The history of umueri town and her connections to isrealite

According to Umuleri Oral tradition, the town
was nucleus of migrating but nomadic Clan
which traced its origin to wave of migration led
by a priest of Eri clan of Isreal known as
Dabawor. Various accounts now linked or
equating him as the Biblical Eri, who was
mentioned as Son of Gad, the son of Jacob(Gen
29 vs 30.). the Although there were no written
records existing to back up this assertion, its
indeed true that the religious practices obtained
in the area was a mixture of ancient Jewish and
animistic religion, as confirmed by the Early
whitemen that visited the area.
Oral story has is that the first Wave of migration
was not actually led by Eri but a man from Eri
clan of Isreal named Dabawor. This man was
highly regarded as mystical Priest. Unlike the
earlier version of Eri that claims that he has two
wives, Dabawor and other families of Eri clan
migrated into the valley. On Arrival at the place,
they nicknamed the settlement *Umu-Eri Clan*,
implying *Children of Eri* The aborigine villages
of Umu- Nri clan, that include Agukwu, Enugwu
Ukwu, Nawfia and Enugwu Agidi are also
descendants of the first Settlers who left from
Nri-Aka Ugumana Ugume Umueri. At the new
settlement, the culture of Hebrew worshiping,
circumcision, burial & other customs remained
visibly the same with some modifications. There
was no king or culture of king-making until the
invasion of the land by the second wave of
migration from the Igala descents who brought
the system of priest-king along with it.
Although Historians have not agreed on exact
place the travelers came from. But it was quite
clear that they migrated from the east and
moved further down and settled temporarily
with his followers (among them Dabawor, Nri
Ifukuanim, Nnamenyi, Arodi and many others),
to an area near the confluence of the Niger and
Benue Rivers (present day Igala land). From
there, the settlers moved to the Anambra Valley
and finally settled near the coast of Omabala
river (corruptly called Anambra by the White
men) at Okpotoevi (In Ugume Umueri) near
Obuaga, which was part of the ancient Umueri
clan but now in modern day Aguleri. Some other
accounts hold that Dabawor was specifically the
direct descendants of Eri, the son of Gad who is
the 10th son of Jacob ( Israel ). (Ref. Gen: 46:16;
Numbers 26:16). What is however certain is that
the settlers were all from clan of Eri and  Eri
was the father and progenitor of Umueri and
other Umueri clans and that his residence in
Umueri remains the ancestral homes of the Igbo
nation.
Archaeologically. the traces of the habitat of the
Early Igbo Settlers are still visible today in
Umueri, for instance, "Akpu Nri" and
"Okpotoeki" are still at Ugume Umueri. Where as
Akpu Nri is an antiquity of Great importance. Its
over a thousand year Old tree located at Ama
Iruakpu-Ugume Umueri. It was said to be
founded by founders of the early settlers of
Agukwu Nri who left long time ago. The Surviving
Generation of Elders confirmed it as antiquity of
Great Historical Importance. One Problem that
had affected the fact of Aguu-Nri is contradiction
emanating from the Nri,Aguleri and Other
Communities claiming head to the origin of Eri.
In this bid, a lot of distortions came up either by
design or Ignorance of true Position.
But In spite of these distortions, the name
Umueri which literally means "Children of Eri" is
a natural and unbiased nomenclature indicating
Umueri relationship with Eri. Whatever historical
view may be, One point remain untainted- that
all the Children or Descendant of Eri once had
their ancestral home in Umueri, as borne out by
archaeological, oral and anthropological records.
Perhaps one pointer to these assertions is the
existence of several trace of Umueri lineage in
Some Northern Igbo towns and even western
igbo areas. For instance, Umueri Ogbunike,
Umueri Nteje, Umueri Okija, Ugume in Kwale
area,Umuriam Nawfia, emanates from Umuriam
Umueri(Descendants of Riam, son of Dabawor)
and a lot of other traces. It’s indeed worth to
note that with exception of Umueri, there are
no other towns that have such proof elsewhere.
Apart from oral tradition & archaeological
evidence, the early European visitors confirmed
Umueri communities in Anambra valley as the
cradle of human existence in Igboland.
“According to the works of Dr Elizabeth Isichei,
while quoting L Froberius, wrote. “The first
cradle of human habitation in Igbo area was
probably the Cross River and Anambra River
Escarpment. In each of these areas, latter Stone
Age sites have been excavated. The scholar cited
an ancient storage relic which was excavated in
Umunagu Umueri in 1975 by Mr. Emmanuel
Ozoemena which shows human existence in
Umueri during Stone Age era probably before
980 AD’ Elizabeth Isichei went further to state,
‘This picture of an early nucleus of settlement in
northern Igbo land is confirmed by Igbo
traditions’.
The Erroneous Story of Iguedo
The Origin of Iguedo though seems to be a great
puzzle to Historians than that of Eri/Dabawor
but her importance in history of Igbo origin
could not be over emphasis. Some Scholar
attempted to credit her as maternal ancestry of
Umueri town, but this attempt failed because
there was no way She could be a daughter of Eri
and got married to same man or his son inorder
to begat Umueri. This is tantamount to taboo or
"nso ani" in Igbo Culture. The Second Group has
tagged her as Eri daughter who was allowed by
her father to bear children at home without
been married. But the Oral tradition of the
entire Iguedo clans disagreed with this assertion
as it could have amount to bastardization of
Culture if Eri made such a taboo as all of their
tradition indicates paternal origin
From Umueri Oral tradition its clear that Iguedo
was daughter of Nnamenyi, a sibling and co
traveler of Dabawor. Her Father Nnamenyi were
regarded in the version of Umueri oral tradition
as founders of a portion of Umueri land known
today as *Nneyi Umueri * (Short form of
Nnamenyi Umueri ). She was quoted to have
married various men that include one of the
earlier founder of Ogbunike, Onitsha Ado,
Awkuzu, and Nando. On her death at Nando
after a lengthy protracted sickness, Nando
invited the rest of the towns she founded for
burial arrangement and also sent message to
Children of Nnamenyi, that their daughter has
died . But then there was commotion and
quarrel-lings on where to entered her body.
Ogbunike who was the eldest of the Iguedos
wanted the body to be taken home (Ogbunike)
for burial since they are Children of the First
Child but Nando Objected on the ground that
they were people that took after her during her
old age. Unknown to all of them, Umueri
Emissary from Nnamenyi Clan had already made
up their mind that their daughter corpse shall
not be lost abroad * Ozu Nwa Ada ana efu na
Mba* When commotion aroused due to
arguments on where to buried her, the Emissary
have no choice but to cut off her head and took
it home where it was buried in Nneyi Umueri.
This marks the cultural ritual of returning female
corpse back to their ancestral home in Igbo
adegbe area of Igboland.Ibuna ta Ozu Nwa Ada
Today the trace of her tomb is found in the
Shrine of the Aro Oracle of Umueri while her
body was finally buried in Nando. In order to
commemorate her memorial, there was
traditional annual Iguaro & "Oriri nne Iguedo"
been celebrated in Nneyi Umueri and Nnado
respectively unto this very day. And all her
Children and relatives are expected to be there
for the rituals.
Over the years due to the gathering of
Umuiguedo at Nneyi Umueri to commemorate
the great Amazon, some scholars out of sheer
ignorance distort history by regarding Umueri as
part of Umuiguedo clan. This has led so many
into believing in fallacies been peddled by the
adversaries of Umueri.
Relationship between Umunri & ancient
Umueri
“The original settlers of the communities that
make up the Umunri clan are descendants of
the first settlers of Umueri. Therefore the people
of Umunri, otherwise called Nri Kingdom, are
part of our ancient town. The clan that consists
Enugwu Ukwu, Nawfia, Agukwu and Enugwu
Agidi trace their ancestry to Nri Ifukuanim of
ancient Nri-aka Umueri. It is a fact that
amongst numerous people that constitute the
Umunri Kingdom, the descendants of Umueri
people are regarded as aborigines or the head
of their various communities. Those
communities were even named after founders
of Umueri lineages. The original settlers in Nri
are from Nri-aka in old Ugume ana of Ikenga
Umueri.
Nri people were actually occupying the large
expanse of land between Ugume Umueri and
Ikem Nando (then in old Umueri town) which
today subsist in Ugwu Nzu. “There is a popular
road path which exists till date which the the
Nri people use for their itineraries from Ugume
to Ugunzu and is called ‘EZI NRI AKA’ till today.
The vast area was inhabited by the descendants
of Umu-Eri up to Omabala na Ezu before the
present settlement of aguleri which is a recent
settlement.
The Ire and Oraeri were living in the portion of
land lying between Agu Eneneanya and Agu Oda
in today Ifite Umueri and Nneyi Umueri. The Ire
people abandoned this area in flight due to the
war between them and the Igalas. “Today the
Ire people can be found in Abba, Obosi, Ogidi,
Umuoji Enugu Ukwu. Occupying these portion
of lands today are several artifacts’ and
monuments, shrines, etc left behind by the
fleeing Ires. “The Umunri oral tradition also
confirmed that they once lived amongst our
people here in Omambala valley. The Nri people
of Umueri extraction had no king just like every
other true Igbo town until the arrival of the
Igala settlers who were forced to scatter and live
amongst all Igbo towns in northern Igbo
communities as a result of the ancient war that
was waged by the people of ancient Umueri
clan. It was the Igala elements that brought the
issue of kingship in Nri. It was a foreign culture
amongst the earliest settlers.
The Aguleri & Umueri Relationship
Aguleri and Umueri were Neighbors and from all
available evidence some part of Aguleri are part
of ancient Umueri clan,that are descendants of
the first Igbo settlers. Long ago, some of the
villages of Aguleri people and Umueri live in
ancient Umueri town as a community before the
people of Ezi-agulu, Enugu & Onogu migrated
from Igala land, following series of War between
the Igbos and Igalas. Aguleri which really
translates to farmland of Eri (Agu-Eri) just like
other farm settlement such as Agu Nnamenyi or
Nnamenyi Farmland (Agu Nneyi for short), Agu-
Mgbede(Mgbede farmland), Agu Ukatta(Ukatta
farmland) was indeed a recent settlement
inhabited by the descendants of Okpu of ancient
Umueri town(now in Aguleri) until they were
joined by strangers elements from Igala also
referred as Umu-si-olu. The Inhabitants of
Aguleri as presently constituted are largely
immigrants from different places and they met
the Okpu people of Ivite Aguleri who are
referred as the head Village of Aguleri. The
Okpu Village traced their lineage to Ugume-ana
Village of Ikenga Umueri.
The Oral tradition of Umueri traces the
genealogy to Dabawor, one of the descendant of
Eri whose daughter was Okpu, the founder of
the most elderly village in Aguleri till today.
Nevertheless, to prove the fact that the Okpu ,
the head village of Aguleri emanates from
Umueri, the Okpu Village has kept the ritual
practice of paying tribute to Dabawor Shrine.
And they have never failed to pay the homage
despite recent stain in the relationship
Occasioned by land dispute, litigation and
war. During Sacrifices, their elders received the
daughterly share (an Omambala culture that’s
still in existence) of hip or waist of Cow or Goat
used for the sacrifice.
Apart from the Okpu, Umumba
Igboezunu,Aguleri- the Custodian of Ajana
Aguleri and the head kindred of Igboezunu
Aguleri was part of ancient Umueri. They have
never DENIED it's blood relationship with Ugume
(Dabawor) Umueri. At the Installation of an
AJANA Chief Priest, Ugume Village of Umueri is
usually informed. It’s mandatory that “Sons of
Dabawor (Ugume) should be there to perform
the customary rites. The story of how Enugu,
Eziagulu & Onogu people were settled amongst
our people, in the ancient Umueri clan after
series of war of conquest from the Igala are well
known facts. The series of war known in Umueri
oral tradition as ‘Ogu Igala’ saw the war brought
to an end with treaty dully signed by the Igbos
& the Igala. T
The "Umungalagu of present Aguleri", which
literally means "Umu igala agu", a name that
was given them by the natives of ancient Umueri
due to the bravery they exhibited during the
war, was also settled in their present place by
the people of Umueri after taking Oath of
obedience before their hosts- the Okpus then of
Umueri (now in Aguleri) and Ugume allocated
some portion of land to Isiokwe after Oath
taking; Some others were settled in Umunkiti
Aguleri. The areas WHERE these immigrants
were settled was known as Agu-Eri- (Eri farm
settlement). These immigrants assimilated with
each other to become known as Aguleri. While
the Onogu people are scattered amongst the
children of earlier settlers in Igbariam, Nteje,
Nsugbe and other coastal Igbo towns. In 1974,
the then traditional Ruler of Aguleri, Igwe
Raphael Akwuba Idigo admitted openly in a
publication that Aguleri people are from Igala
( See’The History of Aguleri’ by MCM Idigo, Page
5 (Published in 1955) ), that they migrated to
Omambala about four hundred years ago.
According to him they met Igbo Speaking people
and by mixing with them and inter-marriage,
the immigrants adopted the language. Even with
this open confession, it’s worrisome to see some
Aguleri declaring that they are the Igbo
aborigine.
Migration & trace of Umueri people
As a result of ancient war and need for
expansion, most early settlers of Umueri left the
valley in search of other haitable place. The
Umu asaja-owu clan of Mmanomma Nneyi
Umueri along with other families of Umudiana
Umueri founded Abegbu (and to extention the
Umuoba anam community), where as the
constant raid and inter tribal war between the
ancient Umueri town and Igala forced some of
our people to migrate to distance places around
the River Niger.
The Original Umueri settlers can be found
amongst the Umuchi Ossomari Ogbaru, the
Ozeh Nkwelle & the aborigine Onitsha, whom
the Eze Chima conquered to establish the Eze
Chima dynasty. Other distant places that
descendants of the first Umueri people founded
directly were the Ụmụeri-Owerri, Ụmụeri
Ọraukwu, Umuoba Anam and even in far away
Kwale in delta state where the Ugume Kwale still
recounts there history that they migrated from
Ugume Umueri. At the height of Bini empire,
most of the people who went to war of
conquest for the Binis as medicine & Juju men in
far away Yoruba land and could not return back
founded places like Okeri(in Oyo), Iponri(Lagos)
& Igboeri now called Igberi(in Kwara State).
Apart from Umueri no other community in
Igboland has such connection of lineages
Compiled & Researched by Biafra Buchi Diboh