the difficulty of the British with the imposition of any kind of ruler on the igbo people was that the Igbos traditioally had no kings. Towns and villages practiced a kind of republican democracy in which assemblies made common decisions and the kindred carried out the decision of these assemblies of the people. The word eze/ ezer comes to mind today when you want to describe a king. Yet ezes are not really king but priests who offer sacrifices and act as oracles for the people. A western writer use as a criterion for describing civilizations the presence of kings and emperors. Blacks were said to be primitive with specisl reference to igbo people because they were not ruled by kings(not slaves). Laughably the same writer did not refer to the Athenians and early Romans as primitive. Today kings, emperors and strongmen are no longer in vogue. These institutions are regarded as anachronisms in almost every country today. Kingship , oligarchy and monarchy are things Igbo people had already discarded as detrimental to personal freedom for thousands of years . There is even an adage that say that to become king you had to pay off the debt of every man (free every slave) first. there were chiefs and titled men which include the Nze, Ozo, Ichie.

The typical Igboman of old, addressed as Mazi/ Maazi was a freeman who jealously guarded his freedom and rights. This shows that he had once been oppressed by strongmen somewhere in history.

With regards to my ongoing research on Igbo origins I have some interesting news which i will post soon.

Please refer to the comment the other writer had i.e. “Naija is now full of people with nze culture”. what did he mean? i.r.o poverty… greed etc

Peter also clarify please where did the Igbos get the word “IGWEE” i.e. King.

What do you say to the Kings mentioned in the Hebrew texts e.g Old testament vis a vis Igbo true/original identity?

In Ganda as I explained Nze means me or I .

You also say that Nze is a noble title

Don’t you think that it could be related to the Swahili word “Mzee” or “Mze” which can mean elder, aged, old, wiseperson, noble e.g Mze Julius Nyrerere / Kenyatta / Mandela etc

Be good

Thank you for opening my eyes, Just to comment on Nguni history . Our ancient history of the Nguni people is wrapped up in our oral history. According to legend we were a people who migrated from Egypt to the Great Lakes region of sub-equatorial Central/East Africa.[1] We migrated southwards over many centuries, with large herds of Nguni cattle, probably entering what is now South Africa around 2,000 years ago in sporadic settlement, followed by larger waves of migration around 1400 AD. Nguni peoples are pastoralist groups, ethnically part of the greater Bantu group occupying much of the East and Southern parts of Africa.
Many tribes and clans were forcibly united under Shaka Zulu. Shaka Zulu’s political organisation was efficient in integrating conquered tribes, partly due to the age regiments, where men from different villages bonded with each other. The Nguni tribes kept similar political practises to those used by Shaka Zulu.
During the southern African migrations known as mfecane, the Nguni peoples spread across a large part of southern Africa, absorbing, conquering or displacing many other peoples.

The Nguni tribes are: Zulus, Xhosa, Swazi and Ndebele and we all can understand each other’s languages. Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika is part of the national anthem of South Africa, national anthem of Tanzania and Zambia, and the former anthem of Zimbabwe and Namibia. It is a Xhosa hymn written by Enoch Sontonga in 1897. The first chorus is:

Nkosi, sikelel’ iAfrika;
Malupakam’upondo lwayo;
Yiva imithandazo yethu
Usisikelele.

Lord, bless Africa;
May her horn rise high up;
Hear Thou our prayers And bless us.

I believe that the OLU are the original inhabitants of the place known now as Igboland and the Igbo came and settled among them, intermarried among them abd produced the modern Igbo of today. The Olu were NOT CONQUERED as Igbo People were essentially peaceful traders and artisans, not warriors. Had there been war between them there would be no blessing of the olu during the breaking of kolanut. The olu may not have been homogenous ; they may have been some several small tribes whose remnants and Descendants are found in the South-South of Nigeria. This implies then that the south-east and the South-south are blood relations. This is verified oral History and linguistic evidence .

No DNA evidence exists as at now unlike the Lembas in South Africa where there is evidence of Hebrew Ancestory. Is anyone aware of a Genetic study of the Igbo Population in comparism to their Nieghbors in the South-South and Other populations world-wide that claim Hebrew ancestory?