Where are you from?
Nigerian introductions are different from others: when we hear someone’s first and last name we can discern what part of the country they are from. Northerners usually bear Arabian or Hausa names like Fatima and Salisu; westerners and easterners are mostly Yoruba and Igbo, respectively, with names like Araoluwa and Chukwuemeka. Tribally ambiguous first and last names are usually followed up with the question, “where are you from?”. My name is Tere Sagay, so this is my most frequently asked question.
To a non-Nigerian, my name might just sound foreign, but to a Nigerian, it strikes an intriguingly unfamiliar note within them. Tere isn’t my full first name, and the person will usually catch on to this and ask for the full name in hopes that it would resolve the tribal trivia happening in their minds. Telling them my full name, Okpetere, leaves their eyes narrowed in curiosity. Okpe is pronounced in the same way the Yoruba name Ope is. However, Tere is not Yoruba. At this point, some people correctly guess where the name is from; it’s from the Itsekiri language, a close relative of the Yoruba language. “But,” I say with a smile, “I am Edo”. I deliberately choose to complicate my answer because of a fascinating insight I have into my family history.
When Nigerians ask where you are from, they are specifically asking where your father’s family is from, not where your mother is from or where you personally identify as home. My mother is Benin, from Edo State, and I deeply identify with the culture there — but that’s not why I say I’m Edo. My father’s family identifies as Itsekiri but originally descended from an Edo man named Osagie, whose story could easily be written into thrilling non-fiction.
Osagie was the first son of a nineteenth-century Edo princess. However, he was conceived through an illicit relationship and was hated by his “more legitimate” brothers as they grew up. This hatred morphed into a full-grown animosity that ended in a plot to kill Osagie. As soon as he heard that his brothers were on their way to end his life, he fled the palace and journeyed through the forest, seeking respite. He finally came across a people who took him in and submitted him to their king, Nana Olomu of Itsekiri land. Osagie swore loyalty to Nana and soon became his right-hand man. He became a merchant under Nana and worked hard to ensure that Nana’s trading business with the Europeans went smoothly. Frequent interactions with the Europeans soon altered Osagie’s name to Sagay, as that was easier for the white men to pronounce. As “Sagay” had children, they carried on their father’s rebranding as the only identity they knew. They were the Sagays of Itsekiri land.
Today, I identify with my father’s family with almost the same intensity that I identify as Edo. Family gatherings on my mother’s side are filled with vibrant stories of our history and the warmth of the Benin language, which rolls off the tongues of my maternal relatives. These interactions made me cherish the Benin culture as my own. So, here’s my short answer to the question, “where are you from?”: Though I bear an Itsekiri name and come from an Itsekiri family, our roots are in Edo state, and my ties to Edo are solidified by my mother’s Benin blood.
