THE HISTORY OF THE OWAN PEOPLE IN PRESENT DAY EDO STATE.
THE HISTORY OF THE OWAN PEOPLE IN PRESENT DAY EDO STATE.
Note that The Owan people did not come from What is now known as Benin or the Kingdom. Owan like the etsakor, Itsekiris, Anioma/Enuani,Ikwerre, Igbanke were not founded by the Benin as some quarters and school of thought claims.
Although there were those who migrated from the old Benin kingdom ,there were Aboriginal indigenous people of Owan living there long before the Benin expansionism began and this short story explains better.
History of Owan people of ivbiaro
Ivbiaro (“Children of Aro”) have [sic] no tradition of migration, but claims to be direct descendants of a God-like being known as Ada-Obi.” Ada-Obi married a woman called Aro from whom the village group took its name. Aro was said to have given birth to four sons. They included Ebese, Iyokuoto (Ubuneke), Oshogben, and Usu, who became, according to the charter, the founders of the four villages.
The Ivbiaro genealogical calculation places its foundation in the generation of ca. 1536—1568.
My field research revealed that the Ivbiaro people report a tradition of migration from old Benin empire.
NOTE: old Benin empire was a multi ethnic group and not a tribe,. One of my informants claimed Ada-Obi and Aro were mortals who married in Benin.
This version maintains that Ada-Obi while in Benin killed a leopard, the royal totem of Benin, and refused to hand over the skin to the Oba.
Expectedly, Ada-Obi was driven out of Benin by the monarch. This account agrees that Ada-Obi’s wife, Aro, gave birth to four children as stated by the first narrative tradition.
A critical analysis of the two traditions and totemic evidence suggests that both accounts are tenable.
The probable scenario, here as in other Owan communities, is that there existed an aboriginal population whom the Benin migrants met.
While the aborigines are represented by the boa and plant totems, the invaders conceivably brought the animal totems.
QUESTIONS TO PONDER ON: Who is Aro ? Who is Ada Obi? Where were they ORIGINALLY from?