Agwa people is located in the Oguta South, in Imo State, one of the States in the Easter oil-rich part of Nigeria.
The Agwagwune of Nigeria are numbering 45,000 (Peoplegroups.org, 2025)
They are part of the Benue people cluster within the Sub-Saharan African affinity bloc. This people group is only found in Nigeria.
Their primary language is Agwagwune.
They shares boundaries with Izombe, an Oil-bearing clan in Oguta, Ohaji-Egbema, another oil L. G. A., Okwu-Ogbaku in Mbaitolu, L. G. A., and Amakohia, in Owerri-West L. G. A., making it 3 local councils she borders all in Imo State. She is the second most single-populated clan in Imo State after Ogwa Mbieri in Owerri-West and the highest in Oguta.
Agwa has the highest landmass in Oguta L. G. A., Imo State. Her land is flat without any river or stream and fertile.
Agwa is an agrarian clan with 80% of her population being peasant farmers who rely on tilling the land for their survival. She practiced shifting cultivation from 6 years upwards before clearing the bush for farming.
In Imo State, she is one of the food basket-producing products like Cassava stem, Garri, Yam, Melon, etc.
Source of water
The precolonial Agwa sourced water majorly from the stream owned by her Egbema neighbor, and pounds. The development improved from the post-independence era with the digging of the Well around the 1970s and later advancement would see the sinking of water boreholes by individuals, commercial purposes, and the government because of Agwa’s low water table.
Nigeria is a country which has the English Language as an official lingua franca. However, this does not obsolete the existence of over 500 language-speaking tribes in the country for which Agwa belongs to the Igbo-speaking nation, the third major ethnic bloc in Nigeria.
The Gwune language, also known as Agwagwune, is an Upper Cross River language of Nigeria spoken by the Akunakuna people. It is a dialect cluster named after its prestige variety; others are Abayongo, Abini, Dim (Adim), Orum, Erei, Etono.
Differentially, the Agwa clan speaks a unique version of the Igbo dialect which has tonal, etymological, semantics, phonological, and phonetical variations.
Agwa is one of the oil-bearing communities in Imo State and Nigeria with Sterling Global Resources Limited, and Seplat. The primary host communities of the oil in Agwa are Mgbala, Umuofeke, and Umukpo.
The precolonial Agwa people were very religious to African social orders and excelled in them greatly, but the invasion of the British via Oguta after spirited resistance boxed her fate as a conquered people just like others with this bitter experience, and as such, surrendered into the British colonial rule.
As a people of positive drive and conviction, the Late Okorie Onunwa, from Ihuoba Obudi, Agwa, was appointed as a Warrant Chief for administrative conveniences. Overseeing as far as Amakohia, Umuguma, etc.
Imo State was created on 3 February 1976 by Gen. Murtala Mohammed’s Government and since then, Agwa people have featured in the government of the State, although, Late Hon. Austin Mark Obodo, from Obudi Agwa, had represented at the Uratta County Council and Eastern State House Assembly in the 1960s. He later contested the Federal Seat in the Eastern House of Representatives in 1964 under Dynamic Party led by the mathematician, Late Prof. Chike Obi and Hon. Raymond Njoku, who was also a former Minister of Transport and was adjudged to have won the elections before an otherwise declaration of Hon. Raymond Njoku as the winner.
The primary religion practiced by the Agwagwune is Non-Evangelical Protestantism, a collection of denominations typically more focused on issues of social.
Agwa is a Christian-dominated clan with so many churches having worship centers. The Roman Catholic Church was the first to register its presence in Agwa in the early 1913s, followed by the Anglican Communion (Church of Nigeria) around the 1927s.
Agwa is a people defined by her culture. However, the advent of Christianity dents blows to these cultures except for a few like the Okorosh Cultural Mask masquerade festival that comes up yearly from June to 1st week of August. It starts fully from July to August every day except on Nkwo Days.
They have the big masquerade (Okoroshi Ukwu), the small masquerade (Okoroshi Nta), and the beautiful masquerade (Okoroshi Oma).
All of these masquerades are meant to entertain people, and discipline offenders who go against their rules.
Agwa clan has eleven public primary schools and over 11 private primary schools.
Agwa Secondary School Agwa (ASSA) established in 1980 is the only public secondary school in the clan with over 12 privately owned secondary schools.
There is no public or government-owned hospital in the clan safe for four primary health centers in Mgbala, Obudi, Uwaori, and Umuomi. However, a gigantic uncompleted General Hospital at Umuekpu attracted by Hon. Engr. B. Iregbu, is laying waste.
Ogbafor Agwa Market is the biggest of its kind in Oguta. Before these days, the Market operated every four days, that is every “Afor Day Market”, according to the Igbo Weekly Calendar. But as society evolves, it becomes a daily market except for Afor Day which is the heart of the market where it attracts businessmen and women from Onitsha, Anambra State, River State, and Imo State at large. Articles of the trade include yam, gari, cassava stem, palm fruits, plantain, vegetables, snail, varieties of fruits, mushrooms, and Melon. Domestic animals like goats, dogs, Fouls, etc. All of these article are obtained at cheaper prices.
However, the Agwa clan has another makeshift market called “Ogborie” which functions on Eke Market Days. There are mini village markets people go to buy foodstuff whenever they run out of items like Afia-Ama Mgbala, Uzi Obudi, Eke Ubah, Eke Umuomi, Afor Nta Obeama, Orie Ama Obeakuma, Nkwo Umukpo, Nkwo and Nta Umuofeke.
Oganyi Agwa is a war festival celebrated yearly by the Agwa people of Idah LGA to commemorate old wars. It is usually celebrated in the first quarter of every year and it is believed that its celebration ushers in a season of heavy rain fall.
The date before now was a thing of consultation with the ancestors but following the growth of Christianity in Igala land and the high sense of religious tolerance among the Igala people, traditional events are now often fused with Christianity and Islam hence this war festival is now celebrated on the Saturday prior Easter Sunday of every year.
The climax of the festival witnesses the arrival of about 20 warriors with each representing a clan in Agwa. They will one after the other carry out a special display (Oganyi). This display can best be described as “jumping, spinning and somersaulting at almost the same time in a very fast way”. No warrior should fall or even allow his horn to fall as he performs the "Oganyi" else he dies within 7 to 14 days and a great calamity shall befall his clan. That is why a warrior who performs "Oganyi" successfully cannot hide his pride while his anxious clam members will jump into wild jubilation on seeing him round up successfully. He is then led home triumphantly.
It is interesting to note that the warriors are camped for 7 days before this festival and they will feed only on flesh within the last 3 days.
Another set of people to look out for during the festival are young men dressed as women, a tactics that was adopted to deceive enemies in the days of war
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