OGBE IJO IBE
OGBE IJO IBE & the foundation of Warri: The Ogbe-Ijo are in present day Delta State. The proto ancestor of the Ogbe-Ijo was Oguru (alias Kala-Ogbo) an ancient ancestor who accompanied Ujo from Ife, but was left the Forcados area with Ogula and others. He gave the name to the whole riverine area of Warri, that was known to be Ogbo-Ujo (meaning land of Ujo). These first ancestors inhabited the riverine creeks of Warri province long before the migrations from Oporoma. They dug canals for fishing. These were the ancestors of the Isaba. With the advent of the Oporoma migrations, they fused with the Oporomas, as both were ancestral Ijo people. The secondary ancestors of the Ogbe-Ijo were part of the same migration that founded the Operemo capital of Ekeremo. The leader of the migration was one Ewein, who along with his family had come from Ekeremo while his father Ipoli had come from Oporoma. These ancestors first settled at the Warri waterside area on what was to become known as Warri township. Ewein named the settlement Ogbo-Ijo in line with the general name of the area. It was also known as Oru-selemo or Iselema on account of the manufacture of camwood coral (Isele in Ijo), later it was to become known as Warri, modification of the Ijo word “Wari” or “Ware”, meaning “house” or “home”. Ewein's settlement at Warri was of six lineage’s or quarters (Idumu), being Arutiengha, Perebiri, Ikiyanbiri, Oturubiri, Lutebi and Tamubiri. Eweins son known as Okorotimi, founded a settlement named after him, this was Okorotimi village, otherwise modified to Okorotumu or Okotumu quarters (later it became a part of Ode-Itsekiri). Eweins new settlement was later joined by immigrants from the western delta town of Oboro in Seimbiri Ibe the founded Diebiri (Diobiri).
It was the family of Ewein who were at Warri when descendants of Prince Ginuwa who escaped from Benin city and was taken Amatu. These immediate descendants of Ginuwa by an Ijo princess named Derumo came to settle at Okorotimi village otherwise known as Ode Itsekiri four miles from Eweins village of Oru-Iselema now known as Warri.
Oba Oluwa (Olua) the thirteenth Oba of Benin, the son of Ewuare and descendant of Ewedo, was installed in about 1473 AD, at which point a power struggle broke out. Those that lost out in the power struggle, along with others, became the ancestors of the Itsekiri people who settled in the western Niger Delta from about 1480. At this time the Itsekiri were still known by their ancestral name of Iwere.
Ginuwa (Ogi-Nua) the son or brother to Oba Oluwa left Benin City due to the power struggle in which he lost. Subsequently he was condemned to death by being offered as a sacrifice to the sea spirits by Oba Oluwa (or Oba Ozulua). It is told that Oba Ewuare, also known as Ogun, was the son of an Ogiso female descendants, therefore he claimed to be an Ogiame (descendant of the Ogiso kings). Ginuwa (Ogi-Nua) also took this title. Ginuwa and his associates were taken to a place called Oghareki, where they were left to die, but later they escaped into the western delta swamps with the help of benevolent Ijos who chanced upon their predicament. On reaching the Warri region, which at the time was known as Ogbo-Ijo, and being hotly pursued by Benin soldiers, they were helped by the same local Ijos who ferried them to one of their towns called Amatu (of the Iduwini Ijo.
Ginuwa and his people, having escaped the condemnation to sacrifice in the late 15th century (1480) first made their way with the help of local Ogbo-Ijos, to Amatu of the Iduwini Clan. The ruler or Pere of Iduwini (or Ogulagha) at the time was Pere Ogirijoka. Pere Ogirijoka gave some “bad bush” land or “Seikiri” in Ijo language, to Ginuwa and entourage, to settle on and this is the origin of the name “Itsekiri”, applied to them by the local Amatu Ijo, who later referred to them as “Seikiri-Otu” i.e. “Seikiri People”. It was here that Ginuwa married an Ijaw lady named DERUMO. Derumo or Derimo, was the daughter of Pere Ogirijoka, and he gave her in marriage to Ginuwa, because he took a liking to him. Ginuwa and his people stayed here for up to 30 years then moved on account of the mysterious death of Derumo the wife of Ginuwa. Now Derumo was murdered in mysterious circumstances while quarrelling with her husband Ginuwa. The Ijo account maintains that he used her as a sacrifice substitute in his stead. The Ogulagha and Iduwini, on hearing the incident resolved to punish Ginuwa and his people. But before they could carry out a punitive ambush, Ginuwa was advised by one of his Ijo friends to decieve his Ijo hosts by claiming that her death was an accident and a grief to all his people. Having done this he was advised to relocate. From Amatu, Ginuwa relocated to Ijala, and it was at that place that he died and was buried (1473-1530?).
On the death of Ginuwa, his son by his late wife Derumo, Ijijen by name, led a migration to Ogbe-Ijo to Okorotimi-ama (Okorotimi’s town), later modified to Okorotumu or Okotum. At the time Okorotimi the son of Ewein decided to welcome Ijijen the son of the Ijo Princess Derumo. As a respect for royalty, he proceeded to give him land to settle on near his own settlement. His immediate descendants also married the local Ijos, this include the marriage of Olu-Erejuwa to a daughter or descendant of Okorotimi named Ogiere. It was through such intermarriages that the people of Ginuwa binded themselves by family ties, through which they could permanently settle in the area. These two settlements later fused in about 1800 AD to become Ode-Itsekiri the capital of the small Itsekiri kingdom. Other Ijos came from Gulani or Ogulagha, namely Ibirikimo, Otu-Ekine, Ike and followers from Abala and settled at a site which is the present Orugbo, about two miles off Ode Itsekiri. Likewise there were other settlements within that area, not founded by Ginuwa’s entourage or Ijo, but by proto-Yoruba speaking immigrants from Akure area, and Ijebu, which include Gborodo, Ureju and Omadina and Urejusisi, said to have emigrated from the Lenuwa lineage of Ode in Ijebu Ode waterside. They all fused with the Ginuwa lineage’s and entourage (some were from Igala region, via Benin) to produce the present day Itsekiri ethnic nation. These Itsekiri are also known by the name Iwere. The ancestral name of the proto-Yorubas who settled amongst the Beni kingdom.
As soon as Ijijen was settled at Okorotumu, he proceeded to carve out a kingdom for himself, stressing that he was the descendant of royalty (on both sides!). The descendants of Okorotimi who refused to submit to his rules, eventually left Ode-Itsekiri to settle in other parts of Ogbo-Ijo. Also the descendants of Ginuwa and the other immigrants intermarried with the pre-existing Ogbo-Ijos, many who had founded temporary fishing settlements. Some of these Ijos left their settlements, never to return. In the Itsekiri traditions these ancestral proto-Ijos are referred to as the “water people” the ”UMALE” or “UMALE OKUN”, i.e. “SPIRITS of the SEA”, to mask their true identity.
“..We note that Orugbo was founded by “umale”. We know that Orugbo was founded by Ijo from Ogulagha (Gulani). Thus the “umale” are non other than a coded reference to the original ancestral Ijos or proto-Ijos who were living in the region before the advent of Ginuwa. These Ijos were the descendants of Kala-Ogbo.”
“…It was from the Ijaws at Amator that their ancestors [Gbaramatu] learnt of the arrival of a group of stranger’s i.e. the Itsekiris at Amator. It was from Amator that the strangers [the Itsekiri] left for Ijala…..The Itsekiris spread out to Benin River where they met the Gbaramatu Ijaw who accepted them as tenants….”
Ode-Itsekiri (a name that derived from ODE, the Ijebu town, and SEIKIRI, the Ijo name for the Iwere immigrants) became the capital of the small Itsekiri kingdom that expanded to include other settlements such as Gborodo, Ureju, Omadina and Urejusisi, founded by emigrants from Ijebu-Ode waterside and others from Igala.
For the most part the Ginuwa group tried to impose their will on the pre-existing Ijos, causing many of them to migrate into other areas of Ijo. But not all did, some of them intermarried with the Ginuwa group, while others stayed on in their own towns and villages. These are the present day Ogbe-Ijos of Warri, Isaba Ijos clan and other Ijo communities.
There is confusion as to how the name of Warri came about. First there is the Itsekiri claim that “Warri”, derived from “Iwere”, one of their ancestral names, and secondly we have the claim by the Ogbe-Ijaws that it derived from “Wari”, the Ijo term for house. What ever the case may be, there was always a distinction between Ode-Itsekiri (so called big Warri) and Iselema (Warri township or modern Warri), which has been accurately recorded in the colonial records. For accurate purposes, the Portuguese references to “the kingdom of Ouwerri”, is in reality a reference to Ode-Itsekiri or Iwere and not modern day Warri township.
In all the Portuguese records the term “Warri is not mentioned, what we have are the names “Ouwerre”, “Ouwerri”, “Awerri”, and “Oery” (Hodgkin T, Nigerian Perspectives-An Historical Anthology, 1960, pp170, 177, 187). It is this term that has been misinterpreted to mean Warri, whereas its original meaning was Iwere, while Ode-Itsekiri was the capital of the kingdom of the Iweres, and not modern day Warri township.
So who arrived in the Warri region first? The Itsekiris claim that they arrived first, but all accurate historical documentation affirms that it was the Ijos who were the first to settle in the Warri region. In fact it was the Ijos who helped the ancestors of the present day Itsekiri (Iwere), move from the mainland into the delta creeks, before they learnt how to use water-crafts.
During the Colonial period the British came to settle at Warri (not Ode Itsekiri or big Warri) and expanded the town;
"...The traditional capital of the Itsekiri now called Ode-Itsekiri or Big Warri is four miles from the modern town of Warri, on an Island within the creeks. British traders and consular officials built their own settlements on the landward edge of the swamps and this has grown to embrace pre-existing Itsekiri, Urhobo and Ijoh settlements to comprise modern Warri..."
The Formation of Modern Warri: Iselema or Ogbe-Ijo (old Warri township) was Ijo from the very beginning. The European records confirm this. Later on Warri township was expanded by the British to encompass the Urhobos of Agbassa and Okere and Itsekiri settlements of Okere Itsekiri, Ajamogha and Ekurede. These three areas were formerly distinct communities, before the formation of modern Warri. This is how Warri came about. The British made life very difficult for the Ogbe-Ijo forcing them to carry the mail and the Consul in a Hammock, to Sapele and other places in the interior. The Ogbe also found the township regulations of the British rather harsh. Coupled with deceitfulness on the part of the British doing business with local Itsekiri lords, many of the Ogbe-Ijos were forced to move out of Warri township, to settle in pre-existing villages or new ones at their present sites within the creeks. Others remained at Warri. The foundation of the Ogbe-Ijo Ibe is clearly pre 14th century times, due to the ancient Ijo ancestors who were living in the area since remote times.
