Owan


Owan is an ethnic group in the Northern part of Edo State, Nigeria. They are one of the Edoid peoples.
Owan is currently made up of two Local Government Areas, namely: Owan East and Owan West, including so many clans; notable amongst them are: Ihievbe, Emai people, Iuleha, Ora, Igue, Uokha, Otuo, Ikhin, Ivbi-Mion, Ivbi-adaobi, Ozalla and, etc.

Etymology

The name Owan, also pronounced Onwan, is derived from the root word "Owanbua" which is a name of a notable daughter of Egomi of Uvbiato. Uvbiato is the present day -Uhon-mora. Folklores have it that Madam Owan married at Otuo village but was not blessed with any children. When she died, her burial place became a stream that flowed from Otuo, through many villages in Owan before joining the Ule river which eventually emptied into the river "Ose".

Notable Owan people

The Okhaku'roros so perfected the art of wars to a stage that they used magical means to propel tortoise as signaling devise. Tortoise whistle to alert them of wars to come. They planted an Akhuere or ducant tree on a spot in Avbiosi to mark the fetist they named Unuo gboeren. To avoid damnations, hunters dare not pick the whistling tortoise in that vicinity. The Unuo gboeren is a shrine that still stands till today in Avbiosi. In 1976 the Unuo gboeren tree was to give way to a new road being constructed by Niger cat construction company. The road was supposed to be a thoroughfare passing through Avbiosi-new site to Ifon in Ondo state, Nigeria. The timely intervention of Pa Alfred Onime Obuhoro spared this tree and the road was diverted from the shrine. Pa Obuhoro was born under the tree on the 24th of December 1922. This shrine is appeased during severe draughts to bring rain.