Abiriba

Abiriba is the Enuda kingdom of Ohafia local government area in Abia State: three villages — Ameke, Amogudu and Agboji — under one crown, the Enachioken, held by Ameke as first among equals.

Abiriba's people came from the Cross River basin and share ancestry with Arochukwu. Disputes between the seven families under Ukpaghiri drove them out; they moved to Ena, then to Akpa, then to Usukpam, and were never left in peace until they reached the land they hold now, part of which they took from Nkporo at Oriakwa.

The clan was known across Igboland for iron. Abiriba smiths smelted and forged for the whole region, and the craft is still part of how the town describes itself.

The three villages each have an Eze, and the three together are the Enachioken-in-council. Succession is hereditary within three royal compounds.

At the centre of the town is the Okpu Achi, an ancient achi tree that the kingdom treats as its own life: the tradition is that if it falls, water from it will cover Abiriba. Itu Eye, the festival in which the Enachioken enacts the year's new laws and hands them to an age grade to enforce, is more than six hundred years old.