Who are the Igbo?

In this post, I shall discuss who people from the Igbo tribe of Nigeria are, what makes us peculiar among other ethnicities in Nigeria, and what is meant by Igbo culture. I urge you to read with an open mind in that way you will gain a deeper understanding of Igbo people

the Igbo tribe of Nigeria

Who are the Igbo?
We, Igbos, are the people in Nigeria who have taken Igboland as our ancestral homeland, and also speak Igbo language as our mother-tongue.Onwuejeogwu, M. A., in his classic book: “An Igbo Civiulization: Nri Kingdom and Hegemony” published in 1981 by Ethiope Publishing Corporation, London described Igboland as encompassing Agbor and Kwale in Delta state; Ahoada, Diobu, Umuabayi in Rivers state; Afikpo and Isiagu in present day Ebonyi state; Nsukka in Enugu state, and Onitsha in Anambra state as well as all the smaller cities and towns found around the geographical locations mentioned above.
This description clearly shows that Igbo people are the predominant tribe in Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, Imo, Abia, and some parts of Delta, Akwa-Ibom, and rivers states.

What makes Igbo people peculiar among other ethnicities?
It is a huge fact that we have never been subject to one particular kingdomor caliphate like the Hausa-fulani and Yoruba tribes who are under the monarchical leaderships of Sokoto and Ife kingdoms respectively. Stronger and more powerful kingdoms in Igboland such as Nri and Arochukwu kingdoms never dominated the less powerful kingdoms around them.This highlights one of our chief cultural peculiarity which is non-acceptance of undue domination over others. That characteristic is not in the Igbo blood as they say on the “streets” of Igboland. Every community in Igboland is fully autonomous and self-governing. On a similar vein inheritable monarchy is not fully accepted in Igboland unlike some areas occupied by other ethnicities in Nigeria.
Another peculiarity we possess is the rightfully hallowed Igbo culture.

What exactly is meant by Igbo Culture?
According to an eminent Igbo language scholar – Ogbalu, F. C., in his 1981 bestselling book titled: “Ndu Ndi Igbo” published in Onitsha by University Publishing Company, explains Igbo culture as what we, Igbos, do; how we live our lives, what we eat, what we wear, how we beat our path of existence on earth, our peculiarities, the songs we sing, the music we make, our behavior and general attitude to life. It is clear that we differ from other ethnicities in Nigeria in each of the above respects.
Igbo culture has developed over the years and keeps developing as we assimilate cultural influences coming (through the mass media) from other tribes as we adjust to the realities of the global village we are part of. It is a cool thing but we simply have to be vigilant and protect our Igbo culture from unnecessary and negative influences which can murder our cultural identity and vanish our peculiarity among the committee of tribes in Nigeria

IGBO KWENU !!!