Leaders of Kantu community in Warri South West Council, Delta State, at the weekend, dismissed claims of Itsekiri ancestry, stating they had always been an Ijaw community since the 11th century.

The declaration may not be unconnected with the recent ward delineation in the Warri Federal Constituency by INEC, where one of the ethnic nationalities
is protesting its outcome.

The Kantu leaders, during a media conference in the riverine community, said they decided to straighten the records because of the age-long misrepresentation of Kantu community as an Itsekiri community instead of an Ijaw community.

In a statement by the Chairman of Kantu community, Windfree Atemubaghan, and fourteen other leaders including Pa Edwin Atikan Atemubagha Ama-Okosuwei, they gave a detailed history and presented evidence on why Kantu is Ijaw.

“On behalf of the people of Kantu (Ikantu) community in Gbaramatu Kingdom, Warri South West Local Government Area, Delta State, we wish to address the press in respect of an age-long misrepresentation of Kantu community as an Itsekiri community instead of an Ijaw community in Gbaramatu Kingdom, Warri South West Local Government Area, Delta State.

The Kantu (Ikantu) community is an Ijaw community from origin when Gbaramatu clan (kingdom) was founded by our ancestors in about the 11th century. The founder of Kantu community was an Ijaw man named Oweizibiri, who is a full-blooded Ijaw man from Oporoza in Gbaramatu Kingdom.

“Our ancestor, Oweizibiri, who had earlier lived in Amadino (Omadino), an Ijaw fishing settlement with his father (Tometebe), got married to Erebo, a petty trader from Ode in the Old Western Region (South West). The marriage was blessed with seven children—namely Igbon, Afughu, Korobo, and Obiti, who are all females—while Iyejo (Erejo) and Egbegha are males. It is on record that Emiemie, one of the grandchildren of Oweizibiri, was buried as an old man in Amadino (Omadino).

“The male children of Oweizibiri married Itsekiri women, who also gave birth to other children. In the course of growing up, the children were attached to their mothers, who spoke their Itsekiri dialect with them. Some of the children also intermarried with other Itsekiri indigenes. As such, the Itsekiri language became dominantly spoken by the majority of Ikantu people.

This is how the Ikantu community, which is one of the major communities in Gbaramatu Kingdom, became affiliated with the Itsekiri people. From the above, we wish to categorically inform the general public, local, state, and federal governments, and the international community that Ikantu is an Ijaw community in Gbaramatu Kingdom and is never, was never, and will never be part of the Itsekiri ethnic nationality.

“Some of the descendants of our ancestor, Oweizibiri, are still bent on alienating their father’s (Ijaw) land to their maternal Itsekiri nationality. We strongly condemn this attitude of these persons because it has created antagonism for the people of Ikantu community among their kith and kin in Gbaramatu Kingdom and the larger Ijaw nation,” the Kantu leaders stated.

They urged the federal, state, and local governments, the general public, and the international community to recognise Kantu or Ikantu as an Ijaw community, having ancestral affinity with Gbaramatu Kingdom, just as they declared their loyalty to the Pere of Gbaramatu Kingdom, HRM Oboro Gbaraun Aketekpe, Agadagba.

The spokesman of the Gbaramatu Council of Chiefs, Chief Godspower Gbenekama, said the council of chiefs was invited by the Kantu people to witness the community finally putting the issue of where they belong to rest, affirming that they are indeed children of Gbaramatu Kingdom.