The Etymology Of Ukwa/Ngwa.
By Sir Don Ubani; KSC, JP.
Ihemba/Ahaejiejemba of Umuiku-Isi-Asa Autonomous Community, Okwubunka of Asa and Okeamadi Gburugburu.
Sunday (Eke) 12-10-2025.
Preamble:
In recent times, there has been a lot of discontent and agitation or should I term it concern among young Elites in Ukwa land, especially those from Asa, about the nomenclature, Ukwa/Ngwa.
The reactions have been diverse. While some consider the name repulsive and insulting, others, being a bit patient with an inquisitive disposition, are eager to know what the underlying story or history is. To be specific, one Onyekachi Udodiri on Asa Development Union platform, unlike some young men whose stock-in-trade is resort to derogation and insult, of course, attributable to their unfortunate family upbringing, requested that, since I am currently an Ukwa Man that is often associated with issues of Ukwa/Ngwa, I could give an enlightenment on it. I did promise I would do that once I was able to have the luxury of time.
As a Community Leader in Asa, I have had practical experiences of close inter-personal and formal interactions with the Ngwa. To start with, as a young Teacher in Aba zone, I had the privilege of accompanying some patriotic Leaders of Asa and Ndoki, such as HRM Eze Hon H. M. J. Nwachukwu, MHR, HRH Eze Alpha Ekekeulu, arch Broadcaster of Imo Broadcasting Corporation fame, and Chief J. K. Taribo, a polished Administrator in Old Imo State, to attend formative meetings of Ukwa/Ngwa Collaboration in the Palace of the Traditional Head of Ngwa Land and Eze Ukwu of Ngwa Ukwu, His Eminence, Eze (Dr) Bernard Enweremadu, in his Ngwa Ukwu Palace at Ahiaba-Okpuala, in Isialangwa-North, in the early 80s.
I remember when the Constitution of Ukwa/Ngwa was being drafted in the Palace of Eze Ukwu, upstairs, someone, I think, Oke Nze A. O. Arungwa from Ahiaba-Ubi who represented the present Isialangwa-North State Constituency in the Eastern Regional House of Assembly in Nigeria’s First Republic at Enugu, had proposed the name of the Association to be Ukwa-Ngwa, that is using a hyphen in-between Ukwa and Ngwa. But HRH Eze Alpha Ekekeulu pointed out that since Ukwa and Ngwa are two distinct entities, that the appropriate punctuation mark to be used should be a slash / and not hypen-. The Ezeukwu, himself, bought that argument and, so, the name became Ukwa/Ngwa.
This year, 2025, when a good number of Political Leaders from Ukwa and Ngwa met at the country-home of the immediate-past Governor of Abia State, Okezie Victor Ikpeazu, Ph.D and decided to form an association to hold them together, and proposed the name as Ukwa-Ngwa Political Leaders’ Forum, I quickly corrected them that the name we unanimously had adopted for such a union was Ukwa/Ngwa and not Ukwa-Ngwa. My correction was noted and upheld. Rt Hon Emeka Stanley of Ndoki, Chief Sam Nwogu, Esq, Chief Ndubuisi Enyioko, and Elder Henry Chilaka, Esq, the three being Asa, are my witnesses because they are Members of the Forum.
Let it be stated that Ukwa, as a group name, was not part of the historical administrative lexicon of Asa and Ndoki Peoples before the outbreak of Nigerian civil war. Before that war, also known as Nigeria/Biafra war, both Asa and Ndoki Clans were in Aba Administrative Division, and each had her separate Native County Council, Asa County Council with headquarters at Obehie-Asa, and Ndoki County Council, having its headquarters at Obohia-Ndoki.
When, through a petition presented to Sir Henry Willink’s Commission of Enquiry on the fears of Minorities in Nigeria jointly by Asa and Ndoki Peoples in 1958, initiated and led by Chief O. C. Ememe, what was given to them was a Federal Constituency with the name, Aba-South Federal Constituency. That Constituency is what is today known as Ukwa-East/Ukwa-West Federal Constituency. Subsequently, in 1963, two Regional Constituencies, Aba-South-East and Aba-South-West Regional Constituencies were delineated, which were used for 1964 General Election, and they are present day Ukwa-East State Constituency and Ukwa-West State Constituency, respectively.
Ukwa Division was created after the said war in 1970, and it administratively united Asa and Ndoki. Obehie was the headquarters of the Division. The Divisional Officer, D. O, also lived at Obehie. Ukwa Division was the administrative nucleus of Asa and Ndoki Peoples before General Olusegun Obasanjo, as Military Head of State, carried out Local Government reforms in 1976 that gave rise to the creation of Ukwa Local Government Council, with Okeikpe as its headquarters.
Suffice it to say that starting from 1896 when the British Colonial Government created Aba Division, relocating the Headquarters from Akwete to Aba in 1903, the Peoples of Asa and Ndoki have been interacting with the Ngwa.
The interaction amongst the three different Clans of Asa, Ndoki, and Ngwa did not, in the least or at any time, suggest a lineal relationship or common ancestry. There were, simply, no ties of consangunuity. According to oral history, Asa People had lived for many generations in their present places of settlement, circa 11 or 12 century AD, even when the areas presently covered by Imo River that rises from Umuaku-Isuochi in Umunneochi Local Government Area of Abia-North, and traverses Ngwa, Etche, Omuma, Asa and Ndoki areas before emptying into the Atlantic Ocean were dry lands.
From oral historical perspective, many Asa villages migrated from the Rivers, Niger Delta axis. Their migration pattern did not reflect a rigid pattern. Take Umuiku-Isi-Asa which is acclaimed to be the earliest settlers amongst Asa villages, for instance, while their progenitor, Iku, who was the father of Ule, Okeato, and Okalu, had migrated from Umuiku-Olakwu in present Eche Local Government Area of Rivers State, other component parts of the Community had a different history of migration or cause or reason of settling in Umuiku-Isi-Asa.
In the same historical vein, Omuma-Uzor and Obingwu villages in Asa-North Ward were, according to oral history, said to have migrated from Umuola, also in Eche Local Government Area.
Ikaa, the earliest settler in Obokwe-Asa was said to have migrated from Obokwe-Ngor in Ngor Okpula Local Government Area of Imo State. For those who have come across a typical Ngor Okpuala indigene, it would be evident that he or she speaks Eche dialect and, of course, Ngor Okpuala shares common geographical boundaries with Eche.
Ugwati in Asa-South ward of Ukwa-West Local Government Area was, according to a prominent son of the village, Elder Eze Idima, founded by a Man called Jim who had migrated from Eche. His first son was Eze and, so, the lineage of Jim became known as Ezejim. It was, as the history unfolded, Jim that accommodated the Umunwogu kindred that migrated from Umuibe in Ndoki, and also Umunjoku.
According to oral exposition, the earliest settlers in Ozatta are the Umuachirioke. They are said to be elder brothers to Ezejim in Ugwati. It could, therefore, imply that Umuachirioke also had migrated from Eche. There is another kindred in Ozatta that is called Oparaenwe. It is said the Umuadienwe People of Ozaa Ukwu ward had migrated from there.
In Ogwe, the Umura kindred, said to be the first settlers, are believed to have migrated from Obigbo, now called Oyigbo in Rivers State. The Ogwu kindred is said to have arrived Ogwe as medical herbarlists from the Annang tribe in Akwa Ibom State.
Owaza is said to have had different migrational evolution, that is to say people came from different places to get settled there. But majority of the migrants are said to have come from Igwuruta in Ikwerre area of Rivers State.
These few examples of migrations only point to one thing, that the history of Asa migration has no connectivity whatsoever to that of the Ngwa. It is important to note that Asa People had been living in their present places of abode long before the Ngwa hastily crossed into Okpuala-Ngwa on their migrational journey from Umunoha in present day Mbaitoli Local Government Area of Imo State, through Mabaise and across one or more of the Imo River Banks at Ntigha, Ihie, Ahiaba-Ubi and or Umuchima, all in present Isialangwa-North Local Government Area.
That Asa People were earliest settlers and occupants of Aba and its southern neighbourhood has been acknowledged even by Ngwa historians, researchers and writers such as RT HON. EZE J. E. N. NWAGURU who wrote, ABA & BRITISH RULE, and Mark Onyekachi, et all, who Co-authored, A TALE OF TWO NEIGHBOURS. The two Books vividly captured it that Asa People had been living in their present places before the Ngwa migrants, following a southern wave of further migration from their earliest settlement in Okpuala-Ngwa came into contact with them and that Asa did not hesitate to absorb them into their fold.
The point being made here is that Asa is a distinct Sub-ethnic Nationality. Their relationship with the Ngwa is due to three major factors. The first is proximity and neighbourliness, which have given rise to some social relationships such as inter-personal relationship, and marriages. In this wise, I have to point out that my late Mother was Ngwa from Umugo. My late father’s late Mother, Onyidia, was Ngwa from Umuochor-Umuakpara. My late Grandfather’s late Mother was also Ngwa from Umuagbai. Even myself, my wife is Ngwa, from Eziama-Ntigha.
Let me also state here that majority of my friends are Ngwa. I have a very cordial relationship with former Governor Okezie Victor Ikpeazu, Ph.D. The same applies to Chief Darl Uzu, Chief Okey Ahiwe, Chief Chinwe Nwanganga, Elder Seth Nkwachi Agomuo, and many others.
The second is administrative. The fact that Asa, Ndoki and Ngwa were fused into Aba Administrative Division by the British Colonial Government in 1896 meant that the Ukwa having interface with the Ngwa became unavoidable. The fact that Ukwa still has relationship with the Ngwa, despite getting the short end of the stick in such relationships, is simply human.
Thirdly, trade and commerce equally bring the three Clans of Asa, Ndoki and Ngwa together. There are markets in the three Clans, like Afor Ogwe in Asa, the market at Akwete-Ndoki, and Ekeakpara market in Osisioma-Ngwa. These three markets and others, not to talk of big markets such as Ariaria International Market at Aba, make it possible that there will be constant interaction amongst the three different Clans of Asa, Ndoki and Ngwa.
It is important to state that the administrative headquarters or meeting- point of the Peoples of Old Aba Division or Ukwa/Ngwa is Aba, specifically the Aba Town Hall. Okpuala-Ngwa is not the headquarters of Ukwa/Ngwa Peoples. It is the ancestral headquarters of the Ngwa. I have always wasted no time in pointing out this fact anytime the need had arisen.
There is no doubt that even though the relationship amongst the Asa, Ndoki (Ukwa) and the Ngwa has been defined by insensitivity, inconsideration and marginalization, proximity and administrative coercion, infact social dynamics, have not allowed it to be avoided.
Except for the natural disposition of the Ngwa towards the Ukwa, rarely would an Ukwa Man see what will be of benefit to an Ngwa Man and constitute himself as a clog on the wheel of progress. That is the nature of the Ukwa Man. But on the part of the Ngwa, the contrary is the case. Take for instance, about 2022, a very popular staff of Aba-South Local Government Council of Ukwa-East Local Government extraction had indicated interest to contest for the Chairmanship of National Union of Local Government Employees, NULGE, but, true to their nature, staff of Ngwa extraction in the Council vowed that on no account would an indigene of Ukwa emerge as Chairman of the Council’s Labour Union. Knowing that if the election was conducted then that the Ukwa aspirant would win, they used their connection at that time to place that election on hold.
Interestingly, the election has been conducted in October this year, 2025.
The irony of the election was not just that an indigene of Ukwa was elected as the Chairman but that another Ukwa Man was overwhelmingly elected the Secrety of NULGE in the same Aba-South Local Government Council. An Ngwa contestant for the Chairman came a very distant third, after an Ogbo Man that came a very close second. Very surprisingly too, if not shockingly, another Ukwa Man who contested for the Vice Chairmanship of NULGE in Aba-South narrowly lost the election just by one vote.
Not withstanding the idiosyncrasies of the Ngwa, especially their attitude to the Ukwa, I have always insisted that equity should take prominence on issues affecting the Ngwa. Two examples may suffice. In the early days of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, which I was one of the 21 Political Leaders that convened it in Abia State on Friday (Eke) 4th September, 1998, as the State Organizing-Secretary, I stubbornly successfully opposed two Ogbo aspirants occupying the Chairmanship of Aba-North Local Government Council, and that of Aba-South, at the same period, 1999-2002. I insisted that equity demanded that while a grassroots’ politician, Chief Eme Abali of Okagwe-Ohafia could be the Chairman of Aba-North Local Government Council, an Ngwa Man, Dr C. C. Nwogu, should, by equity, be allowed to emerge as Chairman of Aba-South, and not another Ogbo Man. I was terribly physically assaulted by the thugs hired by the Ogbo Man, at Binez Hotel, Aba where, under the leadership of late Chief Lambert Nmecha, we were collating results from the different electoral wards. I had nearly died that night in the brutal hands of the thugs financed by the Ogbo Man. The situation was so horrible that Chief Nmecha wept uncontrollably. Apart from Chief Nmecha that was our Leader, there were two other persons, Chief Ezinwa Abiri from Umuocha-Mgboko in Obingwa, and late Sir Ik Daniel from Ntigha in Isialangwa-North. Chief Abiri is still alive and, so, could attest to what I have stated. I would have died because of my defence for the Ngwa cause.
In 2014, preparatory to the 2015 Governorship election, I came out fully uncompromisingly in support of Okezie Victor Ikpeazu, Ph.D, as Candidate of PDP. While, as it is in Nigerian Politics, some Party Members might have received some cash to vote for the Intellectual at the Party Primary Election, I stated it point-blank that I needed no kobo before I could give my unalloyed loyalty and honest support to an Ngwa contestant to emerge as the Governorship Candidate, and eventually become the Governor. Many Ngwa Party delegates did not think the same way as I did. For them, what mattered was money.
Many young men from Asa, especially the elites, have not been happy with me over my pronounced relationship with the Ngwa. Some hold the opinion that I am close to the Ngwa because my late Mother, Chief (Mrs) Mary Wugo Ikpejingbu Josephine Emmanuel Wigwe Ubani, nee Kanu, was Ngwa. Who knows? They could be right. I was very close to my late Mother, just as Iwas to my late father, late Chief Emmanuel Wigwe Ubani. She was the Woman Leader of defunct Nigerian Peoples’ Party, NPP, in Ukwa. No wonder I play Politics.
Let me, however, put it in its proper perspective. Founding Fathers of Asa that I knew or heard of; His Royal Majesty, Eze Hon J. E. Adiele, former Member of Eastern House of Assembly and first Millionaire in Old Aba Division, late Chief O. C. Ememe, First Republican Member of Parliament, now House of Representatives, late Chief W. W. Obinya, Okenze1of Ozaa Ukwu and famous Money Lender in Aba, and late first and, so far, only High Court Judge of Asa extraction, Hon Justice Emmanuel N. Nwogu had close association with the Ngwa. I had earlier narrated the formation of Ukwa/Ngwa by the Eze Ukwu of Ngwa Ukwu, His Eminence, Eze (Dr) Benard Enweremadu, in conjunction with His Royal Majesty, Eze H. M. J. Nwachukwu, MHR, His Royal Highness, Eze Alpha Ekekeulu, and Chief J. K. Taribo.
No matter how unfair the Ngwa have been to the Ukwa, as a human-being, knowing that no one can be an island to oneself, I still think that the best option for the Ukwa is not to cut off relationship entirely with the Ngwa. I think we should keep on relating with them and be relentless in drawing their attention to their socio-psychological inadequacies which often manifest when they meet together with the Ukwa. One example is their natural tendency to refer to a gathering of Ukwa and Ngwa Peoples as Ngwa. But each time that happens in my presence, I always call them to order. No body should blame them. It is a natural problem of majority complex or mentality.
As a matter of fact, I am conscious of the fact that Ukwa People have a very strong belief that when it is time to pursue what looks like a common agenda between Ukwa People and their Ngwa neighbours, the nomenclature would be ‘Ukwa/Ngwa’ but as soon as that goal is achieved, the name spontaneously changes to ‘Ohangwa’. These are realities of life. Even at that, I do not encourage a complete severance of links with the Ngwa.
Time and circumstances could prevail on them to change the egomania for which they have been known for centuries. As at present, things are not going down very well with them. These are a major Sub-ethnic group that openly and proudly conspired against their brother to make sure that they lost power in a State they should naturally dominate. The question is, is there any miracle that can make them retrieve power again in Abia State? Who knows?
It is not unlikely that, with time, they may have to think twice and realize that altruism in their relationship with the Ukwa might make them more relevant in a State they are bitterly disliked, than introversion. They may also appreciate that dynamics of life could bring about many transformations such as in the examples of Ukwa Comrades emerging Chairman and Secretary of NULGE in Aba-South Local Government Council despite their vow that no Ukwa indigene should record such feats.
Sir Don Ubani, who hails from Umuiku-Isi-Asa in Ukwa-West Local Government Area while his late Mother hailed from Umugo in Ugwunagbo Local GovernmentArea, is a former Commissioner for Information and Strategy in Abia State, and Publisher of Equity Global Reporters Ltd.
