Port Harcourt was called Obom-Otu and is till called Obom-Otu by Obulom (Abuloma) people of Wakirike-Ijaw to this day.
It was name Harcourt when the British bought the land for the Port and Railway Terminal Project to facilitate export of coal and other resource to UK.
The Port City was Named to honor then Secretary to the Colonies Lord Vermont Harcourt by Reginald Hagroove in what become known and documented as the Hagroove Agreement of 1913.
We can find lots of documents that establish both in land sale Agreement and Court Judgement that it was indeed called Obom-Otu and it was Owned and inhabited by Obulom-Ijaw Clan.
Obulom-Ijaw Clan was one of the 9 foundational clan that formed the Wakirike-Ijaw Confederation as one of then then Sovereign city states.
In many costomary, legal/judicial, Historical and Archeological work as I may present, Wakirike-Ijaw copiously documented Obom-Otu as Land of Obulom people (Abulome-ni as called in Wakirike-Ijaw expression)
Abuloma, moved into Obom-Otu from Ikibiri in Central Ijaw.
Obom-Otu of Obulom have strong influence and relationships with the ogbiaoid-ijaws to which Abua, odual, Bukuma, Ogbogolo, Ogbia, Emego etc as a linguistic group of Ijaws belong.
We have not publish our work yet because we are working to properly establish the Ikibiri origin and the Ogbiaoid links.
But efforts are on. These are mere excepts from facts and thoughts that we are validated from records of pre, during and post colonial times .
The facts are fascinating. We will have to work to give scientific validity what are possible circumstances that informs the linguistics relationships of Obulom to the Ogbiaoid language
Obulom people are also found I'm Etchie and are called Ikwerre-Ngwo. Their near estinct language called ochichi is strongly related to Obulom, their family names are linked to families in Obulom and Obulom people have records of the circumstance of their movement from Okein-odo to Etchie region in the pre-colonial times.
