Nando Community

Iguedo

There have been numerous accounts on the life and person of Iguedo. Her history seems to have been a greater puzzle to Historians than that of Eri/Dabawor. However, none of the accounts about her can be out-rightly and correctly accepted or rejected as some of the data came purely through oral tradition and scanty archaeological discoveries although there is near unanimity in the various accounts concerning the strong connection between an individual called Iguedo and the towns that constitute Umu-Iguedo clan.

One of the more accepted opinions hold that she was a daughter of Eri^[2]. It is said to have had two wives. The first bore five children: Agulu (founder of Aguleri); Nri Ifiakuanim; Nri Onugu (founder of Igbariam); Ogbodudu (the founder of Amanuke); and a daughter, Iguedo, who bore the founders of Ogbunike, Awkuzu, Umuleri and Nando. The smissind wife, Oboli, gave birth to Onoju who left the Anambra area and became the founder of Igala land.

A second group of thought attempted to tag her as Eri’s daughter who was allowed by her father to bear children at home without been married. However, the Oral tradition of the entire Iguedo clans disagree with this assertion as it would have amount to bastardization of Culture if Eri made such a taboo as all of their tradition indicates paternal origin.

A third opinion asserts that Iguedo came from either Agukwu or Onitsha. However, not many people share this view. That Iguedo came from Agukwu (Nri) could be an attempt to explain her relationship with the people of Nri. If she is said to have come from Onitsha, that may again be an effort to account for the profound respect which some parts of Onitsha accord her. It was very well known that olili-nne-Iguedo was celebrated by some Onitsha indigenes.

Iguedo’s relationship with the people of Onitsha is supported by an oral tradition that asserts that the progenitors of the towns of Umu-Iguedo clan were born out of successive marriages of Iguedo to several men. She had first married Nnamenyi and gave birth to Ogbunike, Awkuzu and Ogboli. Later, she got married to Riam (or Osodi) from Nri, and the fruit of their marriage was Eri (progenitor of Umuleri). Finally, Nnamovo, a man who was believed to have come from Onitsha married Iguedo and she gave birth to Nando. It was in the land founded by Nando that Iguedo died and was buried.^[3]

However, another group counters that after her marriage to Nnamenyi, Eri took her as a wife and she bore him Dabawor (founder of modern Umuleri). At the demise of Eri, she then got married to Iru, a hunter and herbalist with whom she bore Ndo (the founder of Nando). ^[4]

However, these attempts to credit Iguedo as the maternal ancestry of Umueri town seems to contradict the widely accepted knowledge that Iguedo was a daughter of Eri^[5] as there was no way She could be a daughter of Eri and still get married to him or his son in order to beget Umueri. This would be tantamount to taboo or "nso ani" in Igbo Culture. This error by some scholars might have been due to the celebration, ‘olili nne Iguedo’, which was also known to have been held at Nneyi Umueri over the years.

Umueri version of Iguedo's history

This is supported by a version of Umueri oral tradition which asserts that Iguedo was the daughter of Nnamenyi^[6], a sibling and co-traveler of Dabawor. Her Father Nnamenyi was regarded in this version as the founder of a portion of Umueri land known today as “Nneyi Umueri” (Short form of Nnamenyi Umueri). She was quoted to have married various men that included one of the earlier founders of Ogbunike, Onitsha Ado, Awkuzu, and Nando.

Her Death

On her death at Nando after a lengthy protracted sickness, Nando was said to have invited the rest of the Umu-Iguedo clans for burial arrangement and also sent a message to the other children of Nnamenyi informing them of their daughter’s death. But then there was commotion and arguments on where to bury her body. Ogbunike who was the eldest of the Iguedos wanted the body to be taken home (Ogbunike) for burial since they are the children of the first child but Nando Objected on the ground that they were the people that took care of her during her old age. Unknown to all of them, Umueri delegates went outside for private talk and after deciding among themselves that their daughter’s corpse would not be lost to others (“Ozu nwa ada ana efu na mba”), returned singing war music. They further proceeded to cut off her head and took it home with them where it was buried in Nneyi Umueri. This marked the cultural ritual of returning the female corpse back to her ancestral home in Igbo adegbe area of Igboland (“Ibunata Ozu Nwa Ada”)

Today the trace of her tomb is found in the Shrine of the Aro Oracle of Umueri while her body was finally buried in Nando. In order to commemorate her memorial, there was a traditional annual Iguaro & "Oriri nne Iguedo" celebrated in Nneyi Umueri and Nnado respectively till this very day. And all her Children and relatives are expected to be there for the rituals.

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