Why the Anioma people of Delta state are Igbo

In the past few days, there has been a debate on social media on the Anioma people of Delta state, Nigeria, being Igbo or not.

Many Nigerians, especially young folks expressed their views on the issue, with most of them going with the argument that the Anioma people are not Igbo and they will identify as one.

Prominent Nigerians like the former Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Delta billionaire, Ned Nwoko are both from Anioma.

Okonjo-Iweala in particular identifies as Igbo and this makes one to question if the Anioma people are truly Igbo people or not.

A particular user on the platform identified as @Chxta who is a historian gave an expository explanation on why an Anioma man is Igbo.

He wrote:

Last year I took my friend and partner, @TundeLeye

to my homestead. In going to that area, we did not cross the Niger River (Oshimmiri in my native dialect) the way most people cross it these days. Rather, we went the old way.

We took a boat from Cable Point (Ikpele Nmili) in Asaba, and 12 minutes later, we were sharing a beer with some of my acquaintances at Onicha Marine.

You see, for those who know the history, Asaba and Onitsha, prior to the building of the bridge, were quite closeknit.

The Igbo people came from different parts of what is today’s #Nigeria, and settled in the area that they now call home.

This, centuries worth of migration, mixing and consolidation, was anything but harmonious or planned.

However further research has shown me that some of what I wrote then was incomplete, but I will refrain from saying “wrong”, because I am unfit to untie Elizabeth Isichei’s shoelaces, and it was from her 1976 work, A History of the Igbo People, that I drew heavily for that piece.

In the last few days there has been a lot of argument on Twitter about whether the Igbo speaking people of Delta State in #Nigeria are Igbo, or something called Anioma.

Some people from this area have pointed out that they have been victims of taunts by some Igbos from the East of the Niger, who have themselves said that Delta Igbos are not Igbo.