NEMBE OR DEBE IBE

NEMBE OR DEBE IBE: The Nembe are in present day Bayelsa State. The founding ancestors of the Nembe came from a number of different sections of Ijo at different times. They were joined  later by Iwere migrants from Benin city in the 16th century. The most ancient ancestors (known as the Oru-Otu or ancestral people) came from the Olodiama /Oporoma settlements, these include the founders of Olodiamabiri, and Onyomabiri. Some came from Kolokuma and founded Obolomabiri. From the Obiama (Ibiama) dispersal came the founders of Ogbolomabiri. Later on were founded Emeinbiri, Oromabiri and Ekese, Kala-Bigama and Opu-Bigama. Okpoma whose ancestors also originated from Obiama (Okpo-Idumu), was incorporated into the City State later on.

The first Nembe or Debe was also known as Ujo-Nembe or Ijo-Nembe and comprised the ancient settlements of Olodiamabiri, Obolomabiri and Onyomabiri. These quarters were originally individual towns or large villages, with their own priest rulers, thus we have Olodiama Pere, Oboloma Pere and Onyoma Pere, with Olodiama as the most senior. Traditions mention a war between Onyomabiri and Kula, which caused the demise of Onyomabiri.

During the time of Kala-Ekule (1450) who was a descendant of Olodi, the son of Ujo and the ancestor of the Olodiama, Iwere migrants from Benin city arrived at Nembe. Their arrival coincided with an internal dispute between Olodiamabiri and Obolomabiri. The Iwere migrants exploited the situation with the help of one of their medicine women. She is said to have supplied destructive charms to both sides of the conflict, resulting in such devastation that both the people of Olodiamabiri and Obolomabiri dispersed. The Iwere migrants then took control of the city. Not long afterwards the Olodiama led by Kala-Ekule made a come back and took back the town from the Iwere migrants. Their settlement, which was situated at Oromabiri, was sacked, and many of the migrants fled to Ogbia area. From that time Olodiamabiri and Obolomabiri united and had one centralised political authority. In the case of Onyomabiri, the people were dispersed by the destruction of that town by the Kulas. Most of them were absorbed into the new Olodiamabiri/Obolomabiri unification.

The Nembe were to become heavily involved in both slave raiding weaker communities, and trading in captives from the interior. Wars with the neighbouring cities to secure trade routes they also engaged in. The Nembe also incorporated a lot of neighbouring people into their society as slaves (or servants) and as free citizens, The main people were from Iwere (Itsekiri) and Igbo this contributed to the modification of the Ijo language among the Nembe to the present Nembe dialect.

The kinglist of the Nembe dates back to the early 15th century, and there was a period before the times of the unification of the various towns, when priest-rulers ruled bearing the title PERE (This was Ijo-Nembe). The beginning of Nembe is pre-14th century going back to at least 1000 AD.