Background

The Olukwumi people occupy an Anioma clan and are called “Odiani clan “.The clan consists of 6 towns namely Ugbodu, Ukwu Nzu and Ubulubu (Olukwumi speaking) and Ogodor, Ugboba and Idumuogo (mainly Igbo speaking). Ugbodu is actually the traditional headquarters of the Olukwumi people but because of a serious Ekumeku battle staged at Ukwu Nzu in 1904, the colonialists decided to move the Native Authority headquarters to Ukwu Nzu making them the Head of the odiani clan today.

The name Ugbodu comes from “Igbo Odun” or sweet forest in Yoruba. They were from Akure and settled in Benin during the reign of the last Ogiso called OWODO. The Ogiso was allegded to have used his only son for sacrifice in order to have more sons and for this reason, the Ugbodu people (who were apprehensive that they being non-Edos could also be victims) led by one Adeola moved eastwards in a site which they felt was secured (hence the name ” sweet forests”.). This from genealogy occurred in about 1200 AD.

About three or four generations later, one Agbe a relative of the founders of Usen near Benin (they came from Ile Ife) moved eastwards and settled near Ugbodu people. He was attracted to a chalk site and he settled there. Gradually, the Ukwu Nzu people began to earn revenue from those chalk mines and they for this reason were called a people settled on a camp for chalk mining. This is Eko Afun is Olukwumi language. Gradually the Igbo version Ukwu Nzu replaced the original name.

Ubulubu was founded in about 1800 by some Ugbodu people and they were soon joined by people from Ukwu Nzu. This is one reason they don’t have hereditary monarchy. Another migration occurred in the late 16th century to Ugbodu. It was an Owo (in Ondo State) war general named Ologun (or Balogun) who was in the Benin army. He founded one of the qtrs in Ugbodu now called OLOGHOSA. the Olukwumi people in Delta state are also known as Odiani people or Ndi Odiani. The origin of the name is still uncertain but my best guess would be from ‘oduani’ probably corrupted to ‘odiani’ (meaning tail end of the land) or from Odiani (meaning located at the bottom) as a result of its strategic location in the Anioma area at the fringes or extreme end of Anioma, and bordering neighbouring tribes such as Eshan. As a matter of fact, once you begin to cross the Ohe stream in Ugbodu and get to the other end of it, you are no longer in Anioma land but in Eshan land.

The Odiani people, who all originally spoke Olukwumi, are today spread out into 6 villages: Ugbodu, Ukwu Nzu, Ubulubu, Ogodor, Ugboba and Idumuogo. The Olukwumi people have undergone extensive acculturation since decades of their arrival and today, traces of the Olukumi language can be found in mainly 3 of the 6 Odiani villages: Ukwunzu, Ubulubu and Ugbodu. These 3 villages are regarded as the main Olukwumi speaking areas, with the purer form of Olukwumi being spoken in Ugbodu, and another dialect of it heavily influenced by Igbo language spoken in Ubulubu and Ukwunzu. It may not come surprising that the purer or least Igbo-diluted form of Olukwumi is spoken in Ugbodu today, most likely due to its location on the extreme flank of the Anioma area compared to other Odiani villages and its extreme distance from the Anioma heartland/Nri ensured that it experienced the least acculturation compared to other villages. The other 3 Odiani villages, Ugboba, Idumuogo and Ogodo are mainly Igbo speaking today, and the displacement of Olukwumi in those villages attributed to the influx of different other peoples from east of the Niger, Ezechime areas, Eshan land etc. into the villages.

Asides language, the Olukwumi people are identical to other Anioma Igbo people in customs and traditions. The 3 Olukwumi-speaking villages are fluently bilingual in Olukwumi and Igbo languages. According to the Obi of Ugbodu, everyone speaks Igbo in the village. However, it is noticed that Olukumi is mostly spoken by the elderly ones of the village and the younger ones have been largely acculturated into the greater Anioma Igbo culture and language.