A Case for Agbaja Renaissance
M.
O. ENÉ,
Ph.D.
egbedaa@aol.com
No
one knows of the prehistoric people who habited colonial Udi Division,
comprising Udi, Ezeagu, and contiguous communities of some counties in
present-day Enugu State, Nigeria. However, along the lengthy lineages from
assorted ancestors and migratory molds, we have come to know this great
geopolitical gap of northeast Igboland as Agbaja land.
Since
some man, or woman, is almost always linked to the ancestry of an area, the
people relate to a legend named Agbaja; hence, they are called “Ndị
Agbaja” (people of Agbaja). As in all myths and mythical characters, these
Igbo people—whether of immigrant or autochthonous ancestry—are considered
descendants of Agbaja. It is slightly similar to Year 4010 Americans regarding
George Washington as a “founding father”—even when there is no direct bloodline.
The only difference is that America happened in an era of written words; Agbaja
happened in antiquity.
The
name “Agbaja” gained a great geopolitical grip at the beginning of the last
century with the coming of colonial Europeans and in their quest to foster a
centralized authority where none existed. A controversial king of Agbaja emerged
in the person of Eze Onyeama n’Eke. He
took the spokesperson title of “Okwuluọha Agbaja.” King Onyeama
set out to build an empire stretching from Oji River and environs, across the
valleys of Udi Hills and Nkanu land to the fringes of Abakaliki, and up north
across Nsukka into present-day Benue State in northern Nigeria. There was no
colonial king as powerful as Onyeama in Igboland. Under his reign, the notion of
Agbaja nation reached its modern-era apogee.
Since
the sudden demise of Onyeama and the unraveling of his dominion, the fear of
another powerful person at the helm of Agbaja affairs contributed to the
emergence of “leaders” of all shades, shapes, and sizes in various communities.
Each community went solo, hoping to maximize personal socioeconomic advantages.
The emergence of Chief C. C. Onoh (Anineefungwu
Ngwuo) signaled the dawn of a desire for a wider Waawa nation. The
development subsumed the notion of Agbaja into a wider Waawa country, including
Abakaliki, Awgu, Nkanu, and Nsukka.
The
minimizing of Agbaja brotherhood and sisterhood worsened with the balkanization
of old Udi Division, the creation of local councils and “autonomous
communities.” These new communities threw up obsolete monarchs all over Agbaja.
Each so-called “igwé” (highness)
carved out a kingdom. As long as the state government doles out subventions, the
status quo survives.
ANTEDILUVIAN AGBAJA
The
people we call “Udi-Ezeagu” are the core of greater Agbaja nation, the heartbeat
of that part of Igboland I call “Waawalandia,” which stretches from beyond Awka
(capital of Anambra State) through the rocky hills and valleys of Enugu (capital
of Enugu State), to beyond Abakaliki (capital of Ebonyi State) and wherever else
“wa” is used to realize “no” in Igbo.
Agbaja proper is made up of contiguous communities in present-day Udi and
Ezeagu, and portions of some towns in Igbo-Etiti, Oji River, Awgu, Nkanu West,
and Enugu North local government areas. However, the influence of Agbaja extends
to lands beyond, notably to the renowned herbalists of Agbaja-Mbaise and to
Awka, where a descendant of Agbaja, Ichie Nnebe Uzo, introduced and
institutionalized the famous Agbaja art of iron smelting and blacksmithing.
WHO IS AGBAJA?
In town-origin folklore, a certain man usually sires
several sons, usually seven or ten, who beget the villages. The rest is a matter
of who has the most convincing story, since there are no written records from
the remote past. The mythical Ichie Agbaja is no exception. It is
generally agreed that Agbaja begot many sons and daughters. As in such stories,
they married and had children who founded towns, and their grandsons founded the
villages. It is no wonder many communities have the prefix Ụmụ
(children of…) or Ama (place of…).
BRIEF HISTORY
The first son or daughter of Agbaja is largely a matter of
convention and conjecture, as is the still-raging Udi and Abia seniority dispute
in Umuneke clan of Agbaja land. Let’s just start with one of Agbaja’s son,
Nēke. He had seven sons collectively called Umuneke: Udi, Abia, Okwe (Amaokwe),
Agbudu, Agu (Obinagu), Abi Ezike (Umuabi), and Aga Obodoeze (Umuaga). Aga is
considered the last born... probably because of the southernmost location of
Umuaga. However, Aga was the most procreative, apparently, in not only the many
villages that claim direct descent from this grandson of Agbaja but also in the
founding of Nachi by Ngwu, a hunter son of Aga, with an Obunofia woman. In
essence, Nachi is the lynchpin of latter-day Umuneke-Ezeagu sanguine connection.
Oshie,
another son of Agbaja, married Nsudi and had two sons and a daughter. They are:
Eke, Nsude, and Nneke—the daughter. Some Oshie descendants believe that Nneke
married and begot Udi, Abia, parts of Amaokwe (Idedu). The marital taboo between
these towns is based on Oshie blood-link legacy. Obioma, sandwiched between Abia
and Nsude, claims descent from Neke and or Oshie. Eke has seven sons, two of
whom died young. The survivors founded the five Eke villages.
Ojebe Ogene,
possibly a daughter of Agbaja,
had
seven sons: Ebe, Abor, Ukana, Awhum, Okpatu, Umulumgbe, and Ukehe. Ukehe is now
in Igbo-Etiti (Nsukka zone), but its link to Ojebe Ogene legend is not in
dispute. Ukehe is not the only frayed edge of Agbaja. Some stories suggest
strong sociocultural Okpatu links with Ozara and Obe in Nkanu West LGA, as well
as and Isu Awa in Awgu.
Ugwunye,
another scion of Agbaja, sired a group of communities, principally Affa and
Egede. They are called Umuugwunye, children of Ugwunye, and they have strong
sociocultural and sanguine links with Nike, considered by convention as “first
son of Nkanu.” Matrilineal descent is not common in Igbo mythology but, as in
Ojebe Ogene legend, myth has it that Ugwunye was also a woman.Ezedike
encompasses the following group of brethren: Akpakwume, Nze, Oghu, and Umuoka.
Ngwu
Nwangwuako is said to be a migrant, wise hunter from Neke community to the north
of Agbaja country. There was an original “Ngwuo Ito” which claimed direct
ancestry, but the legend has grown to include ten children known collectively as
“Ngwuo Ili.” It does not take a stretch of the imagination to state that Ngwu
might have migrated into Agbaja country, as did some Igala medicine men and
recently Aro merchants, but he did not come with ten sons and matching wives to
set up ten villages! Whatever the case, Ngwu interacted with an existing
community, just as Eri of Nri met ụmụdịanị (local) populations on arrival
from the Igala axis into core Igboland via Agulueri and Umuleri legend.
In
Ezeagu sphere, Oghe fathered the founders of Owe, Akama, Amankwo,
Amansiodo, Oyofo, Neke, and Iwolo; Owa (Aguobu, Mgbagbu, and Imezi);
Mbanato (Umumba, Obinofia, and Umanaa); and Olo (Adaba, Umulokpa,
Ibite Olo, and Imezi Olo).
According to some sources, the original founders of Okpogho migrated from
Ugwunye country, notably Egede. In essence and where upheld, it is a classic
case of internal Agbaja migration. The same source also informed that the great
medicine men that founded Oha in Oghe immigrated from across the Agbaja border,
settled, and intermingled with then Agbaja locals.
Just
as people have immigrated into Agbaja dominion, many have also emigrated out of
Agbaja to places as far away as outside Igboland. Some retained their Agbaja
name, others dropped the name. In essence, we may never know who ended up where.
There have been several internal movements of whole families and villages. For
example, families in Umuaga, Nsude, and elsewhere in Agbaja have strong Ngwuo
links. Many Agbaja communities are dotted with Aro descendants. So, regardless
of the legend, Agbaja blood and kinship have gelled over the years into
one Agbaja nation.
The
last, settled mass migrants to Agbaja are the Aro from Arochukwu and
Arondeizuogu. Since then, itinerant palm wine tappers also arrived. Some
settled. Latter-day migrants from outside Enugu State are not generally settled,
but they make 9th Mile Corner, Enugu, and elsewhere home.
At
its peak, according Dillibe Onyeama in his book about Onyeama n’Eke, Agbaja
country had “34 towns, 686 square miles and 135,700 population,” but the
influence of the undisputed leader extended to all corners of Waawaland and
beyond, embracing “nearly the whole of Igboland and the present Benue State.”
Core Agbaja nation of today is not much different. Of course, many towns have
been balkanized into “autonomous communities”—just so someone could be installed
“king” for life!
GOING BACK TO BASICS
Agbaja people are dedicated democrats and rugged republicans living free on a
land that holds uncharted wealth of herbs and minerals and sophisticated
possibilities. The panoramic elevation of the Agbaja on the setting-sun side of
Udi Hills and a people with big hearts living in a soft savannah country make
Agbaja one of the best places for human habitation in Igboland. From the
devastation of chattel slavery, Agbaja bounced back in the 19th century with the
zeal to make the nation whole. It was the era of Agbaja social and cultural
renaissance, which integrated parts of Nri theosophy (as in
Ozo titles) but not the political or
religious headship of Eze Nri.
The
colonial era dawned with the 20th century. The reign of Onyeama n’Eke dominated
the early part of colonialism in Waawaland. The discovery of coal under the
lands of Agbaja in 1906-1909 put the country squarely on the map of the world.
Coal
was mined from the foothills of Udi Hills, a development that robbed Udi town of
its shine as an emerging urban center. The Enugu of today came to be, taking its
name from an Ngwuo village. The belly of Agbaja became the sole source of
industrial energy for the entire Nigeria. Enugu grew and became a renowned coal
city, a city that has become the heart of pan-Igbo political culture.
Regardless of the oppressiveness of colonialism, Agbaja people embraced the
wisdom of Western education en masse and marked the beginning of mass literacy
in Nigeria. The movie, “Daybreak in Udi,” awakened in the people of old
Udi Division and beyond to the new wave of formal education. The increased
consciousness in formal education was responsible for the large turnover of
teachers of Agbaja extraction at independence in 1960.
It is
not surprising that the first Igbo Western-trained doctor is from Agbaja (Dr. S.
E. Onwu). Within three decades of independence, Agbaja had produced three judges
of the Supreme Court (Justices Anthony Aniagolu, Philip Nnaemeka-Agu, and Dadi
Umeha Onyeama, the first Nigerian Judge of the World Court at The Hague.
Eze
Onyeama and Chief Gabriel Onoh mobilized Agbaja people to mine coal and build
the railways. The Coal Miners Massacre of 1949 marked the turning point in the
struggle for Nigerian independence, marking Agbaja blood the catalyst for
Nigerian independence. After independence and the Nigeria-Biafra War, things
quickly went downtown. It took the recognized zeal of Chief C. C. Onoh, son of
Gabriel Onoh, to pull the Waawa psyche out of depression.
In Agbaja today, we know where we are and who we are.
Regardless of legends and stories, we have reached a point when we must embrace
our consanguinity and community. If our generation does not embrace the legend
of Agbaja, we cannot expect new immigrants and settlers to become a part of the
community. Those who emigrated to Nkanu and Awgu had no trouble indentifying
with their new lands, while maintaining the Agbaja legendary link. Therefore,
regardless of our point or time of entry or exit, we stand to gain by reclaiming
the Agbaja legend and bringing everyone under the umbrella no matter the local
government area in Enugu State.
CONCLUSION
We
must reclaim our common Agbaja ancestry and its traditional ways: the concept of
community—where our nearest and dearest reaffirm that we are, where openness and
accountability are nonnegotiable, and where everyone contributes equitably to,
and benefited appropriately from, the general good. Kinship and good governance
make a community to function more effectively and efficiently. This is a legacy
we can leave for Agbaja: a setup where everyone contributes and from which
everyone derives benefits.
In
other words, unless we revisit, review, or revaluate the concept of our
community, we cannot achieve the lofty developmental ideas we all seem to be
chasing. The concept of community is exactly what many of us live in America,
albeit toned down by such social factors as modern mass migration, differences
in religion, varying ethnic and racial profiles, etc. Yet, the fundamental
concept co-opts everyone into the principles of “ebe onye bi, ka ọ na-awachi”
through taxes and ordinances in the management of the community, be it township,
borough, parish, city, or county.
In
Udi, Ezeagu, and environs, we have an added advantage: a common ancestry in one
Agbaja nation. Let’s reclaim the legend for future generations.
Our culture is our future.