Ita-Ini Oguntoro Egbira Opete; Our Heritage! Our Identity

For quite a while now, less than a year, after the ascension of HRM, Alhaji Dr Ahmed Tijani Muhammed Anaje, Ohinoyi Egbira, to the throne, many natives are witnessing a sudden trend and usage of native apparels especially the traditional woven clothes popularly known and called Ita-Inochi amongst the Egbira Opetes.

 Authoritative historical documents and oral narrations have it that Egbira men were known as warlords, herbal medicine practitioners, farming, hunting, carvings, fishing and even black smithing chores were a dominant Republicans in the old Kwararafa kingdom.

 The women folks of Egbiras are well known for domestic schedules, cooking, harvest duties in the farms, child bearing  and the most pronounced earlier recorded history of Egbira women vocation and trade is cloth weaving, starting from sowing of cotton seeds, harvesting cotton wool, spurning the wool to fine threads and eventually in an intrinsic manner wove clothings from locally constructed of two longitudinal stands with transversal upper and lower sticks known as Ôhorô forming the frame known as (Oguntoro), using the weaving accessories such as 'Ohasi', 'Ayãh' 'Upechi' and 'Okaha' to the threads neatly in the patterns of their choice. Ita-Inochi was so very well known and identified with Egbiras for many centuries till date.

 With the ascension of the new Ohinoyi Egbira, Ita-Inochi usage has been revitalized.  The woven fabrics which  come in various designs, sizes and qualities depending on the time frame and the available resources. 

Looking at the Woven clothes aspect, in today's global world where the whole world is now a global village, every race and patriarchal lineage choose what to be identified with, culture which is a wholesome lifestyle of certain people. The material culture and non material culture, the material culture involves dressing, domestic and farm tools, food and many more. On the aspect of dressing, the material and pattern of dressing depicts the identity of the people. 

Haven said there are various woven clothes (Itini-Oguntoro) which range from Ita-Ochi,  Ubâ, Ordine, Ita ogede, Ubaneitor, Ijanjuku and Okwuetah. The above are major Ebira native woven clothes with distinct features and uses. Okwuetah which comes in various color combinations which can be White with, Red, Black, blue and Brown stripes or White, Ash,  black and brown or White and Black, Sky and Navy blue all in longitudinal stripe. 

In the past the White and  Black was mostly showcased by the Ebiras occasionally but not uniformly used. The adoption of the same White and Black stripe woven clothes by the TIV PEOPLE becomes more renowned and now recognized with it across Nigeria and beyond.

Now the question is can we go into competition to reclaim our taking for granted costume?

"NO"

The answer to the above question gives rise to the adoption of new Dressing woven clothes (Itini Oguntoro) due to loosing of identity and mistaking the Ebiras for the TIVs whenever in the White and Black robe. The Ohinoyi of Ebiraland in his wisdom chose to pick another variety of our woven cloth and upon adoption, the five (5) Local Government Chairmen of Kogi Central Senatorial district and the Ebira Area Traditional Council at a meeting all accepted the newly adopted clothing for the uniformity use of Ebira for easy identification. The newly adopted cloth is that of the White Blue and Red stripe with white background.

Abdulhakeem Onuchi O.

From the Ohinoyi Ebira Central Palace