Yoruba and Benin Kingdoms:
The missing gap of history

ByKunle Sowunmi

culled from VANGUARD Thursday, may 20

The source of Yoruba from Benin is very authentic.THE statement credited to Oba Erediauwa Omonoba UkuAkpolokpolo, that the Yoruba race originated fromBenin Kingdom, was very rich in details and calls forre-examination by historians of high repute from allthe Nigerian Universities and recognised institutionsnot from uneducated and bias sources of chambers orshrines of some Obas or traditional rulers aspresently being envisaged or contemplated. Thestatement from Ooni of Ife disputing the fact of Obaof Benin was not strong enough.I was fascinated by the different versions ofuncoordinated folk stories we were told about theorigin of the Yoruba. As a Yoruba man from Abeokuta Iwas told Oduduwa was the first man created by God justlike the Bible said Adam and Eve were the first to becreated by God.The Bible says Cain the only surviving child of Adamand Eve went to another city called Nod to marry hiswife. The question is who created the wife, the wife'sparents or the family of the in-law if any. Just likeI asked in my innocent mind as a student in theprimary school then who created Oduduwa and how didOduduwa marry his wife? My Teacher never told me theanswer. We were even told Oduduwa was the son ofLamurudu from far East in Saudi Arabia and that someof ourYoruba cousin can be found in Uganda. Manyconflicting stories which are very difficult to proveor binding on history.These are some of the missing gaps of history.Oduduwa had sixteen children we were told and theeldest was Orangun of Ila and the Egbas in Abeokutawere descendants of the female child of Oduduwa namedAlaketu. None ever disputed the fact that Oranmiyanthe last born of Oduduwa also ruled the Benin Kingdom.Why did Benin allowed the last child of Oduduwa to bemade a king over them or his descendants, if there wasno blue blood connection? Oba of Benin gave adetailed account of fact of history that are verydifficult to dispute.The Yoruba share so many things in common with theEdo's in names and culture, which must be the reasonwhy it is very difficult to dispute the version ofOmonoba Uku AkpolokpoloAgain, to the Bible, Adam and Eve never told or shownCain the only surviving child the Garden of Eden whereGod created them, just like Oduduwa never shown theplace and real evidence how he was created by God.Archeologically, the Yoruba race is not more than 2000years meaning other tribes existed before the Oduduwaappearance. None availability of any other seriousfact to negate this lend credibility to Oba Benin'sversion.Two versions of historyBoth version of History from Oba of Benin and Yorubaagreed that Oramiyan the last son of Oduduwa returnedto Ife from Benin after he installed his son, Ewekathe first as Oba of Benin. He met his father Oduduwawho was very advanced in age and blind, more also allproperties had been shared and distributed among hisfifteen brothers and sisters. Alternatively, sevenbrothers according to Oba of Benin, Oduduwa was at adilemma on what to do because he assumed Benin Kingdomwould be enough as Oranmiyan's inheritance. Bothversion of history agreed that the name Benin meant"the land of the annoyed" because Oranmiyan left theplace in annoyance. Again, Oba of Benin was right onthis.Oduduwa found an easy way out. He gave Oranmiyan hisstaff as symbol to show his brothers and sisters to beable to collect ten percent of revenue derived fromyearly harvest through out Yoruba land. With this,Oranmiyan was able to collect over 150 percent of allthe returns throughout the uncoordinated kingdom.Oduduwa also grudgingly agreed to allow his last sonOranmiyan to be king at Ile Ife after his death. Thereason for this was unknown as this was against thecustom and tradition of giving priority to first childor son who was Ila of Irangun. On the other hand,could it be said that Orangun was too afraid tochallenge his junior brother or Oranmiyan was indeedthe senior? This is something the present Orangun ofIla should explain.Oduduwa was primarily a priest and voodoo man. It issaid until today that it is only one day that is freeof ritual worship in Ile Ife and the day is never madepublic. Oduduwa took vacation just for one day. In oneof the ritual ceremonies where nobody was allowed tobe seen outside, a foreign woman of no means oftracing her background was captured and was to be usedas scarifices for the gods. She was later sparedbecause she was found to be pregnant beside, it wasagainst ritual requirement. The child from the womanwas dedicated to the gods and act as a servant toassist Oduduwa in his day-to-day ritual and voodoojob. The child was named Ooni: meaning "this is SparedOne"After the death of Oduduwa his son, Oranmiyan wasinvited to take over the job of his father, which wasprimarily ritual and voodoo, as well as traditionalruler of Ile Ife. Oranmiyan refused because he hadsucceeded in building an economically viable place atOyo Ile with administratively sound method ofgovernment around the Oyomesi council in chief and itwould be degrading to leave this and move to Ile Ifeto be involved in daily ritual sacrifices.Oranmiyan gave a condition that he must be buried atIfe to symbolise his right to Ife thrown. It was oncondition of this that Ooni the son of the slavewoman that was captured and dedicated to gods that wasassisting Oduduwa continued the work of Oduduwa atIfe. This is the reason why ALafin of Oyo will neveraccept Ooni of Ife as a king or a superior in anyYoruba gathering of Obas.Ooni's assumed superiority was a British creationbecause the King of England assumed a king at Ife, thecradle of Yoruba, must be superior to all Obas justlike the British did in Abeokuta by imposing Alake'ssuperiority over other Obas at Abeokuta. In case ofEgbas, Sorunke who led the Egbas from Ibadan to thepresent Abeokuta was from Oke Ona, where Oba Tejuosois the King. This is the reason why there is conflictbetween Alake and Osile till date.Oranmiyan was buried at Ife and not at Oyo, which isthe reason for the Opa Oranyan at Ife till today. Ooniwas not a true son or direct descendant of Oduduwa andhis title was not recognised. Ooni was just his namewhich became his title. Ooni like other Yoruba Obaspaid duties to Oranmiyan during and after the death ofOduduwa.This practice stopped after the Oyo Empire wasdestroyed. It is rather difficult to accept the Ooni'sversion as against the Omonoba Polopolo. Oranmiyanwas a belligerent person. A war hero and where hisbrothers and sister refused to give the yearly tenpercent duty as agreed with the staff of Oduduwa hewould use force. He later appointed hisrepresentatives in each of the kingdoms of Yoruba tomonitor the returns, thus the creation of Oyo Empirethat led to the end of the kingdom Oduduwa createdwhich was not properly coordinated. The new empiregrew with amazing rapidity throughout West Africa andwas like the Ghana or Shonghai Empire of the medievalhistory in the south of Sahara. Oyo Empire startedslave trade to weaken opposition.An administration like the BritishOranmiyan's administration was the best in Africa andcould be likened to the British system ofAdministration during the colonial government. Theempire expanded up to the present Benin republic.Those who escaped the control of Alafin are theYorubas living in Benin Republic, which was formerlyDahomey, On the East side, Oranmiyan never botheredBenin Kingdom because of his son, and his son neverlooked for him. At least there was no record ofhistory of any transaction between father and son.Benin Kingdom continued to progress and Oyo Empirecontinued to expand to the west coast. In Lagos, therecould not be a clash, it was a place of reunion forEdo's and Yoruba it was said Eko, which is Lagos, andin our local dialect is a Benin word.


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CONTINUATION

Oyo Empire later suffered from over expansion and somelocal hero started to emerge to challenge theauthority of the Oyo kingdom or that of the Alafin ofOyo. Among them was the Lisabi Agboagbo Akala wholiberated the Egbas from Oyo Empire to create afearless Egba Kingdom.Lisabi was never a king. In fact, he was murdered bythe Alake of Egbaland because of his popularity. Egbasas a kingdom with its own National Anthem "Lori Okeati Pele" was merged with Nigeria by the BritishEmpire after 1914. In addition, Lagelu emerged fromIbadan, Ogendegbe from Ijeshaland and Shou ofOgbomosho and Ilorin through the deserter Chief ofArmy Staff of Oyo who was killed by Alimi a Fulani;thus, the end of Oyo Empire. The attack from theSokoto Caliphate from the North finally nailed thecoffin of the Oyo Empire.The collapse of the OyoEmpire led to the Yoruba Wars. The present Oyo townhas nothing to do with Old Oyo town, it was just a newcreation to symbolise the memory of the Old.The Egbas and Ijebus took over the control ofsouthwest towards the Atlantics because of lucrativeslave trade and closeness to the white man. Theemergence of western civilisation further weakened theOld Oyo empire, the empire collapsed and the ruminantsof it can still be found at the old site. The irony ofit is Alafin of Oyo in the present Oyo towncontinued to live in the memory of his ancestors'glory of the Old Oyo empire.In conclusion, Ooni who is not a direct son ordescendants of Oduduwa cannot be considered viable inthis discussion, but Alafin of Oyo must examine hisplace in history and that of his senior brotherOrangun of Ila the first son who had disappeared intohistory because he never challenged Oranmiyan. Theabdication of the thrown is a loss of right. However,can a son be greater than his father? or can a riverbe greater than its source? The source of Yoruba fromBenin is very authentic than Saudi Arabia or Lamurudu,which cannot be traced, in Saudi Arabian history.


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Who be dz 1 nw? Mtcheeew...... I don't knw wot u ppl really want with all dz lies! Nawa o