APOI IBE

APOI IBE - CENTRAL AND WEST: The Apoi are in present day Bayelsa and Ondo States. The Apoi took their name from Apoi (Opoi) the son of Kala-Okun, who accompanied his grandfather Ujo on their way back to Otu-Ife or Ile-Ife. In a group of nine they got lost in trying to trace the route back without the aid of a navigator. So they decided to settle within the vicinity of the lower Nun river (Apoi creek), where the present village of Apoi is situated. Ujo who bore the title KALA-SUO), died here and his grandson inherited the title. Subsequently Kalasuo became a royal title passing through the family lineage of Apoi.  Nine lineage’s formed out of the migrating group founded nine quarters (Idumu), of which only five are remembered, these include, Ogboinbou, Apoi, Okoto-aza (the original home of Kalasuo or Ujo himself and the site of one of his ancestral shrines called Oborowi), Umgbuluama, and Inikorogha. Some descendants of Gbaran established in the area and founded a settlement which they called Ujp-Gbaran. Some of them migrated from Gbaran settlement and with the Apoi founded the villages of Keme-Ebiama,  Ajama or Azama, Kassama, and Ogboinbiri, Kolokologbene, and Sampou. They make up the Apoi central. Together with Gbaran town (Ujo-Gbaran), these have collectively become known as KALA-KUBU. The central Apoi was founded prior to 1000 AD

The Western Apoi who derived from the Okoto-aja or Okotoaza, Umgbuluama, Apoi and other Idumu's, migrating with the royal family first settled at Ukomu in the area of Furupagha in the western Niger Delta. They stayed here for a long period of time but had to leave due to the activities of soldiers from the Benin empire (this was the time of the expansion of the Benin empire 1500 AD onwards). Most of the ancestors moved on westwards to found the town of Akpaka. After the reign of Five Kalasuo's (approx. 150-200 years) a gradual process of dispersal set in causing the foundation of the towns of Igbobini, Igbotu, Oboro, Ojuala (Oju-Ala), Gbekebo and Kiribo. The royal family moved from Akpaka to found Toru-Abukuba (Apukuba or Opukuba). Later on Toru-Abukuba became the towns of Oboro and Shabomi.

The Western Apoi call Kalasuo, Kalashuwe and Oborowi, Oborowe, and they no longer speak Ijo language, but a dialect made up of the fusion of Ijo and Yoruba. Of late they have moved on to adopting the general Yoruba which most of them do speak. At a later stage as part of the Yoruba influence, the rulers took on the Oba title, before switching back to the ancient titles of Kalasuo and Opuasa. As children of Ujo, at Ile-Ife the ancestral traditions name them as one of the sub-tribes that sprung from King Adumu-Ala. The Western Apoi was founded prior to 1400 AD. The ancestors of the Apoi lived at Apoi town between 700 – 1100 AD. While the western Apoi moved to the western delta fringe from 1100 AD.