A Visit to Obollo-Afor in Enugu State

All the way from Catholic junction bus stop in Ibusa in Delta State, I embarked on a journey to Obollo-Afor, a little village situated in Enugu State. Obollo-Afor is quite close to Igbo-Etiti another town strategic to Igbo. Interestingly, Ibusa is also strategically located, lying along the road and shares a major junction with Asaba, Ogwashi-Uku, Okpanam, Issele-Asagba. Ibusa lies a few miles away from Onitsha from where we took a vehicle to Obollo-Afor. It was a sweet trip which emotionally began right on the Asaba-Onitsha “head bridge”. We soon set-down by Upper Iweka, a bus-stop bustling with people many of who were traders. The River Niger looked not taken care of with visible sand heaped almost in its middle, still it was a great river to behold.

On setting-down we boarded a public transport that took more than 2 hours to fully load and embarked on the journey after complaints from most of the passengers that had lost patience. The commercial mini bus was driven by an aged man whose tone of voice seemed to me Nsukka I viewed the Onitsha environment with its tall buildings. Behold! I imagined just how the city might have looked during the Nigeria Civil War when the mercy of the Federal troop eluded it. I immediately noticed Ezechima Primary school lying along the road. It caught my historical interest for the name is a clear reminder of the origin and ancestral link the Onitsha people naturally share with the rest of Anioma people.

The Onitsha people have not lost a sense of history of their origin as a town founded by the migrant from Edo. The name of the primary school tells it all. The Great Zik of Africa had testified in one of his autobiographies that his father had recounted to him the message that the Onitsha people are Anioma indeed. Away from Onitsha, the journey began proper as we noticed the presence of police posts, several of them lying close to each other. Many of them were mobile policemen. Vehicles temporarily halted every now and then to our frustration, still we tolerated it helplessly.

We soon arrived at Oji River, I didn’t any river, unable to conceal my curiosity, I asked the man sitting next to me where the Oji River lay. The question may not have struck the man as relevant as he told me that Oji River represented the name of a Local Government. I took it for an answer. 9th Mile is a beautiful and commercial place to be. I was told that 9th Mile adjoins Ngwo and connects it to other cities of importance to the Igbo. Ngwo is the home of the Late Chief Christian C. Onoh, a former Governor of the old Anambra State. A man in the bus upon noticing my curiosity added that the Ngwo people are called “Wawa”. My deeper inquiry attracted no more answers from the man, all I was told was that the Wawa were Enugu people usually light in complexion and a nice people to be with. The man soon mentioned “Amankwo” and “Okwojo”, names I supposed must have been villages in Ngwo. It made me wonder why we always do not take interest in knowing much about communities outside of our own.

At “Igbo-Etiti” (Central Igbo), I got to know that we were close to Nsukka, and by the way, Nsukka is the town that accommodates the prestigious University of Nigeria. Although, we bypassed the town as I was shown the road leading to it, still, I had very faintly imagined what the city may have looked like.

Soon we were at Obollo-Afor, as we set down, I was attracted by the accent of the people of this area very strange to the central Igbo indeed. The dialect of the people resembled Idoma language in many ways and only careful listening ears would faintly understand the words to be Igbo in nature. I soon discovered that the area was near “Ichama” a sleepy tiny Idoma village. I also learnt that the Obollo and Idoma people inter-marry a lot and that the people share similar markets and market days i.e. “Eke, “Afor”, “Orie” and “Nkwo”. I conclusively therefore gathered that there must be indeed Igbo of Idoma origin. The history of Idoma and Igbo can hardly be separated.

There are many Obollos in Igboland. “Obollo-Afor”, “Obollo-Etiti”, “Obollo-Eke” to mention just a few, what I could really not understand was how these Obollos related, whether they were all a single kingdom at one time or not. Great researches and the academic efforts of our historians will reveal this in time to come. I was welcomed with a solid “pounded yam” and “draw soup” and a keg of palm wine, but very unfortunately, I don’t agree with the kind of drink but the delicacy native to the Obollo people filled me with satisfaction. I hoped to cross over to the Idoma side of the area but time would not permit me as further enjoyment stood me still in Obollo, the blessed land of the Nsukka people.

The Obollos are surely blessed with land expanse of land ideal for farming but the state as well as federal government will do quite a lot to make their attention felt more in these areas to assist the people and give them facilities. Primary and secondary schools located in this part of the country also desire the facilities to help the innocent little children see outside the world and experience growth and development as they must not be disadvantaged.

Welcome to Obollo-Afor, the blessed land of peace.