Uzere

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Uzere is located in the Isoko South Local Government Area (LGA) of Delta State of Nigeria. It has become one of the largest petroleumoil producing communities in Nigeria, resulting in a huge shift from its primary agrarian status, since the early 1960s.

[edit] History

Uzere is a community with three quarters namely Uheri, Ezede and Uweye.

While some people believed that the Uzere people originated from the Benin kingdom, others disagree. Obaro Ikime, professor of history at the University of Ibadan, states "If there is any aspect of the history of the various peoples of Nigeria about which no one can speak with any exactitude, it is that which deals with the origins of our peoples" [1]. The belief that most of the Isoko groups (of which Uzere is a part) are of Benin origin were views held and expressed in the 1960s and 1970s. These views were "decidedly simplistic and were based on British Intelligence Reports of the 1930s"[2] and Ikime's field work of 1961-1963.

But these views or historical accounts, albeit oral, make interesting reading. For instance some people have posited that Uzere originated from the Benin kingdom in the year 1393 during the reign of a Benin Monarch named Oba Ehengbuda. They came from Benin under the leadership of a man named Uzei which gave rise to the name UZERE. Uzei had three surviving sons namely, UHERI, EZEDE AND UWEYE.

This account holds that when they left the Benin kingdom (also called 'Aka' by the Isoko people), they first settled at Isele-Uku. After a while they migrated to the River Niger bank at Asaba. From Asaba, they migrated further to Eboh in Ndokwa. From Eboh they built their own settlement which they called Eruke. After they built Eruke, the account goes, one of the sons, Okugbo, wanted to return to the Benin kingdom to buy 'kingship' rights from the Oba of Benin so that he could be crowned king of his people.

When Okugbo got to Benin, the Oba sent him to the Eboh king so he could buy his 'kingship' rights from him. The Eboh king crowned him the very first king of his people in the year 1453. After a while, the Eboh king invited king Okugbo to visit with him. He accepted this invitation but was accused of committing an atrocious act in Eboh-land during the visit and for that he was killed by the Eboh people.

War broke out between these two peoples due to the killing of king Okugbo. The Uzei people had a deity which they worshiped and the deity, the accounts goes, instructed the people to "dig themselves underground" to await the Ebohs. The people obviously misinterpreted this instruction. And instead of getting themselves ready for war, as was the intended meaning of the instruction, actually buried themselves waist and neck deep in ground. Most were massacred when the Ebohs invaded.

After the massacre, most of the surviving Uzei people sought safety in the present day UZERE town while the rest moved to Odi, in present day Bayelsa State. This, the account believes, explains the kinship that exists between Uzere and Odi today.