Ikwerre Is Not Part Of Ndigbo, Group Warns

The people of Ikwerre ethnic nationality also known as Iwhuruohna, have again warned the Igbo expansionists to desist from their ploy to incorporate Ikwerre as subgroup of the Ndigbo.

This is contained in a 14-paragraph statement by The Supreme Council of Ikwerre Government Recognized Traditional Rulers signed by its Chairman, Eze Oha Evo III of Evo Kingdom, Eze Gbakagbaka, King Leslie N.Eke and

the Secretary, Nye Nwe Ala Omerelu, Elumoha VIII, Eze Ben O. Ugo, which was made available to the newsmen in Port Harcourt, yesterday.

The statement said the Iwhuruohna remained a homogeneous ethnic group with a common ancestry and paternity and had no link with the Igbos.

“Iwhuruohna people are from Rivers State and the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. The people have their unique culture and traditions. Iwhuruohna share the same ancestry with the Ekpeye and the Ogba people of Rivers State. Iwhuruohna people migrated from the Ancient Benin Kingdom during the reigns of Oba Ewuare ( Ogwaro)”, it said.

According to the statement, the  paternity of the Ikwerres can be traceable to a great grand ancestor – Akalaka  who left the Ancient Benin Kingdom in company of his sons which included IHRUOHA ( IWHURUOHNA) .

The statement further noted that the name, ‘Ikwerre’ was an ‘Igbonised’ version of ‘Akwerulem’  which was translated to mean ‘we have agreed or consented’, a response of a Rebisi monarch to an Igbo translator and a Briton during the negotiations for  acquisition of acres of land for Port Harcourt wharf.

It maintained that theory of origins linking Iwhuruohna ethnicity to Igbo ancestry was ill-conceived as a result of the balkanisation and ‘Igbonisation’ of Iwhuruohna by Igbo merchants from Aro, Nkwere and Awka who oppressed and suppressed the aborigines in their place.

The statement also explained that the earliest incursion into Ikwerre hinterland by the Igbo emboldened the proponents of Igbo expansionist theory to erroneously think or link Iwhuruohna to an Igbo ancestry.

“Till date , there are still pockets of Igbo ( Aro) settlements in such Iwhuruohna Communities at Elele, Igwuruta, Isiokpo. They are evidently Aro compounds like Aro-Omuodu, Aro-Omuodukwu, Aro-Omuma, Aro-Ogbogbu in Igwuruta and Nmgbu Oyo at Isiokpo”, it said.

“The declaration of Ogbakor Ikwerre Cultural Organization during the Chukwudifu Oputa Human Rights Panel 2001 that: Ikwerre ethnic nationality is not and has never been a subgroup of any other tribe in Nigeria, including Ndi-Igbo…’ would suffice here,” it said.

The statement further pointed out that the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999(2010) as amended which recognised Iwhuruohna (Ikwerre) ethnic nationality among others as a distinct and unique ethnic group in Nigeria, and wondered why the Igbos were bent on rewriting both the history and the Constitution.

The people of Ikwerre frowned at any attempt by some Igbo expansionists to incorporate Iwhuruohna as a subset or subgroup of any other in Nigeria or elsewhere.

The statement which did not jettison  some shared similarities between Iwhuruohna and her neighbours, including the Igbos in terms of aspects of culture and traditions, said such did not, in anyway, validate the bogus and unverified claims that Iwhuruohna is Igbo as being peddled by Igbo expansionists.

The people of Ikwerre therefore called  on the Police, Rivers State Government as well as the general public to be wary of the tricks and pranks of the Igbo expansionists in the nomenclature of ‘Ohaneze Ndi-Igbo’  and their activities in Rivers State.

King Onunwor