One of best kept secrets of Core Delta exposed in The Core Delta Iduwini Clan – Otounkuku ‘The Lost tribe’, by Michael Olatunbosun |

As I browsed through my archives this week, and found the review for this week, I wondered again that it still is difficult to imagine that there could be a tribe in Nigeria where the people had tails. But that is one of the key themes of the 457-page book: “The Core Delta Iduwini Clan – Otounkuku ‘The Lost tribe,’” written by Prince Isaac Caution Preboye. It was published in 2005 by Rural Development Nigeria Limited.

The book was written by Prince Preboye, someone who believed that history must set the records straight, and expressed his pains at the travails of a people whose history has never been reckoned with. So, the author, Prince Isaac Caution Preboye (born on October 10, 1948 in Burutu, a port town in the heart of the Niger Delta), was a writer, and historian with a knack for details and the unusual. He read shipping and specialised in exports. He worked for many years in one of the world’s largest shipping companies before he retired into private business. His other book is The Green Mangrove, a collection of poems. Prince Preboye died on the 4th of May 2019.

The book attempts to tell the story of the Core Delta of Nigeria right from the time the Portuguese touched down there in 1472 to the coming of the British and then to the coming of age of Nigeria, up until the present time.

Written in crisp, free-flowing and unpretentious language, the writer of the book The Core Delta Iduwini Clan – Otounkuku “The Lost tribe” lamented that the Core Delta has not seen any development since the first Europeans arrived on those shores in 1472. The writer lamented that the Core Delta is always overlooked in the scheme of things, yet the area is still bare except for the oil wells. For the author, hundreds of years of neglect made development in the Core Delta to arrive late. Schools were late in coming. Infrastructure was late in arriving. And in a rather stinging postulation, Preboye traced the history of the Core Delta right from when the Europeans touched down in 1472 up to 2004, and opined that the Core Delta has never had any pleasant experience, either from the Portuguese, the British, and the Nigerians.

In the book, the author wrote that the youths of the Core Delta, in 1886, did not take kindly to the sudden stoppage of their trades as the “middle men”. As a result, there was serious revolt and this warranted the British to send a regiment of soldiers commanded by Col Lugard and assisted by Major C.M. MacDonald to stop the revolt. Preboye reported that the Izon youths were unstoppable (p5) because of their mystic powers. This made the British call them the mystery men of the Delta waters because the British were not able to kill them with their bullets.  To add more to the insult on 11th April 1895, Mr. W. Wallace, acting Agent General of the Niger Territories forced some Iduwini chiefs and made them sign off all the choice lands in the area as freehold for goods to the value of fifteen Pounds. It pained the author that the history of the Iduwini especially, has never been mentioned in any history book written about the Delta (p6), thus he decided to pen this book to make the world read about them.

In the book, the author, Prince Preboye, wrote about the ethno-politics of the relationship between the people of Warri and Itsekiri. 

In fact, the author avers that the oppression by the British was compounded by the Igbo of the east moving to occupy Port Harcourt and the Action Group government of Chief Awolowo converted the Olu of Itsekiru title to Olu of Warri. The Palace of the Olu was moved (p7) from the Ode-Iteskiri to Ajamogha to complete the capture of Warri by the Itsekiri. He stated the “the people of western Izon, especially Gbaramatu and Egbema clans are still locked in battle of survival,” and submitted (p10) that “It is now 524 years (1480-2004) since fate brought the Izon and the Itsekiri to live together in the same environment.  I think the way forward is for the two people to stick together and fight for even development…”

However, Prince Preboye provided in the book, a rather romantic picture of the Core Delta. He wrote about the revolt in 1886 by the unstoppable Izon youths who were said to have mystic powers because the bullets of the British could not kill them. He wrote about the alluring Core Delta climate and the sharks and beautiful scenery of the Delta waters. He wrote about the Iduwini industries and the many legacies of the Europeans.

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In the book, Prince Preboye also mentioned the first coup in Nigeria, the Nigerian civil war.

And this is the part of the book that will jolt you: According to Prince Preboye, his book reveals one of the best kept secrets of the people of the Core Delta. The existence of the Otounkuku, the tail carrying, wild and carnivorous people, who inhabit the thick wooden forest of the Core Delta, was unravelled. Does that sound like a fable? Well, the answers are found in the book. 

Author Prince Preboye’s pain about the condition of the Niger Delta reverberated through his writing and came alive in his works. 

For example, his book, The Core Delta Iduwini Clan – Otounkuku “The Lost tribe”, Prince Preboye’s heart was perpetually troubled that since Nigeria’s independence, hopes of the vast majority of the citizens to enjoy the milk and honey flowing in their land had been dashed. 

. Olatunbosun, a broadcast journalist, fact-checker and book reviewer at Splash FM 105.5, Ibadan, Oyo State, can be reached via 08023517565 (SMS and WhatsApp only) and miketunbosun74@gmail.com.