#IDOMA #OTUKPO #KWARARAFA #IDOMA HISTORY #BENUE #NORTH CENTRAL #NIGERIA.
The Idomas traced their Historical origin to a location outside their present boundaries at the place called APA. HISTORIANS Located APA as a territory of an ancient Kwararafa Empire. This is in line with the finding of a popular Historians, Professor ERIM O. ERIM in his study of Idoma Nationality from 1535-1565.
According to him the area east of modern Wukari was the Ancestral home Land of the Idoma people.
According to Oral tradition, our ancestors selted east of Okali (as Wukari was commonly called then) with other tribes such as Ebirra and the Igala ancestors. This was before the intrusion of the present inhabitants of Wukari, the Jukuns as at that time, the Idoma people were called APA PEOPLE. The migration of the ldomas from their ancestral home to the present day location was as a result of political and religious problems which led to the disintegration of Kwararafa Empire in about the 14th Century (1535-1565) this caused, the ancestors of the ldoma people to settle in many location outside the Kwararafa confideracy. As member of a mult-ethnic community or society, they exchange cultural traits with their neighbours.
Historians indicate that these ldoma people or group lived as an undeferentiated group, its members may have spoken one Language which was an early form of the modern ldoma people Language.
According to another commentator on ldoma history, both the name of ldoma and the Language might have been DAMA. After 1500 the Apa home Land was broken up and a popular Leader led those immigrants out. His name was given as Idu-Oma ( ie ldu - the son of OMA) who rose to prominence.
There were two major migratory routes from Apa Kingdom, which were the Eastern and the Western routes.
One through River Benue Valley and the other through the Idah.
The Benue Valley groups ended up in the present day Northern ldoma. While the Western route cover the present day Western ldoma.

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