In 1991, four Oro sons and daughters in London met and moved to form the Oron Community Association.
They were: Dr Hendrik Umana (Chair and Co-ordinator),Dr Ewa Oboho, Ms Eme Ndekhedehe and Ms Comfort Okpo (RIP).
The following year (1992), using the template from the Oron Union constitution, they wrote the first Constitution for Oron Community Association (UK & Ireland).
In July 2017, the name "Oron Community Association" was formally changed to Oron Development Union. The Constitution was also amended to reflect the change of name and also to update some of the provisions of the association.
The Oron people or Örö people are a multi-ethnic tribal grouping that makes up the Akpakip Oro or Oron Nation. The Örö are located primarily in southern Nigeria in the riverine area of Akwa Ibom and the Cross River States and in Cameroon. Akpakip Oro are regarded as an ancient warrior people, speaking the Oro language which is in the Cross River language family of the Benue–Congo languages. They are ancestrally related to the Efik people of Cross River State, the Ibeno and Eastern Obolo in Akwa Ibom, the Andoni people in Rivers State and the Balondo-ba-Konja in the Congo.
The geopolitical restructuring of states and local government within Nigeria has seen the egalitarian society of the Oron Nation being fragmented politically in the Niger Delta. They have been divided across two separate Nigerian states, the Cross River State and Akwa Ibom state, and then into five Oron local government areas (LGAs) within the Akwa Ibom state.
The Oron Nation is usually called by its members as Oro Ukpabang; Akpakip Oro; or Oro Ukpabang Okpo. These names are derived from their ancestral father Abang Okpo. The Akpakip Oro are made up of nine clans known as Afaha.
This Union was born out of the need to foster unity and harmony among the Oron people resident in the UK and Republic of Ireland. Our members come from the eleven Clans in the present five Local Government Areas of Oro Nation: Mbo, Okobo, Oron, Udung Uko and Urue-Offong/Oruko, our centre for administration being the UK and Ireland.
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