By DEBORAH COKER

The Omu of Obio kingdom, Aniocha North in Delta, HRH, Omu Onyebuchi Okonkwo, has blamed the 1967 to 1970 civil war for the identity crisis of the Anioma people in the state.

Okonkwo said that the civil war was one of the worst things to have happened to the people of Anioma, otherwise known as Enuani-speaking Anioma.

She said this in a statement in Abuja on Friday.

According to her, that singular part of history is the sole foundation of the identity crisis we suffer today.

“It is the mother of our cultural problems. What would you rather call the blatant falsehoods being peddled by those linking us to somewhere other than the Igbo nation?

Okonkwo, who is a traditional queen and cultural leader, said: “What baffles me is how anyone can say that because his people conquered others in wars years ago, those people are now their descendants.

“If we were their descendants, will they have had the need to conquer their own children?

“If I go to Lagos or Kano and introduce myself as Onyebuchi, what would I immediately be addressed as?

“The Yorùbá would call me, ‘Om? Igbo’ and the Hausa would call me, ‘Nyammiri’. How then is it that I’m from somewhere else?

“Outside Anioma, our people claim Igbo benefits and even lead Igbo unions abroad, but once they come here, they lie through their teeth and deny their identity.

“One thing about life is that, no matter how you lie and deny your identity, your name, culture, traditions and spirituality would always be a marker.

“It’s like a lion denying being one, just because it was raised away from the jungle and in the ranch. Meanwhile, it roars just like every other lion.

“Lastly, while you argue and deny your Igbo identity, know that prior to 1967, we all proudly identified as Igbo.

“Even the people we once shared Bendel with referred to us as Igbo.” (NAN)