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BAHIA is the Portuguese word for BAY.

MAFRA is the name of a Portuguese coastal city.

Bay of Mafra of Mafra Bay, later corrupted by the English mariners to BIAFRA.

The name, Biafra, is said to have arisen from the English corruption of the word, MAFFRAS or MAFRE. The Portuguese named one of the rivers found around the Bight of Biafra, “Rio de Maffras.” It simply means Maffras River or the River Maffras in English.

The river was named after a small port city around Lisbon, Portugal. It’s possible that the Portuguese mariners who gave that name were natives of Maffras (Mafre), a seafaring municipality.

River Mafra was probably corrupted to Bay of Mafra and later, BAY-AFRA with the letter “M” dropped. BAY-A-FRA was most likely corrupted to Biafra.

BAY-A-FRA = BIAFRA.

There was no part of Igboland called Biafra before, during and after the colonial period. Also, no ethnic group outside of Igboland regarded themselves either as Igbos or Biafrans. In fact, it is true that the Igbo race were once upon a time, one and the same with the Yorubas; and, possibly the Igallas (Igarras) and the Benins. Sometime in very remote antiquity, the Igbos and Yorubas fractured and became separate races. Biafra was the name given by Portuguese mariners to a region encompassing pre-colonial southwestern Cameroon and the easternmost fringes of Old Calabar. If the late Ijaw NCNC stalwart, Frank Opigo had not suggested BIAFRA as the name of Col. Ojukwu’s secessionist republic, Igbos, Nigerians and indeed the world at large would rarely mention that name now.

Frank Opigo suggested the name, Ojukwu accepted it and the Igbos have ran with it ever since.

The Igbo language is very similar to Yoruba and, according Prof. Philip Emeagwali, Igbos and Yorubas are really blood relatives. A few years ago, Bolaji Aremo wrote a book titled, “How Igbo and Yoruba Became Different Languages”, a must read for anyone interested in exploring the common origins of both ethnic groups. At some point, likely between the 15th and 17th centuries, there seem to have been a mass–and steady flow of Igbos from the west into the eastern regions of modern Nigeria. That forced migration resulted in the occupation of numerous Ibibio towns and villages by the Igbo.

At Old Ibom (now Arochukwu), the Ibibios fought the combined forces of Ejagham, Igbo and Akpa (Jukun?) for the control of that territory. It was Ibibioland. The Igbos and eastern Ekois were previously subjects and perhaps pilgrims to Old Ibom (Arochukwu), the Ibibio center of Ibit Itam religious worship. Many newly-arrived Igbo migrants are said to have been slaves or servants hired to serve the Ibit Itam priests known as OKU (Kohanim or Cohen in Hebrew). Old Ibom was also known as Mbot Abasi (God’s creation) as well as Akwa Ibom Abasi (the mighty kingdom or nation of God). The Ibibios created, operated and administered—and still administer themselves through a priestly monarchy. They’re the only group in Nigeria who call themselves GOD’S OWN PEOPLE. A good example of that is the Ibibio city called Ikot Abasi (People of God) in Akwa Ibom State. The ARO-IGBO transliteration of AKWA IBOM ABASI, is AROCHUKWU.

The Ibibios Jews who migrated to that region also built pyramids at Nsudi (Nsude) for sun worship and the veneration of their Earth and fertility goddess, Isu ma (Isu ama). Yam and other festivals were held there long before the arrival of the Igbo to the area. Old Ibom and its Ibit Itam shrines, temples, oracles (Long Juju) and civilization were created by the Ibibios but the original Ibit Itam Shrine itself was later lost to the Aro-Igbo invaders. Ibibio territories like Aba, Itu Mbon Uso (Itu Mba Uzo), Mbente (Bendi), Udi, parts of Owerri, etc., are now integral parts of Igboland albeit with very sizeable populations of assimilated Ibibios who now speak dialects largely unintelligible to most Igbos living within those territories. Ever wondered why some Igbos don’t understand the dialects spoken by other “Igbos”? Those are mostly the assimilated Ibibios who speak a mixture of Ibibio, Igbo and perhaps other borrowed tongues.

Although Old Ibom is under Igbo control, the fact remains that the Aros have far more Ibibio blood in them than that of any other ethnic group. During the slave trade era, huge numbers of indigenous Ibibios of Old Ibom (Arochukwu) were regularly kidnapped and marched down to Old Calabar where they were sold to European slave ships. Some were enslaved right there in Calabar, too.

Besides sharing common borders with the Igbo people, the Ibibios have very little in common with them, although they have continued to inter-marry, trade and co-exist as friendly neighbors for the most part. Within the current political dispensation, as it has always been since Nigeria’s inception, the Ibibio people, arguably Nigeria’s fourth largest group when all its splintered parts are gathered, remains marginalized and trapped as an oil-rich, but severely-impoverished province of the pseudo-nation. What the Ibibios need is a nation of their own. However, if they are forced to remain within the British-owned ‘cash cow’ called ‘One-Nigeria’, then, they must join forces with the greater Niger Delta region to form a viable confederacy.

If Nigeria splits up, the Ibibios must seek their own future, independently of others. If need be, Nigeria’s “God’s own people” must align themselves with other Niger Deltans to create the much-touted Niger Delta Republic, with the Igbo-dominated Biafra as one of its neighbors and trading partners. Any thoughts of one group appropriating other people’s land and resources must be resisted at all costs.

According to Wikipedia, ‘”The best defense is a good offense” is an adage that has been applied to many fields of endeavor, including games and military combat. It is also known as the strategic offensive principle of war.'” That means every ethnic nation must be armed and fully prepared for any and all eventualities, or risk being overran and enslaved by others.

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