HISTORY

 

Because as a people we relied heavily on oral than written tradition, there is not a large body of documentation on our origin. Nonetheless, scholars have used two theories and linguistic analysis to reconstruct the Abua origin and migration over the centuries.  These theories are:

(i)  The Delta Cross Movement

  (ii)  The Benin Empire Migration

The Delta Cross Movement Theory

Traditions relate the history of Abua to the migration or movements of the Delta Cross Speakers. Prominent among these theorists are the linguists and university historians such as Murdock (1959), Nair (1972), Alagoa (1972), Williamson (1987), and Faraclas (1989).

 

The high point in this set of tradition is that given the language the Abuan’s speak, the people may have migrated from the Bantu heartland and moved downwards to the point where they currently occupy through the eastern Niger delta. The traditions of other people with related languages, the culture of the Abua group and a comparison of the linguistic relationship between the central delta group and her immediate neighbors reinforce their view. Some of these views are presented below:

 

Nair in his account recorded that Abua was among the seven Efut towns that grew out of the seven Efut settlements. The founders were believed according to him to be an offshoot of the Bantu-speaking peoples. These migrated from the neighborhood of Usha Edit (Rio del Rey) in the Cameroon. They left their original place of residence in a convoy of about seven boats and reached the Nigerian coastline.

 

In summary, this thesis suggest that Abua migrated from the same place with ancestors of the present day Efiks of the Cross Rivers state and that the group probably arrives where they are now in the late 13^th century. This view is strongly supported by similarities in the numbering system of Abua, Efik, and Ibibio. It is also supported by some socio-political similarities; Abua, Efik, and Ibibio among others belong to the broad language group known as Delta Cross. Murdock suggests that these three ethnic groups – Ibibio, Efik, and Abua among others belong to the Bantoid sub-group of the Nigritic family based on linguistic evidence. Similarly, Ejituwu (1991) writing about the Obolo (Andoni) which is also a Delta Cross speaking community, suggested that there was a general movement of the Delta Cross speakers from the upper reaches of the Cross river towards its mouth. The movement may have reached the mouth of the river by about 300 B.C. As population pressures mount at the mouth of the Cross river, various groups of Delta Cross speakers started to look for new rivers and creeks into which to expand. To the east, they found themselves blocked by a cluster of other Bantu-speaking groups who were themselves in the process of expansion; to the west however, lay an area, which while not empty, was more sparsely populated. Accordingly, several waves of migrants traveled along the western creeks, some eventually settling down either in the eastern Niger delta or elsewhere in the delta.  According to Ejituwu, the central delta group to which Abua belongs is one of the earliest migrants among these Delta Cross speakers.

 

Clark (1970) maintained that (i) the possession and use of iron technology and (ii) food production were responsible for the Bantu expansion at the time. With the use of iron technology more food was produced consequently, population soared and competition for space set in. These led to expansion, which was also encouraged by better military hardware produced with their iron technology such as spears, sickles, arrowheads and knives.

 

In summary, this tradition holds that Abua, Odual, Kugbo, Ogbia among others sometimes referred to as Abua group, migrated from Rio del Ray in the Cameroon through the Cross river to the Niger delta. They settled among other places near the Obolo (Andoni), which was then the border between Nigeria and Cameroon.

 

According to Obolo sources, the group remained as their neighbor for sometime before evacuating further westward into the heart of the Niger delta. In Obolo, Abua had his first son, and named him Agana. After evacuating from Obolo the group settled at Obomotu (present Port Harcourt) where they lived for sometime. Relics of their stay include the name Obomotu (meaning a big house). Dibo (gate), which is now corrupted to Diobu and the existence of Abuloma. Threatened by war they left this location and ventured into the Bonny and later Brass rivers and lastly into the Orashi River from where present settlements were made.

 

First, they anchored at Otu Okoroma where Ogbia died and his two sons Okoroma and Olei took charge of their lineage. Their descendants multiplied to form the Ogbia communities.

 

The rest of the group moved on to Opumatubu and later to Arughunya and settled. There the Kugbo and Odual groups settled but the Abua lineage moved further to a location called Esidia Ozu and settled. Once settled, they discovered that the perennial flooding at that location was a source of destruction to crops and property, Abua and his people then moved further north east to Olokpogha, which is where Abua lived with his group till his death.

 

His offspring who constitute members of the group spread to convenient places where they lived with their children in the neighborhood of Abua. These settlement places have become clans now. Thus we have Emughami, Okpadien, Otami, and Agana who were his immediate sons. Agana took over the estate of his father and his descendants dwell in the central home of Abua, which is more popularly referred to as Central Abua while other places are named after the other sons who founded the settlements.

The Benin Migration Theory

This theory posits that Abua and the other members of the central delta group migrated from the Benin Empire. But analysis given below tends to discredit this theory.

 

According to Talbot’s thesis, by 1500 A.D Abua was well settled. The Benin migration account gives the impression that the group left Benin kingdom towards the end of the 1500 A.D. Secondly, at this time, the Benin Kingdom was ruled by expansionist monarchs like the Oba Eweka I and Ewedo. These conquering kings would not have allowed a group to migrate simply on account of a cultural practice which the Benin themselves were noted for except we adopt the variant that the settler groups moved out as a result of demands for human heads from them by their host for annual rituals and burial rites of princes.

 

Again linguists do not classify Abua as one of the Edoid languages even with close neighborhood to Epie, Udekema, and Engenni (Edoid languanges) neither is there any serious socio-cultural affinity of the Benin to any member of the group. Also, the administrative systems are quite dissimilar while in Benin kingdom, the administrative system is basically centralized with a strong center, and the Abua traditional government exhibits a loose federation with a very weak center. Neither are there many other cultural similarities except for isolated names and practices.