Igala Footprints In Enugu and Northern Igbo Lands | TRUST TV




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8G8SSxm744

Hi

Very interesting to watch but there's nothing really new outside what I've already known.
One thing I noticed is that most of these men who spoke don't seem to realize that the association they have in history with the Attah of Igala is one of subjugation and not of origin.
If they really cared to study the relationship especially as Attah men plundered the Nsukka area for slaves, they won't be sounding like they're doing. It is obvious that many of their ancestors were originally occupying present day areas in Southern Igala land before most of them fled further south to get away from those attacking them. It is this raids that Odekina is today attributing to dynasty change. Let me ask a simple question. Who made up the bulk of the slaves sold by the Attahs in 18th and 19th century of which we have records? It was recorded that the Obi of Aboh in the early 1800s was buying slaves from the Attah of Igala. Was it Igala slaves that the Attah was selling to the Obi? No it wasn't. Who were they and how did he source the bulk of them?
From the narrative of this producer, one would think that all these communities he's claiming just started speaking Igbo today or just a century ago but it wasn't so. It's either he is just naive or he's over ambitious. The only real Igala community persist till date which is obvious in their customs and world view example of which is Ette. The rest of them of Igbo origin but mostly bilingual due to them being on the boundary areas. A lot of them point northward as their ancestral place because it was their land that was subsumed by the Igalas. A typical example is that of the Nkpologu community which is scattered in different parts of Igbo land today even deep into Aguata in Anambra state. Is Nkpologu an Igala word?
What I realize that some of these men don't realize is that the influence of dominant Kingdom on another entirely separate people can be lasting but it really takes a superior population invasion to turn a people of another language into abandoning their original language. This has proven to be true all over the world. For example, the Romans dominated most parts of Western Europe and their language and culture influenced the people but couldn't supplant the original language of the various people. The same is for the Irish language which survives till date as a spoken language in Ireland despite the dominance of English in that territory for over 800yrs and it's number One world status today. The English did not invade and settled their land with a superior population. If they had done so, the Irish language would have been extinct. The same thing goes for the Fulani and Hausa language... Hausa language remained and dominated despite the fact that it is in colonial period captured under the Sokoto caliphate ruled by the fulanis.
My point is simply that the over 96% of Nsukka people and land are peopled by Igbos not withstanding the Igala influence of the time past. There are still whole Igbo communities in present day Igala land which gives credence to the fact that the claims of these chiefs that they came from Igala land means they came from those Igbo speaking communities and not as though they were originally Igalas who suddenly lost their language as they migrated southwards and are today speaking Igbo.

What is this fixation with people trying to fragment the Igbo nation?

aikyg:
What is this fixation with people trying to fragment the Igbo nation?

i dont think they are trying to fragment us, we igbo's share many practices with our neighbours.