Atani

Atani is the head town of Ogbaru, an Igbo town of Ukwuani descent on the eastern bank of the Niger and the seat of the Ogbaru local government area.

Atani is a town on the eastern bank of the Niger in Anambra State and the headquarters of Ogbaru local government area, in the northern senatorial district of the state. Its people are of Ukwuani origin and are Igbo. It was peopled by early fishermen and migrant settlers, and it is still the rice, fish, yam and cassava country of Anambra, sending out much of the food sold in the markets of Anambra and Delta States.

Its neighbours are Odekpe, Ohaita, Ozubulu and Oko. It is an Igbo community in its political order as in everything else: the family and the umunna are the smallest unit and the obodo the largest, and the Igwe or Eze, the Nze na Ọzọ, the Ndichie Ukwu and Ndichie Nta and the chiefs carry the titles. Its kingship rotates, which gives the communities a share in the common political heritage, and it is the Onowu who crowns the king. The Ada — the eldest daughters of the communities, holding titles, called Oduah Nwanyi or Ogene at Odekpe, Gegeli at Osamala, Omu among others — is the head of all the women, with ritual and judicial duties, and the umuada work with the titled men and the age grades to keep the peace and settle disputes between villages.

Ben Nwabueze, the legal scholar and former minister of education, and the highlife musician Stephen Osita Osadebe were both born here.