FOUNDING

 

FOUNDING

History is said to be dormant without a social stir. Hence, the most plausible account after examining records and fact of Etuno history is outlined below. Igarra was founded in about 1740 by emigrants from the ancient Kwararafa Confederacy which was located in the present Wukari area of Taraba State. Thier existence in Kwararafa Confederacy with certain other ethnicities suggests that they migrated to the place too from another place where they had lived earlier most probably a point outside the boundaries of the present day Nigeria as it was with virtually all the peoples which now occupy Nigeria.

The most reliable records unanimously uphold that Igarra people's sojourn in Kwararafa Confederacy was brought to an end by their decision to leave in search of a new abode devoid of multiethnic demography where they could govern themselves as a federation. On their way away from Kwararafa area, and in search of this new home they traversed the areas which fall within today's Eastern Benue State and Northern Cross River State where some of their co emigrants broke away to find a permanent abode. This explains why certain towns and villages in this axis are found to speak languages in which a lot of words bear exactly the same meaning as with the language spoken in Igarra (Etuno Language).

Etuno people however continued in the westward direction of their originally intended destination of hope, and broke the migration movement at Igala area where they sojourned with the natives under a monarchical system which was however alien to them given the Confederal background in Kwararafa. Their sojourn at Igala was cut short by their incompatibility with a centralized monarchical system. Therefore they left Igala still in search of a new abode this time to the Western side of River Niger. This final exodus was lead and coordinated mainly by four figures known to history as Agbogumoza, Oshemi  Ozoko, Ausere and Igu Renyirenyi. However, along the way in the search for the present and final destination, some groups of the migrants made short sojourns at several points hence arrival in Igarra ended up being in batches of these groups which became known as "Anda" in Igarra today. The word Anda in Igarra Language actually simply connotes a group of persons connected by a common identity, common interests, or common experience. This explains how it came to be used in describing the batches of arriving migrants.