HISTORY OF IYE EKITI
Iye Ekiti which came to be around 603AD originated from Iyekere, like other Yoruba
towns, in Ile-ife, the cradle of all Yorubas. Iyekere is between Modakeke and Ile-ife
in the present day, Osun State. Since this time that Iye was formed from the name
of the parent town, Iyekere, the name has never been changed.
The founders of the town known as Iye Ekiti today were three major actors: Abiri
Ipesi (an herbalist), Ofiro Asoso (a hunter) and Olumose (an herbalist/hunter). A few
others who were with them on this escapade were Asalu, Elemure, Elepe, Olora and
Aremo.
While Abiri Ipesi settled at Oke –Agbo along Ewu Road, Ofiro Asoso who happens to his
brother and a hunter could not overcome his hunting passions, and so left his brother,
Abiri Ipesi, and came to where is now known as Ilegemo at Oke Iye.
Meanwhile, another man known as Olumose was already on ground at the place now
known as Isapa. These three people facilitated the coming together of the other
hamlets.
In total, about twenty-two hamlets came together to form the town. Most these
hamlets which moved from the original locations still retain the original traditional
locations for farming activities today. For example, Iremo came from Igbo Ilokun, Ise
from Akunrin, Igbede from Igbo Ogun, Ilisemo from Oke Agbo, Ilafe have something
in common with Imore in Otun Ekiti and so on.
Abiri Ipesi, Ofir Asoso and Olumose by virtue of their positions, became the heads of
their quarters which are today known as Ilefun, Oke-iye and Isapa. Iye would have
been larger than it is today, but the rampaging war of that era affected some of
these hamlets that came together. For instance, the path left untagged to honour
the Imose people being Royal family, for the King’s children for easy passage along
Omi-igbo in Isapa was exploited by the enemies to attack Iye.
This explains while Isapa is today sparsely populated. The people carried away by the
Fulani’s war then were taken towards northern Nigeria, thus, they were settled till
today at Isapa Opin in Kwara State. Other hamlets have their fair shares of the
wars; Ihun, known for the protection of the territorial integrity of Iye during the
wars, Ayooke and Ifere too were affected by the Ibadan/Ekiti war.
Mentioned must be made of the fact that the founders of Iye were fair people. This
reflected in their just and equitable distribution of all positions. This account for the
reason that there is no house or family group in Iye today without a principal position
of chieftaincy title. Their fairness to one another is also seen in the fact that all
strategic places, Oja Ojogbo, Apejoye, Ile Epa, etc, were jointly decided without
rancours.
# ORGANIZATION # AND # CHIEFTAINCY
As earlier said, the town, Iye, is divided into three quarters: Oke-iye, Ilefun and
Isapa. The following is the composition of each of these quarters in terms of houses
or family groups within them as at today:
Ilefun 7 houses/ compounds
Ojumorin compound Ilisemo Compound Ilora Compound
Odo-idara “ Ile Ebu “ Ile Tuntun “
Ile Asalu “
Oke-iye 11 houses/compounds
Oke’un compound Odo’un Compound Emure Compound
Aoo “ Ifere “ Oye “
Ilepe “ Ijio “ Ojumorin “
Ilafe “ Ilegemo “ Ukoro “
Isapa 5 houses/compounds
Igbede compound Ise Compound Imose Compound
Iremo “ Owakuta “
Each of these three quarters has their quarterly heads as follows:
# QUARTER # TITLE # OF # THE # QUARTER’S HEAD
Oke-iye Olowa
Ilefun Onilefun
Isapa Obanla
In the traditional Iye settings, these three quarterly heads do not go into the King’s
palace. Their major preoccupation was the effective administration of their
respective quarters. However, they are often represented in the king’s palace by
their chiefs who represent the interests of their quarters as follows:
Obanla/Isapa represented by SAJUKU and OLUKOTUN
Onilefun/Ilefun represented by ONIGEMO and EISABA
Olowa/Oke-iye represented by EISAYA and OLUKOSI
These stand-in chiefs are called the IWARAFAS. Other members of this iwarafa group
are Agba-akin from Isapa, Eisinkin from Oke-iye and Ajaganna from Ilefun.
There are some set of chief selected to represents their families or compound called
IARE headed by OLORI IARE
IYE also have obinrinle headed by EYELASO
Egbe iye also headed by ONIJOKA likewise
Modewa iye headed by OSUNLA. E.T.C
Thanks FOLAJIMI for the research

Seeing this for the first time. Thought Iye is just a name as I often call my mum. Oh wow.

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