13/01/2024
ELELE
Omenele (Elele)
Elele Town has two markets, Ahia Ekne Oma and Ahia Ekne, called Ogwumabiri or Station Market. This Ahia Ekne Oma is a traditional Elele market situated along Elele-Owerri Rd. This market is periodic and sells on Ekne Ukwu days only. People from far and near come to buy and sell, but cassava is the exclusive right of two major communities of Omopo and Agugwuibo married women. No woman from Elele, even from the above communities but married outside the community, is allowed to.
Every market holds to itself a history that drives the town.
The second Market, Ekne Ahia Ekne, is situated along Elele-Omudioga/Omoku road. It is also known as the "Station Market", or daily Market or Ahia Ogwumabiri. It buys and sells every day, but initially, it was a periodic market trading on small eke days (every four days after Ahia Ekne Oma, meaning it buys every eight days). Like the tradition at Ahia Ekne Oma, only the married women of the Mgbuayim and Omuokpiriku communities can sell cassava in the market. Ahia Ekne Ogwumabiri is a creation of long-distance trade. Every long-distance trade requires a resting place for traders where traders would spend the night replenishing provisions and information on the state of trade routes dispersed. These rest places became marketplaces, and Eke Ahia Ekne, Station Market, or Ahia Ogwumabiri became such. The word Ogwumabiri is taken from the name of a trade town in the Ijo territory, which is OGBOLOAMABIRI- a coastal village which is an offshoot of and part of Nembe in present-day Bayelsa state where trade was carried out between the migrating Ibo traders and other long-distance traders with the Ijo and Portuguese. The word "Biri" is an ijo word referring to a place of residence, just as "AMA" is an Igbo prefix now, ijo was also added, signifying the impact of the Ibo migration to Nembe. It was at the Elele rest point where the trade stories were shared, which became the name of the market. In the words of Obi Wali,' Elele thus became the caravan route of Ikwerre Civilization'.
Ahia Ekne Oma and Ahia Ekne (Station Market) existed before the documented arrival of the Ibos in 1400, the appearance of the Portuguese in 1430 and the arrival of the Hausa to Elele in 1890. Besides the Portuguese, the arrival or passage of the Ibos and the subsequent arrival of the Hausas added prominence to the markets at Elele as they flourished. Ahia Ogwumabiri Elele took care of the migrant traders, and most of them naturalized as Elele became the connecting point or hub between the markets at Igwuocha (Port Harcourt), Ekpeye markets, Ijo markets, Kalabari/Bonny markets, and the markets of the Ibo homelands.
In the olden days, the Ahia Ekne Juju controlled both markets in Elele. AA Waga confirms the observations and assertions of Talbot, P.A., who visited Elele in 1914 and goes on to list the predecessors of Elechi Wokonwere in Ovua Omokpirikwu as 'Enyidah, Omerenyi, Wonah, and Azundah. In his words, 'It happened that it was believed that Ahia-Ekne juju was very powerful in his discharge of spiritual functions by killing evildoers instantly. It travelled in the form of shooting stars known as "Aku-Ogu-Ahia Ekne". Secondly, the juju priest did not eat anything besides plantain or old yams ready for planting. For these reasons, he was supported by the whole clan annually during the new yam festival by bringing all sorts, including plantain and old yams, to him. It was a festive and grand occasion that included dances and wrestling matches, but because of Okabam Wodoo's selfishness, stinginess, and misery to reciprocate the kind gesture, the custom of paying tributes to the juju priest of Ahia Ekne was abolished". (Waga,1999, p.46-47).
All neighbouring communities within Ikwerre local government and beyond visited the markets at Elele. It was the most significant inland Market in Ikwerre land before the acquisition of Port Harcourt in 1912/13. The Markets at Elele, most importantly, acted as a relay market where goods were exchanged and moved towards the Abaji (Atlantic) communities and to the inlands as far as Ngwa, Urhobo etc. Trade migrations heavily influenced the beliefs, language, arts, culture of the Ikwerre to a great extent.
Ekne Ahia Ekne, the daily market (Ogwumabiri) of Elele, was rebuilt after the Nigeria Biafra by the Elele Development and Planning Authority and handed over to the Ikwerre Local Government Council.
AHIA NKWO APANI
Ahia Nkwo Apani was a place of buying and selling with the neighbouring forest communities like Omele in present-day Omerelu, Ubima, Umuapnu, Umuagwo, Ilile and other Ohaji-Ikwerre communities in present-day Imo state, Elele and other Elele offshoots like Egbeda, etc., Egbu-Etche and other Etche communities. Ahia Nkwo Apani existed before Elele invaded Omele, which led to the creation of Ahia Awhnu-Omerelu. The market sells on a 4-day periodicity, especially the Nkwo day.
Every traditional market in Ikwerre has a patron deity which controls the day of trade. The Opening day was consecrated by the earlier ancestors on Nkwo days by the Nyekwa Awhnu Ezi (Chief Priest of Awhnu Ezi), the head of the Ohna Apani. The Nkwo Day was adopted because it is a day of peace; no quarrels or bloodshed is allowed, only festivities and the buying and selling agricultural surpluses. The market is divided into sections of the village (Mgbu), where the women of the section keep clean and sell their wares. People who arrive early to the market but have no stalls squat with their wares at any vacant space where they spread their goods for sale. In these markets, there are no fixed quotations for goods, so there is a lot of haggling -the seller tries to get the highest price for their produce, and the buyer tries to beat the price- and there is lots of noise.
However, recently, a new market was built by the Ikwerre Local government, which was to be a daily market at the site of the Awhnu Ezi shrine land. The market failed as a daily market because of the neighbouring markets, which fall on the subsequent days like Ahia Awhnu Omerelu after it was consecrated by Nyekwa Awhnu Ezi shrine and is now operational on small Nkwo day every 4th day. The market attracts a lot of traders from neighbouring towns like Umuapu, Ubima, Elele, Ilile (other Ohaji towns), Omerelu, Egbu-Etche and persons who come from Ijo land to buy Garri, hunted meat, pepper, etc.
