My dear friend, Chiemeka,
Brief Chronicle, Anthropology of
Aku Indigenous Community And The Ihube-Uturu Nexus
I chuckled after reading your
preposterous insinuation that "Aku is the wealth of Ihube" and that
is why you folks refer to Aku Community as Aku-Ihube. I must confess that I
struggled to hold my peace and let this old-hat affront slide but chose to
disabuse your mind and enlighten folks out there who hitherto subscribed to the
hogwash your ilks bandy about. I opted to respond because posterity will not
forgive me if I fail to challenge and neutralize the tyranny of the single
story that you guys seem to have entrenched over the years. As is always the
case, it is the honcho who won a battle that tells his dramatized exploits,
narratives against his opponent. Ndị Igbo si na Arụsị nyewe oké nsogbu, agwa ya
osisi eji pịa ya (when a deity sets out to misbehave, he will be reminded of
the wood used in carving it).
I implore you and your folks not
to take this conversation personal or be emotional about it but let us see it
as an opportunity to deepen intellectual discourse and a journey to discover
one’s roots. It is necessary that we make the conversation clean; no insults!
Of course, you and I know that nobody or group have a monopoly on such
tendencies.
Please mull over the following
historical cum anthropological posers and fork out cogent answers:
1. Ever come across the phrase – Ihuwe
or Ihuo as some of you call it? Is there a difference between Ihuwe/Ihuo and Ihube?
Are they one of the same, possibly one originated from the other?
2. If they are one of the same,
at what point did Ihuwe morph into or was anglicized Ihube, by who and why?
3. If you are still scrambling to
reconcile yourself with the aforesaid posers, I elect to give you a clue... Are
you familiar with the saying, "Ihuwe
hukidere mba'' which uninformed Ihube folks tritely and anachronistically
boast about? To help you, a loose translation of this saying suffices: someone
bestowed to a neighbourhood who became tyrannical, browbeats other
village-groups' (paraphrasing late Prof. Adiele Afigbo of blessed memory).
Kindly refer to late Professor Adiele Afigbo’s 1981 Ahiajoku lecture
presentation titled: ‘’The Age
of Innocence: The Igbo and their Neighbours in pre-Colonial Times’’.
4. Does it not beggar belief that
a mortal or a town that was bestowed (e huwere ehiwe in Igbo parlance) now
claim to have sired the person that made him?
5. Are you aware of any
affiliation (if any) between Ihuwe and an Uturu community called *Onuaku* and a
phylogenetic relation between Aku and the same Onuaku? Explains why Aku and
Onuaku folks of yore are admonished not to shed the blood of or hurt one
another. Oral history and anthropological evidence suffice that Aku and Onuaku
folks were admonished not to inter-marry yesteryears because of the averred
affinity, filial relationship between the two brothers (communities).
Apparently, Christianity and so-called civilization have bastardized this
unwritten ethos. If you do your research and connect the dots, it will dawn on
you that Aku is plausibly aboriginal; tenably predates and played a role
in bestowing Ihuwe, in accord with Onuaku (Uturu) of course. Do your digging,
if you fail, I will avail you the inside information.
6. Are you also aware of a
community in Isuochi called Umuaku which Aku people reportedly share some
kindredship with? Is Ihuwe the ‘founding father’ of Umuaku in Isuochi?
There are also towns in Nsukka, Enugu State and Aguata (Anambra state), called
Aku. In the same vein, are you also insinuating that these towns are the
"wealth" of Ihuwe?
7. Are you in the know of a
certain deity in Uturu called Ihuku and a wooden Ikoro (gong) reportedly buried
at Eke-Ukwu Ihuwe in the 19th century and the symbolism of the annual Ikoro
ritual then which can only be performed by the aboriginal owners of the land?
Ask why Ihuwe was/is unfit to perform this once symbolic, requisite ritual.
8. Do you agree with me that many
of the people who now populate, claim to be from Ihuwe are recent
"settlers" (some of Aro extraction etc.), including renowned
academics, prominent politicians, business moguls et al whose ancestry we know
till date? This is thanks to Ihuwe’s confluence-like placement and interspersed
with ancient trading routes. Contrasted with suburban Aku sandwiched in-between
communities, this trading/access road advantage contributed to the expansion,
progress of Ihuwe Town.
Brings me to an infamous usurper;
the reign of terror of a fugitive from Ihuwe (Akpugo to be specific), named
Ikenwaji who settled in Aku and emerged a warrant chief by sleight of hand. He
was atrocious, undermined Aku and didn't end well... Geezer forbade
Aku people from attending school beyond Standard 3 then because his son died
mysteriously at standard six. Explains why Aku folks were relegated
educationally during his reign of terror while Ihuwe folks surged on. As a
matter of fact, no Aku person attended secondary school between 1900 and 1934
courtesy of this Ihuwe-born warrant chief Ikenwaji.
A place called *Odoachara* in Aku
(towards Nneato) was the sub-station of the colonial administration during the
early 1900 and was primed to be the administrative Headquarters of the
colonialists then but something happened. We understand despotic Ikenwaji
employed his horrendous occultic powers in chasing away colonial administrative
foothold from Aku because of his personal aggrandizement - he feared the
presence of colonialists will whittle down his influence. It is established
that cases involving neighbouring communities then were adjudged in a Native
Court situated in Aku and Warrant Chiefs appointed in Aku. For instance,
the Warrant Chief title which Igwe G.I Osondu inherited was conferred to his
grandfather's agent in Aku in about 1910. Tells you how strategic and
influential Aku was then.
Of a truth, Aku and Ihuwe were
bandied under the same district, similar to sharing an Autonomous community or
a colonial administrative district decades ago. Prior to now, Okigwe had the
following administrative districts: Otanzu (made up of Amaeze-Ogii,
Umuawa-Ogii, and Umualumoke), Otanchara (made up of Alaike-Ogwaku,
Alaocha-Ogwaku etc.), Amuro (made up of Aro-Amuro etc.), Umulolo (made up of
Agbobu, Amasu, Aro-Umulolo) and Ihuwe (Akpugo, Ogube etc.) and Aku was appended
to this district strictly for administrative exigency. That we have Aro-Umulolo
and Aro-Amuro doesn’t in anyway suggest that Umulolo or Amuro fathered Aro
which is attached to them. We understand that Aro-Umulolo or Arondizuogu
(Izuogu na Iheme) in Okigwe LGA is a medley of straggling communities located
in a swathe of land obtained through shrewdness, voodoo, aggression by a
famous, charismatic slave merchandiser known as - Mazi Izuogu Mgbokpo
(originally from Arochukwu) and Chief Iheme (Izuogu's chief servant) in the
mid-18th century, from Umualaoma townsfolk, the aboriginal
inhabitants. This is a story for another day. Similarly, the hyphen in
Isukwuato-Okigwe simply implies that Isukwuato shared a local government/administrative
centre with the latter. I elected to cite these illustrations to let you
know the intricate relationships between communities amalgamated into an
administrative district and to buttress the fact that, that a community was under
an administrative district, does not necessary confer progeny or transcendency.
We are not unmindful of the fact
that the ‘’Aku-Ihube’’ construct is more of a jibe - *njakiri* borne out of
misplaced superiority complex. *njakiri*. It is not surprising that Ihuwe folks
also claim to beget or be superior to Ubaha. Another claim which smacks of
chesty disposition. I leave it to Ubaha folks to untangle themselves. By the
way, is it Ubaha or Ubahu?
Conclusively, I submit that
there's no iota of historical or anthropological evidence suggesting Aku was
Ihuwe’s ‘’wealth’’ as you ignorantly posited. Do your research, consult a
knowledgeable, honest, say a 95 year-old, full-fledged Ihuwe man (not the
ubiquitous settlers), gifted with retentive memory, to validate your findings
and reconcile you with the relationship between Ihuwe/Uturu/Aku. I am a sucker
for superior argument. I pledge to gladly accede if you prove your claim with
irrefutable, verifiable, historical and anthropological evidence.
Nwanne, rapu okwu. Anyị ma ndị bụ
ndị. Next time, choose a naive audience; tell your tale to the Marines.
Respectfully,
© Don Ifeanyichukwu Okereke.
Aku, Okigwe LGA.
24/01/2020
Please Note: This
essay is a rejoinder to a school mate who ignorantly and condescendingly referred to Aku
community as a subject or appendage of Ihuwe.
