Igbanke

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Igbanke
Town
IGBANKE
Nickname(s):  Ndi Igbanke
Motto(s):  Onukokomeh Ogbu Ofifi
Igbanke Location in Nigeria
Coordinates: 6°23′13″N 6°09′53″E / 6.38694°N 6.16472°E / 6.38694; 6.16472Coordinates: 6°23′13″N 6°09′53″E / 6.38694°N 6.16472°E / 6.38694; 6.16472
State	Edo
Government
• Type	Monarchical
• Eze	Eze Ake, Eze IdumuOdin, Eze Igbon, Eze Oligie, Eze Omolua, Eze Ottah
Area
• Total	170.3 km2 (65.8 sq mi)
Population  (2017)
• Total	68,500
• Density	24.41/km2 (63.21/sq mi)
Climate	Aw

Igbanke is an Igbo (more remotely; Ika) community in Edo State, Nigeria. It is located in Orhionmwon Local Government Area of the state. The people speak mainly Ika Language, which is a dialect of the Igbo language.^[1]

History[]

Igbanke originated from six villages which came together from Edo, Delta and Anambra State. The people of Idumodin, AkeObiogba, Omolua, Oligie, Ottah and Igbontor are the villages that came together to establish their settlement which over the years has been refer to as Igbanke.^[2]

History had it that during the reign of Oba Ozolua, who was the warrior-king of Benin who set out on a mission to conquer a community called Oburo. To enable him achieve this goal, Oba Ozolua went with his warriors, one of his daughters called Uvbi and few of his slaves. After crossing river Orhionmwon, Oba Ozolua asked Uvbi his daughter to stay behind with one of the slaves so that he and the other retinue could proceed on the journey. The princess obliged to his father's instruction but by the time Oba Ozolua came back, Uvbi was already pregnant for the slave. To punish her, the King left his daughter at the present place called Igbontor where she was delivered of a baby boy; when the message got to Ozolua in Benin, the king named the baby boy "Ogie Igbon", which means slave-king. “Ogie Igbon” which is also translated as "Eze-Igbon" in the dialect still remains the title of the Enogie of Igbontor in Igbanke.

The next village to Igbontor is Omolua which comprises people from different places in Esan, Ika and Benin. These three migrated from their previous places to settle in a location that is now called Omolua.

Idumodin-Igbanke people migrated from Amahor, which is the present Igueben. A warrior called Odin came from Amahor to settle in Idumodin. Idumodin was divided into four quarters when Odin settled down. The quarters were named after Odin's four sons which are Odin-Uku, Orere, Esaba and Ugbo and the quarters were named; Idumodin-uku, Idumu-ugbo, Idum-orere and Idumu-esaba respectively.

Ake is one of the quarters in Igbanke. These people also migrated from a community known as Mbiri, one of the communities in Delta State. Oligie is also a village in Igbanke. The people of Oligie migrated from Benin, they were called ‘Olo-ogie’ which means children of a king. They were actually children of a reigning Oba of Benin. And lastly, the Ottah people migrated from Ata in Anambra State to the location now known as Ottah.^[3][4]

Language[]

Although, majority of the Igbanke people speak "Ika" dialect, some of them are bilinguals, that is, some of them speak more than one language fluently, that is, Ika and Bini languages.^[5][6]

Culture and Tradition[]

The Egu festival is one of the cultural and traditional activities that is celebrated at Igbanke. The Egu Festival is also referred to as Ohiuhiu. It is a religious feast done in honour of the head deity of Igbanke. This god is known as the god of harvest and sustainer of the people. This festival precedes the new yam harvest, so it is fondly called the New yam festival. It often holds between the month of August and September and duration of the festival is one month full of various activities that is held every market day which is the Eken, that is every four days.^{[citation needed]}

Before the announcement of Egu by the six Enigie in their various villages, they must meet and perform the Okika Nmo which is the sacrifice to the gods of the land, performed by the kings. Part of the festival is making the community clean by clearing the bushes and roads in the villages by the youths and the painting of walls and palaces by women, which is usually done with native chalk called "nzu" and red earth. They do all these, believing that some of their ancestors would visit them. Also, family heads appease their gods which is also part of the cleansing, water yam pudding known as ‘Embeghe’ is prepared to drive evil away from the land. Those who worship "Nwa Obu" from other villages and other towns also come to Igbanke for the Egu festival in order to join their brethren in Igbake to appease "Nwa Obu" on behalf of the land. After the Embeghe, on the Eken which is the market day, the Nni Ogwa Ukin, that is, the ‘night food’ is prepared using the old yams and with some local spices to appease the gods and ancestors in the night, this is eaten around 11pm. After this is the Nni Ogwa Efinai, the ”afternoon food” which is sacrifice to the gods in the day time. Uroko dance is performed round the villages by the men dancing and visiting every compound entertaining and also collecting variety of gifts from people. This happens just for few days before the next Eken day.^[7]

On "Ohiuhiu" day, the "Nwa Obu" priest in the night goes to the forest hill where the NwaObu shrine is located at Ogbogbo. He is accompanied by the worshippers, including priests, priestesses and the Otu Ikpedi; their drummers and various dance groups. The people are entertained by the musicians and dancers while waiting for Nwa Obu priest to return from the shrine because the priest is the only one meant to perform the rituals, the people only give their supports. The priest distribute Nzu to the people which was dug out from the shrine after the sacrifice. People come from various communities for cleansing and healing. Also, part of the activities is the wrestling contests between various clans and dancing competition which is done at the village square. The warrior who is the strongest during the competition will be given a title.

Towards the last week of the festival, the people share gifts among themselves. Gifts are shared between relatives and friends and all married women are permitted to go to their maiden family to prepare food for them and spend some time with them.

On the last Eken day of the festival, the Egu is brought to a close by the Nwa Obu priests, who goes around to pray for people from house-to-house. The prayer marks the end and the completion of the Egu Festival before the people start eating the new yam.

Occupation[]

Igbanke people are majorly farmers. Igbanke is located within the rain forest belt of the vegetation zone of West Africa. Their agricultural products are yams, cassava, vegetables and plantain.^{[citation needed]}

Governance[]

Igbanke people practice an autonomous kind of leadership. Each of the villages is govern by its traditional ruler, addressed as the ‘Enogie’.^{[citation needed]}

References[]