It has been many thousands of years since the establishment of the city of Ijebu somewhere in-between the city of Lagos and the old Oyo Empire within present-day Nigeria. Interestingly, whether one can say the city was established at all or that it has always existed with the advent of the Universe (just like any other city for that matter) should ordinarily constitute a complexity.

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There are a number of things that are unique about Ijebu and the Ijebu people; talk about an Ijebu participation in the war against colonialism, the Yemoja war (the war was christened Yemoja because this was where the war was hottest between the Ijebus and the British. There is a Yemoja natural swimming pool, where the British used to relax during war-breaks located in the Ijebu town, Yemoja till tomorrow).



‘Segun Osoba, a renowned Professor of History, once ended a narrative on a similar subject with a funny anecdote about one of the few Ijebu converts to Christianity. This particular man became a ‘Pastor’ as is commonplace today; once, a member of his congregation vexed him (names and details withheld) to a degree that he had to take off his pastoral regalia (not sure what they used to call that), thus revealing the hitherto concealed attire of a Juju Priest.



That anecdote represented the suspicion with which the Ijebus held Christianity while yet practicing it. Insufficient to confirm though, but this suspicion is quite ubiquitous today that even the Europeans themselves have come to establish same with their attitude of faith-needlessness. One of the reasons why the current Pope has chosen to launch his twitter account @Pontifex ‘to reclaim lost sheep’. However, this is far from being the subject of discourse here.



What the interest is herein is the attitude of the world to the Ijebu race. I refer to the world because everything you hear about the Ijebu people and spoken by ‘just’ anybody around the world is almost bound to be derogatory. This has gotten so endemic (you can say pandemic, if you want) especially in contemporary times that everyone seems to want to distant itself from an Ijebu ‘CityMan’; last time I even noticed a baby suspiciously eyeing an Ijebu man. I no know wetin the guy do the pikin o! Read more on blog...

They are as stingy lyk our brothers frm d landlocked region

Me too have noticed that alot...their approach to money is not same with other yorouba have seen ...u can also identify them easily ....I love dem though .... have Igbo instinct