VIEW FULL VERSION: Link
Subject: WHO ARE WE ?
Content: IF  A PEOPLE  DO  NOT  CLEARLY  DEFINE WHO  THEY ARE , THEY  MIGHT NOT  KNOW WHERE  THEY  ARE HEADING TO.  most  times  i  sit to wonder  who we are as  ika  people  , when  i was in school  i  was proud  to be ika and  armed with the  little history  that i knew about our people i  was  ready to defend  my self .one  i  do not  like people  calling us ika- ibo , i just said  we are ika and  that  is  all .not that  i  hate the word  ibo , but that places us know where , at  other times people  say  we are  semi- benin , i just  answer  we  are ika and  thats all . although  i know  we share similarities with the igbo  and also  with the benin  ,but  i  do know  that  we are neither benin   nor  igbo . i  have seen  a  case  when  i  was in school  as at that time , i  was the  speaker  of  the house for  the entire  institution and  also  the president  edo-delta  student union , where and  ika man ( from igbANKE ) A student of  our school   joined  the igbo  student union of our school  at one function he was to be the  chairman  and eventually he was removed ,because they  said he was not  igbo proper , but a semi-igbo , so i  when i  heard , i  went to him and  lectured  him and inducted him into  our edo  delta union.also it is easy for the binis  to count the  ikas as their descendants but , when it comes to appointments  they will not want it to  go  to the ika person .so that  made me to really  ask ,who  are the  ikas ? where  do we  come  from  ?   how  did we come about amalgamation of two  cultures  one  igbo  and the other  bini ? many  theories  about  , but they are not that easy to proove  and i  think  there is  a  missing  link  in our  history waiting to be unlocked? some  say  ika  was  an entity until the binis and  igbo  came to invade the land . some  say  it was bini  that  conquered  ika in  the 15th centuries , but before 15 century  ika  has  had  bini influence in names of her kings and town and  cultures . some  say  it  was  a  great  migration of  igbos that invade the bini pheripheral  that resulted in ika people . i  would really  want to  ask  if it was in  benin capturing ika , why did they  leave so much imprint in ika land in terms of words , history, religion and culture thatn they did in a place  like  asaba, ogwashi-ukwu and others ? if  someone tells  me of benin being the language before why did igbo words gain prominent in our language?