OZORO IS AN ANIOMA COMMUNITY
- Emeka Esogbue
Did you know that Ozoro presently located in Delta State Nigeria is an Anioma community? Well, read this.
According to oral tradition of the Anioma people, Ozoro is ancestrally related to Aboh, another Anioma community. Aboh, in turn is related to Ezechime community of Anioma that left Benin and split in Agbor where they later encamped. But the Ezechime moved to Obior while Aboh moved to the Southwards towards today's region of Ukwuani to settle with their scattered Ukwuani neighbouring communities. It was here according to history that Aboh, led by Esume, a warrior, defeated the Ewelle people, marking in history, the rise of Aboh, one of the best or maybe too the only known Anioma empire to exist in history.
In what later followed, one Esume follower founded Ashaka while Oputa (now known as Opute in Isoko) founded Ozoro. Etim was to found another settlement called Afor being Obetim Afor. All of these communities including Ozoro comprise the Ukwu Clan. However, due to Ozoro's location towards the Isoko country, it became Isokonized the same way Onitsha, Oguta, Ozubulu, Igbanke, Eha Alumona and many more, all of which are Anioma were taken away.
Throwing more light on this Ozoro Anioma identity, another Anioma legend emphasizes that Ozoro was founded in the 7th c by Oputa with his wife by migration from Benin during the reign of Ogiso Orrorrro who was the 7th Ogiso of Benin. Some of the new territories founded at this time were Afor, Obodogwa, Ushie. The date of the foundation may not be correct in history though since different writers of Ozoro history have adduced conflicting dates for the history of the community's foundation.
However, it was the Ozoro legend of foundation that provided the story behind the foundation, claiming that Opute with his wife, Ozoro left Aka N' Ubini (Benin).
"There was a quarrel in a market which caused Opute (Oputa) to shoot his arrow but he mistakenly blinded Ogwaran's mother. Fearing Ozolue, the warrior who was in warfront and might soon return, he fled from Benin with his wife, Esume, Ozoma and Etim. Opute was to name his settlement, "Ozoro" after his wife. It is this name that the community bears till date.
It is ironical that over the time, there have been attempts by some Isoko writers to obliterate the Anioma foundation of Ozoro thereby linking the community to Okpe, a neighbouring Isoko community. It has been a conditional history of origin, conditional upon Isoko as the Isoko writers of this Okpe version have often claimed that Okpe was the senior brother of Ozoro and that both arrived their present location from Benin. However, the argument is negated by the age-long held traditional claim of Okpe that the Okpe settlement have existed on their present settlement since foundation without any history of migration from anywhere.
In furtherance, popular and respected historian and journalist from the area, Ogolo Kigho while taking a definite stand on the subject of origin has also in his publication, referenced noted historian, Prof Obaro Ikime who maintained that Ozoro and Kwale are relatives of Ashaka and Ossissa, two well-known Anioma settlements of the Ukwuani region hence, lending credence to Ozoro, the Isoko North LGA headquarters as an equal Anioma community.
Since all historically referenced communities of Aboh, Ushie, Ashaka, Obetim Afor, Agbor, Ossissa and Kwale, all ancestrally linked to Ozoro are Anioma, Ozoro too is an Anioma community even though it has become Isokonized.
* Watch out for the Aboh, Anioma's empire, and colonizers in history; also from Emeka Esogbue
Many people would dispute aspects of history because our people have never been known to keep proper historical records, however, language is never in dispute. The language of the Aboh and Ashaka bears a lot of similarities with the Isoko in many aspects. When the Isoko or Aboh person is excited or angry, he or she bursts into the language of the other. The Isoko can speak the Ukwani language and vice versa.
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