Umueri

A town in the Anambra valley and one of the Umu-Eri, entered by the survey as a group of three communities — Agoleri (Aguleri), Igbariam and Nteje — under the name of the town.

Its towns are Agoleri, Igbariam and Nteje.

These three, together with Nsugbe, Nadi and Umuanya of entry 4 and Amanuke of entry 6, are said to have made up a single clan originally, with Nri at its head. The group lies in the Anambra valley.

Afigbo's genealogical charter makes Umueri the senior of the three segments descended from Eri, and argues that in strict Igbo usage the name should cover the whole fraternity — the primary segments, the Umunri, and the Umuiguedo — since all trace descent from Eri. Nteje, Nsugbe and Umunya are placed in the same fraternity without being fitted into the charter.

Afigbo would extend Umueri beyond the three communities Forde & Jones enter under that name, which he treats as the primary segments that did not expand as Nri did.

The name is used at two scales and the entry is filed under the narrower one. As a town, Umueri is one settlement of the Umu-Eri; as a name, Afigbo argues it properly covers the whole fraternity descended from Eri, which is why the three communities Forde & Jones call Umueri are not three towns inside one town but three towns inside one descent group. The fraternity has its own entry; this one is the town.