SUMMARY
Inter-group relations is indeed very common among the various groups in Nigeria. One way or the other, people of different ethnic background were at one time or the other engaged in some sort of relations. At one time such relations were peaceful, at other times, the people engage in violent confrontation. Inter-group relations is, therefore, a factor of the social, economic, cultural and political conditions and can be critically fixed on geography. This however proves that no group or entity can stay on its own without some form of relations. At least not for a very long period of time. There must be relations which may come through trade or war.
This research work has done well in examining the inter-group relations between Igala and Asaba in their precolonial era. It started by examining the historical background of both Igala and Esan including their geographical location, their culture and traditions. The Igalas are presently in Kogi state. They are mostly farmers and traders. They cultivate crops such as yam, cassava, rice, etc. which they bring to the market to sell. However, this research work was able to discover that there are different school of thought as regards the origin of the Igalas whereby some claim that they originated from the Yorubas who are the one of the major tribes in Nigeria today. This claim is particularly based on the ground of linguistics similarity. The Igala languages shares some few words with the Yoruba language. Even though Igalas claim this history, many people did not welcome it. They felt it was an imposed idea. Other school of thought identifies Igala with the Jukuns because of the similarities they had with Igala such as the horizontal lines on the face.1
However, the idea that Igala came from the Northern part of Nigeria through a ruling queen and warrior Queen Amina of Zaria, who fought her way in the 12th century was not believed by many Igala people. They doubted this historical belief because they could not find evidence to prove the story unlike the relations with Benin which is very popular.2 Nonetheless, no matter what the history is, the fact remains that Igala people came from somewhere
