07/02/2025
THE CULTURAL HERITAGE OF THE WAKIRIKE (THE OKRIKA PEOPLE)
IRIA MARRIAGE SYSTEM IN WAKIRIKE
The earliest of the festivals, and one still observed by all the settlements of the Wakirike group today, is the Iria festival. The main objective of this ceremony is to induce chastity on the part of girls until they are duly licensed through this ceremony to marry husbands. It was commonly believed that any child born by women who allowed their virginity to be fouled before undergoing the rite of Iria ceremony must die, unless they pacified the Amakiri God (God of the settled Earth).
AT OGOLOMA: This festival, in the case of Ogoloma, has the peculiarity of a ceremonial ablution. All through the period of sojourn of the founding father, Opuogulaya and his family, it was impossible for sons and daughters to get wives and husbands to marry from elsewhere; but as they must produce offsprings, Opuogulaya resorted to a device whereby relations were made to marry each other. This led to the peculiar religious rite in connection with the Iria ceremony at Ogoloma.
All the maids who were up to the age of marriage were assembled together in a common meeting place and declared ripe for marriage. They were then shaven clean at the head, and all that hair collected carefully, and disposed of with customary rites. This meant that they were no longer their former persons but become new grown up women. They were then confined, in those years, for a period of three months or over, and fattened, after putting copper rings in spiral shape round their legs.
On an appointed night, all such maids were made to go down to the river where they remained breast deep in the river, singing all the time, calling on all god's known, and the great founding ancestors, and mermaids to witness and to acknowledge the fact that they, the maids, were no longer sisters but become ordinary girls to be married, even by brothers. After this, close male relations, especially those to whom the girls had been espoused, at the appropriate time, went down into the river and carried, shoulder high, their own espoused or related girls from the river ashore to a common gathering place. There they were set on thrones prepared for them, and washed with warm water and costly toilet soap of different kinds, and annointed with various sorts of precious ointment. This ceremonial washing, a token of having washed away their relationship with their male relatives completed, the maids were married by their male relatives.
The full word for Iria is, Irigha, meaning, "I do not go astray" (in marrying my relation under the circumstances). This ceremony continued in its original form until the arrival of Bolobe into Ogoloma with his family. Opuogulaya, for the first time since the period of his sojourn, gave out one of his daughters in marriage to Bolobe, of a different family. To mark out this first occasion of giving away a daughter to a man from another family, it was ruled that every year the occasion should be observed as a general festival for all women in honour of Opuayo, Opuogulaya's wife, and in commemoration of the daughter so given out in marriage. Thus, the Iria ceremony was enlarged to include public and private indigo painting, giving of gifts, and two processions of all such maids ready for marriage; one of the processions was in honour of Opuayo, Opuogulaya's wife, and the second in honour of the daughter, Bolobe's wife, and hence called Opuayo and Bolobe Chiri.
Unfortunately the names of these two processions in most recent times, were, in breach of tradition, changed to Olunwa and Fienemika Chiri, in honour of these two leading Chiefs at Ogoloma, of blessed memories. It happened that all other settlements later established in the island and beyond in turn observed this annual festival but without the ceremonial ablution. This was so because it would mean nothing to the subsequent immigrants, who would have no compulsion to arrange marriage between direct blood relations, as the settlement had expanded with fresh immigrants, and because the Igwa (concubine) system of marriage was in Vogue amongst the Ijo.
Those days, a wealthy woman could buy a male slave and marry him. Thus, during masquerade displays, the masquerader is asked in drum language, to know his origin whether he is free born or not, 'I nyengi, tubo nyengi?' that is, "your mother, who is her mother?" This is never asked of the father. If the mother was a slave bought from Ibo land, the masquerader pointed the sticks held in his hand towards the Ibo mainland, but towards the ground beneath his feet if the mother was born in the town. This truth made it very difficult and rare in the past to give out daughters in lawful marriage to men from other families to perpetuate lineage.
Coincidentally in Ijo land, including Nembe, no type of marriage conferred any privilege on off-springs to inherit their father's properties at death, except where the woman was married either from another tribe or clan, under what they called big dowry. The women were conserved for their families.
CHIEFTAINCY AND WARFARE IN WAKIRIKE
Chietaincy amongst the Wakirike people was originally hereditary in the main, and derived it's origin from the inception of the various settlements. In settlements founded by one leader and his family, such leader was automatically the Amanyanabo or natural ruler of that settlement. Amongst those accompanying him might be uncle's and brothers and cousins as district from his own children. Such uncles, brothers, cousins, and their children, each tended naturally to group themselves together. Even children of different mothers by the same father in polygamous families also grouped themselves according to their mothers. Where the heads of such groups grew wealthy and prosperous in course of time, and their dependents increased to the extent of Manning their own war canoes, they would be recognized publicly as Chiefs of their own War Canoe Houses. All such Cheiftaincies constituted the founding Chietaincies, next to the Amanyanabo.
As time went on, other groups of immigrants arrived and would be allowed to settle. In some cases such immigrants were absorbed into the existing Houses 🏠, and in others they were allowed to settle as separate units in the settlement with their leaders recognized as Chiefs. An example of such, was during the reign of King Koko of Ogoloma, who allowed a friend of his named Chukwu to settle in the island, and even married his(King Koko's) daughter, with the approval of King Koko. That union is what gave rise to present day Amadi-ama (Iwoma), together with the king's brave and strong brother, Agbaka. Some members of the existing Houses might in the process of time, become very rich and purchase many slaves. They had to man their own war canoes, that is, fit out a war canoe manned by forty to fifty fighters, and about an equal number in reserve for substitution in case the first batch were all swept off by enemy action. They had in addition, to procure their own ammunition in sufficient quantity, large enough canoes for war, and food conveyed by another set of men in large armed canoes, to feed the soldiers. If they fulfilled all these conditions, they were installed war canoe house Chiefs. This was the third category of chiefs, although some of these became more powerful than chiefs of the first two categories in practical politics.
In recent years, especially after the death of Chief Daniel Oju Kalio, Chieftaincy appointment and acceptance for installation tended to become prostituted. Sinister moves were made by some influencial Chiefs to encourage up-starts in several Houses to split from the main Houses, whether or not the candidates possessed means, both human and material, to become Chiefs. The result was a proliferation of Chietaincies.
In any case, all Chietaincies in the area are perpetual and on the death of the current holders if the seat, successors are appointed, they could be direct sons of the deceased, or any other capable persons from the houses.
Traditionally, the appraisal and installation of a Chief was the exclusive prerogative of the Houses, the Chiefs, and people of each settlement in the area. In about the year 1936, when Chief Lawkin Amafina was installed at Kirike, existing chiefs were invited to attend the chiefs' table. Thereafter, the chiefs decided to install future chiefs in a central place. Thus was evolved the present system of installing chiefs centrally by the Clan Council of Chiefs. This new system would tends to deprive the people of the various settlements, their veto power over would-be and existing chiefs.
THE NINE (9) CLANS OF WAKIRIKE NATION
Wakirike is made up of nine (9) Great Clans namely;
1. Kirike Town
2. Ogoloma Town
3. Ogu Town
4. Bolo Town
5. Abuloma Town
6. Ibaka Town
7. Ogbogbo Town
8. Isaka Town
9. Ele Town
These Clans are unique in their various ways and have drum 🥁 names associated with them.
1. KIRIKE TOWN
Opu kirike mingi-a see.
Ama duba duba onu Chua ka.
Obiri mangi-a kuno laka,
Obiri mangi-a kuno laka.
Ofinguru mono mono toru mono ka.
Opu deke chubie chubie
2. OGOLOMA TOWN
Opu Ogoloma mingi-a see.
Owu mini mingi Nini
Sonju bibi nimibo, nimibo
Toru kurobo tombi.
3. OGU TOWN
Imo kuro kuro kumbu soka
Ogu tumo Boko mengi kulu July s**i
bere ton Gbolu-kuku here faka faka.
Awo doko doko ingbe kuro.
4. BOLO TOWN
Ogbolodo Ogbolodo Imburu kana.
5. ABULOMA TOWN
Kuro Abuloma here pikika.
Ikoli duba kasa Chua ka.
6. IBAKA TOWN
Okombulo bara kuro
Akambulo koribo bapa beinka
7. OGBOGBO TOWN
Okile Ogbogbo!
Furo be toku buru bia bere
Buru fi-a poku pirika
Kala nama bila peleka bila pele.
8. ISAKA TOWN
Angala duba duba aru kara ka.
9. ELE TOWN
Inji buru buru Jada buru ka.
~ CHIEF E. D. W. OPUOGULAYA, 1975
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