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“During the first wave of the incursion, the Aro deployed the Abam to kidnap Ebiri people, forcing them to flee from their original homeland in Oroni to a new location presently called Eke-Igbere. The flight of the Emir might have helped them become more vigilant in safeguarding their new settlement. They mobilized and armed their warriors, who patrolled their community regularly. It is then not surprising that when the Abam mounted their second raid against the Ebiri, which took the form of a full-scale military invasion, they were routed and forced to retreat. The heroism the Emir displayed during the invasion is remembered in local folklore, and they have continued to proudly preserve their collective identity by calling their town Igbo Erughi (“the town the Aro could not reach/capture”), which was anglicized as Igbere during the colonial period.”
-John N. Oriji, “Igboland, Slavery, and the Drums of War and Heroism” in Fighting the Slave Trade: West African Strategies, edited by Sylviane A. Diouf
