Doubles Model with Interaction Effects

Many historical accounts exist about the origin of Onitsha people. These accounts based mostly on oral tradition and stories passed on from generations to another tell us about a migration led by Ezechima, the founding king of Onitsha around the sixteenth century A.D.

The differences stem mostly from details of what caused the movement as well as few facts regarding the origin of the migrants from Ile-Ife in Yoruba heartland or Edo/Benin. All the accounts, however, agree on the movement from the Mid-West parts of Nigeria with the predominant version placing Onitsha people in Edo/Benin at the time of Oba Esigie. All the accounts also points to Ezechima as the founder of Onitsha. Based on this, Azikiwe (1970) wrote thus:

In tracing my paternal lineage, I could say that both parents of my father are direct descendants of Ezechima. As for me, I can trace my paternal ancestry in this wise: I

am the first son of Chukwuemeka, who was the third and first son of Azikiwe, who was the second son of Molokwu, who was the third son of Ozomaocha, who was the second son of Inosi Onira, who was the fourth son of Dei, the second son of Ezechima, the founder of Onitsha. (p.1).

Onitsha as a town is in the east coast of the Nigeria. Onitsha is in Anambra State in the Eastern part of Nigeria. According to Okeke (2012) Onitsha metropolis has a geographical area of 1,146 square miles and a population of about 2.4 million people. It is situated at 6.15⁰ North Latitude, 6.79⁰ Longitude and 72 metres elevation above the sea level. Okeke (2012) states that Onitsha was known as Ado N'Idu by citizens who departed from the vicinity of the Kingdom of Benin near the far western portion of Igboland near what is now Agbor, after a violent dispute with the Oba of Benin that can be tentatively dated to the early 1500s. The Yoruba accounts claim that the name Onitsha is a corruption of the Yoruba word, Orisha- a deity seen as an emissary of Olodumare – Yoruba for God. The full names, Onitsha Ado n’Idu according to Azikiwe (1970) mark a complete reference to this combined ancestry of Ado – another reference to the Yoruba and Idu - Benin.

However, Idubor (2016) wrote that:

The history of Onitsha began with the migration of the people from the Benin Empire towards the end of early part of the sixteenth century AD. This migration was as a result of the wave of unrest, war and displacement unleashed by the Islamic movement from North Africa. It was during their passage through the outskirts of Ile-Ife that they acquired the name Onitsha a courrption of the Yoruba word Orisha and Udo, the famous shrine worshipped by the people. As time went on, the

combination of the two words, Onitsha for Orisha and Ado for Udo culminated in the present name, Onitsha Ado (p.1).

Thus, the people of Onitsha left the out skirts of Ile-Ife and resettled in the Benin kingdom and soon established themselves as one of the clans in Benin kingdom excerising all the rights and privileges attached therein. Due to long process of acculturation in Benin, the Onitsha people jealously guarded their acquired right particularly with regarded to their revered shrine udo. Idubor (2016) wrote that the reason why the Onitsha people quarreled with Oba Esigie, (1404-1550), of Benin was because of the slight, the Oba gave their shrine-udo. He stated further that, it was customary for newly installed Oba to pay homage to all important shrines in the Benin Kingdom by slaughtering a cow in the shrines enclave.

Oba Esigie failed to do this at the Onitsha people‟s udo shrine, hence the quarrel.

Okeke (2012) states that “traveling eastward through what is now Western Igboland (and various towns also called “Onitsha”, for example Onicha-Ugbo, farmland-Onitsha, the Onitsha which was led by one Chima eventually crossed the Niger River (Igbo Orimili) and settled on the east bank in their current location”(p.1). According to Idubor (2016);

It took the Onitsha people several years before they got to Obior and Illa and finally crossed the River Niger and established Onithsa Ado. They stopped at several places in the then Mid-West now called Delta state, places like Agbor, Issele-Uku. This explains the affinty with the inhabitants of Delta state like Illa, Issele-Uku, Obaamkpa, Onitsha- Olona, Onitsha Ugbo, Agbo, Obior, Onitsha Uku.(p.1).

The affinty to Benin people is most evident in ancient Onitsha customs and Ndichie titiles which have undeniable similarities to what exist in Benin as names such as Iyasele, Osodi, Osuma, Ozoma, Onira, Osiwa. Moreso, aspects of the Benin account suggest that Onitsha

people left Benin as a result of strife with Oba Esigie orchestrated by an altercation with the Oba‟s mother who had trespassed on farm lands belonging to the Onitshas. The resultant unrest forced Ezechima, the originator of Onitsha to move East with his family and supporters in search of a new homeland.

Onitsha is an Igbo speaking town; a commercial city, educational, and religious centre and river port on the eastern bank of the Niger River in Anambra State, southeastern Nigeria.

Okeke (2012) posits that the population in the early 1960s, before the Nigerian-Biafra civil war officially recorded as 76,000 and the town was distinctive in a number of dimensions.

Abanobi (2007) states that Chinua Achebe characterized it as harbouring an esoteric region from which creativity sallies forth at will to manifest itself, a zone of occult instability. He stated further that though, it experienced great suffering during and after the Nigerian – Biafra civil war, by virtue of its still-strategic geographic position Onitsha has continued to develop, and by 2001 had an estimated population of 511,000 with a metropolitan population of 1,003,000.

Abanobi (2007) states that Onitsha is currently one of the fastest growing cities in the world and the indigenous people of Onitsha are Igbo and speak the Igbo language. It is here worth noting that Onitsha should not be confused with the other municipalities of the same name Onicha lying further east in Nigeria: Uboma, Uburu, Agu, Onicha-Nwenkwo, Onicha-EnuguEzike, Onicha Ngwa, Onicha Nkwerre and so on. On the west bank of the River Niger exists also Onicha Ugbo, Onicha Olona and Onicha Ukwuani. All of which speak Igbo as their native language. Azikiwe (1970) wrote that the name Onitsha is derived from Onini - to despise and Ncha – others, meaning one who despises others.

Abanobi (2007) avers that most theories on the word Onicha described them as arrogant, they are also known to look down on other people, hardly integrating with their hosts though also feigning friendliness. Not surprising foreigners see little motivation in investing and residing in their homeland. The reason for their arrogance and why they despise others is also given by Azikiwe (1970) as “ we descended from the Royal House of Benin and so regarded ourselves as the superiors of other tribes who had no royal blood in their veins” (p.1). However, the existence of quite a number of communities bearing Onicha in the eastern Igbo hinterland, whose history do not relate to Edo, did severely jeopardise this hypothesis. After their arrival on the east bank Onicha-mmili, the community gradually became a unitary kingdom, evolving from a loosely organized group of royal and non-royal villages into a more centralized entity. Eze Aroli was apparently the first genuinely powerful Obi of Onitsha, the ruler of the city.

The Obi of Onitsha is the traditional leader of Onitsha, Anambra state southeast Nigeria.

The post of Obi according to Okeke (2012) is recognised by the state and Federal Government of Nigeria, and the Obi himself is seen as a representative of the people of Onitsha in the state and Federal levels of government. The current Obi of Onitsha is Igwe Ugochukwu Alfred Nnaemeka Achebe (Agbogidi).