BRIDGING THE GAP

In the book of Genesis, the Holy Bible recorded that before the flood, Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth; and sons were born to them after the flood. Through them and their descendants, God populated the new world. The sons of Ham were Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan (Genesis 10: 1-8). The names of Ham’s children are also used to denote geographical places. For example, Egypt is known as Mizraim; Ethiopia is known as Cush; Libya is known as Put, and Palestine is known as Canaan. Many biblical scholars agree that the name of Ham in ancient Hebrew meant “Black” and “Hot”, implying that the land of Ham was a warm tropical region, inhabited by black people. As such, the land of Ham is thus often said to be black Africa, also known as Sub-Saharan Africa. Furthermore, in the Bible, the land of Ham is unequivocally associated with the land of the Pharaohs (Egypt). The story of Joseph is well known in the Bible; after he was sold as a slave to some merchants on their way to Egypt; fate took him to the court of Pharaoh where he found favour and became the Prime Minister of Egypt. In ancient Egypt (Mizraim), a great civilization evolved and took the lead in shaping the world through science and technology, as was epitomized by the great pyramids of Egypt; in medicine and arts; agriculture and water conservation; great craftmanship in ironworks and war implements; woodwork and pottery, etc. Ancient Egypt became the center of the ancient world and attracted people from many regions. Ancient Egypt prospered and flourished for several centuries before the great migration out of Egypt. Uhe Land and the Origin of Esan People The origin of Esan people could be traced back to the Kwa Negroe-migrants from Egypt, who during the great migration around 800 BC, came southwards and settled in the plains of the Niger and Benue Rivers in present-day Nigeria, with a flourishing Nok Civilization, marked by iron tools and weapons, terra cotta works, and great craftmanship such as pottery and woodwork. This flourishing civilization was abruptly halted by massive flooding of the plains of the Niger and Benue Rivers, occasioned by years of continuous rainfall which threatened to submerge the inhabitants and all they held dear, including their settlements, animals, and farmlands. The situation forced the people to flee the plains of the Niger and Benue Rivers in search of higher lands to eke a living. Many of the ancestors who migrated with them from Egypt who were advanced in age and weakened were lost in the flood. The plethora of hills scattered southwards, beyond the plains of the Niger and Benue Rivers became the new abode of the Kwa Negroes from Egypt and their descendants. This new location with clusters of hills was collectively known as Uhe, which in the local “Ighan” language, means a safe abode. According to historians, Uhe Plateau refers to the hills of the northern boundaries of Kuku land, stretching to Kogi land. Its prosperity laid in the vast habitable lands which it offered the large number of people who fled the horrors of the rainy skies. Those who survived the floods saw the new abode as the new Earth, while their former settlements which were submerged in the flood was referred to as the old Earth. Subsequently, Uhe became an extension of the glory of the Nok Civilization. Evidence of the Nok Civilization was found during excavation works on the Itakpe-Ajaokuta-Aladja rail line in the 1980s, a section of the right of way of which fell within the geographical area historians believed was Uhe land. Some of the artifacts found in the excavations included pottery, earthwares and other Nok artefacts. The various hill settlements in Uhe land were administered separately by a council of elders. As the people relished their new settlements, a man arose from among them in A.D. 550, named Idu. He built a place of worship in an awe-inspiring hill-top spot in Uhe and conducted the people in prayers to the one true God, whom they referred to as “Oghene”, for saving them from the floods and giving them a new Earth. He was known as the keeper of the place of worship, referred to in Ighan language that was spoken in Uhe as “Ode Uduwa”. As a result of frequent usage, over time, “Ode Uduwa” was modified to “Oduduwa”. Thus, Idu became the first theocratic leader of Uhe land, and the first Oduduwa in living history (A.D. 550 – 599). Idu had two brothers; Olukumi and Igbon, both of whom lived with him in Uhe land. Idu had three sons (Akka, Efa and Emehi) and four daughters (Uwa, Iro, Ehi and Ose). After the death of Idu in A.D. 599, his younger brother, Olukumi became the next keeper of the place of worship, “the second Oduduwa of Uhe”. Due to Olukumi’s inordinate ambition to establish a Kingship based on primogeniture to pave way for his descendants to succeed him after his death, he unleashed untold persecution on Idu’s children and the entire family of Idu. Consequently, and as the floods of the years of unabating rains gradually dried up, Idu’s children and the entire family of Idu migrated out of Uhe land and moved towards the opening vast land of the East Bank of the Niger River up to the Sea, in what later became the South-Central (Mid-West) region of Nigeria. By the emigration of the Idu party out of Uhe plateau, Idu land became a reality. At about the same time, the youngest brother of Idu, Igbon, who with his family may have suffered the same persecution visited on Idu’s children and their families, also migrated out of Uhe. He and his party headed eastward and crossed the Niger River to the expanding lands beyond the West Bank, which later became the Eastern part of Nigeria. Under the leadership of Akka, the eldest son of Idu, all the descendants of Idu constituted themselves into an Idu party, and in what became known as the declaration of Idu land, the Idu party resolved that whatever land became available as the floods receded from the foot of Uhe Plateau, up to the shores of the Ocean, will become the land of Idu descendants. Subsequently, Kuku land, Esan land, and Ubini land became a reality.