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Talk to ten people on the street, especially in Lagos and other cities and towns in Nigeria, about the Urhobos, about six or more of them are likely to express a quaint and funny facial expression that suggests caution. Or introduce yourself as an Urhobo man, and before you finish saying Urhobo, you may be helped in completing what has become a trade-mark (and somewhat derogatory) identity phrase: Urhobo Wayo, which literally means a tribe of tricksters.

Historical scholars have long explained and proved that the Urhobo wayo appendage is indeed, a social corruption of the Urhobo wado greetings of the Urhobos. Wado, literally means "welcome" and usually applied to welcoming a group of people or just more than one person; the Yoruba equivalent of Eku abo (or ekabo). But those who are intent on driving home the notion that Urhobos are cunning and witty find it convenient to modify wado to become wayo. And somehow, the appendage has stuck on.

And has also become a veritable source of giving social jokes.

Others have however argued that the disposition to trickery associated with the Urhobos, is not unconnected with the usual tight cognitive content loaded into the head and nature of the average Urhobo man. In fact, some people give the joke that all Urhobos are naturally born lawyers, and that those who spend extra time going to formally read law in the University are merely engaging in "research".

Thus, the innate attributes of having eyes for details and a sharp sense of deep understanding of human psychology, marks the Urhobo man out in a crowd. An uncommon superior intelligence will be required to outwit any Urhobo man in psycho-socio dealings. More often than not, it is this rather "native intelligence" that gets misconstrued as cunningness. And that is why the Urhobo man is perceived as "hard man".

But the Urhobos are not just a serious people, but also methodical. They are sticklers for rules. Attend any social gathering in Urhobo land and you will witness the meticulous instinct of the Urhobos at play. The outsider's belief that the Urhobo man is difficult arises mainly from the inclination for orthodoxy.

That explains why, even till date, in marriage ceremonies in Urhobo land, the official bride price is still aggregated in a few shillings. All other ancillary expenses are immaterial to the standing rules of "native law and custom." That is the raison d'etre why even though modern Urhobo brides do not go through the usual circumcision exercise, the families (of the bride) still charge "circumcision fee"

In typical traditional settings, marriages in Urhobo land are still contracted by passing through all the known stages and methods.

In social settings, the Urhobo man is veritably active. Although the Urhobos are not given to excessive party making as a nature, they yet have sundry occasions of celebrations. Ranging from festivals to marriages, through annual meetings and even burial rites, the Urhobos delight in demonstrating the rich embroidery of their cultural heritage. During burial rites, besides the methodical details of giving the dead a befitting burial, it is an occasion where wealth or the lack of it is displayed among the people. This is usually expressed in the raw and eregetic dance steps of the people especially under the compelling rhythmic music of the likes of Chief Omokomoko Osokpa or Okpa Aribo. Such vivacious music often bespeaks of the telegraphic urgency replete in the loves of African.

The Urhobo man is somewhat egoistic. Always striving to measure up to a standard, never willing to lose face. And that also explains the strong will of the people to survive any odd. The fighting spirit is iron-cast.

One running representation of culture of the people in any Urhobo ceremony is the presence of native gin (often called Ogogoro). Considered as the father of all drinks, no Urhobo ceremony can take place without its presence. Indeed, some people heavily indulge in its consumption with a zeal that comparies with a missionary's zeal for the gospel of christ. The Ogogoro is to the Urhobos, what palmwine is to the Igbos. To underline how it is faithfully taken among the people, it is jocularly referred to as Sapele water. The young and the old take delight in its consumption. A point that establishes the tenacious hold to socio-cultural ethos of the people. Few Urhobo men, even in the cities, will not have a bottle of the "illicit gin" in their homes. For some, it serves as early morning coffee. Those faithful in its consumption argue that it prepares them for the day. That it fires their inner senses, in such a manner that their entire being is vivified to act the Urhobo in them.

One other unignorable cultural feature of the Urhobos is their sartorial dress sense.

Perhaps common to the entire people of the Niger Delta, the care taken by the people to complete their entire dress code is enormous. With all the fashion accessories on parade, the Urhobo woman and men, often emerge "fully done" in any gathering. The women are often defined by their rich George (Hollandis) textile complemented with colourful headgears, that cannot go unnoticed at ceremonies.

For the men, the bowler hats, with walking sticks, along with the George wrapper and well-tailored tops, perfectly approximate the image and picture of a typical Urhobo man.

The Urhobo nation is well heeled in the culture of morality. The traditional settings have measures for equilibrating the society. Moral standards are expected to be followed. Those who fall short of the standard will not fall short of facing the consequences. The Urhobo culture does not suffer fools gladly. Social recusants are dealt with according to equitable community rules.

Children are ordinarily brought up to respect their elders almost reverently. The meaning of the Migwo (pronounced meegwor) greeting simply suggests respect as it means " am kneeling down (for you). It is usually done by the younger person to an elder. Ideally, it should be said in a kneeling position. But it's hardly ever so any more. Yet, the society, despite the corrosive effect of western education, has managed to retain and preserve the moral treasures of the people. That is why any unusual act of insubordination of a younger person to an elder is not only frowned at seriously, but also considered sacrilegious, sometimes appeasable only by going through some cleansing rites.

Indeed, the average Urhobo man is very religious. Belief in the Supreme Being is absolute. What is controversial is the representative of that Supreme Being. Thus while some believe in traditional worship methods as in paganism, others believe in Christian methods of worship. The nearness to the coast of some Urhobo communities created early access for the advent of Christianity. And with the widespread effect of Pentecostal evangelism today, a good portion of the Urhobos have turned Christians, many of whom are in the orthodox genre.

The Urhobos found only in Delta state however form the bulk of the people of the state. With a population of over 2.5 million people, the Urhobos will politically give a direction in the political skew of the state. The Urhobos, thus make up the nucleus and soul of the state. Little wonder that since the creation of the state, twelve years ago, the two democratic experiments so far, have produced two Urhobos as the governors of the state. First it was Olorogun Felix Ibru in 1992 and then Chief James Ibori in 1999. Except by some measure of mutual concession and understanding, the trend is likely going to continue. With their population, the Urhobos are even more populous than sixty internationally recognized sovereign nation states.

Indeed, the Urhobos are more than the entire people of Botswana (1.4 million), Namibia (1.6 million) Kuwait (1.9 million) Trinidad and Tobego (1.3 million) or Malta (0.4 million) among others.

Although the Urhobos may not have received education sufficiently early, they have over the years, held their own in the comity of the educated world. Today, there is hardly any field of human endeavour where the Urhobo man is not found.

Professor Onigu Otite, of the University of Ibadan, supports this when he asserted that "with the high quality of the Urhobo population and intellectual attainment in all fields of learning and with acknowledged actual and potential human capital for the highest level of productivity, the Urhobo cannot be ignored in Nigeria."

Sadly however, the Urhobos have not been quite visible at the national scale. They have only been visible victims of the wealth of their land "and have been caught in the unjust political and economic traps of the nation."

Indeed, although the Urhobos suffered the geographical accident of being classified as one of the minority groups in Nigeria, the individual Urhobo man can hardly be a negligible minority in terms of self esteem and productivity index, when grouped along with other ethnic nationalities. In other words, the Urhobo man has a strong expressive charisma.

But that attribute is not peculiar to the Urhobos alone. It is more a generic characteristics of the people of the Niger Delta with whom the Urhobos share a string of similarities. Historically, the Urhobos are said to have migrated from the old Ogiso kingdom, the present Bini kingdom in Edo state.

Professor Peter Ekeh, a lecturer at the University of Buffalo, the State University of New York, noted that "there is internal evidence in Urhobo culture and language that demonstrates that close ties existed between various Urhobo communities and the land of the Ogisos"

Indeed, there is s running string of linguistic similitude among the people of he old Bini kingdom. For instance, the Urhobos as well as all the mini and micro communities in the old Bini Kingdom have the same words for water (ame), baby (omo) or come (yarhe or varhe ). The little differences in the language patterns are largely morphological. Even among the Urhobos, there are several variations of the Urhobo language. The dialect of the language spoken in Abraka, for instance is different from that spoken by the Orogun people. While the dialect spoken in Ughievwen area is different from that spoken in Uwheru area or in Agbarha or among the Okpes. In fact, even within some dialectical groups, yet exists ideolectal units. Although the beauty is that all Urhobos understand themselves irrespective of the dialect spoken. However there is the Received Pronunciation-RP-(sort of) which is the central Urhobo languauge, the brand spoken in the Agbarho and Agbon clans.

Although the Urhobos often insist on their rights and privileges, they are generally a peaceful people.

Bounded by the Ukwanis, the Isokos, the Ijaws, Itsekiris and the Binis, the Urhobos have, over the years, maintained standing cordiality with their neighbours and have co-existed peacefully. But for the needless and misplaced occasional dispute between the Urhobos and the Itsekiris, the urhobos have, inspite of all that is in their nature, upheld the banners of peace and unity.