Esan People - History

History

A total of thirty four kingdoms (large villages/townships ruled traditionally by monarchs) make up Esan and many of them seem to have their own oral versions of the origin of Esan as well as its own starting point in history. One of the most popular of these is the one advocated by the group much of which constitutes the now defunct Agbazilo, one of the two former local government administrative units in Esan.

According to the Agbazilo group, made up mainly of Uromi and Uzea, Esan came into being when one of the children of Bini’s Queen Oakha and Ojiso Owodo, Prince Uzia Asokpodudu (Ojiso Owodo’s crown prince and heir apparent) founded Uzea in about 1188 AD after they fled their father's (the Ojiso's) palace following the death sentence passed on their mother, Queen Oakha, who was alleged to have committed adultery with a Bini chief, Ovior. The duo of Ozogbo and Oigi, Asokpodudu's younger brothers, escaped along with him and the mother. It is believed that not only did Prince Asokpodudu (the founder of Uzea Kingdom) escape with the mother, Oakha, relations and some palace servants, he also left with his father’s (the king's) royal trident, ‘Uziziẹnghain’, the Ojiso’s heir loom.

The Uziziẹnghain used to be the royal regalia with which the Ojiso dynasty was founded. Ozogbo later left Asokpodudu in his base in what is today known as Uzea to found Ẹgbele in present-day Uromi while Oigi went and establish a settlement with his mother, Oakha, which is today known as Ẹkperi (outside Esan land). 'Ikhio' is an annual feast celebrated in Uzea in remembrance of Oakha. While Queen Oakha and her children fled northward of Bini, Chief Ovior, her alleged lover, fled eastward to a settlement he established, which is today known as Obior (probably a corruption of 'Ovior'), near Asaba, Delta State capital.(1)

This is believed by some to be the very beginning of Esan, though the Irrua group may not readily accede to this historical contention. The very name 'Esan' was not applied to this people until the arrival of other emigrants from Bini, who fled Oba Ewuare's brutal reign. The Oba (Bini monarch) had decreed: "No making of fire to cook; no cleaning of homes; no procreation; no washing of clothes." Unable to abide by these rules, many natives fled the Bini Kingdom. When the king sought to know where many of his subjects had gone, he was told, "Ele san fia" ("They have fled"), thus giving rise to 'E-san-fia' and later 'Esan'.(2)

In other words, the name Esan was never borne by the earlier group until the arrival of the later groups. Other groups, such as Ekpoma, left Bini later to establish bases where they occupy presently. Except some historical contention to the effect that Esan has always been where they are presently, or that Bini in fact migrated from Esan to its present abode, Esan in this sense is a group/tribe of 'fled/jumped away' people from Bini for various reasons and at different periods in history. Esan largely remains a migrants' settlement just like the New World. This position has made some historians to argue that the Agbazilo group, Uromi and Uzea, are a pre-Esan group which has decided to coexist under the same banner of Esan. It was within this same group, in Uzea, that Oba Ozolua met his waterloo and was buried in Ugboha's Otokhimhin, originally called 'Oto-ukhimhin' (the land of Ukhimhin tree). This is the origin of the popular saying among Esan that "Oba ii de Esan, Ozolua ii ri Edo" meaning, "A Benin monarch does not visit Esan just as King Ozolua (of Benin) will not return to Benin."