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Enugwu-Agidi History - Main Component Villages
Having in the preceding chapter,
looked at Enugwu-Agidi as it relates to the ancient divine kingship of Nri and its position in
Umu-Nri clan, this chapter turns to the town itself. How it took off on its own and developed to the
position it is today. From our source, a man called OMENAKANU was the progenitor of Enugwu-Agidi. He
was said to be the fourth son of Okpalanaka and that Oruora was his immediate younger brother. The
name, Enugwu-Agidi, as the town is now called, is the last of the series of names, which it had
borne in the past. The first is said to be ENUGWU-OMENAKANU after the name of the founder of the
town. One would think that this should have been the most appropriate name, but it had, according to
our oral source, to change to ENUGWU-NKPUOKU. That was a result of the popularity of the town in the
art of pottery.
Associated with the origin of this
last name was a dramatic legend in which a man called MOFUNANYA EMEGWO, from Iruobieli village got
involved in a marital dispute, which brought the white men to Enugwu-Agidi for the first time. This
man was said to have remarried one MGBOYE or Nwamgboye, formerly the wife of one Chinwuba Anago of
Awka. In the circumstance, Mr. EMEGWO who was said to be very handsome should return the new
wife’s dowry to Anago the former husband. This, he failed to do before taking away the woman.
Consequently the influential Chinwuba Anago had the poor Emegwo badly beaten and was to be thrown
into jail but for timely intervention of his kins men. It was said that Chinwuba came to
Enugwu-Agidi with two whitemen in search of Mofunanya. They
were received at the Eke market square where one of the whitemen saw the Ikolo and started beating
it. Ikolo is a large wooden gong sounded only in
emergency. By so doing the sound of the Ikolo attracted many people to the square. The same Whiteman
was said to have later pushed the Ikolo and damaged it. Another version of the story
said that one of the whitemen demanded and was given a mortar and a pot, which, out of share
mischief or excitement, he raised up and allowed to fall on the ground. While the pot got shattered,
the mortar remained in one piece. Following the dramatic experiment, he advised the town to take to
pot making, since it was durable and therefore more economical to produce in commercial quantity
than the mortar, which was very durable. They therefore suggested that the name of the town be
Enugwu-Mkpuoku.
The town nicknamed the Whiteman who did the breaking of the
pot and Ikolo, OTIKPO, (destroyer) while the other was called NWANGWELE (Lizard) because of his
slimness. There is no evidence that the name Enugwu-Mkpuoku lasted much long before the town’s
name was changed to Enugwu Osuna-Agidi. This is the name found in the earliest document about the
town, and it remained until 1938 when it was formally resolved in the meeting of Enugwu-Agidi
Brotherly Union (EBU) at Aba, to have the name changed to Enugwu-Agidi.
Our oral tradition has various explanations as to the
origin of the name Osu-na-Agidi. Prominent among them is the one which holds that the name derived
from our people’s outstanding capacity for prompt response to problems or attack (Osu-na-gidim):
charging immediately at the first sign of provocation. For many reasons, this account sounds too
simplistic. Indeed explanations given in its support were not considered plausible. A more reliable
account is that Nnebo was said to be the progenitor of Umu-Agidi, a maximal lineage in the town, and
that the name of his wife was Agidi. Which means that the group took its name from its mother, as is
the case in many places in Igbo culture. The first son of Omenakanu, the father of Enugwu-Agidi, is
Okanubagu, the ancestor of Normu village. And the first son of Okanubagu was Osim.
It is therefore safe to infer that, the name might have
been derived from the two names Osim, the first of the sons of Okanubagu( the oldest son of the
town’s progenitors) and Agidi the name of the mother of the largest and most established of the
lineages. The name was therefore most likely called OSIM NA AGIDI, and OSU NA AGIDI being the
corrupt version of it.
The exact period of the settlement of Enugw-Agidi at its
present position is a matter of historical speculation. It cannot be dated correctly. But, judging
from the recorded period of the reign of Nri Ifikuanim, the progenitor of Umunri clan, the original
settlement can be put to 12th-13th century AD. The original
settlement of the town was at Normu from where other village lineages spread out to their present
positions. Our oral account confirmed that it was at this Normu settlement that Omenakanu had seven
children from three wives. The first wife begot Okanubagu the father of Normu, Nebo the father of
Umu-Agidi and the father of Achalla Neli. The second wife begot Ogbadiji the father of Ifite
village, Anwunya the father of Igbollo village and Ogwugwu. The last wife begot the father of
Egbedani. These seven children of Omenakanu developed the lineages
that constituted the original seven villages of Enugwu-Agidi (ENUGWU-MKPU N’ASAA), namely: Normu,
Umu-Agidi, Achalla, Ifite, Igbollo, Ogwugwu and Egbedeana. These villages were formerly divided into
two maximal lineages Ezi and Ifite (Ezi na Ifite). Normu, Umu-Agidi (made up of Irunnebo, Eitti,
Iruobieli and Iruoma), Achalla and Egbedeana are called Ezi, while Ifite, Igbollo and Ogwugwu
constitute Ifite or Ogonogo Ifite.
Normu (Okanubagu)
Ubagu or Okanubagu the
progenitor of Normu village is the eldest son of Omenakanu the founder of Enugwu-Agidi. Hence, by
the right of primogeniture the temple and ritual authority of Enugwu-Agidi went to Normu (Okanubagu).
Normu had four sons to form the maximal lineage. They are Osim, Aguiyi, Enuagu and Owelle.
Unfortunately, there was an internal disagreement between Osim and Aguiyi as to who should inherit
the temple of Normu. Though each of the two claims to
be the most senior of Okanubagu’s children, oral account confirms that Osim was the first son of
Okanubagu. Why then has the custody of Ofo
Enugwu-Agidi and Ani Enugwu-Agidi gone to Iri-Aguiyi? We
have two varying answers to this one question. The first is that Osim died before his father and
therefore lost his right of primogeniture to his immediate young brother, Aguiyi, according to Igbo
tradition.
The second version is that Ofo and
Ani Enugwu-Agidi actually passed to Iru-Aguyi from a man called Okpalandu from Enu-Agu. This man was
said to be the first Enugwu-Agidi man to complete the expensive ceremony of ‘Ipu-Afia’ title
taking. When, therefore, the town drew its first constitution or code of conduct and abomination,
Okpalandu, as the first Otigbuanyinya or ‘Isi-Muo’ in the town became the rightful custodian of
such code, which was handed to him in the form of ‘Ofo nze’. As such, anybody who subsequently
went through the ‘Ipu-Afia’ title-taking ceremony had to complete it by going to Okpalandu of
Enu-Agu for ‘Ibe-uke’. So he was in possession of Ofo Enugwu-Agidi so created. But
unfortunately Okpalandu whose daughter was married to Aguiyi lineage had no son. So on his deathbed,
he had only his ‘nwadiani’, the son of his daughter married to Aguiyi family, to perform his
expensive burial and funeral rites. Okpalandu therefore willed the Ofo to his ‘nwadiani’ as a
reward for performing this function and by so doing, the Ofo passed to Aguiyi lineage for good.
Until the misunderstanding is finally resolved, the position now is that Iru-Osim is the custodian
of Normu shrine (Ana Normu) and Ofo Okpalanaka na Ariam or Ofo nne na nna, which binds Enugwu-Agidi
to the Umunri root, and Iru-Aguiyi has the control of Enugwu-Agidi temple (Ana-Enugwu) and ofo
Enugwu-Agidi—the town’s ritual staff. Each of the two groups therefore performs the ritual
ceremonies as the cultural head of the town. These include rites of absolution, ceremony pertaining
to final traditional title taking of ‘Ipu-Afia’ and Igu-Aro
(determining the new year’s traditional calendar). However, as the descendants of the oldest sons
of Enugwu-Agidi, any Normu man no matter his age has the right to break kola-nut in any gathering of
Enugwu-Agidi, citizens. They are referred to as ‘ndi isi-ani, meaning members of the first spot of
settlement.
The progenitor of Umu-Agidi lineage was the second son of
Omenakanu. Among our sources of information, some hold that the name of the man was Agidi, while
others believe he was Nebo. This man, Nebo, according to them, married a woman named Agidi, with
whom he had four children namely, Nebo named after the father, Etiti, Obieli and Oma. Oma later
merged with Etiti. In the early period when Enugwu-Agidi was grouped into seven lineages
(Nkwu-n’asaa), Umu-Agidi was regarded as one village and therefore had only one of the seven
shares of anything meant to be shared for the whole town. The single share was then re-shared among
Irunnebo, Etiti and Iruobieli. It was in the recent period when the group became too large that it
fell into three separate villages. As such the present number of villages in Enugwu-Agidi is now
nine instead of seven. With the growing size of Etiti
village, it is not unlikely that in near future it may not see reason to fall into two or three
separate units.
Nebo had two children, namely OGBUEBUNE and KALITA.
Ogbuebune being the first son is in custody of Obu Umu-Agidi, Nkwelle and Udo idols, while his
brother Kalite takes charge of Eke shrine. The chief priest of Eke shrine today is Chief Nwankwo
Adazu, alias Eze Ekenyelu. He is from Irukalita lineage. Ogbuebune had four children: Enike, Emeke, Ugulu and Ugbo who is said to have migrated
to Ukpo town. Kalita (fondly called kata) had four children: UKAEJE (or AKAJE), EKWO, NLUEGBE and
DELE.
Nanuo
(Etiti)
The father of Etiti village the largest group in
Enugwu-Agidi was the second son of the progenitor of Umu-Agidi. In spite of what we received in the
form of oral account as to the origin of the name Etiti, it is not likely that the name of the
founder of the village was Etiti. This is because it is the convention in Igbo tribe to call
villages located in the center of towns Etiti. There are many villages so called in many Igbo towns.
So the most plausible explanation for the name Etiti in Enugwu-Agidi is the fact that the village is
not only located in the center of the town, but also takes a central position in the Umu-Agidi
lineage being place between Nebo the oldest and Obieli the youngest. The version of the
accounts, which we have accepted, is that the father of Etiti village was NANUO and his wife was
ONYEAFIA. They had two sons: AKWU and OKPALAENYI. Each of them begot two sons. Okpalaenyi begot
Akaogu and Akpu while Akwu begot Anofia and Akwuelo. The two maximal lineages of Etiti are therefore
called Iru-Okpalenyi and Iru-Akwu, before they fell into the present three major groups:
Iru-Okpalenyi, Umu Akwuelo and Anofia or Umu Nwona.
In order of seniority
Obieli came after Etiti in the Umu-Agidi lineage. He had two sons: ANUGWO and OKPALO. Anugwo, alias
ANAMAKULIGBO was the first son Obieli. Though he inherited the temple and ritual rights of the
father as the first son, Anugwo was said to have encountered ill fortune during his development,
which resulted in many of his descendants migrating to Ifite-Ukpo. Okpalo his younger brother, on his own part, had only one
son Alo-OBELLE. But unfortunately, the birth of the child happened when the custom of ‘IJI NWANYA
WA AKPA’ – starting the production of children with a female child—was in full force. With
that custom, any first birth resulting in a male child was considered an abomination and the child
had to be destroyed. Alo-Obelle was therefore to be destroyed. But his mother, in desperate effort
to keep the child, raised an alarm, which brought her kins men to her rescue. That resulted in the
baby Alo-Obelle being allowed to live in violation of the custom. Thinking that the gods would come
down with their sanction, it was feared that the baby would not survive. But he grew up into a
strong man who later got married and had nine children, the first of which was IFEDUMASI. Others
were OBUNEME, NWUDUM, ECHI, ANADUAKA, OGBUAGWU, IFEME, EZIEMUZO and NWANSI.
Oma, the last son of the progenitor of Umu-Agidi was the
father or Uru-Oma lineage. Our enquiry reveals that this used to be a large family group occupying a
large piece of land towards Ngene-Ogwuge stream. But as a result of high mortality the population
got so reduced that the few remaining members of the lineage had to merge with Etiti village. With
the growth in the population of Uruoma descendants in recent years, they have withdrawn from the
larger Etiti group, to re-establish a separate identity. Inspite of its relatively small population,
it now constitutes one of twenty-five wards into which Enugwu-Agidi is divided for administrative
convenience. This village is said to have kept a powerful idol called Ofufe, which later got
transferred to Ebenebe town.
The land west of Enugwu-Agidi beyond Otokwuma stream is
said to have been formerly occupied by Mgbede people. That lineage had relationship with Umu-Agidi
and lived in peace with them until they allegedly murdered an Umu-Agidi man. Following the tradition
of jungle justice that prevailed at that period, the entire Mgbede people were driven away as the
result, and their land confiscated. To prevent constant encroachment on the land by neighboring
people of Ukpo and Aba, a few people from Etiti and Irunnebo villages where drafted to Establish
permanent settlement there to form what is now known as Obunagu Ofemgbede or Obunagu Ezinato.
Iru-Ogbuebune is said to have inherited the ‘Opu-Eke’ from Mgbede people who kept it originally.
Achalla
(Neli)
NELI was said to be the name of the powerful mother of
Achalla village. In other words, she was the wife of the man who begot the members of Achalla
lineage, which is the second largest village in Enugwu-Agidi. The progenitor of the village was the
third son Omenakanu and his village occupies the northern section of the town, next to the position
of the extinct Oruora. The village falls into two major section, Enu Achalla and Obunage Achalla,
and the two lineages intermarry. Enu-Achalla is a section of the village situated on a hilly slope
and sharing borders with Etiti, Iruobieli and Igbolo villages. Obunage-Achalla derives its name from
its location close to the village’s farmlands. Among the idols kept by the village are
OFUFE, ARO, NGENE and ABULUGA which has for one reason or the other, been discarded.
Ifite
(Ogbadiji)
Ogbadiji may or may not be the actual name of the
progenitor of Ifite village. It may be an alias since he was believed to be a great farmer. Whatever
it is, he is said to be the oldest of the Ifite maximal lineage or Ogonogo Ifite, comprising Ifite,
Igbollo and Ogwugwu villages. The three major family branches of Ifite are Ifite-Ora, Akaezi and
Mgbachalla. Like Enu Achalla and Obunagu Achalla,
Ifite-Ora and Mgbachalla lineages of Ifite inter-marry.
Igbollo (Anwunya)
Anwunya was the father
of Igbollo village, which takes the second position in terms of seniority among the Ogonogo Ifite
lineage. He was said to have four sons: AKANA, AKAAMA, DUNU and OFO. These sons begot the four clans
that made up Igbollo village. But for one reason or the other Ofo lineage, called AMA-OFO, no longer
exists. A version of our oral account stated that, in the jungle tradition of those days, the clan
was forced to flee the town to Awka. This leaves the three major clans: IRU-AKANA, IRU-AKAAMA and
IRU-DUNU that make up the present Igbollo village. Igbollo village keeps the following idols: NGENE
and NWADOBU.
Ogwugwu
Ogwugwu, often called Ogwugwu – Na-Aji is the youngest in
the Ogonogo Ifite major lineages. The village is at the southern end of the town between Normu,
Anofia and Ifite villages. The idol kept by this village also bears the name, Ogwugwu. So it might
be either that the idol took its name from the village or the village from the idol. It is said that
the latter is more probable.
It is also said that Ofulum and Ilom were the father and
mother respectively of the village. They had three sons. CHIDUME, IBE and IBE OFULUM. Ogwugwu is
said to have suffered harassment from Nawfia, the southeastern neighbor of Enugwu-Agidi. This was
the result of boundary dispute.
Egbedeani is said to be the last son of Omenakanu, the
father of Enugwu-Agidi. Our source, Ozo Nwanna Anuta, believed Omenakanu’s last wife begot
Egbedeani; hence the lineage was one of the original Enugwu-Agidi seven villages ‘MKPU-N’ASA’
This village, which had occupied a much larger area of land
before, suffered depopulation due to forced emigration. What remains now are two family units who
have more relationship with Ogwugwu village than any other village in town. The village is said to
have kept an idol called Udo.
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