Background
The Kolokuma share the same ancestral roots with the people of Tarakiri (West) and Opokuma. Their common ancestor has been variously named Ndo or Indo, and he is said to have originated from the ancient Benin Kingdom by Newington (1938) and lle-lfe by Owonaro (1949). He is said to have eventually settled within the Igbedi Creek. The ancient site of Agadagbabou on Wilberforce Island is named as one of their early places of settlement. Another old site was Orubou or Oruamatoru. The ‘sons’ of the eponymous ancestor of the Kolokuma, named in versions of traditions as Kolokumaowei, Kala-Okun and Aluku, eventually led the people out of the Igbedi Creek into the Nun River.
Of the identified nine lineages or dani that came to be established on the Nun River, five have been named as founded by sons of Kolokumaowei without variant accounts of origin, namely, Egbebiridani, Isedani, Ofodani, Oloudani, and Opoidani. The other four lineages have variant versions naming outside places of origin. Thus, Egbedani is stated to have been founded by Egbe, ‘son of Uge and the grandson of Mein, the founder of Mein clan’, Osumadani by ‘Eweli, an immigrant from Awka in Ibo land’, Abadani from Anyama in Tarakiri (East); and Burudani from Awka.
The use of the term dani is peculiar to the Kolokuma in the Niger Delta. But more significant is the ordering of the lineages in a prescribed order of precedence or seniority at the yengidie ceremony as follows: Burudani, Egbedani, Abadani, Isedani, Osumadani, Opoidani and Egbebiridani. It is stated that Ofodani is an imaginary dani created in memory of the last son of Kolokumaowei who had died young. Opoidani is also no longer in existence, having migrated to Apoi (East); and Egbebiridani is also believed to have disappeared in a catastrophe or absorbed into other dani. The pre-eminent position accorded Burudani apparently derives from the fact that priests of the Kolokuma Egbesu were chosen form this lineage from the time of settlement at Orubou. In recent times priests have come from the settlements of Oloubiri and Foubiri. Similarly, according to Owonaro (1949: 20, 23), Egbedani owed its second-place ranking to the fact that priests of the god, Okpotu, ‘one of the principals (if not the chief) idols’ of the Kolokuma was chosen from the lineage. There are indications that the worship of Okpotu, indeed, preceded the ascendancy of Kolokuma Egbesu.