Esan

The Esan live in Edo State, mainly across Esan Central, Esan North-East, Esan South-East, Esan West and Igueben local government areas, with Irrua, Ekpoma, Uromi and Ubiaja among the principal towns. The Esan language and culture are closely related to those of the neighbouring Edo (Bini) people, and Esan tradition holds that many Esan communities were founded by migrants from the Benin Kingdom, yet Esan identity today is distinct, with its own language, chieftaincy titles and political history rather than being a mere extension of Benin. Esan communities are traditionally governed by hereditary rulers known as onojie (plural: enijie), each heading an independent kingdom-like polity, so that historic Esan political life was organised as a cluster of separate small states rather than a single unified kingdom. Farming, particularly of yam, cassava and oil palm, has long been central to the Esan economy, alongside a strong tradition of herbal medicine practice. Esan communities today are predominantly Christian, with traditional beliefs and chieftaincy ritual continuing to shape community life.

Esan oral traditions widely trace the founding of many Esan kingdoms to nobles, princes or warriors who left the Benin Kingdom, often said to date from disputes or upheavals at the Benin court, with waves of migration and settlement described as occurring over several centuries. Different Esan clans preserve different founding accounts, and not all Esan communities trace their origin to Benin in the same way, meaning the historical picture is one of related but individually distinct foundation stories rather than a single agreed narrative. Each settlement is understood to have developed into its own polity headed by an onojie, and Esan history includes both cooperation and periodic conflict with Benin over tribute and political control, before all Esan domains came under British colonial administration alongside the rest of the region in the early twentieth century.

Esan political life is organised around some thirty-five historic kingdoms, each ruled by an onojie, a hereditary monarch whose court includes titled chiefs (such as the Odionwele, head of the council of elders) responsible for day-to-day administration. Succession to the onojie title is patrilineal, and the office carries significant ritual as well as political weight. Beyond the palace, village life is organised around extended family compounds and age-grade associations that undertake communal work and security duties.

Traditional Esan religion recognises a supreme creator (Osenobua) together with ancestral spirits and deities linked to land, rivers and the reigning onojie's ancestors, approached through shrines and periodic rites. Esan communities have long been associated with traditional herbal medicine and divination practice, which continues today. These beliefs and practices persist in many communities alongside the Christianity now professed by most Esan people.

The installation of an onojie involves elaborate traditional rites affirming the new ruler's link to the founding ancestors of the kingdom. Ceremonial dances and masquerade performances mark royal and communal festivals in many Esan towns. Herbal medicine practice remains a recognised specialism associated with Esan communities across Nigeria, and yam remains both a dietary staple and a ceremonially marked crop at harvest time.