The Thirteen States of Igbo Land: Why “South East” Was Never the Whole Story

The Thirteen States of Igbo Land: Why “South East” Was Never the Whole Story

The Thirteen States of Igbo Land: Why “South East” Was Never the Whole Story

Some Nigerians have convinced themselves that the Igbo nation begins and ends inside five states of Nigeria. That belief is not just wrong, it is the product of decades of deliberate political engineering, and this piece exists to correct it with facts.

Indigenous Igbo people are not confined to five states. They are found across thirteen states of Nigeria: Anambra, Enugu, Imo, Abia, Ebonyi, Delta, Rivers, Bayelsa, Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Edo, Kogi and Benue. To be clear, this does not mean every indigenous group in Delta, Rivers, Bayelsa, Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Edo, Kogi and Benue is Igbo. It means that within each of these states, there exist indigenous Igbo communities whose roots run just as deep as any community in Anambra or Imo. Anambra, Imo, Abia, Enugu and Ebonyi remain, without question, wholly indigenous Igbo states.

In Delta State, the indigenous Igbo are the Anịọcha, Ukwuanị/Ndọkwa, Ịka and Oshimili peoples, together known as Anịọma. They occupy nine local government areas in the northern part of the state, Aniocha North, Aniocha South, Ika North-East, Ika South, Ndokwa East, Ndokwa West, Oshimili North, Oshimili South and Ukwuani. This is not a matter of opinion. It is written into Delta State’s own government records, which officially recognise five ethnic groups in the state, Urhobo, Itsekiri, Isoko, Ijaw and Igbo, under the name Anịọma.

In Rivers State, indigenous Igbo communities include Egbema and Ndoni in Ogba Egbema Ndoni LGA, Etche, Omuma, and the Ikwerre people across Port Harcourt, Obio-Akpo, Ikwerre and Emohua LGAs, along with Ekpeye in Ahoada East and West, Obigbo, and Ogba in Ogba Egbema Ndoni. Egbema people trace their roots to Egbema in today’s Imo State, while Ndoni people descend from Ukwuani in the Anịọma Igbo group of Delta State. Even the name Ikwerre itself is a corruption. The original Igbo name was Ihuruọha, altered by the British into what we now call Ikwere. Port Harcourt, the capital of Rivers State, was itself once called Igweọcha, an Ikwerre rendering of the Igbo phrase “Igwe Ọ́chá.” In 1913, Lord Frederick Lugard erased that name and replaced it with Port Harcourt, honouring Lord Lewis Vernon Harcourt, Secretary of State for the British colonies. The city’s entire colonial purpose was to ship Nigeria’s natural resources, including the coal discovered in Enugu in 1909, straight out to the United Kingdom.

In Edo State, the Igbo community of Igbanke, originally called Igboakiri, sits in Orhionmwon LGA. That name was deliberately altered during the Nigeria Biafra civil war of 1967 to 1970, changed to protect the community and its most prominent son, Osaigbovo Samuel Ogbemudia, a Nigerian army officer and later military governor of the old Mid-West State, from being targeted by Nigerian soldiers hunting anyone bearing an Igbo name. The name Igboakiri itself was formed from two early villages there, Igbonto and Ake, joined together and eventually corrupted into Igbanke. Ogbemudia’s own mother was from Igbanke. Few people know that the late Archbishop Benson Idahosa and his wife were Igbo from Igbanke, and the musician Divine Joshua Ikubo, known globally as Rema, is also from Igbanke.

In Bayelsa State, the indigenous Igbo communities of Osekwenike, Abuetor and Eke Okpokiri, all in Sagbama LGA, trace their lineage to the Ukwuani people of the Anịọma Igbo sub-group in Delta State.

In Cross River State, the Isobo people of Obubra LGA descend from Ikwo in today’s Ebonyi State, while indigenous Igbo speaking communities exist in parts of Akpoha, Eboronyi, Agarabe, Adadama, Eno-Evong, Igbo Imabana, Itigidi and Ntankpo in Abi LGA. Akpoha traces its origin to Afikpo in Ebonyi State. Even Liyel Imoke, the former governor of Cross River State, and his wife are Igbo from Abi LGA.

In Akwa Ibom State, indigenous Igbo communities exist at Ikot Udo Ika in Ika LGA, Ohaobu Ndoki in Ukanafun LGA, tracing back to today’s Abia State, and Obuagu in Ini LGA, tracing back to today’s Ebonyi State.

In Benue State, indigenous Igbo communities include Umuezeoka in Oju LGA, and in Ado LGA, Umuezeokaoha, Oriuzo, Umuoghara, Ndigwe, Inikiri and Amaezekwe, alongside Amaeke in Obi LGA. A smaller number of indigenous Igbo communities in Okpokwu LGA trace their roots to the Ezza and Izi peoples of Ebonyi State. Amaezekwe, Ndigwe, Amaeke, Umuezeokoha, Oriuzo and Umuoghara all descend from the Ezza people, while Inikiri descends from the Izi people. Beyond the Ezza speaking Umuezeokoha clan alone, which counts over three hundred villages, the total number of Igbo speaking villages across Benue State exceeds six hundred. Three of the state’s biggest markets, Inikiri Ichari, Iddah and Iduokpe, sit inside these indigenous Igbo speaking areas.

In Kogi State, indigenous Igbo communities include Akpaya, Ugwuebonyi, Ebokwe, Ozara, Amaeke, Amankpo, Amadiefoha, Amauwanu camp, Amaufulu and Odolu in Igalamela/Odolu LGA, Nwajala, Eke Avurugo, Umuoye and Ubulie-Umueze in Ibaji LGA, and Ọnịcha Igo in Ofu LGA.

There is one more truth Nigerians must confront. There is no such geographic or geopolitical zone as “South South” anywhere in standard geography. Nigeria’s real zones are South East, South West and South Central. Portions of what has been falsely labelled South South are, in truth, South East, just as portions of Kogi and Benue in the so called North Central are, by every indigenous and linguistic measure, South East as well. Every one of these indigenous Igbo communities scattered across Delta, Rivers, Bayelsa, Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Edo, Kogi and Benue rightfully belongs within a united South East. Nigeria’s government did not divide and scatter these Igbo communities by accident. It was done deliberately, to weaken, marginalise and reduce Igbo land, and to make ndị Igbo forget just how vast and how ancient their true nation actually is.