Who Holds the Pen Holds the Power: Why Anioma and the Igbo Must Tell Their Own Story.

Who Holds the Pen Holds the Power: Why Anioma and the Igbo Must Tell Their Own Story.

For too long, others have written our stories.
They’ve called us “fringe,” “minor tribes,” “confused identities.”
They’ve painted our culture with brushes that do not know our land, our songs, or the weight of our ancestors’ footsteps.

And we let them.

But here’s the truth:
When you allow others to tell your story, they’ll reduce your legacy to a footnote.
They’ll distort your struggles, romanticize your pain, erase your victories—and worst of all, make you forget who you are.

Look at Anioma.

A proud, ancient Igbo sub-region with kingdoms older than colonial maps.
We speak a dialect of the Igbo tongue, perform the same rites, share sacred names, ancestral values, and the life-giving rhythm of the odu egwu and odum dance.
Yet how many of our children grow up unsure if they are “truly” Igbo—simply because the story was hijacked and rewritten?

Look at our spirituality.
Our women’s songs.
Our titles and oaths sworn under the gaze of Ani (Earth goddess).
Are these not Igbo?

So we ask:
If we do not tell our own story—who will?
If we do not define ourselves, what will be left for the world to respect?

We must reclaim the narrative.
We must document our origins, record our festivals, digitize our oral histories, and teach our children that they are not fragments—they are foundations.

To every Anioma youth reading this:
You are not an accident of geography.
You are the living echo of Igbo civilization.
You are the voice that must rewrite the narrative—not in defense, but in pride.

Let us build media, books, films, podcasts, museums—tools that tell the story of our people the way our ancestors lived it:
With dignity. With depth. With truth.

Because when we tell our stories, we don’t just reclaim history—we shape the future.

TellYourStory

AniomaIsIgbo

IgboIdentity

CulturalReclamation

WeOwnTheNarrative

AniomaPride #IgboKwenu

HRH Omu Onyebuchie Okonkwo – Omu of Obio