GrandFinale2017:
hahaha if he catch u he go abuse u o. Dude is a full blooded benin while i think you might be yoruba

step1:


[s]Lol he is not. Go and read his post. Also he is a very young man. I have researched on him. His mother is Benin while he is igbo.

Yes I am a full blooded yoruba man from Lagos state.

GrandFinale2017:
hahaha if he catch u he go abuse u o. Dude is a full blooded benin while i think you might be yoruba

GrandFinale2017:
hi bro, just new in Benin, i'm a tourist.. How long is the distance from Ugbowo to Ogba zoo?

step1:


Yes I am a full blooded yoruba man from Lagos state.

BornStunner1:


Are you asking for distance or direction ?

GrandFinale2017:
both.. Give me directions to Ogba Zoo from where i reside. I reside at Federal college road back of UBTH.
Cc Martha89
kingovoramwen1

GrandFinale2017:
both.. Give me directions to Ogba Zoo from where i reside. I reside at Federal college road back of UBTH.
Cc Martha89
kingovoramwen1

GrandFinale2017:
both.. Give me directions to Ogba Zoo from where i reside. I reside at Federal college road back of UBTH.
Cc Martha89
kingovoramwen1

step1:


Lol guy you no dey hear word. You are asking iPod direction in Benin. Does he even know ring road not to talk of ogba zoo. Lol

Obalufon:
I knew from the onset you guys are igbo.. i have smoked you out of your earthern forest ..your forefather were naked roaming about buck naked before Awolowo clothed your forefather in the 50s do the research...from our ancient dressing you will know how civilize we were before the coming of the white race , white historian and archaeologist are equating Yoruba civilization with the Greek civilization some think we migrated to this region from the middle east ....we were looming cloth thousand of years before the white race... if you guys are truly edo please let me know the part you are from ..isan afuze owan auchi akoko edo .sabo gida ora ..all these place you can still see people having Yoruba last name and first names we worship the same deity ogun and olokun sango ....oba benin is highly revered by all Yoruba obas after oni of ife ...some yoruba obas too have edo kingship lineage ,ekiti and ondo . You don't need to propagate the greatness of edo or Benin kingdom it speaks for itself..

EdoNation:


Point of correction we Edos do not have anything to do with Yoruba's apart from our prince oduduwa who wandered into your town, KingOvoramwen is a bonafude son of the red soil and he us reppin the empire to the fullest you shud do the same with your Yoruba tribe ,so pls quit this gibberish you are typing , you don't sound learned , and stop rediculing your tribe it is not for the best... Bye!!

EdoNation:


Point of correction we Edos do not have anything to do with Yoruba's apart from our prince oduduwa who wandered into your town, KingOvoramwen is a bonafude son of the red soil and he us reppin the empire to the fullest you shud do the same with your Yoruba tribe ,so pls quit this gibberish you are typing , you don't sound learned , and stop rediculing your tribe it is not for the best... Bye!!

9jakool:

I might do a breakdown of Akoko Edo in the future, but these kind of things require a lot of time and research. The only Edoid speaking parts of Ondo state are Isua area, Ipe, Ekpemi, and Iyayu quaters in Idoani. Now let's make a distinction between Edo and Edoid. These four communities don't identify as Edo, because they are not Edo, but Edoid speaking groups. Your average Edo speaker from Benin cannot hold a conversation with these people because while their language are related, they are not the same. It is the same way Igalas aren't Yorubas despite speaking a Yoruboid language (that is not necessarily mutually intelligible to Yoruba). In fact, these particular four communities identify as Yoruba and trace their origin to Ile-Ife like most if not all the peoples in Akoko Ondo area. Most of their kings have Yoruba titles and claim descendant to Oduduwa.

Yes, good observation about the Okpe people. There are quite a number of Yoruba speaking communities in Edo state. It's a known fact that there are ethnic groups in Akoko Edo and Owan areas that claim origin from Ile-Ife, practice Yoruba culture and religion and speak Yoruba language in additional to their own distinct languages. There are also some monolingual Yoruba communities that speak a dialect of the Yoruba language such as Imeri, that was only ceded to Ondo state just a couple of years ago.


Aside from these communities in the Afemai area, there are a few Yoruba communities even found in the heart of Edoland. I'm talking specifically about the Northern parts of Ovia SouthWest and the Western border areas with Ondo state. The town of Usen, as well as the surrounding towns and villages are not native Edo speaker. Your average Edo speaker cannot hold a conversation with an Usen speaker since they speak a Yoruba language. To this day, the traditional ruler of Usen is referred to as Olu Awure.

pazienza:
Claiming Ife origin means nothing. Oral history in this part of the world are usually tainted to reflect present political realities.

Many communities in Akoko SE claim Ife origin, yet they all speak Edoid languages, from Isua to Ipe, Epinmi, Ipesi, Ifira, Sosan, they all speak Edoid languages as first languages and Yoruba as a second language.

From my encounter with these people , I believe they are Edo people who are suffering from inferiority complex and are striving too hard to become Yorubas when it's obvious they are Edo. They all claim to have migrated from Ife and that the current Edoid languages they speak was as a result of their interactions with Edo people during their journey From Ife to their current location.
Their identity crisis is reminiscent of those of Ika and other Bini origin claiming, but Igboid speaking Igbo communities.

The entire Akoko SE is Edoid, and have no reason being part of Ondo.
But the people are currently Yorubaphilic and Edophobic, and are currently striving hard to kill off their indigenous Edoid languages and replace them with Yoruba languages.
They had already done this with their names, as most of them now bear Yoruba surnames and first names, Edoid names are becoming a rarity amongst these Edoid speaking people.
It's truly amazing.

step1:
This is funny. Anyway let akoko, login and ekiti speak for themselves. I am from Lagos and an indigene and we are not in anyway Edo but yoruba. If you like nak your head for ground we are yorubas. The few of us that have proto Edo names like obanikoro are now yorubas because we never considered Edo different from yoruba but if you choose differently then we stick to yorubas.

Nowenuse:


I don't think you should blame all the Edo speaking Ondo people who claim yoruba origin and identity. They obviously have more to gain by claiming yoruba identity than Edo identity

Nowenuse:


I don't think you should blame all the Edo speaking Ondo people who claim yoruba origin and identity. They obviously have more to gain by claiming yoruba identity than Edo identity

Nowenuse:


You did a very great job in this thread. Kudos to you! More pieces like this for you.

It's such a shame that Nigerians are not taught history in school and we do not even know ourselves and origins very well.

Pls I'd like to ask.

1. Do all Akoko people irrespective of their dialects identify as one people? Do they have pan-unity forums?

2. How on earth did the non-edoid and non-yoruboid speakers find themselves in Akoko land in between Edos and yorubas? And they were never absorbed for so many years?

3. Do all the non-yoruboid speakers in Akoko speak yoruba as a lingua franca? If yes, is it specifically Oyo dialect (central yoruba)?

4. Are the non-yoruboid speakers facing language extinction threats in Akoko? Due to the strong influence of yoruba language?

Obalufon:



Can you speak akoko language do you understand it ?

9jakool:


1. Yes, Akoko is an umbrella term. The people are lumped up as a subgroup of Yoruba, but in reality they are a diverse group of people. This is why you often hear Yoruba people say that every town in Akoko speak their own dialect, many of which are often difficult to understand by outsiders or even other towns within Akoko. Because of the proximity, the Akoko people have created a unique cultural blend. Intermarriage is common and the cuisine, kingship, religion, customs, and even languages have blended together through borrowing and exchange of ideas and people. All the towns in Akoko have linked history with stories of trade and migration. An important thing to note is that the Akoko umbrela identity and affiliation with Yoruba existed long before colonial rule and before Yoruba people even started calling themselves Yoruba.

2. Well Akoko settlements are unique in that they are separated by mountains. The rocky terrain provides some degree of cultural isolation. To answer your question, you have to understand the linguistic nature of Akoko settlements. Akoko towns are very old (I can't stress how ancient they are). The old languages of Akoko are very archaic and conservative, changing very little and they offer a glimpse of what proto-Yoruba was like. For example, the Yoruba spoken 1000 years ago would be closer to the Akpe, Ahan, Ayere and Akokoid lagauages. Many elements lost in Yoruba language overtime are preserved in the Akoko languages. In towns with multiple languages, each community have oral tradition pointing to ancient immigration. So in essence, the non-Yoruboid and non-Edoid speaking of Akoko have been there since the very beginning. They are aboriginal to the land, just like the Yoruba and Edoid speakers. All of the Akoko languages including the Yoruboid dialects share a common ancestor, but a degree of isolation have created the differences we see today.

3. Yes, they do. Do they speak Oyo dialect? Well, currently yes, but historically no. Akoko people have always used Yoruba as a lingua franca, but not the Oyo dialect. Prior to the introduction of Oyo dialect as the standard, the people of Akoko use a general Akoko Yoruba dialect (a type of SE Yoruba) as a lingua franca with different variations from town to town to ease trade and communications. This is still true today, but over the past 150 years, the Oyo dialect has gained much influence and popularity.

4. This leads to the next question. Yes, these languages could face extinction. The most critical languages are Ukaan and Ahan languages. But the extinction is true for all Akoko lects including the indigenous Yoruboid ones as well, that are rapidly declining in favor of Oyo variety.

Nowenuse:


I don't think you should blame all the Edo speaking Ondo people who claim yoruba origin and identity. They obviously have more to gain by claiming yoruba identity than Edo identity

Obalufon:
Language mutates .Akoko is ife lineage ..ifa is the master historian..

davidnazee:


All Edo or Edoid groups in Eastern Yoruba are descendants of Edo people. They are descended from warriors, administrators, traders who settled those areas after driving out the Yorubas in those places. It’s all in history, go research yourselves and stop believing lies from these Yorubas on here.