How Azikiwe Rewrote Onitsha’s Origins
HISTORY, MEMORY AND ROYAL MIGRATION
Autobiography as Historical Archive
IN My Odyssey, Nigeria’s first President, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, does more than recount a life of politics and nationalism. He opens a rare historical window into the contested origins of Onitsha, anchoring the city-state firmly within the broader Benin imperial tradition. Through genealogical detail, oral memory, and personal reflection, Azikiwe transforms autobiography into historical documentation.
Unlike conventional colonial-era historiography that often treated Igbo societies as acephalous and isolated, Azikiwe’s narrative situates Onitsha within a royal migratory tradition originating from Benin in the mid-18th century. His account challenges simplistic ethnic boundaries and underscores the interconnectedness of precolonial Nigerian polities.
Prince Chima and the Founding of Onitsha
Central to Azikiwe’s account is Prince Chima, also known as Ohime, a Benin royal who led a faction of warrior-adventurers out of Idu (Benin) during a dynastic conflict. According to My Odyssey, this migration culminated in the founding of Onitsha Ado N’Idu around 1748 AD.
Azikiwe is explicit about lineage. He traces both his paternal and maternal ancestry to Eze Chima, asserting that five rulers of Onitsha were direct descendants of this Benin prince. This genealogical mapping is not incidental; it is Azikiwe’s method of legitimising historical claims through bloodlines preserved in royal memory.
Oral Tradition as Historical Evidence
One of the most compelling aspects of My Odyssey is Azikiwe’s reliance on oral transmission, particularly narratives passed down by his grandmother. Through these recollections, readers learn not only of migration routes but of cultural attitudes, aristocratic consciousness, and identity formation.
The etymology of “Onitsha,” derived from Onini (to despise) and Ncha (others), is presented as evidence of a self-perceived aristocratic heritage rooted in Benin royalty. While modern readers may question the moral implications of such superiority narratives, historically, they reveal how origin myths functioned as social ordering tools.
Fragmentation and Settlement Across the Niger
Azikiwe also documents how splinter groups from the Benin exodus settled in various communities now known as Onitsha-Ugbo, Onitsha-Olona, Ossomari, Aboh, Issele-Ukwu and others. This dispersal reinforces the idea that the Onitsha migration was not an isolated event but part of a wider demographic reshaping of the Niger-Benue corridor.
A Political Leader Writing Against Erasure
Written in a postcolonial context, My Odyssey must also be read as an intellectual resistance to historical erasure. Azikiwe, aware of how African histories were distorted or dismissed, insists on documenting indigenous origins from indigenous voices. His homage to the Oba of Benin during his lifetime further validates the continuity of this shared royal past.
My Odyssey thus stands as both memoir and monument—an assertion that Nigerian history did not begin with colonialism, nor can it be neatly compartmentalised by modern ethnic labels.
