The disintegration of the gerontocratic stool of ADIDE INYENIMURE : The most devastating impact of colonialism on AKINIMA (ELIABI) in the Niger Delta of Nigeria.

Abstract

The statement that “the colonial rule spoilt Africa and indeed Nigeria in no small measure by historians” is also prominently evidenced in the manner the gerontocratic stool of Adide Inyenimure of Akinima (Eliabi) in the Niger Delta went to oblivion. The European explorers, traders, writers and anthropologists who wrote early Nigerian history did not only ignored some salient aspects of the people culture and traditions but deliberately refused to recognize them. One of such typical examples was the non-documentation of the superlative gerontocratic stool of Adide Inyenimure of Akinima (Eliabi) in any of their records. The gerontocratic stool of Adide Inyenimure was deified hence overwhelmingly established undiluted sustainable social-political hegemony, religious and cultural-consciousness prior to the colonial era. This paper will exhume how the Adide Inyenimure emerged, his roles, privileges, limitations and how the stool finally disintegrated. It concluded that the frequent change of leadership in Akinima (Eliabi) is a result of the absence of the gerontocratic stool of Adide Inyenimure.