Book Review: History of Igboland and a Re-appraisal of the Origin Of Onicha Ado N’idu

TITLE: History of Igboland and a Re-appraisal of the Origin Of Onicha Ado N’idu

AUTHOR: Ikechukwu Ayo Aduba

PAGES: 195

FORWARD: Austine Uchechukwu Igwe, PhD. Professor/ Head of Department of Histo­ry/ International studies, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria

PUBLISHER: Arise And Shine Publishers

EDITION: First Edition

The history of Igbo land has drawn the attention of several scholars, both professional and non-pro­fessional historians.

One noticed character of the works of these scholars is that they are yet to agree on a generally accepted origin of the Igbo people, unlike the Hausa and the Yoruba, where most schol­ars agree that their found­ers migrated outside Africa.

While scholars contin­ue on their search for a generally accepted Igbo origin, most of the works on Onitsha, a prominent community in Igbo land hold a very popular view that its founders migrated from Benin, in modern Edo State of Nigeria. It is against this backdrop that Ikechukwu Aduba’s book: History of Igboland and a Re-appraisal of the Origin Of Onicha Ado N’idu is an uncommon piece of work made up of seven chapters.

The author through di­verse data collected made many insightful exposition of the history, migration, socio-economic and politi­cal development of the Igbo and Onitsha from the earliest times to 2014.

As a professional historian, an Igbo, of Onitsha extrac­tion, the author highlighted and appraised diverse ori­gins of the Igbo; and as well re-appraised different theo­ries of Onitsha from Benin.

Based on available data, and by utilizing the skill as a professional historian, the book drew the conclusion that the appropriate origin of Onicha-Ado-N’idu is the Nri/Akwa axis, since Nri is geographically contiguous to Onitsha than Benin, which is a distance of more than 200 kilometers from Onitsha. His argument is premised on the ground that other notable historians with valid data have also acknowledge Igbo­land as the Origin of Onitsha, thus the book sees Onitsha’s Benin ancestry as a myth.

Generally, the book also highlighted, appraised and debunked more than a cen­tury old concept of Igbo en­weghi eze, which translates that the Igbo do not have kings. Through appraisal of available data, the author concluded that Igbo nwere eze, the Igbo had kings, which is a fact. The Oru and Osu caste system in Igboland was also highlighted and ap­praised. The author drew the conclusion that caste system was also applicable in many societies in the primordial period, even up till the twen­tieth century. However, the author observed that un­like many other sections in Igboland where Oru and Osu existed side by side, in Onitsha, the existence of Osu caste system was not a com­mon phenomenon.

,,,In reality, this book compli­ments contemporary works on Igbo history, but has an edge as it juxtaposed Igbo­land vis-à-vis the contem­porary global system, and as well re-appraised the vexed issue of Onitsha origin within the same framework. By virtue of the diverse data put to use and the analytical tools applied in this work, the author has made shrewd and valuable contribution to Igbo history, in general, and the history of Onitsha, in particular. I hereby warmly congratulate the author on this remarkable contribu­tion to the body of knowl­edge in this field. Thus, the publication of this book offers an ample opportunity to diverse students, Onit­sha indigenes, historians, community leaders, local government administra­tors, the entire Igbo citizens, prospective students and all lovers of knowledge to grasp the history of Igboland and an authentic account on the region of Onitsha.

I have now the honour of recommending this book to the public. I urge students researchers, historians and policy makers to adopt this book as a valuable resource at any time. This book is well written, properly docu­mented, highly informative and instructive; above all, I recommend this book to all lovers of knowledge and seekers of truth.