Originally called Ado N’ldu, Onitsha Mmili was established by a son of Chima, the man who established the Issele-Uku kingdom in western Igboland. A prince from the former Benin kingdom named Chima left his home and established Issele-Uku in the Aniocha North Local Government Area. Chima’s oldest son eventually crossed the Niger River to find the community of Onitsha. This Southeast Nigerian town, which is located next to the Niger, is well-known for its business, educational, and religious hubs.
Oral and written historical evidence indicated that they left the Benin Empire and traveled to the Yoruba kingdom of Ile-Ife for a considerable amount of time. The political unrest in the Empire at the beginning of the fifteenth century served as a catalyst for their migration. Customs and cultural affinities indicate that the migration passed through what was eventually named the Mid-West and continued on toward the great River Niger.
One of the warlords of the Benin Empire at the time, Chima, was reported to have led the exodus.
As a result, numerous settlements and the blue-blood clan of Umuezechima—descendants of King Chima—were discovered. W. R. T. Milne in his intelligence report on Onitsha speculated that a kingship dispute in 1468 may have forced Chima to flee Benin.
Chima and his supporters distanced themselves from the empire as dissidents, seemingly having lost the struggle for kingship, and headed eastward toward the River Niger. Some of Chia’s supporters made their home in the nearby* towns of the modern-day Onicha Ugbo, Onicha Olona, Ogwashi, Onicha Ukwu, and Asaba during the course of the great movement. As he passed away in Obior, close to the modern-day town of Asaba, Chima, the arrowhead of the Umuezechima, sadly only saw the Promised Land across the River Niger, according to all historical accounts of the Onitsha Kingdom.
One of Chima’s sons, Oreze, led some groups to cross the Niger and establish themselves at the current Inland Town after subduing the Oze people in a string of intercommunal conflicts. It appears that Oreze was motivated by his father’s desire to colonize across the country. Due to the strategic importance of Onitsha for the British government’s commercial expeditions, which included the slave trade, the Onitsha people entered into an agreement in 1857 for the provision of a steamer, a kind of worship, under Dr. Baikie’s supervision for the defense* of the town. Bishop Ajayi Crowther founded the Church Missionary Society in the town later that year after joining the missionary expedition from Sierra Leone.
In the wake of these and other treaties signed by Onitsha and Europeans, a number of business endeavors came together to establish the Royal Niger Company in 1879. As a result, the town saw a resurgence of missionary and commercial activity, to the point where the British government installed the first telephone and telegraph cable across the River Niger to Onitsha in 1906 and designated Onitsha as the political headquarters of the Central Division in 1905. Following the death of Obi Anazonwu in 1899, the British government granted a certificate of recognition to Obi Samuel Okosi I, the then-traditional ruler of Onitsha, Obi Okosi I was the 17th Obi of Onitsha.
Onitsha continues to hold its position as the South-East and South-South commercial hub* of Nigeria and is a significant hub for trade in West Africa. One of the biggest marketplaces in West Africa is the Onitsha Main Market. The majority of the largest import merchants from Eastern Nigeria are based in this market. The market is heavily frequented by traders from the ECOWAS sub-region, which includes Accra, Abidjan, Douala, Niamey, and Cotonou. In today’s Anambra State, Onitsha has also developed into a sophisticated urban community. Among its notable establishments are a school of metallurgy, an army cantonment, and a federal government college.
Onitsha is also among the first places in Nigeria where early missionaries went after they converted to Christianity. In 1857, the Anglicans arrived in Onitsha as the first missionaries. Later, in 1884, the Roman Catholics arrived. These missionary groups used Onitsha as a staging ground to propagate Christianity among the Igbo-speaking populace. The cathedral basilica of the Most Holy Trinity, the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Onitsha, and All Saints’ Cathedral, the headquarters of the Diocese on the Niger of the Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, are both located in Onitsha today.
In all of Southeast Nigeria, the Onitsha people were the first to adopt western education. Onitsha is home to some of the oldest post-primary educational establishments in the area, including the Christ the King College and the Dennis Memorial Grammar School, which were established in 1933 and 1925, respectively.
Numerous well-known individuals, including Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, also referred to as Zik of Africa, were born in this town. He was the Owelle of Onitsha and the first president of Nigeria following independence. Major Emmanuel Ifeajuna, Nigeria’s first gold medallist in the high jump at the Commonwealth Games, Professor Chike Obi, the renowned mathematician, and Sir Louis Mbanefo, the first Igbo-speaking lawyer, are among the other notable natives of the town.