History of Ekureku

THE REMAINS OF ANTIQUITIES XXX11
EKUREKU SOCIETY SINCE 14TH CENTURY AD.
ORIGIN, MIGRATION AND SETTLEMENT

Within the cycle of any group of people that have come together and identified themselves as an entity, they have always existed a maxim of attempts to trace their history of origin through a spontaneous and crop-up of recounting stories of creation,migration and settlement that is usually rooted to a founder(s) of their present place of habitation. The origin of a people is most times embedded in tales, folklores and mythology which tries to set aside their different believes and inferences but to conclude same on account of what was handed down to them from the generation of their ancestors. However,there are sequences of historical considerations to be followed which may tend to give credence, accommodate as well as legitimize their claim to the area they occupied. Such must be deposited on a functional analytical benevolence of either an articulated oral and written records, archeology, ethnography or anthropological researches as sources of valid history.

In traditional Ekureku society, they exist a consummate assertion that their history of origin does not infringe with syllogisms as contained in most creeds accounts of human creation.Although they exist the reverence of ASIBITAM as the creator of the universe,what was emphatic to them was rather a history of genealogical evolution of man where ancestors were depicted as prehistorical fictions of heavily browed and bearded cavemen who went about uncladed and would most times wear animal skins or tie leaves around their cleavages and wandered about places in search of food,hunt games and make homes.

The history of the evolution and formation of the Ekureku society and it’s people like those of every other traditional society that may attempt to trace their roots of which their existence predate history and common sources of historical records could be said to be wrapped in obscurity and ambiguity. This can not be unconnected with the absence of a thorough compilation of records of their past,yet the history of the traditional Ekureku people carried a uniqueness that was based on a foundation premised on different analytical hypothesis which sources were buttressed by diverse variables. Example,one of such analogy holds the view of most elders of the traditional society where it was opined that the ancestors of Ekureku came from no other place other than their present place of settlement and that they had from the inception of time inhibited same thereby making the place their ancestral homeland. This claim is however indigenous to the people and seems to command a popular appeal amongst them even though analytically the version falls short of historical credibility ranging from evidences of their territorial expansion and short list of Kings that had ruled over the place.

Another historical source in trying to situate the origin of the Ekureku people posited same based on divinity. It was of the informants opinion that the first man and woman who ancestored the community appeared from the heavens without a trace of origin.

“They descended from above without a trace of origin, embracing themselves and landing one foot each at the central rock located at Ngarabe playground”

An indepth enquiry into this school of thought legitimately corroborated the human footprint that is conspicuously stamped at the central rock at Ngarabe and that upon their appearance,they were led by a spirit-being through a pathway to Ekalehor (Akarefor) where they established a home, consummated and had their offsprings. However true this source seemed,it was not devoid of some limitations hence the source could not expatiate on how the first man and woman haven produced their children got their grandchildren and if at all there was consummation amongst them, therefore at what point did it become sacrilege for siblings or blood relations to be involved in a connubial escapade. There was no mention of whom their neighbors were. The source also tend to negate the foundation inherent in the bond of brotherhood of the Agbo ethnic tribe with regards to their proximity as well as their common stacking nomenclatural and morphological similarities.Some of these bonds are evident in the share of cultural and traditional norms and values, antiquities and ancient deities such as the sacred Etonou shrine amongst others.

In another narration,the history of the creation of the traditional Ekureku society postulate their origin to be as old as the history of the making of mankind,but that their emergence in their present place of settlement was a consequence of migration. The community, Ekureku existed as an entity within the block of Agbo ethnic tribe. The ethnic tribe stand in a quadrupled community formation of Ekureku,Itigidi, Adadama and Imabana. These communities shared in the same ancestry of historical origin, migration and settlement and as such,their history can not be told in isolation without a smack of reference to one another. The Agbo ethnic tribe are speakers of Legbo language and are said to be native to the Ekoi heterogeneous ethnic groups of Cross River basin, a major components of the Bantu stock that had settled around the upper Cross River borders of present day Nigeria and Cameroun.

However,a split within the Bantu homeland occasioned by waves of expansion and possible migration that began some 4,000 to 5,000 years ago forced a dispersal of some of the major ethnic tribes that made up the Bantu speaking population who gradually left their original homeland of West- central Africa and wandered to the Eastern and Southern regions of the continent. By the early 14th century AD,the Agbo ethnic tribe had joined in an outline of another wave of migration out of their initial place of settlement suggesting that between the later part of the 14th to the early part of the 15th century AD the Ekureku community had come to stay in their present place of settlement. Some of the factors that were responsible for the dispersal could be as follows; Over population, Internecine war or unresolved conflicts resulting from lost of confidence and breakdown of mutual trust amongst neighbors, Natural disasters such as diseases and epidemics, Search for fertile vast land for agricultural purposes as the emergence of farming as it were marked a major turning point in the socio-economic history of the traditional ethnic tribe.

Oral historical information had it that while the Agbo people wandered about they found a settlement around the southern bank of the Benue river precisely amongst the Okpoto people of the Idoma tribe and a fraction of the Tiv’s. The period of their settlement coincided with the era of the expansionist tendencies of the Jukuns from the ancient Kwararafa kingdom. The smaller Agbo settlers were inflicted with hostilities and subjugation by these already established tribes. They suffered exploitation and inexplicable suppression amongst other inhuman gestures as living became miserable and uneasy for them. To keep them in contention of existence,the Agbo people conspired to migrate further to a more safer and secured environment.

Consequent upon their plight,the Agbo people mapped out another route of migration which settled them around the area covered by the Ishielu-Ntezi people,a predominantly Ibo settlement in the present day Ebonyi State. Here the Agbos were said to had taken separate residences amongst their host which was however a strategy for security and possible expansion. The resultant consequence of this antics was that their hosts communities saw them as encroachers taken into consideration their genetics, morphology and linguistic classification,their prowess in trade, commerce and agriculture which they carried out with dexterity. These seeming attributes prompted hostilities and unfriendliness by the more extensive Ibo communities. Moved by thoughts of anguish and overwhelming sorrow the Agbos considered their stay as suicidal hence a further migration southward was undertaken after their warriors had spied on a vast expanse of land east to Enyimi, Okputomo, Agubia and Amegu in Ikwo ethnic tribe and bounding Ishinkwo and Akpoha up to the Ebonyi creek to the west. The Agbo ethnic tribe are stiof being refered by some historical researchers and scholars as a semi Bantu people that were left in isolated communities around the Ikwo areas

Prior to the arrival of the Agbo people in their new found settlement,there was a feel of congestion amongst them given their habitation pattern. This encouraged the individual communities to opt out for a separate route of migration which invariably became a tertiary movement. This was however necessitated to forestall chaos amongst them. It was also for security,comfort and expansion. Adadama people moved south-east to the bank of the cross river with their dispersed clans of Igoli, Ekpon, Etani, Ivonne, Imikwor and Ibalebo taking different residences having boundaries with the Amegu clan of Ikwo ethnic tribe to the north and west to Ekureku and Itigidi communities.

Itigidi community had initially settled at the area presently occupied by Agbara clan in present day Ekureku but migrated further southward after one of their leading warrior who was on a hunting expedition discovered a large volume of water body that has today enlarged into a river status. He made a temporal settlement at the bank of the river until he was later joined by his kinsmen when they realized that the new environment was more conducive and suitable for their socio-economic wellbeing. Itigidi community was also dispersed with Lekpachel, Levachel, Ikamine and Agba clans some of whom took residences in isolation across the east bank of the river before an altercation with the Ediba group of communities forced them to join their kins at the west bank. Historical indication has it that the Ediba people had amongst other Bahomono ethnic tribe wandered and settled within the hills of Ruhura in a place called Hotumusa which lies in the region between the present day Ediba and Usumutong communities. The Ediba people at Hotumusa had hunters who spied the riverine location occupied by a fragment of the Itigidi clans. The hunters narrated the news with a possibility of conquering the land to her people, this promoted a certain Ogbundene who was head of their warriors and a great hunter to lead a siege against the Itigidi locals of the east bank dwelling and drove them across the river. The void led four of the Ediba families (Clans) of Henugwehuma, Henusokwe, Enihom and Henuowom to quickly relocate and occupy the land leaving Ezono clan to stay back at Hotumusa as it were.

Imabana community which had occupied the heart of Enyimi and Okputomo borders later migrated to the east bank of the cross river consequent upon a fierce battle with her neighbors. They also lived in dispersed clans to secure their new territories having boundaries with Asiga people to east and Ekori community to the west These clans are; Ilike, Mboti, Itakonghor, Ebor, Ikpalegwa and Lehangha.

Ekureku people who outnumbered the rest of the Agbo ethnic tribe settled at a location called Ehodu. The location later expanded and took over the name Ekalehor which is today considered as the ancestral homeland of the Ekureku people. The name Ekureku (Ekwe Le Kwu) is symbolic as much as it is spiritual. Its meaning is recorded even in the Biblical account of the first order of creation in the Book of Genesis 1 vs 5 and Genesis 1 vs 14-19. This chapters and verses observed the appearance of the Moon and Stars as Heavenly bodies and the manifestation of Day (Light) to brighten up the earth. Light has always been a natural phenomenon of providence and existence. Ekureku people had faced a protracted battle with the Okputomo and Amegu people of Ikwo ethnic tribe from the first day of their arrival at the thick dark forest of Ehodu (Ekalehor), this prompted one of their greatest warrior,Amaga who later became the first ruler and considered to be the founder of Ekureku to make a poetic declaration;”EKWĒ LE KWU LE INMENWA GHI EKALEHOR AMANI O”

Meaning
LET THERE BE LIGHT, WE HAVE REACHED
OUR REAL HOME

On the fourth day of their arrival and settlement, concluding a cycle in the traditional market day calendar they observed the appearance of the Moon and Stars as Heavenly bodies. This symbolically marked the beginning of the Ekureku-Man’s systemic cultivation of strength, defense and prowess in war as they fought for territorial expansion and protection, hence the real name EKWELEKWU meaning, Let there be light which was later translated and interpreted as “EKUREKU” by early Christian missionaries like Rev. Fr. Champion, Emmanuel, Dermot, Bigon and others to suite their foreign tongue.

Invariably, attacks from enemies became increasingly rampant as they strived for survival and stability at Ekalehor. As a result of these built hostilities,warriors were encouraged to disperse and form communities around the borders, basically for protection and defense. These communities include; Akarefor, Agbara, Anong Ngarabe,Ekureku-be, Akpoha, Egboronyi, Eminekpon, Itigeve, Ezeke, Gbagolo, Ikpowe. Some of these communities though ceased to exist.

Ekureku people are traditionally farmers,thus making the economy of the community an agrarian based, cultivating yam, cassava,corn amongst other crops in both subsistent and commercial quantity. They also engage in hunting and fishing and even weaving as well as being proficient in other forms of trade, commerce and professions. The people are predominantly christians haven embraced the religion in the later part of the 19th century AD thereby extolling the headship of ASIBITAM as the creator of the universe, although a significant few still indulge in traditional religious practices. Some of their ancient deities include, Idor-Ewhamarh, Abilikor, Evantemeleh, etc. Ekureku community and its array of villages are governed by a council of elders which comprises of the oldest living members of each family, they are responsible for the enactment of laws and decision-making. They also have the village heads as well as the paramount head called, Lehekpa-Ekureku. Ekureku people are known for their colourful and elaborate celebration of festivals such as Aji, Lehdu (New yam), Etulubor,etc as well as the displays of traditional cultural dances and masquerades such as, Esseta, Idegele,, Ecombor, Ecowa, Abang, Esormi, Inyangbe, Ekorgolor,Agbakuma and so on. These festivals, cultural dances and masquerades are unique,indigenous and fairly realistic to the people as they are believed to be memorial to their gods and ancestors.

Apparently, Ekureku had been in darkness for centuries without light except for the conventional Moon and Stars that appears in their states of nature. However, the commissioning of the Ekureku electrification project on Saturday, 27th December 2003 by His Excellency, Mr Donald Duke, erstwhile Governor of Cross River State became a clear manifestation of the meaning of Ekwelekwu after some failed self electrification project attempts in the early 1980’s.

To be continued: Dermot Akpoke JP
Is a Cultural Anthropologist

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