Chapter 4 Ifiteana People: the Progenitors of Oka

Chapter 4

Ifiteana People: the Progenitors of Oka

“Okike kel Oka,
Owuwa wa! Oka!”

(The elephant tusk
In search of which
Oka was founded
The creator of Oka wealth!)
---- an ancient Oka invocation

The Oka people believe, up to this day, that in all Igbo land they are the most ancient nation, and that no other nation surpasses them in antiquity. They believe that others took the names of their gods from them, as well as the names of the days of their week – Eke, Oye, Avbo, and Nkwo.

Whether their claims can be made out, is for future researchers to settle. Suffice it to say that Oka as a town is very long in history. When the Onitshas came, the Okas were there. When the Nris came, they were there.

In the days when Benin City was acquiring, in British propaganda, the name of “the City of Blood”, Oka people were quite safe there. They went in and out safely. Igbuala (or Ugwuala), the legendary warrior of Benin, had his famous sword made for him by an Oka blacksmith from Umukwa Village.

Where communities were at war, and the road was closed, Oka passed, by having their bellows hoisted on poles over their canoes. When the combatants saw the sign they knew that Oka people were passing by, and they gave them safe passage.

Other people have stories of where they came from, but Oka have none.

There is indeed a mystery with regard to the origin of the first Oka people – that nuclear group around which other people attached themselves to form Oka town. These first Oka people were known as Ifiteana. To them others came, and joined themselves, and all fused together to become a civilized and technological society.

Who they were, where they came from (if they came from somewhere), who their own ancestors were, are not known. Oka simply said of themselves that they were of Ifiteana stock – Ebe Anyi (our stock).

At the bounded as follows:- On the north, by the towns of Okpuno and Mgbakwu; on the east, by the towns of Amansea and Ugwuoba (Ugwuoba having one bank of the Ezu River and Oka the other); on the west, by Enugwu – Agidi (formerly Osunagidi) and Nawfia towns; and on the south by Nibo and Nise towns.

Within those boundaries this race of people, called Ifiteana, had developed a way of life all their own.

They were skilled in iron work. (Where and when they learned those arts is not known).

They knew how to smelt iron from iron ore, and to make steel. They had the knowledge of the mixing of metals. They worked in iron, brass, bronze and copper.

They made knives, axes and hoes.

They knew foundry works

They made ornaments of iron, copper and ivory with great skill.

They were porters and wove cloth.

They made their own war implements – matchets, swords, diggers and above all, the ubiquitous “Alo” the spear, used for throwing, thrusting and stabling. When it was used for throwing it was called “ube”, javelin.

These early Oka people lived in villages of thatched houses of intricate design and beauty.

The aju-grass roofs were particularly skillfully made. The mud walls were decorated with paintings, and the floors were washed with mud water and rubbed with large smooth pebbles until they shone like mirrors. The wooden pillars, called azu, holding the sides of the houses, were beautifully carved.

They invented a calendar of their own, which was not very much different from the Julian and the Gregorian calendars.

They did not know writing.

They developed their own style of architecture, and while other people around them lived in “Odo” round huts, they built modern oblong houses, like samanga.

Their men carved exquisite sculptures of man and nature, and the women painted vivid wall pictures: some of the women were specialists and earned their living by the means.

They made music and invented musical instruments. They manufactured the ogene (gong) and its big brother alo. They had wind instruments, such as the ntule, and ozimgbomgbo. And string instrument like the une. They had the all-pervading oja, a flute (piccolo). Oja was a short wooden flute, which holes for fingering on its two sides and the bottom. It was the symbol of Oka musical culture. Its then sound floating haunting in the air moved the hearts of both the young and the old. It was the comnipresent instrument without which instrumentation was not complete!

The Ifiteana, otherwise called the Oka people, had no story of the time when they did not know the arts of metal working, of wood carving and of the practice of medicine, for which they were famed.

But they had a story that their earliest god was called Okika-na-ube, the god pre-eminent with the spear!, who had come out of Outer Space and taught them (or inspired them with) their skilful knowledge and their crafts. So that, till this day, the Oka people have a saying: “ivbe na eme! Oka ivbe shi na ikuku abia”, meaning all good things that come to Oka come from outer space.

Like the other gods of the Oka people, Okikia-na-ube had a movable alter. But his alter was the elephant’s tusk.

Okika-na-ube (shortened to Okanube) gave Oka her name. The Ifiteana people called themselves “worshippers of Okanube”, Umu-Okanube. Then Umu-Okanube became shortened to Umu-Oka; and their town became Oka. Just as Umuikenanunwa and Umuokpandu families, because they worshipped a common goddess called “Ayom-gbovbe”, called themselves Umu-Ayomgbovbe, worshippers of Ayomgbovbe, and so became “Umuayom” people, who today live in Umuayom Village, the Head village of Oka town.

Okanube was the god that inspired the Ifiteana in war, who taught them to hunt and fight with the javelin – the throwing spear – who taught them to work in iron, carve in wood, practice medicine, and till the land. While others were still relying on “mgbolo” alone, wooden staff or pole, as their weapon of war, the Ifiteana, worshippers of Okanibe, invented the iron spear-ube or alo and became invincible to their neighbours. They worshipped and venerated the god that inspired them, and called him “the god that is pre-eminent with the spear!” – Okika-na-ube – Okanube, for short

Metal work was as old as the first Oka man. It was their proficiency in working in metal that gave the Ifiteana the pre-eminent position they held among the several nations surrounding them.

Oka very early in their history discovered the art of smelting iron, and themselves supplied their own needs. They hammered metal into useful shapes and made tools, agricultural implements and weapons for themselves and others.

An area of Oka town, called Nluana, now part of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, was, until recent times, filled with heaps of iron slags, the result of iron smelting by Oka. The art is slumbering, but has not died out completely. Where they procured the iron ore was said to be from Agbaja hills.

Oka supplied their own needs of iron products and served others, but the era of the “traveling blacksmith” began with the coming of Agulu. Oka’s internal markets could not sustain all the smiths practicing there; therefore, people moved out, and with their traveling organization into guilds took shape, and, also, the division into journey route ezi ije or owali ije.

Yoruba and Hausa peoples were smiths, but Oka had a different style of smithing up till today.

Binis were specialists in foundry work, but Oka were specialists in iron and steel, in hammering and hitting.

It was gun-smithing, however, that enabled Oka to penetrate Yoruba land. While Yoruba used nails, and riveted their gun parts, Oka used screws. Oka guns could be taken to pieces and re-assembled.

Screw was called “nvbolo” in Oka, and was fabricated by Oka and threaded by them. Threading was done by “nna”. The screw-driver was called “Ishi-ka-aru”. Oka used the Big Vice – mkpa mvbolo – attached to a stand, as well as Hand Vice – mkpa aka – with which things were put in the fire and taken out.

When Oka smiths came in, they superseded others, because of their precision, and the durability of their products. Oka smiths called themselves “Okwanka”, specialists.

Oka manufactured all their tools for smithing and never used imported implements, even at the present time. They preferred their own parts.

In 1925 Oka smiths were taken to England, in an exhibition at Wembley, England. They showed the British how Oka smiths worked, and what they made. Afterwards, the British initiated them and flooded the African market with cheaper machine-made goods. Oka blacksmithing fell, and has never risen again.

Oka smiths fashioned implements to carve the wood for gun parts. They made the “Nso” –chisel, and “Nlacha” – cursafe, for shaving wood to smoothen it.

The Oka man looked at a thing – a metal object or wood. He examined it carefully and with great concentration. He then went home and reproduced it. That was Oka.


Oka smithing was dying until the Nigerian Civil War, then Oka came back briefly into her own, in fabrication, foundry work, and so on. Oka flowered for a time, and then sunk back into ordinariness. Oka blacksmiths had great honour wherever they went. Their usefulness was always appreciated. In Yoruba land they were not required to do what others did. “Agbede” (the blacksmith), they said, “does not cut the path to the stream, nor cut the path to the farms, nor go to war. He is in his smithy fashioning the implements of war or of farming.

Urueri, Amaenyiana and okpo, the three Ifiteana communities, who called themselves Umu-Oka, or Oka began their entry into remembered history on the banks of the Ogwugwu Stream, in what is now Nkwelle Village. They all lived there.

During the period of expansion, Urueri remained in the original habitation near the Ogwugwu Stream, from which they drank; while Amaenyiana moved to the hill-top overlooking the elephants trail. They settled on what later became known as “Okpuno Ochu”, and got their drinking water from the Ovbia stream. From there, a man called Ndu, took his family and some companions further east, on the same plateau, to found a smaller community of Amaenyiana, distinct from the man body of Amaenyiana, still living at Okpuno ochu, near the Ring Road to Nibo.

A people called Nkwelle came to live with Urueri. They comprised four families—Achllaoji, Agbana, Umunamoke and Umudiaba. They later merged with Urueri and all became known as “Nkwelle”. But Nkwelle proper had different Ajana from Urueri, a sign of different identity, for in Oka related people had one Ajana. Moreover, the Urueri people always performed the ceremony of “mma ogbu” – planting the ogbu fertility and long-lived tree – for any Nkwelle man founding a new compound, showing that they were the original inhabitants of the land. Nkwelle man founding a new compound, showing that they were the original inhabitants of the land. Nkwelle, Uvume and Umuokwa formerly took the Ajaghija and ozo titles together, until Uvme and Umuokwa were driven away by war, indicating that the three peoples were of common stock and culture.

It was from their new settlement that Ndu brought his people down to the present-day Umuayom Village site, to start the Ayom-na-Okpala community, after the unfortunate disasters that befell Amaenyiana. And it was from Ayom-na-Okpala, from the Umuoramma family, that a warrior group (anya) went out to the boundary of Oka and Nawfia and founded Umuokpu Village; and from Umuokpu Village they founded Umuokpu - Obunagu Village, which was later re-named Amikwo-Obunagu.

In their own expansion, the okpo people settled on the hill-top opposite Amaenyiana, near the Ovbia and Nwannu Streams. They supplied Priests that gave food to and ministered to the god, Obe. They were therefore, also known as the Obe people. They founded the villages of Amachalla, Amudo and Umuzocha.

While all Ifiteana were still living at Nkwelle, an okpo man, called Ikwodiaku, a doctor, while hunting for herbs, discovered near Udide lake another luscious and fertile land, where he settled with those who would follow him, and thus founded Amikwo Village, which took its name from him - of Ama - Ikwodiaku, or Amikwo.

Eri, an Amaenyiana man, was a palm wine tapper, the first to make it a profession. He settled on the outskirts of Oka in order to near the numerous palm trees that were the sources of his palm wine production. Later, he was joined by his two friends, Ogbunu and Ogwa. Their settlement was known as settlement on the outskirts “ezi agu or iku agu, Oka”, from which was derived the name Ezi-Oka as the name of the Quarter where they settled.

Amaenyi-na-Amachalla (Amaenyi and Amachalla, that is, Amachalla-na-ato) and Urueri were the original Oka people. From okpo of the Amachallas Amikwo emigrated to where they now live and from Amaenyi the components parts of Ezioka also moved. Agulu came later to live with Amikwo, and Umudioka came to live among the Ezioka people. Umuokpu went out to settle on the border with Nawfia town from Amaenyi, whilst the different peoples making up Ifite-Oka settled with the Okpos, and the Nkwelle people merged with Urueri. That in a nutshell was the composition of Oka.

The Ifiteana people – Urueri, Amaenyiana, and Okpo – were not skilled metal workers, farmers and doctors, but were enthusiastic hunters. They were said to be generally tall and muscular.

Apart from individual hunting at odd times, they organized community or mass huntings that they killed the elephants that were the source of their wealth.

Small animals killed were shared in the bush. But big animals, when killed were shared at home, such as Ene, Ocho, Atu, Ezi-Ovbia, Uvbala (also called Ishi-aba-ovbia, having long twisted horns used for Amanwulu ceremony: on the day the Amanwulu celebrant put on the Amanwulu headgear or cap (abo), it was the horn of the uvbala that was blown, and the celebrant returning from Udo Shrine answered back “o-o-o-o-o-o”). Such big animals were strapped to poles and carried home amidst the hunting chant.

“Kwenu olima-o
Olimanja!
Olima-o
Olimanja!
Kwenu olima-o
Olimanja!
Olima-o
Olimanja!

When people at home heard the chant they rushed out to rejoice, knowing that a big animal had been killed.

The laws of hunting of the Ifiteana were as follows:
1. Before setting out for mass hunting, the people should examined themselves and excluded all those who would bring them bad luck. Those who would bring them bad luck were classified as follows:-

(i) Onye pa alu nta, meaning, the second burial ceremony of his father, mother, wife or brother and

(ii) Onye lulu ulu anu, that is to say, a person guilty of taking an animal he did not kill, for example, if somebody’s snare killed an animal and he took it out and, instead of carrying it to the owner, appropriated it, or if somebody shot an animal and it fled and died some distance away, the person who saw it within one native week of its been killed and took it himself without looking for the owner.

(iii) Onye kpul aga n’ishi, meaning, at the start of hunting any one who put the bamboo trap (aga) on his head.

The belief was that if any of these categories of people joined the hunt there would be no game, no animals would be killed.


2. The laws of the chase
(i) Those with guns must, under no circumstances, shoot at man’s level-ogo mmadi. The shooter must point the gun downwards, unless the animal was so near that he saw all round it, so that he could not miss it, and if the bullet penetrated the animal there was no human being behind it likely to be affected.

(ii) When a person grappled with an animal, or an animal was very near, he must not use a matchet, because he would either hurt himself or another person who came to help.

(iii) If a person matchetted an animal first, and another killed it afterwards, the animal belonged to the man who first struck it.

(iv) If a person shot an animal and wounded it, and subsequently another person shot it dead, the animal belonged to the first man.

(v) Where there was a dispute as to who owned an animal that had been killed, the “ikpo nkita”, the bell on the neck of a hunting god – was put on the animal, and the disputant was asked to swear on it that he killed the animal. If he swore falsely, the belief was that for two or three months thereafter he would be unable to kill any animal, even if the animal was within one metre of him. This was called “mgba ikpo”. But if he was the lawful owner, and swore, the belief was that he would be the first to kill at the next hunting expedition, it was then said, “na ogoli ya” – he is vindicated.

(vi) Division
(a) An animal killed in a hunting expedition was shared as follows:-
The killer took the head; then the body was divided into two, the killer took one-half, and the rest of the hunters took the other half. This was so, whether the animal was big or small. If nchi (grass-cutter) was driven out of its lair by a hunting-dog, the dog’s owner was given one leg, and the animal was shared into two, as above. The boys who carried the animal were given the intestines.

(b) All the halves of the animals killed in hunting expedition were put together and shared generally by all those who too part in the hunting both those who had killed the animals and those who hadn’t. it was then said, “eke-e anu nta” – the proceeds of hunting have been equitably shared. The dog was given its share which was taken by its owner.

There was a saying: “Egbute eke ghi eke na avu nta”, meaning a person who refused to share his killing with others would not be allowed to join any future hunting.

(vii) Nru (Tribute to old age):
before the division of a big animal the “inti na ana”, alias “ishiko”, that is, the chest from the neck of the 5th rib, was taken out. This the killer of the animal gave to the oldest man in his family, together with one leg. This was called “nru”, or tribute to the elders (who could no longer go hunting).

3. Time: The month of Ede Mmuo festival, the last month of the Oka year, was the month for mass hunting. Then bush fires (agu oku) had taken place, and the round was being prepared for the next farming season.

4. Elephant hunting: Before the day of the hunt, the diviners (Dibies) were called and they gave the go-ahead. Then medicines were prepared. If spears (javelins) (ube) agana was preferred. If guns were to be used the agini, were also smeared with the medicines.

The recipe for the medicines was passed down from generation to generation. It was said to have originated from Okanube, the first Oka god.

There were two kinds of medicine – (a) otolo and (b) ada-ngene. If otolo medicine was used the elephant hit with it would stool until it weakened and died. If ada-ngene was used, the elephant would keep going on until met a stream, or any body of water, and as soon as it drank from it, it died – it was never able to cross the water. Modern example: 1910 elephant was killed by the sue of ‘ada-ngene’ by three hunters – Nwole, Odogwu and Nzekwe Onuorah of Umuayom Village. The elephant tried to cross the Oji River but died on its banks. Its head decorated the Government Station, Oka, for many years.

5. Okike: Okike, the stuffed elephant’s tusk, differed form the ivory trumpet used on social occasion.

The stuffed elephant’s tusk was a sacred object of the Oka people. “Mgbe eji apatu Okike bun a onwa ise Oka”. The time for the celebration of Okike was the fifth month of the Oka year, that is, towards the dry season, when hunting started. Once a year the Okike was brought down. It was the “nkwu” or altar of the god, Okanube. Sacrifice was made near it but not over it. Yams were brought for foofoo, a chicken or a goat was killed for soup. The slaughtered animal was dissected and the parts for sacrifice were taken out. If it was a fowl, the parts for sacrifice were the head, the feet, and chest cage. These were buried in the ground in front of the Okike. An “Obie” a stout stick with sharpened end – was struck in the ground, once, to make a hole into which the sacrificial parts of the fowl were put and covered up. As soon as the sacrifice was made, the Okike was re-wrapped and taken away to its hiding place. Thereafter, food was prepared and feasting began.

The Okike, kept in every Oka ancestral Hall, was the repository of the medicines Oka used for hunting elephants. Therefore, the medicines were protected by religious sanctions. It was believed that an unauthorized person who looked at the Okike before its yearly outing would have hysteria, until the diviners were called in, who would find that he had seen Okike (“ashi na ovbulu Okike”). The Okike would then be appeased with an appropriate sacrifice, and the person would recover.

Urueri were the Head of the Oka people, but when they almost died out, Amaenyiana took the Headship from them, and have retained it till today.

In course of time there developed thirty-three villages in Oka town, each having its own land, and each autonomous in everything except in what concerned the whole population, grouped themselves into Quarters, according to their historian origins. Each set of ancestors formed a Quarter, thus, Ifiteana set of ancestors form Ifite Quarter, Amikwo set of ancestors formed Amikwo Quarter, Ezioka set of ancestors formed Ezioka Quarter, and Agulu set of ancestors formed Agulu Quarter.

Ifite Quarter was counted as one Quarter, even though, it did not contain only one set of ancestors. In fact, it contained four sets of ancestors, namely, Ayom-na-Okpala (Amaenyi, properly so called), Nkwelle, Amachalla (called Amachalla-na-ato) and Ifite Oka. Each became a sub-Quarter of Ifite Quarter. The Quarters were themselves grouped into two larger units called Ifite (the original habitation of the Ifiteana, and Ezi (the outskirts-iku agu or ezi agu). That was how the name “Ezi-na-Ifite” came about in Oka. When things were being shared Ifite took the first share, and Ezi the second share.

When things were shared, Quarter by Quarter, they were taken in the following order:

Ayom-na-Okpala took the first share, because of Umuokpandu family (a branch of Amaenyiana) within it who became the Head of all Oka after Urueri.

Nkwelle took the second share, because of the Urueri family who had become part of Nkwelle.

Amachalla-na-ato took the third share because the three villages making it up, namely, Amachalla, Amudo and Umuzocha were Okpos and the Okpos were next to Amaenyiana.

Ifite-Oka took the fourth share, because of Irunnebo family, who were part of Ifite-Oka Quarter, and were themselves part of the Ifiteana-Okpos.

Amikwo took the fifth share, because they were an offshoot of the Okpos, and formed a settled community before Ezioka.

Ezioka took share number six; because they went to settle where they settled from Amaenyiana (they absorbed Umudioka who were the last to arrive in Oka).

Agulu took the last share, because although they were senior to Umudioka, with regards to dates of arrival at Oka, Umudioka had become part of Ezioka.

Inside Ayom-na-Okpala, the order of seniority was as follows: Umuayom Village (because of Umuokpandu family forming part of it), Umunnoke, Umuoramma and Umuokpu.

In Nkwelle, the order was as follows:- Amachallaoji (because of the remnant of Urueri attached to them), Enuifite, and Agbana-Ifite.

In Amikwo, the order was as follows:- Umudiana, Okperi, Igweogige, Isiagu and Obunagu.

In Ezioka, the order was Omuko, Umueri, Umuogwal, Umuogbunu Nos. 1 and 2 (that is, the two Umuogbunus, namely, Umunzobe and Umuogbunu), and Umudioka.

In Agulu, the order was as follows:- Umuogbu, Umubele, Umuanaga, Umuike, Umujagwo, Umuenechi and Umuoruka.

The order of taking shares in Oka, village by village, was, therefore as follows:

1. Umuayom
2. Umunoke
3. Umuoramma
4. Umuokpu
5. Achallaoji
6. Umunamoke
7. Umudiaba
8. Agbana
9. Amachalla
10. Amudo
11. Umuzocha
12. Ezinato-Ifite
13. Enu-Ifite
14. Agbana-Ifite
15. Omuko
16. Umueri
17. Umukwa
18. Umuogwal
19. Umuogbunu No. 1.
20. Umuogbunu No. 2
21. Umudioka
22. Umudiana
23. Okperi
24. Igweogige
25. Isiagu
26. Obunagu
27. Umuogbu
28. Umubele
29. Umuanaga
30. Umuike
31. Umujagwa
32. Umuenechi
33. Umuoruka

The Ifiteana, who called themselves Umu-Oka or Oka, had an advanced culture that was totally different from that of the people around them. Their manner of living, language, customs and rules of conduct and social organization were different.

They said of themselves that they were the original inhabitants of the land. The original Igbo. Ifiteana: ndu vbili ana, ndu kulu ana.

Ifite firi fi (the she-goat lies where she lies, unmoving). Ifiite, she-goat, mother of goats.

“Ifi-te anara eli na nnigheli”, the Oka people say, the she-goat does not thrive on being moved. Their name, Ifiteana, meant, The Immovable Ones! The rearers of goat! The domesticators of animals!!

Whatever their origin, these people had been living on Oka land from time out of mind. The present Oka people are their descendants. Oka people always referred to themselves as “Ebe anyi”. When Ok a people greet themselves collectively they say Ibe-anyi” or “Onye-ibe”. When Oka people greet themselves collectively they say Ibe-anyi. Although the ancestory of Ifiteana is so remote that no one can remember it, people, however, sometimes wondered whether they could not be an offshoot of the fabled Atlanteans!

The Ifiteanas tamed the inhospitable forests of what is now Oka town, and hunted the wild animals that abounded therein, such as ene, ocho, mmolo, atu, and above all they have no memory.

Animals of various kinds roamed therein, particularly the elephant (enyi), whose trail criss-crossed the entire area. Up till recent times there used to be at Agu Oka (at a spot now part of the former premises of the Anambra State College of Education) at Nluana a pond known as Iyi Enyi (Elephants’ Pond) where elephants used to congregate to drink and slake their thirst.

Bu the elephants have completely gone from the area, with the steady encroachment of man. The last elephant that passed through Oka was pursued and killed at Oji-na-ato in Ugwuoba in 1910, and, as has been stated, its head was used to adorn the walls of the District Office, Oka, for many years.

The Ifiteana, who were the early Oka people, organized mass hunting as one of their most serious occupations.

During the dry season the Oka huntsmen went out in large groups to hunt wild animals. They killed their game, dressed the meat and carried same home to be used as food or sold. But their real wealth came from the elephants – the tusks of the
“ivbe eji achu nta|”, say the Oka people,
“bu maka ezie, oburo na anu ya ana atokazi uto”,
(The reason why Oka hunt the elephant is for its ivory,
not because its meat is very sweet).

In the dim and distant past the window of the Oka people to the outside was their ivory trade. The elephants tusk was the oldest Oka item of foreign trade,. It. Eze enyi”, has been a very valuable commodity in Oka for far beyond human memory. It was an article of trade with people who came from distant countries in search of it, bringing with them for exchange, the products of their own native lands.

The Oka people had always defended their territory with tenacity throughout their long history. And until the arrival of the British in the 20th Century, they were constantly fighting. Their games were warlike games, their dances were intended to exercise the body and inculcate self-discipline and attentiveness. It was always dinned into the ears of their children, from very early age, that they must always act bravely, and with discretion. Implements of war were always stacked within reach in every Obu, or ancestral Hall, and whenever an alarm was raised every able-bodied man (and sometimes boys) came out to do their duty. Ozo Nwanna Nwuduozo (Owulu-bu-ego) of Umuogbo Village could remember the start of the Amikwo – Agulu war. “I was about fifteen years of age then”, he said “on the day the war began. I took my bow and arrows from Hall, and went out to the battle-front; but I was driven back by my elders, they said I was too young.

Some of the ancient people in the vicinity of Oka who menaced Oka security, and kept Oka constantly fighting were Umuezekwu, Nwolu, Uvume, Abo-Enugwu, Umuokwa, Amantogwu, Inyi, Ntoko, Norgu. But these peoples are no longer there; they were effectively repulsed and driven away.

Umuezeukwu war appeared to be the first remembered war of the Oka people. There was a daughter of the Oka people called Nomeh, a most beautiful girl. She fell ill, and the Umuezeukwu people, who were mostly native doctors, but not of Ifiteana stock, undertook to cure her. They failed, and Nomeh died. The Oka people charged that Umuezeukwu had murdered the girl. They attacked Umuezeukwu and war ensued. Umuezeukwu were eventually defeated and scattered, and they left the neighborhood of Oka. Nomeh was buried in what is now Shrine of Imoka. Other Okas began to be buried there, and it became the burial ground of the Oka people.

After some years the spirit of Nomeh began to haunt her Oka relatives. She was angry because her life had been cut short, and she was not spared to marry and beget children. To appease her, the Okas went to Akpoto – to the land of the Idoma people, who were famed native doctors, and got a group of them to come and do a medicine for Oka. The Akpotos came, and the medicine they made for Oka was Akwali-Oda-Omumu Umuoka, an akwali to bring Umuoka children and ward off evil.

This akwali was sited at the spot where Nomeh was buried. The akwali became known as Akwali Umuoka or Imoka. When it got very powerful the Oka people worshipped it as a god, and celebrated its festival once a year. Hence Imoka was sometimes called Imoka Nomeh!

After the akwali was made, the diviners (native doctors who specialized in ascertaining the wishes of the gods) had to determine who were to serve it and give it food. The job, or honour, fell to a family called Umu-Ofunu, in Amachalla Village. They served it for sometime, and then grew careless, and could not keep the rules and taboos and so died off. Umu-Eleke family, also in Amachalla, succeeded them, and have been serving the god up till today, enjoying both the prestige and the proceeds from sacrifices made to the god.

The Akpoto native doctors were not allowed to return to their native land. The medicine they made was of such importance to the Oka people that it was feared that if they were allowed to go home they might do something to reduce its potency, or else, do a similar medicine for other people who could then become more powerful than Oka.

For that reason, they were persuaded to settle permanently in Oka town and carry on their trade of native doctors. But after living for sometime in Amachalla Village, on a piece of land along what is now G.I. Nwigbo Street, at the front of the present compound of Nwaforka Nwoka (Chinemeaku), the Oka people became apprehensive of them, because of their powerful medicines and so moved them to a place behind the habitation of the Okpos, called Okpuno, and settled them there. The Akpotos occupied the site, progressed and multiplied in numbers, and eventually formed a large community of their own – a Village, called Okpuno-Okachi, meaning, Okpuno settlement brought about by the Oka people.

The author went to Nnobi to find out if there was any support for the theory that the first Okas could have come from Nnobi. He found none. He could not even find anyone of Nnobi origin who remembered any tradition of their people linking Oka with Nnobi. But the Ugwuoba people have a saying of their own which goes like this:

“Oka Nnobi!
Ugwu-o Nnoshi!
“Ha nibo ka bukana ohu”.
(Oka (Nnobi, Ugwuoba Nnoshi,
The two have the same origin).
But “Oka Nnobi” was a mere saying, which have arisen because there was a town, in fact, called by the name Awka-Nnobi, which was later changed to “Awka-Etiti”. Even in respect of that other Awka (Awka-Etiti) no link could be among the traditions of the people themselves connecting them to the Oka of the Ifiteanas.

Nevertheless, there is a story among the Oka people that Awka-Etiti, formerly called Awka-Nnobi, comprised descendants of Oka people who came to that area to work as blacksmiths. When the time came for the annual return to Oka they failed to go home. They did this several times, and people began to call them “Oka Nkakwu” that is, foolish Oka, who refused to go home. Later on, their neighbours, the people of Nnewi changed the intonation and began to call them derisively “Oka Nkakwu” – that is, Oka of the smelly rat! When other people in glee began to call them by that name, Oka of the smelly rat – the people concerned decided to change their name to Awka – Etiti. Formerly Awka Etiti was part of the town of Nnobi. But as soon as they changed their name to Awka Etiti, they secured their separate existence from Nnobi town, governmental and otherwise.

It is believed that the existence of Awka Nnobi, as a part of Nnobi, gave rise to the theory that Oka of the Ifiteanas might have come from Nnobi, and that both were the same. Available evidence has not proved this to be so.

The author did notice, however, on his journey, that the carvings on the gates of the compounds in Nnobi town were almost as if they had been lifted bodily from Oka; and were quite different from the carvings, whilst Nnobi carvings were deep and severe, like Oka carvings, and the motif was similar. Moreover, the manner of covering the compound walls with palm branches and palm fronds, and the holes made through the mud walls for that purpose, were all like Oka and were quite distinct from the manner of the other towns which surround Nnobi.

There may be nothing in this slender piece of evidence, other than mere cultural similarity, which could occur as a result of intercourse between peoples, but it is a point worthy of future examination.

Similarly, Ikolo, the traditional wooden drum of most Igbo communities, was used to summon people in times of emergency and war, and in religious observances connected with the protection of the community. When the Ikolo of the Oka people at Nkwo Imoka Square, called Oka, it said:-

“Igbo ukwu, Igbo ukwu!
Nnamenyi!
Igbo ukwu, Igbo ukwu, Igbo ukwu!
Nnamenyi!”

“Igbo ukwu”, or Igbulukwu, was the traditional praise-name of Oka, used in times of stress and acts of power. What the Ikolo said was:

Mighty town of the Igbo people!
Mighty town of the Igbo people!
Your ancestors are great like the elephant!
Your ancestors are great like the elephant!
And whenever this was heard, all Oka quickly assembled to deal with whatever had arisen. But there is no historical evidence of any connection with the other town of that name.

Three separate tributaries, in course of time, flowed into the main stream of Oka culture to enlarge it, the dictionary meaning of culture being “the sum total of ways of living, built up by a group of human beings, which is transmitted from one generation to another.

The first tributary was the Agulu factor. Nnebuzo, a master blacksmith, came from Agulu Village in the town of Umana, Obeleagu, in the Agbaja country, to earn a living among the Oka people. His son, Agulu, became naturalized Oka citizen. Agulu introduced the practice of “the traveling blacksmith”, and by that means his descendants spread the fame of Oka far and wide. (The coming of Agulu will be dealt with in another chapter).

The second tributary was the contribution of the Nri.

According to the tradition of the Nri themselves, a man of Igala stock from Idah called Eri, son of Achado, a native doctor and hunter, came down the Omambala River in search of the River at a place later called Aguleri (Aguleri Igbo), and begat a number of children, to whom he passed on the secrets of his arts. His eldest son, who succeeded to the paraphernalia of his trade, was called Nriifikwuanim.

This first son moved farther into Igbo land and settled among the Ugbene people, who showed him a portion of their farmland called “Agu Ukwu” to live and farm upon.


Nriifikwuanim prospered and became known not only for his powers to cure diseases, but also for his readiness to assume the risk of cleansing people of abominations. He was able to do this because abominations were sins against the Earth goddess – Aja Ana, and being a non-Igbo person he was not subject to the power of any Aja Ana in Igboland. What was “Alu” (abomination) to the Igbo was not Alu to him, and what was “Nso” (forbidden conduct) did not concern him. He came from a different clime. He could, therefore, perform ceremonies to cleanse people of abominations attaching to them, and so make them acceptable to their communities once more. He took things – clothes, property – for his own use which the Igbos regarded as unclean or prohibited from the Igbo gods. He got rich thereby.

From removing the stains of abomination from people, Nriifikwuanim developed the technique of sanctifying things in general, by rituals which he devised; for example, driving away evil spirits from or around people (exorcism).

When he became famous, he decided to move from Ugbene to the more populous areas of Igboland. He came and dwelt near Oka, on the land of another Igbo community owners of the land where he settled, by giving them a percentage of his earnings, in cash or kind; hence the saying “Ivbe Nri evbe Adama” (What you pay to Nri Nri pays to Adama’s people).


Adama was the Head of Umudiana Village of Adazi, owners of the land, who gave the first land they settled upon to the Nris. Later on, the Nris expanded by buying more land for themselves.

From the time they lived at Ugbene, Nriifikwuanim and his followers were referred to as “Ndu bun a Agu Ukwu” (dwellers in Agu Ukwu land of the Ugbenes). From this reference to their locality the name “Agu Ukwu” identified Nriifikwuanim and his people, and even when they had left Ugbene town, they were still known as “Agu Ukwu” people. Also the title-name of Eze of today – Udene is but the corrupted form of the name Ugbene.

So, when they came to live near Oka to work, the community of Nriifikwuanim was known as Agu Ukwu, and their place of habitation Agukwu town. In modern times, the name has been changed to Nri town, after the name of their ancestor – Nriifikwuanim. But the Ikolo drums of the Nris still call them: “Agu Ukwu Ugbene Agu Ukwu Ugbene!”

What Nriifikwuanim (Nri in shortened form) was able to do was most welcome to the Oka people. Previously, an offender who had committed an abomination – alu - which was a sin against Aja Ana, the Earth Goddess, and was infact a grievous offence whose tendency was to disrupt the solidarity of the society or affect the corporate existence of Oka, such as a person having carnal knowledge of the person’s father’s wife while the father was alive, or committing incest, could only be killed or sold into slavery. Such a person must, in any case, be excluded from the society which he had tried to tear asunder. There was no way of bringing him back, for no one could forgive offences against the gods.

But then there came a stranger, whom the Igbo gods could not touch, who said he could cleanse abominations by taking the risks upon himself.

So, a second alternative opened up. An offender could be re-integrated with his community (after suffering whatever penalty was imposed on him by the community) by making his peace with the gods, after being cleansed of his abominable stain through a ceremony by Nriifikwuanim.

Nriifikwuanim and his descendants were, therefore, very much welcomed in Oka town. Their services were required wherever sanctification was called for. They were invited where evil spirits were to be driven out of a household, or when people must purify themselves to take a particular title (so as not to die in the midst of the ceremonies), or when a house must be cleansed because a man who had committed an abomination had died within it, or when unknown gods must be propitiated.

Contrary to popular misconception, Nris were not Oka people, and Oka people were not Nris; for whereas Nris were of Igala stock, Okas were original Igbo. There was no blood connection between them. But the two groups of people co-operated with one another, and worked harmoniously together. Both traveled extensively throughout Igboland. And while the Nris looked after the spiritual needs of the people they served, the Okas looked after their economic well-being. That could be the meaning of the Ogene song, which went like this:-

“:Etuvbe, etuvbe, gbavba-a-gbavba
Oka na Nri bu ovbu, ebe-ne-be!”
(If you look deep into history,
You will find that Oka and Nri are one).

The two sets of people certainly complemented each other.

Because of the Nris ability to sanctify things, by removing the religious pollutions attached to them; and their ability to propitiate the gods, known and unknown, they were credited with the unique power of communicating with the gods. Therefore, wherever an Nri man was present in Igboland, he broke the kolanut, whether his elders were present or not. He did this, however, if no Oka man was present. If an Oka man was present, it was the Oka man that broke the kolanut, provided he was older than the Nri man. There was an ancient saying:

Nri anara awakpo Oka oji”
(No Nri man takes precedence over an Oka man in breaking the kolanut).

The reason for the rule was that Oka people asserted that since it was they who manufactured the “Otonshi” – the metal staff or wand – with which the Nri performed their magical rites, it was not proper that the Nris should claim precedence over the creators of their source of power. The Nri themselves called their tool “Otonshi Nri ji eli Igbo”, meaning magic to Oka culture, and the cleansing of abominations – “nkpu alu”.

The third tributary that enlarged the stream that was Oka culture was the Dioka.

Body ornamentation, Ichi, mbubu, circumcision, tribal marks, these were the specialties of the Dioka; he was a surgeon from the town of Umudioka – Akpom. Hence he was called Nwa – Dioka (a son of Umudioka). But the surgery he practiced was not for curing diseases but for ornamentation. With his nimble knife he deftly cut intricate patterns on the human body, and, using herbs which he alone knew how to use, he sterilized the wounds and ensured speedy recovery.

The work of the Dioka was so important to the Oka man that, like the Nri in spiritual sphere, he became intertwined with the fabric of Oka social life.

A Dioka was also what Oka people called “Okwanka”, a skilled craftsman, a specialist.

Dioka came from Umudioka town in Dunukofia. A branch of them got established at Nneni, but those who came from Umudioka – Akpom.

When a child was to be circumcised it was the Umudioka man that did it.

When an Oka man grew to manhood, and was ready to found a compound of his own, and to pregnate women, he was forbidden by custom to do either, until he had undergone a ceremony called “Iwa eze”. It was the Dioka who, with his chisel, came to do it: he chiseled the front teeth into the required shape; and a feast was made for the occasion.

When a man who is to take the highest title in Oka, that of Ozo title. He could not do so until he had been given the “ichi” marks by the Dioka, that is, cicatrisation. It was an elaborate proceeding, infact a celebration, and the Dioka with his knife cut hachure on the face of the candidate, making parallel lines all over the face of the person, from the forehead to the chin. This scarification of the face was a mark of endurance and a test of manhood. The wounds later formed cicatrices which were considered a mark of manliness and distinction.

On the day of the ichi-making ceremony (mgbu ichi) there was feasting and merriment, and people made music in order to distract the candidate and prevent him from showing signs of pain, which would have been considered unmanly. In the olden days every Oka Ozo title holder had ichi marks.

Likewise, when a girl was to enter into womanhood, there was a ceremony performed for her called “Iru mkpu”. It was a ceremonial outing after a period of seclusion. All celebrants must have had the “mbubu” marks made on them by the Dioka. “Mbubu” were intricate patterns made on a girl’s body, starting from the neck and going down her belly to the beginning of the public hair. The patterns could be figures of butterflies or some other interesting objects, depending on the ingenuity of the Dioka. Inside the cut skin the Dioka inserted a pigment which gave the lines a dark colouring that remained so till the person’s death. Without “iru mkpu” there was no entry into the marriage state, and without the “mbubu” there was no “iru mkpu”.

In the days when tribal marks were vogue, when people of one tribe gave marks to themselves to distinguish themselves from others, Oka had a tribal mark of their own. It was called “nvo ngwele”. (Lizard’s foot). Every Oka man from the 1920 age-grade backwards had it. Those born after that date may or may not have it. It consisted of three short horizontal lines, parallel to one another, on either side of the face, a few millimeters from the corner of each eye. Anyone meeting an Oka man, and looking closely at his face, was likely to see the mark.

Apart from the ceremonial cicatrisation called ichi, mbubu, and the tribal marks, people ornamented their bodies by cutting into them decorative designs of their choice, like rings round the neck (called “nki”), flowers on the arms or legs, or patterns on the breasts.

The Diokas came (like the Nris), gave their services, received their payments, either in cash or in kind, and returned to their homes.

With the coming of the British, however, the work of the Dioka fell into desuetude. The social conditions that gave rise to the demand for it changed. Apart from circumcision, which is now been done by people other than the Diokas, no one ornaments his body in the old way anymore. Nevertheless, the existence of the Dioka played a very important role in the life of the Oka people in the days gone by.

A “Dioka” was the founder of the present Umudioka Village of Oka town.

The Ifiteana called themselves Umu - Okanube, after Okika-na-ube, the god they worshipped, and they established a market in his honour, which they named Oye-Okanube (popularly called Oye-Oka). The market was always called Oye – Okanube (Oye Oka) even when. The market was always called Oye-Okanube (Oye Oka) even when the village where it was established came to be known as Nwelle.

The Oye-Oka market square was the centre of Oka life of old, until 1928. there the Ifiteana people held their assemblies, and took decisions on war and peace; there they performed the ceremony of admitting a stranger to Oka citizenship; there they brought to a fitting end the performance of Ozo title; and there they tried cases of murder and other heinous offences. Nearby, not far from the market Square, was “Ukpaka Okwudo” – an oil been tree on which condemned persons were hanged.

By 1928, the British had come. And when the Oka people assembled there in that fateful year and took a decision to oppose taxation in Oka town, all the leading members of Oka community were arrested by the British and prosecuted. They were all jailed and sent to Asaba to serve their sentences.

The Oka people often recalled the memory of that traumatic experience by a crack they made about what they said the trumpets of the soldiers at Asaba (or Araba) were supposed to say on their morning parades; which sounded as if it was directed specially at the Oka prisoners. According to them, every morning the trumpets used to say

“Oganyala me mma, oganyala anolu bie,
Oganyala emegh mma, Oganyala eje na Araba tal avbuvbu
na avduvdu dun a Araba erike, rike, rike!
(If the rich man behaves himself, the rich man will stay Asaba and suffer,
and the suffering at Asaba is great, great, great!).

After that incident, the Oka people no longer held their mass meetings at Oye Okanube., they moved them indoors, to the compound of the Head of all Okas – the oldest Oka man alive at any one time, who was called “Otochal Oka”.

Also, near the Oye-Oka market place, in the same Nwelle Village, was the Shrine of the god Okanube himself, whose praise-name was “Ube-ful-na-Oye”, meaning, “the spear that pierced through to the Oye Market Square”, which was an allusion to the cave that began at Ogba stream, near what later became known as Awka Government Station, and opened out at Oye-Oka market place. This cave was used by the Ifiteana people for trial by ordeal, to try anyone accused of witchcraft, or other crimes which only the gods could find the truth of. Anyone who entered the cave at Ogba stream and came out alive at Oye market Square, was adjudged not guilty of the crime for which he was standing trial; but a guilty person never came out. A person entered the cave on the directions of the Ogba priest, whose home was in Amikwo Village.

In the ancient days, the Shrine of Okanube in Nkwelle Village, (in a grove of trees), was a very large Square, which was always scrupulously swept and kept clean. It was large enough to accommodate all the Ndichies of Oka – the very old people, of 70 years and upwards – who came to perform its sacrifice. These Ndichies were the oldest persons from every village; no young person attended.


During the sacrifice, the “nkwu” of the god (his altar), which was a piece of ivory (Okike) was brought out from its wrappings and displayed in the Shrine, and after the sacrifice it was sre-wrapped and taken away. Those who ate the feast of the sacrifice were those Ndichies. They alone knew and protected the mystery of the celebration.

Okike meant an elephant’s tusk, or a piece of ivory. The elephant’s tusk was an integral part of an Oka man’s life, both his social and religious life.

Okike, as the name of a thing, had many meanings in Oka.
There was Okike, which was a commodity sold for money, ordinary elephant’s tusk. From it ivory ornaments and jewelry were made by the Oka people, such as odu-okpa, oduaka, mkpalo – odu enyi – ivory trumpet and so on.

There was Okike, which was the ivory trumpet (odu enyi) used by the Okas on social occasions. It was the same elephant’s tusk but dressed and hollowed, with an opening at the top for blowing. It was used for Ajaghija title-taking, for marriage celebrations, and for burial ceremonies.

There was Okike, however, which was the movable altar (nkwu) of the god Okika-na-ube, as has been previously described. This Okike, (same elephant’s tusk, but decorated with carvings like the one used in the annual sacrifice) was a religious object, and had its replica in the ancestral Hall of every Oka family. It was kept very secret, as has been stated and was always wrapped in folds of cloth. On the day of sacrifice, the Umunna or the extended family, assembled in the Obu or ancestral Hall of the family (as the Ndichies assembled in Nkwelle). The compound gate was shut, and the Okike was brought out fro0m its hiding place. No one must touch it but the oldest member of the family, in whose custody it was. He alone unwrapped it and set it down. The sacrifice was then made. In all sacrifices to the gods the sacrificial animal was always killed over the altar of the god, but in the ase of Okike it was near it, not over it. This family Okike, which was the replica of the altar Okanube, was, like the original, a piece of ivory beautifully carved. It was hollowed inside. In the hollow was a stuffing, which represented the secret the Oka people were guarding. It was believed to be the preparation which the Ifiteana used in hunting the elephant – the source of their wealth – the recipe for which was passed down to them by their god, Okika-na-ube, the god that came out of Outer Space. After the sacrifice, the Okike was put back in its hiding place in the Obu, the gates of the compound were thrown open, and the animal killed in sacrifice was cooked and eaten by everybody present.

This sacrifice by families to Okanube – which was a private worship similar to that at Nkwelle at the Shrine of Okanube by the Oka Ndichies, which was a public worship – was made at yearly intervals: it was known as “nli Okike”, the feast of Okike, and was observed, up to the present time, by every Oka family.

Today, the once large Square at Nkwelle Village where the general sacrifice to Okanube was made has shrunken. The Ndichies no longer come there to make sacrifice to Okike-na-ube. The Shrine itself is now marked by a single iron staff topped with a small bell, in a small ticket of bushes. People have built houses around, and have encroached on the ancient Square, and so, only this little patch of bush now remains to mark the spot where the oldest of Oka gods was once worshipped, the god that gave Oka her name. (For identification, it is situated behind Emmanuel Nwune Nkwonta’s father’s compound in Agbana Quarter, Nkwelle Village, Oka).

Achallaoji people were the last to give food to Okike-na-ube, in place of Urueri, and the name of the last Priest of the god was Nwammuokwelozo, an expert uvbio drummer.

The life of the Oka man (otherwise known as Ifiteana man) was surrounded by religion; and everything was devoted to the worship of the gods, and seeking comfort and help from them. The strong belief of the Oka people in their gods and in their laws has enabled them to develop a firm standard of behaviour, which has carried them through the centuries of their existence. These their laws and customs, their technology, their skills in carving, their philosophy and view of life, were all indigenous to them, and were their own exclusive creative product.

As the men so the women! The women of Ifiteana, otherwise called Oka, were as independent, resourceful and wisdom-loving as their men. In Oka town men and women were equal, the only difference being that of sex. In their affairs the Oka people had no special consciousness of women as women: they took them for granted as equal partners.

The love of wisdom by the men also characterized the women.

The women’s mourning songs and dances, for example, showed their versatility and depth of thought.

When a daughter of the village died, married to another town (or another village in Oka), the men of her village sent out a town-crier with a cracked gong (which made no musical sound) announcing.

Chime! Olegh!
Anyi g eje ga pata ozu nwa ada-ora echi nine-o-o-o!
We shall to tomorrow to bring home the corpse of a daughter of our village).

That meant no one was to go to work. All must go to bring home the corpse.

The daughters of the village, for themselves, wherever they were married, congregated at the home of the deceased’s husband. They spent the night there, watching over the corpse, and awaiting the coming of their brothers and their wives on the morrow.

The married women of her father’s village, for their own part, went round Oka in the night, singing and beating on either a calabash or a wooden drum – ekwe- announcing the death of the daughter of the village. At every village Square they came to in Oka they made the following announcement (for example).

Announcer: Inyem Umuzocha-o-o
Onye je ne kwe ivbe echi-o-o
Ivbe na emee olu avuru-o-o
Na nwamgboye Obunyamel shil onye je ne ivbe echio-o-o
Onye jel ivbe echi-o-o
Onu na ukwu nese-o-o!

Chorus: oo – oo – oo – oo”

Then the beating of the calabash or ekwe followed.
What they said was:
Women of Umuzocha Village!
Let no one go to work tomorrow!
For something can happen that could prevent all work,
And Nwagboye Obunyamel (the deceased) has said that no
One should go to work tomorrow,
And one that goes to work tomorrow,
Forty

Very early in the morning, on the morrow at about 5a.m. the same women assembled in the Village Square and sang and danced four funeral dirges to the deceased. They sang:-

1. Eze di ibo-e-e, ezi di ibo,
ezi ogbie aduro iche, ezi di ibo,
ezi amadi aduro iche, ezi di ibo
E-e- ezi di ibo-e-e-e ezi di ibo!
(The road to death is only one road,
There is no road for the rich and one for the poor,
Rich and poor go by the road
There are no two ways but one!).

2. Uzu egbe, uzu egbe,
Onwu du na mpoto ede,
Uzu egbe,
Onye gajie ojutulu ya,
Uzu egbe
Onwu du na odudu igu,
Uzu egbe
Onye gajie ojutulu ya,
Uzu egbe!

3. Ayam me - e - e - e - e - e - e - e e e
Ayam mme - e,
Ogoli mutal nnwa ra,
Odonye ga amul ya nnwia?
Ayam mme – e
Odonye ga anulia die,
Ayam mme – e!

(A woman that dies and leaves her child,
Who will mother her child for her?
A woman that dies and leaves her husband,
Who will be a wife to him?)
Meaning: the woman should not have died yet!!

4. E - e – e - e iye – e!
E - e – e - e iye – e!
Uno buo lina ya abia ino, Iye – e!
N aonwul onwu keshi anwu, Iye – e!
N a omere ivbe ana na aso, iye – e!
E - e – e - e iye – e!

(Distance the four funeral dances for her!
For she has died as we die!
She has committed no abomination,
She has died a good death!
Iye – e!).

After this, they got ready with the men to go and bring home the corpse

While the men preceded them with their single drum and a gun, the women followed behind singing their marching songs:-

(i) Iwo na ewo anyi
Iwo-o-o-, emelio, Iwo
Iwo na ewo anyi,
Na anyi avburo nwa Ada-ora
Ma anyi vbulu nwa Ada-ora.
Ma Iwo adoru anyi na obu-o
Iwo!!

We are angry,
We are very angry,
We are angry
Because we have not seen our daughter,
If we had seen our daughter,
Our anger would have abated,
We are angry!!).

Then they addressed the dead daughter of the village thus:
(ii) Nwa Ada-ora, ebene!
Ebe ne na anyi abia –o!
Nwa Ada Ogbul-agu ebene!
Ebene na anyi abia-o,
Ebene, ebene, ebene na anyi abia-o!

Don’t cry our daughter!
Don’t cry, for we are coming to take you home!
Don’t cry!
Daughter of Amudo Village, don’t cry!
Don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry, for we are coming!!).

And when they got near to the deceased’s husband’s house they sang a warning song:

(iii) Shi enine, shi enine-o! Shi enine o!
Shi enine Nwa Ada, Shi enine-o!
Enie nye anyi avo-o! Shi enine-o
(Don’t bury her, don’t bury her!
Don’t bury our daughter, don’t bury!
If you bury her, we’II exhume
Don’t bury!!)
When the women entered the husband’s compound, they went straight to where their daughter was lying in state, and wailed over her. After that, they came out and formed dancing lines, and danced to her the funeral dances called Egwu Idine.

The husband’s family then brought out the entitlements of the men, and the women, according to custom and gave to each group. Having satisfied themselves that their entitlements were correct, the men took up the corpse, and shot their gun into the air. Then singing.

Nwa Ada ana,
Iyom!
Nwa Ada ana,
Iyom!

They circled the husband’s compound with the corpse carried on their head and then went straight home at a run, beating the lone drum they carried. The women ran after the men, singing in chorus:

Nwa Ada ana,
Iyom!
(Our daughter is going home!
Yes!
Our daughter is going home!!
Yes!).

At the father’s compound, the coffi was opened for her relatives to see deceased daughter for the last time, and to cover her with their own cloth. Then was buried.

Oka, land of the Ifiteana was unique in Igboland and unique in history.