Sampson I. Onwuka
Can the Muslims, Christians, Jews or Hebrews both Old Hebraic and Roots of Israel, the Jews and the Newly converted leave together in Nigeria. Can the tribes or ethnic groups who like the words of John F. Kennedy ‘breathe the same air’ and in words of Churchill ‘pursue the same ideals’ live together. This question has been asked more than once and the answer has always been that the rule of law and use of constitutional amendment….
My aim is to first establish a reasonableness of argument that some of the languages in the world show degrees of connection, that for instance a link exist between Igbo and Hebrew, between Igbo and Aramaic, Igbo and Greek, English, French, Latin especially Greek which is probably the closest language to Igbo, that such link is sustained in Igbo and verities of Igbo including Bini (Edo) whose ancestral home is Esan (Isha) that is Onitsha (Oni, Onu Isha>birth, beginning of Isha), and were said by tradition to have broken from their home in Onitsha (Anambra) ferried across the river to their current establishment in Bini, for that Oba Bini is no foreigner to Biafra and Igbo. One can summarize that bringing iron working to Ile-ife and to all part became Yoruba started with the installation of the Oba the first been the Oba of Benin. The point is that the link in language make a separate argument that the people we find in Nigeria should concern themselves with the issues of nation building than necessarily separating, that those in Biafra – that is Bight of Biafra may or may not be aware that they are part of the centers of gravity, for Hebrew and the Jewry, which for Igbos and perhaps Biafra is a feature that need to be re-emphasized. We have to invoke at this point the possible fact that it doesn’t seem easy to break from the past given the fact that nearly all the Oba of Bini till Eweka II – including Eweka II were crowned at Igbo-ukwu and Onitsha, particularly Eweka II who was crowned at Onitsha. If there is a relationship between Bini (Edo) and Yoruba, it is through the Obas and the elder is Oba of Bini courtesy of the Igbo. There is then a link to Yoruba through Esan (Ishan as Igbo call them)> The art form through all the necessary archives point to the transfer of craftsmanship from Igbo to Bini, to Igbominna and to Ife. The Bini art at the early stages resemble the Igbo, but as metals change, the Bini art forms show its influence on Ife. Above all, it does seem that Ooni as in Ooni Ife, is similar to Igbo Onii, Onuu (that is also onu that simple means 'mouth'), Ono, leaving us to argue on the composition of Ife priesthood and perhaps Isha (Esan) as essential to the Oba. It is pushing the argument that the priesthoods at Nri, Eri (Ere), perhaps Igboukwu may or may not compare Oonis of Ife, etc., (?). Olisah, Olise, Oriejioba, Oriejiogo, Ikejioba, are all lingos within the Igbo meaning, these words share a relationship with those who arrived in what is now perhaps Yoruba territory – whatever that is.
In considering the relationship between Igbo and Greek language, there is enough to suggest that the separatist in Nigeria should be looking at other means and ways of expanding our understanding of the world, that for instance the current Greek and Hebrew language show relationship with Igbo suggest that the relationship between Igbo and English, or Igbo and French is not an accident. It seems that there are other parts of world history that is not available to Africa, for it seems that when we hear in Nigeria ‘people who live around the Niger’ we take a break from the French who call Niger Republic ‘Black people’. The meaning of the word ‘Niger’ or black is slightly different from ‘Negus’ meaning in Amharic ‘Chief’, and in the circumstance, Nigeria as Black Kings is saying too much about the real Nigerians who are the Biafrans. But Latin use Niger for black and in terms of Kemet, Osiris is referred to Adonii (Adonija), lord of the Nile, Lord of Western (Unknown, also meaning the dead), the Black Lord. The word Niger, or Nile is probably rooted in the word for river.
In considering the relationship between Igbo and Greek language, there is enough to suggest that the separatist in Nigeria should be looking at other means and ways of expanding our understanding of the world, that for instance the current Greek and Hebrew language show relationship with Igbo suggest that the relationship between Igbo and English, or Igbo and French is not an accident. It seems that there are other parts of world history that is not available to Africa, for it seems that when we hear in Nigeria ‘people who live around the Niger’ we take a break from the French who call Niger Republic ‘Black people’. The meaning of the word ‘Niger’ or black is slightly different from ‘Negus’ meaning in Amharic ‘Chief’, and in the circumstance, Nigeria as Black Kings is saying too much about the real Nigerians who are the Biafrans. According to recent Greeks translation, the word ‘demos’ refers to‘the People’, and when used in a line, it reads for instance ‘pandemos’ all of the people. In Igbo however, we may however tend to disagree to an extent, for the closest we come to ‘the people’ in Igbo is ‘ndim’, and for ‘my people’ we read in Igbo ‘ndem’, a shy away from ‘demos’ in Greek. It is impossible to deny that translations from popular sources have not made our world better and gripped it closer, yet the greater problem with today’s translation of the words is through popular sources. There are helpful but not reliable, yet we can make out a sense of the translation in certain European languages, for instance, the Greek ‘pneumenal’ means “things are they are”, which is not close to Igbo ‘omenala’ ‘things in the way they are done’ or ‘according to tradition’. The relation between pneumenal/Greek and omenala/Igbo is apparent, but to the point that a falling off (declension) of the first two consonants ‘pn’ in Greek ‘pneumenal’ gives you Igbo ‘omenala’. It is not always the case that when certain letters are put in bracket or removed from a word in Greek, we experience Igbo language. But the consonant ‘p’ is an example, and the ‘os’ for ending ending certain Greek letters – especially classic Greek, is also a good example that similar words in the different languages can be reduced to consonants. To highlight this point from Hebrew is pushing an argument, but to use Latin – classic Latin, for instance Latin English ‘fame’ is ‘fama’ ‘famama’(dialect), so we have in English ‘fame’ ‘fama’ and in Igbo, ‘onye amama’ means ‘famous person’ ‘famous one’. Reduction ‘fama’ ‘fame’ with the frontal ‘f’, you are looking ‘ama’ ‘amama’ ‘ame’ as the root word that link Latin and English to Igbo. Add English ‘fire’ to the example, you can find that a removal of f from fire leaves you ‘ire’, which is Igbo for tongue, but for ‘tongue fire’, Igbo say ‘ire oku’. English word for ‘man’ as it appears in slated languages, ‘manu’, is Igbo closer to ‘madu’ a person, whereas ‘male’ is ‘nwoke’, which in Sanskrit is ‘loke’ and in English ‘bloke’. Yet for the so called ‘manu’ compare with Igbo ‘anumanu’ to the English word animal. Sanskrit is very close to Igbo as we know, and the use of 'manu' 'madhu' also appear as 'oil' 'honey' or as they mentioned 'mead' for alchohol, whereas in 'mmanu' is oil, mmanu an`u is 'honey', whereas is 'mmayi' 'mmiyi' for Igbo.
We can continue briefly with Greek before rounding up with Hebrew, that in Igbo we can say ‘pua’ means ‘leave’, that is ‘pua ebea’ ‘leave here’ ‘move from here’ ‘get out’ which in Greek is 'pau' and we are within meaning that these words as course words does fly in the face of 'putsch' or 'push' for other words we lay claim on Spanish 'halle' meaning 'pull' similar to Igbo 'haliri' 'pull up, jack up') and Igbo 'wetue' for 'bring down', 'n wetu' is Igbo for 'to bringing down'. I want to mention off the reel that ancient Greek is not necessarily in danger with a reservoir in English, Sanskrit and Igbo languages, part of the reason is that the flux of Russian words and languages that are making to current Greek. For instance, ten years we can still read 'mayim' in Greek and Hebrew as 'wine' which is central to the dissent over the use of similar Hebrew and Greek word for wife, but with Igbo, we localized the error for instance, Igbo say 'mmei' 'mmayi' for wine, different from 'anyim' in Igbo for the 'sea', similar to Igbo 'oshimiri' 'osimiri' for sea/ocean. Whereas 'mei' is after Isaac Mozeson Hebrew for the substance of life, in Igbo 'mei' is a special kind of blood. Point to consider is blood in Igbo is 'obara', where as the use of the word 'u buru' refers to English 'brain', 'to bear' appears in old English as 'o beoron' (beareth) which in Igbo 'bear' 'to bear' means 'ibu' for instance 'ibu ibu' 'oburu la' 'he/she carried' within the saying 'burden' which for Igbo is 'ibu'.
As such we can mention, ‘go on’ in English would however incur Igbo ‘ga wa’ which is similar to English ‘go away’, note that ‘go’ in English is ‘ga’ in Igbo, Dutch, and it is also Greek, that is to highlight the saying ‘ga wa’ (goa aw) if you believe me is Greek for ‘going away’. What you may thinking of is ‘pigaio’ ‘piga’ which is Greek for ‘go on’ but without the consonant p, you experience an Igbo word ‘i ga’ meaning to ‘to go’, ‘i ga aga’ > ‘you have to’, m ga aga > ‘I have to go’ whereas ‘ije’ means ‘walk’ and ‘ije nu’ means to ‘go on’ ‘walk on’ ‘ije oma’ >‘good speed’, ‘farewell’ >gaa nke oma’. Although we are writing about IPOB, MASSOB, BZF, LNC, and other separatist that are misfiring, I think if am asked about Lady Gaga I will answer that she took her name from the closest possible translation of ‘Gogo’ because of the Dutch word for ‘go’ which is ‘ga’, that is ‘go away’ in Dutch is ‘ga veg’ ‘ga verder’ (mind the v for w), hinting that her adopted name ‘Gaga’ is strikingly similar to the Dutch ‘Gogh’ as in ‘Van Gogh’ as if to perhaps suggest that he is a male version of a realized Gogo girl, who is no longer, a lady perhaps. Names words such as ‘anta’ that is ‘before’ in Latin ‘anti’, it is closer to ‘taata’ that is offspring’ in Igbo - not to be confused with ‘tata’ which is Igbo for ‘today’, in the circumstance, we point to the name ‘Antiochus’ translated ‘from the Great’ ‘Great one’ ‘God manifestation’ contains ‘ochus’ meaning ‘the Great’ similar to Igbo ‘ku’ ‘uku’, may lead to the translation ‘son of the highest’ ‘son of the greater’ even ‘son of God’.
When we compare Igbo to Hebrew for instance 'Nahum' meaning 'my body', 'my flesh' to Igbo 'ahum' my body, my flesh, similar to 'nkem' in Igbo meaning my own, we possibly arguing that 'awa' or 'awam' 'my light 'my image, and in extensor, tamuna, we are mentioning that such relationship exist between Afikpo (Aro children raised in Edda) and Arochukwu, 'nwadim' as they also mention for Arochuku and Abiriba, between Edda and Ohafia, and these may serve be compulsory sanctuary town in Igbo regarding accidental death or what they call 'ochu'>'igbu ochu'. The word 'ochu' is different from Ochuru.
We can compare to Hebrew 'ahuna', 'ahuva', 'avana', 'avuna' for 'love' to Igbo 'ihunanya' you come to understand that these words are used for a woman, whereas in Igbo we can refer to 'ahunna' 'ahunnaya' for beloved of the father, abunma or ahunma, for beautiful body. Why was the Igbo described as 'Ababani' that is they claimed to be children of Abraham, which if not a refference to Abranavel may hint that the word Jew was not popular among the Igbo saving (Juju) Ju, Oju, for mgbela Ju, mgbele Ju, all of which is conditional compared to their very names Igbo.
The only problem with some of the basic position on these early politicians as according to history is that many tribes were already functioning as the help of the would be leaders in Nigeria such as the English. In argument, certain rights were permanent feature in some places like Northern Nigeria, and among the Nupe, especially in Sokoto where one of the genocides of Lord Lugard (Federick Lugard) was recorded; the hacking to bits of prisoners of war who believed were not part of the Sokoto Caliphate and rebelled against the suzerainty leading to a war with Britain. Lugard was made a Lord after that incident and he began to consolidate the tax perimeters of Kano, Kaduna, Sokoto with Lagos and parts of Lokoja sometime after 1912, 1914 and joined the South after 1917(?). Why? One of the interesting narrative about the coming of English people in Nigeria is that they seem to have come in peace and their penetration of Nigerian came from the South - not the North, the South such as Calabar and what is now Akwa-ibom was popular for its palm fruits (not crude oil or petroluem) that made as far Fernando Po and Soa Tome. From here the English entered trade agreement with the South -Calabar and Aro traders, and gradually annexed these people.....That is the English came through Fernando Po and Soa Tome and were perhaps aware of the Igbos and those in Cameroun, but they perhaps were not aware of the large percentage of Biafrans were in the Main land (Hinter land). In argument, the Igbos were one of the ethnic groups they encountered at the Bay of Biafra, but instead of moving inland they moved around it because of poor logistics pointing the facts that the relied on commercial routes in West Africa to move on last of whom were perhaps the shuttle palm oil empires of King Jaja and was said to be sold as slave and not before. Britain was perhaps aware or perhaps not aware of the large presence of a people that are loosely categorized as 'indigenous'. Stops at Bini, Asaba, Onitsha, and eventually Enugu was a natural consequence of stops at Calabar, Bonny, Brass, and from the upriver the connection between expedition towing Mungo Park was possible at Lokoja and the Lagos Islands in 1952 (?) more like 1856 and by 1861 much of Lagos State was under the rule of Britain. The Ekumeku incident in Igbo was primarily due to reactions from King Jaja and it proved a drive-in for many Igbos but as with Afi-joku or (Ahiajoku) primarily among the Aro/Arochuku and others, Igbo society was never fully incorporated into each other's life let alone all Biafra(s) even at the height of the civil war in Nigeria.
When soldiers are needed, the words are passed to elders of various communities and so on, one of those cases was the intermittent wars of Bini (Edo) during off years with unknown others, during slave trade eras(?) and during hunt for workmen. Iron melting, metal alloy, textile, etc., were normal among these Biafrans but lack of male population proved a problem in the East, and unless a call or any form of referendum is exhausted many of the so called Igbos and their Biafrans may not understand that war. Let me clear that the civil war in Nigeria if you ask many people is two type for it seems that the central Nigerian Army didn't encourage direct unslaught on the East, largely because of logistics and other things, but the Igbos were large in numbers and fragmented showing continous movement of the people and were hardly equipped for conflict, for war. For instance, in Anambra and Enugu there is still very presence of Abians and Ebonyi - in fact they predominate the population. One such example is the Nkpologwu in Aguata LGA of Anambra (not part in Nri, Eri) and Nkpologu in Enugu State, are part of the group which has been classified as Calabar Igbo (?) - that is Nkporo of Abia State. There are other Nkporos eslewhere but the link over the years has been fractured and they only occassionally reach to each other. In terms of war which led some of them to this part of Igbo, they may reach back to the elders at Nkporo or single look for others. Abam, Ohafia, Eddas (72 sub-villages from Igbo), Ezzaa (72 sub-villages from old Bini Izaa) such as the Nwanwa (Waawa), Yekebe, Ivo, Eri and Nri, span all over the place. The Aro people is another group of fractured and disenfranchised group, to a suspicion that Aro was perhaps a call to arms like Nnachioke (Oke Nnachi, Enachioken, era), like Ekumeku, Afijoku, etc.,that the spread of Aro/Abia was primarily Afi-joku, whereas Imo primarily Ekumeku, Calabar/Efik Ekpe, were late affairs compared to Mbari and to Okonko which were special syncretic cases like Ipu Agbala but note that words such as 'ntam' also point to River State or thereabout, and when we compare for nwam/nwatamu/nwatam in Igbo for 'my child' in English we hint that 'ntam' is relatively Igbo-Rivers for 'my child', and then the saying 'tamuna' and the response 'okonko' may refer to a child of okonko(?).
Igbo also use 'Obah' but not as a chief but in the context of most high, for instance in Igbo, Obasi refers to 'most high' and obasielu 'most high God', similar to Hebrew language 'basielu', similar to Greeks basielos, similar to English Basil, all meaning 'kings/most high'. The long argument that Obas in Yoruba came after Oduduwa show a link between Bini and Yoruba (devouted/subject of the Oba > 'oru oba' according to tradition) to the point the saying that Oduduwa is from the East is probably 'two type' position - could mean East of the Niger and could also mean that he's group of metal workers (?) who are said to have met metal working Oba(?) men of Igbo retraction may also have come from far East (?). At least the link to Nupe is not exactly Yoruba only, Igala is totally a different issue, the East has a lot to say about these groups particularly Igala but not exactly as much as Nupe, but there are others on the side of the River Niger for instance River Benue and Jukun, who also know the Igbo and the Bini as worksmith pointing to a spread of a civilization and a people. We can mention it does not seem to people that Igbo civilization is not complete without Bini, and when Bini is involved there is a chance that they displaced Igbos at Ile-Ife or it's perhaps not just correct that Oduduwa is Yoruba - if he is, the Obas created a hegemony in Ile-Ife before his coming - the rest is what is passed to us as God/s of Iron, Olisa, Olise (Orisa, Orise), which in Igbo is both a human name and the name of God - making Olisa possibly a patron saint of metal workers or simply god of iron. So who are the Biafrans again? and who are the indeginous Biafrans if not Nigerians. IPOB can mean IPON, that is indigenous people of Nigeria, trust me that's all the minority groups in Nigeria excluding the three major tribes, the Igbo especially. The other three other than Igbo use a practical application of numbers for their own interest, whereas the Igbo is busy re-doubting a past he shares with much of the South and getting stung every now and then. In my view, it is the South South that should lead the territorial clemency of Biafra under any altar such as the Niger-Delta, and they chose to include Abia that's a second affair. It seem that the Igbo and Bini in my opinion encountered certain people in South Nigeria, if these are Igbos, then there something wrong with the position that they are Jewish mainly or house of Israel 'Bini Ezzaa' (72 priestly house) (bini izraa, that's sons of Israel ) as they call themselves and given their family names and names of their villages, there is a problem with certain current feature of Igbo society such as Edda (72 priestly house, Jewish congregation) that emphasizing their language and people-ship as Igbo/Ibo >Portuguese/Spanish for Hebrew.
What happened after here was a link to Kano and Kaduna furthered which gave Britain unimaginable spread across much of what is Northern Nigeria. The house that suffered the most seem to be Bini and Onitsha, first from the conflict with Fulani led Muslims which fractured some of the Bini strong holds in Oyo and parts of the Niger leading to the presence of Muslims in these places before Britain's arrival and parts of the South where the empire battled internal conflict.
