Igbo · Section · Western Igbo
Onicha
Recorded in Delta. A register entry gathers the towns the sources list, the names borne there and the records the archive holds, instead of opening only one article.
The record
What the archive holds for Onicha
| Region | Delta |
|---|---|
| State | Delta, Anambra |
| Local government | Aniocha North, Aniocha South, Oshimili North, Oshimili South, Onitsha North |
| Division | Western Igbo |
| Ethnic group | Igbo |
| Recorded as | section |
Onicha is a section of the west Niger Igbo: the family of towns whose names carry the word — Onicha-Olona, Onicha-Ugbo, Onicha-Ukwu and Onicha Mmili across the river — which belong together by descent and by the Ezechime tradition.
Onicha is not one town. It is the set of towns that carry the name, and what holds them together is the tradition that they came out of the same movement: Ezechime, Onicha his eldest son, and the dispersal that put Onicha-Ugbo and Onicha-Olona and Onicha-Ukwu on the west bank and Onicha Mmili on the east.
The word describes the people it named. Onicha is read as those who moved away from a main body to take up a new place — a name for a settlement made by leaving, which is what every town that carries it did.
Onicha-Ugbo is the ancestral home on the western side and the head of the group; Onicha-Olona was founded by people who moved from it; Onicha-Ukwu stands with them. Onicha Mmili, Onicha Ado, is the largest of them all — across the Niger in Anambra State, founded when Oreze, Ezechime's eldest, crossed the river. It is the Onitsha whose Obi traces to him.
The towns are governed the way Enuani towns are. The Diokpa, the oldest man of a family or a village, leads it; the Onotu and the customary groups around him keep order and see to the defence of the town. Farming is the base of the west-bank towns, with yam at the centre of it, and Onicha-Ugbo's market is as old as the town.
Sources
Forde & Jones (1950), The Ibo and Ibibio-Speaking Peoples of South-Eastern Nigeria, Table VII and notes
Towns
The 4 towns recorded inside Onicha
- Onicha Mmili
- Onicha-Olona
- Onicha-Ugbo
- Onicha-Ukwu
Names
Names borne in Onicha
- Achebe · He is under a goddess's protection; a contraction of Anichebe
- Adichie · (of filial succession). To live in succession to another. The full expression is in Madichie
- Ajulu · Did one inquire? Short for Ajuluchukwu
- Ajuluchukwu · lit: (of a blessing received) did one inquire of God, or question God? imp: one is not worthy of the blessing (child) that arrived; we ask God
- Amarachukwu · "God's grace" in Igbo. (See Amara 1 and Chukwu); grace of God
- Azì̀kìwè · A curse does more harm than anger; better to be angry than hateful
- Chikamma · It is God I know; God is the best
- Chinweokwu · God will rule on (the) case. See also Chinweikpe
- Chuka · God of might; Contraction of the name Chukwuka
- Chukwukadibia · God is greater than a native doctor; God is mightier than the medicine man
- Emọdị · One reaps what one sows
- Enweonwu · lit: can anyone claim ownership of death? imp: death is not our curse?
- Iwenofu · Let the anger cease
- Mbanefo · The community grows with each new day; may the nation/community remember. Other "Efo" names are Agulefo, Anoliefo, Efobi, Efondu. Other types: Ufondu, Ufomba, Ufoegbunam, Nwabufo. *Ufo and Efo are dialectal variants of the same word, meaning "thoughts/wishes" or "memories" or "to recollect", depending on the context in which they are used.
- Nwadiogwa · Children come in variety
- Nwàndọ̀ · A child born into shelter; a child who will not suffer; a child of peace
- Sopuruchukwu · Honor
- Àkụ̀nnè · The mother's wealth
Archive records
Photographs, oral testimony and documents connected to Onicha appear here with their provenance.
- The knowledge-graph record for Onicha · the archive’s own entry, with the histories linked to it
- Records filed under Onicha · the migrated subject label of the same name
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