IKWERRES ARE IGBOS
Last week, a major ethnic group in Rivers State known as Ikwerre, through its Social -Cultural Organisation, the Ogbakor Ikwerre issued an annoying statement denouncing the paternity and origin of one of its illustrious sons, Senator John Azuta Mbata for the mere reason that he (Mbata) accepted the post of President-General of the Ohaneze Ndigbo Worldwide. They not only “expelled” him from the community but also withdrew his membership of the Ogbakor Ikwere and declared him a stranger to Ikwerre Land
Senator Mbata was on January 10, 2025 elected the new President -General of the Ohaneze Ndigbo at a forum held in Enugu the zonal capital of the South East. The election was witnessed by key stakeholders in Igboland including the governors of the five south East states of Anambra, Enugu, Ebonyi, Imo and Abia states. He took over from Chief Ozichukwu Chukwu who had been acting in that capacity since the death of the former P-G Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu last year.
In a statement jointly signed by the President- General Eze Barr. Godspower Onuekwa and the Secretary-General Barr. Nyebuchi Philips, the Ogbakor Ikwerre Cultural Organisation Worldwide, on behalf of the Ikwerre Ethnic Nationality in Rivers State, said after a passionate and exhaustive review of what they described as “sacrilegious action” of Senator John Azuta Mbata becoming the President-General of Ohanaeze Ndi Igbo, wishes to state in no unambiguous and uncertain terms as follows:
(1) That Senator John Azuta Mbata has the inalienable right to belong to any association of his choice in Nigeria as enshrined in Section 40 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
(2) That by becoming the President-General of Ohanaeze Ndi Igbo, an exclusive organization of Igbo people, he has willingly and freely renounced his membership and identity with the Ikwerre people (Iwhuruohna).
(3) That his action is not the collective view, will, position, or thinking of Eneka Community, Apara Kingdom, and the entire Ikwerre Ethnic Nationality.
(4) That having freely taken a position to be an Igbo man, and to occupy the position of President-General of Ohanaeze Ndi Igbo, the Ogbakor Ikwerre Cultural Organisation Worldwide unreservedly and unequivocally disclaims and denounces his action; as such action is his private decision taken without the consent of his community, kingdom, and Iwhuruohna.
(5) That as an Igbo man, he is now seen, regarded, and declared as a stranger living in Ikwerre land. Therefore, he has been barred from participating in any Iwhuruohna gathering, meetings, or political representation starting from his Eneka Community, Apara Kingdom, and Ogbakor Ikwerre Cultural Organisation Worldwide.
(6) That all awards, honors, and titles bestowed on him by any organization in Ikwerre are hereby withdrawn.
(7) That we call on the international community, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara, GSSRS, HRM Eze A. A. Worlu-Wodo DSSRS, JP, Chairman of Rivers State Council of Traditional Rulers, and all lovers of Iwhuruohna to note that Senator John Azuta Mbata has ceased to represent, speak, or act on behalf of the Ikwerre Ethnic Nationality.
(8) That heavy and appropriate sanctions await those who betray and sell out their Ikwerre identity on a platter of political expediency and a mere mess of porridge, according to Ikwerre custom and tradition.
Mbata, an Ikwerre Indigene, represented the people of Rivers East (predominantly Ikwerre ) at the National Assembly.
From available information, what is at the heart of the issue is the flexing of muscles by the Rivers State governor Similari Fubara and his predecessor and now Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Chief Nyesom Wike. While Fubara is Ijaw, Wike is Ikwerre like Mbata. Both Wike and Mbata were said to be very close friends until recently when Rivers political crisis tore them apart with Mbata backing Fubara against his kinsman Wike. Gov. Fubara is said to have given Mbata full support for the post knowing the benefits the state would gain from Mbata being the first Rivers State man to occupy such exalted office of President-General of Ohaneze Ndigbo Worldwide. Wike apart from denying his Igbo origin on several occasions, was said not to be pleased with Mbata’s emergence and the political exposure it would give him and Fubara and vowed to work against it. Unfortunately, he failed. Hence, the statement by the Ogbakor Ikwerre Organization is therefore seen as a last ditch effort by the pro-Wike group to humiliate Sen, Mbata.
But all said and done, the fact remains that both Wike, Mbata and indeed the entire Ikwerre people are Igbos. This is because, history they say, tell no lies. Several Ikwerre indigenes including former Secretary-General of the Ohaneze Ndigbo Worldwide, Dim Uche Okwukwu and the father of late MD/CEO of Access Bank Herbert Wigwe had maintained that the Ikwerre people of Rivers state are Igbos. In. fact, Chief Wigwe joyfully received the Ohaneze Ndigbo leadership led by the late P-G, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu in his Ikwerre home when they paid him a condolence visit over the death of his son and his wife.
According to Okwukwu, “God created the Igbo of which the Ikwerre are a proud part, and the ethnic-cleansing re-creations by man since the civil war should come to a close. Ikwerre are neither ‘Igboid’, nearly, almost, related to, like, resembling or partly Igbo; the Ikwerre are Igbo, originally and entirely till eternity.
“We understand that with the current prospect of a Rivers Igbo becoming the Ohanaeze President-General come January 2025, everything is in high gear in some circles to undermine this possibility of reuniting the Igbo, with one fifth columnist after another procured to vow non-Igboness of Igbo-speaking Rivers peoples, just in order to breach the Ohanaeze constitution and deny the Rivers Igbo the PG rotation.
“Hence, of all Igbo groups, the re-assembling of efforts to restart de-Igbonizing those along the Igbo contiguity to the coast is quite understandable. But, those Ikwerre elements who derive pleasure in extracting the Ikwerre from their kith and kin should address or answer the following before the Ikwerre, Igbo, Nigeria, and the world”, he said
Records show that Igbos, including the Ikwerre have related with Europeans at least since the 15th century and the interactions are well documented.
Those ‘we are not Igbo’ or “we are no more Igbo’ traitors and fifth columnists among the Ikwerre people should show Nigerians and all the world, a single document, not even two or more, where the word ‘Ikwerre’ exists in the Igbo, Eastern, European or Nigerian lexicon or records before the early decades of the 20th century as a distinct ethnic group, race, unrelated to igbo.
This sudden outburst is selfish only manufactured for economic and political ends. As late as 1957, Chief Joseph Wobo stated before the Henry Willink Commission that ‘Ikwerre’ are Igbo and, from Port harcourt to Onitsha is Igbo land. Based on evidence before it, the commission found that Ikwerre are Igbo.
Let them point to a single document in Benin history that remotely mentioned ‘Ikwerre’ or ‘Iwhnurohna’ as people they either knew or related with at any point in the history of the great Benin peoples.
This is important because one of the many insults that the Ikwerre and other Rivers and coastal Igbo peoples are humiliated with by some of their own is procuring all manner of pliable entities to concoct falsehoods of Ikwerre or other riverine Igbo departing Benin during the reign of Oba Ewuare (1440-1473), This is the nonsensical narrative that the “we are not Igbo” champions like THE Ogbakor Ikwerre socio=cultural organization force through the throats of Ikwerre youths.
Countless records exist about Igbo presence from Igweocha down to the coast, long before Ewuare. In effect, the organization and its funders are inadvertently revealing that it was the ‘Ikwerre Benin migrants’ that met the already thriving Igbo in meridional Igboland and not the other way round as falsely implied by self-contradicting entities like one Dr. Okahchukwu, who commanded the Igbo to mind ‘their five states;’ in his educated illiteracy equating political with ethnolinguistic boundaries”.
Okwukwu had stated thus: “Yes, there was a civil war, in which coastal ports and broad sea lanes, especially Port Harcourt to Bonny were blockaded to preclude rebel arms importations; there was Abandoned Property too that seized what was developed with scarce, often borrowed funds”.
But it is a truism that not a single Rivers Igbo leader, be they Amabibi Nsirim, Emmanuel Aguma, Francis Ellah, Jackson Mpi, Nwaobidike Nwanodi, Obi Wali, Eze C.C Nwuche and Dr. Eze Nwala all of them close friends and allies of Zik never supported those ethnic-cleansing programs against both the Rivers Igbo that refused to purge themselves of the sins of being Igbo and their hinterland kith and kin that the world thought were the sole targets.
For emphasis, Ogbakor Ikwerre should be bold to tell us their name before the Igbos changed it. Their statement against their own brother Senator Mbata is uncalled for and he deserves an apology from them.
However, whatever the state of the matter, one issue was reignited all over again. It is the issue of the ethnic identity of the Ikwerre. Are they Igbo or a distinct ethnic group?
There are basically two sides to the Ikwerre identity contention. There are the Ikwerre public figures and politicians on one hand, and their Igbo counterparts on the other.
Having said this much, one issue sticks out. It is that, in all these verbal identity firefights, it is politicians and public figures that are making claims and counterclaims. Of course, as is indicated with Nigerian politicians and so-called public personae, their claims are just ‘verbal,’ largely without content or logic. The fact of this afflicts both sides.
Perhaps, in street language the belligerents may be said to be ‘wracking’ sense.
To all this there is one unseen implication. It is yet another proof of the failure of scholarship and the lack of the scientific spirit. Simply put, it is not within the domain knowledge of the typical politician to know who he is and which ethnic group he belongs to.
In other words, Nyesom Wike, a lawyer and current FCT Minister , is not in a position to scientifically state he is Igbo or otherwise. The same holds true for others in the fact of Ikwerre being Igbo or not. Of course, as Chinua Achebe says, the lore of the land is beyond the knowledge of many fathers.
The following is worthy of note. Before the coming of modern science, aka the invention of DNA sequencing and other tools, determining the ethnicity of a people was the province of historians, linguists, sociologists and anthropologists. It was essentially a scholarly enterprise, not the calling of street or popular jingoists.
Today, questions of ethnic certifications are easily resolved by science. That’s to say, sociologists, linguists, etc, have largely been retired out of the job of determining the ethnicity of a people. DNA sequencing and thus fixing the genetic relatedness of two parties or groups is a matter as scientific proof. But what is astonishing in all these verbal altercations is that none of the parties in the issue is calling for the final and irrevocable resolution of the matter, DNA testing. One is thus tempted to ask: Are there things these men know that they are keeping behind the curtains?
Some historical examples may help. In the beginning, Ethiopian Falashas were crying out that they were Jews, but nobody cared. Later, Israelis sent in their scholars, historians, linguists, DNA experts, etc, and immediately the matter was resolved. And the rest is history. Readers, may find this link interesting: https://
What are we saying? It is that it is not outside the realm of the possible for the Ikwerre not to be Igbo. However, the proof or otherwise of that state of being is outside the remit of politicians, no matter how powerful. The affirming or disaffirming of that state of being is in the turfs of scientists, historians, biologists, etc.
Finally, can any Ikwerre man or woman denier or affirmer his or her Igboness volunteer a sample? A DNA-carrying sample, say a sputum of saliva? That is the right answer we need.
“God created the Igbo of which the Ikwerre are a proud part, and the ethnic-cleansing re-creations by man since the civil war should come to a close. Ikwerre are neither ‘Igboid’, nearly, almost, related to, like, resembling or partly Igbo; the Ikwerre are Igbo, originally and entirely till eternity”