Opanda Kingdom

A third group, led by Ohime negedu, the grandson of Oheme, moved east in 1750 and reoccupied the city of Opanda in the present-day Nasarawa state.

According to the accounts of a British explorer, McGregor Laird, in the diary of his trip up the Benue River, “the Egbura (ethnic group) founded the Kingdom of Opanda in 1750.” The kingdom was equally blessed with visionary leaders who ensured its survival through the rough socio-political climate of the pre-colonial time when might was the determinant of political and economic power.

Some historians noted that an account by Dr. Baikie, another British explorer, who visited Umaisha in 1854 during the reign of Ohimegye Ogara, gave the suggested year of the establishment of the kingdom to be 1750 without taking note of its existence prior to the movement to Idah and back to Opanda before the commencement of the line of kings whose list he met.

C and printed by Waterlow & Sons Limited, London, 1920, gives insightful perspectives on the ancient kingdom in this regard.

The northern Egbura traditionally had a highly centralized government that recognized a chief who inherited his power in a patrilineal fashion.

Numerous local chiefs who were the heads of royal families reported to him, producing what was in effect a miniature confederacy.

The traditional beliefs of the Egbura centre on Ihinegba, the supreme god, who is benevolent, resides in the sky, and controls the universe.

Since the early 20th century many Egbura have been converted to Islam and Christianity.Ohimegye is derived from the word OHIME-OZI-EGYE meaning OHIME-SON OF EGYE.