By Ernest Osogbue

When I saw the title of Philip Elueme’s essay in the Sunday Vanguard of 29th May 2022; Anioma Are Igbo, I was captivated. I have always been fascinated by the science and evolution of language, and so sat back to be enlightened by Elueme as to how the Ukwuani people of whom I am one, came to be Igbos.

I relaxed to enjoy an anthropological and scientific journey into the linkage between the Ukwuani, Ika, and Ikwerre people’s and the Igbos’s. As a child growing up in the village, I recalled the constant refrain of my grandfather and village elders that the Ukwuani people are not Igbos. I was therefore interested in seeing how Elueme’s arguments would scientifically disprove my grandfather’s position.  

Reading through Elueme’s essay however, I discovered that his arguments were mostly based on the reported interactions between some Delta North politicians and their Igbo counterparts in the past. He also relied on personal testimonies of Delta North political figures claiming to be Igbos to buttress his point.

In all his postulations however, not one shred of scientific or anthropological evidence was adduced to buttress his point, and this left me baffled and disappointed. I had expected a lineal tracing of the relationship between the Igbos, and the peoples of Delta North, but all Elueme served was his personal emotional attachment to belonging to a larger ethnic group. I was so embarrassed at this selfish desire for political correctness, that I could not help but to share my thoughts on the subject.  

First off, Anioma does not exist either in geography or history as an ethnic group. Anioma is a term of convenience created due to the exigencies of Nigerian politics, and came into the Nigerian lexicon sometime in the late 1970’s when the agitations for states creation was at its peak. Back then in Bendel State, there was a simultaneous agitation for the creation of two more states from the old Bendel State. In a bid to find a convenient name for a State made up of the peoples of Ukwuani, Ika, Aniocha and Oshimili areas of the state, the term Anioma was coined as a unifying word.  

Related to that was the argument for the creation of Delta State, to be populated by the Urhobos, Isokos, Ijaws and the Itsekiri peoples, with the capital in Warri; while the capital of Anioma would be in Asaba. I remember as a child, that the Ukwuani peoples were divided between being lumped together with the Urhobos and co, in Delta State, and being joined together with the Ika, Oshimili and Aniocha peoples to form Anioma. There was a sharp division then between two groups of Ukwuani politicians pulling the Ukwuani people in two different directions.

General Babangida inadvertently settled the matter when he created Delta State and domiciled its capital in Asaba. It was a masterstroke, as he killed two birds with one stone; he created Delta State but sited its capital in the proposed capital of Anioma State, thereby bringing together in one state, everyone agitating for Anioma and Delta States.  

The above analogy is necessary in order to make a distinction between a name, Anioma; coined by the peoples of today’s Delta North for political expediency, and a tribe or ethnic group which is organic. Anioma is a coinage, just as Bendel-Igbo or more appropriately, Delta-Igbo is a coinage created out of convenience by those too lazy to differentiate the ethnic distinctions between the peoples of Delta North and the Igbos.

The reason why Ukwuani people were initially divided on the issue of Delta or Anioma State, was because, they enjoyed a close cultural affinity with the Urhobos, Isokos and Ijaws to the south, while at the same time sharing a kinship with their brothers in today’s Delta North. Most Ukwuani people feel culturally attached to the Urhobos and the Isokos than they feel towards the Igbos. This comes from years of close cultural interaction and mutual trust borne out of interdependent relationships and a shared vision. This affinity in my opinion is lacking to an extent between the Ukwuani people and the Igbos.

On another level, people seem to get carried away by the issue of similarity in language. This is not enough, as much as there are words and terms for which the Ukwuani people and the Igbos use similar expressions, there are also a plethora of words and terms for which they use different expressions. On the other hand, similarity in language should not be equated to sameness, as there are many peoples who speak the same language, yet are of different ethnicities.