Emeka Esogbue

  CALABAR OR IKOT ABASI: WHERE WAS OBA OVONRAMWEN NOGBAISI OF BENIN EXILED? 124 YEARS AFTER HISTORIANS CANNOT TELL THE PLACE OF EXILE OF OBA OVONRAMWEN By Emeka Esogbue “Emeka Esogbue, of course, you are aware that majorly, Nigerian historians are theorists and not research-oriented.” -        Olaniyi Johnson Nigerian students of history are still debating the actual particular place of exile of Oba Ovonramwen Nogbaisi. In the year 1897, His Royal Majesty Oba Ovonramwem Nogbaisi, the 38 th Oba of Benin was exiled to the defunct Eastern part of what later became Nigeria but 124 years after his death, arguments over the actual community is still hotly debated. Although the British had after the sad incident recorded that Oba Ovonramwen Nogbaisi was exiled to Calabar in present day Cross-River State, a historical information that has stuck in historical documents, indigenes of the area insist that he was rather exiled to Ikot Abasi which is fou...

 7 PERSONAL HOMES AND PALACES IN ANIOMALAND THAT WILL INTEREST YOU - Emeka Esogbue (Pen Master) The Anioma people are known to be rich in human capital with their influence spread across the world. But beyond this, over time, some Anioma natives and monarchs have so influenced their communities with the geniuses of their feats, love for mankind, and exertion of power, to manipulate their homefronts, making it a beehive of activities. In the same vein, some are so influential that everything seems to positively happen in there. You cannot move into any of these communities without asking to see these places. This compendium brings you 7 homes and palaces you cannot take away your eyes once you are in that community.  Note that they do not appear in any particular order. 1. ASAGBA PALACE, ASABA: The Palace of the Asagba of Asaba is by itself, a monument of some sort. Favoured by natural geography, Asaba is beautifully located by the mouth of the majestic River Niger which gave h...

 My Issele-Uku Travels and the Kingdom’s Ine Celebration: The Experience  By Emeka Esogbue On that night, I rejoined Issele-Uku, we gathered around the Obi with the display of prowess in ‘ita inu’, ‘tales by the moon’ and the night seemed morning yet with Issele-Uku becoming antediluvian with resultant beauty; returning to the period before the foreign imperial incursion when the King of Issele-Uku was especially amused. Everyone that had to tell the tale, heralded his story with the usual ‘Enye mu unu nju’ as is the general practice of the Enuani people. In the middle of the ‘Ita inu', when a few unexpected distractions inhibited our hilarity, the Obi, possessing god-like quality, displayed superiority to mundane and humdrum matters with his constant call for the restoration of order from the distractors that instantaneously and ultimately submitted to him. The ‘Ita Inu’ was all about the adventures of ‘mbekwu’, the tortoise, a reminder of ‘mbekwu oka na inu,’ another saying ...

  Nwada Anioma: Our Pageant Will Resuscitate the Role of Umuada in Anioma   -        HOM International CEO, Patrick Okolie   In 2011, he came up with the Nwada Anioma Cultural Beauty Pageant inside the prestigious Orchid Hotels, Asaba, Delta State which Ogwashi-Uku-born Miss Chidinma Obiechie won. The event shook the Anioma cultural space with several wonders and it was one of the biggest and richest in the history of the people. The event featured the people of the nine Local Government Areas that make up the Anioma Nation in Delta State including Igbanke in Edo State that also featured in the event. A decade after,  he is set to hold another edition of the contest in a grandest style. In this interview, Patrick Okolie, the CEO of HOM International speaks to EMEKA ESOGBUE (PEN MASTER) on the success of the beauty pageant and expectations of the upcoming edition. Excerpts:     Pen Master: (Laughing aloud) Mr. Patric...

Omus Display Emeka Esogbue Book on Omuship By John Chukwuka Morha Rising from their meeting of yesterday, supervised by HRM Obi Dr Martha Dunkwu, the Omu of Okpanam/Anioma, the various Omus in Anioma happily displayed the book, "A Short History of Omu", authored by foremost Nigerian Historian, Elder Emeka Esogbue.  The Omus who had in the meeting commended Anioma monarchs for their support to the Omus of the region have in recent times been receiving commendations from the Region for globalizing the female traditional institution and selling the people's culture to the world. However, after the important meeting, the Omus displayed the book which commentators on the region say has contributed to raising consciousness about the institution, promoting it beyond their boundary.  The book, "A History of Omu" is noted to have reawakened a number of communities to enthrone the institution in their communities. Esogbue hails from Ibusa in Oshimili North Local Governmen...

 ERASMUS NWABUOKEI (1930-2021): THE STORY OF THE ONICHA-OLONA PRINCE WHO LOBBIED MONTHLY SALARIES FOR ANIOMA MONARCHS - Emeka Esogbue He played great roles in the salaried life of monarchs of Anioma and others of the Western Region when the Nigerian nation gained independence from the British colonial government. WHO WAS HE IN HISTORY? Born Prince Erasmus Nduka Nwabuokei on March 25, 1930, to the Nwabuokei family of Idumu-Ugbe, Ogbeobi in Onicha-Olona and an Ibusa mother, simply identified as Madam Mgbor who was the daughter of Obi Eseagwu who hailed from Umuneze in Umueze Quarters of the town; both communities of Delta State, Nwabuokei worked as a well-known Clerk.  Ubiquitously, Erasmus grew up to become familiar with both Onicha-Olona and Ibusa communities and uniquely, he never lost his cherished relationship with his Ibusa mother's hometown because, "Ikwu Nne Bu Isi" - Mother's ancestry is Supreme as he lovingly held. For him, it was also a matter of "Ishi N...

 OMUSHIP: CHICAGO PROFESSORS TRAVELED ALL THE WAY FROM AMERICA JUST TO LISTEN TO OMU ANIOMA LECTURE By Emeka Esogbue * How the Omu Gathered other Anioma Omu for the Americans * How the Omu of Anioma Got the Professors to Speak with Pen Master In what is becoming examples to other custodians of the Anioma culture, the Omu of Okpanam/Anioma, HRM Obi Martha Dunkwu is effortlessly and in true Anioma spirit, staying and remaining in the forefront of the promotion and preservation of the Anioma culture especially on Omuship, which is unique to the people. Yesterday, in what looked unprecedented, amazing, and interesting, two distinguished professors from the University of Chicago who have heard of the Omuship with its uniqueness, traveled down to Okpanam Palace of the Omu Anioma to listen to the Omu Okpanam/Anioma lectures on Omuship.  Interested in this aspect of Anioma culture and being long-time admirers of Obi Dr. Martha Dunkwu, the Omu of Okpanam/Anioma even from afar, the two ...

 St. Thomas College Ibusa: The Establishment, Attempts to Liquidate it and the Fate of Survival Emeka Esogbue “It is ironical for the people of Ibusa that rather than pinnacle St. Thomas Teachers Training College to the elevation of a polytechnic or university eminence that it should expectedly be, it was downgraded to a same-sex school that it is now. If it is a bit of sardonic laughter that an institution of this magnitude, the senior, better equipped and first-conceived higher institution in the whole of Mid-West Region was downgraded, the policies of the government in which they have been spreading the birth of higher institutions across the state to the detriment of this one with quality facilities, ready for upgrade, is ill-starred in the modern educational history of the community and social advocacies of the people”. Emeka Esogbue Despite the historical enjoyment of the status of the first higher institution in the whole of the former Mid-West Region, the history of St. Tho...