All About Oraukwu History

There are two stories pertaining to the origin of Oraukwu people. The rust version says that the land Oraukwu was originally known as Ohokwu. The name actually belongs to an individual called Ohokwu, a hunter and an adventurist, who migrated from the great Nri kingdom to the present site of Oraukwu around the year 1583 AD.

This great man, together with his household, initially settled at a place called Edeomu at Uruamada village. After a little while, he left Edeomu and came up to Otta. He built his Obi at Otta. An Iroko tree stands on the spot where he built his house and that Iroko tree still exist to this day. Ohokwu originally has eight sons according to some sources. The eldest son was Otta. The names of his children according to the order of seniority are:- * Otta * Nkwelle * Ezennaja * Irukwelekor * Amaeze * Dim-Ubana * Urua-Amada * Ibenabo
The first wife of Ohokwu gave birth to Otta and Amaeze. It is necessary to state that the original name of Amaeze was Eze. Ohokwu built a house for Eze at the present site of Amaeze village. The route leading to the house was being called Ama Nwa Eze. Overtime, due to the need for ease of pronunciation, the "nwa' became silent and the name was called Amaeze. The meaning hasn't changed. The palpable togetherness that exist between Amaeze and Otta villages especially during the crises that engulfed Oraukwu after the civil war can be explained on the fact that they were born of the same mother. The same scenario is applicable to Ezennaja and UruaAmada. In fact, there were formerly called Amada Akanabo meaning "the two hands of Amada". It also seems that Nkwelle and Dim-Ubana also sucked the same breast and they behave like brothers too. Ibenabo and Irukwelekor are born of the same woman and they used to bear the name Ebenesi. The possibility of Ohokwu having a female child has not been established. In Otta village, the eldest of the kindreds is the Ottaeke. Ottaeke is the first son of Otta who is the son of Ohokwu. Together with other sons of Otta, they make up Otta village. This kindred maintains the Obi of Ohokwu. Genealogically, the family of Peter Udoezeani is the Isiani of Oraukwu. His family is the Okpala (the first son ofOhokwu) He is the head of the Ezeani society, a society whose duty it is to crown the Igwe. They are the kingmakers. And in matters of tradition, they are consulted. Infact, they, not the Igwe in Council have the final say in such matters. His father crowned Igwe Samuel Abor, and on his father's death, he crowned Igwe Onyeka and Igwe Emeka Ogbunude. The credibility of this historical account is hinged on the fact that he is the source. In law, he can testify as an expert witness. The second version says that there is no person called Ohokwu. The proponent of this version says that It was a young hunter called Eke who migrated from Agukwu Nri and settled at the present Otta village together with his family. His first son was named Otta. According to this source, that was how Ottaeke kindred derived its name-Otta being the name of the first son and Eke his surname. This version also states that Ohokwu was originally called Ohaukwu which reflects the destiny of the early settlers. The two versions agree on the fact that Otta village is the eldest of the villages and that Ottaeke kindred holds the Ofor of Oraukwu. They also agree that most of the villages are direct descendants of the first settler. The account concerning the seniority of the villages is debatable. Some sources say that the seniority order of the villages may not actually be based on who was born first. Otta, the eldest village, is situated in Enuoha. The second village according to the order of seniority which is Nkwelle, is located in Uruani. The third village Ezennaja is in Enuoha while Irukwelekor is in Uruani. The same goes for other remaining villages. There is a lot of wisdom in this political arrangement. It reduces rancour and bad blood to the barest minimum especially when it comes to sharing of political positions.

The Nigerian nation will do well to learn from this ancient wisdom in her bid for a more perfect and just union. Be that as it may, it is never in doubt that Otta remains the eldest of the villages. This is a generally accepted position without fear of contradiction. However, in any society, there are people who migrate and settle in another community for several factors. Oraukwu is not an exception. Some group of people migrated to Oraukwu and eventually mixed up with the original owners of the land. Such families can be found in every village. In Ezennaja, there is a kindred that bear the name of Umuohinta. Umuohi happens to be the name of a small community that have a shared boundary with Oraukwu. A boundary dispute later ensued and they teamed up with Neni to fight Oraukwu. The case, is still a subject of litigation even now. The Umuohinta kindred must have joined Oraukwu hundreds of years ago. Today, they have formed an integral part ofOraukwu community. Another kindred bear the name of Umuakpaka. According to the oldest man in this kindred Chief Martin Nnolim (Okwulora),the family migrated from Abacha. Their great grandfather Akpaka Onyilenyi who was a powerful medicine man, was hired by the people of Oraukwu to prepare a war medicine for them. After a successful execution of the war, he settled at the present Nkwo square and established his family there. Overtime, they became an integral part of the town. His art as a renowned medicine man also enhanced his status and he rendered a lot of services to Oraukwu in those days.   In Ibenabo Village, there is a kindred with the name Umuagulu. Oral tradition also pointed to the fact that some other families came from Ohaofia. Today in Ibenabo village, there is a god called habba. Its forest is still as it were in Ibenabo village. The origin ofhabba is Agulu. It can be deduced that they came with the god and established it here in Oraukwu among them. In Amaeze village, some of the families came from Ozu except the Umuatu who are the kola breakers whenever all Amaeze people gather together. Some families in Dim-Ubama have another ancestral origin.Tn the days of yore, they used to celebrate the Diji Ohi ceremony, a feast that is peculiar to that village. During the festival, nobody from any other village can visit Dim Ubana village. This village recorded a great loss of lives in an ancient war with the people of Alor because Alor warriors invaded the village on the day they were celebrating the Diji Ohi festival. No other village could help them. That explains their small number.   Within Oraukwu today, there are areas of land called the following names. Ozu, Owa, Igbolo, Ovolo, Ohofia, Mgbawa-Okili. Each of them was a small indepdent town. During the reign of terror made possible by Abam/Ohaofia worries, when slave trade was at its peak, some of them had their people captured and sold into slavery, their houses vandalized and their communities scattered. Ohaofia people lived where Oraukwu Girls Secondary School is now sited. There were mainly slave dealers who migrated from place to place. Some of them eventually joined the Oraukwu community and were warmly accepted. Some others left the place when enormous pressure was mounted on them due to their inhuman activities. Oraukwu and Ozu lived peacefully and had everything in common without exception. After the death of their grandparents, this tradition of communal sharing was maintained by their successors. They had common market places, feasts, ceremonies, and other observances. They were really living in brotherly peace and harmony. Like I had already stated, a land tussle that reared its ugly head in recent times made the community to team up with Neni against Oraukwu. Friends became enemies. Till this day, the matter is still a subject of litigation. Oraukwu's peace was also disturbed by the deadly attacks of her neighboring towns mainly from Owa and Ohofia towns. The Owa people were those who dug up dead bodies for consumption. Thus when a person died, his people had to keep watch over the grave for eight consecutive days to allow the corpse to decompse. A proverb had been developed which portrayed Owa people's singular quest for dead bodies warning that “Anaghi egosi Owa ini Ozu". (Nobody show the Owa people a grave) The Owa people were later driven out by Abam warriors. They also suffered persecution from Abatete, Neni and even Oraukwu people due to their strange life style. Some of them who escaped such "military" onslaught took refuge in Amada and Amaeze villages. Some families who settled in Oraukwu in the olden days were osu (outcast). The term is used for people who dedicated themselves to the deities for protection. Some were driven away from their original communities and they came to Oraukwu and took solace in some deities like Nwocha and Idemobi. Because of the hospitality of the Oraukwu people, they were allowed to establish themselves and even own lands. Today, they are part and parcel of the community. It can be said without fear of contradiction that the town of Oraukwu is an amalgam of settlers and indigenous people. THE METAMORPHOSIS OF THE NAME OHOKWU TO ORAUKWU When the white men "invaded" the Igboland with their brand of government and religion, Oraukwu was one of such towns that were heavily influenced by the "strange practices" of the white men. Such influences came by way of western education and western civilization. The people of Oraukwu embraced it both with hands. A lot of them sent their children to school. Some others took to trading and migrated to the then Otu Nkwo Onitsha for Abada trade. Many of them became highly successful. Some others travelled to Enugu and became coal miners. Others joined rice farmers in Abakaliki and established rice fields. The increase in the number of the educated people in the town led to the formation of Oraukwu Progressive Union OPU. The large presence of the newly educated young men and women who joined this group culminated into an intellectual gymnastics and brainstorming on how to fashion out a better name for the town. Examples were made of some neighbouring towns who had their names changed by their people as a way of projecting a better reflection of who they are. Such towns include Awka-Etiti formerly known as Awka Nkakwu, Igboukwu formerly known as Igbo, Ekwulumrnili formerly known as Ekwuluatulu, and Mbaukwu formerly known as N namkpu. The group, after a careful consideration of some select names, finally settled for ORAUKWU, THE TOWN OF THE GREAT. This was under the effective leadership of Raphael Udechukwu as the OPU President. Before the change and even after it, the people of the town have lived up to this name. IGBO CALENDAR WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO ORAUKWU For so long, the Blackman has been painted by the Western Press as someone without an organized way of doing, as a savage and barbarian plucking fruits from trees like Monkeys before the coming of the 'MESSIANIC WHITE MEN'. But the truth is that the African traditional society had a very organized system of life. Oraukwu, like every other Igbo traditional society, had her own calendar. We had our own system of counting time before the advent of colonization and western civilization. The Cock's crow announces the dawn of a new day. Again, another way of determining the time of the day is by gauging the shadow. When the shadow is below the feet, it shows that half of the day has passed. The coming of darkness in the night following the setting of the sun indicates the end of the day. Four market days make up a week. Those four days are given the names of Eke, Orie, Afor and Nkwo. Seven weeks which is equivalent to twenty eight days make up a month. This is called "IZUU ASAA". Thirteen months make a year. A close look at the Gregorian calendar shows some striking similarities with the Igbo traditional Calendar. Gregorian calendar: 7 days x 4 weeks = 28 days = 1 month. Igbo calendar: 4 days x 7 weeks =28 days = 1 month. Gregorian calendar: 52 weeks of7 days = 364 days = 1 year. Igbo calendar: 91 weeks of 4 days = 364 days = 1 year. The four day and seven-day weeks show amazing coincidence. A close look at the Gregorian calendar in its natural stage, coinciding with the natural order, shows that it operates within the frame work of the numbers four and seven as is the case in the Igbo four day week. The names of the days have their roots in the mythology of the kingdom ofNri. Eri; the sky descended founder of the Nri kingdom, had gone on to break the mystery of time and on his journey he had saluted and counted the four days by the names of the spirits that governed them, hence the names of the spirits Eke, Orie, Afo and Nkwo became those of the days of the week.