OBODO, IME-UDHO, EKPE LI ẸKPẸYẸ

LINEAGE, HOUSE, FAMILY IN ẸKPẸYẸ

OBODO: LINEAGE
There are 8 Obodos in Ẹkpẹyẹ which are spread in the various towns and villages. Some towns and
villages are made up of majority of these obodos, while some others may have just few of them.
They are:
1) IMAJI-OLO (or just IMAJI) ------ The eldest
2) ISHIKOLOKO
3) EDHIWULU
4) UCHI
5) AGWOLO
6) ỌDỌGWU
7) AKPA
8) UZHI
UMU is a word used before the OBODO name to mean “children or descendants.”
People of the same obodo see themselves as brother and sister irrespective of what town or village they
are from. Someone of ỌDỌGWU lineage of Odhiokwu sees another of ỌDỌGWU lineage from another
community as his brother or sister more than he sees his next door neighbour as his brother or sister. He
can join his ỌDỌGWU brothers anywhere in any ceremony and be welcome, though he may not have
met them before.
In the olden days when Ẹkpẹyẹ’s population was much less than it is today and people lived in fewer
villages, people of the same OBODO could not get married to themselves. But, today, people of the same
OBODO do marry themselves only if what unites them is that they are of the same OBODO and not
recent history.
The same goes for one’s maternal lineage, OBODO, (UDHỌ IMENA, UDH’ IMENA).
N/B: The OBODOs are names of the grandchildren of Ẹkpẹyẹ.

IME-UDHỌ (IM’ UDHỌ): For short, UDHỌ

This means “house.”
As people of the 8 OBODOs migrated to found new settlements, they went bearing the name of their
OBODO.
Im’udho is made up of, most times, descendants of a common father.
In a community an OBODO is made up of more than one IM'UDHỌ.
If, for instance, village A was founded by someone of IMAJI, then another person of Imaji comes to join
him as a settler, the both men can decide to join things together or live separately. Where they both live
separately their descendants will bear their names as IM’UDHỌ.
For example,
Umu Osagie, Umu Ide, Umu Aga can be names of IM'UDHỌs all in IMAJI as found in a particular
community.
Population increase, migration and disagreement do lead to an IM’UDHỌ breaking and forming more
IM’UDHỌs.
Each IM’UDHO have their own chief, eldest man, and eldest woman (woman married into the house.)
EZE NWE OBODO ---------------------------- Chief of the IM’UDHỌ
UNUKANI OBODO ---------------------------- Eldest man in the IM’UDHỌ
UNUKANI UNYOMA OBODO --------------- Eldest woman in the IM’UDHỌ

ẸKPẸ: FAMILY
The IM’UDHỌ is made up of ẸKPẸs, and each ẸKPẸ has a common grandfather.
ẸKPẸ ---------------> IM’UDHỌ -------------------> OBODO
In Odhiokwu this is the number of OBODO and IM’UDHỌ

OBODO NUMBER OF IM’UDHO

ISHIKOLOKO 11 (about 11)

EDHIWULU 5

ỌDỌGWU 3

AGWOLO 1

UCHI 1