Ife origin

This is a popular theory which not only applies to Uneme, but to the whole 'Edo' peoples. It claims that the ancestors of the Uneme originated from Ile-Ife. It says that those known now as Uneme, trace their descent from Ile-Ife. Their great-grandfather who is among the founders of Ile-Ife, was called Oludare. He was a Blacksmith by occupation. Oludare was very stout, physically handsome and had a commanding appearance. Owing to his generosity, he was loved by all and sundry.

The theory then goes on to claim that the Uneme people in Ile-Ife later came into contact with ancient Benin and played significant roles in the early leadership politics that emerged in the area during the period.

This contact is said to have been established through the influence of Oranmiyan who was Oduduwa's son during the movement to establish leadership in the Kingdom of Benin from Ile-Ife. Oranmiyan is said to have included in his entourage, a very close friend called Ogundare, who was the son of the above named Oludare. They got to the Benin Kingdom in 1200 A.D, and then Prince Oranmiyan became the Oba of Benin. Not long after, Ogundare married Oranmiyan's sister, who gave birth to a baby boy, named Ogun, pronounced 'Igun' in Benin.

The story continues, It is said that at this time, the Benin People were very wicked and heartless. They committed lots of atrocities, killing people brutally for example. In view of these, the two friends, Oranmiyan and Ogundare decided to go back to Ile-Ife. When the Benin People heard of their plan to go back, they appealed strongly to them to stay, but the friends were bent on going. The Benin people finally realized that their attempts to persuade them was failing, so they specifically demanded that Ogundare should be left behind because of his rare and highly utilitarian metal craftwork. This art of Iron technology and the various metal crafts that were produced by operators of the blacksmithing industries especially for weapons of war were well value and appreciated by the Bini at the time that was why they insisted Ogundare stay behind. The Bini felt, that was the only way to protect Eweka, Oranmiyan's son who was to be left behind as Oba.

They then agreed to the plan. Oranmiyan went back to Ile-Ife while Ogundare and his entourage were left behind. When Eweka was mature, He was installed as Oba of Benin meanwhile, Ogun son of Ogundare was installed as Ogieniromo of Benin.

Soon after, Oba Eweka married a beautiful Bini damsel. She gave birth to a vey beautiful girl named Inemi which means 'It is not forbidden to have a female as one's first child' She had other children amongst whom are; Idu, Olumuza, Omorodion. Ogun on the other hand also got married to a lady who gave birth to a male child named Ogunola. Ogunola grew up to become very powerful. The Oba was impressed by Ogunola's power and physical handsomeness so He offered Ogunola his daughter Inemi for marriage. The Oba even nicknamed Ogunola as 'Egbuna. After they were married, Inemi got pregnant and because of the prevailing circumstances, (the need of an heir to the throne, seeing that Inemi could not ascend the throne, being female.) An oracle was consulted to predict the sex of the child/children expected. The oracle indicated that she had twin male children, this disturbed them greatly because it was still an abomination in Benin to have twins. They tried offering sacriices to appease the gods to change the outcome but to no avail.

When Inemi finally gave birth, to hide the identity of the twins, the Oba gave one of the boys to a female slave who had just given birth and took her own child for sacrifice. He warned the slave to take great care of the child and when he gets older, He would work in the palace.

The child left with Inemi was named Imiava by Ogun. Imiava means 'Twins' in Uneme. Inemi gave birth again, this time to a boy who they named, Okaku meaning literally that it is good to marry an honourable husband. The next child was also a boy, named after one of the Diviners as Akpero. After this, she had two other boys; Ozenua and Osorchinameh.

Basically, this theory says, the Uneme people come from Ogun's son, but the name 'Uneme' was adapted from Eweka's daughter's name Inemi.

Reference

Asimiafele, Unemhe: Our Heritage
Harunah, A Cultural History of the Uneme

Itegboje, The History and Tradition of Uneme

Origin from Heaven

This Theory claims that ancestors of The Uneme people came from Heaven..obviously. They were led by the one called Akpama, who would be 'Adam' in biblical terms. Osanobulah is the Uneme word for Supreme Deity or God. Akpama easily translates to 'First person to spring from Osanobulah' Akpama descended from heaven wearing a cloth with three colours, white, red and blue after a seven-day journey. He was said to have been aided by three threads, which served as a ladder for his descent. Osanobulah had given him seven items namely; alligator pepper, a clayball, a chameleon, fire, a sword, a tortoise and a black meteoric stone. He also received 'Eberumesah' which is said to be the aspect of Osanobulah responsible for the production of colours, protection, Invention and creativity.

So, the story continues. As Akpama was descending, towards the seventh hour, He threw the clayball on the surface of the water (Apparently earth must have been one watery ball) and then land began to spread. Then, he got the chameleon to step on the land, throwing it in a gentle manner, so that it didn't sink because the earth was still 'soft' After that, he threw the tortoise, unfortunately it's shell got cracked. Akpama himself then stepped out unto the land and placed the black stone at the centre of the earth. This was how he set up a forge with the fire which he had brought from heaven, serving as a main facilitator, of what later became Uneme's Blacksmithing Industry. Satisfied with everything, He then settled on the land and called it Igohigohmi, which means 'The Place of Joy'

Later on, Osanobulah sent down a female to help Akpama and to encourage through reproduction, the growth and expansion of Igohigohmi. They got together and had five sons and a daughter. Their names are listed as follows; Odion, Erhame, Iyiomhe, Uzannu, Imiava, and Edo. As the community further expanded, Edo is said to have produced the lineage of Ogiso, which in Uneme means, 'The Earthly King of the Spirit World that helps human beings relate with the other worlds'

Reference

Asimiafele, Unemhe: Our Heritage
Harunah, A Cultural History of the Uneme

Origins of Uneme peoples

Why is there a need to know about roots and culture? because, as an Igbo proverb says, 'He who does not know where the rain began to beat Him, will not know where He is going' I have no doubt that many of the problems we face as present day Africans can be attributed to not having a sense of origin like so many others do. Most of us only know about things after the 'White-Men' came.

The need for this is to correctly identify and authoritatively locate the roots of the Uneme People. These would take us back to years before 1370 A.D. So far the old theories which were established concerning the Uneme people are;

1. Origin from Heaven.
2. Ife Origin.
3. Origin from a small district between Lagos and Benin
4. Migration from the Igun area of Benin
5. Origin in Obadan near Benin.

I'm not going to go into what these different theories put forward at the moment, they are all interesting and I would post separately for each of them.

Now, I would introduce you to the New theories of Origins and Migrations of the Uneme. The New theory can be classified into two categories;

1. Origin in the hills of the ancient Akoko-Edo area
2. Origin in the North-East of the Niger-Benue Confluence area.

History of the Uneme

So i finally managed to get a copy of this book that was recommended by a fellow also Uneme. The book came by surprise but i am mighty glad it came. I am currently going through it, whilst still trying to see if i can put one or two things together. get some people who are interested in going along with the project. i will definitely update this blog with excerpts from the book, also my reflection and how i intend to carry this project further

cheers x

Some History

Bishop Itegboje (1984) wrote in his Book “The History and tradition of the Uneme” that a curse was placed on the Uneme by His Royal Highness Oba Egbeka of Benin during his reign (around 1370AD). His Royal Highness Oba Egbeka got tired of constant war between the Uneme tribal houses and Benin Kingdom. The Bishop stated that the charm for placing the curse was prepared for His Royal Highness Oba Egbeka by His Royal Highness Oba Ogiebo of Igbo-Orumila now known as Ijebu-Ode. His Royal Highness Oba Egbeka used the charm to scatter the Uneme tribal houses and prevent them from further united action against him. The Oba’s warriors chased the Uneme from one location to another in Edo area until His Royal Highness felt he had defeated them completely. This partly accounts for the dispersal of Uneme tribal houses in the northern part of Edo State and a small section of Awka in Anambra State. The five Uneme tribal houses make up ten towns and villages in Edo State. These are Uneme-Anegbette, Uneme-Nekhua, Uneme-Akiosu, Uneme-Ekpedo, Uneme-Erunun, Uneme-Akpama, Uneme-Udochi, Uneme-Uzanu, Uneme-Imiava, Uneme-Ayetoro

It is worthy of note that the Uneme are said to have descended from five sons in the marriage between Princess Inemi, the first daughter of His Royal Highness Oba Eweka the 1 (ruled Benin between AD 1200 to the middle of the 13th Century) and Ogunola, who was then the Ogieniromo of Benin. These five sons make up the five tribal houses in Uneme today. The twin brother of the first son is the father of the Uneme who settled in Awka. The relationship between His Royal Highness Oba Eweka 1 of Benin and the Ogieniromo was reputed to have been very cordial even before His Royal Highness gave the Ogieniromo his daughter in marriage.
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Bishop Itegboje further narrates in the Book, “On the 10th of April, 1955, I led an ad hoc-committee of Uneme to the Oba of Benin, {HRH} Oba Akenzua 11, and fortunately for our noble mission, the curse was revoked the same day, April 10th 1955, in my presence. Thus, the committee succeeded in shielding the Uneme populace against the {further} destructive effects of the curse. ”

His Royal Highness Oba Akenzua 11 ruled Benin between 1933 and 1978.
The above is not to undermine the reason for the concealed persecution and hatred of the Uneme by the descendants of tribes and clans who perceived them as a threat during the inter-tribal wars the 19th Century.This was when the Uneme were supposed to have made weapons of war for commerce and friendship. These events happened in the days of ignorance and any tribe who had a means of escaping attacks particularly by the Fulanis used such means to advantage. The Uneme were no exception.
It should be noted too that the elders of Uneme who forbade their daughters to non-Uneme men had genuine reasons for doing so.

Bishop Itegboje throws more light on the issue, “Owing to their profession-Blacksmith, they (Uneme) were highly respected and regarded by their customers………..While they (Uneme neighbours) waged war between themselves freely none of them dare wage war against Uneme. In fact, Uneme were always contacted for war weapons.
If an Uneme agrees to marry any of these peoples’ daughter, she is always given out without dowry; because that will enable her family to enjoy the generosity of Uneme in offering them farming tools to farm. However, no non-Uneme dare go to any Uneme daughter for marriage. Uneme girls were very beautiful, but secluded for Uneme men alone.
It was this respect and lack of opportunity to war freely with Uneme or to marry their daughters at will that degenerated into great fear by these Uneme neighbours. They were so afraid of Uneme that it eventually turned into the younger generations saying: we forbid Uneme.

Also, during wars Uneme are always called upon to salvage any nation {tribe}that is ravaged with war. Uneme will go there, when called upon, and help the neighbouring villages. But Uneme as at then had a law, that no Uneme fighter should make love with the woman they are aiding in war, in order to win the war. Hence such neighbours of Uneme always warn their ladies and women not to have affairs with Uneme so that Uneme shall win the war for them.
This ‘desist from Uneme, to win war’ ranged on to what was later changed to forbid as if war still lingers on”

Bishop Itegboje was the Chief President of Uneme Descendants Union in 1955. He narrated in his Book, ‘The History and Tradition of the Uneme’ that His Royal Highness Oba Akenzua 11 in revoking the curse on the Uneme on April 10th of that year said,

“’Oba never dies. It is the person who wears the crown that dies. Hence, whatever be the curse of my predecessors against Uneme, as an Oba on the same throne, I have the authority to revoke the curse.’
His Royal Highness Oba Akenzua 11 then revoked the curse. He prayed that Uneme should regroup and unite together for peace and progress. “

All good is in God’s hand and He gives to whom He wishes. All praise is due to Him. He made iron supple in the hand of the Uneme. May He be glorified. May He guide the Uneme to acts that please Him. May He enable the Uneme to help their neighbours with His gift and not destroy them by it. May He establish the Uneme firmly and bountifully on earth. (Amen)

'BOKIA

Welcome to this blog as i bring the the great people of Uneme to the world, thank you for joining us