Oba Ewuare Ozolua is traditionally regarded as the ancestor of the Oras in Owan. He was known as Prince Okpame before he became known as Oba Ozolua. He had sought refuge in Uokha( Founded by an earlier Benin Prince, Odion) in the kingdom's northern areas in c1473. From Uokha, Oba Ozolua founded Ora, Ozalla and other villages. Oba Ozolua was a warlord. He is styled Ozolua the conqueror because he subdued many enemies and quelled many rebellions. He launched a military campaign against Uromi when the Enogie was reportedly rude to his messengers. He advanced through Akoko land, wandering into Nupe lands where he acquired sophisticated weaponry.
He attacked the Igallas and Igbirras in the present Kogi and Kwara states. After spending a great part of his life in ORA, he left behind his son UGUAN and returned to Benin City. But before he left, he proclaimed everybody free making them entitled to enjoy the privileges of Edo Princes and Princesses, for all the services they had rendered in his military campaigns. That is why the Oras call themselves today, the CHILDREN OF OZOLUA
Major festivals and ceremonies in the Ora clan are Owewe, Oisa, Aselegun, Ekhae, Ukpasa and funeral rites. Sabongida is an Hausa name given to Ora by Hausa settlers who came to make Evbiobe home. Today, Ora people want to reverse the name Sabongida-Ora to Evbiobe
It was believed that Prince Okpame left Benin with his young nephew Prince Obazuaye the great Hunter who was the younger brother to Prince Imaa ( both sons of the late Edaiken of Uselu, Prince Kuoboyuwa, Prince Okpame’s Eldest brother).
Imaa had already left Benin and settled near Uokha, He left when Obazuaye had gone hunting in a forest near Ife. At Uokha, Okpamen also met Okpowewunma who later married Ororuah, Okpamen and his followers wandered south to Iregbe from where the Ora clan was founded
Another version has it that when Okpame Uguan was banned from Benin, he moved with his nephew Obazuaye towards Edo north with his followers and they settled in Ozalla, From Ozalla he went further and set up a camp with his Nephew Imaa (Obazuaye’s Elder brother) at Ugboa near Uokha, They were both farmers. Among the people they met was Akpowowuma, the father of Ororuah.
They all settled at Uokha, which is further down Edo north. Ororuah stayed with them for some time got married and his wife became pregnant. When Okpamen visited his nephew Imaa, he met Ororuah's wife under labour, Spiritual divination revealed that the woman under labour must be removed from Uokha immediately to Iregbe, or else the baby would die.
Obazuaye (who is also gifted with spiritual foresight) predicted this occurrence. When they got to Iregbe, they set up a campfire to warm the nursing mother. In the Ora language, leopard means Ekpen. The baby delivered was named Orai-Ekpen [in the Ora language Oran Ekpen means leopard wood]. The nickname of Okpame was Uguan meaning "I will not serve anybody"'.This made Ora people not to have an Oba or King until recently
Iregbe is significant in Ora history because it was the place Okpame-Uguan settled in when he left Uokha with his pregnant wife. His son Ora Ekpen, was born in Iregbe. Iregbe has ceased to exist today as a settlement and village. It was renamed Odorere and became a burial ground for the Ora people. It is a bush behind Ojavun village [on the west side of Ojavun toward Avbiosi-Iuleha]. Because of its location, the Ojavun people refused the Ora people from taking dead bodies across their village to Iregbe which had become a cemetery. There is a river in Iregbe called today river Iregbe.
Okpame bore Ora Ekpen in Iregbe. As the child grew up he left them and returned to Benin following the death of his father the Oba. His return to Benin was to inherit the Obaship as he was the next in line to ascend to the throne. Ironically, the kingmakers in Benin refused his ascension to the throne but preferred his younger brother Esigie who had a fierce mother.
Oran Ekpen married six wives from Uokha and each wife had two children, which made all his children 12 in Iregbe. From Iregbe or Odorere, they moved to Ugbubezi from where they settled in their present settlement. The most senior child of Ora Ekpen is Umale or Imale. Umale turned out to be very lazy and unambitious, He was a disappointment, His brothers except for his brother of the same mother called Obe colluded among themselves and killed him.
Obe his blood brother then reported this occurrence to their father. As a result of this occurrence, Ora-Ekpen dispersed all the children to different settlements that formed the six major clans that made the present-day Ora. The six major clans represent the six wives of Ora Ekpen. The six major clans representing each wife's first sons today are; Ohia, Ovbiokhuanrin, Evbiobe, Uhonmora, Oke and Eme.
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