jared007:
to correct some errors: garage down to stadium and environs belongs to agbassa-urhobo(igbudu) the itsekiris are settlers in odion(odion was originally owned by igbudu community) majority of iyara is owned by okere-urhobo. Igbudu community allowed the itsekiris to settle at merogun. Ubeji,ekpan and jeddo is not in warri town!

rule:
evilstar200 your hatred for the itsekiris is worst than the hatred adolf hitler and idi amin had for the jews.you only comment on issues that concerns the itsekirs in the entire nairaland forum, romance section you are not there, politics even family section you are no where to be found but itsekiris matter you would the first to spit falsehood and bile about my folks.but funny enough your fellow uhrobo sisters are wishing and praying to marry an itsekiri man.fine you no fine, wetin itsekiri people do u?

rule:
evilstar200 your hatred for the itsekiris is worst than the hatred adolf hitler and idi amin had for the jews.you only comment on issues that concerns the itsekirs in the entire nairaland forum, romance section you are not there, politics even family section you are no where to be found but itsekiris matter you would the first to spit falsehood and bile about my folks.but funny enough your fellow uhrobo sisters are wishing and praying to marry an itsekiri man.fine you no fine, wetin itsekiri people do u?

sauceny:
Human beings don't own land,rather the lands own humans... Cos we all would die & the lands are still there.

Now coming to your question:i think no one owns it in particular,cos none of em has the power to drive/pursue the other outta town.

buJu234:


U re welcome...

from my understanding... If u re talking abt Garage Opp. Cementary road; then I have to break it down alittle bit..

from Garage towards cemetary road upward to stadium via some part of Iyara to kpessu river fully belong to Itsekiri (u will find a large no. of their population there) while from Garage to Igbudu mkt to GKS to MC demort rd belong to Agbassa Urhobo clan.

Ekpan Refinery belong to Uwie/Effurun (aka I go die community.. ) while the back of the refinery which is Ubeji it belong to Itsekiri.

For the Ijaws theirs is mainly the deep waters/swamp communities of warri.

buJu234:
@ tonychristopher:

i also found that most of the land are controlled by the Urhobo clans ;Ejeba; Ogunnu; Egurudu Urhobo; Odumusobo; Okumagba layout; Essi Layout; Igubu; Agbassa and going by wat someone said above Cementary rd; Iyara; stadium (in colored because i am not really sure)

while Ijaw controls NPA water side; Part of GRA ; the deep water side

Itsekiri controls Ajamogha; Eguredu Itsekiri;Ugbagbvwe; part of GRA (including nana college side); part of Okere rd; Ubeji (though someone said thats nt part of warri).

so going by land control; the Urhobo tribe/clan controls abt or more than 50%-60% of the warri dry land; while Itsekiri controls abt 20%-30% and the rest belong to Ijaws;

thats why u find that the OLU authority doesnt cross Itsekiri controlled area which is abt 20%-30% of warri metropolis.

I think this may support the Urhobo clam to b the Original owners of warri; that the so called OLU of warri is OLU of Itsekiri and also support why the pigin english contains more of Urhobo language in it that either Itsekiri or Ijaw.

i may post more when I come across more information.

tonychristopher:







I must be honest with you...we are seeing this from the same telescope. when they debate who owns warri...i know it is more of an urhobo thing..due to the langauge. Megwo is widely spoken there and the pidgin english...the sing song version which is spoken in warri is urhobo, because urhobo language is sing son. I love that pidgin, it make me laugh,i am losing my warri pidgin, i Miss pesu waterside, those fish


50 - 60% of warri seems to be urhobo

BUT I WILL WANT TO ASK, DOES URHOBO HAVE AN OFFSHORE TERRITORIES LIKE THE IJAWS AND ITSHEKE PEOPLE?

Onegai:


You have insulted me and are demanding answers from me.this is the reason I limit my conversation to certain people on NL. Good day to you.

kr0ne:
Jigsawkillah, what do u have to say about this?

Onegai:


Errr, I'd have thought Bini would be the 4th, but I do know Urhobo is bigger than Ijaw. I'm from Delta, the number of places that are Urhobo-speaking surpass my language's spread and I am yet to meet several Ijaw people (because they're spread over Coastal areas in 2/3 states doesn't make it a large population).

Reason it out: when people are asking about the main tribe of Delta or language, which language do they refer to? Urhobo

Not Ika, not Ijaw, not Itsekiri (all my Itsekiri friends speak Yoruba sef), not Kwale, not Ibo (though Igbo people keep trying to claim Delta by force). It's Urhobo.

Onegai:


NEVER!!! The only thing that unites Deltans is the word "Igbo" they used to use Igbo people to threaten us as kids "if you don't go home during holidays, Igbo people will take over, if you don't learn to speak your language, people will assume you're Igbo, if you're not careful, you will marry Igbo".

Nigeria is very conflicted, we really cannot set aside inter-tribal differences, the only way to do so is to ban centuries of culture and language. Which would be an awful thing to do.

Onegai:


Lol, I'm from one of the places in Delta you just mentioned. I assure you, we are not asking for any Igbo help, nor do we have Igno brothers over the River Niger.
I don't know any Agbor or Ukwani person that will say "yep I'm Igbo". It's so bad that someone was at funeral of an Agbor man and started playing Igbo christian music. His kids rushed to to remove the tape and threw it at his head. Even my nephews are being taught not to marry anything after the Niger river. So please, do not be concerned about us. We thank you for the thought, but don't go to those areas and say "your Igbo brothers are concerned about your welfare", I don't know you but 2015 is not your time to transcend this Earth say amen. It's so bad that I once attended mass in Agbor (went there for something) and during the sermon the Rev Fr preached in English, then switched to Igbo. People actually got up and walked out during the sermon, to show their displeasure. That was when I realised how deep their emotions were.

HopeAtHand:


So Urhobo are the Ikwerre of Delta state..nice

literarymathy:
Many of you have heard about Warri in Delta State. It is a very popular place and one of the most well known areas of Southern Nigeria. Warri is a fast growing megacity filled with so many potentials and so many people. It is like a small Nigeria of its own. Warri is the unofficial capital of Delta State as well as its economic hub. It is a well known fact that politics dictated the relocation of Delta State's capital city to the current Anioma town of Asaba. This act prompted a lot of sentiments from all corners but what has been done has been done. I wish to present you all with some facts about this oil city that should be known and also address its origins and theories about its ownership.

- Warri was a major hub for trading as far back as the 15th centuries when Portuguese traders arrived its shores.

- Warri is occupied by three main ethnic groups: the Ijaws, the Itsekiris and the Urhobos. Each of these ethnic nationalities claim original ownership of Warri and each may as well be right. However, this issue will be treated later on.

- Warri was the headquarters of the colonial Delta province and has always served useful functions as a hub for all the nearby ethnic groups.

- The FIRST NIGERIAN to ever go to a university was Antonio Dom Domingo who graduated from Coimbra University in Portugal in 1611. He was a Warri Itsekiri man.

- Modern day Warri is made up of three local government areas; Warri South LGA which is dominated by the Urhobos of Okere and Agbassa and the Itsekiris, Warri South West which is dominated by Ijaws and Itsekiris and Warri North which is mainly dominated by the Itsekiris with Ijaws as well. These LGAs are all in Delta South Senatorial District. They share this district together with the Isokos.

- Warri was a major slave hub during the transatlantic slave trade that lasted for over 400 years. Itsekiri chiefs and monarchs were partners with European slave traders and they imported slaves to be shipped to North America, South America, Europe and the West Indies.

- The name "Warri" was coined by a Portuguese explorer and has no origin with the Itsekiri titular name of "Iwere". This is a historical fact. Furthermore, other names of places in the Warri Axis such as "Forcados" were also colonial coinages.

- The Agbassa (Agbara-Ame) People of Warri South Local Government Area were migrants to Warri from their home town of Agbarha-Otor just like the Idjerhe(Jesse) and Oghara people of Ethiope West. The Itsekiri people of Warri are also migrants. Their documented history shows that most of them migrated from Ijebu and Ilaje(Yoruba conclaves) and were placed together as one people under the reign of Ginuwa, an exiled Benin prince who took refuge at Ode-Itsekiri, the ancestral home of the Itsekiri people. The Ijaws are quite older in Warri. However, history documents that they were also migrants from the hinterland of the Niger Delta when the old Edo people came to their current land in the Pre-Ogiso era. So if any tribe can lay claim to Warri (based on original occupation), it will be the Ijaw people. However, it is known that the Ijaws, prior to the Kaiama declaration, were less concerned with territorial holds. There were passive in old Warri. In reality, Warri is no man's land .

- In Pre-colonial times, it was fashionable for the tribes occupying Warri to inter-marry. In fact, there are a few Warri indigenes without any mixed Itsekiri, Urhobo or Ijaw ancestry.

- In pre-colonial and colonial times, there was a marked division of territory in Warri. The Ijaws occupied the islands and shores in the Warri South West Axis, the Itsekiris occupied the islands and mainlands close to the coastal areas in Warri South and North while the Urhobos occupied the hinterland with the exception of Okere-Urhobo and Agbassa urhobo who occupied coastal regions.

- Due to the fact said above, the Itsekiris had the privileged advantage of meeting the Europeans first and trading with them. There were open and eager to learn the European way of life. They eventually monopolised trade with the Europeans and other ethnic groups went through the Itsekiris in other to gain access to the Europeans.

- When colonisation started officially, the Itsekiris were much more favoured by the British. This brought about envy and jealousy by the other tribes occupying Warri. The Itsekiris became colonial court clerks and judges, they were interpreters, they were agents, they were virtually everything embodying the indirect rule system. Bad blood was developed.

- When the colonial NCNC and the Action Group party was formed, the Itsekiris embraced the AG while the Urhobos embraced NCNC. Awolowo punished the Urhobos for this by placing the Itsekiri monarch above all the Urhobo monarchs. Awo also changed the traditional title of the Olu of Itsekiri to the Olu of Warri and moved their traditional island of Ode-Itsekiri to mainland Warri. This led to a series of protests by the Urhobos and Ijaws. This period also marked the beginning of Urhobo nationalism led by the great Mukoro Mowoe, M.G. Ejaife and others. However, the change was already gazetted and little could be done about it. Another bad blood was spilt.

- With the discovery of Oil in the Warri region, another trouble started for the people of this region. Most of the oil wells in this region were presumably in Itsekiri land. However, Ijaw and Urhobo land has its large share of these oil wells. The Olu of Itsekiri, in a bid to monopolise the oil wells, decided to impose lordship over all lands in Warri since his title is the Olu of Warri and there's an etymological link between Warri and "Iwerre", an Itsekiri word. This led to a series of court cases which lasted for decades until a particular court ruling that stated unequivocally the the Olu of Warri is a mere titular appellation and his over-lord's powers are limited to Itsekiri traditional homesteads. This brought relative peace to Warri.

- With the coming of oil companies such as Shell, Chevron, NNPC and others, the Itsekiris presented themselves as pitiable minorities that were oppressed by their big brothers in Warri. Employment was monopolised to Itsekiris, so also with development, scholarship, etc. Urhobo and Ijaw lands became desolate like the proverbial "wasteland" of T. S. Eliot, the British poet. Ironically, the areas of Warri that are shared by the tribes were never developed by these companies due the influence of the Itsekiris. Even the airport in Warri now was fought against by the Itsekiris for their own reasons. More bad blood was spilt again...

- The heightened tension came when the Delta State government decided to situate the headquarters of Warri-South West LGA in an Itsekiri land, bypassing the proposed Ijaw land of Ogbe-Ijoh. This led to a series of violent clashes now known as the Warri Crisis that lasted for years. It was only the Urhobos that were somewhat neutral in this clash. Relative peace was regained when the headquarters was shifted to the proposed Ogbe-Ijoh land of the Ijaws.

- Warri is currently enjoying a very delicate peace among the tribes. However, this peace can change at any given moment if any tribe engages in any actions not sanctioned by the other tribes.

- The Itsekiris are currently seeking for their own state with capital at Warri. Before now, they sought to be placed together with Edo state in a contraption known as "EDOWA" or to be connected with Ondo state. It is even presumed that they had political roles played in the situation of the Delta State capital at Asaba and not Warri, the true heart of Delta. This is because they believed that the Urhobos will gain more from this rather than themselves.


The above facts have been presented as objectively as possible. I am not from Warri. These facts beg the question, who TRULY owns Warri City? Is it the Ijaws, Urhobos, Itsekiris, all of them or none of them? Judging from the above facts, please answer the question.

p.s. I am not claiming to be an authority in Urhobo-Ijaw-Itsekiri relationship and history. I am only trying to educate others. So if you have a point to add, or a correction to be made, please state it. This thread is not for ethnic rivalry or the likes. It is for the truth.

pazienza:


Wrong Analogy.

Urhobos are the Ijaws of the old Rivers state, and the Aniomas are the Ikwerres of the old Rivers state.

Now, that's the correct analogy of the situation.

HopeAtHand:


Pazienza, im not talking old but new..Old things are passed away.

We own the state now.

Onegai:


Lol, I'm from one of the places in Delta you just mentioned. I assure you, we are not asking for any Igbo help, nor do we have Igno brothers over the River Niger.
I don't know any Agbor or Ukwani person that will say "yep I'm Igbo". It's so bad that someone was at funeral of an Agbor man and started playing Igbo christian music. His kids rushed to to remove the tape and threw it at his head. Even my nephews are being taught not to marry anything after the Niger river. So please, do not be concerned about us. We thank you for the thought, but don't go to those areas and say "your Igbo brothers are concerned about your welfare", I don't know you but 2015 is not your time to transcend this Earth say amen. It's so bad that I once attended mass in Agbor (went there for something) and during the sermon the Rev Fr preached in English, then switched to Igbo. People actually got up and walked out during the sermon, to show their displeasure. That was when I realised how deep their emotions were.

emmysoftyou:
lol tell that to barcanista..

Anyway am sure ikwerre owns a number of population now but what of the opobo and etche or egbema...they also own d state..lol

HopeAtHand:


Who tha hell is barcanista.

OKRIKA has a very small population..Opobo is even smaller.Etche is bigger than both of them combined..


Ikwerre alone is 45% of Rivers state population and we are the landlords of Port Harcourt..Egbema is not as big as Elele, infact they should have been in Imo state with their kins.

Emeka, because you've lived in Port Harcourt does not mean you should meddle into Rivers affairs, stay in your mur'fvckin lane.

HopeAtHand:


Pazienza, im not talking old but new..Old things are passed away.

We own the state now.

pazienza:


Wrong Analogy.

Urhobos are the Ijaws of the old Rivers state, and the Aniomas are the Ikwerres of the old Rivers state.

Now, that's the correct analogy of the situation.

HopeAtHand:


Pazienza, on the context of the mention, Ikwerres are the Urhobo of Delta, infact, we are a little more than that..Most infrastructures in Rivers are sited on Ikwerreland.

That was the original context of my quoting him.

Truth be told, if Bayelsa is added back to Rivers, the Ijaws will never win us again in any political office because we already know they are under 1million people in the whole of Bayelsa, according to the last census.

HopeAtHand:


Who tha hell is barcanista.

OKRIKA has a very small population..Opobo is even smaller.Etche is bigger than both of them combined..

Ikwerre alone is 45% of Rivers state population and we are the landlords of Port Harcourt..Egbema is not as big as Elele, infact they should have been in Imo state with their kins.

Emeka, because you've lived in Port Harcourt does not mean you should meddle into Rivers affairs, stay in your mur'fvckin lane.

onuwaje:

Nana was never a king o

pazienza:



How can Ikwerre with just 4 local government areas be 45% of Rivers state population? Are you implying that all the people in Obio Akpor and PHLGA are ikwerre people?

Ikwerre is like 20% of Rivers population.

According to 2006 census.

Ikwerre LGA= 189 729

Emohua= 201,901
Obio Akpor= 464,789

PH = 541,155.

Total= 1,397,531

Rivers state population = 5,185400

Percentage of Ikwerre population = 26.95%

NB: Atleast half of the people in PHLGA and Obio Akpor are non Ikwerres ,when this is factored in, we arrive at an Ikwerre population of about 20% of Rivers state population.

abraka00:
I wonder the kind of person u are. Remenber some kings that fought the Europeans like Jaja of Opobo, Kosoko of Lagos and Nana of Itsekiri. Anyway, you I did not complete my earlier write up. The Oroje of Okpe kindom,Ovie of Uvwie Kindom and many others. Dont say what you dont know next time. You must not showcase your ignorance. You now know you are not and cant be my match. I am through with you.

onuwaje:

abraka00:
I agree with u 100%. He was more of a regent not completely a king. Was he Nana of a town(Warri) or Nana of a tribe(itsekiri)? Remember a regent performs the fuctions of a king when there is a lull.I will continue to educate u.In case of next time,know ur line of argument. Just know that the title of olu of Warri will be reverted to that of Olu of itsekiri at the demise of this present Olu.Have a nice day.