%20By%20Chris%20OkaforGood%20Evening%20Ladies%20and%20Gentlemen.I%20just%20want%20to%20thank%20you%20all%20for%20coming,%20especially%20the%20Nigerian%20Ambassador%20to%20Ireland,%20Dr.%20Kema%20Chikwe%20and%20also%20the%20Mayor%20of%20Galway,%20Mr.%20Declan%20Mcdonnell.Once%20again,%20thank%20you%20very%20much.Today%20marks%20the%20first%20anniversary%20of...){kind=link}
ANIOMA UNION GALWAY, IRELAND. FIRST ANNIVERSARY SPEECH
ANIOMA UNION GALWAY, IRELAND. FIRST ANNIVERSARY SPEECH
ANIOMA UNION GALWAY, IRELAND. First Aniverssary Speech (7/12/09) By Chris Okafor
Good Evening Ladies and Gentlemen.
I just want to thank you all for coming, especially the Nigerian Ambassador to Ireland, Dr. Kema Chikwe and also the Mayor of Galway, Mr. Declan Mcdonnell.
Once again, thank you very much.
Today marks the first anniversary of Anioma Union here in Galway. Although this association officially started on the 25th day of November, 2007 but this is about the first time we deemed it necessary to put up this anniversary.
One of the primary objectives of the Anioma Union, among other things are to promote our cultures, traditions and to foster unity, progress and good relation between ourselves and other communities in Galway and Ireland at large. We also hope to promote and integrate Anioma into Irish culture and assist ourselves and our people back in Nigeria in any way we can.
Having said this, my little speech tonight would dwell extensively on WHO WE ARE as a people, our ethnicity in Nigerian Federation and above all, our cherished language.
The question is who are the Anioma people of Nigeria? This assumes lack of knowledge of those about whom it is asked. While the word "ANIOMA" is acronym, the people and place so called have existed for centuries.
Anioma derives its name from the four geopolitical and cultural quadrants of Aniocha, Ndokwa, Ika and Oshimili Local Government Areas of Delta State. This coinage was made by the founding father of "Anioma State Movement," the late Chief Dennis Osadebay of blessed memory.
Interestingly, these four local government areas have, over the years, metamorphosed into Nine LGA namely: Aniocha North, Aniocha South, Ika south, Ika North-East, Ndokwa East,Ndokwa West, Oshimili North, Oshimili South and the Ukwuani local government areas of Delta State.
The other meaning of Anioma apart from this coinage is: Good Land.
In 1951, political awakening was brought to Anioma people following years of neglect. Chief Dennis Osadebay, Honorable F.H.Utomi, Honorable Obi of Akumazi, Honorable Frank Oputa Ututu and Honorable Oki jointly moved a motion in the then Western House of Assembly to seek "a separate province" for our people, who hitherto had been balkanized and merged with Benin and Warri provinces by the colonialists.
Confronted by the failure of successive regimes to create Anioma State in Nigerian Federation, and by the paradoxical dicta of human social relations, Anioma people have endeavoured to create a community, which sees itself as an organic whole dependent upon an integrated set of relationships with unique and distinguishable identity.
The systemic prolonged subordination and marginalization has lead to the gradual radicalization of our youths and elders, as exemplified by the formation of many Anioma associations in Nigeria and abroad.
It is no doubt that a great majority of ANIOMA people can authoritatively trace their origin to Igala, to ancient Benin Kingdom, the Yorubas and the Ibos across the Niger. The people of Onicha-Ukwu, Onicha-Olona, Onicha-Ugbo, Obior, Issele-Ukwu, Issele-Mkpima, Issele-Azagba, Ezi, Abeh and Obomkpa are all descendants of Eze Chima, a prince who rebelled against the Benin royal dynasty and emigrated from the kingdom.
The history of early settlements in Ogwashi-Uku can portray the following facts that the Ikelike people from the Bini kingdom were the first to settle in Ogwashi-Uku. You can read Ben Nwabua, Ogwash-uku Kingdom, 1000 Years of Traditional Democracy and Cultural Life, 950-1914 for proper verifications. Ikelike people from all indications migrated from Benin to settle where they found themselves today due to a reign of wanton persecution of subjects by the then Benin Monarch, Oba Eweka 11. Adaigbo, the prince from Nri in the present Anambra State later arrived to join the Ikelikhe aborigines and so what we have in Ogwashi-Uku today is a combination of people from Bini Kingdom and Ibo east of the Niger.
Traditional source gives credence to the Ikelike Aborigines as having christened the entity Ogwanhe after the Bini tradition of building a small house known as OGWA at the front yard of a natural ruler. In Bini tradition, an Ogwa means royal palace or a royal people of destiny and to some extent; this historical claim could be justified since the culture of building an Ogwa in Bini kingdom is still popular even to the present day.Again, Ukwu means greatness in Bini Language.
Nnebisi the founder of 'Ahaba' was from Nteje which was founded by Eri the prince from Igala. Nnebisi married an Igala woman he had won as a prize from the Igala fishermen and traders who frequented 'Ahaba'. This is the verifiable story of the origin of 'Ahaba' (now Asaba).
Osadebay said that another migrant came from Benin and settled in 'Ahaba,' "and so the present natives of Asaba are descendants of Igala in the north, Benin in the west, and Ibo in the east" You can read (Osadebay, Building a Nation, Macmillan, Nigeria Ltd, 1978 p.2). With this from Chief Osadebay, our best research has never been denied nor contradicted.
The History of Agbor Kingdom like those of other African ancient kingdoms, empires and peoples is based on oral tradition. Various oral accounts on the origin of Agbor and Ika people exist but the most credible being that "Ogunagbon" and his followers who founded Agbor came from Benin and first settled in "Ominije" presently located in today's Agbor-Nta.
Following what can best be described as personal crisis between two princes in Benin and subsequent settlement of this dispute as agreed to by the chiefs and elders of Benin determined by casting of lot, one of the princes settled in what became known as "Agbon". Agbon like other Anioma towns and communities was later changed by the British who found it difficult to pronounce "Agbor" the present name of the town.
For certain reasons, I have decided to ignore all other events that transpired leading to the foundation of the town called Agbor in acknowledgement of the fact that what concerns us here is the progenitor of the kingdom and its origin. Agbon (Agbor) in Benin means "Earth or "Land". .
Available records show that the British colonial government encouraged Christian missionaries from Igbo land who taught various Anioma people using Igbo Bible, hymns and songs. Again the British disregarded homogeneity in their creation of provinces and regions in Nigeria as in elsewhere. Onitsha emerged as a commercial nerve of Anioma until the people lost in the Ekwumekwu wars; the town was put in separate province where it now finds itself.
kwn (sometimes spelled kwn) are members of the Anioma who live in parts of the Delta and Rivers states in Nigeria. The area is also inhabited by the Ndosimili people. They live within the swampy lowland terrain (their name translates as "water people"), while kwn derives from Nde-Ukwu-ani, meaning "the upland people". The area constitutes an administrative division within Delta State called Ndokwa (from NDO-simili and U-KWA-ni)
The Ndokwa/Ukwuanis are other Edoid groups i.e. the Urbobos, the Isokos, the Ijaws. Their influence is palpable amongst the Ndokwas/Ukwuanis socially and culturally.
By the same token, it is not out of place to notice that some individuals in a number of clans claim lineage to these neighbouring tribes mentioned above especially those on the border. Group of towns sharing borders with neighbouring tribes including Abbi, Emu, Onyia, Ushie and Obiaruku have inhabitants tracing their origins to Urhobo,Isoko, Ijaw lands.
Furthermore, a good number of Ukwuani/Ndokwa towns including Afor, Emu, Amai, Utagba-Uno, Onicha-Ukwuani claim to have been founded by immigrants from Benin. This is a fact because there is an innate aberration in history known that man would always, at all costs, seek to associate with greatness, fame, glory and so on. This, in our case might have robbed us of the information that might helped us pieced together our past history more accurately.
It is worthy to note that Onitsha, Ogbaru, Oba, Akwukwu Obosi, Ozubulu and Oraifite in present Anambra state are all Anioma people. The same applies to Oguta people in Imo state and the Ndoni and Ogba people of Rivers State as well as the IGBANKE people in present Edo state. They are all Anioma people who were balkanized after they lost the Ekumeku war of resistance against the British imperialism in 1914.
Surprisingly, no attempts were made thereafter by the people of this region to reclaim these lost territories into the Anioma home of Delta state.
With such a background, one would have thought that the identity of Anioma people would never be a matter of debate nor an issue that might unsettle the tranquility of informed mind. Yet, writings about Anioma people are replete with myriad of misconceptions, distortions, selectivity, inaccuracies and just blatant falsehood often applied in definition of one selfish motive.
The question is how do people know that they belong to a particular ethnic group? In answering this question, I found solace in Dr. Kunirum Osai, the erstwhile president of Anioma Association in United States assertion in one of his numerous publications that"
Ethnic identity exists because individuals include among their repertoire of social roles one or more culturally defined uniqueness. The conscious sense on the part of an individual that he/she belongs to a given collectivity is the basic building block of identity.
Our Anioma ethnic identity derives from our common set of symbols and cognitions shared by our people. Aniocha, Ndokwa, lka and Oshimili, share the same cultural space and delimited physical geography. Take a look around you today and tell me what you see:
We dress alike.
We dance alike.
We use the same musical instruments
. We speak the same or similar languages.
We show the same deference to our elders and women.
We respect character and integrity.
We are not exploitative.
Money is not everything, character is everything.
In short, we have the same worldview. Our Anioma ethnic identity is cultural self-definition and philosophical affirmation of our self-determination as a people who see themselves at the crossroads of the contemporary Nigerian state.
Anioma provides for us the physical and cultural space that defines the necessary locus of our highest fulfilment as a people.
Anioma does not seek to define its personality or identity simply as an antithesis of everything around it.
However, one point must be made immutably clear to any questioner: No Anioma person wishes to be recast in a mould that is not Anioma. We must emphasize unequivocally, that only Anioma can provide us an essential part of our historical consciousness, and also an index to the universal psychic character of our identity.
I agree, to a large extent, that the issue of our various origins and languages we speak has been fundamentally flawed. Those with ethno-centric base oriented views who subscribed to the conclusion of categorizing people on their language have not only chosen to be ignorant but it is quite obvious that such people can hardly deduce facts from fictions.
While language delimits cultural fields, it is not permanent because people have mastered more than one language. Language is one of many indices of a culture. Language is not enough to define who a people are. Because Americans or Australians speak English does not make them English. Because Mexicans, Cubans, or Argentineans speak Spanish does not make them Spaniards.
The nationals of these countries will not introduce themselves as "English" simply because they speak English nor as Spaniards because they speak Spanish. Those of them who can trace their origin to England or Spain know that over time they have formed a new identity called "American," "Australian," "Mexican," "Cuban," or "Argentinean.
In conclusion, I call on every Anioma sons and daughters to intensify our efforts on the creation of Anioma state where our people will be central characters rather than simple bit players, where the importance of our history lies in its significance for us rather than for others.
We do not want to be a pawn simply to checkmate the contending and competing interests of other nationalities in the larger Nigerian collectivity. Our journey involves more than navigating the geography of political boundaries.
We no longer wish to be objects in the history of others rather we wish to be subjects of our own history. .
It is a refusal to accept the transposition of other people's interpretive categories on Anioma. We bear the name of Anioma with exalted pride, dignity and fidelity in spite of our diverse origins.
We look forward to the immediate creation of our own state where we would be referred to as ANIOMA people of Nigeria rather than the use of derogatory adjectives to describe a distinctive people.
God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria
God bless Republic of Ireland AND
God bless the ANIOMA people
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