Opanda Kingdom
Opanda Kingdom was an ancient African kingdom located in what is now Nigeria.
Ancient history
The ancient Opanda Kingdom was founded by the Egbura ethnic group. Its growth culminated in the Umaisha ,(Oherehu) which is now the alternative seat of Opanda.
Opanda was first established in the 11th century, abandoned in the middle of the 16th century, and reoccupied around 1750.[1] Opanda was ruled by the [[Egbura/between 1349 and 1385 In the middle of the 16th century, some of the inhabitants emigrated to Apa II, north of Idah, where the Egbura, had already settled. Ebele, the daughter and successor of Abutu Eje who was the founder of Igala Kingdom. A dispute over Idah's kingship which led to the migration of several groups. The group led by Ohemi Ozi Egye first settled at Onyokain, the present-day Kogi State; later they moved to Okangbo in the present-day Nasarawa State and then moved to Igugbaka in the present-day Kogi state.
Amid a succession dispute following the death of Ohemi Ozi Egye, Ohimi and Ohetenye took their followers west and settled at Girinya in the present-day Kogi state. Some years later Ohimi's brother Owutu founded the present-day Kotonkarfe (Igu). A third group, led by Ohimenegedu, the grandson of Ohemi, moved east in 1750 and reoccupied the city of Opanda in the present-day Nasarawa state. The sister kingdoms of Opanda and Igu/koto karfe flourished side by side maintaining bilateral cooperation in a manner that ensured their mutual protection against external aggression.the kingdom dates way back in time. According to the accounts of a British explorer, McGregor Laird, in the diary of his trip up the Benue River, “the Egbura (ethnic group) founded the Kingdom of Opanda in 1750.” The kingdom was equally blessed with visionary leaders who ensured its survival through the rough socio-political climate of the pre-colonial time when might was the determinant of political and economic power.The Ohimegye dynasty is said to be as far back as the 11th century. Some historians noted that an account by Dr. Baikie, another British explorer, who visited Umaisha in 1854 during the reign of Ohimegye Ogara, gave the suggested year of the establishment of the kingdom to be 1750 without taking note of its existence prior to the movement to Idah and back to Opanda before the commencement of the line of kings whose list he met. Similarly, a book titled Notes on Nassarawa Province, Nigeria, written by Sciortino, J. C and printed by Waterlow & Sons Limited, London, 1920, gives insightful perspectives on the ancient kingdom in this regard.In the case of the Egbura ethnic group, even before Kwararafa assumed its status as one of the most powerful empires in West Africa before the 16th century, Opanda was a well defined political entity back in the 11th century.
References
- E O Erim, 1981, Idoma Nationality: Problems of studying the origin and development of Ethnicity. Nigeria: Fourth Dimension Publishing Company
The establishment and rise of Opanda Kingdom