(pop. 1953 with
Ukhun, 1,660; 1963 alone 928)
By DR.CHRISTOPHER.G.
OKOJIE, OFR, DSc (Hon)
It will serve a useful purpose to remember right at
the onset that there are two parts to every Esan district: the royal family and
the common people. They were quite
distinct, for nearly all the ancient ruling houses came from Benin City or its
suburbs. The head of the ruling houses was and still is, the ONOJIE, who with
his family, servants and brothers inhabited EGUARE, the administrative CAPITAL
of the district. Another important thing an enquirer must take notice of is the
use of the word BROTHER by Esan people. It can mean anything from a male blood
relation to a very good friend. Secondly OBA's SON can mean a BINI and, in
fact, it was recently, a common thing for any Bini, outside the city, to
describe himself as the OBA's SON!
HISTORY:
Idoa has been Esan from its beginning and in all its
customs and traditions except that of inheritance of its Onojie title. Even
this is a new innovation forced upon Idoa Community by circumstance.
In the Benin Kingdom and Edo speaking people of
South-Western Nigeria (Bradbury, 1957) R.E. Bradbury said, "Individual
titles of the Benin type are found throughout Ishan with the exception of Idua,
Uzea, Ujagbe and IlJushi. Ukhun has a title association, probably of Ivbiosakon
type but in recent years individual titles have been adopted AS A RESULT OF CONTACT
WITH OTHER ISHAN GROUPS". Thus, as explained already under Ukhun, the
Onojie title in Idoa is of recent, being adopted, many years after the return
of the original Idoa people.
Idoa was a single independent village with five original
quarters
1. OMOAKON or UHONLUMUN or UBI
2. AFUKU
3. AFOKOLO
4. ATOLOGUA and
5. OFIE.
Apart .from the fact that Omoakon was the first
remembered settlement and hence is regarded as FIRST, no order of precedence is
known among the other four. During the Nupe War of the eighteen-fifties, Idoa
was one of the areas that suffered incestant slave raids by the marauding
Nupes. In the final attack Idoa was sacked and the inhabitants fled to
different places - Agbede, Ibore, Idoani etc. By then Ibore had got to its
present site some ten years earlier. Majority of the people fled to Agbede
where the powerful Akhigbe whose mother, AGBONROFO hailed from Idoa, was the
ruler. Years later when peace returned the remnants of Idoa regrouped under the
influence of Agbonrofo at Agbede and Omoakon or Uhonlumun with over-all name of
Ubi, Afuku, Afokolo, Atologua and Ofie were the original quarters although
smaller ones like Ebhoegbon, Afoghodo, Udolojie, Iweh, Uhiahia and Otoika were
too small to be counted as full quarters during the Agbede assembly. Ebhoegbon
went with Ornoakon or Ubi, Afoghodo was with Afuku while Udolojie, Iwele,
Uhiahia and Otoika were with Ubi. It can now be understood how Omoakon or Ubi, Afuku,
Afokolo, Atologua and Ofie came to form the five ruling kindreds of Idoa.
On getting to Esan they found that each group had a
respected leader and sensing no group would accept the other leader they came
to a compromise of allowing the leaders to rule one after the other, this being
the origin of the rotational method of inheritance. Ikpebua of Afuku who was the
first to arrive back home when no one was sure of his safety, started. On his
death Ugbadamun of Ofie succeeded him in 1940 ruling for nine years. Odijie of
Omoakon took over in 1949, and during those hectic Action .Group days when the
government in power could do anything, Odijie was elected into the then Western
House of Chiefs with a vengeance! He ruled for nineteen years and died round
about 1968. He belonged to Omoakon quarters.
Trouble came when progressive sons of Idoa thought it
would be better to choose the most able man rather than base everything on age
alone. This trouble was not resolved until 1970 when Chief Kadiri Ofoma
Asejebho was elected and gazetted in 1974. He is from Atologua quarters.
II GENEALOGICAL TREE:
Return of the
Remnants of Idoa
½
IKPEBUA
- OF AFUKU
½
UGADAMUN, 1940 - OF
OFIE
½
HON. ODlJIE,
1949
- OF OMOAKON
½
KADIRl OFOMA
ASEJEBHO, 1974 - OF ATOLOGUA
III It is interesting to take a look at the recent
Declaration of Customary Law Regulating Succession of Traditional Ruler title
for Idoa and see how gerontocracy is still so heavily weighted.
1. There are five Ruling Kindreds in Idoa known as Afuku,
Ofie, Ubi, Atologua and Afokolo. Females are absolutely barred. ..
2. The Onojieship rotates around these five kindred in
the order given in paragraph (l) above, and a candidate for the title of Onojie
is selected by the appropriate kindred and approved by a Clan Council Kingmakers.
3. A candidate for the title must be at least twenty'
years old and be a member of the Edion • grade either by-age or initiation and
must possess a Chieftaincy title.
(NOTE: - There is no way a twenty year old can be of Edion grade
in Esan custom, let alone be an accredited Chief outside the hereditary
Chieftaincy group. What is more- the Ukhun - Idoa method of accession is gerontocracy!)
4. The clan council of kingmakers consists of two persons
each from the five Ruling Kindreds. The two persons are the OLDEST MEN (Odionwele)
in the kindred and one other ELDERLY person preferably a title holder (Chief)
personally nominated by the Odionwele.
5. Upon the demise of an Onojie, the eldest man in Idoa (Odionwele)
acts as Regent for the period of twelve months during which period the children
of the deceased Onojie perform the burial rites and ceremonies before a new
Onojie is selected.
6. Should the burial rites and ceremonies be delayed or
not performed the installation of a ' new Onojie may 'proceed' upon the presentation
by the whole Clan of twenty cowries to the -children of the deceased Onojie.
Dated at Benin this 28th day of September, 1979.
'D.P. Lawani OON, K.S.G.
Secretary to - the Military
Government,
Bendel State of Nigeria
B.S.L.N. 79 of 1979
