BRIEF HISTORY OF IDAH TOWN. THE TRADITIONAL
CAPITAL OF IGALA KINGDOM
Idah is an ancient metropolitan town
located in present day Kogi State of
Nigeria. Primarily populated by the Igala
tribe, Idah is regarded as the traditional
capital (headquarters) of the Igala
Kingdom. It is also a small local
government area in Kogi State. The
predominant language spoken here is
Igala.
Geography and Demography
Idah, an old river port town, lies on a
sandstone cliff on the east bank of the
River Niger in the North central (Middle
Belt) region of the country. Directly
overlooking Idah land across the river,
i.e., on the west bank of the Niger, is
Aganebode in the South-south
geopolitical zone of the country, which
serves as the capital and ancestral city
of all Weppa-Wanno (predominantly
Etsako speaking) people and as the
administrative headquarters of Etsako
East Council.
During the 2006 headcount, the
population figure of the area, whose
landmass is approximately 36 sq km (14
sq miles), was put at 79, 815 people.
On the globe, Idah Local Council Area of
which Idah is the headquarters, can be
located on coordinates 7o 05’ N 6o 45’
E / 7.083o N 6.750o E at an altitude of
approximately 62 metres.
Idah has commercial routes on the River
Niger linking Lokoja, the Kogi State
Capital, through to the north of the
country, Onitsha in Anambra State, to the
South, and Aganebode in Edo State,
across the Niger with the aid of ferry
service, to the west. Roads from the
town lead to Nsukka and Ayangba as
well.
History and Politics
Different versions of Oral tradition
concerning the origin of Idah and the
entire Igala have been given. While some
have related the Igala to the Yorubas in
the west, others believe they migrated
from the ancient Jukun Empire and may
have the same ancestral lineage with the
Idomas in Benue State, yet some
accounts recognise part of Igalaland,
especially Idah, as being inhabited by
migrants from Benin in the early teen
centuries. The variation may have
stemmed from proximity factors and the
fact that the Igalas have, in part, cultural
affiliations with the west, the Jukun
offshoots, and Benin. However, some
inhabitants of Idah and their Weppa-
Wanno cousins on the other side of the
River Niger in Edo State believe their
origin is traceable to the ancient Benin
Kingdom, even the close cultural
similarities among the people on both
sides point to that. According to a report,
the Iyase (Prime Chief) of Weppa-Wanno
kingdom, High Chief A. O. Ethuakhor,
once said that the Igala people who
reside in Idah might have moved and
crossed the river by a stroke of
opportunity long before those who settled
at Aganebode at the west-side bank of
the Niger.
He said: “The origination from Benin is
very clear. We migrated from Benin and
it is the barrier of the Niger that stopped
the movement. It is possible that the
Igala people crossed earlier. Aganebode
moved here in the fifteenth century and
the people of Idah could have moved
earlier. It is because of the barrier that
our people settled here and that is how
the name itself evolved. A-gane-gbode
means Settle down here; we are not
passing beyond.”
This account was partly corroborated by
the Achadu Igala (Second to Attah of
Igala), Alhaji Yusuf Ameadaji, who said
there are still some Edo-speaking people
now indigenous to Idah.
From either of the two banks, the other
town is visible. And maybe to sustain the
buoyant commercial activities and trade
between them, there are two important
markets located on either of the shores.
In Idah, the historic Ega Market, located
close to the river bank, welcomes traders
and goods transported from Aganebode
across the river, while the Bode Market
is the first point of contact on arrival
from the Idah side. In both markets, Igala
and Etsako languages are used for
commercial transactions. Traders from
both towns converge at the markets
every five days to buy and sell. Common
commodities of exchange at the markets
include palm oil, cassava flour, garri, fish,
fruits, yams and domestic animals.
As if to further collaborate the legend of
the Igala-speaking Idah people migrating
from Benin, a historical account has it
that Idah was brought under the
jurisdiction of the kingdom of Benin by
Oba (King) Esigie in the early 16th
century. From Benin, the polity of Idah
adopted both a system of kingship and
the art of cire perdue (“lost wax”) casting
in bronze. It was also believed that
Tsoede, the son of an early Attah (“king”,
the title of the paramount traditional ruler
of the Igala nation till date), left Idah and
conquered and refounded the kingdom of
Nupe (near the confluence of the Niger
and Kaduna rivers); he is also said to
have introduced to the Nupe people the
art of bronze casting, for which they
later became well known.
The Attah Igala, who now sits on the
foremost traditional throne of Igala land,
is His Royal Majesty (HRM), Michael
Ameh Oboni II. He succeeded HRM,
Alhaji Aliyu Obaje who died in July, 2012.
Economy
During the 19th century, Idah was a
thriving port, trading palm oil and kernels
and rubber to Europeans and staple
crops, cotton, woven cloth, horses and
other livestock, pots, and knives to the
Igbo people just to the south. The Igala
were able to maintain strict control over
the lower Niger trade, north of Idah (no
Igbo boats were allowed above the port),
partially because just south of the town,
the Niger valley emerges from a narrow,
rocky section to some wide, extensive
floodplains.
Modern Idah remains a major trading
centre (palm produce, yams, cassava
[manioc], rice, and fish) on the river.
Besides trade and farming, the local
population is engaged in making canoes,
fishing nets, and soap; handicrafts and
cotton weaving are also significant.
There are limestone deposits in the
vicinity and coal deposits near Ankpa, 68
miles (109 km) east-northeast.
Religion
As was the case with most African
settings, the Igala people adhere to the
three main religions in Nigeria: traditional
African religion, Christianity and Islam.
Islam is the predominant religion in
Igalaland of which Idah remains the
nucleus. Before the introduction of Islam
in Igala, the Igala had a very powerful
kingdom that was driven spiritually by
African religion (or what you may call
paganism) which is no longer popular
with the people today. Though Usman
dan Fodio’s jihad war in the early 19th
century did not extend to Igalaland,
majority of the inhabitants embraced
Islamic faith in the aftermath of the
religious war. The influence of Islam in
Igalaland emanated out of political
circumstance. Igalaland, which falls
geographically to the South (of Nigeria),
was made to belong to the North
politically. The Hausa/Fulani who were
the most influential political group in the
North were mostly Muslims. As the
political heavy weights, the rest—who
number about two hundred ethnic groups
—fell under their political and religious
influence. Hence Islam became popular
among the inhabitants of the area.
On the other hand, a good number of
inhabitants of Idah, though in the
minority, are Christains. Christian
missionaries have been active among the
Igala since the 1860s and, as was
customary of the early missionaries, the
teaching of the Christian faith was done
side by side with the spreading of
western education. Idah’s Roman
Catholic community is the sponsor of a
secondary school and a teacher-training
college to the benefit of many families in
the area. That was how the foundation of
western education became established,
and today, Idah has primary, secondary,
and tertiary educational institutions
spread across the Kingdom. The Federal
Polytechnic, Idah, established in the year
1977 (then as Idah College of
Technology), is one of the outstandingly
reputed technical schools in Nigeria that
has produced technocrats in many areas
of human endeavour.
Culture
Idah people are good observers of moral
ethics such as respect for elders, decent
dressing, and table manners, among
others. The act of greeting is highly
cherished among the people: on such
occasions, pleasantries are exchanged
passionately for as long as two to five
minutes when two people meet.
Infants from most parts of the kingdom
usually receive three deep horizontal
cuts on each side of the face, slightly
above the corners of their mouths, as a
way of identifying them. However, this
practice is becoming less common.
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