27/10/2023
How the Relationship Between Ebira and Igala Started
Igala were slaves from the Old Kwarafanu Kingdom, then sold to the Junku King around the 6th century. The Jukun King settled them in Idah around that period, and Abutu Eje founded the Igala Kingdom in the 7th century.
The first "Ata was Ebulejonu, a woman; she was succeeded by her brother Aganapoje, the father of Idoko. Idoko would later succeed him as Ata, and they had two children, Atiyele and Ayegba om'Idoko (Ayegba son of Idoko). Atiyele, the first son of Idoko, migrated eastward of the kingdom to establish the Ankpa kingdom (J of Ankpa), while Ayegba, the second son of Idoko, succeeded his father as Ata'IGala of Idah.
He led a war against the Jukun, which resulted in victory. Meanwhile, Ebira is the Prince of Junkun of the Kwararafa state, north of the Benue River in present-day Taraba State.
Ebira relics of trace from Junkun, Kwararafa, are the Apete stool, their symbol of authority and identity as a group within the kingdoms of Kwararafa. They brought them along and kept them in a place in Opete. To date, their major occupations are warrior, hunter, iron bender, and farmer.
The constant invasion of Igala Kingdom by the then Benin, the Igbo's, and other kingdoms around made the Atta of Igala invite a very brave prince and warrior from Junkun Kingdom named Ebira (a positive character), who came with a group of his men and a few women from Jukun Kingdom.
His men usually introduced themselves as Anida-Ebira (people of Ebira, which later metaphorically became Anebira).
That was how Ebira migrated from Junkun to Idah around 1248–1272 AD. The Ebira are warriors, hunters, iron binders, and farmers. They came to make the Igala Kingdom a megastate that disrupted and contributed to the shift of the trans-Atlantic slave trade from the Bight of Benin to the Bight of Biafra.
Also, that was the decline period of the Benin Empire between the fifteenth and twenty-first centuries. The Idah-Benin War (1515–1526) was a
