Eleme people

The Eleme people are one of the various groups of indigenous peoples that inhabit the Niger Delta region of South-South Nigeria. The Eleme people live in ten major towns situated in Eleme Local Government Area, Rivers State, around 20 km east of Port Harcourt. They include: Akpajo, Aleto, Alesa, Alode, Agbonchia, Ogale, Ebubu, Ekporo, Eteo and Onne. The total territory occupied by the Eleme people expands across approximately 140 square kilometres.Eleme is bounded in the north by Obio Akpor and Oyigbo, in the South by Okrika and Ogu Bolo, in the east by Tai and the West by Okrika and Port Harcourt. In early colonial records Eleme is erroneously called Mbolli by neighboring Igbo people. The name came from the slave merchants of Arochuku who used the words "Mbolli Iche" which means "one country that is different" in the Igbo language to describe the people of Eleme. When the British colonising force entered Eleme around April 1898, their escorts introduced the people of Eleme to the British as Mbolli people. Linguistically and ethnographically Eleme is a distinct ethnic group in Nigeria. The Eleme language is very distinct, though phonetically sounds like Ogoni Language, and this has raised the debate over whether or not Eleme is part of Ogoni. However, some Eleme people have affirmed that they are not part of Ogoni group. This is what is said from Ogoni Bill of Rights about whether or not Eleme was included as part of Ogoni. "The inclusion of eleme and, to a lesser extent that of other Ogoni kingdoms, spoken by isolated and distinct clans on the western border as within the Ibibio stock is only proposed tentatively, and the former is chiefly included because of its history with Ogoni." Vol IX, p. 96 Eleme is traditionally an agricultural society, with farmers travelling out to farms situated around the villages, though the emergence of white-collar jobs and the industrial activities going on in modern-day Eleme tend to shift the paradigm. Crops include yams, cassava, oil palm fruit, fluted pumpkin, and bitter-leaf.