Igala Kingdom

The Igala Kingdom, also known as the Kingdom of Idah, Anẹ-Ìgàlá, is a pre-colonial West African state, Middle Belt, Nigeria. The kingdom was founded by the Igala people,The Attah as their King, Father and Spiritual head, with its capital at Idah.Although Igala people migrated to other lands, it is believed that most if not all Igala people settled or came from Idah which is the spiritual Capital of the Igala Kingdom. The Igala Kingdom is influenced by Jukun people, Yoruba people, Igbo people, Idoma people, and Bini People.

Igala linguistics

Abo-Igala= people ) (Culture=ÌCHÒLÒ/ÙCHÒLÒ

(Ichi Igala=Igala language)

Now as for The naming of the igala it can be broken down as Iga whichmeans a partition, blockade, a dividing wall and which Ala means “Sheep”

Iga-ala became igala As for the reasons why Igala people identify themselves and their nation as this it is currently beyond known scholarly knowledge maybe due to do The idea of the people being the sheep and the state being the wall or partition that protects them.

Religion

Animism is the traditional belief of the Igala and is still practiced by many. This system of belief is predicated on an ancestral spirit system. Many communities, families, and individuals have shrines serving to worship deities and spirits. Custodians serve as medicinal practitioners, and are versed in oral traditional history and the use of herbs and plants to cure ailments. Islam is practiced by the Igala. The religion was introduced through trade with the Sokoto, Kaduna, Kano, and all the emirates and sultanates of northern Nigeria. Trade in northern Nigeria influenced many aspects of culture in Igala land with the introduction of Ajami Arabic texts. Christianity is practiced by the Igala people as a direct result of trade with Portuguese merchants through the Benin Kingdom and was expedited by the colonization of the region. Protestantism, Catholicism, Anglicanism, Baptism, as well as Methodism are amongst the forms of Christianity practiced.

Political structure

Àtá's court is known as the Ogbede with its head being known as the Ogbe or president of court the Amedibo are the Royal servants and the Amonoji are Àtá's eunuchs The symbols of power are the Royal objects oka (beads) okwu (neck-let) robe (olawoni) red-cap (olumada) and otihi (flywhisk).) Ejubejuailo (The Ata's pectoral Mask) 2) Onunu-Ere (Royal Crown) 3) Unyiale Ata (Royal Umbrella) 4) Odechi / Okakachi (Royal Band) 5) Oka kpai Okwu (Royal Beads) 6) Akpa-Ayegba (The Stool)

Àtá Igala in-charge of the major Igala sacred objects, shrines and festivals

Ach'adu Chief executive Oko-Ata (Ata's traditional husband or the Prime Minister=Ach'adu)

DISTRICT OFFICERS (ONU) provincial Chiefs (Am'onu) were also in custody of their various shrines, grooves, sacred objects and festivals in their own domains. District-heads (Am'onu-ane).

CLAN HEADS (GAGO)

VILLAGE HEADS (OMADACHI)

YOUTH LEADER (ACHIOKOLOBIA)

Among the Igalas The Titles of Ata and Achadu are held by only two people at the same time while The titles of Onu, Achema, Akoji, Makoji, Eje, Onoja are used by multiple people these titles may also be used as names in cases many of these titles largely relate to occupations as opposed to being just titles that are held also such as Gago which is clan leader or Onoja being head of the market even the names also used as titles such as Akoji being a representative and Makoji being a representation and substitute for the Ata or King such names are given in hopes that the child will gain that title it should also be noted that titles are rarely ever given just because of someone's wealth but more so on merit

Igala Subdivisions

Igala land has nine traditional ruling councils including the capital Idah. The nine councils each has a chief(Onuh who is appointed by religious rite through a complex system of traditional rite and proceedings supervised by the head of the council the Attah Igala in Idah.The nine councils are referred to as Igalamela-Odolu. The eight councils are: Ankpa, Ajaka, Ugwolawo, Bassa, Anyigba, Dekina, Omalla, Olamaboro.

Historically, each council had varying   degrees of traditional administration which was based on tax collection from land holders, fishermen and market trade

Ata

The first "Ata", the title given to the ruler of the kingdom, was Ebulejonu, a woman; she was succeeded by her brother Aganapoje, the father of Idoko. Idoko would later succeed him as Ata, and had two children Atiyele and Ayegba om'Idoko (Ayegba son of Idoko), Atiyele the first son of Idoko migrated eastward of the kingdom to establish Ankpa kingdom while Ayegba the second son of Idoko succeeded his father as Ata'IGala. He led a war against the Jukun, which resulted in victory. HRH Idakwo Micheal was appointed as the new Ata of Igala in December 2012. The position of Ata Igala rotates among four branches of the royal clan. The Igala kingdom was founded by Abutu- Eje in the 16th century. The kingdom was ruled by nine high officials called the Igala Mela who are custodians of the sacred Earth shrine, The Throne of the Ata is currently rotated among the clans of Aju Akogwu, Aju Ameachor, Aju Akwu, Aju Ocholi, Aju is meant to signify who the clan came from as being a grandfather of the clan

List of Àtá

• Abutu Eje

Independence Era Ata

• Ebulejonu Ọm Abutu(f)
• Agana poje Ọm Abutu
• Idoko Ọm Agana poje
• Ayegba Ọm Idoko
• Akumabi Ọm Ayegba (Onu)
• Akogwu Ọm Ayegba
• Ocholi Ọm Ayegba (Ohiemi Obogo)
• Agada Elame Ọm Ayegba
• Amacho Ọm Akumabi
• Itodo Aduga Ọm Akumabi
• Ogala Ọm Akogwu
• Idoko Adegbe Ọm Ocholi
• Onuche Ọm Amacho
• 1835 Ekalaga Ọm Ogala
• 1835–1856 Amocheje Ọm Itodo
• 1856–1870 Odiba Ọm Idoko
• 1870–1876 Okoliko Ọm Onuche
• 1876–1900 Amaga Ọm Ekalaga

British occupation era Ata

• 1900–1903 Ocheje Onokpa Ọm Amocheje
• 1905–1911 Ame Oboni Ọm Odiba
• 1911–1919 Oguche Akpa Ọm Okoliko
• 1919–1926 Atabo Ọm Amaga
• 1926–1945 Obaje Ọm Ocheje
• 1945 – 23 June 1956 Umaru Ame Akpoli Ọm Oboni

Independent Nigeria Ata

• 20 October 1956 – 16 July 2012: Aliyu Ocheja Om Obaje - was installed by the British shortly before independence
• 10 March 2013 – 27 August 2020: Idakwo Michael Ameh Oboni II
• Note Ọm/Ọma indicates parentage

History

According to original Igala narratives and the study of archeologists, the Igala kingdom wasn’t established until the mid-1500s, the around 1550s when their first Attah, Ebule Jonu (a woman) formed the kingdom with its capital at Idah.

Ebule Jonu was the daughter of Abutu Eje, who migrated to Amagede in Igalaland from the Doma Kingdom of Nassarawa. Back then, the area the Doma, Keana, and Wukari areas was termed as Kororofa by the Hausa. Abutu Eje migrated with his followers to Amagede around the early 1530s.

Doma is an Arago kingdom. The Arago are a subgroup of the Idoma people. However, a section of Doma migrated from Bida, which was in the Beni Confederacy, assimilated to an extent and produced the ruling dynasty of Doma. It is from this section of assimilated Nupes in the Doma kingdom that Abutu Eje was from. So the current Attah of Igala is an Idoma man with Nupe heritage. The Igala capital, Idah, is an Arago-Nupe word meaning Cliff/Canyon/Revine, which describes the topography of Idah. The “Jukun” migration claim is false. This belief stems from an assumption by some European authors that Kororofa was a Jukun confederacy when in reality it was just an area of people which the Hausa identified as Kororofa/Kwararafa which means ‘Man who lives by the Kwara river’. In fact, the Ebira kingdom of Opanda precedes the Igala Kingdom. It is also pertinent to note that just as the Jukun ancestry claim is false and there is no sign of Jukun influence in Igala, there is likewise no Igala influence - whether culturally or linguistically - in the areas misrepresented as once paying tribute to the Attah of Igala. And to add, Attah of Igala/Igara was not his original name. It was Attah of Idah.

Before the coming of the migrant group out of Doma the place now known as Igalaland was a land which consisted of a hybrid group of Yorubas, Idomas (Idoma proper/Akpoto), and Igbos. This hybrid group is your Igala of today. This too was admitted in 2017 by Attah Ameh Oboni in an interview with punch; although today he says Igalas are from Egypt. See link for Punch interview (https://punchng.com/im-first-attah-in-igala-history-with-one-wife-ameh-oboni/). It’s important to note that their is no word in the Igala language, apart from those borrowed from the Hausa during the Nigerian regional days or borrowed from neighbor Ebira, Nupe, or Okpoto (not Akpoto), that isn’t either an exact word or cognate of a word from the Idoma, Yoruba, or Igbo language. The Idoma, Yoruba, and Igbo are the groups who formed the Igala linguistic group.

See also

• Igala people
• Idah

Further reading

• Isichei, Elizabeth. (1997). A history of African Societies to 1870. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-45599-5.