Historian Nwaezeigwe Interrogates Agukwu Claim to Ugbene Ancestry, Nullifies Claim to Eze-Nri Throne

By Nwankwo T. Nwaezeigwe

According to Stephen Fry, “The biggest challenge facing the great teachers and communicators of history is not to teach history itself nor even the lessons of history, but why history matters.” 

Let me begin with the hindsight of a scholar of Igbo history and culture per intellectual distillation of Adiele Afigbo historical school by stating that the fundamental identity problem of the Igbo as an ethnic group in Nigeria is hinged on the conscious debasement of their pride in their rooted history, which is often dominated by intellectual midgets in social media. This inadvertently creates the tendency to fabricate or manipulate their history for the purpose of creating vain theatrical superior images of themselves, their history and their communities. 

This situation often occurs first, when the people out of what might be considered inferiority complex that often arose from shallow historical pasts, either deny their origins or completely destroy their time-honored customs and tradition without the tinctures of modifications; and second, when the people acting without the least intellectual comprehension, see ethnic identity only through the prism of common or related languages; against the backgrounds of common cultural identity, common ancestral origins and, common historical experience.

On June 12, 2026, Prince Ikenna Onyesoh acting in his capacity as the Regent of Nri Kingdom addressed a letter titled: “Letter of Appreciation, Reaffirmation of Communal Relationship and Disclaimer” addressed jointly to the Traditional ruler of Ugbene, the Traditional Ruling Council of Ugbene and President General of Ugbene Town Development Union. The core objective of the letter reads inter alia:

“We respectfully recall the historic visit made by the Ugbene Traditional Ruling Council, acting on behalf of Your Royal Majesty and the people of Ugbene, to the Palace of Eze Nri Nrienwelana II sometime in 2015. During the meeting, both communities engaged in fruitful discussions concerning the progress, mutual benefits, and continued strengthening of the age-long relationship existing between our peoples. Part of the understanding reached during that meeting was the invitation extended to Agukwu Nri to identify, verify, and peacefully take possession of its ancestral landed properties situated within Ugbene community. In response, his Majesty Eze Nri Nrienwelana II graciously appointed emissaries/committee to visit Ugbene and ascertain the locations and status of the said properties. The assignment was successfully carried out, and both parties looked forward to further engagements aimed at bringing the matter to a peaceful conclusion.” 

The letter continues:

“The Regent and the Traditional Council are now pleased to inform Your Royal Majesty and the good people of Ugbene that Agukwu Nri is prepared to peacefully continue and conclude the process earlier initiated between our two communities. Accordingly, duly constituted representatives of Agukwu Nri shall be visiting Ugbene Community on Wednesday 17/06/2026 at 11.00 a.m. for discussions and other necessary traditional engagements relating to the matter.”

In its concluding part which goes to show that there is already a brooding dispute among Agukwu Nri people over the rightful group to repossess their ancestral land at Ugbene, the letter stated:

“Furthermore it has come to the attention of the Regent and the Traditional Ruling Council of Eze Nri Nrienwelana II that certain individuals, reportedly led by Prince Charles Tabansi and Oba Larry Nwagwu, have been visiting Ugbene community and making representations concerning the said landed properties. We hereby formally state and place on record that these individuals are not representatives of Agukwu Nri, neither were they authorized, mandated, nor delegated by the Regent, the Traditional Ruling Council, or the Palace of Eze Nri Nrienwelana II to act on behalf of the community in this matter. Consequently, any representations, claims, negotiations, or actions undertaken by them should be regarded as their personal affairs and not as acts carried out on behalf of Agukwu Nri. The Palace therefore respectfully urges Your Royal Majesty, the Traditional Ruling Council, the President General to disregard any contrary claims of representation made by such people.”

The reason for bringing up the details of the letter to the knowledge of the public is predicated on its wider implications, not only as connected with the raging Nri kingship dispute between Akamkpisi-Nri and Agukwu-Nri, but as connected with the core hypothesis of Igbo history, culture and, identity with regard to Igala connection. 

Today, in most cosmopolitan gatherings of Ndigbo, Agukwu-Nri people often claim the right to break Kola-nut for the rest Ndigbo as the acclaimed head of Ndigbo. Ironically, in Nri town not even the Eze-Nri or any indigene of Agukwu-Nri has the customary authority to perform the ritual breaking of Kola-nuts, a right and privilege reserved only for the Adama-Nri, defined as the aborigines of Nri town. The question here is can an Agukwu-Nri man claim the same right of breaking kola-nut before an Ugbene man? Interestingly this same right is applicable to the Adama kindred in both Adazi-Nnukwu and Oraeri towns. 

For those who might not be aware, Ugbene is a town located in the present Awka North Local Government Area of Anambra State within the Igbo-Adegbe sub-culture area. The most clandestine aspect of the above letter is that in all the narratives, debates and, historical accounts of Agukwu-Nri history by Agukwu-Nri people, in no page or space was Ugbene mentioned, much more associated with their ancestral home. 

The trajectory of Agukwu-Nri historical forgery and their fictitious claim to Eze Nri throne has always followed the crooked course of Aguleri to Amanuke, then to Enugwu-Ukwu through one fictitious Nri Ifikwuanim, before arriving at the present Nri town. This was how Prof Onwuejeogwu presented this fictitious version of Agukwu-Nri history on page 22 of his book, “An Igbo Civilization: Nri Kingdom and Hegemony:”

“Nri, one of the sons of Eri, called Ifikuanim by Agukwu-Nri ‘historians’, eventually left Aguleri and migrated southwards through Amanuke and settled at the present site of Enugu-ukwu. At Enugu-ukwu he bore a child who became the progenitor of Enugu-ukwu, Nneofia and Enugu-Agidi. Nri Ifikuanim left the Enugu site and went down the valley near the lake site and established the present town of Agukwu. At Agukwu he took the title of Nri and became Eze Nri of Agukwu.”

So the question arising from the foregoing tradition is why did the people of Agukwu-Nri decide at this point of their history to accept the true fact of their history as Ugbene people, thereby putting to question the existing narrative of Aguleri origin through Amanuke and Enugwu Ukwu? 

It is equally a common knowledge among the Igbo that Agukwu-Nri claims alongside Aguleri and, Umuleri now christened Umueri that, they are the ancestral head of Igbo people purportedly through their putative progenitor named Eri described as a fugitive Igala warrior-king.

This historically unproven claim which was viciously advanced by Prof Michael Onwuejeogwu under his dubious anthropological hypothesis of “Nri Kingdom and Hegemony”, equally attempted to redefine the status of Eze Nri (Nri king) from its original ritual-king status under the ritual control of the aboriginal Adama of Umudiana to sovereign potentate. 

Thus the first fundamental question we should ask ourselves is if the same Agukwu-Nri now claims Ugbene as its ancestral home, what then is the position of Ugbene under the panoply of Igbo history and culture? In other words, what stops Ugbene from claiming the headship of Ndigbo if Agukwu-Nri, which was historically part of it, claims to be so?

The second fundamental question is does Agukwu-Nri intention to reclaim its Ugbene ancestral land not confirm its stranger-element status in Nri town, which goes further to question its claim to the disputed Eze Nri throne? In other words, does it not settle the issue of Agukwu denial of its original name: “Agukwu-Ugbene”, as well as its right to the disputed Eze Nri throne? 

Furthermore, it raises another angle of the fundamental question: If Ugbene has no tradition of Nri kingship, or claim to be part of Umunri group of communities, why should a part of its community that migrated to the present Nri town, which had an already settled community with existing Eze Nri, ritual cleansing tradition and elaborate Ozo title system, claim the sole right to produce Eze Nri? Is this not as historically absurd as it is absolutely incongruous with established Igbo succession traditions and customary norms? 

Prof Onwuejeogwu pointed out in no hidden terms on page 26 of his book, “An Igbo Civilization”, that the present Agukwu-Nri section of Nri town is made up descendants of later immigrants from different parts of Igboland who fled their various owns for one life-saving reason or the other. For instance, those who escaped from ordinary slavery, Osu ritual slavery, murder, banishment, robbery and related abominable crimes. 

Thus the Agukwu section of Nri town we have today is made up of stranger-elements of all manners of people that revolve round the core-Ugbene group. Notable among these immigrants are the Nimo group represented by Umuochogu Kindred of Obeagu Village and Tabansi Udene Kindred of Agbadana Village, in addition to other unclassified elements scattered among the three Villages of Obeagu, Uruoji and Agbadana.  

According to Dorothy L. Sayers:

“The only ethical principle which has made science possible is that the truth shall be told all the time. If we do not penalize false statements made in error, we open up the way for false statements by intention. And a false statement of fact, made deliberately, is the most serious crime a scientist can commit.” 

Taking the above statement of fact on a concise historical promenade, and considering what Agukwu-Nri had officially presented to scholars, members of the public and the Government of Anambra State in pursuit of their fictitious claim to Eze Nri throne, we come to the conclusion that what the letter to Ugbene town in respect to reclaiming their ancestral land revealed is that the officially documented account of Agukwu Nri history is no more and no less the deliberate falsification or denial of their historical facts to fit their fabulous historical, socio-political, cultural narratives.

This act no doubt is a strong reason why Agukwu Nri should be excluded from Eze Nri succession line. For reclaiming their Ugbene ancestral land, Agukwu-Nri people have undermined the customary tenets of their oath of allegiance to the collective ancestors of Nri town. In other words, such act dubiously translates to transfer of their ancestral allegiance from Nri to Ugbene. And Governor Charles Soludo should take particular exception to this action by Agukwu Nri people if he possesses the patriotic courage and will as an Igbo leader to protect the soul of Igbo cultural identity.

As George Orwell puts it, “Who controls the past, controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.” As it stands currently, the Igbo as an ethnic group defined by the present Southeast geopolitical zone of the Nigerian Federation neither control their past, present nor future. To them the knowledge of history is merely a past-time intellectual instrument for re-echoing their spineless blames on other people for their political predicament in Nigeria and, not as a tool for internal re-orientation of their debased historical consciousness and failure in collective political leadership through critical re-assessments of their blunders in history.

Indeed, of all the major ethnic groups in Nigeria, the Igbo, here again defined by the Southeast geopolitical zone, have the least intellectualized historical tradition driven by in-depth academic research, yet they breed with reckless abandon like rabbits the most unintellectual cacophonic vocal exponents of historical falsities. 

Apart from University of Nigeria Nsukka, no other University in the Southeast can boast of vibrant intellectual-oriented Department of History compared to the Southwest and South-South. Even universities in Northeast, North Central and Northwest geopolitical zones have more robust History Departments than any other university in the Southeast apart from University of Nigeria, Nsukka. This can better be explained by the wide disparity between the number of seasoned and celebrated professional historians among the Yoruba and the Igbo. 

In fact, looking at the first, second and third generations of Nigerian historians, apart from Kenneth Dike, J. C. Anene, Adiele Afigbo, F. K. Ekechi, Chinweizu, and John Asiegbu, no other class of Igbo historians can match the opulent intellectual harvests of successive Yoruba professional historians of the same generations, whose scholarly carriage and artistic intellectual craftsmanship have preserved the knowledge of history as a veritable weapon of political mobilization and ethnic consciousness among their people and Nigeria in general.

We can confidently pronounce the following arrays of seasoned Yoruba historians as the hallmark of intellectual excellence in Nigerian historicism: Bishop Samuel Johnson, Patrick Cole, Professors Saburi Biobaku, J. F. Ade-Ajayi, E. A. Ayandele, S. A. Akintoye, J. A. Atanda, A. B. Aderibigbe, R. A. Adeleye, B. O. Oloruntimehin, Bolanle Awe, I. A. Akinjogbin, Anthony Asiwaju, T. G. O. Gbadamosi, Toyin Falola, Rowland O. Abiodun, Babatunde Lawal, Ayodele Olukoju and Isola Olomola among others. 

Think of it, the Yoruba have the in Osun State, which is a sacred grove dedicated to the Yoruba goddess of fertility, Osun as a UNESCO Heritage Center. Yet the same Yoruba are the bastions of Christianity in Nigeria ranging from the traditional established mainline Christian denominations, through Independent African Traditional Churches, to Pentecostalism. This is the same Yoruba that control the corporate and industrial economies of Nigeria.

All the Igbo are well-known for is to adorn their upholstery Isi-Agu style jumper shirt with a matching Moroccan red-Fez camp dancing their Igba-Ndieze in their characteristic eclectic style, believing such to be the climax of their ethnic identity and pride. I laugh in my traditional Bendel style. In fact, beneath this fake flamboyant cultural display lies a cacophony of twisted historical traditions, degenerate customs and tradition and, effusive destruction of their historical value system and monuments. 

On April 25, 1999 some Igbo religious miscreants in Imo State in complicity with their foreign Military Administrator Col Tanko Zubairu pulled down the iconic 18-foot Ikenga Statue in Owerri on the basis that it represented idolatry in Christian cosmology. Meanwhile in Igbo cosmology the same symbol represents sincere hard work, adventurism, enterprising spirit and achievement-oriented society. This is one fundamental reason Imo State is cursed today with only hotel and insecurity industries.

The other time people of Awka-Etiti in Anambra State clandestinely destroyed their historic sacred grove on the basis that it was the source of underdevelopment in their town. Meanwhile the same Awka-Etiti has one of the highest collections of successful businessmen in Anambra State. This was the same type of Grove Yoruba people handed over to UNESCO as a World Heritage Center. So who is marginalizing or under-developing the Igbo outside the Igbo themselves? Physical marginalization often begins with spiritual self-marginalization.

Similarly, one over-zealous Rev Fr. Emmanuel Obimma a.k.a Ebube Muonso of the so-called Holy Ghost Adoration Ministry fame in Uke was reported to have “dismantled” Iyioji Deity in his Nkwelle Ezunaka hometown. What a theatrical display of spiritual ignorance for a man who calls himself a Roman Catholic Priest? Rev Fr. Emmanuel Obimma simply reminds me of the over-zealous Christian convert named Enoch in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart.

The question is does Iyioji Deity possess an image to be destroyed? Or does the assumed destruction of her shrine in Nkwelle-Ezunaka— Father Obimma’s hometown (a physical structure), translate to destroying the spiritual force connected with the building. It is like burning the Catholic Church building in the same Nkwelle-Ezunaka and believing the same to mean the destruction of Jesus Christ. Iyioji Deity is venerated by communities along both banks of River Niger from Anam in Anambra State to Ndoni in Rivers State, including Ibusa and other off-Niger bank communities. 

Who told Rev Fr Obimma that Iyioji Deity is the cause of Nkwelle Ezunaka’s stagnated development or lack of progress? Why didn’t his prayers as a Holy Ghost warrior resolve the under-development instead of blaming Iyioji Deity?

For those familiar with Iyioji Deity, she is the most proactive and popular agent of social control in Igboland. May be the Adoro of Nsukka might be next. At least among the residents of Onitsha and Ogbaru Local Government Areas of Anambra States, the dictum there is that the knowledge of Iyi-Oji Odekpe is the beginning sincerity. 

If Rev Fr Obimma is not faking the Holy Ghost with a hidden power let him kill one python in the same Uke town where he holds his crusades and display before his congregation. Uke being on the bank of Idemili River whose Deity forbids the killing and eating of python has a functional Idmili Shrine. Why not destroy it in the manner he claims to have destroyed the Iyioji Deity in his Nkwelle Ezunaka hometown?

You cannot see such reckless display of acute spiritual ignorance among those described as Rev Fathers and Pastors among other ethnic groups outside Igboland east of the Niger. You cannot see such spiritual madness among the Yoruba; yet the Yoruba remain the leading ethnic group in Church proprietorship. Give unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar and unto God what belongs to God.

Unfortunately this pattern of destructive obsession against Igbo traditional institutions and value system is particularly endemic among half-baked Priests and Pastors with Seminary and Bible College diplomas and degrees in Bible Studies, Theology and Philosophy. Among this category you find the likes of this particular Rev Fr Obimma and Rev Fr Ejike Mbaka. 

Ask Mbaka why his fake prophecy against President Goodluck Jonathan in support of Muhammadu Buhari turned into a curse and punishment for Nigerian Christians he will shamelessly say the Holy Ghost was asleep throughout the eight years of Buhari’s regime. Unfortunately these people’s knowledge and understanding of Christian cum Igbo worldviews did not go beyond their Bigard Memorial Catholic Seminary Latin scripted Roman cosmology. 

The Yoruba have John Randle Centre for Yoruba Culture and History. The Fulani have Centre for Historical Documentation and Research: Arewa House and, Waziri Junaidu History & Culture Bureau Sokoto. Which do the Igbo have? Competing market stalls all over the Southeast? Or sending their ethnic miscreants to impose their Igbo identity on the unwilling Anioma people?

This is one of the basic reasons why enduring and sustainable political leadership is lacking among the Igbo of Southeast. Take a look at the present crop of political leaders in the Southeast; including the five State Governors, you will not see any among them with that flamboyant distillation of political confidence and courage driven by pristine historical consciousness embellished in a strong sense of patriotism found in such political icons as Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Dr. Michael Okpara, Chief Jim Nwobodo, Chief Sam Mbakwe and, Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife.