"History is the witness that testifies to the passing of time, it illuminates reality, vitalizes memory, provides guidance in daily life and brings us tidings of antiquity." - De Oratore by Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 - 43 BC)
In his 163 BC magnum opus and literary tour de force titled "Heauton Timorumenos", the dramatist, philosopher and essayist of the Roman Republic, Publius Terentius Afer said "Humo sum ; humani nihil ame alienum puto" (I am a man; and nothing human is foreign to me). It is this need to ensure that nothing human is foreign to man that gave rise to history.
.jpg "History of Aguleri: Origin of Aguleri as the cradle of Igbo history.") |
| History of Aguleri: Origin of Aguleri as the cradle of Igbo history. |
And it's a truth universally acknowledged that the history of Nigeria is incomplete without the history of Aguleri. This is because Aguleri is the cradle of Igbo civilization. The Igbo nation is one of the three biggest ethnic groups in Nigeria.
In complete concord to this, the prestigious Nigerian historian named Prof. Elizabeth Ichei wrote: "Aguleri has the dual distinction of being one of the cradles of Igbo civilization and of Igbo christianity".
The matrix of the history of Aguleri is supported and consolidated by the oral legacy of folklore, which is kept by recollections and passed down to the current generation to write down for future generations. Written and unwritten sources, among others, serve as resource archives that provide historians, historiographers, and archaeologists with accurate information about the origin of Aguleri.
In the beginning, God created heaven and earth. In order to fill the virgin earth experiencing its first sets of dawn and dusk, he created Adam and Eve and gave them the power of procreation.
As a result of that, Eri, the father of Aguleri and of the Igbo nation was born.
A swift perusal of the Biblical records shows that Eri is mentioned twice in the Bible:
Genesis 46:16: "And the sons of Gad; Ziphion, and Haggi, Shuni, and Ezbon, Eri, and Arodi, and Areli."
Numbers 26:16: "Of Ozni, the family of the Oznites: of Eri, the family of the Erites:"
These verses list Eri as one of the seven sons of Gad, the seventh son of Jacob. Gad was one of the twelve tribes of Israel.
The patronymic Erites, meaning "descended from Eri," is mentioned once in the Bible, in Numbers 26:16. This verse indicates that there was a clan within the tribe of Gad that was descended from Eri.
It is interesting to note that the name Eri means "watcher" in Hebrew. This may be a reference to the role of the Erites clan as guardians of the territory of the tribe of Gad.
The modern art of writing and documentation didn't come very early to Igbo land, much less to Omambala communities. And as an apparent result, the history of Aguleri was made an anthology of incongruities, subjecting it to the whims and caprices of history dabblers, sentimentality, historical prejudices, myths, tribal jingoism, misguided patriotism, falsehoods, judgmental fallacies, ludicrous controversies, and apocryphal submissions. Our African historians relied heavily on the historical pedestal that had previously been constructed by historians from Europe or other countries when they took the stage. But Europeans weren't very interested in anything that didn't serve them in the colonial era of Nigerian history.
One of the worst common mythologisations of Eri and Aguleri's origin is the article published by Guardian Newspaper on 23 August 2021, which stated that Eri is a divine figure who according to folklore, was sent from heaven to begin civilization. That is wrong because people don't fall from the sky.
Another egregious travesty of history was published by Daily Times in the article titled "Back in History: Eze Nri Ifikuanim the Priest-King of the ancient Nri kingdom of Igboland" in which they told a barefaced lie that "Eri became the high priest and spiritual adviser to Pharaoh Teti, the 5th dynastic king of Egypt around 2400 BC". When I checked historical archives for the name of Pharaoh's high priest, I found out that it's Mereruka. And he was not an Israelite at all as claimed. The worst of it is that the Bible verse (Deut. 28:58-68) which Daily Times cited didn't have anything to do with the topic at hand.
False tropes like these when left unchecked becomes a fact and get echoed by larger publications like Ancient Origins and Wikipedia; because they were published by reputable news sources from Nigeria who should know better.
Here's the true story backed by Biblical records and other written sources:
In the Bible (Num. 26:1-4, 15-18), it reads "And it came to pass after the plague, that the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest, saying, Take the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel, from twenty years old and upward, throughout their fathers' house, all that are able to go to war in Israel. And Moses and Eleazar the priest spake with them in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho, saying, Take the sum of the people, from twenty years old and upward; as the LORD commanded Moses and the children of Israel, which went forth out of the land of Egypt… The children of Gad after their families: of Zephon, the family of the Zephonites: of Haggi, the family of the Haggites: of Shuni, the family of the Shunites: Of Ozni (Ezbon), the family of the Oznites (Ezbonites): of Eri, the family of the Erites: Of Arod, the family of the Arodites: of Areli, the family of the Arelites. These are the families of the children of Gad according to those that were numbered of them, forty thousand and five hundred."
These verses tells us that all of Gad’s sons were with Moses and the rest of the children of Israel during the Exodus, despite the legend of a pre-exodus-exodus from Egypt by Gad’s son Eri, Areli and Arodi (which is false).
Victor M.C. Eyisi in his book titled "Igbo History" wrote that around 1350 BCE, Eri traveled further into Africa, traversing the Nile River into Sudan (Old Ethiopia), Chad, and finally Lokoja, via the Benue and Niger rivers. They finally arrived at the banks of the Omabala River in Aguleri, in what is now known as Nigeria.
An annual magazine publication of Aguleri titled "Ikolo Magazine" corroborated Victor's statement and went on to establish that Eri settled with his wife Nono on the hinterland close to Omambala river. He later gave birth to six sons and one daughter namely; Agulu, Menri (also called Nri), Igbariam, Ntemeje (also called Nteje), Nsugbe and Adamgbo. Eri lived the rest of his life completely in Aguleri. On his death, he was buried at Obu Gad (House of Gad) located in Aguleri. The Ogilisi that identifies his tomb is still there to date and oral history states that when Eri died, all his children gathered to bury him there.
As the years rolled by, the children of Eri gained families of their own. To solve the issues of overpopulation, food and security, all the children except Agulu migrated to different parts of Igbo land that are near to Omabala and Ezu rivers.
Agulu retained his father's name and land because he was the first born son of the seven. The result is that the land in Anambra where Eri finally settled in after his journey from Egypt though Nile to the Niger is now known as "Aguleri" which is Agulu-Eri.
The Agulerian dynasty began when Agulu gained Eri's Ofo (scepter) to rule over his brothers. In order to support her brother, Adamgbo also stayed at Obu-Gad in Aguleri. The three wives of Agulu were Ada, Omali, and Eke. From these three wives, he eventually had four sons: Ivite (which, incidentally, is a near relative of the Hebrew name Ivrit (עִבְרִית) originally comes from the word ivri (עִבְרִי) meaning “crosser”. This refers to the foreign origins of the Israelites), Igboezunu, Enugu, and Ezaim, which are now parts of the town of Aguleri. It is reported that Agulu lived for 140 years.
Aguleri is the oldest town in Igbo land because Eri existed from the period of the Exodus of Israelites from Egypt which happened around 1310 BCE. This means that Aguleri is over 3000 years old in 2023 CE.
Without any iota of doubt, this confirms that Aguleri is the cradle of Igbo tribe in Nigeria because that is where the history started. It is also important to note that Isichei Elizabeth (1976), one of the leading experts on Igbo history, claimed in her book "A History Of The Igbo People" that the Anambra valley/basin was the Igbo people's place of dispersal in Nigeria. That point was undoubtedly at Aguleri. This information was confirmed by Ujah (2006) in his book "The Origin of Ibos," where he claimed that Arodi, Eri's younger brother, was among those who migrated with him and settled in Aguleri. He later left Aguleri and gave birth to Arochukwu and Arondizuogu, in addition to other Aro communities in Igboland.
Five Israeli anthropologists also traveled to Nigeria in 1995 in search of proof that the Nigerian Eri and the Eri of the House of Jacob were the same. Without much success in their objective, they visited a number of Igbo communities before arriving to Aguleri. Chief Okoye Ojibeka from Nri and Chief George Odum from Mbaukwu accompanied Senator Ben Obi (Ojeligbo) of Awka as he led them on the journey to Aguleri. The Israelites discovered multiple pieces of evidence in Aguleri proving that the Eri of the House of Jacob was the same Eri there. Among other things, they witnessed Obuga, one of Aguleri's holiest sites, at Enugwu Aguleri. Obuga has been there since ancient times and is devoted to the ancient father's memory.
Sources/Citations
- Ikolo Magazine
- Igbo History, Victor M.C. Eyisi
- A History Of The Igbo People, Isichei Elizabeth
- Aguleri, Joliba Africa https://joliba-africa.com/2015/12/19/713/
- Igbo History Hebrew Exiles of Eri, Omabala Aguleri