Dr. Kenneth Ononuju: “Except the Ogoni, Every Other Ethnic Group in Rivers State Is Igbo”

Dr. Kenneth Ononuju: “Except the Ogoni, Every Other Ethnic Group in Rivers State Is Igbo”

Dr. Kenneth Ononuju: “Except the Ogoni, Every Other Ethnic Group in Rivers State Is Igbo”

Dr. Kenneth Ononuju has sparked fresh discussions on the history and ethnic origins of the people of Rivers State after asserting that, apart from the Ogoni, every other ethnic group in the state has Igbo roots.

Speaking in a recent interview, Ononuju argued that most communities in present-day Rivers State were once part of the Aro Confederacy, a powerful political and commercial network that flourished between 1640 and 1900 across large parts of southeastern Nigeria.

According to him, the only exception is the Ogoni people, whom he claimed trace their distant ancestry to the Bakongo people of Central Africa. He stated that the Bakongo are today spread across the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Congo Kinshasa), the Republic of the Congo (Congo Brazzaville), and Angola.

Emphasising his own identity, Ononuju said:

“How can anyone expect me to deny my Igbo identity when I know that I am Aro from Diobu? I and Minister Nyesom Wike are from the same place in Rivers State. We are Igbos. Those who deny their Igbo identity do so because of political favours.”

He also spoke about the history of Port Harcourt, saying that the area was originally known as Iguocha before the British established a port there. He noted that the city was officially renamed Port Harcourt in 1913 after Lewis Harcourt, the British Secretary of State for the Colonies. The port was developed primarily to facilitate the export of coal from the Enugu coalfields to international markets.