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ITEM (pronounced EETEM) is one of the communities in Bende Local Government Area in Abia State of Nigeria. It is bordered by Akeze (in Ebonye State) in the North; Nkporo in the East; Alayi in the West; and Abiriba and Igbere in the South. Item people first settled in a place called POTOPO after a brief stay at Igede. Item people could not stay long at Igede because they could not find a precious stone known as ‘akom’. Potopo is on the Eastern side of Abam and Biakpan. Akom was a pre-historic stone used in making knives, hoes, spears and many other defensive and destructive weapons. It was in Potopo that they found ‘akom’ in a large quantity. They first arrived at Bende. While there, they could not find any ‘akom’ and because of that they decided to move away from the area. When they took off from Bende they became very weak and decided to have enough rest. While resting, the witch and native doctors treated the sick and took time off to make sacrifices to the gods. It was believed that the people must have spent many months, if not years there since they were able to build huts for some of their gods as well as huts for themselves. This resting place was known as ‘OZUZU-IKE-ITEM (meaning resting place for Item people), now known as ‘Ozuitem’ (for brevity sake). When hunters and the witch doctors could not find ‘akom’, even though the land was very fertile, they decided to abandon the area. As others were still contemplating on what to do, Okoko left in search of a better land. When they arrived at the present site, they saw that the land was not only fertile but also had ‘akom’ in abundance. The entire area stretching down to the present site where Amokwe is now located, was occupied by different people, and only force could determine if Okoko could settle there or not. Item Community consists of nine villages: Apanu (formerly known as Akwanu), Akanu, Amaekpu, Amaeke, Amaokwe, Okagwe, Okai, Okoko, and Umuakpa. Each village is made up of autonomous communities with Eze (King). Okpi of Item is the overall Eze for all of Item. View More of Our History: |