A Rejoinder to “THE IJAW STORY ON HOW THEY OWN EDOLAND WHILE BENIN ARE THE MIGRANTS IN EDO STATE

THE IJAWS AND THEIR PIPE DREAMS; DARKNESS IN REALITY

A Rejoinder to “THE IJAW STORY ON HOW THEY OWN EDOLAND WHILE BENIN ARE THE MIGRANTS IN EDO STATE”

By Imasuen Marvis

13 March 2017

“Tell no lies, claim no easy victory, and tell it to the people the way it is”

Until you take an ignorant man through a preliminary knowledge he will continue to bask in the solitude of his foolishness and ignorance, that is the case of the ijaw and their falsified historical gibberish, I will like to quickly answer some of the delusional fact about a one paged history of the ijaw people, first and foremost this people are not recognized anywhere in the world but the little known about them is thuggery, land evaders, kidnapping, bunkering, arm robbery etc. God gave one of their Son the opportunity to rectify their waywardness but he became even the worst and most corrupt president in the history of Nigeria instead of sending this hooligans back to primary school or at best secondary school he was empowering them through ammunitions, well for the purpose of this article let me answer some of your allegations.
First the ijaws have been unable to tell us where exactly their origin is, they are liken to the biblical Cain who was the first known fugitive. They went further to say they are about 15 millions in number, don’t forget that in early 60s it was on record that they were the fifth most populated minorities in the then Old eastern region how then in less than 60 years they are now the most populated tribe in Niger Delta for clarity lets fragmentize so the world can know that this people are born liars in the last presidential election, Bayelsa their sole state could not produce up to 500, 000 votes, they are less than 30, 000 ijaws in Edo which can be visibly proved during the September 28th gubernatorial election, they are less than 100, 000 in Ondo States while in Delta State the Urhobos are about 1.5million in population as the most populated tribe in Delta it therefore means the Ijaw are less than 1million then in River State predominately dominated by Ikwerres I put it to you that they are not up to 100, 000 Ijaws living there, with all this analysis the Ijaw population in Nigeria is between 2-3million, propaganda cannot get you people anywhere but facts.

The article further wrote that Ijaw earliest ancestors dropped from the sky, another fairytale that even the Yorubas have since dissociated from their Story about Oduduwa fallen from the Sky I wonder why a tribe in which over 90% of their entire populace are stark illiterate. Let’s go further please.

They further quote Dr. J U Egharevba of Benins migrating from Sudan to Ile-Ife gibberish talk, but what they never knew was that part of J U Egharevba book on Short History of Benin has been long faulted by Egharevba himself and other Benin historians, the Benins never left Benin it is our Aboriginal land. So you see your argument on us meeting ferryman no longer hold water. Let’s go further.

The writer eventually said the Portuguese possibly had a relationship with the ijaws before the Benin, another lie from pit of hell the Portuguese were at that time the greatest navigators they understood and heard that there was a kingdom richly blessed with pepper, coral beads, palm oil etc. They came solely for business not to interact with slaves of a well-known empire, what could you have offered the Portuguese for those years you had an interaction with them before they met with Benin people? Are there evidence in Portuguese archive that they met with Ijaw first before the Benin¬¬? In the name of trying to give a meaning to your aboriginal slavery identity don’t go changing history. All the dealings the Benins had with the Portuguese are well documented in their archives as well as the Benin having embassy in Portugal and our princes they all have advance education as early as 14th century, which make the Benin people the first educated people in a geographical location now called Nigeria, to further prove our relationship with the Portuguese Oba Esigie was the first Man in Nigeria to speak a foreign language (Portuguese) even our princes were being trained in Portuguese language,

Again Holy Aruosa was built in 15th century as one of the oldest church in Nigeria if not the Oldest. I could go on and on. What are your evidence Izon people that you had relationship with the Portuguese?

The author foolishly wrote that the Oba of Benin is for the Binis not ijaws, it shows how myopic and less read the writer could be, is the Ooni of Ife only the Kabieyesi of Ife or the entire Yoruba race in which his location of his palace( the Yoruba aboriginal home is located)? Again the queen of England does she only preside over England or the entire British kingdom that houses three other countries in which her Buckingham palace sits at England? I’m sure coming from a slave tribe like Ijaw where there has never been any Royalty except the sham you guys call gbaramatu Kingdom that was established few years ago by a state government, can it be compared to other kingdoms that were under the province of great Benin Empire. Well Oba of Benin reside in Benin where is kingdom stretched almost the entire present South-South region and beyond, again Ijaws where never added because they are selectively inconsequential slaves who always did what was ask of them and the Oba saw no reason to vet his authority on people who are naturally obedient. So there was no need to establish a dukedom amongst the Ijaw you can see why you guys lack a royal blood unlike other tribes in Niger-Delta.

Other tribes have moved from violence into education, which is one of the powerful instruments possessed by the modern Igbos who have bridged the education gap which is richly possessed by the yorubas, today in Niger Delta Edo comfortably sits at the top of the educational chain, in the past five years they have consistently maintained the second best position only bested by Anambra in the entire Nigeria in WAEC and NECO examinations, of the 20 best secondary schools in Nigeria in year 2016 they were 6 Edo Schools in which Top 5 we had 2, Anambra 2 and Imo 1. In the past Decade. University of Benin has maintained Top 5 in which in that period they have been the best university in Nigeria on 3 occasions. We arguably have the best polytechnic in Nigeria (Auchi Poly) and one of the best State University, which is remarkably known to produce the best Lawyers in the continent (Ambrose Alli University). I can go on and on, it only shows how we have improved educationally in the past two decades unlike our Niger Delta Ijaw who continue to think that the best way to be known is through all negative means, Bayelsa is the worst State Educationally and their expansionist agenda can never come to fruition now that we have realized who they really are. You have sounded the war drum I hope when the giants arose you people won’t beg for leniency. There is a Benin parable that says Ama vbe nor ovbokhan ghe wa ko valo valo ikhurion oya mu ne gbe (nobody warns a child not to have a sledged teeth but it gives he or she ugliness). I know you have one or two grievances to table after reading this brief article go ahead fishermen slave I am here to answer your questions,

Oba Gha To kpere
Uyi Edo Ghiwi.
To be continued…

WHAT A STORY OF HOW THE TORTOISE FELL FROM THE SKY, THEY CLAIM TO BE ABORIGINES OF TODAYS BENIN, HOW COME ?

By Samuel Igbinosa

What a story of how the tortoise fell from the sky, they claim to be aborigines of todays benin, how come they were no ijaw artifact found in benin? How come we are the people that called them izon? Most of all this ijaws doent know that we gave them thier aboriginal name izon, how come izons never had any kingdom in the benin river delta,the so called gbaramatu kingdom was created by the then delta state governor, how come the british never entered into trade agreements with any izon tribe or kingdom in the benin river delta?

How come after the fall of the benin empire the british still didnot recognise the ijaws as an aboriginal tribe in the benin river delta? How come during the excavation of the benin kingdom by graham connah they was no evidence of ijaws existense as aborigines of benin, they say thier ancestors dropped from the sky may i remind them that idu, eri, oduduwa also according to folklore droped from the sky. May i also remind them that from archeological evidence that edo is thousands of years older than ijaw,if indeed we chase them from benin,how come it is not recorded in the history of our neighbours the ika, isokos okpe urhobo or itsekirri that edo chased ijaws from thier ancestoral land?

How come it now that they found out that over 205 oil wells is in benin now they are claiming benin land to be thier ancestoral land?If they are aborigines,why is it that it is them that pledged allegiance to the benin throne and not us pledging allegiance to them? may i remind ijaws that the auther they quote eghareva his mum is edo n ekue partly ijebu and benin so he was influenced, benin authers faulted his story on oduduwa and he had to write a revised edition and once aspersions is cast on any history then it is not authentic, now let ijaws kindly provide us with archeological evidence that they are older than us, and i can assure you they is none,they are older than benin but yet the then enogie of brass,the father of iyase nohenhenwen the great was edo.

Ijaws claim to be aborigines of southern nigeria indeed, which makes them older than igbos, edo, and yorubas, what a land grabbers, thank God that they have revealed thier identity and thier agenda, and i hope that igbos and yorubas are reading this fabricated history too, pls let ijaws kindly provide both historical and archeological evidence to proof that they are older than igbo, edo, and yoruba tribe of todays southern nigeria, let them provide us with the fact that thier brass kingdom in bayelsa is older and benin empire(aka kingdom) or is older than ile ife or is older than nri kingdom and let them proof beyond reasonable doubt that they are aborigines of today southern nigeria and that they own all of todays southern nigeria.

Let them provide us with proof of thier experditions, thier encounter with europeans, the trade pacts they entered into with europeans, ijaws for God sake were slave hunters and pirates. The archeologist thurston shaw did a research on nri kingdom and its true age, archeologist graham conah did a research on benin empire, a certain german archeologist did a research on ile ife, let the ijaws kindly provide us with one that was done on brass kingdom in bayelsa or any other ijaw settlement, because i know that they is none, they are a disgrace, because they have no honour. The supreme court has already made its judgement concerning this issue and clearly affirms that the land belongs to edo and that is final.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

IJAWS ARE NOT MARGINALIZED IN EDO

By - Leonard Omorodion

Who marginalized the Ijaws in Edo state? Nobody did. Excepting for the fact that they have always paid more allegance to their roots as immigrants in Edo. This is what happens when an immigrant naturalizes within a certain geographical area, he begins to lay claims the land in which his forefathers were sojourners. 

The Ijaws have by virtue of the naturalization law of citizenship have become part of Edo state and should feel free to participate in the politics of Edo state; they should by every rightful means seek political office without any fear of being marinalized. But to hold unto some stupid claims that Gelegele belongs to the Ijaws will be an attempt to erode historical facts that clear says they are foreigners in the land where they dwell as tenants, an attempt that the real owners of the land will fight against with every drop of their blood. It is high time the Ijaws stopped this fooling around of laying claims to every geographical area where oil is found. 

They did it with the Itsekiris in Warri but in Edo it will be resisted. I have cousins that are Ijaws but the truth must and should be told in this matter that is bound to result in a very Bloody crisis if not handled carefully." 

THE IJAW STORY ON HOW THEY OWN EDOLAND WHILE BENIN ARE THE MIGRANTS IN EDO STATE

Ijaw (also known by the subgroups "Ijo" or "Izon") are a collection of peoples indigenous mostly to the forest regions of the Bayelsa, Delta, and Rivers States within the Niger Delta in Nigeria. Some are natives of Akwa-Ibom, Edo, and Ondo states also in Nigeria. Many are found as migrant fishermen in camps as far west as Sierra Leone and as far east as Gabon along the Western Africa coastline.(NOTE:No historian were able to figure out the exact place the ijaws originated from!) They are believed to be some of the earliest inhabitants of southern Nigeria.(NOTE 2:meaning the ijaws are aborigines of southern Nigeria).The Ijaws numbering about 15 million have long lived in locations near many sea trade routes, and were well connected to other areas by trade as early as the 15th century.

Ijaw people numbering about 15 million have long lived in locations near many sea trade routes, and they were well connected to other areas by trade as early as the 15th century.Their settlement in the delta was from the earliest of times. Unfortunately not much is known about this period,(NOTE 3:no time given by historian) only that traditionally it is said that these early ancestors “dropped from the sky” (i.e. to say the Orus were of divine origin), and were devotees of a spiritual culture that made much use of the waters (hence the mermaid and water people legends “Beni-Otu”) They were later to be joined by other ancestors “Kumoni-Orus” from about 400 CE, and 650 CE (AD), who, after settling first in the Nupe and Borgu regions, then the Ile-Ife region, moved to the Benin region via Nupe, and Ife. In the Benin region(NOTE 4:the place the ijaws settled at in benin was a village called IKORO) they eventually settled and launched expeditions into the Niger Delta, where they came across remote settlements of the Orus, whom they termed “ancient people”. But because they were also ultimately Oru, from the beginning they established communities as one people. The Ijos were known by the two names of Kumoni or Oru up till the time of the 19th century. European visitors noted the name Oru as a distinct term for Ijaw. “to speak Kumoni is to speak pure Izon language”.

The term Ijo (Ijaw) or Izon evolved as the name of the whole ethnic nationality through time, even though as a personal name it derived from one ancestor who was known as Ujo(the bini peoples way of calling the ijaws).late Chief (Dr.) Jacob Uwagboe Egharevba wrote that the binis, migrated from Egypt to the Sudan, and then migrated from the Sudan to Ile-Ife and then again migrated from Ile-Ife to the present place, and that "Tradition says that they (the Binis) met some people who were in the land before their arrival "(A Short History Benin, Ibadan University Press, 1968, P.1).And the people, they met in the land were the Ijaws who ferried them across the Ovia river with their river-craft and that duty of ferrying Binis and other people across Ovia River the Ijaws continued to perform creditably over the years until a few decades when bridges were constructed across the River Ovia(also called ovia river),the last ferryman after bridges were constructed was late chief beyo of ikoro village in ovia north local government area.32 It is important to state at this juncture one very important historical fact. And this is to the effect that numberless centuries before the slave trade, during the slave trade and long after the inhuman human traffic no interior tribe including the Binis dared to found any village near a river, particularly the five so-called slave rivers, namely Rio Primeriro (First River), Rio Fermoso (the Beautiful River, now the Benin River), Riodos Escravos (the slave River), the Rio dos Forcados (the Swallowtail River) and the Rio dos Ramos (Creek River).

Dr. P.A. Talbot, acting resident of Benin Division in 1920, corroborates this fact when he submits as follows;" the prevalence of slave-dealing raids accounts for the fact that, even now, scarcely a town of an interior tribe is situated on a river but about two or three miles inland, where there was a possibility of escape into the bush."(Tribes of the Niger Delta ,1932, p.6).

And this is why Prof. Alan Ryder stated and rightly too that :"which ever of the slave rivers the Portuguese frequented, the people they first met and traded with belonged to the Ijo tribe, which at that time dominated the coastal belt of the swamp forest extending inland to a depth of thirty or forty miles in this region." (Benin and the Europeans 1485-1897 p.26f.).

In another context, Prof. Ryder submits; "the Edo had been, and indeed remained, a land-faring people with a positive distaste for activities which involved travelling by water."(Ibid. P.13) And there are no grounds for believing that it (Benin Edo) ever extended nearer to the coast. In fact, at the time the Portuguese first touched the coast, Benin paid little or no attention to the sea; it was not a coastal state, and its trade and political interests drew it firmly towards the interior. Thus Prof. Ryder continues, "it was possible for the Portuguese to trade in the rivers without knowing of the existence of Benin, and they (the Portuguese) had eventually to penetrate inland in order to establish contact with it. "(Ibid. Pp.13,28).

In January, 1480, Prof. Ryder recorded that "two Caravels made a voyage to the Rio dos Escravos and obtained more than four hundred slaves most of whom were subsequently bartered for gold "(Ibid p.26). This and similar trade transactions were made with the Ijaws, not with the Binis or Itsekiris since at that time the Portuguese had not had any contact with Benin. It was only in 1483 (or 1486), that John Affonso d. Aveiro succeeded in visiting Benin . While 1480 was the year Ginuwa, eldest son of Oba Olua and the progenetor of the Itsekiris was banished from his ancestral home in Benin.

What we are saying in essence is that it was long after the slave trade that tribes in the hinter land, for instance the Binis, began to come nearer the rivers. In about 1887 slave trade was abolished and legitimate trade was introduced in pepper, ivory tusks, palm oil, palm kernel etc was introduced. The tribes in the interior including Binis, Ilajes and Urhobo, for instance began to come nearer to the rivers, some members of this tribes such as Urhobo and the Ilajes (Mahins) staying with the Ijaws in the latter's communities and other founding their camps and cottages, several miles from the rivers, in order to take part in these legitimate trades:

For instance, H.F. Marshall wrote in his intelligence report on Siluko District, dated March 10, 1939 as follows: "Since the Advent of (the British) Government there have been a large influx of Ikales (Ilajes) into the area. " Down the Rivers, there are many Ijoh settlements, some of considerable antiquity." We have our Peres and Agadagbas to whom we owe our loyalty and allegiance and who have over-lordship over our communities, not the Oba of Benin. The Oba of Benin is the Oba of the Binis, not the Oba of the Ijaws in olodiama,egbema,furupagha,gbaran,okomu clan in edo state, so he cannot have over-lordship over Ijaw communal lands. Unlike the Enogies of the Edo-speaking peoples and the Obi of Agbor, the Peres and Agadagbas of the Ijaw communities never receive their sceptres of office from the Oba of Benin. Their office as Peres and Agadagbas pre-dated the office of the eenogies and okaros.before the current Oba of Benin assumed office in 1979, the Ijaws in Ovia had their Kings - the Pere of Olodiama and the Agadagba of Egbema.Pere of Olodiama. Mid-Western State of Nigeria Gazette, No. 56, Vol. 10 dated 10th October 1973, N.S.L.N. 62 of 1973, the Constitution (Suspension and Modification) Decree, 1966, Iyekuselu District Council (Appointment of Chieftaincy Committee) Order, 1973 gave a legal backing to the Pere of Olodiama with his seat at Ikoro, in Olodiama Clan.

The Agadagba of Egbema. The Bendel State Traditional Rulers and Chief Edict 1979, extraordinary Gazette No. 51 Vol. 16 of September 28, 1979 gave a legal teeth to the Agadagba of Egbema with four ruling villages. The most alarming was the attempt by the State House of Assembly to rename some Toru-Ibe Ijaw towns and villages early 2001 as a result of a memo from benin chiefs. The Ijoh villages fall into two distinct groups; the Ekenwan group and Ofonoma group.."After the advent of government the whole of Ekenwan District was first included in the Benin native court area but they were not directly represented on the court." (See Marshall's Report of September, 1938).

In 1920, a separate native court of 'd' grade was established at Ekenwan" (Olodiama Clan) for Ijoh villages of Ekenwan, Ikoro, nikorogha, Iboro, Gelegele, Ugbenoba,umalegidi,etc."the Ijoh Court of Ekenwan will be known as the Olodiama Court and will have jurisdiction over the villages of Ekenwan, Ikoro, Nikorogha, Ibo(ro), Gelegele, Ugbenoba, Eghudu, Evbonogbon, Ugbowangue and Shalogun. Of these villages, the last four are not Ijoh; Eghudu is of Ilaje origin, but they all expressed their wish to join with the Ijohs with whom they say they have close affinities."

The membership of the court will consist of the ama-okosuwe and the Okosuwe of each of the Ijoh villages and Odionwele and Odion of Egbudu and the Onaraja and the Onare of the three Itsekiri villages."
"The village heads will take in turns to sit as president of the court."
"The court will be situated at Ekenwan but not in the present court compound."

The Ofonama group court will be situated at Ofonoma and will serve the following villages all of which are Ijaws: Ofunama, Ajakurama. Abere, Ajanagiri, Gbelekagan, Gbeluba,binidodogha etc. The total population of these villages is estimated at only 822, but in view of the isolated situation of the group, I consider it essential that they should have a court of their own." Despite all,the ijaws in edo state have only three wards which is nikorogha,ajakurama and ofunama ward!,no better roads leadding to ijaw communities in edo state,no electricity,no portable drinking water "water when we for they shit,na the same water we for they bath and drink",WHAT HAS IJAWS IN EDO STATE DONE TO PAST AND INCUMBENT ADMINISTRATION IN EDO STATE TO DESERVE SUCH NEGLECT,OPPRESSION?.-MOSIES(movement for the survival of ijaws in edo state)