TRADITION OF ORIGIN OF THE UGHIEVWEN PEOPLE
Introduction
It has rightly been said
that every person, every society, no matter its size and significance, has a
history, a past, an origin. Presentations of this origin could be confusing and
frustrating, primarily because of the many and often conflicting accounts of
the history, yet it cannot be denied that embedded in these various accounts
and presentations of the history of a people and society is the facticity that
every society has an origin. It is in the light of the above that this paper
seeks to examine the tradition of origin of the Ughievwen people, one of the
twenty five clans of the Urhobo people of Delta State. We shall employ this
format: First, we shall examine the nature of the Urhobo nation in general,
afterwards we shall examine the nature and tradition of origin of the Ughievwen
people, and then, finally, we shall attempt a critical evaluation of the
tradition of origin of the Ugnievwen people.
The Urhobo nation
The Urhobos are a people
of southern Nigeria, near the Northwestern Niger Delta.[1]
They are the major and the largest ethnic group in Delta State, and they are
among the first ten ethnic groups un Nigeria according to the 1963 census.[2]
The 1991 census puts the population of the Urhobos to be above one million, but
by 2002, the population had increased to be above two million. The neighbours
of the Urhobos are the Isoko to the South-East, the itsekiri to the West, the
Bini to the North, the Ijo to the South and the Ndokwa to the North-East.[3]
The urhobo nation presently comprise
eight local government areas with 25 kingdom or clans. Each clan is
administered by a king, variously called ovie,
ohworode, okobaroodion r’ode and so on.[4]
The tradition of origin of the Urhobos is complex precisely because each of the
25 clans claims different accounts of origin, and so it will be difficult to
present a single and uniform tradition of origin for all the clans. Some urhobo
historians however attempt to present a uniform history of the Urhobos by
tracing it to an Edo territory supposedly around where the ancient towns of Udo
and Benin City are currently located..[5]
This account maintains that at the end of the Ogiso dynasty, many Urhobo and
other Edo groups left Udo in different directions, each to its own place, in
search of a more peaceful territory. These groups left Udo mainly as a result
of the cruelty, animosity and tyranny they suffered at the hands of their host.[6]
One tradition has it that the Urhobos migrated from Ife, another claims that
the Urhobos are from the Sudan and Egypt.[7]
Similarities in language and in chronology of events would however seem to
favour a tradition of origin that is traceable to the Edo territory.
The Ughievwen People
Ughievwen is made up of
32 villages and towns, with its headquarters at Otughievwen. It is bounded on
the South by the Forcados River, on the East by Olomu, on the West by Udu, on
the North by Agbarho and Ughelli.[8] It
is located in the present day Ughelli-South Local Government Area of Delta
State. Various accounts of the tradition of origin of the Ughievwen trace her
origin to Ogobiri, an Izon town in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State. The exact date if
their migration from Ogobiri is not known. Some also claim that the people went
to Ogobiri from Benin, arguing for the linguistic similarities between the Ughievwen
people and the Edo people.[9] E
J Alagbe writes that the man called Ughievwen had teo siblings, namely, Eghwu
and Mein Izon, and the name of their father was Koko or Kako.[10]After
the death of their parents, the children continued to live in Ogobiri. Sometime
later, a quarrel developed among the households over the sharing of the meat of
an animal (antelope) killed during a hunt. This quarrel eventually led to the
death of the eldest son of Mein.The Mein lineage would not take the matter
lightly and threatened to avenge the death of their son and brother. This would
result to a situation of rancor and apprehension in the community, and
eventually the households of Eghwu, Ughoevwen and Irhobo fled from Ogobiri. The
Ughievwen contingent entered the Okpara Creek, and settled near the territory
of Umolo in Olomu.[11]
After a while, the household of Ughievwen attempted to force the Olomu group to
quit the area, but the Olomu people appealed to Benin for protection. Web the
military troops came from Benin, the household of Ughievwen had to flee and
pitched their camp at the present day Otughievwen. Another report of the
movement to Otughievwen says the action was a logical outcome of a long search
for a permanent and peaceful place of abode. It was a man named Dophe who
discovered the site during one of his hunting expeditions along the Okpare
Creek. Whatever the situation was, what is certain is that the household of
Ughievwen eventually moved into a place called Otughievwen, meaning, “land of
Ughievwen”. It is not however certain if the man Ughievwen actually set his
foot on this place. The four sons of Ughevwen took centre stage at Otughievwen,
as it was the case that there emerged a four village descent group structure
named after the four of them. The four sons are Ukpedi, Orhoghwe, Owahwa and
Uphurie. It was from these four sons
that the Ughievwen kingdom spread out. The household of Orhoghwe was the first
to move out, with the following sub-sections: Ighwreekan, Edjophe and Oto-Edo.
The Uphurie household also moved out and established the following villages:
Ekrokpe, Ekakpamre, Urhiephron, Ekrejegbe, Ughevwughe, Otokutu, Egbo-Uphurie,
Ighwrekreka and Arhagba. The Owahwa group also left Otughievwen and founded the
following villages: Oto-Owahwa, Egbo-Ide, Esaba, Ophorigbala, Oyuyuama,
Ighwreogun, Okwemo, Otegbo, and Otitiri. The Ukpedi household remained in
Oto-Ughievwen, from where if founded the following vikkages:Eyara, Imode,
Agboghwiame, Erhunwaren, Agbagbare, Ayagha, Oginobo, Okwagbe-Oto,
Okwagbe-Erhurun and Ighwreoku.[12]
It is noteworthy to state that two reasons are often given for the movement of
the four sons and their households from Otughievwen. The first reason is the
rapid population growth, which would necessarily warrant dispersion. The second
reason is the occurrence of inter family conflicts and feuds.[13]
These two factors contributed greatly to the spreading out of the Ughievwen
people.
Critical Evaluation
Like the Urhobo nation, the tradition of origin of the
Ughievwen people is migratory in nature. This is unlike the traditions of
origin of the Benins and the Yorubas that is mainly cosmological. There is no
account of someone descending from heaven and creating the world. This, for me,
makes much sense of the tradition of origin. This is so because the
cosmological account can easily be criticised as being a myth and nothing more.
For instance, the account that Oduduwa was descended from heaven with a chain
and thereafter released some soil to create the world can be greeted with
various criticisms; one would be that from where did he get the soil he used to
create the world? Another criticism would be the very chain he used to descend
from heaven. There are speculations that the chain, still present today in
Ile-Ife, cannot be as old as it is claimed to be. These and many other
criticisms would serve to render any tradition of origin based on cosmology
nothing more than myth and thus groundless.
Furthermore, the tradition of the origin of the
Ugjievwen people is, in my view, very tenable. This is so because a close
similarity can be observed between the Urhobos and in particular the Ughievwen
people and the Edo people, especially in the aspect of language. They share
very similar words for some expressions. This would explain the position that
the Urhobos and in particular the Ughievwen group ultimately migrated from
Benin.
It must however be mentioned that there exists various
accounts of the tradition of origin of the people of Urhobo and Ughievwen.
These accounts could at times be conflicting. This can however be explained by
appealing to the fact that there was no formal system of record keeping those
early years of the life of the people. Errors are bound to happen in such
situations, Common grounds can however be reached from a more cursory and detailed
study and synthesis.
Conclusion
A wise saying has it that a man who
does not know where he is coming from cannot know where he is going to. The
importance of knowledge of the history of a people cannot be overemphasized.
Personally, this research has enlightened me greatly as I am now better
knowledgeable about the tradition of origin of my people, Ikwo R’ughievwen (The people of Ughievwen). I have come to realise
that the people of Urhobo and in particular the people of Ughievwen trace their
origin to Benin. I have also come to realize that their movement from Benin to
their present locations was not a smooth journey, it was marked by instances of
strife and conflicts. I hope to engage in further research in this area.
BINLIOGRAPHY
Onigu
Otite, The Urhobo People, Dugbe: Gold
Press Limited, 2011.
D
E Egere, Urhobo Early History and The
Dynasty, Warri Classical Book Publication, 2012.
E
J Alagbe, A Hsitory of the Niger Delta, Ibadan:
University Press, 1972.
[1]Cf. Onigu Otite, The Urhobo People, (Dugbe: Gold Press
Limited, 2011), p. 21
[2] Cf. D E Egere, Urhobo Early
History and The Dynasty, (Warri :Classical Book Publication, , 2012), p. 6
[4] Cf. D E Egere, Urhobo Early
History and The Dynasty, (Warri :Classical Book Publication, 2012), pp..
7-8
[5] Cf. Onigu Otite, The Urhobo People, pp. 23-25
[6] Cf. Onigu Otite, The Urhobo People, pp. 23-25
[7] Cf. Onigu Otite, The Urhobo People, p. 28
[8] Cf. Onigu Otite, The Urhobo People , p. 283
[9]Cf. Onigu Otite, The Urhobo People , p.283
[10]Cf. E J Alagbe, A Hsitory of
the Niger Delta,(Ibadan: University Press, 1972), pp. 200-201
[11]Cf. E J Alagbe, A Hsitory of
the Niger Delta, pp. 200-201
[12] E J Alagbe, A Hsitory of the
Niger Delta, pp., 200-201
[13] Cf. E J Alagbe, A Hsitory of
the Niger Delta, pp. 200-201
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