the Igbo by a section of people particularly natives of the settlement. On this theory lies the hypothesis that the Igbo have been traced to the lost tribe of Israel. It hypothesizes that Gad is the same Biblically described 7^th son of Jacob, that was mentioned in the Bible. Gad further had 7 sons one of who was Eri, now assumed patriarch figure of the Igbo. The theory goes on to further propound that during the persecution of the Israelites in Egypt, Eri one of the sons of Gad left with Arodi and Areli, traveled through the Ethiopia and Sudan routes before finally settling near today’s Omanbala River in Aguleri.

From the account usually rendered by the propagators of this theory Biblical Jacob had twelve sons namely:

·         Reuben

·         Simeon

·         Levi

·         Judah

·         Dan

·         Naphtali

·         Gad

·         Asher

·         Isaachar

·         Zebulun

·         Joseph; and

·         Benjamin

Gad in turn had the following seven sons:

·                                Ziphon

·                               Haggi

·                              Shunni

·                             Ezbon

·                             Eri

·                             Arodi; and

·                            Areli

Eri, the 5^th son of Gad had sons that were Aguleri, Attah Eri, whom according to the documentary migrated up north to found Igala Kingdom. Oba Eri migrated to the east where he founded Benin up to Ife settlement of the Yoruba. The fourth male child was known as Igbo but he didn’t bear any male child other than a female.  It was Adangbu, his female child that bore Nneyi, a settlement also geographically found today in Umuleri. Consequently, her children bore Nando and Awkuzu, two communities that can still be geographically found in Anambra State of today. The documentary claims that other descendants of Adangbu were Nise, Nobi and Nnewi among others. It was in Obu Gad that Igbo dispersed to the various settlements of today.

Prof Onwuejeogwu also shares this history of origin but he does not seem to give in to the Hebrew account. For him, Eri with many children had become a settler within the Anambra River Valley before 948 AD and Onoje being one of sons would found the Igala Kingdom while others founded Umuleri, Nando, Awkuzu and Nteje. Agulu would remain with Eri, their father to become Aguleri. From Onwuejeogwu, we understand that Nri also known as Ifikuanim is also the son of Eri who traveled southwards to found Enugu-Ukwu, Nneofia, Enugu-Agidi and finally, Nri Kingdom¹².

Onwuajeogwu, on his part appears to have supported the argument of Jeffries, the British anthropologist who wrote on Nri. He had reported that at the time that Nri arrived their present homeland, there was no other town in the immediate vicinity¹³. This assertion is ambiguous being that it fails to clearly define its intention on whether it refers to the “first to arrive” in that very vicinity or the vicinity of an entire Igboland as it is known today. However, it leaves Nri as the first even in the face of abstruseness.   

The point of diversion from the documentary and Prof Onwuejeogwu accounts seems very slight. From both account, the documentary favours Oba as one of the sons of Eri who went on to found Benin. One would have thought Oba in question is the Oba community, also lying in Anambra State. Curiously, the Benin and Oba aspects were missing in Onwuejeogwu’s account. Indeed, there is known history of Oba as the progenitor of Benin since the title, “Oba” is only the traditional ruler of the Benin Kingdom. It must also be understood the title was never in use in the early history of the kingdom neither was it in use in early Yoruba settlements.

The title in use in Ile-Ife, traditionally believed to be the Yoruba earliest home was “Ooni”. It is therefore safer to conclude that “Oba” was never in use in the early history of Yoruba and Benin societies. Similarly, Atta Eri being the traditional title of Igala could not have been the progenitor of the Igala Kingdom. However, Onwuejeogwu agreed with the legendary Onoje. In the end, both the Obu Gad traditional account and Prof Onwuejeogwu accounts failed to consider the Igala traditionally held account of Eri being an Igala Prince but not the progenitor of the Igala Kingdom. At least, nowhere does the Igala legend acknowledge Eri as the progenitor of the Igala Kingdom but a war hero.    

The traditional account of Obu Gad that Eri bore a son he named Igbo must also be noted. In fact, while the legend accommodates Igbo as one of Eri sons, it renders Igbo without a male child whose daughter founded a number of communities. This very account questions the etymology and origin of the word “Igbo” in the collective call of the people. For instance, the question is asked: How then did an entire “related” settlements ethnically became pronounced under “Igbo” whom him did not have a male child? Was the name borrowed or out of sympathy?

Developments from the Obu Gad Theory

As one can see, the Obu Gad theory of Igbo origin directly points to the Hebrew hypothesis since it is claimed that Gad was the son of Biblical Jacob. Basden was to attach credence to this theory when he advocated closeness between the Igbo and this Hebrews must be noted. He thinks that similarity in religion and culture shared by both peoples is a testimony of Jewish influence on the Igbo. For him, certain cultural practices or traits which cement their likeness somewhat evidence the link between them¹⁴.

Again, that the language of Igbo, Yoruba, Edo are classified under the Kwa sub-linguistics group but later becoming diversified as already pointed out by Armstrong and Afigbo may speciously lend credence to the above theory meaning that all ethnic groups within this category were from Gad which they hypothesize. That the Yoruba myth claims very close ancestral relationship with Igala and Edo explains this claim¹⁵.

It maybe reasoned that if    

Strikingly, Gad and Eri are cited in the Bible but how provable is it that the Umuleri Gad and Eri were the actual Israelite figures and that they now fathered an entire Igbo people? This will be difficult to establish especially as it has been unremittingly sustained that lack of racial evidences and differences in colour hamper acceptability of this theory¹⁶. Physically, the Igbo, Yoruba or Edo do not share genetic features with the Hebrews. Put simply, they are not of the same genetic stock with Asians. Added to this is that human life started in Africa and not Asia.

From the theory, further hypothetical questions arise:

·         Do the Yoruba, Edo and Igala claim Gad theory?

·         To understand the earlier question, do other members of Kwa family claim Gad lineage?

·         Do Nise, Nnewi, Nneyi, Nobi and other Igbo communities accommodated in the Obu Gad history of origin claim Adangbu lineage?

Hypothetical questions answered

·         The Yoruba will be used in responding to the first hypothetical question. The people are an ethnic group that geographically occupy western Nigeria but some of them can be found in Benin. They are one of the largest ethnic groups in the country. In answering the first hypothetical question posed here, the Yoruba hold two major theories of origin. The first school of thought regards Ile-Ife as the place of place of creation of man and the origin of human civilization. Ife is also considered the spiritual homeland of the Yoruba race. The second theory centers migration in which case, Adeyemi Akande in “Migration and the Yoruba Myth of Origin” has submits that “there are two popular myth of origin. There’s the Oduduwa in the tussle to create the earth commonly referred to as the myth of creation. And there is the other tale involving a great migration from “Mecca to Ile-Ife”. It should be seen that the Yoruba share a myth of origin different from those of Igbo. On the other hand, there are several theories on the origin of Idoma, a people majorly found in Benue State, North Central Nigeria. There have been possible claims that the first wave of Idoma people migrated from Kwararafa perhaps between 1535-1625. Noting this in his work, Agbo (2012) cited Erim in documenting this claim. There was the possibility that the Idoma people had a homeland in the Wukari region¹⁷.  

·         The response to the first hypothetical question answers the second question. It is certain as seen in this response that members of the Kwa linguistic sub-group do not ancestrally agree with the Obu Gad theory. For instance, Benin and Yoruba appear to claim closer ancestral relationship with each other than with the Igbo even though the linguistically, Igbo and Yoruba share closer relationship. The Igala people, an ethnic group found in Kogi, Anambra, Benue, Delta, Enugu, Nassarawa and Niger States. There may be several claims on the foundation of Igala however, Igala Kingdom according Wikipedia was founded by Abutu Eje in the 7^th Century. It should be deduced that while Obu Gad lays claim to Atta Eri as one of the sons of Eri, migrating up north to found Igala, the Igala legend according to Wikipedia claims Abutu Eje as the founder of the Kingdom. If the history of origin Idoma is taken into consideration, it is far from Obu Gad. Moreover, the Igala legend in a whole only sees Eri as one of its earliest warriors who founded his Kingdom on the Anambra Valley.  

·         In responding to the last question, Nnewi will form the case study here. Again, contrary to the Obu Gad myth of origin version, Alutu (1976:739) reported Nnewi to be founded by Agbaja. He wrote: “tradition holds that the founder of Nnewi was Agbaja, son of Eze Nri (King of Nri) in Agukwu, Njikoka Local Government Area. He settled here in about 12^th century AD and bore Ikenga who bore Isu, Nnewi, Oraifite and Ichi…”¹⁸. In this case, Obu Gad links Nnewi foundation to Nwangbu, daughter of Eri while from the historical perspective from Alutu, Nnewi is seen as descending from Agbaja, son of Eze Nri. However, Nri is seen here as the ancestral melting pot.

The Middle East or Israel Theory Discussed

One question often historically asked is why some African ethnicities lay claim to migrating from important historical cities of Egypt, Israel and Saudi Arabia as seen in Yoruba, Igbo, Benin, Idoma and others, a situation that highly inhibits the study of the major ethnic groups of Nigeria.

Baffled by this situation, giant Afigbo admonished students of history:

“It is difficult to reconstruct the early history of a preliterate and acephalous people. Those who seek to do so can easily fall victim to either wild romanticism or sterile skeptism. These two dangers have been among the main obstacles to the proper study of the history of the Igbo-speaking people of southern eastern Nigeria, and until a decade or so ago those who made excursions into this subject were ensnared by the one or other mistake. There were those, for instance, who encouraged by the rich profusion or superficial cultural similarities between the Igbo and either the early Egyptians or the Hebrews, built up romantic hypothesis deriving them from Egypt or Israel on those goriunds”¹⁹.

Biereenu-Nnabugwu (2005:42) is one of the writers that firmly established Africa as man’s original home and the centre of dispersal to other parts of the world which gives the continent a place in the evolution of state as a social institution? In his work, he cited Ezekwugo who wrote:

“Going back to 2555 BC and probably beyond, the Igbo were occupying their lonely spot in in Africa without interference from outside world…being the nucleus of aborigines of West Africa … the Igbo have an original pre-history entirely …its own as old as the pre-history of the entire continent”²⁰.

Biereenu-Nnabugwu in citing Edeh also reported:

“Further still, Edeh (1985) alongside other archeological excavation and chronological researchers support the pre-historic population of the forest region of West Africa…in particular, the Igbo did not migrate from other lands… the Igbo people had settled in the thickly populated parts of Nri-Awka, Orlu and Owerri axis far earlier than Hamitic migrations and the dispersal of the so-called Black Jews”.

Conclusion

The conclusion of this work will be reached from Obu Gad and Middle East perspectives differently. Although the history of Obu Gad has demonstrated the settlement to be the beginning of several Igbo communities that are scattered today, one cannot conclude that it is the ancestral home of major ethnic groups of Nigeria. Nonetheless, it will amount to total a sweeping generalization of a sort and erosion of history of origin held by other related settlements to assume that every Igbo speaking community of today owes its ancestral root to Obu Gad as theorized by this school of thought.

There is no doubt that the Nri birth and civilizations have in history been a source of socio-cultural, economic and political importance to the development of Igbo settlements and beyond, acting as remarkable influence in several ways but it is not provable that an entire populations of Igbo, owe their beginning to Nri or Obu Gad. Furthermore, Nri being an earliest kingdom in Nigeria does not translate to being the earliest of Igbo settlement.

Although the ideologists of Obu Gad theory hold on to the claim that Eri bore Igbo, Edo, Yoruba and Igala, an argument not supported by the myths of origin of Edo, Yoruba, Igala, Idoma and even an entire Igbo community. In fact, other Igbo theories of origin have pointed the way of Nsukka, Awka and Owerri, outside the immediate ancestral bounds of Obu Gad. Nsukka axis is another important settlement that also offers assertions on Igbo origin which if probed closely could offer similar claims in the near magnitude of Obu Gad. The Nsukka settlement has however suggested that the Igbo have occupied their present place of abode longer than the so-called Hamitic migration. Nevertheless, some scholars have questioned whether the present occupants of the Nsukka region are direct descendants of the ancient Nsukka occupiers or not. As we have seen in present Jews, the ancient Jews have at some point been cut off from their forebears so that occupiers of modern State of Israel may be deemed slightly different from the Israelites being the Biblical or ancient Jews.

It is a romantic adventure that writers of the history of major ethnic groups of Nigeria claimed Asiatic origins. The Igbo claim Israel; the Yoruba claim Mecca; the Edo claim Egypt and Idoma claim to be descendants of Edom or Esau (the son of Biblical Isaac), which sees the group depart completely from the line Jacob but maintains Abrahamic lineage. All of these have made it difficult to reconstruct the early history of these preliterate and acephalous groups and to also lay the foundation.

As Afigbo cautioned:

“The significance of these claims to Egypt, or at any rate Middle Eastern origin, belongs to the wider framework of West African history and sociology as they are found amongst most West African peoples whether they inhabit the savanna state or forest zones, are Islamized or not. It is quite clear, however, that in the present state of our knowledge about West Africa, they cannot be taken seriously by the serious students of Igbo history”²¹.  

Some people have advocated the use of DNA, claiming that DNA testing proves Igbo tribe to be Jews, however, “In a move that has garnered condemnation and anger from Nigerian Jews and International scholars, Jewish Voice Ministries, a Messianic group from Arizona, announced this week that the Igbo are not “genetically” Jewish based on their private DNA tests…”²²  

Although some have held that the word is a bastardized version of the word, “Hebrew”, and that similarities exist between the Igbo traditions and Judaism, Jewish Voice Ministries has said they traveled to Nigeria to investigate claims that Igbo people are descendants of ancient Israelites; the purpose was to provide the people testing and the pursuit of truth in terms of historical identity but the people are not Jews.

The Igbo have no history of migration anywhere outside Nigeria and are in fact older than the Hamitic dispersion.   

References

1   1. Miers, Suzanne, Roberts & Richard L (1988) “The End of Slavery in Africa”, University Wisconsin Press, p. 437   

2  2. Esogbue, E (2015), “A Study of the Origins and Migrations of Anioma Settlements”, Carophem Communications Ltd, p.24

3   3. Levinson, David & Timothy J O’Leary (1995) “Encyclopedia of World Cultures, G. K. Halls, p. 120

4   4. Chebe, C (2000) “home and Exile”, Oxford Press, p. 4

5   5. Minahan, J (2002) “Encyclopedia of the Stateless Nations, Greenwood Publishing Group, p. 762

n  6. Onwuejeogwu A (1981) “an Igbo civilization: Nri kingdom and hegemony, Ethnographica, p. 22

7  7. Basden, G. T. (1912), “Notes on the Ibo Country”, The Geographical Journal, Vol 39, June, 1912. P. 246

8   8. Ezekwugo, C (1987), “Ora-eri- Nnokwa and Nri Dynasty, Lenjon Publishers, p. 4

9   9. Armstrong, R. G (1964), “The Study of West African Languages, Ibadan, p. 64

1 10. Afigbo, A. E. (1980) in “Groundwork of Nigerian History”, (Ed) Obaro Ikime, HEBN Publishers Plc, p.75

1  11. Ikime, O (1968), “Merchant Prince of the Niger Delta, Heimann Educational Books

1  12.  Ibid, p.22

1  13. Jeffries, M. D. W. (1954), “The Umu Nri Traditions of Origin”, African Studies, Vol. xv, p. 121

1  14. Ibid

1 15. Adeuyan, J, O (2011), “Contributions of Yoruba People in the Economic & Political Development of Nigeria”, Authorhouse, p.72

1  16. Esogbue, E (2020), “A History of Ibusa”, Carophem Communications Ltd, p.35

1  17. Alutu, I. O. (1983), “Death and Funeral Rites Among Igbo People of Nnewi Division, East Central State”, An Unpublished U.N.N. B.A. History Dissertation, p.8  

1  18. Ibid, p.73

1  19. Biereenu-Nnabugwu, M (2005), “Africa in the March of Civilization”, Center for Research and Propagation of African Heritage and Development, p.43

2  20. Ibid, p.75

2  21. Agbo, N. O (2012), “A Short History of Idoma”, Freedom Books, p.2

2  22.  Lidman, M (2017), “Messianic Jews to Nigerians: You’re Not ‘Real’ Jews”, The Times of Israel, p.1