500 years of Igalas in Enugu
The Igala people who in the 17th Century were believed to have migrated from Angwa in Idah area of the present Kogi State, can be found in their millions spread and settled in several Local Government Areas of Enugu State. You may find them in places such as Uzo-Uwani, Nsukka, IgboEze South, Enugu East, Enugu-Ezike, Oguje, Okuto, Ete, Igbo-Eze North, among others. And they are quick to tell you how proud they are of their roots, although quite a good number of them have, sadly, lost what used to be their main language (Igala). They have now stuck to Igbo as their general language. But over the years, the Igala people of Enugu have preserved certain shared cultures and values which they have in common with their counterparts in Idah, Kogi State. Even up till tomorrow, the historical and cultural links give the Enugu Igala man and the Kogi Igala person a sense of oneness and brotherhood which, they strongly believe, time and age can hardly destroy, Daily Trust on Sunday gathered.
A First Republic politician from Igga in Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area, Nsukka Senatorial District of Enugu State, and former commissioner for Industry/ Local Government in old Anambra State, Chief Maximus I. Ukuta, himself an Igala man, provides an insight into the existence of Igala in Enugu State.
In an interview with Daily Trust on Sunday, he said: “strictly speaking, there is no Igala settlement in Nsukka and EnuguEzike. The people of Nsukka are extracts of Igalas. I mean the whole Nsukka, and that’s why Nsukka is referred to as NsukkaAsadu-Ideke-Alumona. Both Asadu-Ideke and Alumona are Igala people that came in early and set up the place.
“The place called Iha-Alumona where our revered and respected elder, former traditional ruler came from, they are all strictly Igala areas. So if you are talking of settlement, you are talking of the entire Nsukka senatorial zone minus Ukehe in Igboetiti. Ukehe are the sons and daughters
of Agbaja called Ojebu-Ogene;and it is only for administrative convenience that the colonial masters, I think in 1922 or thereabout, pushed the people of Ukehe from Udi to Nsukka. But their blood relations, belong to the Ojebu-Ogene clan which has their majority in Udi Local Government Area.
“And now, of recent we found out again that some part of Ikem or the people of Ikem have relationship with the people of Nkanu. So minus these two towns - Ukehe and Ikem - the rest of Nsukka have Igala connections. That’s the true position.
“And the little enclave we have called Ete - Ete is predominantly made up of the Igalas and Idomas, but they are like my own people.I come from Iga in Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area. We are Igala.”
Also, the traditional ruler of IbagwaAka, a large community inhabited by the Igala people of Enugu in Igbo-Eze South Council area of the state, HRH, Igwe H. I. Eze, the Eze Agu EzeChukwu Debelu 11 of Ibagwa-Aka gives further explanations during an interview with Daily Trust on Sunday at his palace.
According to the royal father, “Igala settled far back in the early 17th Century because anybody living now came to know that Igala people migrated to Ibagwa. And again, there are people who are now 80 years and above, whose mothers were probably Igala women.
“And talking about Igala alone is undermining Ibagwa-Aka community which is a mini Nigeria because people from Niger state are living in Ibagwa-Aka; so many of them.Their great, grand fathers; about four or five of them lived in Ibagwa and they started bearing children till either the fifth or sixth generation.”
The oldest man (Onyeishi) in Amebor village, Ibagwa-Aka community, Igbo-Eze South Council Area of Enugu State, Rev Cannon Simon Ezeja Okolo’s rather deeper explanation adds more credibility to the people’s history. According to Rev Cannon Okolo, “the Igala people migrated from Idah and settled in Ibagwa-Aka and some other parts of Enugu North Senatorial zone. The cleric who said he was born either in 1922 or 1923 -(for there was no paper documentation during his birth in his area) - told our correspondent in an interview that it was their historical root to Idah that made it compulsory for any king or Igwe produced in Ibagwa , to obtain his traditional staff of authority from the Attah of Igala.
“Our grand fathers told us that Ibagwa has three villages: Amebor, Ichara and Ezema. Amebor is the head in Ibagwa town. We were told that Amebor migrated from Idah; and they were the first to migrate to Ibagwa. Then there is the last village called Idi. It is only Amebor that produces the Eze (King) or Igwe in Ibagwa. After Ibagwa has produced the Eze, the person so produced would have to travel to Idah where the Attah of Igala would hand to him the staff of authority (office); then he would be crowned the king”, he said.
Between the Igala man in Enugu and his brother in Kogi State still exist few cultures and traditions that have endured over time. The masquerades, dances, foods and folklore, they said, have been preserved by the Igala people of Enugu. Fortunately, this aspect of the peoples’ life has contributed immensely to the peaceful co-existence they have enjoyed over the years.
A first class traditional ruler, Igwe Simon Osisi Itodo, Ezeoba 1 of Essodo community in Enugu-Ezike noted the peace and harmony among the Igala people of Enugu-Ezike and their hosts. “We enjoy peaceful co-existence with the Igala people here,” he told Daily Trust on Sunday in his palace at Enugu-Ezike.
Igwe Itodo, who is the grand patron of Enugu State Traditional Rulers Council also said: “if you come to a given community, you will understand the culture of the community and you follow them to practice it; after all, those people will also learn your own culture while you learn theirs at the same time and then life moves on.”
Again, Igwe Chukwu Debelu said: “So many people from our place marry from Idah. They equally come to Ibagwa to marry. We are very, very interwoven and there has been no problem between us and them, because if you hurt anybody there, it means you are touching your relation and if they come to hurt anybody from our place, they are touching their own relation.”
Igwe Chukwu Debelu added: “Yes. There are shared cultures. There is a masquerade we call Akatakpa,and there is another one we call Egwugwu. The Igala people call it Egwugwu as well. Egwugwu is used as an instrument to discipline erring members of our community. When we say that everybody should contribute money for a community project, for instance; and some people fail to contribute; that egwugwu will go and put fear into them so that they will pay the money. The same thing (egwugwu) is also working in Idah. The egwugwu masquerade is an instrument used to sanitize the community. Even in marriage we do the same thing with Igala. We have common meals too. For examples, meals such as aribo and amala; they cook them almost on a daily basis and here we at Ibagwa community equally prepare the meal almost daily.”
The palace secretary, Ibagwa-Aka, Sir Samuel Ugwuoke confirmed this as well. He said: “Our people have shared culture with the Igala people in terms of
installing a king, in terms of dances and songs and masquerades. Our people have Akatakpa and Egwugwu Attah as two powerful masquerades. During festivities, the masquerade used to be a great source of entertainment but these days, young boys use it to hurt people. In those days, there was another masquerade called Ekpe which would come out in the arena; even Akatakpa itself would come out to watch the Ekpe.”
Sir Ugwuoke, recalled what the elders did in the past to solidify the relationship between the two people. “The elders in those days did something to strengthen the relationship. We have a place in Ibagwa here where you can get the representative of the Attah Igala; that is EchezemaIbagwa. There they take a title called ‘Attah’. The titled man there is usually called ‘Attah’ indicating that he has authority from the Attah of Igala.
“If you want to be a traditional ruler in Ibagwa community and you cannot go to Igalaland if you go to Echezema, the Attah there can give you the symbol of authority,” he said.
Besides, Chief Ukuta provides another dimension to the peaceful co-existence experienced by the people. He emphasized that where there is justice, there could be no friction or acrimony. “Our people are peace-loving. And not only that, in any place where you can find justice, you can hardly find conflict. People believe strictly in this issue of justice and in their traditional religion. Our people respect their tradition a lot and so they are always afraid to hurt one another for fear of the unknown. That has helped to enhance peace in all the communities,” he said.
Ukuta further explains: “And it will surprise you to know that there’s no discrimination. If you are Igala from Kogi State where you have majority of the Igala people, you are welcome to Enugu State. If you are Igala from Delta State, you are welcome. If you are Igala from Edo State, you are also welcome.”
He also spoke further on the spiritual aspect of the people’s life, especially in relation to their traditional religion. “Our people believe strongly in spiritual powers. Because of it, they respect our tradition very, very much. Anybody from my area will prefer to tell the whole truth and beg for forgiveness when he offends you”, he said.
The politician recalled an instance where some people offended their neighbours and swore falsely and faced dire consequences.
“Can I tell you something? There have been several instances of people who have sworn falsely and the repercussion came immediately,” he said.
Ukuta further spoke on their festivities, shared tradition and culture, especially the uniqueness of their spiritual powers. “There is the one they call ‘Iwai’ when they celebrate the new yam festival. There is the other one they call ‘onwuli’ when they celebrate harvest and give thanks to the Almighty Creator. There are many of them,” he said. He described the ceremonies as glamorous, stressing that “in some of them you have to exhibit manhood when the young ones flog each other to prove endurance and things like that. It still exist and is a beauty to watch. And all sorts of masquerades come out. They also used spiritual powers to test or prove themselves.”
According to Ukuta, the Igala people of Enugu see themselves as “very, very unique” and are very proud of their root.
How do the Igala people of Enugu see themselves? Are they Igala natives or Igbo? And what is their main language presently; are they bilingual? There seems to be a conflict of views or disagreement in opinions on this matter, because a group claims to be Igbos and another say they are bilingual.
“Our people speak more than one language but precisely, we speak Igbo. The other language is just because we are mixing; we can speak Igala; we can speak Idoma; we can speak any other language but generally, we speak Igbo,” says the royal father of Ibagwa-Aka.
On the real identity of the Enugu-Igala at Ibagwa, Igwe Chukwu Debelu explains: “We are 100 percent Igbo. Nobody germinated from the ground. In any place you are, you are a visitor there but it is left to you to dig and discover the root or your source. I was in Israel and what we saw there made us to believe that Igbos came from Israel. And when you go to Israel, they will tell you where they came from; nobody germinated from the ground.”
The Ibagwa palace secretary, Sir Ugwuoke said: “We are Igbos. And this Angwa that I’m talking about has its origin in Kano State. So it is a matter of understanding that we are all Igbo people. We are not strangers; we are not northerners. If somebody has lived in a place for over 2,000 years; you cannot say that person is a stranger. We are purely Igbo people. We have link with Nri in Anambra state where the Attah Igala believes they (Igala people) equally originated from.”
Ugwuoke also spoke on the trade relations between the Igala people in Enugu and their counterparts in Kogi State, saying that at Nkwo market in Ibagwa, the Igala people of Kogi usually bring farm produce such as yam, plantain, oil, garri which they sell to the Igala at Ibagwa. On the other hand, the Ibagwa people go to the Oye Akpanya market in Kogi State,where “our people” go to buy tubers of yam, cassava and other processed foods. “Our people even go to the Nkwo market in Igaland,” Ugwuoke said.