In the olden days, days of the forefathers (ancestors), some Igbo nationalities were migrating to this part of the country from their original abode somewhere within Uli area of present day Anambra State. On getting to the Imo River, having observed that the heavens would soon open up, some of the people hurried up and crossed over the river while others remained to roast yam to eat having became tired and hungry.
Immediately after, as if the people that had crossed the river knew, it started to rain heavily and those who stayed behind were unable to cross as the river overflew its banks.
The people who stayed behind to roast yam referred to those who crossed over as ndi ome ngwa ngwa (people in a hurry) from where the name Ngwa was derived, on the other hand, those who hurried and crossed over the river called their brothers and sisters on the other side, umu ohuhu (those who roast yam).
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These people are said to be found in Mbaise in present day Imo State.
Those whom we left our original abode with are the Mbaise people of Imo State, we are of the same parents, but as they were roasting yam, we left them and crossed the Imo River and they called us Ngwa (ome ngwa ngwa) translated to mean those in a hurry and we called them umu ohuhu translated to mean those that roast yam.
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When the Ngwa people crossed the Imo River, they journeyed to a place called Okpuala in the present day Isiala Ngwa North Local Government of Abia State, where they cleared the adjourning bushes and settled there.
After a while, the need for expansion of frontier arose. As some of the people settled at Okpuala, others itched to find a new settlement.
Story had it that the people’s quest to leave Isiala Ngwa and inhabit another place increased by the day, hence some further spread into other regions in expansion.
