Places

Ogbia Communities and Traditional Heritage

Four clans, some forty-five villages, and a place in Bayelsa State — the geography of Ogbia and how it connects to the wider Ijaw world.

Historical Research

Draft — awaiting committee review. This article has been researched and sourced but has not yet been approved for publication by the Ogbia Community UK committee.

Documented history

Traceable to a published, citable source listed at the foot of the page. Passages that rest on something else carry their own tag.

The four clans

These four clans are consistently named in accounts of Ogbia Kingdom, together comprising around forty-five villages. Communities frequently mentioned in published material include Otuoke, Otuabagi, Oloibiri, Imiringi, Ologoghe and Ogbia Town.

Abureni
Anyama
Oloibiri
Emeyal

Ogbia within Bayelsa State

Bayelsa State was created on 1 October 1996 from the old Rivers State. Its name is an acronym drawn from three Local Government Areas: Brass (BA), Yenagoa (YE) and Sagbama (SA). The state capital is Yenagoa.

Bayelsa has eight Local Government Areas: Ekeremor, Kolokuma/Opokuma, Yenagoa, Nembe, Ogbia, Sagbama, Brass and Southern Ijaw. The state government describes Bayelsa as the cradle of Ijaw culture and tradition. The main languages of the state are given as Izon, Nembe, Ogbia and Epie-Atissa.

Neighbours and kin

Ties of kinship and language are claimed between Ogbia people and the Okoroma of Nembe LGA in Bayelsa, and the Odual of Abua/Odual LGA and Ogbogolo of Ahoada-West LGA in Rivers State.