Excerpt from BILLE HISTORY.. According to recorded history, Bille was the sole power in the old Degema Division sharing boundaries then with other eastern Ijaw clans like Nembe, Bonny, and Okrika with whom she fought several wars. So great was her one time ruler, Agbani ye Jike, that the entire territory was under his influence although he conquered settlements without settling anybody for security reasons. It was the policy of the ancient people of Bille during Jikes era to eliminate all persons in the conquered territories and settlements leaving a barren land, which, unfortunately, had left Bille as a one-city kingdom. Gladly, life has begun in most of the other settlements especially at Jikeama, Touma etc. as we look forward to an ideal Bille kingdom. Other towns that also claim an early existence including Ke, Idama and Kula were founded according to Oral Tradition by persons of Bille origin some of whom rebelled against the king and emigrated there and by Bille people dropped on such lands because of their abominable ailment. Kula was established by Opu Ada ye Sira of Sira Community in Bille. Agbaniye Kio, a brother of King Jike also left Bille when he had a dispute with his brother and settled on the land that is now known as Idama. In the Captain Kelsey Report of 1935, the claim of Bille over the town of Ke was recorded although because of the time lapse the Ke people now deny this claim, as the Bille people did not exercise authority over it for the obvious reasons that they were actually a neglected people cast out of Bille and were thus not prone to attacks from Bille or other aggressors. They were all regarded as sister settlements and were thus never attacked by the Bille people. They were semi-autonomous in the period until in the later part of the last century when they sought and got the protection of the Kalabari king thus becoming a part of the Kalabari kingdom. This was a period of trading and European influence predating the colonial era when inter-tribal wars were on the decline and kings were not renowned for conquering territories but for their resistance against the European powers.
Posted on: Tue, 11 Mar 2014 05:25:43 +0000
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