The UPATA Clan

Upata was the fourth son of Ekpeye and was cherished by his father. He was very healthy during his birth. The father called him Upata, abridged from Upata-Ukpa, meaning a shell of good and well dried fishes.

In Ekpeye, children were named after ancestors, objects, place of birth, days of birth, notable animals and birds, such as Eyi (Cow), Ugo (Eagle), Oji (Iroko) and so on. The interpreter misinterpreted the names to the whiteman to mean (marsh) Oloto or Upata in Ekpeye as recorded in the intelligence report of cadet Newington, paragraph 31. The child was neither ugly nor dirty as a marshy place. Olube where he was born was not a marshy area. Ula-Upata means the dwelling place of Upata and NOT a marshy area.

Akoh and Upata were the first to receive western education and christianity then Ubie and Igbuduya (Okobo). Upata like his brothers, was a brave hunter, a farmer, a trader, a warrior and a medicine man. He bore many children both males and females. The children have emerged to towns and villages they are; Ula-Upata ( the head village), Idoke, Ihuaba, Edeoha (the administrative town), Ihuowo, Okporowo, Odiabidi, Ogbele, Okoma1, Okoma2, Oshiugboko, Ubumeze, Udebu, Ochigba, Ozoechi, Ikata, Ula-Ikata, Ihubuluko, Ihuike, Ihuama and Okpoga Udhodu.