Olukumi Kingdom: A Peculiar Yoruba Enclave

By George Benin Nkemnacho

In a world that is increasingly being aware, in a political and cultural sense, of issues surrounding marginalised communities, this book gives a riveting account of the history, culture and politics of the Olukumi people, a marginalised Yoruba community unlike others that had hitherto been the subject of mainstream literature and debates.

The Olukumi people are a bilingual (both Yoruba and Ibo) and sophisticated Black African community who were the first humans to inhabit their indigenous homeland but continue to be marginalised and discriminated by the majority newly arrived neighbours. The community practiced female to female marriages long before minority rights (like the LGBTQIA+ rights) came to be recognised even in so-called advanced Western countries like America and in Europe. It is because the Olukumis face appalling discrimination and deprivation at home that they continue to migrate. Yet, their culture of respect for minorities and tolerance for diverse opinions still survive.

This book is about war and diplomacy. It is also about migration and settlement as well as a people's determination for survival and coexistence. It is told from an exclusively Olukumi perspective and written by an Olukumi indigene.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Feb 28, 2024
• ISBN: 9798889603153

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Olukumi Kingdom

A Peculiar Yoruba Enclave

George Benin Nkemnacho

Copyright © 2023 George Benin Nkemnacho

All rights reserved

First Edition

PAGE PUBLISHING

Conneaut Lake, PA

First originally published by Page Publishing 2023

ISBN 979-8-88960-304-7 (pbk)

ISBN 979-8-88960-315-3 (digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Comment by the King of UGBODU

Note from the Editor

Foreword

Preface

Chapter 1

THE OLUKUMIS

Chapter 2

ODIANI CLAN: ORIGIN AND HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT

Chapter 3

TRADITIONAL STRUCTURE OF OLUKUMI TOWNS

Chapter 4

UGBODU

Chapter 5

THE IMA-UGBODU

Chapter 6

THE NON-IMA UGBODU

Chapter 7

UKWU NZU (EKO)

Chapter 8

UKWU NZU: COMPONENT SECTIONS

Chapter 9

UGBOBA

Chapter 10

IDUMU-OGO

CHAPTER 11

UBULUBU

Chapter 12

OGODOR AND ANIOMA

Chapter 13

OLUKUMI CONNECTION WITH THE EZECHIMA PEOPLE

Chapter 14

OLUKUMI CONNECTION WITH THE EBU AND THE ITSEKIRI PEOPLE

Chapter 15

OLUKUMI CONNECTION WITH IDUMUJE PEOPLE

Chapter 16

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE OLUKUMIS AND OBOMKPA

Chapter 17

INFLUENCE OF EDO CULTURE ON THE OLUKUMIS

Chapter 18

THE IMPACT OF OTHER LANGUAGES ON THE OLUKUMI LANGUAGE

CHAPTER 19

SYSTEMS OF KINGSHIP AMONG THE OLUKUMIS

Chapter 20

OLOZA OF UGBODU SUCCESSION DISPUTES

Chapter 21

OLUKUMI TRADITIONAL TITLE SOCIETIES

Chapter 22

TRADITIONAL RELIGION OF THE OLUKUMIS

Chapter 23

OLUKUMI TRADITIONAL FESTIVALS

Chapter 24

OLUKUMI LAND TENURE SYSTEM

Chapter 25

SETTLEMENT OF DISPUTES

Chapter 26

MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE

Chapter 27

DEATHS, FUNERAL CEREMONIES, REINCARNATION, INHERITANCE, AND SUCCESSION

Chapter 28

OLUKUMI TRADITIONAL MODES OF GREETINGS

Chapter 29

THE OLUKUMIS DURING COLONIAL PERIOD

Chapter 30

THE OLUKUMIS IN POST-COLONIAL PERIOD

Chapter 31

EMANCIPATION INTO MANHOOD

Bibliography

Endnotes

About the Author

Comment by the King of UGBODU

The Olukumis of Aniocha North represent an enigmatic subject to their neighbours, visitors, and researchers. Given the geographic peculiarity of the Olukumis and their language, many scholars, over the years, have undertaken ethnographic and linguistic studies of the people to locate their historical origin. While commendable, these previous works on the Olukumis have lacked the intimacy and precision pulsing through this current work. The author, through the logical and persuasive presentation pervading this work, bequeaths to readers and scholars a trove of invaluable historical information, which would assuage the intellectual curiosity of any reader and stimulate further scholarly inquiry into the history and origin of the Olukumis by students of history, anthropology, linguistics, or other fields of study, seeking to further improve on the body of knowledge available on the Olukumis.

Oloza Ayo Isinyemeze

Note from the Editor

When I decided to publish this manuscript, abandoned in a disused garage at home after the author's funeral, I hadn't envisaged the amount of effort, time, and resources this would have meant. If I had, perhaps, I might not have made the decision. But I felt the hands of providence on me. This is the history of my community and people, the Olukumis, handed down to me from successive generations to be bequeathed to future generations. It had never, before, been published. So, it became inevitable that I did the needful, not only for myself and future descendants but also for posterity's sake. It has been an amazing discovery process to me, and I hope you will experience the same awesome journey I have. Furthermore, it is my desire that readers in the academia will be inspired to undertake a deeper study of the Olukumi history and culture.

What can I say about my father, George Benin Nkemnacho? To paraphrase the 1978 Song Rasputin by Bonney M. and Majestic:

There lived a certain man in OLUKUMI KINGDOM long ago. He was big and strong, in his eyes a flaming glow. Most people looked at him with terror and with fear. But to the Olukumis, he was such a lovely dear. He could preach the Bible like a preacher, full of ecstasy and fire, but he also was the kind of teacher most people would desire.

I am confident that you, too, will experience the same ecstasy and fire from his own words like I have. I am proud to be an Ima UGBODU from OLUKUMI KINGDOM. I am proud to have been fathered, taught, and trained by the author, Chief George Benin Nkemnacho.

This book is dedicated to you, Daddy, with lots of love, admiration, and fond memories.

UCHENNA GEORGE-NKEMNACHO

Foreword

One is not often called upon to write a foreword to a book. It is a privilege to be asked to do so. I am, therefore, honoured to have been asked by no less a personality than Chief George Benin Nkemnacho, a renowned Olukumi indigene, to write this foreword.

Many books are regularly published on the culture, anthropology, religion, philosophy, and socio-cultural and political life of a people. These fields are large enough to accommodate scholars and researchers of diverse interests. However, it is trite to say that one more additional book in any of these fields can hardly be said to induce a glut. The reason is obvious. For human beings, there can be no glut concerning that natural thirst for knowledge. It is against this background that Chief George Benin Nkemnacho's book, OLUKUMI KINGDOM, can be said to be timely and auspicious. This is even more so when the book is about one of the minorities in Nigeria. The minority ethnic groups are not just numerically discounted but are discounted and, indeed, marginalised with ignominy in many other spheres of Nigerian life. For example, books and monographs published about them are very few, if not non-existent. While so much is known about the major ethnic groups, so little is known or, perhaps, nothing really is known amongst scholars about the many minority ethnic groups that dot Nigeria's cultural landscape.

For this reason and many more, Chief Nkemnacho's effort must be appreciated. OLUKUMI KINGDOM is about the OLUKUMI people in Aniocha North Local Government Area of Delta State in Nigeria, Africa. They are the main inhabitants of Ugbodu, Ukwunzu, and Ugboba Towns. Although historically of Edo origin, the latter has been olukuminised by assimilation and integration. The siblings of these core Olukumi Towns are also to be found in Idumu-Ogo Town, the Ugbodu and Ukwu quarters of Ubulubu Town, as well as in Ogodor and Anioma Villages in the same Local Government Area of Delta State.

The Olukumi people are thus a minority within a larger minority of Igbo-speaking people of Aniocha North Local Government area of Delta State, Nigeria. Chief George Benin Nkemnacho, an indigene of Ugbodu, a foremost OLUKUMI Town, is well-tutored in the culture, tradition, and way of life of the Olukumi people. And this has been amply demonstrated in this book. With his legal background and many years of experience at the Bar and in public service, he has devoted this illuminating book to all interested in promoting the humanity of others in general. Chief Nkemnacho writes lucidly. His logic is disarming. He reasons elegantly and has presented his issues strongly and with assurance.

His legal, administrative, political, religious, and cultural insights are refreshing. He has done an excellent job, outstanding for its originality. I recommend this book to researchers, teachers, and students of cultural history, religion, anthropology, and customary jurisprudence.

To the general reader, teachers, and students in other fields, this clearly written and immensely ambitious book deserves to be read.

NKEONYE OTAKPOR

Professor of Philosophy

Dept. of Philosophy

University of Benin

Benin City

Preface

The desire to write this book stemmed from my childhood impressions of my hometown, Ugbodu, where a language called Olukumi is widely spoken as the people's lingua franca. The language became a curiosity to me as I advanced in age and discovered, to my bewilderment, that visitors to my parents from some nearby towns, some less than two kilometres away, spoke the Igbo language, which they discussed in with my parents and their relatives. It greatly intrigued me that whereas my parents and I perfectly understood the Igbo language spoken by those visitors (although strangely also, they spoke as I did the Igbo language as fluently as those visitors), the converse was the case with respect to the attitude of the visitors towards the Olukumi language for not only did they not understand the language, but they did not bother to understand a word of that language. Yet from their childhood, they had, as a matter of course, interacted in all ramifications of life with my people, the Olukumi people, as if they were, in reality, members of one linguistically homogeneous community.

I grew up entirely in that seemingly bilingual culture, speaking both the Olukumi language, which was the language spoken from infancy in the privacy of our homes at Ugbodu on the one hand, and the Igbo language, which was the language in which I communicated without the need of an interpreter with Igbo teachers and churchmen as well as Igbo visitors to our home, on the other hand. My curiosity grew more intense when I started my kindergarten career in the Anglican Mission School at Ugbodu in 1939. At that time, it was taboo for pupils to speak the Olukumi language within the school premises. Therefore, the thought of using the language as a medium of instruction in the classrooms was completely out of the question. The teachers, all of them bachelors, as well as their houseboys, were Igbo people.

As for the Olukumis themselves, the ability to speak Igbo fluently became an accreditation symbol and a mark of distinction. The inferiority complex in those who could not speak the Igbo language was visible and clear. It agitated and irritated me to the marrow. I began to ask myself what must have accounted for the nature of the curious society into which I had been born. I discovered even at that early age that the Olukumis were an isolated set of settlers who, to date, do not linguistically belong to the ethnic setting dominated by Igbo people whose communities had sandwiched the Olukumis living there, and eking out a precarious existence. According to anthropological and historical records, these Igbo people arrived in the area more than two centuries after the Olukumis had established their settlements with no immediate neighbours near them.

The fact that a few other communities, like Ukwunzu and Ubulubu, spoke a language similar to that of Ugbodu did not assuage my malignant impressions. This was more so when I subsequently learnt that the Olukumi settlements were, still in the 1940s, no more than rural hamlets. However, territorially, they had a vast land mass stretching towards their border with the Esan people who emigrated from Benin and settled 20 kilometres north of the Olukumi territory centuries after the arrival of the Olukumis in the area.

As I grew older and my circle of social contacts broadened, I became relieved that the intellectual capability of my contemporaries and classmates who were of Igbo extraction did not show any superiority as compared with the artificial complex their Igbo language had appeared to create in their favour. I soon found as a fact that the Olukumi language was an obvious advantage to Olukumi pupils, especially those in the same class. The bright ones among them would often whisper to their less bright brothers in the Olukumi language the correct answers to the problems they were solving in the classroom, without their Igbo classmates or the teachers themselves knowing the nature of the communication that had taken place.

Confidence in the Olukumi language was accordingly inspired as time went on, especially during my college and university days. The return home of Olukumi veterans after World War II added more impetus to the desire of the Olukumis to take pride and show keener interest not only in their language but also in their history, culture, and identity. During the Nigerian Civil War (1967–1970), the Olukumis, despite the horrors of the well-known holocaust, benefitted from both sides of the conflict as control of their area of habitation changed hands between the Nigerian troops and the secessionist or Biafran troops. The Olukumis, though not an important factor to be reckoned with in military terms during that war, literally meandered successfully and skilfully in their search for safety and security through the opposing troops as a result of their bilingual position, at first incurring suspicion and later winning the friendship of each of the troops.

Several Olukumi undergraduates at the universities and other tertiary institutions who had based their projects on themes relating to the Olukumi sub-tribe or ethnic nationality added more feathers to their caps judging from their high grades. The thesis submitted by them on their projects based on the Olukumis proved to be very rewarding intellectual discoveries to their supervising lecturers, heads of department, and professors, even in the fields of history, sociology, anthropology, and ethnography. Some of these intellectual gurus had been under the impression that their earlier studies and research had encompassed all possible areas of Nigerian Society. To them, the thesis submitted by the Olukumi students proved to be a eureka, a startling discovery.

The accounts recorded in this book have been assembled and collated during a period spanning more than sixty (60) years and began during my college days. Practically every day of my adolescent and adult life involved me in my burning desire to give concrete expression to the concept of this book. My research in this field is a continuing effort. This pioneer edition is intended to stimulate interest, intellectual or otherwise, in the Olukumis, a people aptly described as a Yoruba enclave within Aniochaland. It is hoped that this maiden edition will not only provoke thought and discussions on the Olukumis but will also, at least, act as a starting point for greater works based on more in-depth research on the Olukumis in the years ahead by more dedicated and knowledgeable Olukumi indigenes, professional historians, and other scholars.

Who are the Olukumis? Where in Nigeria do they live or are they to be found? What is their origin? What is the nature of the language they speak? Who are their neighbours, and to what extent have they influenced or been influenced by their neighbours? What are their culture and traditions like? How have they adapted to life in contemporary Nigeria? What prospects exist for their survival and growth as an ethnic group or subgroup in a united, ethnically integrated, or integrating, fast-developing Nigeria? These are some issues the author has directed his effort in this book.

It may not be out of place to state here without in any way being apologetic that the book is not written to emphasise the diversity of the various peoples that make up the Federation of Nigeria. The book is not a medium of propaganda for advocating ethnicity. Some advocates of nationalism believe that the sooner the areas of diversity amongst the Nigerian peoples are de-emphasised, the closer we shall be to our eventual goal, which is the emergence of a nation where we shall all be regarded as one. The author considers this approach as manifestly unrealistic. Presently, it is a pious hope, a utopia. Nature is realistic and abhors hypocrisy. After all, our strength should lie in our diversity.

Man is said to be a microcosm existing within the larger universe called the macrocosm. From the dawn of history, philosophers have admonished man in the command: Man, know thyself. If we do not know our individual selves, it will be an illusion to assert that we know our collective selves, which in sum means the universal soul or the universal mind. Therefore, to know the society in which he lives, man must begin his studies from his known self and then proceed from that known self to his neighbours. Then, he can appreciate not only the relationship of one part of his body to the other part of that body but also his own relationship to his neighbours, his country, the world, and ultimately the universe at large. The same principle applies to the study of society which is a collectivity of men that is intrinsically as complex a phenomenon as man himself. This principle is inherent in virtually every stratum of human activity, including religion, law, medicine, psychology, and even engineering.

This book does not pretend to represent history as taught in schools by teachers familiar with all facts and dates, nor is it a highly coloured narrative intended for entertainment. It is, rather, a simple account of some of the facts any intelligent and observant traveller or visitor to our country, the Olukumi country, needs to know when he sees our ancient settlements, studies our daily lives, and possibly wonders little about our traditional institutions or even sometimes, the lack of them. History can be told in many ways. I have chosen to tell the story of the Olukumis through the medium of those factors which I consider peculiarly Olukumi in context, namely: the people's situations and circumstances which have produced them, for history is nothing more than a record of events and the people who brought them into manifestation, given the circumstances of their time.

The author's primary aim is accordingly to chronicle the history of the Olukumis as far as recollections from oral or traditional and written records as well as research have, for the time being, revealed and, in the process, throw some light on the language, socio-political environment, as well as some aspects of the customs and traditions of the Olukumi people. It is hoped that the book will provide a useful source of information for people who are unfamiliar with the Olukumis or who, though familiar with the Olukumis, have only vague knowledge of them. It is also the confident hope of the author that the book will help the readers to have some deep insight into the problems and challenges facing the Olukumis and thus dispel some wrong impressions and misconceptions about the people. Some Olukumi indigenes may also, hopefully, find the book useful if only to refresh their memories and update their knowledge of their own people.

The author unreservedly accepts full responsibility for any errors and inaccuracies contained in this book. All conclusions, opinions, and deductions contained herein are also his personal views unless contrarily indicated. As a first edition, this book does not pretend to be foolproof factually, technically, or otherwise. The author will accordingly welcome, with gratitude, useful and constructive suggestions and opinions aimed at improving the quality of the book in future editions.

GEORGE BENIN NKEMNACHO

Okpo Chambers

P. O. Box 2340

Benin City, Nigeria

4th September 2012.

Chapter 1

THE OLUKUMIS

THE UNIQUENESS AND AGE OF OLUKUMILAND

The popular belief amongst Nigerian historians, geographers, and anthropologists is that Aniochaland in present-day Delta State, Nigeria, is exclusively inhabited by Igbo people, who are generally referred to as western Igbo people.

Strangely enough, several ethnographers also share this belief. Indeed, the impression created in the minds of most Nigerians is that that part of Delta State immediately west of River Niger and almost encircled by Edo-speaking peoples, namely the Binis, Esans, Urhobos, and the Isokos, is occupied exclusively by the Western Igbo people. These are Igbo people who inhabit the western lower Niger River area to the North of the apex of the river's deltaic triangle.

It is a well-known fact that there is a sharp cultural and dialectical divide between these western Igbo people and their eastern counterparts in Imo, Anambra, Enugu, Abia, Ebonyi, Bayelsa, and Rivers States, to the east of that great River. From the early days of the British administration in Nigeria, these western Igbo people have identified themselves as culturally, historically, and linguistically different not only from the Igbo people east of the Niger but also from other ethnic groups west of the river. In political circles, they call themselves the people of Anioma and constitute the Delta North Senatorial District of Delta State.

Persons who hold the belief that western Igbo people entirely inhabit the Anioma area may be justified on the ground that their belief is based on their limited knowledge of the area. However, such a belief is erroneous. It is not supported by facts and only goes to confirm the strong opinion widely held that a lot still must be done to explore our country with its more than 250 ethnic nationalities, tribes, and sub-tribes.

The correct position is that in the northern part of what is presently known as Aniocha North Local Government Area of Delta State and in between the rest of that Local Government Area and the Esan territory in Edo State to the north, lives a group of people comprising, indeed, a sub-tribe, who are not Igbo. They do not regard themselves as Igbo, either historically or linguistically, nor have they lost their identity to the Igbo ethnic group. These people are called the OLUKUMIS. The language which they speak as their mother tongue is known as OLUKUMI. That language is a Yoruba dialect.

The Olukumis do not trace their origin to Igboland. Rather, they trace their roots to Yorubaland, with which they have a close ethnic and linguistic affinity. The Olukumis, therefore, have little or no difficulty understanding the Yoruba language. Similarly, anyone who understands the Yoruba language has little or no difficulty following any discussion in the Olukumi language. The Igbo language is, to the Olukumi people, a foreign language that can be learned, just like anyone can learn to speak Esan, Fulani, Idoma, or Hausa, without the compulsion to identify as any of the above ethnicities.

Owing, however, to the proximity of the Olukumis to their Igbo-speaking neighbours and the resultant interaction with them as well as with other Igbo people elsewhere over the centuries, the average Olukumi person normally speaks the Igbo language from childhood, especially if, as a child, (s)he grew up at home. In fact, some Olukumi people speak Igbo as fluently as they speak the Olukumi language, and the degree of fluency depends on the individual's flair for languages.

The Olukumis have another linguistic advantage in that in addition to their ability to understand and speak the Yoruba language with its various dialects, they also have little difficulty understanding the Ebu and Itsekiri languages. Both of these languages are known to have basic Yoruba vocabulary and to derive basically from Yoruba in origin. Given the ability of the Olukumi people to speak both the Olukumi language and the Igbo language with relative ease, their Enuani Igbo neighbours usually describe them as Ndị n'asụ onu n'abọ or people who speak two languages or in two tongues: in other words, a bilingual people.

The term Enuani is used generally in this book to describe Igbo people who inhabit the defunct Asaba Division, except those at Asaba, Ebu, and Illah, as well as the people of the Ika Local Government Areas. The term Enuani indeed means hinterland. It is intended to distinguish the inhabitants of the area from their eastern Igbo counterparts who live along the bank of River Niger, e.g., Asaba, Illah, Ebu, etc.

Contrary to the opinion of Professors Onwuejeogwu and Nduka Okoh, the Olukumis have not, in reality, been completely igbonised from the constant absorption of Igbo migrants.¹ Conversely, the correct position is that some few Igbo migrants in Olukumiland are easily olukumised by the indigenous Olukumis.

The Olukumis are a relatively small community in their locational setting. Concerning their much more numerous Enuani Igbo neighbours, the Olukumis are a silent minority. This probably explains why, until recently, not much is known about them outside what used to be called Asaba Division. For this reason, the Olukumis are and have indeed been aptly described as a Yoruba Enclave.

Mystery surrounds the existence of this Yoruba enclave in Aniocha land. Olukumiland is located about 200 kilometres from Ore, the nearest important Yoruba town in Ondo State along the Asaba-Benin-Lagos Road. How and why did their pioneers settle in what is now known as Aniochaland? Where precisely did their pioneer settlers come from? What relationship exists between them and their present-day neighbours? What aspects of their life are traceable to present-day Yoruba or the neighbouring peoples? What are their modes of life, customs and traditions, indigenous or traditional religious beliefs, system of traditional administration, and role in the context of present-day Nigeria? What are the prospects of their survival as a distinct sub-tribe in Nigeria, where urbanisation is fast transforming rural life and traditional attachments and beliefs? These and many other questions relevant to a proper understanding of the Olukumi people are the matters and issues the author attempts to explain in this book.

HOW OLD ARE THE OLUKUMI SETTLEMENTS?

In their discussion of the genesis and foundation of western Igbo civilisation, Professor Onwuejeogwu and Nduka Okoh² identify nine movements as follows:

The Ika Movements: 4000 BC to 19th century A.D.

The Nri Movements: 9th century AD to 1911

The Isu Movements: 15th–16th century A.D.

The Ubulu Movements: 16th–17th century A.D.

The Olukwumi (Olukumi) Movements: 15th century A.D.

The Ezechima Movements: 17th century A.D.

The Iduu Movements: 18th century A.D.

The Igala Movements: 18th–19th century A.D.

The Ukuani (Uwuani) Movements: 17th–18th century A.D.

Professor Onwuejeogwu is a world-renowned anthropologist. According to him, the assignment of dates to some events in history must a fortiori be a matter of guesswork or speculation and approximation, especially where the events took place in antiquity or at a time before recorded history. This is the basis of the dating of events in this book. Following his chronograph, all dates except those relating to events that took place about one hundred and fifty years before the publication of the first edition of this book are, therefore, approximates.

What is obvious from Onwuejeogwu's plausible findings with which the Olukumis substantially agree is that Olukumi people were the first or pioneer settlers in the land area which is today known as Aniocha North and Aniocha South Local Government Areas of Delta State, Nigeria. This is reflected, as will be explained in due course, in the fact that the people of the Igbo-dominated communities, which came to settle on the lands adjacent to the territory occupied much earlier by the Olukumi people came, as would be expected, to describe the latter people, as Odiani people. The expression means the original owners and occupiers of the land or the people already existing or settled on the land before the arrival of others or these Igbo elements. It is instructive to explain that the word Odiani, the current designation of the Olukumi Clan, is an anglicised and shortened form of the original Igbo word "Odinani." It is also to be stressed that the word Odiani is pronounced like Odiani with the first syllable pronounced as in the word or and not like a word beginning with an O as in the word Obi. The popular form of pronunciation of the word Odiani makes no sense in either the Olukumi or the Igbo language, although in recent times, the Igbo people in Aniochaland have come to use the word Odiani in a special context as meaning a community embracing all tribes and all peoples.

THE HOME OF THE OLUKUMI PEOPLE

The Olukumi people are found and live exclusively in Odiani Clan in the northern part of Aniocha North Local Government of Delta State, Nigeria. The clan is bounded in the east by the Ebu Clan in the Oshimili area, in the west by the Idumuje Clan in the Aniocha North Local Government Area, in the South by the Ezechima Clan also in Aniocha North, and in the north by the Ohordua Clan in Esan South-East Local Government Area of Edo State. Olukumiland is part of what had hitherto been referred to as the Asaba District of Southern Nigeria. According to an Anthropological Report of 1914:

"The Asaba District extends from about 6o 30' N to about 5o 55' N. The western border is somewhat irregular; in the north, the angle between the north and west boundary line lies about 6o 30'; from here, it trends westwards nearly as far as Owerri in the Agbor District 6o 22'; then there is a re-entering angle some 10 miles to the south-east, and the southern boundary line is reached about 6o 23' at Utagba Unor. The eastern boundary line is formed by the Niger.

The southern portion of the district is in the main low and, more especially near the Niger, swampy; in the rainy season, a large area is uninhabited. A few miles behind Asaba, and from there westwards, the land rises to a height of about 400 or 500 feet, and the Hinterland of the district lies in the main upon this plateau."³

It is in this plateau region of the old Asaba district that the Olukumis are to be found. Here, "there are no important rivers running through the district, but the Oto, which cuts off the Ishan town of Inyele from the rest of the district, is deep, though narrow in the dry season. Among other rivers may be mentioned the Anwai, entering the Niger at Asaba. It then curves northwards to Isele Asaba, and from there runs for some distance near the Asaba-Agbor Road as far as Uburokiti, after which it trends northwards towards Udumuje Uno."

THE ORIGINAL OLUKUMI SETTLEMENTS

The Olukumis are said to have started off with two settlements, the first to be established said to be Ugbodu. This was followed some decades later by the settlement now known as Ukwu-Nzu. The original Olukumi name of the latter town, i.e., Ukwu-Nzu, is Eko, and that is the name by which the Olukumis refer to the town to this day. As will be explained elsewhere in this book, the name Ukwu-Nzu is of Igbo origin and came into use after the Olukumi had met the Igbo-speaking people who came in later years to establish settlements near the Olukumis in what is now considered the entire Aniochaland.

It is not precisely known in what year the first batch of Olukumis left their original homeland in the Yoruba country to settle in their present location, far removed and remote from their original home. This is no doubt due to the absence of written or documented records. Oral historical narratives of the people, however, leave no one in doubt that the people, especially the founders of Ugbodu, must have left their original Yoruba kindred to where they now live between the 14th and the 15th centuries. This is confirmed by the fact that it is narrated in the oral tradition that the founders of Ugbodu had settled there for about a hundred years before Oba Ewuare, the Great, of Benin ascended the throne in or about 1440 AD. A pertinent question that one will readily be tempted to ask is, What was the nature of the environment in which these Yoruba adventurers found themselves on their arrival in their present locations?

In that far-off age when our heroic ancestors left their original homeland in Yoruba country and fearlessly explored country after country in search of a place to settle, what is now known as Southern Nigeria was a wilderness of vast, impenetrable tropical forests. There roamed the mighty rhinoceros, the huge elephants, the herds of bison, gorillas, baboons, buffalos, and hyenas. The hippopotamus, bush pigs, and countless numbers of reptiles and other amphibious animals (some now extinct) either wallowed along the banks of the rivers or glided on treetops to bask in the tropical sun above and escape the smoggy, enervating hot-house conditions below. There were also the terrible sabre-toothed lions and the cheetah of the tiger family, kings of the forests, lifting their frightful roaring voices high up to the heavens as they patrolled with majestic ease the primordial jungles, bloodthirstily but gleefully devouring their innocent preys with unperturbed freedom and even reckless abandon.

How brave our proud ancestors must have appeared to be! They had to be courageous and ruthless, yet cautious and resolute, to overcome and conquer nature. They were immune to fear and blind to the possibility of failure. They had the resolve and the will to survive and live so that they might bequeath to us, their proud descendants, what today is our rich heritage. Their immediate environment was totally uninhabited, stretching to a radius of over thirty kilometres in all directions. Therefore, the Olukumis were the first human beings to establish permanent settlements on this primordial territory now known as Aniochaland and exercise sets of ownership over unchallenged.

Unfortunately, the Olukumis, as pioneer settlers, did not assert their right of ownership and exclusive possession of the entire land, which today, as pointed out earlier, comprises Aniochaland. They were rather content to remain in their selected enclave. If the Olukumis had been more populous than they were; if they had the foresight that land would, over time, become a precious scarce resource in the area; if they had been aggressive, greedy, and acquisitive by nature; if they had not been as magnanimous as they have consistently been, they probably would have been entitled to assert exclusive ownership of the entire Aniochaland as the pioneer settlers thereon. Above all, if they had been more rational and discreet in their generosity, as a result of which they parted with their God-given land and permitted Esan and Igbo stranger elements who later came to meet them and settle as neighbours to occupy vast lands very adjacent to Olukumi settlements, as a consequence of which the Olukumis soon found themselves sandwiched between these "stranger elements," with no possibility of expanding their own restricted enclave, the territorial land of the Olukumis would have been much more vast than it is today.

However, their small population was an obvious handicap, discouraging any territorial expansion. These factors account for the nearness, in particular, of Idumuje-Unor, Obomkpa, and Onicha-Ukwu Igbo communities, each of which is less than two kilometres from Ugbodu or Ukwunzu, the Olukumi original Towns. The noble gesture of the Olukumis, prompted by their naturalness, good neighbourliness, simplicity, open-mindedness, magnanimity, and accommodating spirit, was extended to these stranger elements who, out of innocence, came to settle near them in later years. It is, however, a matter for regret to the modern generation of Olukumis who would have wished that their forebears designed their arrangements with those alien settlers in such a way that each Olukumi community had ample land within its territory and was more distanced than it is today from its closest non-Olukumi neighbour. It is obvious that their forbears did not envisage a subsequent population increase, neither did they appreciate the constant size of land, which cannot be expanded while the demand for it and its value are ever rising.

EXTENSION OF OLUKUMI SETTLEMENTS

Since the early part of the 18th century, some satellite towns have grown out of the two original settlements at Ugbodu and Ukwunzu, thereby, to some extent, increasing the land area occupied effectively by the Olukumis. The satellite towns include Ubulubu and Idumu-Ogo. These two towns, together with their two parent towns, Ugbodu and Ukwunzu, and one other town, namely, Ugboba, the founders of which are said to have come from Beninland at a much later date, now make up the core of the Odiani Clan. Two other settlements, namely Ogodor and Anioma (also within the clan), were later founded by migrants from Ugboba and Ubulubu, respectively. Apart from Anioma, which is still under the Ubulubu traditional administration, each of the other towns in the clan is now autonomous for all intents and purposes and not subordinate to any other town in the clan. Odiani Clan is, therefore, synonymous with the Olukumi community, a community of independent or autonomous towns, their relatively small size notwithstanding. Accordingly, for the purpose of this book, the entire Odiani Clan will be referred to as the land of the Olukumis except where it is necessary to distinguish between the real Olukumi-speaking people and the non-Olukumi-speaking component of the clan. It is, however, important to emphasise that the Olukumis properly form an overwhelming majority in the clan.

INCLUSION OF ODIANI CLAN IN ANIOCHA: AN ADMINISTRATIVE ANOMALY

In official and administrative circles, the Olukumis are grouped with the western Igbo people. There are two possible reasons for this situation. One reason is probably that, for the government, as explained in Chapter Two, it was a matter of administrative convenience. The other reason is possibly because of the small population of the Olukumis relative to the much larger population of the Igbo-speaking people of Aniocha, who now virtually sandwich the Olukumis. Consequently, the small clan could not conveniently be constituted into a Local Government Area of its own. However, at all material times, the possibility of the clan being so constituted in the future cannot be ruled out in a dynamic polity that intends to bring the government to the people's doorstep. For these two reasons, the inclusion of the Olukumis in a predominantly Igbo-speaking administrative area is obviously an anomaly since their Igbo neighbours do not understand the Olukumi language, nor do they regard the Olukumis as their ethnic kith and kin.

It may, however, be said that through a process of interaction and acculturation, the Olukumis have gradually become, to a great extent, assimilated socially and culturally by their more populous Igbo-speaking neighbours. Nevertheless, the people have remained a unique group for although, as stated earlier, every Olukumi person could now speak the Igbo language fluently, especially if they grew up at home, the people have retained their original Yoruba dialect, the Olukumi language, as their mother tongue. Therefore, their ethnic identity has remained intact. This ethnic distinctiveness of the Olukumi people is a fact various governments and authorities must recognise in accordance with the Nigerian constitution. It must, however, be conceded that the initiative to assert and project their own unique identity in a geographical space where distinctions seem blurred and confusing must come from the people themselves.

THE SUDAN ORIGIN THEORY

One version of the origin of the Olukumis (together with the Yorubas and offshoots of Yoruba towns) narrates that the people and some other fellow tribesmen migrated from Northeast Africa in or in the neighbourhood of Sudan long before the 8th century AD. It is believed that they and their kinsmen were among the earliest settlers in present-day Southern Nigeria, having travelled across the African continent in a north-east-west direction until they found themselves on the West African coast. These emigres from the Sudan area are believed to have moved in waves. The members of each wave probably belonged to one Sudanese ethnic group or sub-tribe. Thus, according to this version, the original Olukumi group must have included the Igalas of Kwara and Kogi States, the Itsekiris of Warri, the Ebus in the Oshimili area, and most of the various communities which later came to be referred to collectively as the Yorubas of which Olukumis of Aniocha North are an offshoot.

Indeed, it is indubitable that such a movement took place in view of the nomadic life that the people of that part of Northeastern Africa lead because of their arid and semi-arid environment. It will not also be difficult to trace the pattern of the migration movement of these people from the Sudan area and the resultant settlements through Igala land in the south-western part of Northern Nigeria to the present locations of the Yorubas, the Olukumis, the Ebus, and the Itsekiris to the western and southern parts of Nigeria. The movements, which were partly necessitated by the search for a better-watered environment, must have spanned more than one century in the course of which the original Sudanese language developed variants, as members of each wave either imbibed part of the culture and vocabulary of the people through whose territories they passed or else deliberately developed modifications of their original language while their marathon journey continued in order to be distinct from the other groups.

The dispersal of the Yorubas, whose home base in present-day Nigeria was Ile-Ife, after their arrival from Northeast Africa is said to be the materialisation of a decree made by Oba Oduduwa on his deathbed. He was said to have called all his sons together and directed them to migrate from Ile-Ife and find their own individual kingdoms. For the purpose of enabling them to distinguish one kingdom from another and in order to avoid conflict and establish contact, Oduduwa gave each of his sons a certain symbol. Yoruba oral tradition narrates that over-population coupled with prolonged drought lasting for a number of years necessitated the decree. Several diviners and Babalawos had been consulted to offer solutions to the drought problem. Still, none succeeded until much later when Agirilogbon divined by his oracle that the solution to the people's affliction lay in migration. The divination was acceptable to both Oduduwa and his people, and soon afterwards, the orderly movements began. Settlements were established not only in different parts of what later became known as Yoruba land but also beyond.

The Olukumis, it is suggested by the proponents of this version, represent the most conservative elements within the Sudanese group, and that explains why, after they had once settled in parts of what is now known as Yoruba land, they later decided to move further from there to somewhere else to overcome over-population and prolonged drought as well as inter-tribal wars in Yoruba land. The Olukumis presumably moved because they, in their innate conservatism, cherished their independence and did not accept that they should be ruled or assimilated by other peoples. The same may be said of the Itsekiris, the Ebus, and the Igalas, with whom the Olukumis have a strong affinity.

The existence of the Ogurugu community in the predominantly Igbo country in present-day Enugu State shows that the migration of peoples who are generically of Yoruba extraction began centuries ago and is a continuous process. It suggests that the pioneer emigrants must have belonged to a nomadic group in Sudan or neighbouring semi-arid areas. Although migration is deep-rooted in their mode of life, they are so tenacious in their language in particular that they will not allow foreign influences to wipe it out.

The Sudan-origin theory, it is submitted, is a plausible historical explanation of the place of origin of the various peoples in Nigeria whose language of today has a dominant basic Yoruba vocabulary. Accordingly, it may well be postulated that the Olukumis found today in Aniocha land have some ancestral linkage with the emigres from Sudan. However, such a linkage must be very remote since it cannot be easily established historically in modern times. Incidentally, the Kano Chronicle, which deals extensively with the Sudanese movements, says they took place approximately between 900 and 1,000 AD. The fact which cannot be refuted is that the founders of the core Olukumi communities in what is now Aniocha land migrated originally from Akure and Owo, with some perhaps from Ile-Ife, at a much later period.

In subsequent parts of this book, an attempt will be made to trace the origin of each of the towns or communities that make up the Olukumi sub-tribe in Aniocha North. Although a considerable portion of the accounts is based on the author's knowledge of the area and of its people and also on the direct oral testimony of the elderly and knowledgeable indigenes of the enclave and a few available written materials, it became necessary in the course of writing this book to analyse some of the narratives to ensure coherence and fill some obvious gaps.

THE OLUKUMI AS A FORMER LANGUAGE OF THE KWA AND EWE TRIBES

That the word Olukumi or Lukumi was the original word by which the various tribes or sub-tribes that later came to be called the Yorubas was once known cannot be doubted. Whether the correct pronunciation of that word was Olukumi or Lukumi is, however, uncertain. A study of the Yoruba language will show that most of the words begin with the vowel O and that it is in rare cases that a word begins with a consonant. It is, therefore, the belief of the Olukumis, as stated above, that Lukumi or Lucumi is a modified or Europeanised form of the original word Olukumi.

It has been suggested in recent linguistic studies that the Olukumi language was also wildly spoken in some countries in Africa outside of Yoruba land as we know it in Nigeria. One of these countries was the Aja country in the present-day Benin Republic, where the language was called Lucumi. That language, like the Olukumi language, is, strangely enough, said to have some affinity with the languages spoken by the Ewe, Edo, and Igbo tribes, all of which are believed to have belonged in former times to the Kwa sub-family within the greater Niger-Congo (Nigritic) family. One may not be surprised that the Olukumi language in the modern Yoruba core area could have spread to the Aja area, which is very close to the Yoruba country. Cultural and linguistic transference and transplantation could have made that possible.

It should also be recalled that some Yoruba families in Nigeria were separated from their ancestral kith and kin now in the Republic of Benin during the partition of Africa by European powers in the 1880s following the Berlin Conference in 1885. Thus, the original Yoruba language spoken by those people might have spread and changed over the years. What one may infer from the recent linguistic studies is the fact that at one stage or the other in the historical evolution of the various peoples that once widely spoke the Olukumi or Lucumi language as their lingua franca, each of the sub-groups within the larger group must have rather unconsciously broken away, so to speak, because the original group had become amorphous and unwieldy.

Each sub-group, therefore, coined words by which it could be distinguished from the other diverse sub-groups since the original group solidarity cherished by the people in former times was no longer considered attainable or even desirable. Probably among such coined words were Yoruba, Aja, Edo, and Igbo. Each sub-group eventually developed its own ethnic identity and a variant of the original Olukumi language until it attained the status of a distinct and unique language intelligible only to the members of the sub-group, thus giving rise to modern Yoruba, Edo, Igbo, and Ewe languages. It is, however, doubtful if the Igbo language has any linguistic linkage with the Yoruba language except in antiquity since the original Igbo tribesmen are generally believed to have migrated from Central Africa.

The Olukumis of Aniochaland believe that the founders of their communities must have, in their innate conservation, lamented that the word Olukumi, the original name by which their broad ethnic group and perhaps language were generically called and known in former times, had almost fallen into disuse at the time of their migration from the Yoruba country between the 13th and 14th centuries. They, therefore, clung to the use of that word, their ancient name, to which they had always had a strong sentimental attachment.

THE OLUKUMIS IN CUBA

The origin of the name of the Lucumi community in Cuba can be easily explained. Suppose Lucumi, as they are known, has any nexus with Olukumi in the Yoruba context, and it is certainly not an indigenous Cuban word. In that case, a plausible explanation of its existence or use in Cuba must be that the Yorubas who were transported there in the days of the slave trade must have retained that name to identify themselves and their community in the New World.

The corrupted mispronunciation of Olukumi to sound Lucumi will not be surprising, nor will the transplantation of such a name be strange to anyone familiar with the Yorubas, who are known in the world for their conservatism. This is especially the case in regard to matters concerning their language, tradition, and culture. The retention of their Yoruba accents, even when they speak English or other languages long after leaving their tribal homeland for the United Kingdom or the USA, for example, is a strong peculiarity for which the Yorubas are remarkable.

Chapter 2

ODIANI CLAN: ORIGIN AND HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT

The political and administrative entity known as Odiani Clan comprises seven towns: Ugbodu, Ukwunzu, Ugboba, Idumu-Ogo, Ubulubu, Ogodor, and Anioma. As stated in Chapter One, the clan, which is now situated in Aniocha North Local Government Area of Delta State, lies on the northern periphery of Aniochaland.

It shares common boundaries with Esan to the North, the Idumuje Clan to the West, the Ezechima Clan to the South, and the Illah-Ebu Clans in Oshimili North Local Government Area to the East. It presently has a population of about 50,750.¹ As a rich agricultural area, the clan produces large quantities of timber, yams, cassava, plantains, and tomatoes. At present, no large-scale industries or important institutions exist in the area yet.

Population growth is on a large scale. Young school leavers usually migrate from the clan periodically to the urban centres in different parts of the country and overseas in search of better job opportunities. This is, however, offset by a high birth rate leading to a population increase in the clan.

The people are apparently bilingual to an outsider, but the mother tongue of the majority of the inhabitants is Olukumi or the Olukumi language. The description of the Olukumis by their Igbo-speaking neighbours as Ndi n'asu onun'abo, or people who speak two languages obviously has, for the people, a psychological disadvantage in external relations in view of the mutual suspicion that it arouses. Coupled with the remoteness of the clan from urban centres and poor accessibility, the description tends to alienate the Olukumis, which has adversely affected the socio-economic progress of the clan. Nevertheless, the advantages derived by the people from the retention of their Olukumi language far outweigh the disadvantages, as bilingualism has proved very useful to them.

Odiani Clan is one of the seven clans that make up the present-day Aniocha North and Aniocha South Local Government Areas, the other clans being Ogwashi, Ubulu, Ewulu, and Nsukwa Clans in Aniocha South and Ezechima and Idumuje Clans in Aniocha North.

Odiani Clan is unique in that it is the only clan in Aniocha land as a whole in which a language other than Igbo is the dominant language or the people's mother tongue. The other clans are linguistically homogenous as all the inhabitants of these clans are Igbo-speaking, the existence of dialectical difference notwithstanding. It is precisely because most of the inhabitants of the Odiani Clan speak two languages that some minority Igbo-speaking communities within the clan, as initially constituted in the early days of British colonial administration, decided in the 1920s and 1930 to secede from it. In the administrative exercise which followed, some of these Igbo-speaking communities chose either to be constituted into a separate clan or to be merged with another existing nearby predominantly Igbo-speaking clan, where differences in language or medium of communication would not create communication problems or even an atmosphere of mutual suspicion.

The communities originally in Odiani Clan but have now left it administratively are Idumuje Unor and Idumuje Ugboko, which now constitute the Idumuje Clan, and Obomkpa, which have been merged with the Ezechima Clan.

Strangely enough, in his book, Evolution of Benin Chieftaincy Titles, Prince Enina Eweka, a one-time Secretary to the Benin Traditional Council, who claimed to have visited all parts of Edo and Delta States in the course of his research, portrayed Odiani in three lights, which, unfortunately, are manifestly incorrect. In the first place, he was under the mistaken but probably honest impression that the proper name of Odiani was Idiani, and that is the word he used in his book to describe the land of the Olukumis.

In the second place, he had some misapprehension as regards the size and composition of Odiani. Thus, he thought that Odiani, which he erroneously called IDIANI, consisted only of one town called Idiani and not a group of autonomous towns. Thirdly, Prince Eweka did not appreciate that the word Odiani derives from the western Igbo dialect and not from the name of a town he called Idiani, to be found in the Ekiti area of Ekiti State. This is what he had to say:

"IDIANI

This village, like Ebu, speaks, in addition to Ibo dialects, a different dialect called Onukumi, which is really the old Benin dialect called Onukumi by which name Yorubas were known. This Idiani group traces its origin to the Ekiti area. The River Niger provided an excellent transportation system which assisted in the early migration of the people. It is not known by many people that a considerable portion of the Yoruba area, such as Ado Ekiti, Ondo, Owo, Ijebu, and Lagos, were under the suzerainty of Benin during the 14th, 15th, 16th, and even up to 18th centuries. With the limited knowledge so far, one can only say that the Imperial Benin forces of the past must have fostered these migrations."⁴

During a pre-launching appraisal of Prince Eweka's book with this author in the Prince's Benin Traditional Council Office, he apologetically admitted these glaring errors and misconceptions. He expressed his intention to seek the author's opinion and comments when the next edition of the book is prepared.

Prince Eweka's misconceptions are not peculiar, nor are they an isolated case but bring into sharp focus the extent to which the existence of the Olukumis and the Clan, Odiani Clan have remained relatively obscure to the outside world, thus confirming the mystique that for centuries has surrounded this Yoruba enclave. It must be pointed out that contrary to Prince Eweka's postulation, no important river, such as River Niger, played any part in the migration of the Olukumis from Yoruba land to the present enclave. The journeys were substantially on foot. His other assertion that the Olukumis trace their origin to the Ekiti area is not historically accurate.

ORIGIN OF THE EXPRESSION ODIANI

At the outset, it must be explained that the expression Odiani is not identifiable with any town, for no town in the Odiani area bears any such name.

The expression, which is of Igbo Enuani origin, was, in fact, first used long before the advent of British administration in the area by the Igbo-speaking people who settled west of River Niger, especially those who founded Issele-Uku and the other towns in Ezechima Clan, to describe and identify the Olukumis. These Igbo-speaking people, some of whom are believed to be descendants of the legendary Ezechima, had met the Olukumi-Yoruba-speaking people on the land when the former was compelled partly by domestic intrigues and partly by fatigue to settle in their present locations rather than proceed to their alleged towns of origin east of that great river on their way from Benin.

Before the arrival of these Igbo people, two purely Olukumi towns, namely Ugbodu and Eko (later renamed Ukwu Nzu), were the only settlements in the entire Aniocha area. Other settlements were, however, established from the nucleus of these two towns before the advent of the British Administration.

When the British colonial masters introduced the system of clans as units of local administration, the word Olukumi could not be used to describe the area occupied by the Olukumis because some neighbouring minority Igbo communities (e.g., the Idumuje and Obomkpa communities) were at that time inseparable from Olukumiland for a variety of reasons. One of these was proximity; the other was cultural. It was, therefore, understandable why the name Odiani, which in Igbo means already existing land, should have been used by these Igbo people to identify and describe the Olukumis and the land territory which they dominated.

The original name was Odinaani, but this expression was shortened to Odiani by British colonial administrators who considered the shorter form much easier to spell and pronounce. It must be emphasised for the purpose of correction that the proper pronunciation of the now generally accepted official name of the clan is Ordiani, the first vowel being pronounced as in the word or and not as old. The name is an abstract concept, unlike the names of the other clans in Aniocha, which are associated with persons or existing towns. The view that Enuani Igbos used the word Odiani for the Olukumis as representing a multi-ethnic group of communities is historically without justification as the expression in that context is not apparent in the general Igbo language vocabulary.

EVOLUTION OF THE CLAN IN PRE-COLONIAL TIMES

In due course of time after the founding of Ugbodu and Ukwunzu, other settlements which are offshoots of these two original Olukumi towns were founded. These include Ubulubu and Idumu-Ogo. Other towns, such as Ugboba, with its offshoot, Ogodor, as well as Anioma, founded by some Ubulubu people, were also established. An account of the history of each of these Olukumi towns is given in subsequent chapters of this book.

In the years that followed, more settlements were also founded in the other areas immediately surrounding the Olukumis. Some of the founders of these settlements were Igbo-speaking, and it is believed that they may have come from east of the Niger, such as Ogidi near Onitsha (the hometown of Anagba, the founder of Obomkpa) or some of the existing Igbo towns west of the Niger, e.g., Onicha-Olona. However, some were founded by immigrants from the Esan area, which the Olukumis generally called Ohuere, the Aniocha name being Ukpei. One of the Esan towns is Ewohimi, the place of origin of the founder of Idumuje Unor.

The inhabitants of these newer settlements came into contact with one another and the Olukumis through hunting and trading expeditions. In some cases where the new towns were near Olukumi towns, the forest land separating them formed a buffer zone between these foreign peoples and the Olukumis. Cultural exchanges inevitably followed.

Some of the settlements which later came to be founded in the area close to the land occupied by the original Olukumi settlements include Ugboba, Idumuje Unor, Idumuje Ugboko, Obomkpa, and Onicha Uku. It is believed that the original founders of the town now known as Idumuje Unor came from Esan, while the reinforcements came later from other towns, e.g., Ashama and Asaba. Others later joined them from neighbouring Igbo-speaking towns like Onicha-Ugbo and Atuma, a town situated almost midway between Onicha Olona and Illah, a town on River Niger.

Idumuje Ugboko sprang up as an offshoot of Idumuje Unor. It, therefore, traces its origin to that town, although some sections of the town which were founded in later years trace their origins to some Olukumi and Esan towns.

The founders of Onicha Uku (renamed in 1985 by the town's Kanidimma Progressive Union) are believed to have migrated from Onicha Olona. Early in the 18th century, some immigrants from nearby Issele Uku joined them and increased their population.

Unlike the proper Olukumi towns, the other towns in Odiani Clan, not originally founded by Igbo-speaking people, have long been virtually Igbonised. An example of such a town is Ugboba. It is believed that Ugboba was founded by immigrants led by Adogie from Benin. The founders were not members of the Ezechima group, which, having left Benin for their Igbo homeland in the east as earlier explained, had abandoned their tedious journey on foot to settle in their present location. Oral tradition narrates that the founders of Ugboba came at a different and possibly later period from Benin and not contemporaneously with the Umu-Eze-Chima (the children or descendants of King Chima). This explains, in part, why the people of Ugboba do not claim and have, in fact, never claimed to have any ancestral or even traditional affinity or relationship with the Ezechima people. However, like in the latter case, the current lingua franca of Ugboba is essentially Igbo rather than Edo or Olukumi.

The other town in the Odiani Clan, which today is substantially but not exclusively Igbo-speaking, is Idumu-Ogo. Although founded by immigrants from Ukwunzu who were later reinforced by other immigrants from Ugbodu, other migrant groups from Igbo-speaking Issele-Uku and Ibusa established bilingualism in the town. Since the beginning of