PATTERNS OF VILLAGE SETTLEMENT
What is O kwa Nkporo (ikwa Hu/getting accustomed to, or getting stabilized in, Nkporo) - not, "Okwara Nkporo" - consisting aft accustomed to, c st a Butana: Who in What is O Kwar Nkporo (ikwa hu/getting accustomed to, or getting stabilized in, Nkporo) Etitiama, and why 7 instead of 8 or more stones?
The O Kwar Nkporo was neither immediately erected at settlement, nor were all the 7 stones put there fron the beginning. Indeed, the stones originally represented major lineages or sections of the same ancestor, not villages, as such, because Nkporo in the beginning essentially consisted of liner ges of the Iwo family, which only in due course evolved into separate villages. What o curred was that each time the ritual was being re-energized, a stone was added to represent a new section or lineage that had developed into a distinct entity, so as to render impotent any ill-omen that might wish to trail or pursue it from behind its route. In ancient times, when self-styled Christians had not tampered with it, no evil charm or preparation could cross Achi Isi Afo without losing its potency. It is awe-inspiring, the unparalled efforts made by the Nkporo ancestors to secure their offspring from any harm. Their concerns should be clearly understood, given the titanic struggles they underwent along the way to the Promised Land. There used to be claims by some people from Nde Oji, that she killed Afachima Achi, instead of creating the O Kwar Nkporo. The claim was, of course, unnecessary, for it was clearly false, maybe without the intention to actually tell a lie, for the truth and weight of evidence, as already stated on pages 68 and 98, is on the side of Nde Oji creating the O Kwar Ntporo which, in any case, was not a small feat. Without disclosing the intention, we had separately asked the offspring of both sections of Etitiama to trace their genealogies up to their settlement at Nkporo: while Amacke traced to about the thirteenth generation, Nde Oji traced only to the sixth. It was the older arrival that should have invited the newer arrival to join him. Another factor upholding the prior origin of Amaeke before Nde Oji is that a certain Itoghobi who introduced the Egbela heroic society into Etitiama had inhabited Nde Oji with Oj Umokwo and, regardless of who was there before the other, the fact that both of them had something to do with the refined Egbela, which was a post-settlement introduction to Nkporo culture, once again partly suggests that both groups were also later-day additions to the Nkporo family. Again, Amaeke had established the Jibia institution in Nkporo, and for a long time headquartered it. That Jibja institution owed its origin to the victory over Afachima Achi, and whoever was behind that victory would also be the one to acquire and exploit the secrets of Afachima Achi, added to his own, to establish a Jibia institution., he would, of course, also be the one that could testify of any relations at Uturu that might be invited to perform an O Kwar Noporo ritual much later. The illustrious Ekenta, after whom his equally great son, Agwu I, influenced both by the stream as well as such other factors as the need for independent existence (Agbaja), and the outcome of the Ogiri War (Okwoko). The present eight villages and, apart from kwa, even their names, were founded after, not before the settlement in Nkporo, and it is regrettable that Mr. Ude, an Nkporo man, would not know this elementary truth about his community. This does not mean that lineages had not priorly existed that would later form the eight different villages, which might, for example, make us say that "Ukwa moulded the swords that killed Afachima Achi", "Obuofia lived at Ugwu-Akparata", and so on - not that such villages had existed at the time of the events., it simply means that the actors came from such lineages. There was no way that the Nkporo people at Ebiriba or Ugwu Agbala would have anticipated that there would be a future village in generations or more than one hundred years to come that would be called Okwoko, Amurie, Obuofia, Elughu, Etitiama, Nde Nko, Agbaja, or even kwa. This is different from attempts by the Nkporo people to recall some of their previous settlements along the migratory routes, such as the naming of some of the first compounds in Etitiama after Obichie, recalling the Obichie they had established at Thechiowa., and of course, the repetition of the name "Ukwa", which had already appeared many times along the way. As already implied, what was confusing to Mr. Ude was that even prior to the arrival at Nkporo, there had been continuously expanding lineages and segmentations within the Ezeaja family, and since these segmentations eventually became the bases of the formation of some villages or their sections, it makes it appear as if our present villages had already formed in the course of migration. On the other hand, Mr. Ekeghe was correctly referring to the villages already founded by Nkporo at Ebiriba, which, of course, were not necessarily translated into the villages founded by Nkporo after settlement in Nkporo. Mr. Emeghe's words only confirm the great extent that Nkporo had developed Ebiriba before departure, an extensive development which started even before the arrival of the main body of the Ebiriba people, and which also constituted a source of good brotherly relations between the two even after the exodus from Ebiriba. These excellent brotherly relations unfortunately got mixed up with the contradictions of Western colonial capital accumulation, which created in almost all previously peace-loving and cooperating communities in the Igbo society a souring of relations over territorial disputes, political misrepresentations, and divers mutual accusations, whether true or false, of un-brotherly treatment of business apprentices, farm produce sellers, etc., etc. But, reports everywhere in the early 21" century appear to suggest a renewed consciousness among Ebiriba, Nkporo and Ohafia peoples, for overcoming any negative post-colonial territorially induced contradictions of the past, in favour of restoring the age-old sanguinary and covenanted relations created by their ancestors, and justifying membership in a created by their ancestors, and justifying membership in a common Local Government Area.
AGBAJA VILLAGE
 The popular village square and site of the Omali created by the great King Ise Ohara. The Order of Reigns in Agbaja and Etitiama, the estimated times of the Alaokes and Ise Ohara, the fact of Agbaja being a product of a supplementary (not main) Ogiri War, transferred oral testimonies, and reliable genealogical charts, combined to produce Agbaja's rise at c.1780 AD, one generation after the main Ogiri War, or two before the emergence of Amurie as a distinct village from Etitiama - even though the Amurie zone had been experiencing a continous inflow of peoples before then, some of whom later found their ways into Agbaja and other villages. 1. Origin And Meaning Of Name: From one standpoint, the meaning of Agbaja is almost opposite to that of Okwoko for, while the latter probably signified the excess of water (Rooding), Aglaja, was claimed to sighily is searcity, whether in terms of distance from the source or in terms of the great effort dissipated in fetching it. Hence, the label algbaja, nde uto mini (Agbaja, the water scarcity people?. There is also one notion that the hame is related either to some migratory events, or to Other Akbaas in lebo land, especially Enugu State. This might also be true if it is intended to suggest that the distant Agbajas are related to the Nkporo Asbaja (that is, they migrated from here), and not Nkporo Agbaja related to them - because Agbaja, like the seven other Nkporo villages, was part and parcel of the original woo blood and migration, and like Okwoke, a substantially peaceful child of the ever-expanding sanguinary family. There appear to be tens of other Agbaias in leboland, and this should be one element of an expanded research by educated youths, certainly the same way as the names "Nkporo" Ultawa", and so on. There was, however, another plausible story, but which contradicts the fresoing According to the versatile Chief Ogbul Egwu Mang, the Okpa-uka Sho I ate aste, foregoing. According to the versatile Chief Ofbou Eee M, nicaning a sandy slope, later caled "GBAJA" the middle letter O° having dropped. This version seems as true as the first, and both may be correct, for an elder at Etitiama had testified that the reference to uk mini arose from Inite at O konta U/ta Cr so Where A gbaja pieople experienced enormous water scarcity. II. Founders: 1. Official Founder: Alaoke Arunsi Ekpu of Nde Egwuonwu., close cousin to the founder of Okwoko, Alaoke Arunsi Oji, grandson to Oji Alaoke Enya, the 3rd post-O Kwar Nkporo ruler of Etitiama - see pp. 160 and 197. 2. Other Founders: Esere Ukpabi, Udeji Itiri-nta. Like the other villages, Agbaja was founded from Etitiama, by Alaoke Arunsi Ekpu. As in Okwoko, the Nkporo people as a whole, in direct support of their son Alaoke Arunsi Ekpu and his children, applauded the creation of Agbaja, the Alaoke having been one of the many offspring of Nkporo Okwo-Nkwoghoro since Ama Mpoto. Even though ignored in some narratives, there is little doubt that this Alaoke was from the same sanguinary stock with the Alaoke Arunsi Oji that founded Okwoko, and his grandfather Alaoke Enya that founded Nde Aleke Etitiama. It is very significant that most of the adult lives of the three Alaokes was spent in Etitiama, which at the time substantially constituted what was Nkporo (see pp. 199). Thus, the exactly identical names of the three Alaokes were not merely coincidental, contrary to a few opinions. Alaoke was not, and is not a common name, and till today, is found nowhere else in Nkporo and Igbo society except with people connected to Etitiama. An elder at Nde-agbo had imagined that Alaoke Arunsi Oji migrated from Eru (Arochukwu), but another elder, echoed by Prince Kalu Esowo, confirmed that that "Eru" was no other place than Nde Aleke Etitiama. Thus, "Alaoke" was a great ancestral family name, and possibly also a special royal title, whose later offspring decided to restore through their children, Yet, to some other elders, "Alaoke" was a family alias denoting some great feat, and the original bearers of the great alias had actually been either close cousins or of the same parentage, grandparentage etc., but so dear to both as to warrant the desire to name the offspring after them - and this is not unusual in the Ogboo or namesake tradition of the Cross River Igbos. Whatever the ancient details, it was generally agreed that "Alaoke" was of Etitiama origin, probably with Umuhu Ezechiebulu connection, and being a special, instead of general name in Nkporo, it could thus have been a means of identifying members of a family facing either a common task or a common danger and, therefore, maybe in flight for their lives, as were all the Alaokes, whose migration into or presence in Nkporo, were only established between the 9 Kwar Nkporo and the Agha Ogiri. There is also a significant Amurie presence in Agbaja, but this was a much later development, long after the founding and settlement of the village by Alaoke Arunsi Ekpu and his group, even though as time went on, a relationship with Amurie appeared to become of greater interest to some Agbaja influential people, pioncered by Elder Emeta Ogu, whose in-laws were from Amurie. These details are not too important, because all the actors are Nkporo people, but they serve to illustrate the total originality and INkporoness of Agbaja, both in its founding and in its later development. It is also essential to note that Agbaja owed her emergence, in part, to similar circumstances as Okwoko - the Ogiri War or expansionist and security factor - and the united Nkporo effort to solve it. Most of the early migrants into Agbaja, according to Chief Lekwa Egbuta, used to live at Okonta Uta at A tua a nwua (pronounced atyaa-swuaa, literally "farm and die") in Etitiama. It was from there that one Ute Nka, sometimes mis-pronounced Uta Oku, an Etitiama man and hunter of monkeys at the forests around what came to be Agbaja, discovered that some strange people also roamed around the same wilds. They were the Ogiri, most of who had been driven away from Ifuogo Okwok to the more interior jungles nearer to today's Agbaja, and still occupying large parts of the area. The people were not particularly very friendly or seen to be so, maybe as a part consequence of the lingering grievances arising from the earlier main Ogiri War. So, Ute Nka came and complained to his Etitiama fathers. Etitiama sent a word to Elughu and other Nkporo people, and they moved to expel the Ogiri from there, making it possible for Alaoke Arunsi Ekpu, Ute Nka, and those they led, to leave A tua a nwua, move through Agbala-ukwu, and inhabit \gbaja peacefully afterwards, together with those who later continued to move into Agbaja fiom the various villages of Nkporo and beyond. Sometime afterwards, Etitiama sent Ise Ohara (actual name, Egbiri Agba), ancestor to late Chief Imo Ugwu, to perforn the (do O na-ali ritual to enable the Ezeaja sons and daughters in Agbaja stay permanently and securely. (Oma-ali is a ritual which starts by digging a round hole, which is subsequently sauctified, sometimes involving human parts, to create an Ali-ogo to enable a previously migrant or new group achieve a peaceful permanent occupation of a place of their choosing - this was the intention of the O Kwar Nkporo, for all of the Nkporo clan, which became replicated at the village levels as the Oma-ali). We moved to verify the Chief Lekwa Egbuta story from three independent sources. At Elughu, the Ezeaja Ogbuu Arunsi confirmed that Alaoke Arunsi Ekpu opened Agbaja. At Agbaja itself, an important Courtier and mason by profession, Mr. Ezikpe Njoku Ojukwu on Saturday, November 22, 2003, stated that the founder of Agbaja from the last transit camp, Agbala-ukwu, was Ute Nka, a hunter., that he opened the Nde Ude Compound, and was actually the first King of Agbaja, except that he boycotted the office (he did not explain why Ute Nka boycotted the office). Not satisfied with the depth and precision of knowledge exhibited by Mr. Ezikpe, we made several efforts to interview Chief 0. E. Mang who, on Friday, December 12, 2003, volunteered a written statement on the subject, herein reproduced in full without editing - meaning that many spelling and grammatical errors are left the way they were given…
AMURIE VILLAGE
Two competing Omali/lfugo, the one (r) by Dike Esere, the other by Oba Nnachi, both testifying to the 
Despite clear knowledge on how she emerged, the problems posed by studies on Amurie resembled those on Okwok in at least one respect: some discrepancy between what is known by the other villages, and what is officially maintained by some portions of Amurie in terms of origin and migration, founders, royal tradition, peneral place in Nkporo bieory sad, in particular, claims to the Breaja Crown. However, in none of these factors can any ering notions be effectively sustained forever, or Amurie be lesser Nkpore than ethers, en disadvantaged in any way by accurate history. After all shades of opinion, it was easy to set thes the progressive elements in Amarie are winning the debate, not only because they ate in tie majority, but because they desire the truth, even though by 2005, are yet to addrews the Breas issue and the unnecessary resources lost on it. That progressive and more powerful wing would certainly do so in future, to the good, not only of Amurie, but also of Nkporo as a whole. 1. Origin And Meaning Of Name: Amurie is an elliptical mutation of Ama-Urie, a square where mostly women were decorated with the urie beauty substanee., it also necessarily implies tho urie trees were found there. It was an ama (square), not ogo (village), showing, like Elsame (instead of Etiti-ogo or ogo-Etiti), that the two villages acquired the names when they had mos been known to each other or to others as separate villages, but were simply aspects of a single settlement, with references made sither to "etiff" or "urie", depending on what part of the settlement ('ama") that one was referring to. The fact that Britain and A mure were of grally a single settlement originating in Etitiama, and that one part, Amurie, later evolved to become 3 distinct entity as a consequence of the expansion of the settlement, indicates nothing else that that the two villages, previously with no boundaries or dividing lines, should continue to build upon that solid four dation of the past, and in cooperation with others, help to re-unite and more Nkporo forward. It is quite revealing that of all the eight present and almost three extinct villages in Nkporo, caly the two have "ama" either as suffix (Etiti-ama) or prefix (Ama-urie) There are other "a'nas" in Nkporo, such as Ama-akwy (Ukwa, Agbaja), Ama-Afo (Etitiama), Ama-nkpo (Amu ie), Ama-ekwu (Okwoke), Ama-okwo (Obuofia), Ama-etiti (Elughu) and so on, because they were, like in the original cases of Etitiama and Amurie, also elements of a single settlement, not separate settlements or villages. But, for some reason, however, A ma-urie and Etiti-ama emerged as separate villages, with bigger and more diverse populations being a major factor. It was not Amurie alone that was affected by the growth of another village., Isieke and Nde Oji were originally separate from the ancient Elughu, but later became absorbed into a bigger Elughu community., because of contiguity, Ukwa-ukwu became absorbed by Obuofia, instead of the Ukwa that originally created it. The difference in these examples is that while Elughu and Obuofia were absorbing other entities, Etitiama in the beginning, was creating them. Amurie as an expansion of Eititama was neither a mystery to other Nkporo villages, nor diminishing of the esteem of Amurie, nor in the past a cause of bad blood between the two, nor unknown to or denied by Amurie elders - until growth engendered land hunger and territorial consciousness, and the politics of Chieftaincy engulfed the two communities, with difficult and complicated attempts that began to be made to alter history to fit into those ambitions. Proofs that Amurie was originally part of Etitiama, include: (1) Apart from the small Aka-agha-led small Ebiri group that took refuge at Ugwu Mma way, Etitiama was the only point of entry from Ugwu Agbala for all Nkporo peoples now spread in the 8 villages. (2) As already explained, each of the two villages was previously only an "ama" (square) of a single community, and Etitiama, among all the & Nkporo villages, is the one best known for using "ama" to characterize her sections. Hence, apart from Ama-Afo, it also has Ama-udu, Ama-elu, Ama- uty, Ama-eke, and it was not mysterious that it also called its latest addition or section, Ama-urie which. because of geography, etc., later on became a different village, incorporating also an Ama-nkpo, which was also an extension of Etitiama, partly through some Uturu-zone (e.g. Okoro Enekwu from Umuenekwu) and other migrants who were allocated the place by Etitiama. (3) A single Eke market day: if one side had not evolved from the other, it would certainly have created its separate market day: Etitiama did not evolve from Elughu, and Elughu not from Obugfia, so they could not have a sinele market day. Okwoke and Agbaja, after ively greations, had joined the darier established sinsle mank ofte Market, and all the three relatively Theunger Ezeaja fanniju, members tolsed, Ana in , and Agbaja) had smoothly incorporated themselves into the arrangement Of ourkoreathers that to facilitate commerce, culture and Sevemance, after an Eke (up/Elitiama), there would be an Orie (down/Ukwa), and then an Ato def/Elughu). If Amurie had established much earlier and was a separate village from Etitiama, it would either naturally have chosen the first day, Eke, of assigned an Orie, Afo, or Nkwo to herself, and let Etitiama join her market, and not her joining Elitiama as was the case. It may interest us to know that the ancient Eke market and its ogwumabiri, were both based inside the very heart of Etitiama (the Affa Eke Ochie at Agbala Ama-afo), and used freely by Amurie until the transfers from one new site to another, but especially since the mid-1980s when Amurie, justly provoked by Etitiama officialdom's hate-filled opposition to their own son, Hon. Barrister .O. Agwy had, in the heat of the bitterness, established a separate market. (4) If it is true that Amurie got any share of Afachima Achi's paraphernalia after various Compounds in Ukofia and, later, Nde Uwom had been given the first share to keep, it proves that either Amurie as a whole or some elements thereof, returned with Nkporo through Etitiama, and as in other parts of kporo and elsewhere, so long as there were no hostilities (and there's no proof of any between the two villages - the so-called Ogu Agba was an approved regular game, not a war, between them), those who returned together stayed together, at least until expansion occurred. In other words, if any parts of Amurie were a part of the Nkporo migration, it means that they were together with the others at Ugwu Agbala, at least up to Ugwu-oji Etitiama, and subsequently at Nchara-nta Izuike and Afia Eke Ochie. There is no tradition of division within the Nkporo people that arrived Etitiama (and there are claims in Amurie that she too came through Ugwu Agbala). Therefore, it is either that Amurie came together and stayed together with others, or that she didn't come together and didn't stay together with others. It cannot be both ways: a single choice has to be made, and there are implications for either. Yes, some people had been trying to solve this dilemma by suddenly creating three Ugwu Agbalas (one for Amurie, one for Etitiama, one for Elughu), but such a move cannot be sustained because it is neither factual nor reasonable - Until recent times - even up to now - partly because families in the two villages are inter-mixed, there was no actual boundary between Etitiama and her Amurie brother, and there ought not be. (6) Family lands ownership: many farm and other lands in Amurie, such as the fertile Olori, were never owned separately by the two villages, but in common by families in both Etitiama and Amurie, until Amurie, exploiting her geographical advantage over the Olori, and partly arising from an unfair provocation by Etitiama's unrepentant evil treatment of Hon. Barrister U. O. Agwu, who was supported by Amurie, seemingly started disliking their Etitiama relations participating further in farming those lands, with the Etitiama families calmly appearing to acquiesce for the sake of peace. But, the two villages can today demonstrate maturity by returning to those intra-family land relationships. (7) O Kwar Nkporo: Amurie is represented at the O Kwar Nkporo, and one of the Compounds through which it got the representation - Nde Mgba - is the nearest to (in fact, at the ezepfore of) Etitiama from the standpoint of Achi Isia Afo where the ritual is located. It will interest the reader to know that O Kwar Nkporo was originally representative of lineages, not villages as such, because the latter had not perfectly formed then. In the course of time, one family, Nde Mgba, eventually found itself geographically in Amurie, even though it had all along been an Etitiama Compound, the same way that Isieke later found herself in Elughu, even though she was intended for Obupfia, and Ukwa-ukwu geographically found herself in Obuofia, even though she was intended for Ukwa. (8) Irony Stream: If Amurie developed as a hostile neighbour to Etitiama, it is unlikely to have been crossing Etitiama to fetch water…
ELUGHU (ELU UGWU) VILLAGE. 
1700. The estimates were based on the fact that: the movement to Ururo Elughu was only a little after the arrival at Etitiama., and also the fact that the two cousins, Ikpemini Own Jire and Obu Offa Nkwo fuku Jire, had left Etitiama at almost the same time, with one stopping at Isieke and the other, across the stream. The Nde Oji date indicates that not everyone inhabited the same part of Ururo Elughu, orleft there together. Practical evidence and logic also establish that Aka-agha Osa arrived later than Ikpemini, whether or not they met each other immediately.
Origin And Meaning Of Name: From the standpoint of Etitiama, the present Elughu is on a lower ground, such that the name Elu Ugwu (Upon a Hill) must have been given before Elughu's arrival at the present location, probably when some people were still at Ugwu Ugbo-ntu or any of the several other hills before Elughu. The reason for staying on a hilltop was mostly strategic. It is also possible that it was the other Nkporo people gathered at Ali Okwury. now Etitiama, that gave them the name ("our brothers at Elu-ugwu", "I am going to Elu-ugwu, etc., etc.), because even though Elughu is on a lower ground relative to Etitiama, the place still looks like a hill from Amaelu, from where Elughu can be reached only after passing one or two hillocks. If so, and this is most likely and also generally supported by tradition, it confirms again that the mass exodus from Ugwu Agbala arrived Nkporo before the comparatively very little number from Ugwu Mma led by Aka-agha. There was also an additional story that some of the people that settled Elughu had travelled atop a hill at Ifusie, after lyi-nta, with some Nkporoegwu (Nkporo-egw) people, even setting up an eko after Onwosi at the head of the Irony stream. Either way, the conclusions remain generally the same that the Ezeaja at Elughu had arrived much later into Elughu, after his journey with the large Nkporo crowd that moved through Ugwu Agbala and Etitiama. II. Founders: (a) Official Founder: [woo-ukwu Ezeaja (He is also the official founder of the Nkporo clan, even as some details will be revealed for the sake of history, to show the great skill with which our ancestors managed their existence). Although we do not precisely know the particular Iwoo-ukwu that arrived Eziukwu Nde Okeewa, we know almost entirely all the offspring that issued thence. (b) Other Founders: Ikpemini Own Jire (Isieke), Amadi Ochie Omagha Jire and Amawa Jire (Nde Oji), Oji Itili Jire and maybe also Amawa Jire (most parts of Amackwu), Aka-agha Osa Ebiri (Nde Aka-agha), etc. By tradition, [woo-ukwu or the Ezeaja that first arrived Elughu and created the Eziukwu Nde Okikeewa/Okeewa, was the official founder not only of Elughu, but also of Nkporo as a whole. How, and from where, did the great monarch do this: was Elughu, like all the other villages in Nkporo, founded from Etitiama, or was Elughu founded in a different and separate way from Ugwu Mma, Nguzu Edda, or wherever else? The research confirmed already existing knowledge, based on verifiable facts, that Elughu, apart from a few drops that entered through On Mkpu Nde Aka-agha/Ugwu Mma, and also Nguzu, was founded neither in a different nor in a separate way from the other Nkporo villages, but indeed equally shared in the experience of others that stayed and fought together at Ugwu Agbala, from where they equally moved together to Etitiama, and gradually spread to the other parts of the clan. This knowledge is neither hidden to Elughu elders who met their fathers nor to other Nkporo elders. And, of course, the fact, far from affecting, actually reinforces the well-deserved position of Elughu as the senior brother to Etitiama and the other villages, and as the capital of Nkporo and seat of her Government. The proofs that Elughu was also founded from Etitiama would clearly be seen from the examination of the way that the different sections of Elughu emerged, and the time and manner by which the Ezeaja rule at Elughu was re-established. The sections of Elughu are Amaetiti, Amufie, Agbalangwu (the three are more [woo-ukwu related), and Amaekwu/Nde Oji, and Isieke (the three are essentially Jire-related): 1. All the sections of Elughu, except Amaetiti and maybe Agbalangwu, were founded by the massive Jiire offspring that entered Etitiama through Ugwu Agbala, and these included Ochie Omagha Jure (Ukwa-ukwu Obuofia, afterwards Ukwa itself - Ewalu Ochie), Obu Ofia Nkwo Ikuku Jire (Obuofia), Uko Omagha Jire (Nde Nko), Okam Ochie (Nde Akwu Etitiama) Amadi Ochie and Amawa Jire (Nde Oji Elughu), Oji Itili Jire (Amaekwu Elughu), Ikpemini Qwan Juire (Isieke Elughu), etc. - all, under the military leadership of Isimbe "Okwogho"….
ETITIAMA (ECHICHI/EECHI AMA) VILLAGE
 Etitiama was founded about 1450, on an Eke day, the day of the first waves of the triumphant entry into the Promised Land. Other estimates go a little back to 1444 AD. The famous Ogwo-oji Royal Square, established (c.1500) by King Nkefia-uwa alias Okpa Bu Iku Uzo alias Nkefia Ojonma, abandoned during the Reign of Terror (c.1550-1690), and restored through Oji Umokwo's O Kwar Nkporo-inspired Alaoke Monarchy (c. 1690) under King Alaoke Enya, was the first political, administrative, and judicial headquarters of the Nkporo people, and used to host more than 7 giant Troko trees upon arrival. A stone throw from the Square was the Afia Eke Ochie, the first commercial and economic centre of the clan. Only one tree remains today. 1. Origin And Meaning Of Name: As Ali Okwuru - a fertile (okro) soil - Etitiama was the point of arrival of all Nkporo people from Ugwu Agbala, through Ugwu-oji Etitiama and Nchara-nta Izuike, following the great victory over the Ibibios, led by their warrior-king, Afachima Achi.
Etitiama (a combination of Etiti and Ama) is acually an andlicized corruption of Echichi Ama EMiadle Setlement, and as Is hand impiles, actuate an ine centre, geographically bo inese two Blughu capital eity and dhas An are implies, a valla. it is, acographically speaking, to be Ukwa andages what the historically important veilare of Okwoke is to the brotherly villages of her a and Agbaja. Almost everyone In Naporo knows Elitiama as the immediate junior brother to Flughu, and also the biggest settlement to Noors. As in many other situations, it is some other people that give another person the name that he or she bears. So, while Etitiama was synonymous with Nkporo at the advent of settlement, with the emergence of the other villages, the Ali Okwuru became distinct as Echichiama, and from there to Etitiama. Any of the other Villages, or all of them, might have been responsible for the name Echichiama, or Eechiama after elliptical mutations. Like in the Blughu case, it is equally difficult to pinpoint the particular Iwpo-nta or junior Ezeaja that arrived Nkporo, Etitiama, or Nde Uwom, partly because the name "Ezeaja" had been a royal title even before the arrivals. Certainly, "Nde Uwom" suggests that it was Uwom Eze Eze Ezeaia. But this was not so. Nde Uwom was named after Uwom-ukwu Eze Eze Ezeaja woo-nta as compensation for being childless, not because he opened the Compound, showing that it was actually the great grandfather of Uwom-ukwu that may have beened Nde Uwom, although Uwom-ukwu retains the credit for doing so. Like said oft times before, a good Egwugwo or Igu Afa, together with records on Igwa Manwu, Nsibiri, Jibia, the Age Grade System, and comparisons with the Order of Reigns of one or two other villages, including that of the Ezeaja at Elughu, could provide a near certainty on these and other things. Provided that the objective is noble, there is no mountain that man cannot climb, no striving that cannot be justified, and no problem that the human spirit cannot overcome., and this philosophy had guided Nkporo's ancestors throughout their journey to the Promised Land. It was, therefore, significant that apart from Alaoke Anya's courage in sacrificing his only son for the O Kwar Nkporo, another spectacular demonstration of extraordinary and worthy courage had earlier issued from the same people that later became Nde Aleke. After Afachima Achi's head had been severed, it was almost impossible to carry it along the journey to Afia Eke Ochie, because the head, endowed with great occult powers, was creating a lot of troubles for the community, engendering great fear of harm and uncertainty. Even after it arrived Nkporo, it was still not very easy to confine it to a single place. Said Mr. Ude (c. 1957: 7), "The Arunsi Ndi Uwom ... the head of the Afachimachi ... was first kept at Ndi Okude Compound and there when farmers left for farm, the head hovered round the Compound singing and floating its throat. This was terrific and it was removed to Nd Okafor where it exerted the same influence and was again removed and taken to Uwom Ezeaja, the head of witch-doctors. The witch-doctor, after making due sacrifice hid it in Ogboghosi where it still remains With everyone in fear of touching, let alone carrying the head, only the forebear of one Enyinwa, who would later be settled at a future Nde Aleke, could do so. That forebear was born of an Nkporo woman and an Ebiriba man, but took a greater liking for Nkporo and, as a voluntary spy, often hiding at the Olili Ewu Ery to fore-warn the Nkporo people of any imminent dangers. It was from this same ancestry with Enyinwa that a later-day Etitiama King, Okpusa Nsi, would also issue. Along the route with Enyinwa carrying the head was the scared but jubilant crowd following with the encouraging chant, an ancient Nkporo dialect meaning, Enyinwa, I magha haa, Enyinwa? Enyinwa, can you do it, Enyinwa? Of all fam Nkporo at Ugwu Ugbagha, Enyinwa did it successfully to Nkporo, probably not in one day. Someone from the same Enyinwa family at Ebiriba would in future continue to serve Nkporo's military intelligence needs, quite apart from the selfless and patriotic Alaoke Enya of a future Nde Aleke, who would again perform a great deed for Nkporo (O Kwar Nkporo) ar Achi Isi Afg. In traditional times, royalty (except the Ezeaja) was essentially a reward for something. while the giver remains the Kingmaker. With these two or three mutually reinforcing feats, Nde Aleke would today be seen to be fully deserving of the reward of being the second and post-Reign of Terror re-constituted royal Compound of the Nkporo clan at the time and, when the senior Ezeaja reconstituted at Nde Okeewa, of the Etitiama village only. Two important men from the same Alaoke sanguinary stock (Alaoke Arunsi Oji. and Alaoke Àrinsi Ekpu). would in future become the founders of the Okwoke village, and aided by an Nde Egwuonwu cousin (Ise Ohara/Egbury Agba), also of Agbaja. I. Founders: (a) Official Founder: The most elderly of the group, Eze Eze Ezeaja (often mistakenly credited to his great grandson, Uwom Eze, due to the Compound named after him). (b) Other Founders I: The three brothers - Oriukwu Jure (father of Nkangde, father of Mkefia-uwa alias Okpa Bu Iku Uzo alias Nkefia Ojonma), Olinta "Agbakurunkwa" Jire, Isimbe "Okwogho" Jiire, their cousins - Enyankwo Nwamanwy alias Nkwo-nta Inyima Inyimaoke Akakporo, Egwugniy Nkika, the Ugbonty/Juire sections of Nde Orieukwu and Amaelu - as well as Agwu Ekenta, and some others. Apart from Agwu Ekenta who joined the group at Ugwu Agbala, all the rest, including the junior Ezeaja, were blood brothers or close cousins to each other, with a common descent from [woo Nkporo Okwo. (c) Other Founders II: Ochie Omagha Jire, co-founder of Ururo Elughu and Obuofia, whose senior son - Okam - founded the original ancient Nde Alwy, and second son - Amadi - founded Nde Oji Elughu, and third son - Ewalu - founded Ukwa., Ikuku Jire, whose great grandson - Obu Ofia Now - co-founded Obupfia., some offspring of Omagha Jure, whose son - Uko - co-founded Ururg Elughu, lived long at Nde Oji Elughu, from where his offspring founded Nde Nko., and, the greatest of them all, the particular senior Ezeaja (woo-ukwu) that we are unable to precisely identify that officially led the people into Nkporo, and for long resided at Etitiama before his offspring's re-location to Eziukwu Nde Okeewa. All the above were part and parcel of the great leadership of the lineages that arrived Nkporo on that great Eke day, initially camping in the approximately 2-kilometre zone from Ugwu-oji to Nchara-nta Izuike to Afja Eke Ochie at Agbala Amafo, creating the first settlement of Ali Okwury - the future Etitiama - from where the various Nkporo lineages would establish their separate villages as time went on. As can be seen, in practical terms, Etitiama could be considered to have been founded by the whole of Nkporo, being the point of their first arrival, and till today, there is no village in the clan that did not leave an everlasting mark upon Etitiama. However, after the other [woo lineages had left to form their separate villages, Etitiama, like the other villages, equally acquired its own semi-independent outlook, now officially founded by a group of related [woo offspring, the most outstanding of which were Eze Eze Ezeaja - alias [woo-nta (the most elderly, and founder of Nde Uwom)., Ojiukwu and his junior brothers, Isimbe "Okwogho" and Ojinta "Agbakurunkwa", three of whom would directly or indirectly later found Nde Nkefa (through Nkefia-uwa, Ojiukwu's grandson), Nde Orieji (through Isimbe's wife or concubine who once lived at Nde Nkefa), and Nde Ojinta, respectively., Egwunwu Nkika, founder of Nde Egwugnwy., and Agwu Ekenta, the son of the Uturu Esim/Jibia, who joined at Ugwu Agbala after the execution of Afachima Achi., and many others…
NDE NKO VILLAGE
It reads "Obi Agbala Di Nso Nde Nko Nkporo" *The Holy Public Square Temple Of Nde Nko Nkporo", 
Proofs abound that Ifuezi was established from Nde-oji Elughu after Ukwa had passed through from Ukwa-ukwu Obupfia. With the probably more than 7 generations she spent at Nde-oji and Ururo Elughu, the estimated date of Uko Omagha or his offspring's arrival at Nde Nko may not be earlier than 1650, and Okoro Oky's not earlier than 1850, since he came via an Amurie that was not yet distinct from Etitiama. And, since between Uko Omagha and Okoro Oku were many generations apart, it was more likely to be an offspring of that name, not the first migrant himself that was executed and overthrown by snake poison by his ungrateful guests.
{Origin And Meaning Of Name: Nde No was an elliptical mutation of Nde Uko, the Uko hens a shortened form of Uko-Qmaka Omagha hire, alds Ukornta Uga, the " Ugas: being a praise name symbolizing how the extremely physical y has ertor uko-raa used to chatch ether his opponents in a wrestling or other match, or his enemies in a duel. Nde Nko, contrary to some popular thought, did not derive from a fishing hook and line with which to draw fish from water, nor did it have any connection with a certain "ko-nta lyi Akwa" who in some popular stories was allegedly picked up at lyi Akwa Item and brought to Nkporo, or travelled through Amurie before arrival at the present destination. There most probably might have been an "Uko-(ta lyi-Akwa", or a namesake Uko-nta Ugan, said interviewees, but the man had nothing else to do with Uko-Omaka/Omagha Jire, except that all are now brothers in Nde Nko. Another source said emphatically that there was indeed a well-known fisherman, an "Uko-nta lyi Akwa" who migrated either from or via Elayi or Item, through lyi Akwa to Amurie and then to Nde Nko, but that he had met some people, not an empty space, on arrival at Nde Nko. Chief Okpan Ojigwo of Obuofia had claimed that Nde Nko was not Nkporo, and that they migrated from Agbanwan, through Amurie to Offa Nde Nko where they were expelled to over twin births - please, see page 165. This was in pursuance of the position that Nde Nko people were only later-day arrivals, and that it was only with Ukwa and Okwoke that Obugfia had boundaries. However, the good Chief, as would be shown hereunder, appeared to be confusing later-day but aggressive migrants into de Nko, with earlier arrivals aho unfortunately ost out in the power struggle. The author, indeed, thoroughly cross-checked the contending views, nd with little or no extraordinary effort re-confirmed from Nde-agbo, Elughu, Obwofia, nd Etitiama, what James Arya Igwe, had told the author back in 1972 that Nde Nko was tot .lly Nkporo, from the Jire |woo stock, and that this did not discount additional migrants comirg either from Aghanwan and Arochukwu, or through lyi Akwa Item and other places, like were happening in the other villages, nor did it nullify the fact that Obuofia had come into existence long before Nde Nko - in fact, at a time that the Nde Nko founder was still living at Nde Oji Elughu - and may, therefore, have been engaging in fruitful relationships with Ukwa and Okwoko as claimed. Additionally, Obuofia and Ukwa engaging in boundary and other relations would be of little or no surprise, since the latter was partially instrumental in founding the former. When we confirmed certain details in the narrative of an initially shocked Chief Anya Agwu Onuoha, in the presence of Chief Kaly Mba Qdike and Prince Kaly Anya, far in the night of Friday, November 21, 2003, even unto the early hours of Saturday, the 90-year old Chief, who had kindly woken up from deep sleep to oblige us, declared that he was not surprised that the author was writing Nkporo history or persevering so late into the night, greatly praising what he called the unprecedented wisdom and leadership qualities of James Arua Igwe, and regretting that it was when he and those like him left Nkporo leadership that ruffians and outright criminals invaded the scene only to leave the community in a shambles. Nde Nko, he said, had, together with others in the land, been long crying for a hearing, and the writing of this history while some elders were still alive, should help put everything into its proper perspective. Many elders had revealed that among several other practical proofs showing that Nde Nko was from the Omagha Jire stock, is that Uko Omaka is actually an elliptical mutation, after many centuries, of Uko Omagha: Omagha was the first son of Jire Iwop, and founder of Nde [magha at Elu Ohafia. Il. Founders: (a) Official Founder: Uko Qmagha (over time mis-pronounced Omaka) Jire. (b) Other Founder: Okoro Oku. So, Uko Omaka/Omagha Jire, alias Uko-nta Ugaa, founded Nde Nko, like the other Nkporo villages, after his forebear's arrival at Etitiama, from where they spent a considerable length of Settlement Patterns time at Ururg Elughu and Nde-oji Elughu, and movement through Obuofia. With the final arrival at Etitiama, and the large band spread within the contiguous one-mile or so zone between Ugwu-Qji-Nchara-nta Izuike-Afia Eke Ochie continuums, together with recce or surveillance reports, it was clear that Nkporo people had finally arrived the dreamland. Thus, many families from within this large wandering band, especially from the Jire stock, gradually started to branch out, one of them leftwards (that is, Ukofia that went to Okweke, now in Amurie), and a lot more rightwards towards Ururg Elughu, leaving behind some other hire groups, especially Qji-ukwu Jiire, Ojinta Jire, Isimbe "Qkwogho" Jiire, Egwugnwu Nkjka, their senior cousins - the senior and junior Ezeajas, Agwy Ekenta, and others, who would eventually constitute the present Etitiama, and from where parts of Obuofia, Nde Nko, and Ukwa would also either be opened in due course, or rejoin others at parts of what would in future become a single Elughu. Chief Anya summarized the Nde nko angle of the Nkporo story as follows: "It was not only those Nkporo people that took the Ebiriba/Ugwu Agbala route that Afachima Achi was pursuing. The Ibibios pursued people even up to Nguzu as well as Umuhu Ezechiebulu." Yet, even though the people pursued might not be Nkporo people alone, it was also likely that their greatest antagonists were people of Nkporo stock, because Chief Ogbadu Ifebueme had said that Nkporo people moved in "scattered bands" (see pp. 145, 188, 451), and the author and some others believed that this "scattering" might have started right from the volatile Arochukwu zone in which there was a heavy territorial struggle between all sorts of Igbo and Ibibio groups, very probably starting with the kporo people who they had accused of behaving like buffaloes, and continued with the Arochukwu people that arrived many generations afterwards. Not surprisingly, there are Nkporo people in Igbo society (see p. 106) who, because of memory loss or the desire to associate with better-known names, trace their descent to Arochukwu or "Ohafia/Ebiriba area", instead of Nkporo. The Nde Nko story also reconfirms that it was essentially war with the Ibibio Kings, not with Ebiri added to the search for a more sustaining fertile land and that compelled Nkporo to leave Ebiriba. There are two other issues that the Nde Nko narrative confirmed. The Umuhu-born Reverend Professor Daniel Chukwunebikpe Uguru-Okorie of the Ado Ekiti University, had disclosed the common ancestry, at least origin of the Nkporo, Umuhu Ezechiebulu, and Nguzu peoples - see page 160. Chief O. E. Mang had equally revealed how Alaoke, the founder of Agbaja, and his brother, Esere Ukpabi, had left Umuhu Ezechiebulu, searching for their brother, Ise Ohara being given refuge at Etitiama Nkporo by Egwunwu Nkika. Hence, it was actually Nkporo people, as one of the parts of the "scattered band", that had formed Umuhu Ezechiebulu, thereby confirming Chief Anya's narrative, whose full implications he himself may hardly have imagined. Chief Anya continued, "After the post-arrival dispersal at Ugwu-oji Etitiama, following upon the defeat of Afachima Achi at Ugwu Agbala, a group with Afachima Achi's opia (a type of machete, believed to either have been moulded or kept by the Ukwa people, and with which A fachima Achi was beheaded), that had segmented to Ururo Elughu, as was usual hung the opia on a tree. But the mystical opia accidentally fell on the ground, causing a serious landslide which forced people to start running helter-skelter, and it was from there that the Jire brothers made the final movement: Ewalu Ochie to Nde Ngele Ukwa, Itili Jire to Nde Oji Elughu, Ikuku Juire to Obuofia, and Uko Omaka/Qmagha Jire to Ifuezi Nde Nko." The Chief was absolutely accurate in the relay of the above story, transferred from his ancestors, except a few minor details that might be due to memory loss. For example, Ewalu Ochie did not move straight to Nde Ngele: his father, not even himself, had fir 
OBUOFIA VILLAGE
"Ukwa Ukwu", a hardly visible inscription, testifies today to the role of Ochie Omagha Jire in co-founding Obupfia with Obu Ofia Nkwo Iuku Juire. Ukwa-ukwu was opened about 1460, by Ochie Omagha lire, and the rest of Obuolia three generations or about 90 years later in 1550 by bu Offa Nkwo Ikuku Jitre. General estimates suggest that while Ochie Omagha Jire had not waited too long after the mass arrival at Etitiama before moving to Ukwa-ukwu Obuofia through Ururo Elughu with his last son, Ewalu, Obu Ofia Nkwo Luku Jiire was already a 31 to generation offspring at Ugwu Akparata Etitiama before arrival at Obuofia.
Settlement Patterns 1. Origin And Meaning Of Name: Obuofia was either derived from the founder, Obu Ofia Nkwo Ikuku Jiire, or was an elliptical mutation of obi (dwelling) and offa (bush) - hence, a dwelling in the bush. It is also possible that "Obuofia" was a result of a long-term combined evolution from the two traditions. In actual fact, most new settlements in ancient times were founded inside bushes and, as such, were dwellings among bushes, at least until the bushes were cleared. So, in practical terms, the Elughu and Etitiama senior brothers to the Jires, who probably gave the name to their particularly strong, lucky, and beloved youngest brother, might themselves at one time or the other have been "Obi-ofias" too. But, two villages cannot answer the same name within the same clan., so, "Obuoffa" remained only with the Obuofia people till today. All this may actually be wrong if it is proven that Obuofia was indeed derived from the founder, Obu Ofia Nkwo Ikuku Jire. IT. Founders: (a) Official Founder: Obu Ofia Nkwo Ikuku Jire. That it was his great grandson that opened Obuofia is one evidence that either the very original lkuku did not arrive Nkporo, or that he had with the Obuofia people lived for a very long time in Etitiama before deciding to found a new settlement to cater for a rapidly increasing population. (b) Other Founder (of Ukwa-ukwu Obuqfia): Ochie Omagha Jire (father to three sons: Okam - founder of the original Nde Akwu Etitiama, Amadi - co-founder of Nde Oji Elughu, and Ewaly - founder of Ukwa). Thus, like the rest of the villages of Nkporo, Obuqfia was founded from Etitiama, their last abodes there having been Ugwelu Nde Ise and Ugwu Äkparata, where they lived for a long time after the arrival at Etitiama. There are practical reasons to suggest that the Ochie Omagha Jire group had from their various places at Etitiama (Ugwu-oji, Nde Akwu, etc.), also touched the Ururo Elughu before arrival at the Ukwa-ukwu Obuofia which they helped to establish, possibly even before Obu (who opened Nde Obu), to whom most of the credit for founding Obuofia still goes. Ochie and his immediate sub-group had initially dwelt at the Ukwa-ukwu section of the settlement, and apparently not satisfied that he had arrived at Nchara-ifu Nchara-aazu (another oracular injunction coinciding with the one at Ugwu Agbala), but particularly influenced by the frightening landslide which occurred at Ururo Elughu when one of the mystical mpams with which Afachima Achi was beheaded or his troops defeated, accidentally fell on the ground - see pp. 119, 165, 188-91 - left again with some others to eventually have Ewalu, the youngest of his three sons, found the Ukwa village through Ekeje Edda. Before arrival at Edda, Ukwa people had spent some time at Ukwa-elu Nde Nko (today claimed by Obuofia to be the ancient Ukwa/Obuofia boundary), as well as a certain Egbata-uzo Ukwa. Chief Okpan Ojigwo had also claimed that Nde Nko was not Nkporo, that they had migrated from Agbanwan, and that that was why Obuofia had boundaries only with Ukwa, not Nde Nko herself, and why Nde Nkegha Obuofia also had boundary with Okwoko at the Agbala Nde Nko, while Nde Obu Ukwa-ukwu had boundary with Ukwa as stated above. He claimed the Agbanwan migrant to be an Uko-nta Uga, who originally dwelt at Amurie with his companions. The wife of this Uko-nta had, according to him, given birth to twins, which led to their expulsion from Amurie to Ofia Nde Nko, when the place was still an uninhabited jungle. While the Chief's story contained many true facts, there was also evidence of memory loss. For example, there were indeed migrants who came through Amurie, and who later on ascended the royal position in Nde Nko, but these later-day migrants had met an earlier occupant who was a descendant of Jire, the well-known last son of Iwoo, and part of the original Nkporo stock. But his reference to "Agbanwan" appears related to Nde No's own reference to Opobo in discussing Amurie - see pp. 189-90, 234. This would be discussed under Nde Nko. It appears natural that Ikpemini, an Own offspring, had to assist in opening Obuofia, for he had earlier opened Isieke, a stone throw to Obuofia (but which has now merged with Elughu) ard, therefore, needed only very little encouragement to assist Obu, the offspring of his junior brother, Tkuki, estabilor ly very fitle en couras ine stream. According to third-ranking Chief Окран Наки, славнов на рит пісе вст ова с викий Алана (% боц о агиты ванда Aire of Nde On, anstrank ing Chiereagwy siber Agwu Egbuta Mibaogu Frunsi Ohaiya Aswimsi Oebaa Agwu from Noe Mba, and his Regent, Chief Agwu Ebem from the same Nde Mba, as well as the second-ranking Chief (kaegbu Okibe of Ezi Agbo, Obuofia and Elitiama had from the very beginnings of time, from birth, migration and settlement, been very close and mutually beloved, a love worthy of two younger brothers that were both junior to the senior Fzeaja, and that extends into almost every sphere of life, from marriage, into war and peace. The fact that they, like di other Niksoro peoples, except whatever negligible elements that may have unofficially veered elsewhere, followed Elitiama to the very end, fought Afachima Achi and the Agha Ogiri with Etitiama, and had the Eke Etitiama instead of the nearby Afo Elughu as their market day was, according to the Chiefs, a pointer to the degree of intimacy and nature of relations between the two siblings, Iwo-nta and Jire, children of Iwo Nkporo Okwo, and ancestors of Etitiama, Obupfia, and other Nkporo peoples. The ancient Eke-menyi Market at Obupfia, they emphasized, was the extension of their senior brother's Eke Market at Etitiama, and was used by the two Jire brothers of Isieke and Obuofia, and for solidarity purposes also often patronized by the Etitiama brothers. That Eke-menyi Market was of great historical significance to ancient Nkporo peoples, for that was the very market where the Oha-Odu people used to come to trade, and the place they were discovered to be people with tails, which discovery led to their flight till today. Obuofia and Etitiama traditions were clear that even though Ikuku himself was officially supposed to have opened Obuofia, the reason that it was his great grandson, Obu, that actually did so, was that the great Ikuku lived for a very long time at Etitiama where he also probably died, after which his now bigger offspring, in need of wider space, moved to open Obuofia. It is significant, both traditions maintained, that for a very long time, Obuofia and Etitiama had no boundaries, and that only in these days of land hunger is any thought of boundary being smuggled into the scene by mindless local politicians. III. Main Routes Of Entry: Mainly Ugwu-Qji, Ugwelu Nde Ise, Amaelu, Ugwu Akparata, and other parts of Etitiama, with subsequent additions from similarly Etitiama-derived Ururo, Isieke and Nde Oji Elughu, as well as possibly a few others that much later migrated from Nguzu, Ekoli, and other sections of Edda. Thus, even as the glory traditionally goes to Ikuku, it was not he, but his great grandson, Obu, that founded Obuofia. Even then, the original Ikuku, son of the original Jire, could not have been alive up to the arrival at Nkporo after 350 years of migration, although a much later Ikuku, great grandfather to bu, lived very long at Etitiama. This was neither unique to Ikuku, nor to Obuofia, because there was not a single Nkporo lineage or founder of any of her eight villages, whose forebear, himself, or some of his offspring, did not live for a considerable time in Etitiama, sometimes for generations, before leaving to establish their villages and separate identities. Also, even as the distance is too small today, not everyone travelled the straight path (which hardly existed) from Ugwu Akparata Etitiama to Obuofia., instead, a smaller number seemed to have first branched through the jungle into Ururo Elughu, along a footpath that stretched from Ugwu-oji Etitiama, before crossing the stream into Obuofia…
OKWOKO VILLAGE
Research on Okwok appeared to indicate some related facts: (a). There was on one particular point, a considerable parallel between the internal situation in Okwoko and the internal situation in Amurie: whereas there is an almost total unanimity by the rest of the Nkporo people on how Okwok was founded, there is or was a complex disagreement within Okwoko itself on who arrived first, who was founder, who should be King, who was what else, etc., etc. (b). The lya Aka phenomenon was either not sufficiently understood by some (not all) Okwoke elites, past and present, or deliberately distorted to fit into new political and economic objectives. • There appeared to have been a considerable but unnecessary historical revisionism going on among some people in Okwok about who was or was not Ogiri, Iya Aka, founder/joiner, primary/secondary migrant, and so on. • The History of Nkporo (c. 1957) by O. A. Ude (Nde Nko), brother to one of the most prominent and powerful Okwoke men in modern times, Chief M. A. Onu, despite the understandable inadequacies, had already told much of the truth about this lya Akpa, and to some extent, also about Nkporo, and by so doing, also confirmed a lot of the truth about Okwoko. Given that most of Nkporo knew or suspected that Chief Onu was probably the hidden sponsor of his brother and servant's writing, to that extent could it be assumed that he held Mr. Ude's narratives as correct, even if he had for his own political purposes maintained a different public posture, or sought to transfer a different oral history to younger generations, including all sorts of notions suggesting Iya Akpa to be either Ogiri, ancestor to Nde Egwunsi people or some others in Okwoko, or founder of Okwok itself, clearly ignoring the written history earlier issued by Mr. Ude. Nchara land seems to be particularly very important in the thinking of some Okwoko people, who's boundary they say they have only with Etitiama - at the "Olaghamini Amankpo Amurie", according to one elder. This should not be a problem since the whole of Nchara is already responding to peaceful demographic and other natural economic laws, and also once it is understood that some types of claims over Nchara may even have existed before the arrival of Nkporo, a land priorly dominated substantially by the Ogiri before the Ogiri War. Meaning that Nchara-related views may not be unconnected to the claims and counter-claims of historical preordination between a so-called "Ogiri-dominated" Amaekwu and a so-called "Nkporo-dominated" Ifuogo. • Whereas the usual outside perception is that Ifuogo was Nkporo and Amaçkwu was Ogiri, the actual situation on the ground is diffused: there are many Compounds or sections of Compounds in Amaçkwu that are not Ogiri, but might also have been originally Nkporo, having been later-day arrivals from Ebiriba or thereabouts. There is also some lesser, but still existing degree of diffusion within Ifuogo. • There seemed to be Amaekwu elders who for all sorts of reasons claimed to be Ogiri, or wanted to be seen as such, but had little or nothing to do with the Ogiri in sanguinary terms, with some of them even probably having more to do with ancient Nkporo than ancient Ogiri, maybe even with their concealed knowledge. • Unlike knowledge in the rest of the clan, the implications of the Agha Ogiri were and are either widely misunderstood, distorted, or simply ignored by many Okwok leaders, an attitude which can nevertheless be good for Okwok and Nkporo if the distortions are removed, the truth upheld for the sake of historical truth, and the people within Okwok and Nkporo relate as if nothing ever happened in ancient times. (a) While the actual Ogiri in today's Okwoke are a considerable minority, and the lfuogo are no match to the educational, economic, political and social power of the vastly better organized Amaekwu and pro-Amaçkwu people, there is no reason why a balanced, mutually beneficial and harmonious relationship cannot continue to exist between all sides and all persons for the benefit of the Okwoke people and also Nkporo.
Partly arising from the same Agha Ogiri, royalty and the Order of Reigns were for long disputed issues, especially in the 1940s, and the grievances appear to be still boiling underneath the village. There existed a particularly complex historical argument, and both sides in the argument had diverted energies into debating who arrived first in Okwoke when in actual fact, royalty and whatever notion of a so-called traditional "superiority" in Okwoke were, to the knowledge and opinion of most other Nkporo elders, based on and derived from the results of the Ogiri War: who was on the victorious side of that War, and what were the terms of the post-war peaceful settlement between the various actors? These are the only correct questions that may objectively determine, if there is still any need for doing so, who were or were not the rightful Kings of Okwoko before the 1940s oaths swearing. (k) In a nutshell, it had initially almost appeared as if some elements in Okwoko seemed unable to come to terms with the actual history of Okwoke: that Okwoko was a product of an all-Nkporo action, partly in the form of the Ogiri War, and that that War in its wake established a pattern of relationships between groups and sections, especially between Ifuogo and Amaekwu, and that the attempt to ignore those processes or to pretend that they never happened, may be the major reason for a number of problems. There is no Okwoko elder that is not aware that the village was one of the outcomes of the internal expansion of the Nkporo family, even as some of them may not have seemed to like the implications of that history, especially as it concerns who is in power or ought to have been so, which became complicated after the Jonah Ndukwo faux pas of the 1940s. (1) Finally, people should know that history does not victimize anyone: it is the attempts to misinterprete, falsify, or distort it, that does, and this applies to all the eight villages in Nkporo, including Okwoke. I. Origin And Meaning Of Name: According to Chief Ude Ole Obumma (Maazi Opanwamba), Okwok means a regularly flooded place. He said that most of the places occupied by the ancient Okwoko people were often heavily flooded by water, and so, everyone going to the zone would say he was going to or through the flooded places, the okwoko. Naturally, the village settlement built around the place gradually started assuming the same identity. As usual, outsiders, not the Okwoko people themselves, probably gave the name. An alternative interpretation of Okwok was given by someone who said that it was a reference to the positive effect of a "united crowd of people" when moved into action. Okwoko, he said, meant the coming together of a mighty population. It is not impossible for the two usages to have proceeded simultaneously. II. Founders: (a) Official Founder: Alaoke Arunsi Oji, grandson to Oji Alaoke Enya, 3rd ruler of Etitiama after the O Kwar Nkporo (see pp. 160, 214) - this presents an accurate picture not only on the exact time in history that Okwoko was established, but also of the Etitiama Monarch at the time of the Ogiri War. Oral testimonies coincided to the effect that Alaoke had actually left Okwoko some years after arrival - possibly after the War itself: an ufufa (one very powerful man-eating bird) had carried away his child, and in agony he had left Okwoko, promising the people that he would bring them a comforter, which he did in the person of his son Ebianyi Alaoke, founder of Nde Ebjanyi. As we shall see below, it is very clear and obvious, regardless of any apparent ignorance in some quarters, that the Alaoke (the O Kwar Nkporo hero) that founded Nde Aleke Etitiama, the Alaoke that founded Okwoko, and the Alaoke that founded Agbaja, were from the same sanguinary stock, even if not siblings or of the same generation. (b) Other Founder I: Echeke Okwo, claimed host to Alaoke Aruns Oji and his son Ebianyi Alaoke (For Ifuogo historians who wish to trace the rise of Okwok to their pre-Ogiri War primary migration: it is stated that even before the War, or at the achievement of victory, that the man that hosted Alaoke Aruns Oji, and later, also his son Ebianyi, was Echeke Okwo, and…
UKWA VILLAGE.
I. Origin And Meaning Of Name: From inception, Ukwa had been a very distinguished village, and one of the greatest settlements opened from the extremely energetic and big Jire lwoo Stock, which had blazed the trail in the founding of: (1.) Elitiama (Amafo and Ukofia - OruKwa Lire. Ojinta Jure, lsimbe * Okworho Jire, Enyankwo Nwamanwu, dto., Amudu/ Agb ezi: Egwugwu Nkika., Vigbontu section of Nde Orieukwu., Amaelu - Qkam Ochie Omagha Jire, Etc, etc.: Enyankwo and Egwuonww were close cousins to the others, (2.) Elughu Isieke - kpemini Oivan Jiire, Nde Oji - Amadi Ochie Omagha Jire, Itili Jire, Amawa Jire., Amtaçkwy =Itili Jite, Amawa Jire), (3.) Obuofia (Ukwa-ukwu - Ochie Qmagha Jire, Nde Obu and related sections - Obu Ofia Nkwo Ikuku Jitre), and, later on (4) Nde Nko (Uko Omagha Jiire). Ukwa, by such a background, and even by subsequent history is, thus, not only the fourth to be founded by the offspring of lwo9, but officially the second after Obuofia, by the children of Jiire Iwoo Since, officially speaking, it was lwpo-ukwu or the senior Ezeaja that founded Elughu and Ikporo, and Iwop-nta or the junior Ezeaja that founded Etitiama). kwa was also the fourth to he settled directly through migration, unlike Okwoke and Agbaja, and to a good extent also Amurie, which were essentially results of the internal expansion of the Ezeaja family. Given that Ykwa was established before Nde Nko, and Nde Nko fought the Ogiri War, it automatically confirms that Ukwa also fought the War. According to Chief A. A. Iro, the Enyo I of Nkporo, on the one hand, Ukwa people are very war-like, but they do not act without propet deliberation, so as to act wisely and correctly, and on the other hand, an ukwa is a surveillance tree, a post which enables the user to survey the jungle or entire environment, so as to avoid being trapped. For the kwa village, that inner intuition which gives rise to proper and wise deliberation, a second thought to everything they want to do, is the ukwa they have. "Ukwa", therefore, is a reference to such an attitude to life, as well as the surveillance tree from which a careful observation of the environment is undertaken as a back-up to that attitude. Hence, the Nkporo saying nunu e nwogh ukwa r'atu e esuo, that is, the bird that has no second thought (or, that acts mindlessly) is caught by the glue trap on the tree. II. Founders: (a) Official Founder: Ewalu Ochie Omagha Jiire. (b) Other Founders: Oji-ukwu Achi Qmagha Jire., Onyeugwo. Without a doubt, Ewaly Ochie Qmagha Jire opened the Ukwa village. There was an attempted revision to the effect that the Jirre [woo brothers had split from their senior and junior Ezeaja [woo brothers at Udara Ebuo Elu to open Edda (Ukwa Ekoli, Atamata Nguzu/ Ama Nguzo, etc. - giving Nguzu its name), from where some would arrive Nde-agbo, others Elughu (with Amasa opening Nde Oji, and Qwan, Isieke), and Ikuku crossing a stream to open Obuofia. They would not account for how Ochie happened to open Ukwa-ukwu Obuofia. The revisionists would also claim that at Nne Nkporo a split took place when Aka-agha Osa etc., avoided Ugwu Agbala and moved north-eastwards towards Ugwu Mma, from where they would reach Elughu. These are all ill-motivated fictions intended to avoid Ugwu Agbala and Etitiama and, of course, sustain the desire to divide Nkporo. Of course, it was ALL the children of the [woo family - [woo-ukwu, woo-nta, and Jire - that despite any troubles at Udara Ebuo Elu, and probably even because of them, left for, arrived and lived together at Afia-Nkwo-Ochie Ebiriba. T he whole of the Nkporo crowd that left Ebiriba was also intact till Ugwu Agbala, and after Afachima Achi, still very intact until the mass arrival at Ugwu-oji and other parts of Etitiama, from where the various villages, including those that were products of internal expansion (Okwoko, Agbaja and parts of Amurie), would be founded - excepting Ukwa, which after initially helping to open and settle Ukwa-ukwu Obupfia, moved again through Edda to eventually rejoin the rest and re-establish at her present location. On Aka-agha Osa and other initially non-Nkporo groups around Ugwu Agbala, About this triumphant final arrival, the revered Chief A. A. Iro (n.d. 7), declared, "Ugwu-Oji is historically important in Nkporo, because it is a spot of division or the parting of the wave. it was from here that the various sections began to spring up. It was here that Ukwa section… Source: Nkporo: The History Of An Igbo City-State From Antiquity To The Present by Prof Obasi Igwe  |
