THE ORIGINS OF THE IJAWS:
The Ijaws are a people indigenous to Africa, and are descendants of the Ancient People known as the ORU (HORU, HORUS) People. Indigenous to the Nile Valley in antiquity, several waves immigrated into the West Africa Region, during ancient times. Accordingly the Ijaws have the following ancestral traditions of origin, supported by archaeology and language studies.
“…The Ijo claim four different sources as their origin. Some of them claim to have always been in their present country. A second group typified by the Ikibiri claim to have come from Egypt through Benin……A third group claims to have migrated from Ogobiri and Oproza…. But there is another tradition with Benin connection which would tend to make the Ijo the autochones (original inhabitants) of the present Edo country. According to this account, the Ijo migrated from Benin gave the Edo their form of greeting “DO”…..” from Olaniyan R (1985) Nigerian History and Culture, p51.
The Ijaws are one of the oldest Ethnic Nationalities of Nigeria.