Inyi, Nigeria

Inyi is a town in Enugu State, Nigeria.

Inyi is a town located in the Oji River Local Government Area within Enugu State in Nigeria. It's about 60 kilometers to Enugu City, the capital of Enugu State, 45 kilometers to Awka, the capital of Anambra State, and 35 kilometers to Nnewi via Ufuma Town. It is located in the southeastern area of Nigeria and is largely populated by members of the Igbo ethnic group, an area also known as the Waawa people.

The name INYI is derived from a tree called Inyi, under which the father of inyi descendants was found and adopted.

Inyi comprises nine villages, namely: Enugwu-Inyi, Umuome, Obune, Agbariji, Amankwo, Umuagu, Nkwere, Alum and Akwu. Recently the government of Enugu created five autonomous communities out of Inyi. These autonomous communities are Agbada-Inyi (Umuome, Obune, Amankwo and Nkwere), Ugwu-Inyi (Agbariji and Akwu), Enugu Inyi, Alum, and Umuagu.

It is bordered by Achi, Awlaw, Akpugoeze, Ugwuoba (all in the Oji River Local Government Area) and Ufuma.

According to oral history and cultures in practice, the forebearer Inyi himself was born in Agun'ese, near Umueji a village in Ufuma, Anambra State. According to oral tradition, Inyi was said to be a special child, displaying heroic tendencies and characteristics which were far beyond the ordinary. For example, Inyi was said to have erupted the upper set of teeth first before the lower set of teeth, something considered out of the ordinary in Ufuma and Igbo land then. He was therefore taken across the Mmamu River to fend for himself at that very tender age. Accounts here are conflicting about the farmer and or the hunter who picked him up under an Inyi tree {from where the name Inyi was adopted}. Often called Inyinese or Inyi agu nese Omeire depicting bravery, fearlessness and heroism, the young man at the time displayed intrepid characteristics that set him out early in life as a hero in his own right and by all standards. The first account narrates that the hunter Ji-ala adopted him and took him to his community at the time and further postulates that Inyi helped Ji-Ala to father a child via Ji-Ala's daughter because the latter had problems of high male child mortality, which actually made him to adopt Inyi as a child in the first place. The descendants of this arrangement said to hold the spiritual powers of beholding taboos and abomination(igbuju ala, iji-ala and Ipufu-aru) had nurtured Inyi to manhood, protecting him spiritually and otherwise. Inyi had since progressed therefrom into the modern Inyi going forward. The offsprings of Inyi and the daughter of Jiala has remained intact as a community in Inyi called UmuJiala(children of Ji-ala). That blood convergence of Patriarch Jiala and Patriarch Inyi in UmuJiala of the Present has made UmuJiala the S custodians of the Odu-na-ala and Ome-na-ala (mores or laws) of all Inyi Nation's religion, culture, honor, etiquette, customs, manner and affairs per Igbo Mores (per Dr. Francis Arinze 1978:30). The second narrative makes reference to Nkwere as the farmer adopter and who had raised the baby Inyi among his children [boys and girls]. That the boy Inyi was very strong, hard working and courageous so much so that he outshone all the other children. At the time, the Patriarch, Nkwere invited a priest of the gods to offer sacrifices and to prepare life sustaining monuments. The priest [dibid] had requested all the children to go out and bring a clinchfull of soldier ants without flinching, clinging nor balking. None of the Nkwere children could do it. The young Inyi was eventually called to perform the act and he did so returning with a clinch full of soldier ants with no sign of cringe nor balk. From this brave act, the priest of the gods proclaimed hence that Inyi shall be great and will have many children and children's children. Going forward therefrom, the man Inyi had five sons (Ome, Enugu, Obune, Iji and Nkwo) of his own, who were often referred as Inyi Agu n'ese Omeire, or the Five Active Tigers. One of his sons, Iji, had a son Agbara and a daughter Chieze, who founded Agbariji Village and Alum Chieze Village, respectively. The other four sons founded their respective villages by name; Umuome, Enugwu Inyi, Obune and Amankwo. As time went on with migration and movement of people, Umuagu village was adopted, so also the descendants of Nkwere were annexed as Nkwere Inyi. lately too, Akwu Inyi village migrated from Enugwu Akwu Achi and hosted by Agbariji Villages, bringing the number of Inyi villages to nine.

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