Rivers people are not Igbos!

Okay! This article was triggered by Tweets I saw a few days ago insisting Rivers state peoople are Igbos/Biafrans. Recently, there was a protest by members of IPOB (Indigenous People Of Biafra) in Port Harcourt. This is not the first time this will be happening. Once again, like I said in my other post - I AM IJAW - http://tariahh.blogspot.com.ng/2016/06/i-am-ijaw_30.html I do not have any problem with the Igbos or IPOB, neither do I have a problem with where citizens decide to exercise their right to peaceful assembly and for whatever reason but I have a problem with people assuming/insisting that the people of Rivers state are Igbos/Biafrans. A lady on Twitter asked “What’s Port Harcourt’s business with Biafra?” and a young man responded proudly “Fam! You don’t know Rivers state people are more or less Igbo and only changed their dialect and names after the war??? Maaaaaannnnn!” LOL.
This young man basically said the Ijaws (including Kalabari, Okrika, etc.), Ogonis, Ikwerre, Andoni, Etche, Abua, Ogba etc. did not exist until 1970. LOL. And he told the young lady to read her history books. Such an ironic statement to make.

About Biafra, Rivers state was created exactly three days before the Republic was declared, 27 May 1967. So we already had our own state. The civil war started 6 July 1967. Biafrans took advantage of the fact that Rivers state was part of Eastern region. They conscripted some young men. Rivers state and other minorities within the region suffered attrocities at the hands of those fighting at both ends of the conflict. Biafrans killed people suspected in collaborating with federal troops to undermine Biafra. For this reason alone, many tried to cooperate with the Igbos. The Federal troops killed hundreds of people suspected in supporting Biafra. I am not going to write extensively on Biafra because it’s a passionate movement for some but I will establish  the fact that Rivers state is not a part of that movement, neither are we igbos. We are just a minority that found ourselves in a situation that could not be avoided. The Rivers people had always harbored an interest in having their own state within the Nigerian Federation, so there is no way they could have been on the other side.

For the purpose of clarity, I’ll give a brief background on Rivers state. Rivers state was created on the 27th May 1967 by a military decree. Exactly, three days before Biafra was declared.  Agitation for the creation of the state predated Nigeria’s independence from Britain in 1960. During the colonial period, Britain signed many treaties of protection with the chiefs of many coastal and autunomous communities. Some of these chiefs had hoped that with Nigeria’s independence, the treaties of protection they signed with Britain would also lapse and thus, they would become independent states. The 1958 constitution conference which affirmed Nigeria’s Nationhood dashed such hope, but agreed on some measures to allay the fears of the ethnic minorities in this area.

Between  1941 and 1952, an organization known as the Ijo Rivers People’s League had agitated for the creation of a distinct Rivers province. In 1953, another body called “The Council of Rivers Chiefs replaced the league and became “The Rivers Chief’s People’s Conference” in 1956. The leaders of this organization cooperated with the Calabar Ogoja River (COR) state movement formed in Uyo in December 1953, but later broke away to press their own case before the Willink Commision. To allay the fears of the minorities under the dominant ethnic groups (Hausa, Yoruba & Igbo) within the Nigerian nationhood, the British made one important concession by setting up a commission head by Sir Henry Willink to look into the misgivings of the ethnic minorities. The willink commision recommended the establishment of the Niger Delta Development Board (NDDB) to address the problem of the underdevelopment of the area. NDDB did not meet the aspirations of the people and thus some people attempted to take the extra-legal route to achieve their goal. In February 1966, Isaac Boro, Sam Owonaro and Nottingham Dick with their supporters proclaimed a “Delta People’s Republic”. They were arrested for treason.

So you see, this “gra gra”,  we tried it first. A year before the civil war. So its quite unfortunate for anyone to force another identity on us or to say Rivers People didn’t exist until 1970. It is laughable too.

Some people argue that Rivers state was part of Eastern Region. Yes,  just like we were part of Oil Rivers Protectorate from 1885 till 1893, then Niger Coast Protectorate. Which was further merged with Royal Niger Company on 1 January 1900 to form Southern Nigeria Protectorate before the almagamation in 1914. Now this included the Yorubas, Edo, etc. so does this make us either of them? No! because they were just administrative regions. Eastern region was automized in 1954, does it also mean that we didn’t have an identity before 1954? Also no! because even the Kalabari kingdom for example was founded in 1663 by King Amachree 1.

Eastern region was just an adminstrative region and for the Rivers people it was a forced marriage, that was why they agitated for their own state and even went ahead to proclaim a Niger Delta Republic. In 1967, the region was divided into three; East-central state, Rivers state and South-Eastern state. East central was later divided into Anambra and Imo in 1976. The area now accomodates Anambra, Imo, Abia, Enugu and Ebonyi (Igbos). The South-Eastern state was later renamed Cross Rivers state in 1976. The present day Akwa Ibom was created from it in 1987.

The Rivers people come from various ethnic groups namely Abua, Andoni, Ekpeye, Engenni, Etche, Ijaw, Ikwerre, Ndoni, Ogba, Ogoni etc. These ethnic groups have existed together for centuries, long before the creation of the state and are currently distributed in twenty-three local governments; Abua/Odual, Ahoada East, Ahoada West, Akuku-Toru, Andoni, Asari-Toru, Bonny, Degema, Emouha, Eleme, Etche, Gokana, Ikwerre, Khana, Obio-Akpor, Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni, Ogu/bolo, Okrika, Omuma, Opobo/Nkoro, Oyigbo, Port Harcourt and Tai.

So it is clear that Rivers state is not Igbo neither are we Biafrans. Eastern Region was merely an administratiuve region just like other regions that were created by the colonial masters. We do not speak the same language as the Igbos. While they speak Igbo, we speak Kalabari, Okrika, Andoni, Ibani  etc. Some people will argue that some of us understand and speak Igbo. This is not uncommon as we are bounded  on the north by Anambra,  Imo  and Abia states. We do business with them. Personally, when I go to Aba market in Abia state for my business i speak Igbo (though not fluently). We inter-marry. The ultimate being that we shared the same administartive region at a time.  History told us that Rivers people were forced to learn the igbo language, it was used in the market places, it was taught in schools. This according to Rivers people who were here at that time said it was difficult for them. We do not also have the same culture as the Igbos.

So plase stop forcing us to be what we are not. Port Harcourt was never the capital of Biafra. Enugu was the Capital, then Umuahia after Enugu was captured  by the Nigerian troops on June 28, 1968.

Thank you for reading 💋

@Mstariah

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