The Origin And History Of Umuikwu Anam Anambra State

Umuikwu Anam is one of the eight communities in Anam, Anambra West Local Government Area of Anambra State, Nigeria.

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  Location

It is bordered by Umudora Anam, Oroma Etiti and Umueze Anam to the north, Omambala River which is a native name of Anambra River to the east across which lie towns such as Nsugbe and Umueri, the confluence of Omambala River and River Niger to the south across which lies town such as Onitsha, and River Niger to the west across which lies Asaba.

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  Origin and History

Oral tradition has it that the settlers who arrived at umuikwu anam were group of people who came from Nsugbe as a result to their attempt to flee from adda war which ravaged all the Igboland. They made their way across Anambra River to the peaceful peninsula in 17th century and settled at a place known as Odah; an area of land in Umueze Anam up till date, with a hunter known as Nwavor who is said to be the founder of the area and other people who emigrated from their various communities as an attempt to run away from adda war (as Igbo people unwittingly referred to it as but these were slave hunters from Arochukwu, a town in present Abia state). After the arrival of this immigrants from Nsugbe to the area, there were still other large number of people coming into the area in order to be saved from adda war or in search of wild-life, pools and agricultural lands. All these groups of immigrants were living together at Odah bearing a collective name Anam a corrupt form of Anagba which means coming together of diverse people, until Aboh war compelled them to diverge in the 18th century with each group of immigrants running away from Odah into hinderlands having their separate name but likely with the suffix Anam which denotes they are part of Anam community. It is a misconception that Ogbe who came from Idah begot Anam, Anam begot eight sons which formed eight villages in Anam community today because Anam is just a name which suggests coming together of poeple from different places and was never existed as a human being unlike some oral history has it, although an ancestor of a quarter of Oroma-Etiti descended from Ajida the great warrior from Idah in Igala Kingdom who begot Ogbe, Ogbe begot Anaku, Olosi, Okpanam, Nzam and this ancestor of a quarter of Orama-Etiti whom his name has remained unanimous in the history. During the period of adda war in Igboland in 17th century, there was also an inter-tribal war in Igala kingdom known as apa war, so when the apa warriors invaded Igala communities, Ogbe along with many others retreated with their families, moving southwards along the course of the River Niger, as they approached Anam region, this unanimous son to Ogbe who happens to be the ancestor of a quarter of Oroma-Etiti and his family settled in the region because he found wild-life and fertile land. When he discovered there was a group of people living at Odah, he moved along with his family and settled with them. And other children of Ogbe for one reason or the other settled themselves at their present locations. Anam community is made up of people who came from Idah in Igala kingdom, Onicha in Igbo speaking delta and Nsugbe, Umueri, Aguleri, Nando and Nteje in Igboland. Formerly, Anam had seven villages (which is denoted by the popular saying Anam mkpo isaa) which settled together at Odah following their divergence in the 18th century, otherwise known as Iyiora, Mmiata Anam, Oroma-Etiti, Umudora Anam, Umueze Anam , Umuikwu Anam and Umuoba Anam. But now consist of eight villages with inclusion of Umuewelum Anam which later become a village through Oroma-Etiti.

According to the already mentioned oral tradition, Umuikwu Anam was founded in the 18th century by this group of people who came from Nsugbe when Aboh slave hunters invaded Odah and captured some Anam people who were sold to slavery which made Anam people to run away from Odah into hinderlands, which Umueze Anam people later decided to leave Abor a place they ran into for safety and come back and settled at Odah to defend their father land, other villages ran into the hinderlands such as Mmiata which settled in the northern part, Umudora and Oroma-Etiti which settled in the western part but Umuikwu Anam people out of their bravery, they settled in the southern flank which no other village in Anam had made any attempt to settle in, because Aboh warriors were good mariners, who attack through the water and must pass through the southern part before getting to Odah or any Anam land. Umuikwu poeple settled in the southern part because they found a lot of agricultural lands, pools and wild-life in the area and fought Aboh war till 1830 following the abolition of slave trade. Although Anam poeple fought Aboh war collectively at Odah and defeated them with the help of the chief priest who was consulted by the council of elders and he revealed that Aboh war can only be defeated with a charm and the bearer of the charm will die, this happened as the chief priest predicted, but this did not stop Anam people from running away from Odah because they were afraid Aboh could reinforce their warriors and come back against them, except this group of people who came from Nsugbe who are known as Umuikwu Anam today were the only immigrants who were brave enough to settle in this southern flank facing such lethal challenges, that was when the popular saying Umuikwu anu was giving after their bravery act which suggests Umuikwu is made up of courageous and fearless people. And they named the first place they settled Ilo-abito after a place called Ilo-abito in Nsugbe and it bears this name up till date. Umuikwu consists of four clans otherwise known as Umuegwu, Umuewenta, Umuogwu and Umutu and inter marriage exist among them because their ancestors were not from the same genealogy even though they came from the same town, in other words Nsugbe is made up of diverse people. But Before the settlement of umuikwu people in the area, some pools around the areas such as Onono, Ukwubili, Ojele and Aribo were being harvested by Nsugbe people who did made their way across omambala river and went back after a day or few days of the harvest, but when they discovered their brothers who left Nsugbe to flee from adda war had settled in the area, they made an agreement which could allow them harvest those pools with them until late 19th century when they finally gave up those pools and these their brothers in Umuikwu inherited them. Although written document about the land was lacking at the time of this work, therefore the research was centred on engaging with some elders such as Chief Edwin Anidebe, Chief Chidekwe Anekwe, Chief Anthony Udekwe and many others who could orally transmit facts about themselves and their surroundings as was handed down to them from their ancestors.

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  Land Dispute

In 1945, land dispute erupted in Umuikwu between some individuals from different families known as council who claimed that each family in Umuikwu respectively owned lands and pools rather than collectively possessed it claimed by other members of Umuikwu people. One of each faction known as Council appointed their representatives such as Ekwenze Udalor from Umumeratu-Umuegwu, Onyeaka Enwenike and Okafor Odu from Umuewenta, Okafor Machie and Nwasa Okoye from Umungum-Umutu, Ikeagwu Nwofia and Anidebe Okafor from Umuazi-Umuegwu, Obadi Jeizu and Okeke Nwoke from Umungwolu-Umutu, Egwuatu Okeke and Chife Ubaka from Umuosodi-Umutu and Okafor Mmeze from Umuogwu who could receive their fuel fees at the District Office, Onitsha. But other members of Umuikwu Anam interfered by taking the suit to a court of law claiming they collectively possess pools and lands and the case lasted for years following series of adjournment on ruling of the case, until the judge finally gave the verdict in favour of council in Enugu court. This same drama continues reoccurring following the last appeal made by some members of Umuikwu in june 1972 to a higher law court to consider again a decision made by the previous law court, but this long era of conflict brought chaos to the land which made the elders to start having meeting on what could restore peace to the land until 1973 that both council and other members of Umuikwu Anam had come together and made peace and accepted to own pools and lands collectively but with the condition that each family will permanently own at least two pools from the pools which belonged to that family as claimed by the council and the case was withdrawn from the court.

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  Kingship

Before the arrival of the British in the late 19th century, there was monarchical system in Umuikwu Anam whereby the most elderly and mentally fit man in the land is considered as the monarch, known as Di Okpala or Okpala . He commands respect from his people in many cases and have considerable influence, symbolic authority of the land was kept in his custody and his residence was a venue for the village meeting which was later replaced with town-hall following the introduction of kingship. After the amalgamation of Northern Protectorate and Southern Protectorate which form a modern Nigeria in 1914, the first British High Commissioner for Northern Nigeria, Frederick Lugard, tried to rule through the traditional rulers, and this approach was later extended to the south. Lugard's successor Hugh Clifford left this system in place in the north, where the emirate system had long traditions, but introduced a legislative council with some elected members in the south, relegating the traditional rulers to mainly symbolic roles. With independence in 1960, followed by alternating democratic and military governments, the status of the traditional rulers evolved even further, in the north the emirs finally lost power to the government administration, though said administration was often staffed by traditional notables. Where rulers had previously acquired office strictly through inheritance or through appointment by a council of elders, the government now increasingly became involved in the succession. Following the extension of traditional ruling system to the southern Nigeria, Umuikwu Anam along with Umudora Anam region was created as an autonomous province, which Umudora poeple were in the position to produce a King, for history has it that their ancestor is the most elderly man in Anam community but they failed due to feud that existed among them at the time, so the privilege was giving to Umuikwu people which late HRH igwe John Madukasi of Umuogwu was appointed by the council of elders because of his popularity and tremendous contributions to the land, and he became the first recognized king in Umuikwu and Umudora province, although after some years Umudora poeple appointed a king to help stir their affairs but he lacked legal right. Late HRH igwe John Madukasi was succeeded by HRH igwe Ben Nwoji Onyeka of Umuenwenta following his death in 1998. Traditional rulers in Umuikwu today are still highly respected and have considerable political and economic influence, although they have no formal role in the democratic structure, and the rotation of kingship among the clans of Umuikwu Anam denotes it is not hereditary within a particular clan or family.

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  References

• Origin of Anam community
• Anam People's Website