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NKALAHA The name Nkalaha is a coinage which stands for a people occupying a geographical land and regional setting in the eastern part of Nigeria. It is a coinage which attempts to explain the direction of movement and adventure of the men who founded the community in the 15th century AD. According to oral sources and some documentation about this community, some of these men were believed to have traveled from Ida, old Benue state of Nigeria to inhabit the land. These men had traveled on different days to locate the place. Onojah who originally founded the land was said to have been in a deep search for a place of safety as he was besieged by a fate that appeared to make him somewhat incompatible with his own people.

Nkalaha is one of the communities that make up Ishielu Local Government Area of Ebonyi State. Nkalaha occupied the northern part of Ishielu Local Government Area. She is located through the zip 135.031.000. The community sits on 923.768km2. She shares boundaries with neighbouring communities. These communities are: Eha-Amufu (North-west); Agila (North); Ngbo in Ohaukwu (east); Umuhualu (South); Ezillo (south-south), Amazu (South-west) and Obeagu (West). She belongs to the group of communities that make up Igbo-Asa communities. These communities include: Nkalaha, Obeagu, Amazu, Umuhualu, Nkalagu, Ezillo and Iyonu. Of these communities, the early four are collectively called Igbo Ano These ones are so called because they believed to have the same ancestral history and origin. These four communities share things in common and see themselves as brothers.

The land Nkalaha comprises a large landscape that carries more than 4,32000 populations. She is a large community comprising four un-autonomous communities (locally called Nkpuru) organized into one, pursuing a common goal and aspiration. These un-autonomous communities include: Amaezegba, Umulesha, Amegu and Amaokwe. Each of these communities is composed of many villages put together. All these villages had their deliberations on issues that concern them separately. These meetings usually held at each village’s playground had been the binding wire and bond that hold the villagers together and keep them focused towards their common goals. On matters concerning the communities in general, the inhabitants meet at Obobochi, the central play ground to discuss it. Whatever is concluded by the inhabitants at Obobochi playground stands, it cannot be thwarted.

According to oral sources and the prestigious adaptation of the long narrative poem, Onojah Epic (Nnaji 2003), the land that housed the entire population today called Nkalaha was founded 11th century ago by, mainly, three hunters believed to have travelled from Ida during a hunting expedition. Of the three were Onojah, Oji and Okpanshi. Other people came (some, through the same mission) to inhabit the land afterward. Among these were Awo and his brother Edenneye, and Eke and also his brother Egbu. These had come from Ezaa and Ikwo respectively.

These men lived peacefully as brothers and share things in common. Onojah as well as the other two continued in their profession, however with little inclusion of arable farming of yams. They cultivated the head of the yams they had eaten. During a hunt, after many years, Onojah came closer to a stream where he had a noise from the other side of the stream. Another thought came into him; he thought it was an animal to hunt. He moved further, getting to the bank of the stream, he saw another hunter. They explained themselves, then Onojah brought out a piece of liver from his hunting bag. They ate together and vowed to remain undivided. The other hunter, who told him of his name as Ogudu, requested that they meet the next day. As was agreed, they came and reaffirmed their covenant. That day, they set the boundary of the two communities at Amia (the very stream where they met during hunting expedition).

Edina had had a son before this time. He was called Ofu, for he was named after his mother’s village. In the contemporary Nkalaha, Ofu refers to the instinct which he believed had given him - Onojah - protection and care in his days of hobo. (In Nkalaha language, Ofu means the wall built usually at the front and around a compound which can obscure someone from beholding another at opposite direction. When the wall is built round without any compound, such is called Uhvo or Itere). Onojah took another wife which gave birth to two sons, Omaba and Oyide. By this time Awo had come into the land and was accommodated also as a brother. He was given the hilly part of the land, southward. Awo came together with his brother, Edeneye. Both were descendants of Ezekuna; the ancestral father of Ezza. Awo’s descendants are called Amaezegba community. The last to come into the land was “Eke and his brother, Egbu.” they came from Ikwo. They founded Amegu communitiy. By this time and beyond, people had come to live in the land with the aforementioned men to make their villages.

One day, Onojah received visitors from Ama-Nkalu. They had come to know Onojah’s rout. He received them and told them how he founded his new home. Other founding fathers were there with him. The strangers returned to their home. On a return visit, Onojah went with his own people; the fathers of other villages. They were received. The eldest man, after their introduction, referred to them as the Nkalu who live beside Eha-Amufu. With time the words were coined to Nkalaha. (Traditional history holds that Nkalaha was so called because the founders passed through Eha-Amufu).

As days went by, Onojah continued to advance in his hunting lifestyle. He lived in peace with his family and the rest of the people around him. While the family continued to enlarge in the number of friends and unexpected visitors, needs continued also to seek for more people to meet up with the services required. Onojah took a third wife. This he married from Umuogirii. But she was very unlucky, unlike the two older wives; her womb was closed by the gods. She couldn’t conceive all through her days in Onojah’s house. Because Onojah was easy going and had vowed to love all his wives, he never segregated among them. Edina remained his best wife in all ramifications, even as she too maintained a uniform relationship among her younger wives. The last wife was given every support capable of making her feel belonging.

Onojah encountered his death after he was confronted by his personal spirit during hunting. It was next to evening when he had almost concluded his hunting for the day. His hunting dog went back–and-forth in an uneasy solitude. Shortly it entered the bush. Onojah did not mind since such had been its normal lifestyle. Stepping an inch further, he heard the dog shouted once (fiercely) and was heard no more. He knew immediately that all was not well. When he got to the scene, he saw the dog lying dead and two younger lions feeding on it. He attempted to retreat when the mother lion jumped from the tree branch over him. He tried to escape but the lion was very mean. Before he could apply his bow in defence, the lion’s claw was already on his head. He strove and killed the lion which left him with a deep wound at the slant height above his medulla position.

The injury he sustained kept him in-door all through that season. Within those days he was on bed he gave instructions on how things should be done, for he knew that what he had fought and killed were mere symbol of his time to return home. That very year, at the end of wet season and the inception of winter, Onojah left. Before his departure, he shared authorities to his sons and other founders. These titles and rites served the purpose of every protocol in Nkalaha even hitherto.