Umuoji

The Umuoji people, who occupy this present place known as Umuoji town, in the present Idemili North Local Government of Anambra State, Southeast Nigeria, an Igbo speaking ethnic group, naturally fall among the people whose early history is much affected by lack of or non existence of a written record. Umuoji is bounded in the northwest by Ogidi, in the southwest by Ojoto, southeast by Uke, in the northeast by Abatete and in the west by Nkpor. It has a population of about 80,000 people.

Two possible sources about Umuoji origin have been postulated. Both apparently are derived from oral tradition. The first, more widely held, is that Umuoji people originated from a man called Okodu, who was a descendant of a man called Nri. Another is that one Okoli Oti from Arochukwu was the ancestor of Umuoji.

In those early days only people of Arochukwu (Umuchukwu meaning Children of Supreme God) and Nri who were also regarded as sacred people or mediators between men and the gods were free to travel about and they were the two sets of people who were known throughout the then Igbo nation. Arochukwu people, the Aros, migrated from outside Nigeria, probably Egypt and that made them to be on the go always. They were also great warriors with sophisticated weapons that gave them privilege over the other inhabitants of the Igbo nation. Consequently, one great warrior, Okoli Oti from Arochukwu set was out in company of his followers to visit the famous Eze Nri (the great king of Nri). His intention was not that friendly but on reaching the Nri town, he changed his mind as a result of what he heard and saw about the Nri people. Okoli later decided to settle near the kingdom of his host and thereby found his own kingdom. He settled in the present area inhabited by Abatete people. Okoli later married a woman from Nri town. Some of his men never went back to their places of origin. They also raised up families later known as Isiuzo, Azu, Owa, Akwa, Oraofia and Mputu.

Okoli Oti brought with him three deities named Ezeigwe, Oji and Ogwugwu. He begat three sons and some daughters. The sons were Ezeogu, Ora and Idike. Ezeogu was the father of the Abatete people, otherwise known as Abatete Ezeogu. Ora the second son was the father of the Umuoji people, while Idike was the father of the Nkpor people. Ora Okoli had a son named Okodu and some daughters whose names were not known as nobody bothered to trace the lineage of women in Igboland then. Okodu is the father of Oji; he named him after his father's deity which he(Okodu) later inherited. Oji in turn begat Ora II whom he named after his grandfather.

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