Our family history started with Mazi Okolafor Ode, who became the first and only warrant chief of Ojoto, and thus represented the British colonial government which made him “Eze Ojoto.” Okolafor Ode’s mother was a daughter of the Ezimmuo family in Ezema Village, Ojoto Obo-ofia, and his father Ekwegbalu was from the Umu-Ugbana kindred within the bigger Umu-Agwa clan in Ireh Ojoto.

Family lore and oral accounts place Okolafor Okigbo’s birth in the early years of the fifth decade of the nineteenth century, possibly about 1850. He lived a fully eventful and colorful life, and died in 1921, at the ripe age of 71, when the average life expectancy at the time was about 40 years.

Even before the arrival of British colonialists in the area, Okolafor Ode had achieved significant renown as a wealthy farmer with multiple wives, who had a massive compound with separate houses for his wives and their children. He was also a successful trader in agricultural products, and a philanthropist, who enjoyed helping people in need. In social standing, he towered above all other people in Ojoto, and this made him an easy choice as the first and only Warrant Chief.

In his interactions with the British colonialists and his governance of Ojoto, he showed himself to be a clever strategist, an astute pragmatist, a modernist at heart but also a traditionalist in some respects, and above all a bold and courageous leader whose heart embraced diversity and inclusiveness.

Oral accounts indicate that Okolafor Ode was chosen by the British colonialists as the Warrant Chief over another competitor because he Okolafor found a way to lavishly entertain the emissaries sent from the District Office in Ogidi to examine the candidates and make a recommendation. He knew how to use his wealth to achieve his goals. In addition to being a strategist, he was also a pragmatist, especially in the way he welcomed the new order of British rule, but also wanted to keep a firm footing in African traditional culture. He sent all but his eldest son to the new schools established by the white missionaries. Whereas Nnaebue, the first son, was retained to master the traditional culture and continue the family legacy according to Ojoto customs, the other sons were sent to either Catholic or CMS schools. Not knowing which would prevail in the end, he invested in native culture, Irish Catholic and British Protestant education.

Eze Okigbo was a modernist at heart. He enjoyed the trappings of European civilization, liked to make gifts of European alcoholic drinks, dressed in royal outfit, and impressed his subjects by using some English expressions, even if incorrectly. Oral accounts have it that he usually dismissed unwelcome visitors with the expression: “Goma Home”, meaning that they should go away.

Eze Okigbo was known to have genuinely appreciated the work of the Christian missionaries. He enjoyed the story of Jesus Christ, King of the Jews, and was said to have imagined that he and Christ shared some common experiences of rulership over their people.

Eze Okigbo’s kindness and generosity had no bounds. He freely gave his land to the Catholic Mission for the St. Odilia’s School and Church. Oral accounts have it that he also gave out parcels of land to some of the non-Okigbo families who live within or near the Okigbo Quarters in today.

When he died around 1921, Eze Okigbo was reputed to be one of the most prominent Warrant Chiefs in Eastern Nigeria. He correctly read the signs of the times and he discerned the direction of the impending social change that the British Government was introducing. Sending his sons to school in Onitsha and Obosi was visionary, and the results could still be felt today in the achievements of these early adopters of western education.

Although he did not send his daughters to school, he showed great regard for them, as evident in the names that he gave them: He was perhaps influenced by the absence of women in the ranks of the colonial officers at the time. His sons made up for his neglect and so today, Okigbo women are excelling in all professions including banking and business, education, healthcare, information technology, international relations, law, mass communication, and medicine.