Anyone telling you Eri is the first Igbo man is just a clown. Onye nkọgheri.
The myth and oral history about the Eri which elders told was that he fell from the sky when the earth was still not strong and met an Ọka (Awka) man who was a blacksmith.
The Ọka man used his tools to make the earth strong. Afterwards, Eri gave birth to Nri. That means that before Eri was an Ọka man from this oral tradition.
To push the Nri hegemony, which started getting momentum by some, in the 70s, this agelong oral tradition was yanked off.
It got more funnier when some funded a different tales of Eri coming from Gad because they saw it in the Bible. They saw Eri written in the Bible, then this Eri must be the one who fathered Nri.
From there they push out narrative that Anambara bụ isi Igbo because the first Igbo man came from there.
Very laughable to say the least.
Most southern Igbo only know Nri as ndị na-akpụ arụ. Cleansing and priestly duties.
How can you tell an Arọ man that he came from Nri abi na Eri?
All this things dey funny...
Igbo is a nation. Even in your village, people came from different places and intermarry.
While Nri formed different communities, Arọ formed more Igbo Communities than Nri.
Arọ extended to Oturkpa, Oturkpa. You even wondered why the Idoma and Igbo have a lot in common—Arọ people. Arọ formed different clans in some places now under Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Delta, etc.
You cannot be talking Igbo history, narrowing it with Nri without first mentioning Arọ. Again, nobody can tell you that the Igbo started from Arọ. Igbo is deep. Some part of Aniọma only know about Nshi people through trade. Nshi people are Nri people.
Professor Elizabeth Isichie has this highlighted in her historical book: "Igbo World".
Nobody... Nobody is the father of ndị Igbo. Nobody is known as the first Igbo man to be here. It's never the fictitious Eri. Igbo is wide and deep.
(C) Maazi Ogbonnaya Okoro 2021
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