By Okoi Obono-Obla
I have often been mistaken for an Igbo man.
The most recent incident occurred at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja. An Hausa man I met began speaking to me in flawless Igbo. I did not understand a word, although I could tell it was Igbo. Unfortunately, the only Igbo words I know are Daalu, Ndewo, Biko, Bia and Imela.
When I told him that I was not Igbo but from Cross River State, he insisted that I am Igbo. Even my wife has told me that on several occasions she has been mistaken for an Igbo woman.
Again, on 18 October 2026, at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, I met a gentleman, an acquaintance. He walked up to me and greeted me. He said, “Ejikeme,” and I replied, “Yes, I know you.” He then continued speaking Igbo to me.
A few days later, my good brother and traditional historian from the ancient kingdom of Agwagune in Biase Local Government Area, Amissine Ogban, sent me an old advertisement concerning the sale of “333 Eboe Negroes” in Kingston, Jamaica, dated December 1800. It led me to the page of Amah Jones, who writes about ancient history.
Amah Jones argued that during the Transatlantic Slave Trade, all ethnic groups in the lower Niger were lumped together and called IBO or EBOE for European linguistic convenience. He noted that Eboe was coined from the town of Aboh, a famous entrepôt for the slave trade, and that Qua Iboe was a corruption of Akwa Obio.
He added that Arochukwu is called Ibom by the Ibibio. That has a basis: the Ibibio did establish the Ibom Kingdom there before the Aro confederacy. But in reality, Arochukwu as we know it today was founded through an alliance that included my own kinsmen.
History records that Arochukwu was founded by Prince Osim from the present Akamkpa Local Government Area of Cross River State, who was an Akpa (Ejagham) warrior who commanded fierce warriors. Together with his brother Akuma Nnubi, they led Akpa forces from Akamkpa to assist their Igbo allies to victory in the Aro-Ibibio Wars, leading to the establishment of the Arochukwu Kingdom around 1650-1700.
It is beyond dispute that European explorers and slave merchants in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries referred to everybody from the Bight of Bonny as IBO or EBOE. But in modern times, such generalization must give way. It is outdated. I am not Igbo. I am from Cross River State, a distinct people with our own history — a history that, ironically, helped found Arochukwu itself.
