22/09/2026
THE REVERSED MIGRATION OF SOME OF THE ESAN PEOPLE AND THE ESAN PEOPLE AT LARGE.
Some of the Esan people who migrated or sujourend from Esanland towards the present day Edo south senatorial district happened to also be the same Esan people who later embarked into a reversed migration and came back to Esanland to come and rejoin their Esan people at home, Esan were already existing, Esan already had their Esan settlements in Esanland ever before Idu-Igodomigodo or Benin Kingdom was formed. The Esan history started in Esanland and not in Benin kingdom kingdom, Esan people did not emanate from any monarchical system/kingdoms, rather, the Esan people shifted into monarchical system many years after the Esan settlements in Esanland.
The name Esan refers to the people, their language, unique culture, and identity. Unlike some other tribes in Nigeria. The Esan people did not evolve into a centralised entity. Rather, Esan can perfectly be described as a loose confederation of 35 independent kingdoms.
Although, there are clans in Esan who their oral historic origin porsit; their ancestors has been in Esanland since the beginning of time. There are three waives of migration that formed the Esan kingdom of today.
First, the migration of the autochthonous Esan ( i.e., the earliest Esan people), who derived their origin from the Nok Cultural Zone. The North East of the Niger Benue Confluence. An area which extends to the south western edge of the Jos plateau before 1000BC.
These earliest Esans who moved to the savannah forest ecotone in Esanland started colonizing the forest around 500 A.D by building mini kingdoms called (Iyala).
Note that the Iyala (Earthworks) in Esanland predates the earthworks in the present day Benin (Edo South).
It is important to state that, it is not only Esans who were part of this migration. Other related tribes like the Utantan Ogieamien, Urhobos, Isokos, Degema, Epie Attisa, the Owan, Akoko Edo and the Etsako all derived their origin from Central Nigeria, there was no primary migration that started from the South, our various languages evolved and emerged from the central.
The second migration is when some of the Esans who migrated southward to found Igodomigodo returned back to Esanland to form settlements alongside the autochthonous Esans, who were already settled for thousands of years.
Among those are the three children of Ojiso Owodo, the last Ojiso who reigned in Igodomigodo with their mother Queen Oakha. The first son and heir to the throne. The third and fourth son. Returned back to Esanland and settled in Ugboha, Uromi, Uzea, etc before 10th century.
Lastly, the waive of migration to Esanland during Oba Ewuare 1, in 14 century. Like the three children of Ojiso Owodo, these Esans were originally part of the primary migration from the Nok Cultural Zone. However, they didn't settle primarily like the autochthonous Esans. They journeyed southward to found Igodomigodo with other ethnic nationalities.
Igodomigodo was a multicultural society built by devise ethnic groups. Including the Esans, Urhobos, Isokos and others. After the collapse of Ojiso or Ogiso dynasty and the usher in of a foreign dynasty from Yorubaland, (OBA DYNASTY). Some Esans in Igodomigodo migrated back to Esanland to settle with the already established quarters in the territories of Esanland due to Oba cruelty.
It is also very important to note that the Ojiso, or Ogiso dynasty collapse in the present day Edo South, the now Benin kingdom, but in Esanland, Ojiso dynasty remains the monarchical system of the Esan Kingdoms, because in reality, the Esan people are unadulterated people and a distinct people from the Binis who owns their origin to the Ile-Ife Yoruba people, though the Benin people trying so hard to hide their Yoruba origin because of the supremacy they're arrogantly arrogating to themselves.
