Crisis of Supremacy Among Indigenous Nigerian Communities: Ankpa And Idah Since The Pre-Colonial Period

Abstract

Crisis has been an integral part of human relations. Right from the early period the contest for supremacy especially among the ruling house(s) has shape and shall continue to reshape relations amongst clans and lineages who hold claim to certain indigenous political institutions. Such contest emanates out of claims and counter claims as to who rightly succeeds to any vacant throne in the event of the demise of the sitting ruler. The respect accorded to the stool and the political and economic benefits associated with it generate serious crisis in such contest. It is against this backdrop that this paper intends to take a historical look at the political relationship between Ankpa and Idah beginning from the pre-colonial period.