The Fall of Idembia: Ezza Oral History and the Search for a Lost Shrine Object

I share an oral history of Idembia, regarded by many Ezza people as an ancestral centre founded by Okpoku, son of Ezekuna. Family traditions say the town had a succession of 12 ancestral Ezes before British forces destroyed its stockade during a 1906 campaign linked to resistance over taxation and access routes. The account also traces a sacred shrine box said to have been taken from the Aboine River area and later registered in the British Museum’s Africa collection. Museum notes reportedly describe it only in broad colonial terms, leaving major questions about its collector, original location and how it reached London. I am gathering records and oral testimonies for a heritage petition and have requested further documentation from the museum. The list of Ezes and parts of the account are based on Idembia oral tradition, so I welcome corrections and additional evidence from elders and descendants.

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