The Sun News Online

Welcome to the famous port settlement of Koko. On the surface, few things stand out, which make Koko special in any way. However, a scratch beneath the surface throws up so much more: Did you know that Koko is possibly the only town, whose aborigines are all princes and princesses? Did you know that this town got its name from the cocoyam? Did you know that this former cocoyam-growing community now relies on other lands for that tuber?

Welcome, once again to Koko, home of the immortal King Nanna of the Itsekiri. Although King Nanna permanently etched this Itsekiri land on the world map, Koko also boasts one of Nigeria’s richest museums, The Nanna Living History Museum, which was apparently named in honour of the celebrated warrior, whose similarly brave soldiers held off British invaders in fierce battles that lasted for three months.

Who was Nanna?
Nanna Olomu, who lived from 1840 to 1916, was born at Jakpa, now in Warri North LGA, according to Mr. JOS Ayomike, Chairman, Friends of Nanna Living History Museum, Koko. Nanna was a son of Olomu, a powerful and successful merchant and warrior. Nanna’s mother was Omamese, an Effurun-Urhobo woman from Uvwie L.G.A. The chairman of friends of Koko Museum also recalled that Nanna’s father, Olomu, was a son of Asoruku, a descendant of Abejoye, the 10th Olu of Warri, and that Olomu’s mother was Iweroko, a daughter of the premier Ologbotsere chieftaincy family in Warri Kingdom.

Ayomike again: “Nanna grew up first as a paddler in his father’s war boat, then as one of his father’s bodyguard, before he got promoted as a commander. Later, like his father, he became a powerful potentate, a wealthy and influential merchant, whose prosperous commercial empire in the then Warri and Benin River Districts was second to none in the entire Niger Coast Protectorate.
“After the death of his father, in 1884, Nanna became governor of Itsekiri country through whom the British Consuls, then stationed in the districts, were to regulate trade with the Itsekiri. But as things developed, Nanna, a genius, became too strong to yield his own position and authority to protect his territory and people to the British.” For standing up to the imperialist interlopers, “Nanna’s empire had to be liquidated and hence the British mounted a three-month ferocious siege on Ebrohimi his homestead,”

Ayomike further recorded.
Nanna was subsequently dethroned by invading British interlopers and later sent into exile. Nanna’s refusal to surrender his sphere of influence “was his offence against imperialism which, ironically, had been created and fuelled at the 1885 Berlin Conference designed to partition Africa, the Dark Continent, for European exploitation,” noted Mr. Ayomike.
Although Nanna lost the famed Ebrohimi War, which raged for three months from July to September 1894, his defeat would ironically reinforce his people’s respect for him.

Nigeria’s New America
The Itsekiri community of Koko, like Jakpa, birthplace of Nanna, lies in Warri North Local Government Area (LGA) of Delta State. Interestingly, Koko is also fondly called New America. While the tourist visiting Koko today might not see anything justifying the foisting of a New Colombia epithet on this quasi-village, this town has had its share of fame and fortune as well as vicissitudes, too. Truly, Koko boasts history countless settlements can only dream of. However, there’s more to Koko than tales of lost glories. Koko’s fantastic repository, Nanna Living History Museum, is actually one of the best in the country.

National Museum Koko
Although Koko had some inhabitants prior to 1906, it was the arrival there, of the historic Nanna of the Itsekiri that launched this riparian village to worldwide fame. However, let’s take on Koko’s more recent claim to fame in the name of the Nanna Living History Museum.
The Nanna Living History Museum is a specialized repository dedicated to the memory of Nanna. After engaging the British invading troops for three months, Nanna subsequently gave himself up and was tried by a kangaroo court, which sentenced him to exile. Nanna first spent two years in Calabar before being sent to Ghana, where he lived for 10 years before he was allowed to return to Itsekiri land. It was after this homecoming, in 1906, that Nanna started the construction of his home.

Although Nanna was deposed, convicted and sent into exile, his vicissitudes only served to boost his popularity because he came to epitomize courage, bravery and welcome opposition to the invading interlopers, whose sole interest in Africa seemed to be the exploitation of the locals’ resources. The Nanna Living History Museum is run by the National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM) and stands off Olomu Road, one of the two or three major avenues across Koko.
The main block of Nanna Living History Museum used to be the residence of the famed monarch, which all residents of Koko Town simply knew as Nanna Palace, until the Federal Government, through the NCMM, took it for a museum. Nanna’s Palace was declared a National Monument on August 2, 1990 and is protected by Decree No. 77 of 1979.

Nanna Living History Museum is one of Nigeria’s richest and well-maintained repositories. Aside the spick ‘n’ span environment, Nanna Living History Museum holds priceless antiquities, which serve as evidence of the economic prowess, nobility, military genius and Nanna’s love of his nation’s freedom from exploitative intruders.

Pa Tony Nanna is caretaker of Nanna Living History Museum. Currently 70 years old, Pa Tony assumed duty as caretaker of that repository in April 2001, following the passage of Mr. Robert Ate Nanna, the founding head of station of National Museum Koko. The late Pa Robert, who died on August 22, 2000 at the age of 85, was the last son of the late Chief Nanna Olomu. Pa Tony is also a direct descendant of the celebrated Itsekiri monarch, and the museum caretaker also introduced us to Mr. Tesimode Ate Nanna, a grandson of the late revered monarch. As his middle and surname suggest, Tesimode is a son of the founding caretaker of Nanna Living History Museum. We also met Owumi, another grandson of Chief Nanna, who is son of this museum’s incumbent caretaker.

As Pa Tony put it: Nanna Palace “was designed by Nanna and his Accra-trained children.” He added that the house was built from local materials between 1907 and 1910. Believe it or not, this priceless building was one of the targets of a warring side in an inter-communal crisis that rocked Koko sometime ago. Apparently, the antique house and other precious artefacts stored there faced serious threats, which informed NCMM authorities’ decision to remove them for safekeep elsewhere.
Fortunately, the items or some of them have since been returned and Koko Museum is growing in popularity. For individuals, admission is free, but when people come as a group, such as students of Abraka that frequently go to Koko on excursion, they pay as a group. Hear Pa Tony Nanna: “The awareness is being created and visitors’ number is growing.”

The main block of the palace complex is a rectangular bungalow with a Reception, and Library, etc. The Library used to be Nanna’s main Reception. It was inside that room, roughly 26m by 26m, that Chief Nanna received his most valued guests. Such dignitaries included Bishop James Johnson in 1907, Sir Frederick Lugard, Alan C Burns et cetera. Other areas of the museum are, Workroom, Dinning Room as well as sections bearing mementos of Nanna as a Generous Provider, Merchant and Governor and The Ebrohimi Expedition of 1894.

Other exhibits include “The longest single wood bench in Nigeria (23 feet 9 inches or 7.24 metres) made exclusively by Nanna’s children in 1911 in the Library. Also inside the library is a portrait of Nanna Olomu aside a group photo of Nanna’s sons and nephews: 13 of them. Another remarkable item on display at this museum is a portrait the Olu of Warri, HRM Ogiamen Atuwatse II (CON), paramount ruler of the Itsekiri. One of the most memorable exhibits at Koko Museum a picture of Oba Ovonramwen, Oba of Benin from 1888 to 1894, who was captured in 1897, following another British invasion, and deported to Calabar, where he died in 1914.

Benin root of the Itsekiri
The current paramount ruler of the Itsekiri, HRM Ogiame Atuwatse II, is the 19th Olu of Warri. He was crowned on May 2, 1987. Although Itsekiri mother tongue is probably closest to Yoruba than any other Nigerian language, numerous historians trace their ancestry to the Benin Kingdom. Such chroniclers say the 15th century Benin king, Oba Olua, who was the 14th monarch on this revered throne sired, Ginuwa, founder of the Itsekiri nation. Moreover, the typical Bini name of Esigie, borne by an ancient Itsekiri king, lends further credence to this theory.

Sources indicate that Oba Olua, who ruled from 1473 to 1480, was seen by the majority of his 70 palace chiefs as tyrannical. These courtiers had therefore planned to ensure that Olua’s crown prince, Ginuwa, would not ascend the throne, after his father’s death. The only way the chiefs’ plot could succeed was to “Do away” with the heir apparent.

However, the palace priest reportedly leaked this conspiracy to the ruling king, who subsequently decided to send Ginuwa away to save the lad’s life. That, in a nutshell, is how Ginuwa and his aides made their way to Ologbo and later to Big Warri. At Big Warri, Ginuwa settled into trading and was crowned Olu of Itsekiri. Meanwhile, around that period, Ginuwa’s younger brother, Ozolua, had been installed Oba of Benin, following their father’s passage. Subsequently, Subsequently, other Itsekiri kings succeeded Ginuwa upon his death.

Christianity in Itsekiri land
In the beginning, the Itsekiris were, like other Africans, neither Christians nor Moslems. They were all traditional worshippers like their Bini forebear. However, records show that around 1570 AD, during or after the reign of king Esigie, some Itsekiri monarchs went by Christian baptismal names. For example, Olu Atongboye, who was king of the Itsekiri around 1597, bore the Christian name of Sebastian. It is believed that he was the pioneer Olu of Itsekiri to convert to Christianity. Other Itsekiri paramount rulers, who were baptized Christians, included Don Domingho and Dom Agostinho.

Historians believe the Portuguese captain, who visited Benin City in the late 15th century travelled via Itsekiri land, having arrived in the coast off the Bight of Benin by sea. After contact with the Europeans, it is also possible that the Portuguese Catholic crew preached Christianity to the Itsekiri, making them the first Nigerians to hear such sermons. Although records are vague as to when the first Christian gospel was preached in Itsekiri land, historians agree that a 16th century “Olu of Itsekiri,” Don Domingo, was a product of an Itsekiri man’s marriage to a Portuguese woman.” Another Itsekiri monarch also bore the Christian baptismal name of Dom Agustinho.

All of these point to the fact that Christianity had reached Itsekiri territory centuries before that faith got to other parts of Nigeria. Although Itsekiri people were probably the first clan in present-day Nigeria to make contact with European explorers and adopt the Christian faith, things would later change dramatically with Christianity falling into a steep decline across Itsekiri land around 1725. This was because the then reigning “Olu,” who was deeply traditional, virtually outlawed “this alien religion.” But after this king’s passage, Christianity began to flourish again across Itsekiri land.

Although the Roman Catholic Mission was the first Christian denomination in Itsekiri land, the aborigines of Koko are predominantly Protestants. This is due to the fact that the first Church to reach that port settlement was the First Baptist Church, which berthed at Koko in 1918. The Reverend Eghogin Omatsola is on record as the trailblazing evangelist that brought the Baptist Mission to Koko.

Loss of farmlands alters Koko dietary habits
Mr. Shuwa Jalogho is a 45-year-old welder and native of Koko hailing from the Ebeji family. Once resident near Rome in Italy in the 1980s, Jalogho returned in 1985, and established his Shuwa Engineering Works along Koko’s Ogiamen Atunwatse II Way.
A special delicacy of the Koko-Itsekiri is boiled cocoyam, eaten with fresh palm oil fish and peppersoup. “It’s very rich, and our parents used to eat it daily,” Jalogho said. Although “our favourite food is starch or Usin, we don’t joke with cocoyam,” Jalogho remarked. This probably explains why Nanna set up a cocoyam farm worked by 500 slaves at Koko about a century ago.

Although Koko got its name from cocoyam, that tuber’s harvest is no longer as bounteous as used to be the case, those days. In fact, Koko has slid from cocoyam-grower to cocoyam-consumer. Unable to grow enough cocoyam to meet domestic demand, Koko people now rely on supplies from the neighbouring villages of Kolokolo and Ajoki. Another factor that has compelled a change of Koko dwellers’ staple is the price of cocoyam itself. Jalogho once more: “Formerly, in the 1980s, for example, a sack of cocoyam cost N300, but now it sells for about N5,000,” Jologho rued. This is one reason many Itsekiri now eat gari, fufu and other cassava-based foods instead of their traditional favourite, cocoyam, which gave their town its name.

Jalogho has his cocoyam farm around km 8. He said he had to go that far to the town’s outskirts to establish a plantation because cocoyam grows in wetlands.” Jalogho added that crude oil wells have not only reduced the area of farmlands but has also created pollution, forcing farmers deeper and deeper into the hinterlands. Despite the denigration of their land, and loss of valuable arable land, almost all the oil companies prefer to employ people outside Koko and other oil-producing areas, Jalogho lamented.
Land-loss to oil exploration and exploitation has taken a serious toll on Koko natives, who have had to change their dietary habits, somewhat.

Getting there
Koko is accessible by road and sea. However, the riparian route is not very popular, which leaves the traveller with no option but to come by road. Koko lies off the Benin-Sapele-Warri Route and can be easily reached via Asaba, Benin, Lagos, Port Harcourt, Warri and so on. On Friday February 15, 2008 the Lagos to Benin fare was N1,050 from Ojota motor park. We made the journey to Benin in five hours partly due to the poor state of the road and fear of highway robbers. At Okada Junction the driver turned right, abandoned the Okada-Benin City Expressway and drove through a two-lane road linking Okada Junction to Police Mobile Force Barracks area via Iguonbazuwa and Ukuadolar.

Again, the fare was the same (N1,050), during our latest Lagos-Benin trip on Saturday March 8, 2008. Interestingly, we paid N900 and N920 as the fro fares on March 9 and February 17, 2008 respectively. The Benin to Warri trip cost N520 on February 16, 2008, and we boarded our bus at Bob Izua Motors on one side of Oba Market, which stands overlooking Ibiwe Street. Starting out from Benin City, the tourist would board a Warri-bound bus at a fare of N520. That is what we paid on February 16 to ride in a Bob Izua Motors bus.

That trip aboard Bob Izua was comparatively comfortable because three passengers, instead of four, sat on each row of seats. Koko Town stands less than 30 minutes’ drive off the Benin-Sapele Expressway. Ologbo Town stands 5km from the mouth of a bridge, which is the boundary between Delta and Edo States. That boundary is about five minutes’ drive from Koko junction. The junction, where Koko Road meets that highway is also roughly 30 minutes’ journey from Benin City.

On alighting at Koko junction, the traveller would notice a motor park adjacent to a filling station. This is where Koko-bound passengers board local taxis at a fare of N250 per person. However, each of the vehicles carry two passengers in excess of normal capacity.
To worsen matters, you could lose an hour or more, just waiting for the taxi to fill, for without this, the driver simply won’t commence the journey. To save time, I mounted an “okada” and we sped off. However, the “okada” ride cost N600 one way, and it took some 40 minutes to reach the Nanna Living History Museum in Koko. The 40 minute duration of this journey was almost double the period travelling by car, but passengers sometimes waste an hour or longer before each taxi got enough passengers to depart the garage.

Other images of Koko
Koko’s vegetation is partly mangrove and quasi-forest in the hinterland. Food crops plantations show plantain, and oil palm as predominant, though mango, paw-paw, guava and other trees also dot the landscape of this ostensibly fertile land. However, the lush flora is very different to the density of fauna, especially homo sapiens.

Interestingly, Nanna’s father, Chief Olomu, had 59 wives. He sired 106 children; an equal number of 53 male and female. Although Nanna could not match his father’s acumen at regeneration, one could say that with the over 60 children he left behind, the famous deposed king, who later founded the town of Ebrohimi, didn’t do badly at all. But that procreational prowess seems not to have been sustained by subsequent generations of Koko natives, going by the rather scanty population. But low population density must rank among the lesser of this community’s woes: Across Koko leaky, rusty corrugated metal sheets hang precariously over crumbling shacks, which serve as homes.

On the surface, the locals have roofs over their heads but beneath the veneer lies all the hallmarks of desolation. In front of countless compounds groups of young men gather chatting loudly and sometimes quarrelling. Too many people are hungry in Koko because jobs are scarce. And walking down one of the major streets here, the muse that engaged my mind was: “An idle man’s mind is the devil’s workshop.” Fortunately, these locals, who are mostly descendants of King Nanna, King of the Itsekiri, have conducted themselves honourably, like the nobles that they are.

Speaking on what could be done to radically develop Koko and reduce the level of unemployment there, Jologho said, “The fastest way to develop this town, is to attract investors. However, the atmosphere has to be made conducive, so that every investor can do his work peacefully.” As to what the town’s indigenes contribution would be, Jalogho observed that the almost zero crime rate in Koko means that an investor’s life and property were safe from the very beginning. Hear him: “We are lucky because crime is virtually nil in Koko.”

Where to Stay
For a relatively small town, Koko boasts at least half a dozen lodges. These include Omagbitse, Annex, Progress Hotel, Roli Hotels and even a curio called People talk to people bar, restaurant and accommodation. All three stand along Ogiamen Atuwatse II Way, where Omagbitse Hotel and Supermart is also located.

A busy area of Koko is called Koko Beach and numerous shops bar, eateries and at least one guest house all stand along Ogianmen Atuwatse II Road, which forms a Y-Junction at the spot, where a larger-than-life statue of Nanna Olomu is mounted.