By Okoi Obono-Obla
I came to Ugep, Yakurr Local Government Area of Cross River State, on 7th October 2026 to attend the funeral of the last in-law of my grandfather, Obol Obono Ubi Ottoh Ejika, who was the first Councillor for Ijiman in the Ugep Urban County Council (UCC) from 1958 to 1963.
The funeral was that of the last matriarch of the Obono family of Letampankom, Ijiman, Okurubong town in Ugep – Late Mrs. Mary Ubi Obono – which was held on Saturday, 10th October 2026.
On 8th October 2026, I decided to pay a visit to the country home of Obol Dr. Otu Abam Ubi, off Ediba Road, Egbizum, Ikpakapit town, in Ugep Urban.
Obol Dr. Otu Abam Ubi is a senior patriarch in every sense in the Ugep community. He is 83 years old and a member of my matrilineal family, Layorjimo. He is the foremost historian of Yakurr descent. He obtained a PhD in History from the University of Lagos in 1978, with his research focused on the reconstruction of the history of the Yakurr people of the Middle Cross River Region from 1600 to 1950. From this thesis, he has published two books: The Yakurr of the Middle Cross River Region 1600-1950 (2004) and the International Edition (2019).
He was Principal of the defunct School of Basic Studies, Akamkpa – the precursor to the College of Education, Akamkpa and the University of Education and Entrepreneurship, Akamkpa. He was also a Senior Lecturer and Head of the Department of History, University of Calabar. He served as a Commissioner in the Cross River State Civil Service Commission and as a Member of the Governing Council of the University of Cross River State, Uyo from 1985 to 1987, now the University of Uyo.
Dr. Ubi is a ferocious intellect. Despite being an octogenarian in his early eighties, his intellect and sharp-mindedness are a study in mental acuity in old age. He is also physically fit and he regaled me with lessons on longevity. He told me he stopped taking alcohol in 1975 after he took two bottles of Star beer, dozed off while driving a car he had just bought, fell into a ditch and became unconscious. He was rescued by good Samaritans and since then resolved never to touch alcohol again.
He showed me a foreword he has just written for a forthcoming book on Dr. Okoi Arikpo, SAN, written by eminent journalist Kammonke Abam.
Dr. Ubi also told me the story of Imon Okan, an Ugep man who was sold into slavery by the Aro people but escaped and returned home.
When I asked Dr. Otu Abam Ubi how he was able to arrive at the date when the first wave of Yakurr migrants arrived at their present location, he said that in history there is a method known as extrapolation of kinglists in Ugep, Ekori, Idomi and Nko.
According to Dr. Ubi, he used the theorem below:
A sample of kinglists was collected from the five Yakurr villages. An average of the datable parts of the kinglists was worked out. The results were not uniform for the various Yakurr settlements. For instance, in computing the regnal mean, the writer obtained the following result:
Ugep – 20.6
Ekori – 25.0
Nko – 24.3
Nkpani – 24.8
Idomi – 20.3
In conclusion, my encounter with Obol Dr. Otu Abam Ubi was more than a courtesy visit; it was a lesson in history, discipline and longevity. In him, Ugep and Yakurr have a living archive whose depth of knowledge and clarity of mind at 83 remain an inspiration. His life of scholarship and principled living is a challenge to the younger generation to document our history and live with purpose.
