HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE OF EBIRALAND

An Online Lecture by Farouk Ozigi Onimisi
18th August, 2019

In: *Okehi Re-Awakening Forum (ORAF): A leading Platform in Kogi Central*

Ladies and gentlemen, let me first register my unalloyed appreciation towards the recognition accorded me in this presentation. There are many egg heads yet you choose this day to be mine. I thank you most sincerely.

 *INTRODUCTION*

Ebira people are an ethno-linguistic group in Nigeria. Many of them are from Kogi State, Kwara State, Nasarawa State, Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, and Edo State. Okene is said to be our administrative centre. The Ebira-speaking people in Kogi state are not far from the Niger-Benue confluence.

We constitute one of the ethnic groups in the Middle Belt zone of Nigeria. But, however, did not evolve a centralised form of leadership until the advent of the British colonial authorities which brought together, the numerous Ebira clans under the leadership of Attah Omadivi in 1902. Therefore, the year 1902 marked the evolution of a monarchical form of administration and the gradual development of central administration in Ebiraland.

 *HOW WE ARE LOCATED*

Ebiraland is a small hilly inland area that stretches roughly for twenty-three kilometres west of the Niger at Ajaokuta and thirty two kilometers south-west of the Niger-Benue confluence. The range of hills occasionally rises to six hundred and sixty seven metres above sea level.

Ebiraland, the home of Ebira Tao, is in the central senatorial district of Kogi state. It has a landmass of 3,426 km2. The 1991 national census puts the population of the area at 722,032. Another national head count was undertaken in 2006. The provisional figure of 884,396 was released by the National Population Commission (NPC). It is distributed as follows: Okene LGA (320,260), Adavi LGA (202,194), Okehi LGA (199,999), Ajaokuta LGA (122,321) and Ogori Magongo LGA (39,622). Presently, we are over 1.2 million.

Our communities which started as tiny villages have joined together as near towns, gradually and progressively expanding towards one another with Okene as a city in modern times. Ebiraland hence presents an aerial view of one huge near urban settlement with intervening barriers.

 *CULTURE AND ADMINISTRATION*

We are republican by nature, outspoken and very hardworking. Farming and cloth-weaving are occupations for which we are well known. Presently, we are spread in five Local Government Areas of Kogi state namely: Adavi, Okene, Okehi, Ajaokuta and Ogori-magongo.


A sizeable number of our people are found in Lokoja Local Government Area, Ondo, Ogun, and Oyo states. Our paramount ruler is called Ohinoyi of Ebiraland presently led by Atta 3rd, Dr. Ado Ibrahim (CON).

From transmission of the royal household, it is said that the man called Ebira was called Itanuje or Itazi when he finally arrived in Ebiraland. He is the son of Idoko who had three children called Itazi, Ohimi and Ayegba. Ohimi was the father of Ebira Koto, Panda, etc. while Ayegba was the father of the Igalas.

Idoko was the son of Ageneboje whose father was Abutu Eje. Abutu Eje lived in Yemen, but because of religious problems, he left for Egypt during the reign of Pharaoh. As crisis broke out there, they left for Sudan and later to Zinder, presently Niger Republic. Famine made them leave for Bora in Borno and then to Wukari, to join the Kwararafa kingdom. They then migrated to Abinse in Benue State. They still have traces of Ebira to date.

Going back the history lane as a people, the three brothers Ayegba (popularly known as Omi Idoko, Itazi Atenuje (Ozi-upai) and Ohimi (Oziagye) parted ways in 1550CE.

Ohimi as a fisherman went North wards (along the combined Rivers Niger and Benue from Idah) up to the confluence and crossed to settle at Igu Ugbaka where he founded Egbira-Igu chiefdom. There was further migration by some of Ohimis descendants as a result of succession tussle on the (Ohimege) stool, bringing about the founding of Ebira panda by Negedu, the first son of Ohimege Panda. The Fulani Jihad brought about further organisation and the founding of Egbura Oje in 1824.

The other brother, Itazi Atanuje, a hunter, left Idah for a hunting expedition at Eteube which is also now called Itobe meaning a hunting place. He crossed the River-Niger to the virgin land and settled at Opete. He gave Obaji to his first son by his junior wife called Abonu on the new settlement; the second son he named, Ododo. Ohunene and Ihimima (Ochuga) were logically given birth to in Opete since Adayi Itazi left Idah with his children from his first wife, Onyiohu. Their names are: Adaviruku Ehinkoto (Ohizi) and Uga (all males). He crossed with them, their wives, children and relations.

 *EBIRA ALPHABETS AND SOUND SYSTEM*

Ebira Opete has twenty-eight alphabets thus twenty-eight sounds in which words are made.

 *EBIRA ALPHABETS*
 a, b, c (ch), d, e, ẹ, g, h, i, ị, j, k, m, n, ng, ny, o, ọ, p, r, s, t, u, ụ, v, w, and y

 *EBIRA VOWELS*
a, e, ẹ, i, ị, o, ọ, u, and ụ

 *EBIRA CONSONANTS*
 p, b, t, d, k, g, m, n, ng, ny, s, z, r, y, ch, h, w, j and v

 *COLONIAL EXPERIENCES: PRE AND POST*

The Pre-Colonial Ebira community was essentially segmentary. It consisted of five principal clans among several others namely, Okengwe, Eika, Okehi, Adavi, and Ihima. The respective priests (heads) of these clans were known as Ohindase, Adeika, Ohiomahi, Asema and Obonbanyi. Each clan was self governing and did not regard any other as superior to it.

Essentially, the clan was the main unit of political organisation. The post of the clan head was normally conferred on the oldest living male member of the clan. His religious duties and disciplinary powers were, however, limited to his own family. His political influence was quite small and although he presided over the meetings of his clan, his judgement was determined largely by the consensus of opinion of the elders.

The administration of all the clan heads constituting a community in Ebiraland lay in the hands of the elders, influential individuals and the chief priest (Ohinoyi).
Economically, the clan head held in trust for the clan, part of the income from all the clan lands, such as the produce from palm-oil and locust bean trees, during the pre-colonial period.

Also, the leg of whatever game that was killed was given to him which he shared with the kindred heads. We so much cherish our traditional festivities in spite of the infiltration of some negative tendencies in recent times.

Our people were used to coming together in the face of crisis. Thus, in moments of war, we come together as a united front to ward off the incursion of the enemy. Indeed, our people have built strong confidence in our warfare and superior weapons  bows and arrows.

 *THE NUPE INVASION*

The invasion of Ebira country by the Nupe (1865-1900) did not make them doubt our military superiority. Our Nupe invaders were successfully resisted by our people under our amiable warrior leader who later became Attah Omadivi. The Nupe invasion was organised in the form of raids for slaves. But our people were soon to realise that our warfare and superior weapons could not defend us against the British super superior weaponry in 1902.

In 1895, an outstation was placed at Kabba by the Royal Niger Company (RNC) and a fort was built there by Captain Turner, an officer attached to the Niger Constabulary.

On 1st January, 1900, Frederick Lugard took over the government of Northern Nigeria from the Royal Niger Company and hoisted the British flag at Lokoja. Kabba was formed into a province which included the Akoko, Kukuruku and Ebira countries, and was administered from Lokoja, which was also the headquarters of the protectorate of Northern Nigeria, with Sir William Wallace as its first Resident.

In 1902, a small military escort led by Mr. Malcom and Lt. F.F. W. Byng-Hall sent into Ebira country was seen by our people as an incursion. They refused to meet with the British demand for the supply of food, seeing this as a direct insult on their persons. Mr. Malcom and his party outnumbered were attacked with arrows by the Ebiras and escaped by a night march to Kabba, arriving the next day.

The British soldiers used this as casus belli and marched on them with fire arms. The Ebira country was subjugated and pacified. The resident in Ebiraland described the result of the expedition as follows:

 The Ebira were no doubt severely punished during the expedition and were found very afraid of the White man.

With the defeat of our people, the British then imposed their rule on us, politically uniting the various clans by force. During the British occupation of our land, Agidi Ukako, one of the notable personalities among the Ebiras, led an armed resistance against any form of British rule. In 1902, he and his men attacked the small British group led by Mr. Malcom, the political officer, who barely escaped death. After this event, Ebiraland was declared a land of savages and Mr Malcom ordered a detachment of the West African Frontier's Force (WAFF) to sit among our people in order to tame them.

In 1903, a punitive expedition under Major Marsh, Lieutenants Sparrenbarg, Moran, Byng-Hall, Gallway, Smith, Oldman and Captain Lewis, was organised to call Agidi Ukako to order and to establish permanent peace in Ebiraland. In this expedition, the British received the whole hearted cooperation of Omadivi, who was the representative of Ohindase Abogunde  the chief priest at the time. Omadivi, like Ohindase, was from the Okengwe clan.

Omadivi supplied vital information, most especially on how to capture Agidi who was his political rival. In fact, both Omadivi and Agidi Ukako were notable personalities or influential individuals in the Ebira of that time. While the former was loyal to the chief priest, the latter was not.

By 1904, Ebiraland was fully pacified and Mr. Morgan, the Resident of Kabba Province, was able to say with confidence that the Ebira people now feared the White man and were at peace with each other.

 *HOW EBIRAS ARE SPREAD*

Members of the various clans in Ebiraland are descendants of the children of Itaazi. Adaviruku Ohizi had five children who are progenitors of the five traditional Adavi clans named after them. These are upopo-uvete (Apasi), Uka, Idu (Aniku), Adeyika and Uhwami. A migrant group from Eganyi known as Ezi-Onogu clan is also found in Adavi.

Uga of Okengwe had two sons whose children constitute the present Okovi and Agada group of clans. Due to a sizeable concentration of other Ebira clans in Okengwe district, they formed a socio-political coalition known as Ada-Ehi.

The sons of Ododo who are the ancestors of Okehi clans were Okovi Oviri and Enwgukonyai. Obaji the founder of Eika had ten children named Ohiaga, Iyewe, Avassa, Ehemi, Anchi, Epoto, Egiri, Ubobo, Ogu and Eyire.

Ochuga had six children and their descendants make up the six clans in Ihima. These are Emani, Idu-Oha, Ohueta, Ure, Ohongwa and Odumi. The seventh clan is Akuta who migrated from Okengwe.

Though Itaazis daughter named Ohunene was the founder of Eganyi, not all the clans there are descended from her. Eganyi clans are Ede, Esugu, Eheda, Ogu, Onoko, Idu, Anavapa and Ogodo.

The Aningere who are skilled craftsmen are found in all districts. They are, however, more concentrated in Okengwe and Adavi districts.

 *WHAT IS WORTH MENTIONING ACCORDING TO TOM ADABA (2010)*

The history of our heroes past, our ancestors who have left this proud legacy for us cannot be recounted today. Where are the Ozumis, the Odimboros, the Obeges, the Otases, the Okinos, the Ichimiris, the Iya Egbes, and in the last 50  100 years  Alhaji Ibrahim Onoruoiza Atta  the architect of modern Ebira, Adobo  the hunter, and in the political arena, Joseph A G Ohiani, George Uru Ohikere, Raphael Ojeba, William Omo, Mohammed Kokori Abdul, Ahmadu Badamasuyi, Onono  the women leader etc, who have helped in shaping modern Ebira?

What of our esteemed nationalists like Raji Abdallah, Abdul Maliki, Abdul Azeez Atta and our other sons and daughters who have been outstanding in their various areas of calling, Dr Mumuni Atta, Albert O. Ozigi, Isa Abonyi Obaro, Judith Atta or artistes like Umojiri, Kekere Usungwe, Audu Echori, Isa Danga, Momoh Ajagu, and countless others. What do we know of them today? These are people whose contributions to our history and literature should be documented, and transmitted from generation to generation.

Their heroic exploits deserve to be emulated because of their iconic value. May this serve as a challenge to our historians, anthropologist, social scientists, and to anyone committed to the past and the future of Ebira to address.

 *EBIRA HEROES AND HEROINES*

I'm proud to announce that most of our ancestors have played historic roles in the land. Among some of them are as follows:

Ododo and Obaji, Anahono Obege, Zainab Iyebe, Alhaji Onoruoiza Aragaraga Ibrahim, Alhaji Ado Ibrahim, the late Obobanyi of Ihima, the late Asema of Adavi, the late Umoru Ireyi of Eika, the late custodian of Ogugureba Otaru in the name of Ichimiri, Salawu Kekere Ogido of Usungwe, Alhaji Muhammadu Sani Omolori, Alhaji Abdul kokori Ochere, Chief Joseph Ohiani (Ijoo), Williams Omo (Iwillie), Rapheal Ojeba, Opata and Arimoh of Ihima and Ohunene.

We also have heroic personalities as Ochuga, Owudah Adidi, Ijokaiye and Onukaba of Obangede, the custodian of Oratauvo and Audu Omechori of Ihima, the custodians of Achewuru and Okevere night masquerades in the persons of Ebira philosophers Ajagu Obeito and Isa Danga, the late Okasime, Alhaji Ahmadu Rufai of Okaito and Sule Adeiku of Okengwe, Sheikh Ahmadu Rufai, the hitherto custodian of Adokita, now Alhaji Musa, the late custodian of Akoko Ihima and Damisa Ejivade.

Others are the hitherto custodian of Ichakoro of Ihima, Abu, the late Salawu Ofelele and Itopa Ukuroko (David Ejor), Abdul Maliki and Abdul Aziz Attah, George Uru Ohikere, Raji Abdallah, the late Abdulrahaman Okene and Aliyu Attah, General Salihu Ibrahim, Alhaji Adamu Attah, Chief Ogidi, the custodian of Onogidi Kuroko, the Custodian of Odumi of Ogaminana, Okino, Alhaji Shehu Galadima, Abonyi Obaro, the late A. T. Ahmed. I won't forget Dio Ozi Niger neither will I forget the custodians, Otaru Yusuf Adabenege and Yakubu Sanni of Aneku Sementy and Aneku Irenuohi of Odenku.

Some of the recent heroes are: Prof. Y. O. Aliu, Prof. Nuhu Yaqub, Judith Atta, Alhaji Musa Etudaiye, Dr. Abdlrahaman Musa Adeiza, Prof. M. J. Yusuf, Alhaji Yahaya Adoza Bello, Alhaji Y. A. Ibrahim, Saka Raji Audu, Alhaji Abubakar Aliu (A. A. Oil) and Hon. Abubakar Sadiq Ohere, etc.

 *WHAT MADE SOME OF THEM HEROES AND HEROINES*

 *ODODO AND OBAJI:* They are said to have descended from these two great ancestors who were said to be brothers. These two great ancestors are greatest heroes of Ebiraland because they set all the moral standards by which we lived before the coming of Christianity and Islam that approved or confirmed some of the ethics and rules.

They also established dos and donts and prescribed the appropriate punishments for the violators/offenders and other deviants in the then Ebira society.

 *OBEGE:* Obege was said to be a great medicine man. He used his magical power to solve peoples problems and did not cause any problem for anybody. He cured all sorts of ailments, made the barren fertile (solving barrenness of couples) and also appeased God on behalf of the people for rains to fall whenever there was unexpected drought in Ebiraland. He attempted to reach God through the long thread contributed by the people and came back through the earth to the ground when the long thread on the ground was exhausted. As a result of the mystery surrounding how his grave opened in the centre of flat rock by itself and closed by itself after burial, Achewuru sang a song, lamenting that if the Ebiras had known, they would have designated his grave yard as a tourist attraction where he believed that some Muslim Pilgrims after visiting Medina would have thought of going there to also pay homage!

 *ZAINAB IYEBE:* She was the mother of Attah of Ebiraland. She was a big time business woman who travelled far and wide. She also understood and spoke many languages. She is our first heroine by any standard used, first by giving birth to such a colossus as the Attah of Ebiraland and secondly, by being instrumental in the emergence of her son as the first and only Attah of Ebiraland at the young age of seventeen years.

 *ALHAJI ONORUOIZA ARAGARAGA LEREMA IBRAHIM:* He was the first and only Attah of Ebiraland who came to the throne in 1917 and ruled for several decades. His reign witnessed visible developments like roads construction within and outside Ebiraland, construction of Water Works and the building of the Ebira Central Mosque. The Ebira Central Mosque at the time of its construction was second of its kind after Ibadan Central Mosque in Nigeria. He was the first Ebira man to go to Mecca in 1929/1930.

 *ALHAJI ABDULRAHMAN ADO IBRAHIM:* He is the present Ohinoyi of Ebiraland since the demise of Alhaji Muhammadu Sani Omolori. He is a great philanthropist, buying motor-cycles, motors for people and sponsoring people to go to Mecca. The custodian of Achewuru, Ajagu Obeito, Alhaji Ahmadu Rufai, Alhaji Sule Adeiku and others all sang songs to praise him for extending such benevolence to them. His Azhad palace in Okene, Kogi state was the second of its kind in Africa when it was built. It was second to the palace of the Egyptian Monarch then.

 *ALHAJI A. T. AHMED:* He helped a lot of young vibrant Ebira people and even other people of non Ebira extraction to get job when he was managing Director of Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN). Even as a Senator representing Kogi Central at the Senate, he helped a lot of people one way or the other. He is a hero of our time because he was the first Ebira man to confront the Igalas over their monopoly of political leadership of Kogi state for over 20 years. Therefore, he was a pace-setter in the struggle for political leadership in Kogi state. It is said that any time somebody wanted to thank Alhaji Ibrahim Mamman for getting job for him or her or so when he was also the MD of FAAN, he was always reported to have directed such people to look for A. T. Ahmed and offer their thanks to him for first helping him there before he became the M.D. of FAAN.

 *ALHAJI SHEHU GALADIMA:* He was selected as the Chief Imam of Ebira Central Mosque through divine intervention by God when there was a crisis over the position of the chief Imamship of Ebira Central Mosque. Since then, he had never disappointed the Ebiras because peace and unity of the Ebiras have been the hallmarks of his sermons over these decades. May his gentle soul continue to Rest in Peace.

 *PROFESSOR NUHU YAQUB:* He is one of the early professors the Ebiras could boast of. He was two times Vice-Chancellor of Usman Dan Fodio University, Sokoto and one time Vice-Chancellor University of Abuja.

 *ALHAJI YAHAYA ADOZA BELLO:* He is the Executive Governor of Kogi State and we hail him as one of our greatest heroes. This is because he is the one God has chosen as a symbol of the answer of our prayer for power shift to Ebira since we gave what belonged to us to an ungrateful and greedy people whom we had thought  are people of understanding.

 *ALHAJI Y. A. IBRAHIM:* He was the first Ebira man to become a Registrar of a University in Nigeria. He was Registrar of Bayero University, Kano for 19 solid years (1975-1995). During this long period of his selfless service to humanity, he helped many Ebira people in admission and work among other people of different extraction.

 *ATTA OMADIVI ABONIKA:* He was the Ebira war commander during the 1885 Ajinimo War (Nupe invasion of Ebiraland on which Ebira defeated Nupe.

 *THE VALUES AND LOSS OF MOONLIGHT STORIES*

According to Tom Adaba (2010), storytelling is one medium of disseminating morals and values of a people and their culture from generation to generation. The use of literary expressions through rhythms and rhymes, proverbs and parables, songs and symbols enrich the language of a people. Stories with morals that depicted honesty, heroism, hard-work etc were told to children at home under moonlight and in schools during school hours.

He posited that today, all of the above are absent and indeed loudly yearn for a revival. He appreciated the rat-race that our present circumstances have subjected us to but believed it was untenable that this fundamental agent of acculturation has been dropped in schools. He recommended it must be revived in our educational syllabus and must equally be be re-introduced at our homes no matter how minimal.

 *CONCLUSION*

Permit me to borrow the words of Dr. Tom Adaba as the following questions of his have not been answered since 2010:

How many of us or our children can speak Ebira language, and dare I ask, fluently?

Are there any Ebira folklores that we know? How many know our answer to Titinkori?

Which traditional festivals do we celebrate in Ebiraland today?

What are our defined norms or traditional patterns for celebrating birth, marriage or death?

There used to be a ritual for the young persons assumption of maturity  oyi su abara. What has become of it?

 *When the labourer is praised, his cutlass begins to cut more keenly. I thank you most sincerely once again in the recognition accorded me this night.*

Farouk Ozigi Onimisi
NCE-English Double Major
BA.ED. English Language/Education (in view)