The Ikwerre ethnic nationality also known as Iwhuruohna, has warned the Ohaneze Ndigbo to consider other places instead of Ikwerre Land or any part of Rivers State for its proposed meeting citing agitation and the likelihood of breakdown of law and order in the state.
This was contained in a 14 paragraph statement by the Supreme Council of Ikwerre Government Recognized Traditional Rulers signed by its Chairman, Eze Oha Evo III of Evo Kingdom HM KING Leslie N Eke JP, Eze Gbakagbaka, Eze Woji, (XII) and Secretary, Eze Engr Ben O. Ugo , Elumoha Viii, Nye Nwe Ala Omerelu and made available to newsmen.
The statement said the Iwhuruohna remains a homogeneous ethnic group with a common ancestry and paternity and has no link with the Igbos.
According to the statement, “Iwhuruohna people are from Rivers State and the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. The people have their unique culture and traditions.Iwhuruohna share the same ancestry with the Ekpeye and the Ogba people of Rivers State.Iwhuruohna people migrated from the Ancient Benin Kingdom during the reigns of Oba Ewuare ( Ogwaro)”, it said .
The statement further argued that the paternity of the Ikwerres is traceable to a great grand ancestor – Akalaka who left the Ancient Benin Kingdom in company of his sons which included Ihruoha (Iwhuruohna).
The statement also claimed that the name, ‘Ikwerre’ was an ‘Igbonised’ version of ‘Akwerulem’ which was translated to mean ‘we have agreed or consented ‘ a response of a Rebisi Monarch to an Igbo translator and a Briton during the negotiations for acquisition of acres of land for Port Harcourt wharf.
It maintained that theory of origins linking Iwhuruohna ethnicity to Igbo ancestry was ill- conceived as a result of the balkanisation and ‘Igbonisation’ of Iwhuruohna by Igbo merchants from Aro, Nkwere and Awka who oppressed and suppressed the aborigines in their place.
“The declaration of Ogbakor Ikwerre Cultural Organisation during the Chukwudifu Oputa Human Rights Violation Panel 2001 that : ” Ikwerre ethnic nationality is not and has never been a subgroup of any other tribe in Nigeria, including Ndi-Igbo…” would suffice here”, it said.
It was also of the view that the Igbo people had upper of the Ikwerres during the era of regionalisation of Nigeria at the instant of the colonial Masters which placed Ndi-Igbo on an advantageous position against other minority groups in the defunct Eastern Regional Government including Iwhuruohna people.
“Till date , there are still pockets of Igbo ( Aro) settlements in such Iwhuruohna Communities at Elele, Igwuruta, Isiokpo. They are evidently Aro compounds like Aro-Omuodu, Aro-Omuodukwu, Aro-Omuma, Aro-Ogbogbu in Igwuruta and Nmgbu Oyo at Isiokpo”, it said.
It was also mentioned that the earliest incursion into Ikwerre hinterland by the Igbo emboldened the proponents of Igbo expansionist theory to erroneously think or link Iwhuruohna to an Igbo ancestry.
The Ikwerres backed their claims of non linkage with the Igbos on the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999(2010) as amended which recognised Iwhuruohna (Ikwerre) ethnic nationality among others as a distinct and unique ethnic group in Nigeria and wondered why the Igbos are bent on rewriting both history and the Constitution.
They frowned on any attempt by some Igbo expansionists to incorporate Iwhuruohna as a subset or subgroup of any other in Nigeria or elsewhere.
The statement which did not jettison some shared similarities between Iwhuruohna and her neighbours including the Igbos in terms of aspects of culture and traditions, said such did not in anyway, validate the bogus and unverified claims that Iwhuruohna is Igbo as being peddled by Igbo expansionists. Meanwhile, they have called on the Police , Governor of Rivers State, Siminalayi Joseph Fubara and the State Government as well as the general public to be wary of the tricks and pranks of the Igbo expansionists in the nomenclature of ‘Ohaneze Ndi-Igbo’ and their activities in Rivers State.
