Emeka Esogbue

  Omuship of the Anioma People in Brief By Emeka Esogbue INTRODUCTION Omuship is the oldest, best known and most revered female traditional among the Anioma people of Nigeria, which includes Onitsha where Omu Nwangboka is known to have reigned and also Ossomari, another community outside Delta State that shares ancestral relations with Anioma. According to Prof E. A. C. Nwanze, the former Vice Chancellor of the University of Benin, Edo State from Asaba, the Omu institution of the Anioma people is about 822 years in existence. Until recently, the history of Omuship despite its age-long existence remained obscure partly due to the nature of the spiritual requirements of the institution and the traditional nature of the occupants, on one hand, and lack of interest from writers of social history of the people of the area, on the other hand. The deep spiritual nature of the institution meant that only little was known about th institution and even then, the sketchy knowledge of ...