The story of Umah

"Umah" means extra, more or surplus as the case may be. This is the pet name given to the last son born to Akegbe Ogwugwueze, the pet name was drawn from the fact that Akegbe Ogwugwueze and his wife were not expecting any more issues as at the time of his birth.

According to our research which is very mobile and adaptable to any credible source of information about our history, his real names were " Ngwuta Ewae"

Umah or Ngwuta Ewae settled in the present day Amechi Uno, Where we currently have the shrine of " Ani- Obeagu na Amechi" at Ugwuagba because of the wealthy condition of the vegetation. It was rich with fruits and crops, medicinal herbs and flowers. A great mass of Savannah grass land and loamy soil for farming the greatest occupation of that age.

He bore two sons whom he named " Chi-ukwu and Ani-ukwu.

Chi-ukwu  Ngwuta Ewae being the first of the sons of Umah settled at the place that later became popular as " Obodo - Chi-ukwu "

His younger brother, Ani-ukwu reportedly settled at  " Ahwo-akpu" in the present day Amechi Uno community.

Chi-ukwu Ngwuta Ewae got married to a woman called "Anokwu Anem" who bore him four sons namely: Chimengwu, Aniga, Nkwuochi and Onachi.

Chi-ukwu Ngwuta Ewae and Ani-ukwu Ngwuta Ewae both occupied the expanse of land measuring from Amechi Uno, Uhu onyia ani (Obeagu-uno).

The brothers continued to expand to trans-nyama river, Ayo and Afa eaghu. The have boundaries in the North with Ogui-Nike and in the South with Amodu and Umueze, in the east with Ugwuaji and in the West with Akegbe-Ugwu communities.

The custom and traditions has been that the male children of the same father should expand and find a home either by inheritance from their father or by self expedition, Nkwuo Chi-ukwu and Ona- Chi-ukwu propagate further to the shores of Nyama River, now Ndi uhbo Nyama.

Nkwuo Chi-ukwu (i.e. Umu Nkwuochi) settled at the place we know as " Amagu-ugwu" today. Chimengwu, Aniga and Ona-Chi-ukwu moved further to settle at place we know today as " Amechi-Uwani"

Ede-achi (Umu Ede-achi) by birth were originally the son of Nkwuo Chi-ukwu (Amagu-ugwu or the current Amechi Awkunanaw)

But due to some unresolved misunderstanding, he migrated to the present day Amechi-Uwani Where Agayiba(Ndiaga, whose real names were Nshia Achiona) gave him a vast land area to settle. Umu-Edeachi are till date regarded as part of Amagu-ugwu.

Chime Ngwuta Ewae family as well, still have a part of their siblings and descendants at Amechi Uno community.

ANECDOTAL REPORT:

Prior to the expansion, Oral history has it that Chi-ukwu Ngwuta Ewae, the progenitor of the brothers reportedly had a misunderstanding with his wife, Anokwu Anem.

The dispute was over a mother cow said to have been given to a friend by Anokwu Anem to keep. It was learnt that when the cow gave birth to a calf(male), the family friend, who kept the cow notified Anokwu Anem of the good news.

It is our custom in Okunano that on the day of appreciating the person who gave out a domestic animal to keep, the custodian will appease the giver of the animal with a feast full of choice food and drinks. Anokwu went with her husband Chi-ukwu Ngwuta Ewae to their host.They dined and wined, had a very good time as host in question was very happy and had to shower them with his generosity. When they got home, they had a disagreement about who will the calf. It was a male-calf and Chi-ukwu insisted that it was his right according to tradition,but his wife revolted and insisted it was her own right,since she gave out the cow that bore the calf.

This caused a rift between them which brought the attention of their sons. Having listened to the problem was presented by their parents. Chimengwu and Aniga took sides with their mother, while Nkwuo Chi-ukwu and Ona-Chi-ukwu supported their father.

But Chi-ukwu Ngwuta Ewae insisted that the matter be heard and resolved by other elders.

The elders were invited. Amongst them were Obuoffia, Akegbe-Ugwu, Amodu and his own sibling, Ani-ukwu(Obeagu Okunano) were all invited for the matter.

After hearing from both parties, the elders confered(izizi) as it is still our custom today, and returned a verdict in favour of Chi-ukwu Ngwuta Ewae. Anokwu was cautioned and counseled to be submissive to her husband decreed by " Okike keru ihe"

Chi-ukwu Ngwuta Ewae was happy with this verdict, at last he has obtained Justice. To show his satisfaction, he served his guests with his best supply of Palm-wine("akuru or ohu-edeani") for he was a notable Palm-wine tapper.

He eventually vented his anger on Chimengwu and Aniga by placing a curse on them for rendering a biased judgement against him.

He blessed and rewarded Nkwuo Chi-ukwu and Ona-Chi-ukwu for standing firm and being fair in their judgement which went in consonance with the judgment given by the invited elders.

He proclaimed that the seniority position which was that of Chimengwu by right be conceded to Nkwuo Chi-ukwu and Ona-Chi-ukwu. And according to our oral history and documents available to this research, he was said to have also decreed that the name: "Aniga" should henceforth be ceased to exist (Aniga bekwe n' nke a guru).

And this is how Chimengwu lost his position of the heir apparent to his father's estate despite being the first son.

Below is how the descendants of Umah emerged:

Nkwuo Chi-ukwu bore Ogoachi, Ede-achi, Odubulu, Egboankwuo, Achiankwuo etc.

Ona-Chi-ukwu bore: Chiona and Nnankwuo.

Chiona bore Ugwu-achiona( Umunnugwu) Nnukwu Achiona (Umunnukwu) Nshia Achiona (Ndiaga) Nnajingene Achiona (Umunnajingene) and Ejia Achiona (Umuejiebonyi)

Nnankwuo bore Aniona, Aniede and Aniebor, etc.
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Umu Chimengwu have their siblings scattered all over. Some are left at the present day Ugwuagba, Amechi Uno community, while there are others also living in Ndiaga, Amechi-Uwani community.

...To be continued.