Emigration
Opu Ogulaya and Opu Suma also emigrated from Akpata Bille and settled on a land now known as Ogoloma. After their settlement, Opu Otubeya, their kinsman, also settled on the other side of the same land. When at a later date both of them met in the bush they identified themselves as persons from the same root and thus proclaimed 'wakiri ke' meaning 'we are not different'. Thus, the place is known even until today as Wakirike although it has been anglicised to the word Okrika.
Some of those who also fled from the old settlement of the Bille people included Opu Okurukuru who founded the present day Kugbo while Opu Ikiya found Ikiakiama. Opu Ogini also left and settled on the land now called Oginiama while Opu Krobo also emigrated and settled on a land which is the present day Nkoro town in the Andonni Local Government Area. It has been confirmed that the people of Nkoro regard the eating of the tilapia fish as a taboo because of the historical significance.
Only recently, the people of Bille have discovered that there is also another place called Bille in northern Nigeria. On a maiden visit to the newfound land of Bille in Adamawa State of Nigeria between March 3 and 8, 2004, the Bille delegation comprising Chief O. G S. Digbani, Chief D. W. Herbert, Mr Ibim Watson Sanipe (representing the CDC), Ibinabo Thompson (representing the Bille Youths Federation) and Rev. Dr F. J. Igani was told that their forefathers actually travelled far north to settle at their present settlement and have over time become engulfed by the overbearing Hausa community. They claimed that their ancestors also migrated from a certain place called Bille because of a dispute over fish in the past but they were not sure of the original place they left. Incidentally, they have the same local names for such items as fish and water. The people also have the same names for the numbers as we have here in Bille.
According to recorded history, Bille was the sole power in the old Degema Division sharing boundaries then with other eastern Ijaw clans like Nembe, Bonny, and Okrika with whom she fought several wars. So great was her one time ruler, Agbani ye Jike, that the entire territory was under his influence although he conquered settlements without settling anybody for security reasons. It was the policy of the ancient people of Bille during Jike's era to eliminate all persons in the conquered territories and settlements leaving a barren land, which, unfortunately, had left Bille as a one-city kingdom. Gladly, life has begun in most of the other settlements especially at Jikeama, Touma etc. as we look forward to an ideal Bille kingdom.
Other towns that also claim an early existence including Ke, Idama and Kula were founded according to Oral Tradition by persons of Bille origin some of whom rebelled against the king and emigrated there and by Bille people dropped on such lands because of their abominable ailment. Kula was established by Opu Ada ye Sira of Sira Community in Bille. Agbaniye Kio, a brother of King Jike also left Bille when he had a dispute with his brother and settled on the land that is now known as Idama. In the Captain Kelsey Report of 1935, the claim of Bille over the town of Ke was recorded although because of the time lapse the Ke people now deny this claim, as the Bille people did not exercise authority over it for the obvious reasons that they were actually a neglected people cast out of Bille and were thus not prone to attacks from Bille or other aggressors.
They were all regarded as sister settlements and were thus never attacked by the Bille people. They were semi-autonomous in the period until in the later part of the last century when they sought and got the protection of the Kalabari king thus becoming a part of the Kalabari kingdom. This was a period of trading and European influence predating the colonial era when inter-tribal wars were on the decline and kings were not renowned for conquering territories but for their resistance against the European powers.
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