04/06/2025
From Hrh Omu Onyebuchi Okonkwo 👇👇👇
During the Ofala Eze Ọnịcha, last year. I honoured the invitation of the Obi of Ọnịcha, Obi Nnaemeka Alfred Achebe CFR mni. Ọnịcha and Obio are children of the Eze Chime dynasty and as Omu Obio, I'm the custodian of the shrine of Eze Chime, in Obio.
I read the Bini alignment stories propagated by mostly my Oligbo and Ugbo brethren and I can only but shake my head in shame. That our people have lost sense of their original story is baffling. All through the colonial era, we were addressed as Midwestern Igbos and we never opposed it. We never claimed Bini or Igala. Before the Europeans came, we identified as ndị Igbo alongside our neighbours and then suddenly, after the war, this newfound Bini theories sprang up.
Before the Biafra genocide or rather ethnic purging, our people here in Anioma fought against the British army for 31 years and we were only defeated after the last effort by the British soldiers who were reinforced. We fought as Igbos and even the British media acknowledged us as "Midwestern Igbos." of Nigeria, so where did our people get the illusion of being Edo from?
When did Ika, Ukwuani and Enuani become individual tribes? When they clearly speak Igbo dialects.
I have said it several times, that Eze Chime was an Igbo man from Arochukwu who sojourned to present day Bini. This claim is backed up by the video of the late Esogban of Bini Chief Solomon Edebiri, where he maintained that Eze Chime was an Igbo man who came to Bini, found favour with the Oba and was installed as the iyase of Bini. If a Bini first class chief of such standing could say this, then why are our people still blind?
The Obi of Ọnịcha has equally maintained same argument, that Eze Chime was an Igbo man and that our migration was a cross migration. Nowhere in our history have we spoken Edo or practiced Edo spirituality. A people are known by their spirituality and consciousness. We use the Ọfo. We use the four Igbo native market days. We celebrate iwaji. We bear Igbo names. Oligbo, Anagba, Eziuzo, Ugbo, Mkpitime are all Igbo words. We venerate Ani.
How are we not Igbo?
Those who say we are Bini people but that we married Igbos and lost our language and names, I hope you understand that by saying such, that you're pointing out that Igbos originally owned Anioma and that their culture was so strong that they made us forget our own Bini culture. This means it was Igbos who colonised the Bini people and not the other way round. Or can the slav.es now influence the masters? Bini culture must be really weak if that is the case.
I've seen comments calling me a content creator Omu. That I should keep crying online and that my Igbo agenda would only be online. I laugh at such statements because if only you understand how important the media is in controlling narratives, you'd fear for what I have coming. I'll keep talking and writing and gradually, our people are going to wake up. At the end of the day, we'd know who's the joker. The same way the media was used as a tool for division against our people, we're going to use the same media as our instrument of reorientation.
I'm happy that a lot of people following me here are Anioma people and they are proud of their Igbo identity. If they are only ten I don't mind as long as they're liberated, I'm fulfilled and happy. I'm not in a hurry. The damage took decades to get to this point, so I understand that reclaiming our lost heritage would take even longer. We go nowhere. You come here to insult me, I block you. You come here to water down our spirits, I block you. Positive energy only!
Ubosi mara anyi mma.
HRH Omu Onyebuchie Okonkwo - Omu of Obio
