This is one topic that needs to be treated be cause many of todays igbos have been poisoned or forced into manufacturing false claims of origin in order to gain acceptance.let us revisit this issue by contributing based on stories told us by our forefathers.as for me i was told that my people came from agbo in delta state and settled beside river niger where they first called others igbo and themselves oru.however about 250 years ago they moved further upland to orlu area.


here are some info from books written in early colonial years




.All the Okrika know, or will tell of themselves, is that
their forefathers originally came to Okrika from Afam, a place
beyond Obu-akpu in the interior Ibo country, which points to,
if it does not determine, an Ibo origin ; and the fact of their
close contact with the Ibani on one side, and to a lesser
degree with the New Calabar on the other, at once accounts
for their dialect being affiliated to both of these as well as to
the Ijo.




One version maintains that the New Calabar(kalabari) people are
an offshoot of the Efik from Old Calabar, from whom they
divided themselves because of civil war. Driven out of their
town, they took refuge, it is said, in the Ibo country, and were
conducted by some Aro down to the locality lying between
Isokpo Market(headquarters of ikwerre lga) and Bugama.

Here it was that, during one of their fishing excursions
towards the sea, they fell in with a Portuguese ship at the
entrance of the channel now known as the New Calabar
river. The captain of the vessel having made an offer to
trade with them, they were so pleased at the idea that they
left Isokpo and formed a settlement on the right bank of
the river close to its mouth, which resulted in a large slave
trade being carried on between them and the Portuguese or
Spaniards.

According to the New Calabar(kalabari) section, who now live at
Bakana, a portion of their tribe at all events originated from
the Ijo ; and the tradition is that formerly when the people of
a town or community went hunting it was customary to make
an equal division of all the game that had been killed. On
one occasion, however, the division appears to have been
carried out unequally.

But although the Ibani and Okrika peoples speak the same
dialect, they consider themselves to be of different origin from
each other, as also do the New Calabar(kalabari) and Brass. Yet the
Okrika are also obviously of Ibo descent, though very prob-
ably from another part of the country to that from which the
founder of the Ibani originally came.





The Ibo country, as has already been pointed out, is both
extensive, populous, and divided into numerous clans and
communities, speaking dialects which vary in degree from
slight to considerable. I speak, of course, entirely with regard
to that portion of it with which I was associated, and the
people with whom I came into personal touch. These were
the Aro or Ama-Ofo, Abam, N'doke, Ngwa, Omuma(etche), Ohuhu(umuahia,ikwuano),
Grata(near port harcourt), Isuama(anambra), N'kweri, Ekwe, Mbeari(owerri), Oratshi(oguta,ogba,egbema,ekpeye,ohaji), Engeni, Abua,
Abaja, Akpam — all of them situated between the Niger and
Cross rivers(afikpo,item,abiriba,ohafia,nkporo), — Abo and Niger Ibo(delta igbo), i.e. the dialect spoken by
the people on the eastern and western banks.

I am not Igbo, but I know Igbo is part of the Niger Congo Civilization that originated in west africa and Underneath that, the Benue Kwa emerge and Igbo came out of that somehow, so did the Yoruba, Asante, Wolof, Mandinka,etc. Igbo is a Bantu language, so is Yoruba, Twi,and most languages spoken in west Africa. Summary, we are all one in a sense. Most people in West Africa came from the same ancestral group and started expanding and claiming different identity

There is no alternative to what an Elder from Mbaise said in an interview in Isichei. E. book on ''history of Igbo people''. According to the elder ''we do not come from anywhere, anyone who claims we come from a certain place is a liar''.
As a result, Ndigbo should not look else where as their point of migration. Igboland is the natural habitat of Ndigbo. Anyway, most communities east of the Niger are not really interested in looking for where lies upon lies have said they came from. Rather they see their neighbours as one. What will it benefit a man from Isinweke to understand this day that he is from Zaki Ibiam and starts disclaiming Igbo. We have seen some cases of Ndi Ika here who claim Bini ancestry and in the process deny Igbo.
Looking for different routes of origin is not healthy for Igbo unity.

I have some contributions of my own to make, specifically regarding some southern groups, but I'd think that a lot of people would rather not here it.

Andre Uweh:

There is no alternative to what an Elder from Mbaise said in an interview in Isichei. E. book on ''history of Igbo people''. According to the elder ''we do not come from anywhere, anyone who claims we come from a certain place is a liar''.
As a result, Ndigbo should not look else where as their point of migration. Igboland is the natural habitat of Ndigbo. Anyway, most communities east of the Niger are not really interested in looking for where lies upon lies have said they came from. Rather they see their neighbours as one. What will it benefit a man from Isinweke to understand this day that he is from Zaki Ibiam and starts disclaiming Igbo. We have seen some cases of Ndi Ika here who claim Bini ancestry and in the process deny Igbo.
Looking for different routes of origin is not healthy for Igbo unity.

actually,the aim is to let others hear what your grandfather told you about the origin of your people.most igbos believe they originated ''in situ''.differences in tradition of origin does not make you not to be igbo.igbo is an ethnic group encompassing several peoples of different background unified mainly by language,nri,aro and slave trade.

Abagworo:



actually,the aim is to let others hear what your grandfather told you about the origin of your people.most igbos believe they originated ''in situ''.differences in tradition of origin does not make you not to be igbo.igbo is an ethnic group encompassing several peoples of different background unified mainly by language,nri,aro and slave trade.

Interesting, but it has been dangerously used by some segments of Igbo. It has resulted in some groups wanting to opt out.

Pan-Igbo-ist should learn to stop fearing every little thing.

I'll make a contribution regarding my own people, the Ngwa. According to a highly celebrated and popular tradition of origin, a people, who are said to have hailed from Umunneoha in Owere, moved eastward from Umunneoha and came upon the Imo. At that point, they decided to rest a bit from traveling and eat. Some decided to roast their yams, as is/was customary, while others did what was unorthodox and boiled their yams, eating them as soon as they were done (without even offering prayers).

While they were all cooking and eating, the Imo began to rise. Those others who did the unorthodox quickly finished eating, packed their things and crossed. Those who did as is/was customary refused to leave their still-roasting food. The others who managed to quickly finish and cross before the Imo could rise to a point that hindered crossing, became the Ngwa, while the Mbaise are the ones who stayed behind. That is the popular and highly celebrated story of my people, but I have a problem with that tradition of origin.

Then there exists another theory, which I'm not all that familiar with.

ChinenyeN:

I'll make a contribution regarding my own people, the Ngwa. According to a highly celebrated and popular tradition of origin, a people, who are said to have hailed from Umunneoha in Owere, moved eastward from Umunneoha and came upon the Imo. At that point, they decided to rest a bit from traveling and eat. Some decided to roast their yams, as is/was customary, while others did what was unorthodox and boiled their yams, eating them as soon as they were done (without even offering prayers).

While they were all cooking and eating, the Imo began to rise. Those others who did the unorthodox quickly finished eating, packed their things and crossed. Those who did as is/was customary refused to leave their still-roasting food. The others who managed to quickly finish and cross before the Imo could rise to a point that hindered crossing, became the Ngwa, while the Mbaise are the ones who stayed behind. That is the popular and highly celebrated story of my people, but I have a problem with that tradition of origin.

Then there exists another theory, which I'm not all that familiar with.

Lovely. It is a controversy when pointing outside Igboland.

How is it a controversy?

All the Okrika know, or will tell of themselves, is that
their forefathers originally came to Okrika from Afam, a place
beyond Obu-akpu in the interior Ibo country, which points to,
if it does not determine, an Ibo origin ; and the fact of their
close contact with the Ibani on one side, and to a lesser
degree with the New Calabar on the other, at once accounts
for their dialect being affiliated to both of these as well as to
the Ijo.

NOT TRUE. . . Okrika is the British way of pronouncing WAKRIKE! Wakrike in Ijo means 'we are not different'. Which is what they call themselves as in 'they are nto different from members of the villages in the creeks of the delta. That account is not accurate and very misleading.

ChinenyeN:

I'll make a contribution regarding my own people, the Ngwa. According to a highly celebrated and popular tradition of origin, a people, who are said to have hailed from Umunneoha in Owere, moved eastward from Umunneoha and came upon the Imo. At that point, they decided to rest a bit from traveling and eat. Some decided to roast their yams, as is/was customary, while others did what was unorthodox and boiled their yams, eating them as soon as they were done (without even offering prayers).

While they were all cooking and eating, the Imo began to rise. Those others who did the unorthodox quickly finished eating, packed their things and crossed. Those who did as is/was customary refused to leave their still-roasting food. The others who managed to quickly finish and cross before the Imo could rise to a point that hindered crossing, became the Ngwa, while the Mbaise are the ones who stayed behind. That is the popular and highly celebrated story of my people, but I have a problem with that tradition of origin.

Then there exists another theory, which I'm not all that familiar with.

i've heard this story before. then the ngwa people called the other people ndi ohuhu i.e those who were roasting(their yams)

Yes, that is what we call those others who stayed behind, roasting as well as everything and everyone non-Ngwa. How did you learn of the story, pres-elect?

i have a wide network of friends including ngwa people

pres-elect:

i have a wide network of friends including ngwa people

Oh okay. Cool.

@ TOPIC: Anyone have anything in particular they'd like to share about Bonny? I've always been interested in knowing what people really had to say about it.

Hmm. Nice thread africans need to know and write their history to minimize distortions from the west and outsiders

@chinenye so are the similarities btwn the owerri and ngwa dialect am curious 2 know

Yes, there are some [underlying] lexical similarities between the two.

@OW11 ,
i have read the book where abagworo got some of this information from. the book is titled tribes of the lower Niger delta .and is available on line .i do know that there are lots of okrika families  who migrated from igbo land and  there are parts of okrika where igbo/a mixed language of igbo and okrika  is spoken as a first language e.g in ogan ama and george ama ,even in amadi ama .a lot of okrika families also bear igbo names e.g wachukwu ,ibanichuka ,olunwa , amadi, olungwe and okujagu families to name a few .however not all okrika people migrated from igboland. there where also migrants from ijaw land specifically the amassoma community and  of course other aro migrants and migrant izon [ijaw fishermen].what we need to understand is that the various ethnicity's have experienced population growth and are not what they where in the days of our forefathers .in those days some ethnic groups or subgroups consisted of   just a few thousand people .  and okrika as a subgroup of the ijaw /ibo at that time was not the okrika nation  as it is today. 
@ABAGWORO however even the author of that book claimed that it was difficult to accurately verify a lot   of THE INFORMATION SINCE A LOT OF IT WAS ORAL HISTORY AND EVEN AT THAT TIME PEOPLE FROM ONE ETHNIC GROUP GAVE CONFLICTING REPORTS .THEREFORE THE AUTHOR HIMSELF CAST ASPERSIONS ON SOME OF THESE CLAIMS .its interesting that the author wanted to group everyone into two  broad categories ijaw and igbo .but we know that there are ethnicity's in the  Niger delta  that are neither ijaw no igbo .prior to the civil war the igbo was the dominant group in the southeast and there were groups that sought to  identified more with igbo e.g via names, intermarriage,speaking igbo as a mixed or second language  etc however after the war these groups have now come to assert there identity and/or  have aligned with other larger groups.the okrika identity today is with the larger  ijaw nation. to all my pan igboists  friends we the people of the south south and the people of the south east can achieve a lot politically in todays nigeria but the igbo shouldnt force idshouldn'tn others .i must not be igbo to coperate with the igbo .the igbo need to find a new message that appeals to most people from the former eastern region ,besides  the concept of biafra. that concept still leaves  some people shivering . take for instance ,the term niger delta has gained  more acceptance and support because of the underlying concept of identifying with one another based on our common resouces ,and percieved   mistreatment from the nigerian government .obama won the election in usa not by flying the race but change banner. the reason ive brought politics into this seemingly innocent thread is that at the heart of ethnic  identity in todays nigeria , political relevance and power is the ultimate goal.

After the civil war certain groups started distancing themselves from the Igbo and heir identity out of fear and also plain treachery. To many the Igbo were seen as the only and main group the Nigerian govt was targetting for extermination hence it was better to abandone them and join the victorious Nigerian troops. The Igbo never imposed any identity on anyone. If Biafra won everyone remotely related to anything Igbo woulda been quick to point to u their Igbo heritage. Humans are opportunistic and the Eastern region is full of opportunists who will turn Chinese sef if China invaded Nigeria so its no surprise that even an Igbo will deny being talkless of an Okirirka with mixed heritage. Oh well once the govt made use of em and got tired of the pretence they started letting them know that regardless of ur their nationality they are in the same boat with the Igbo.

@Ama-diva. Your post is nonsensical. Can you show me where Igbo people have been claiming Okrika. Can you show us documents or any evidence where Igbo people claim you and your people. Have the Okrika people ever invited to join Ohanaeze. Do Igbo people give Igbo awards to Okrika people. Have you ever seen Okrika people at Ahiajoku lectures or Iri ji festivals.
FYI, Ndigbo do not claim non-Igbo people. Though rest of Nigeria see you and your people as Igbo. Hence, stop the madness.

ama-diva:

@OW11 ,
i have read the book where abagworo got some of this information from. the book is titled tribes of the lower Niger delta .and is available on line .i do know that there are lots of okrika families  who migrated from igbo land and  there are parts of okrika where igbo/a mixed language of igbo and okrika  is spoken as a first language e.g in ogan ama and george ama ,even in amadi ama .a lot of okrika families also bear igbo names e.g wachukwu ,ibanichuka ,olunwa , amadi, olungwe and okujagu families to name a few .however not all okrika people migrated from igboland. there where also migrants from ijaw land specifically the amassoma community and  of course other aro migrants and migrant izon [ijaw fishermen].what we need to understand is that the various ethnicity's have experienced population growth and are not what they where in the days of our forefathers .in those days some ethnic groups or subgroups consisted of   just a few thousand people .  and okrika as a subgroup of the ijaw /ibo at that time was not the okrika nation  as it is today. 
@ABAGWORO however even the author of that book claimed that it was difficult to accurately verify a lot   of THE INFORMATION SINCE A LOT OF IT WAS ORAL HISTORY AND EVEN AT THAT TIME PEOPLE FROM ONE ETHNIC GROUP GAVE CONFLICTING REPORTS .THEREFORE THE AUTHOR HIMSELF CAST ASPERSIONS ON SOME OF THESE CLAIMS .its interesting that the author wanted to group everyone into two  broad categories ijaw and igbo .but we know that there are ethnicity's in the  Niger delta  that are neither ijaw no igbo .prior to the civil war the igbo was the dominant group in the southeast and there were groups that sought to  identified more with igbo e.g via names, intermarriage,speaking igbo as a mixed or second language  etc however after the war these groups have now come to assert there identity and/or  have aligned with other larger groups.the okrika identity today is with the larger  ijaw nation. to all my pan igboists  friends we the people of the south south and the people of the south east can achieve a lot politically in todays nigeria but the igbo shouldnt force idshouldn'tn others .i must not be igbo to coperate with the igbo .the igbo need to find a new message that appeals to most people from the former eastern region ,besides  the concept of biafra. that concept still leaves  some people shivering . take for instance ,the term niger delta has gained  more acceptance and support because of the underlying concept of identifying with one another based on our common resouces ,and percieved   mistreatment from the nigerian government .obama won the election in usa not by flying the race but change banner. the reason ive brought politics into this seemingly innocent thread is that at the heart of ethnic  identity in todays nigeria , political relevance and power is the ultimate goal.

I guess you are from okrika and you actually said the truth.This issue of igbos forcing others is uncalled for because it never existed.in south east igbos know their differences but still identify with the larger igbo ethnic nation.the definition of igbo is almost entirely based on language(which infact varies but is easily recognised).the yorubas know oduduwa as their founder while hausas have bayajida but igbos originate from everywhere including some that claim to have always been here.there are bini igbos,igala igbos,ibibio igbos,ekoi igbos,idoma igbos,nri igbos and ijaw igbos.in the area known as core igbo,each village group has a contribution of all these people while some areas(umuezechima) claim exclusively of bini descent.if you make careful observation,igbos inspite of knowing that okrika is of igbo descent have never called okrika igbo because the language differs.bonny and opobo are regarded as mixture of igbo and ijaw and are therefore never seen as igbo.ogoni has never been called igbo too.the issue remains ikwerre,ogba,egbema( divided btw imo and rivers),ndoni and etche in rivers.ika in delta.amongst all these group of people,the larger igbos know that ogba,ndoni and ika had an influx of idu immigrants but are still igbos.egbema had ijaw influx and bini influx some centuries ago.however ikwerre and etche are made up of almost entirely people from southeast with little ekpeye influx in emohua area.i recently heard some ikwerres trying to claim idu and it sounds wrong.one has the right toidentify with whatever ethnic group they wish but not to craft stories.

Ama-Diva, just like Abagworo stated, the main mode of identifying Igbo groups is mode of speech. That is, if said group's lect is phonetically and lexically Igboid. The Igbo don't acknowledge non-Igbo groups (that is, groups whose lects are not phonetically and lexically Igboid) as "Igbo". So you have nothing to worry about.

Can we get back to the thread now? Anyone (Ijo or Igbo) care to share theories of origin of Bonny?

@ABAGWORO  I'm sorry for generalising but there are some igbo people who maintain that most of rivers state is igbo and this includes kalabari ,ibani,abua,engenne ,ekpeye etc whether this is borne  out of ignorance or fact is disputable
i do know that most ibani {bonny and opobo ] and kalabari people have igbo ancestry through acculturated slaves and according to various  documented accounts most of these islands originally had fewer than a thousand people however slaves from  the igbo hinterland and other places including ijawland  were used  to populate these places and help in the growth of the ''HOUSE SYSTEM''. this in addition to migrant igbo ,efik,aro ,ibibio and ijaw traders/fishermen helped to build the population.

          most  ikwerre and some ika  amongst others have maintained they are not igbo and as long as some igbo keep insisting they are then it appears that some igbo are forcefully trying to get them to acknowledge igbo ethnicity .please note that i am not here to argue about who is wrong or right ,i am  just pointing out the fact that this is  a controversial  issue .
  @ABADAM it really doesn't matter what the rest of Nigeria calls us there is nothing wrong with being igbo and i have pointed out that most rivers state groups actually do have a relationship with igbo. so trust me iam not afraid to be called igbo i am just contributing my quota to this discussion  which as topic says ''origin of the igbo and their ''NEIGHBOURS'',and also trying to set certain facts straight .i have always maintained that ethnicity has  a lot to do with identity besides culture , language, shared history and ancestry and ethnic borders are fluid /dynamic and are also subject to politics and socioeconomics

@CHINEYE ,your post on langage is interesting ,but at what point is a language a dialect of another or  a lect of its own . herein lies the contention of some of these groups of people that you classify igbo/igboid.most bonny and opobo people speak igbo the central type of igbo but with a  different accent . a few of them speak the ibani [an ijoid language]  which is similar to the  okrika and kalabari language  ,and some opobo people speak efik .their ancestry as i have pointed out is similar to the okrika with migrants from different places  including igboland . infact it   has been  said  that the  main founder of bonny was an igbo hunter / fisherman from ngwa . however most of them bear ibani names and have English last names a few of them bear igbo names . in opobo a form of greeting/identification  is umu-afor ubani which is igbo [  the opobo people are actually  people from bonny ,the anna pepple house who left main stream bonny under the leadership of king jaja a well known former acculturated igbo slave due to internal wranglings in bonny .he left to form the town of opobo and became king . so chineye  would you call the opobo and the bonny ijaw or igbo or efik or what ?

ama-diva:

@ABAGWORO  I'm sorry for generalising but there are some igbo people who maintain that most of rivers state is igbo and this includes kalabari ,ibani,abua,engenne ,ekpeye etc whether this is borne  out of ignorance or fact is disputable
i do know that most ibani {bonny and opobo ] and kalabari people have igbo ancestry through acculturated slaves and according to various  documented accounts most of these islands originally had fewer than a thousand people however slaves from  the igbo hinterland and other places including ijawland  were used  to populate these places and help in the growth of the ''HOUSE SYSTEM''. this in addition to migrant igbo ,efik,aro ,ibibio and ijaw traders/fishermen helped to build the population.

Ama-Diva, if you don't mind, help me understand the bolded. Are you saying that Igbo are not indigenes of Ibani?

ama-diva:

@CHINEYE ,your post on langage is interesting ,but at what point is a language a dialect of another or  a lect of its own . herein lies the contention of some of these groups of people that you classify igbo/igboid.most bonny and opobo people speak igbo the central type of igbo but with a  different accent . a few of them speak the ibani [an ijoid language]  which is similar to the  okrika and kalabari language  ,and some opobo people speak efik .their ancestry as i have pointed out is similar to the okrika with migrants from different places  including igboland .

This is why I used the word "lect". "Lect" simply means "mode of speech". It doesn't particularly mean "language" or "dialect". I avoided the use of the terms "language" and "dialect" because of their implications and that they seem to have their foundation more in politics than linguistics.

Now, let try to explain this Igboid classification thing. The suffix "oid" in English basically means "resembling, having the likeness of, or expressing basic characteristics of". Used together with "Igbo", "oid" then means "having the likeness of, or resembling, or expressing the basic characteristics of what we have come to know as 'Igbo'". That is the meaning of "Igboid". So when I say "Igboid lect", I mean that said lect exhibits what we know as "typical 'Igbo'" features. In laymen's terms, that means it "basically sounds 'Igbo'", or it is "recognizable as a type of 'Igbo'". That's what it means for a lect to be "Igboid". So, me, I'm speaking purely about linguistics on this, and leaving socio-politics out of it. This is all about the modes of speech spoken, and not about the people speaking them.

ama-diva:

infact it   has been  said  that the  main founder of bonny was an igbo hunter / fisherman from ngwa . however most of them bear ibani names and have English last names a few of them bear igbo names . in opobo a form of greeting/identification  is umu-afor ubani which is igbo [  the opobo people are actually  people from bonny ,the anna pepple house who left main stream bonny under the leadership of king jaja a well known former acculturated igbo slave due to internal wranglings in bonny .he left to form the town of opobo and became king . so chineye  would you call the opobo and the bonny ijaw or igbo or efik or what ?

Well, I just so happen to be Ngwa, and I actually don't call them "Igbo", or "Efik" or "Ijo". Instead, as an Ngwa, familiar with Ngwa-Ubhani history as well as general Ngwa settlement history, I consider Ibani people "of Ngwa", in the grand scheme of things, and I call them "Ubhani". It's the same way I view the greater Ndoki body, as well as general Echee and general Ikwere.

Thanks for sharing that piece of information on Ibani though. So, that tradition of origin (them being from Ngwa), do Ibani people themselves say that?

[quote author=ama-diva link=topic=446676.msg6089409#msg6089409

most ikwerre and some ika amongst others have maintained they are not igbo and as long as some igbo keep insisting they are then it appears that some igbo are forcefully trying to get them to acknowledge igbo ethnicity .please note that i am not here to argue about who is wrong or right ,i am just pointing out the fact that this is a controversial issue .


You are only interested in the microscopic few who deny Igbo identity. How about those that have always identified as Igbo from Diobu to Igbanke.
Ndigbo do not lay claim to groups that are not Igbo. Okrika people are not Igbo and there has never been any Igbo claiming them. It is very different in the Ikwerre/Ika classification

@ chinenye ,thanks for yur expose on the term igboid and the contest in which you have used it. to answer your first question about igbo been indigent to opobo and bonny .i already stated in my earlier write up about the main founder been an ngwa man and going by this ,there definitely are indigent igbo.mr founder probably came with some kinsmen and wives and kids.
          as to your second question about ibani people acknowledging the ngwa founder .there are some that may acknowledge this but given the issue of multiple migrations and  sociopolitics not all ibani people may acknowledge this . opobo people came from bonny and they acknowledge king jaja as their founder. another fact which i did not mention was that prior to the advent of slave trade the main language spoken in bonny was the ibani language however this language was mostly lost and replaced with igbo when bonny became a major slave and oil palm export zone in other words bonny became a commercial nerve center and igbo bieng a trade language substituted 
the ibani lect .however even the ibani lect already had a lot of igbo influence and up till today kalabari,okrika,and ibani languages have a lot of igbo influence /loan words.infact almost all rivers state groups and even bayelsa ijaw groups have had their language influenced by igbo.
as for kalabari people ,the story is of thier origin while also similar to the ibani in terms of migrations is a bit more complex and has some significant differences . that would be another days tale .

Did she just say that Abua and Ekpeye are not Igbo?
Biko what language do they speak then?
http://mccoy.lib.siu.edu/jmccall/jones/riverine.html

Ama-Diva, it's no problem. One thing that raises my eyebrow a bit is the statement that an Igbo mode of speech was introduced through slave trade. So, is that to say that no Igboid lect was spoken in Ibani prior to slave trade?

udezue:

After the civil war certain groups started distancing themselves from the Igbo and heir identity out of fear and also plain treachery. To many the Igbo were seen as the only and main group the Nigerian govt was targetting for extermination hence it was better to abandone them and join the victorious Nigerian troops. The Igbo never imposed any identity on anyone. If Biafra won everyone remotely related to anything Igbo woulda been quick to point to u their Igbo heritage. Humans are opportunistic and the Eastern region is full of opportunists who will turn Chinese sef if China invaded Nigeria so its no surprise that even an Igbo will deny being talkless of an Okirirka with mixed heritage. Oh well once the govt made use of em and got tired of the pretence they started letting them know that regardless of your their nationality they are in the same boat with the Igbo.

fact

It is high time some of those parents from Ikwerre, Ahoada and Ndoni axis who lied to their children that they are no longer Igbo confess their sins now. I believe those parents and contemporaries are still alife.