scholes0:

Kindly explain details of the marginalization you keep talking about.


You are clearly the outsider here.

My mom is from there and I don't understand where you got your narrative of marginalization from.

Don't they have someone representing them at the Federal House of Representation? Haven't they held top positions both nationally and in Edo State?

Only an outsider would keep saying Akoko Edo and Akoko in Edo State have anything to do with each other. They are just neighbors, that's all. As neighbors, many have learnt the yoruba language and even adopted Yoruba names. It doesn't mean they are Yorubas. Go to Somorika, Uneme Nekhua or Igarra and tell me their language is Yoruba or they are kin to Yorubas. There is a village called Sobe on the road from Akure to Benin. Are they Akures because they are close to Akure and can speak Yoruba?

Kindly explain details of the marginalization you keep talking about.

First and foremost, stop the BS! the fact that your mother hails from there does not mean you are versed in the people, their desires and their aspirations, nor does it mean you know much about them.
You are clearly the outsider here, because if you were really connected you would now that Akoko Edos complain bitterly of marginalization and lack of development/attention from government.
Did you even read the first page of this thread, a girl there mentioned that they are marginalized and you are asking how? maybe you should ask them why they feel as such, especially since your other's relatives would be able to answer you effectively.

Somorika and Uneme speak their languages as well as Yoruba / pidgin as languages of wider communication. Igarra does the same except that their local language is a dialect of Ebira. If were to go purely by language I think we better start getting ready to make Igarra a Kogi state enclave in Edo state then, abi na? The Ijaws and Itsekiri lands in Edo should be transferred to Delta.

Secondly, Sobe is not close to Akure, Sobe is close to Owo, and even closer to Ifon. they speak a language similar to owan dialects as well as Yoruba language. I won't call them Yorubas unless they call themselves such. Ethnic identity is fluid and subject to influences. They are not Akures either. Akure is not an ethnic group, Akures are Ekitis culturally.
That area is part of the Ondo-Edo border region, and there are influences from both in the entire area as well.

babaolofin:


Firstly, your writeup might appeal to so many people reading it especially to those who don't know. Firstly, Akures are not Ekiti culturally. Even in Ondo State, Ondos are not Akures culturally despite the closeness of the people to each other. They still have differences & Ekiti is different here. I think your classification of people based on states created by colonial master or military is not valid. Also talking about dialect and major language is a wastage of time. Historical foundation of a people is what determines the tribal group the people belong to. In Yoruba land there are so many dialects even up to Togo. The fact that Sobe or Ifon have a dialect does not mean they are not Yorubas. I believe during migration, inter-marriages, etc , dialects can change. All the towns that originated from Ife have different dialects, naturally, they should be speaking the same language.

scholes0:


What are you talking about? If Akures are not Ekitis culturally, the what are they?
Are you from there?

Ondos and Akures belong to different groups, I never claimed they did. Ondos are Ondos, and Akures are Ekitis. simple.
I am not classifying anyone based on any colonial state border, if I did, I would have called Akures people Ondos, because they are now in Ondo state.

Ekitis are also in Kwara, does that make them any less Ekiti?

Ifon speaks Yoruba and Yoruba only. Sobe speaks Sobe and Yoruba, with sobe being an edoid language

babaolofin:


I am from Ogun State but my mother is from Ekiti. I know Ekiti & Akure very well. You are still repeating the same thing.People reading your piece might be keeping quiet. I am a Yoruba man, I am not talking about states. My postings on this thread had been based on the location of Igbo Orunmila in Ijebu Land. You can continue.

babasolution:


ogori will exterminate ekpedo in warfare,ekpedo is too poor to withstand ogori

babaolofin:


I am from Ogun State but my mother is from Ekiti. I know Ekiti & Akure very well. You are still repeating the same thing.People reading your piece might be keeping quiet. I am a Yoruba man, I am not talking about states. My postings on this thread had been based on the location of Igbo Orunmila in Ijebu Land. You can continue.

9jakool:

An Ekiti person would like to say that they are homogeneous since there is an homogenous Ekiti state. In reality, Ekitis are one of the most non-homogenous/inconsistent Yoruba subgroup there is. Ekiti parapo was an alliance of the 16 kingdoms that forms Ekiti. Akure is one of the 16 kingdoms of Ekiti. This immediately shows you that Ekitis are not as homogenous, which is evident in their dialect. People of Akure speak a distinct dialect. There are many variations within the Ekiti dialect in itself and there are some variations outside the core Ekiti dialect that are very hard to classify as Ekiti. The people of Moba (Otun) speak a dialect that is closer to Igbomina. The dialect of Efon (Efon Alaaye) and Ekiti West (Okemesi) is similar to Ijesha. The people of Omuo-Oke in Ekiti East speak a dialect similar to Ijumu in Kogi state. The people in Aiyede in Oye and Itapaji and Irele in Ikole are not even Ekiti, but Yagbas like those in Kogi. @scholes0

9jakool:

An Ekiti person would like to say that they are homogeneous since there is an homogenous Ekiti state. In reality, Ekitis are one of the most non-homogenous/inconsistent Yoruba subgroup there is. Ekiti parapo was an alliance of the 16 kingdoms that forms Ekiti. Akure is one of the 16 kingdoms of Ekiti. This immediately shows you that Ekitis are not as homogenous, which is evident in their dialect. People of Akure speak a distinct dialect.

There are many variations within the Ekiti dialect in itself and there are some variations outside the core Ekiti dialect that are very hard to classify as Ekiti. The people of Moba (Otun) speak a dialect that is closer to Igbomina. The dialect of Efon (Efon Alaaye) and Ekiti West (Okemesi) is similar to Ijesha. The people of Omuo-Oke in Ekiti East speak a dialect similar to Ijumu in Kogi state. The people in Aiyede in Oye and Itapaji and Irele in Ikole are not even Ekiti, but Yagbas like those in Kogi. @scholes0

scholes0:


lol, no Yoruba group is 100% homogeneous, let's not deceive ourselves, Yoruba is a dialect continuum spanning from Itsekiri into middle Togo. Within this continuum there are blends and blurry areas.

If you say Ekiti is one of the least homogenious Yoruba groups what then will you say about the Ijeshas , Egbas or Oyos?
For example, where does Egba end and where does Egbado begin? Where is the boundary between Egba and Oyos?
How about Oyos, are they different from the Ibarapas? where is the area between Oyo and Ibolo? Where dos Oyo end and where do the Onkos begin? and then between the two where do they share a boundary with the Shabes?

Akures speak about standard Ekiti. Ikere, Ado and Akure, no difference in how they talk. Their music, their livelihoods, their love for Iyan, some of the other foods they eat etc.

You do realize that saying Otun speaks a dialect close to Igbomina is only stating that in relative terms, right?
It does not mean Otun speaks exactly like Igbominas, but is closER to Igbomina THAN OTHER Ekiti speech... comparatively speaking. But it is still Ekiti.

Besides Be it Igbomina, Ijesha or Yagba all are still central Yoruba. A Yagba man will have a better time understanding an Ado Ekiti man than he will understanding a man from Ikenne, if they all decide to speak dialects.

Who says Ikole isnt Ekiti? Elekole has always been a prominent Ekiti king, what are you talking?
Omuo Oke, Omuo Obadore and Ikole are all classified as Ekiti dialects., including Eriti, Irun and Ogbagi in Ondo.

babaolofin:


Your writeup might appeal to so many people reading it especially to those who don't know. Firstly, Akures are not Ekiti culturally. Even in Ondo State, Ondos are not Akures culturally despite the closeness of the people to each other. They still have differences & Ekiti is different here. I think your classification of people based on states created by colonial master or military is not valid. Also talking about dialect and major language is a wastage of time. Historical foundation of a people is what determines the tribal group the people belong to. In Yoruba land there are so many dialects even up to Togo. The fact that Sobe or Ifon have a dialect does not mean they are not Yorubas. I believe during migration, inter-marriages, etc , dialects can change. All the towns that originated from Ife have different dialects, naturally, they should be speaking the same language.

There was no problem on Yoruba/Bini history for century until the late Benin Monarch wrote a book claiming Oodua was a Bini prince. He also claimed Oodua was not the first settler in Ife and that people were already leaving at Ife when he arrived. The late Ooni disputed his Oodua story. Alaafin (Iku Baba Yeye) also disputed his story. Ooni & Alaafin have never agreed on anything but on the 21st century history of Oodua written from Benin, they both disputed it. In yoruba culture, whatever king says is an authority. The 401 deities that accompanied Oodua to Ife, where are they from?

Also, the story of how Awori (the native Lagos indigene) migrated & finally settled in Lagos (Eko) was not needed because Oba Akiolu said Eleko (1st Oba of Lagos) was from Benin.

Also when Ifa (Orunmila) was coming to earth, Ife was the city where he landed. The Ooni Ifa priest (Araba) is the Chief Ifa priest worldwide. Ifa festival (Odunfa) is not celebrated anywhere in the world until it is first celebrated at Ife. The Oba's babalawo are Ifa priests, therefore the link to Ife cannot be twisted.

Until the mystery behind Ife existence is unravelled, people will continue to feed people falsehood.

9jakool:


The bolded is the point I'm trying to make. I don't even disagree with you. Our points are more similar. Yoruba is a continuum, no doubt about that, but the blurred lines are more obvious in some areas than others. I personally would argue that Ekitis are one of the least homogenous Yoruba group. It doesn't mean there aren't others who fit this category. That's just my opinion, you can beg to differ. Yes, I can argue that the line between Onko and Sabe is more blurred compared to the lines between Akure and Ondo. Ibolo, Onko, and Ibarapa are not even Oyo to begin with, they were only absorbed by Oyo. It's easy to differentiate their dialects. While their names may be similar, you can't mistake an Egbado for an Egba; but you can sure mistake an Efon person for an Ijesha. This is the point I was trying to make. I even said Akure was Ekiti and part of the 16 kingdoms that make up Ekiti. I am not taking anything away from Ekiti, I'm simplying saying they are not homogenous.



I only said their dialect was closer to Igbomina, I didn't say it is Igbomina.



Yagba is not a Central Yoruba dialect. While Igbomina, Ekiti, and Ijesha are Central Yoruba, Yagba is North Eastern Yoruba. An Oyo speaker can also understand a Yagba man better than an Ikenne man. It doesn't mean Oyo and Yagba dialects are in the same box. The difference between Ekiti and Yagba are more stark in comparison to Ekiti/Ijesha, and Ekiti/Igomina. Anyways, I get your point about the Central Yoruba factor.



Did I say Ikole isn't Ekiti? The town of Ikole, by all ramification is Ekiti. All I said is that the people in the town of Aiyede in Oye LGA as well as the towns of Itapaji and Irele in Ikole LGA are Yagbas. It's simply facts.


We can all agree that no Yoruba group is entirely homogenous. I will end on that note.

I might create a thread about this in the future, I'll definitely need your contribution and insight.

scholes0:
@9jakool

^^ I think you might be mixing up Political homogeneity with cultural homogeneity.
Ekiti never coalesced into a single large Yoruba state like the Oyos, Egbas or Ijebus, but they are surely culturally similar even in all their small ileto ileto that spread all over.
In Ekiti for example, you will almost never see all those names like Amoo, Ajani, Amoke, Ajadi, Adio, Akanke, Abeni, Alake, Apeke etc but they are very common in central west yorubaland irrespective of clan. How then can you distinguish the Iseyin man who is onko from the Ogbomosho man who is Epo (Right bank Oyo)

Again let's look at something like tribal marks which is Universally absent in all Ekiti lands, but present in most of western Yorubaland irrespective of clan. How would you have been able to distinguish the Sepeteri man from the Oyo atiba man, when both have hge gombos and Abajas decorating their cheeks?

Music nko, Egbas and Oyos rely heavily on the gangan family and occasionally the bata. Their music is characterised by heavy loud /explosive drumming. In Ekiti, music is more sonorous / drawn / "dirge-like" oriented with lots of "Ogbe" (voice backups). There are other instruments involved that you will usually not seen west past Ilesha- like slit drums. I know what I speak of.
So how can you distinguish a song from Abeokuta from one from Ibadan? they basically sound alike.

Thats just the point i was making.
These things go deep. so while you might be right on the fact that the Ekitis are politically fractured unlike ome other Yoruba groups with well known centralized communities, their culture is actually more similar than you might think.

The Ikole part, you should have mentioned that you were referring to some villages in Ikole (The local government), to distinguish it from the town , which was what I thought you were referring to.

Nice reply btw.

Alexis11:


Please mention me when you do.

Maturedkid:
am from uneme and I have read the story it is true. also the Yoruba akoko in ondo stateis totally different from akoko Edo in Edo state. bishop itegboje is actually my grandmums elder brother and his children are still alive today, some of them though. he is still celebrated till date.
the curse has been lifted and uneme people are great people.
no nid for arguments.
the story is true.

dominique:


I read the article to see exactly what became of them after they were cursed and if there were any differences after the curse was revoked.

My friend from Akoko complains that they're the least favoured in the state in terms of appointments and infrastructure.

AreaFada2:

Ok. I take moving with the times as the key message.

I also think the "universality" of the word Oba has increased its attractiveness in Yorubaland. Oba became a stand alone superior title after Ogiso era in Benin. Pre-Eweka I it was Oba-Godo as Ogiso, from Eweka it became Oba. I believe the other matter is that there was no other ruler called Oba as a title within core Benin territory or areas that originally came under Benin rule. The lesser title Enogie (mostly princely dukes, Oba's younger brothers/younger sons made provincial rulers) & chiefs (Ogie) were devolved to those people.

For example, in Esanland, Onoje are the normal titles of traditional rulers there. Orodje, Ovie & other titles in Urhobo land. The first Olu of Warri (Prince Ginuwa of Benin) only got the title "Ogiame" or Lord/ruler of the Seas from his father Oba Olua when leaving Benin.

That set the title Oba apart long ago already among Edoid people. Whereas Oba title seems ubiquitous in Yorubaland. The Yoruba who sees many Baales turned Obas everywhere in Yorubaland may not readily realise the singular significance of it in Benin.

samuk:



If I read the Yorubas correctly, the Oba title was initially met for lesser kings and somehow their superior kings are now using it. It's like the Oba of Benin changing his Oba title to Ogie.

If this is not an attempt to twist logic on it's head, then I don't know what it is.

The reason everyone from baale, ewi, Ooni, Awujale, etc, who are on the same level to Old Benin empire equivalent of Eleko, Ogiame, Ogiegor are now switching or adding the Oba to their original title is to pretend to elevate themselves to the singular enviable position of the Oba of Benin.

The original and only true Oba is the Oba of Benin, others currently using the title are copycats doing so for the prestige the title has earned for close to a thousand years as the title of Oba of Benin.

Before 1940, none of these senior Obas in Yoruba land used that title, but in less than a century, they have completely appropriated the title to themselves to the extent of even now claiming ownership and origin of the title.

The Oba title is completely being desecrated in Yoruba land by every Tom, dick and harry chiefs who now referred to themselves as Oba. These people hardly know the respect such title carries in it's original birthplace of Edo.

No single chief or Enogie within the Benin kingdom dear add the Oba title to their original title the way the Yoruba baale, ewi and chiefs are doing. Their lack of respect for the title shows that they borrowed it and don't fully understand it's significant.

BEANSndPLANTAIN:
Cc uboma

uboma:




Damn!


How many monikers is he using to deceive unsuspecting audience?

BEANSndPLANTAIN:
don't act as if you know tho

KingOvoramwen1:
A lot of you have been curious about the curse placed on the Uneme people be rest assured the curse has Long been Revoked by Oba Akenzua II . Here is a piece about what really went down in 1370 AD. Enjoy!!




https://joshuaproject.net/people_groups/15713/NI

KingOvoramwen1:
A lot of you have been curious about the curse placed on the Uneme people be rest assured the curse has Long been Revoked by Oba Akenzua II . Here is a piece about what really went down in 1370 AD. Enjoy!!




https://joshuaproject.net/people_groups/15713/NI

LadiIshola:
It is not Ogiebo, it is OGEGBO and he was never an Oba nor will he be an Oba in Yoruba Land.
Ogegbo is a traditional title in Ibowon an Epe area of Ijebuland and the title is that of the AGEMO worshippers and a very high ranking one at that. So please you should get your fact right and verify properly.
The OGEGBOs have a very potent curse charm that have been used in times past even till now and the office is always very revered.
Please Ijebuland was never ruled by OGIEBO and was never under Benin Kingdom.
Thanks.