The claim that Rivers State, which is located in the southern region of the Nigerian federation, is not an Igbo territory has been refuted by Alhaji Asari Dokubo.

The former militant leader of the Niger Delta criticised those who identify as Ikwere and Ijaw but deny their Igbo ancestry in a widely shared video. He maintained that 80% of the state of Rivers is Igbo territory and that, for political reasons, the state’s Igbo-rooted indigenous people are determined to change their Igbo ancestry in order to further conform with their political views.

In his words: “It might not be wrong for me to say that 80% of Rivers State land is Igboland; nobody can deny it. Yes, people see me as an Ijaw man, which I identify with, but the truth is that I am an Igbo man from Abam in Abia State, like many other people in Ijaw land today.

We know that Ikwerre is Igbo – Alhaji Asari Dokubo opens up

“I don’t understand why some Ikwerre people keep denying their Igbo identity when it is clear to everyone that all Ikwerre are Igbo. There is nothing Benin about them. If they like, they can keep on changing their names, but they can’t remove Igbo from their names completely.

“Ezewuwo, not Obawuwo—Eze is an Igbo word. I don’t know how they changed the other part to wuwo, but they can’t change Eze. It is a shame for a group of grown-up people to be living in lies, deceiving themselves that they are not Igbo. But the truth is that inside, they know that they are Igbo; there’s no doubt about it.

“Ikwerre people of Rivers State are Igbos. Rivers State is also Igbo land”.

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