State of Nigeria in Focus 10- capital is Akwa

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Anambra State one of the former original Anambra State that consisted of Enugu state, Abia state, and Imo State is our numbrer 10 state in focus.

Out of this state hails


Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, The First President of Nigeria

Prof. Chinua Achebe, Critically acclaimed author

Nwafor Orizu, First Senate President of Nigeria.

Alex Ifeanyichukwu Ekwueme, Second Republic Vice President of Nigeria

Gen. Emeka Ojukwu, The President of the defunct Republic of Biafra

Cardinal Francis Arinze, Roman Catholic Cardinal

Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi, Priest and Beatified Christian Monk

Chief Louis Odumegwu Ojukwu, The first Nigerian millonaire

Lady Janet Mmokwelu, The first Nigerian female legisla

and many others

Learn more about Anambra State



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anambra_State

http://www.cubicgroup.com/anambra/facts.html

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Onitsha History

The history of Onitsha began with the migration of its people from the Benin Empire towards the end of early part of the Sixteenth Century AD. The migration was as a result of a wave of unrest, war and displacement unleashed by the Islamic movement from North Africa.

It was during their passage through the outskirts of Ile-Ife that they acquired the name Onitsha - a corruption of the Yoruba word Orisha and Udo, the famous shrine worshipped by the people. As time went on, the combination of the two words, Onitsha for Orisha and Ado for Udo culminated in the present name , Onitsha Ado. The people of Onitsha left the out skirts of Ile-Ife and resettled in the Benin Kingdom and soon established themselves as one of the clans in the Benin Kingdom exercising all the rights and privileges attached thereon.

As a result of a long process of acculturation in Benin, the Onitsha people jealously guarded their acquired rights particularly with regard to their revered Shrine Udo. It was suggested that the reason why the Onitsha people quarreled with Oba Esigie, (1404-1550), of Benin was because of the slight, the Oba gave their shrine-Udo. It was customary for newly installed Oba to pay homage to all important Shrines in the Benin Kingdom by slaughtering a cow in the shrines enclave. Oba Esigie failed to do this at the Onitsha people's Udo-Shrine, hence the quarrel. It took the Onitsha people several years before they got to Obior and Ilah and finally crossed the River Niger and established Onitsha Ado.
They stopped at several places in the then Mid-West now called Delta State, places like Agbor, Issele-Uku, etc. This explains the affinity with the inhabitants of Delta State like Ilah, Issele-Uku, Obbaamkpa, Onitsha-Olona, Onitsha Ugbo, Agbo, Obior, Onitsha Ukwu and so on. Another version hold that the people of Onitsha were part of the Edo tribe. It is for this reason that Onitsha people fondly call their town "Onitsha Ado N'Idu" meaning Onitsha of Edo Origin. It is also believed that the emigrants were nicknamed "Onitsha" only after their exodus from Benin by people whose territories they marched through, revaging all that stood in their way. The name Onitsha has also been translated to mean dispenser. It reflects the manner the emigrants dealt with obstacles placed on their route by adjourning towns and villages.