CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
General Background
Adim is a dialect of Agwagune language. The speakers of Adim are known as the Adim people and reside in Adim community. Adim is located within Egup-Ipa in Biase local Government Area of Cross-River State. Adim is located approximately between latitude 5°N and 6°N and longitude 8°N and 9°The Adim community is a few kilometers away from Akpet and about 111 kilometers North –East from Calabar. The estimated population of Adim people as per 1983 National population census was 16,000 people. Adim is almost mid-way between Calabar and Ikom on the Calabar-Ikom highway. Adim is bounded to the North by Ugep and East by Idomi both in Yakuur Local Government Area. It is also bounded in the West by Abayong group of villages and south by Abini and to the South –West by Agwagune.
As a tropical area, the tropical climate is characterized by heavy rains, high temperature and humidity all the year round.
1.1 Historic Background
According to Raphael (2005: 2), Adim people migrated from a place called Otum Usa meaning old settlement. It was situated between Usumutong and former settlements of Ebon Ebijiakara both in Bahumono Clan in the present Abi local government of Cross-River state.
He asserted that a Bahumono man killed one Adim woman and the people of Adim wanted to retaliate. This development brought about a strained relationship between Adim people and Bahumono people. The situation forced the Adim people to flee from Otum-Usa and moved south-ward direction until they presently arrived at their present site and established small settlements.
Some other people believed that the eruption of the fight following the murder of Adim woman was not the reason for their migration from Bahumono, rather they attributed the cause of the fight specifically to the struggle to acquire more land and more fishing ponds. Yet, others claimed that apart from petty quarrelling, other reason for their movement was famine and epidemic. Since the people were always engage in fighting, less emphasis was placed on agriculture, this leading to famine and epidemic. They argue that this type of situation may likely have forced the ancestors of Adim to move away from Bahumono homeland.
Another major proponent of this view is Dr.Ajah Ekpeni Obia who asserted that the name Adim is a corrupt form. He said the word “Arum” was a colonial coinage from “Arumerume” which he claimed was the original name of Adim. He claimed that the people called Arumerume were corpus of five distinct families sharing common history of tribe, migration and unification.