₦airaland Forum

iguefi, one interesting point i got from your post is that you, a proud igboman has stated with detailed explanation of how ezechime was of edo origin and not of igbo origin. but tomorrow now, if the edo people want to take pride in the fact that their indigenes founded most of the settlements that later became major cities in modern day southern nigeria, including part of igboland like onitsha, im sure another “proud” igboman will be quick to say ezechime was not of edo origin but of igbo origin. you guys can't be serious and can't have it both ways.

^
lol, don't let the ooni of ife hear you o!

and oh, @IG
here is a good mystery you should resolve, where did oduduwa come from? cos some yorubas believe he came from somewhere in arabia, and the reason they believe so is because they say he was light-skinned and not black, hmmmm.

i don't know why nigerians bother themselves with "prophets" they had nothing to do with. the obsession about the skin-tone of such prophets is usually reserved for afrocentric african-americans, and they do so because they lost their original language, culture and identity due to slavery, so their case is understandable.

nigerians on the other hand still have a language, culture and identity that should be strengthened and sustained, but instead they would rather abandon their own culture in pursuit of another that had nothing to do with them directly. even if the prophets were black, how does that affect you in any way? or you want all "black" people to now convert to judaism, christianity, or islam?

if you are looking for a mystery to resolve, please concentrate on the mysteries surrounding every tribe in nigeria, cos to my knowledge, nigerians still don't know/or still can't decide on where they came from, and still have to rely on europeans and arabs to do that for them

and there is another one that says: "you don't pound a woman's v.agina with your fist"

ahhh… i wish i could write Bini.
so @bokohalal, please help me translate those when you are free.

i dont know how to write this in bini. but there is this bini proverb that says:

"the p.enis that is not erect is not a fool, he is only contemplating how many kids he is going to have"

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ohhh it is funmi not fumi. i guess it is the "n" that makes the difference, just like "g" makes the difference btwn igbo and ibo

lol, so "yorubas" are rejecting fumi now?
i thought that was a common "yoruba" name, and olufumi easily comes to mind.

and here are related names in edo

efehi - spirit's wealth
efosa - god's wealth
efemo - child's wealth

i guess u can see how efeizomor sounded edo to me and how i could easily translate it with edo. but who knows maybe it has another meaning rooted in igbo.

@ChinenyeN

in edo

efe - riches/ wealth
omo - child

i can't write edo properly but i know that

zo - grow
eh zo - does not grow

so efeizomor would be a phrase in edo that would mean riches/wealth does not raise a child.

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also if there is any historical figure that was called izomor in the past, then efeizomor would mean izomor 's wealth.

and in edo i think we have/had a historical figure that was called ezomo.

anyway lemme just wait for the igbo meaning of efeizomor.

@ezeagu

outta curiosity what does efeizomor mean in igbo? coz that name sounds edo to me and has a meaning.

in edo efeizomor would mean riches/wealth does not bring a child or riches/wealth does not raise a child.

so what's the igbo meaning?

guy, na who send u come open dis yeye thread.
anyway, me i prefer to yarn in benin pidgin than queens english,
coz b-side pidgin is the most funkified. bengazzy for shizzle.

oya carry go and talk ur own.

and oh, one more thing, if chief agho had succeeded ovoramwen in the power struggle with his son aiguobasiwin, it would had been a change of dynasty,  and chief agho would probably have taken the a new title for king, so instead of “oba”, maybe he would have chosen his name “agho” and agho would become the new edo name for king. then maybe he would have even renamed the land and he definitely would have started the systematic suppression of the oba dynasty, and all things about the obas would have either be destroyed or renamed, and we would never have known how great benin was. and to crown it all, egharevba would never have had the opportunity to write his popular book on benin history.

so in a thousand years from now after about 35 aghos that have mostly been written about, would that make the stories of about 35 obas in the oba dynasty lack credibility? all because they were not written?  even that of esigie? and i guess no one would take it seriously that his mother was a beautiful and powerful warrior queen called idia, who fought gallantly to defend her people.

@ abagworo

I do not believe it was suppressed. The Africans lost the ability to write and hence lost credible history

when i said the most suppressed history in nigeria is that of the ancient benin, i was not talking about ancient benin as it is called today, i was talking about the ancient city when it was called igodomigodo because mind you, the name of the land only changed to benin after about 31 or so ogisos ruled the land.

and funny enough, it was the obas that started the suppression of the ogiso dynasty and even the mere mention of the name “ogiso” was seen as a taboo that may have attracted a death penalty during the early reign of the obas because whenever and wherever there has been a change of dynasty, the new one always suppress the history of the old one, like when dan fodio took over the hausa kingdoms, his successive son ordered all the already written pre-jihad works of hausa kings to be burnt to wipe off the old ways of the hausa kings and replace it with the new ways of the caliphate, and i guess that is the reason the fulanis still control the power-structure in hausaland. so i think the obas also did it did to strengthen their kingship with the people of igodomigodo.

and i think that the suppression of the ogiso dynasty is still going on even till this day. for example, when i was growing up, we had an “ogiso market” along 2nd east circular road benin city. but for some odd reason, the market was renamed “new market”. how can a market so old be renamed “new”? that is why i said the ogiso era should be focused on to unveil the structure of the ancient city to see how it may have looked like because we already know so much about the obas but know very little about the ogisos.

and also, because there was no written record should not make it lack credibility because not all “written” histories are credible. for example, not everything people write/post on this forum as history are credible, so should someone reading it a thousand years from now believe they are?

and one more thing, there was nothing like “yoruba” in ancient benin but there was “lucumi” so what happened to the lucumi people? where are they? or abi dem don disappear into thin air?

i think the era of the ogisos should be concentrated on coz before the ancient benin had the obas, they had the ogisos. and i believe the ogiso era holds the key to the puzzle.

nice post. i partly agree coz since benin was an empire, so the ancient city must have been cosmopolitan as it still is today. i think the benin and edo identity dwindled due to the fall of the empire to british control and the effects of british colonialism, because like they, it is difficult to serve two masters properly. so i guess the other ethnic groups that made up the empire and city found it easier to serve the current masters than the old one.

but i disagree that the benin bronze cast would have been done by ifes because the benin bronze cast is still very much alive at igun street in benin city and they are crafted by binis. for the ijaws doing the coastal business, it may be true because we are told the binis worshipped the rivers and seas as their god, coz olokun is their main god and i guess they didn’t see any reason in doing business on it. and i actually believe the most suppressed history in nigeria is that of the ancient benin.

i really like this contemporary picture.

https://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lg77xmq6p31qgfbgio1_500.png

- illustration of angus mcbride showing the oba (king) of the benin empire receiving a group of portuguese ambassadors in the 16th century AD.

^
and ika-speaking people are not igbo-speaking people, lol xD!

Igbankes don't say they are Igbos, which is what will keep them in Edo state while Anioma is created. Too bad for them.

oh, really? actually, thats good for them coz they are not igbos. they are igbankes/ edo speaking people.

and btw, are we going to say now that our unique and distinct dialect of english popularly called pidgin is no longer "english"? even though is heavily laced with english? u guys are funny, man. i don go sleep o. i missed iguefi today anyway, i guess he has repented. gudnyt.

Ngodigha:
Your posts are boring and irrelevant.

lol, chyz* i dont even know how to respond to all u wrote. but benin was an empire, and thats how u build empires, go ask the english. duh!

btw, have u ever met an igbanke man? they mostly answer edo names. and if u understand bini properly, u can understand igbanke.
just take me now for example, i am usen. a tribe mixed with bini/or edo and what would be considered "yoruba" but i have bini name and surname. so what am i? am i not edo? will i now say that because im usen, then i am "yoruba?" even when usen people never even called themselves yoruba? i will only look like a fool if i am to think i am anything other than edo.

lol, first off, there is no ambiguity in the name “edo”,  and how it came about has already been discussed thoroughly on this thread. the only argument is whether "edo" was a servant or slave.

ovbi-edo is the bini way of saying edo-indigene. and those who were directly under edo were those tribes who were under the benin empire. and as the empire fell under british control, it will only be normal for tribes to forge new identities for themselves since they are no longer under the control of the old one. i think that is what is happening ryt now. people are leaving old groups to forge alliances with new ones or the ones they feel will be beneficial to them.

in the future, i think “edo” will eventually be reserved for the binis alone, cos lets say all these proposed states are to come for fruition,  in afemaiesan state, esans even though they are edos will not see the need to identify with that name anymore. they will just say we are esans. in anioma, igbanke even though they are heavily edos will say they are igbos. so with the creation of new states and as the states gets smaller and smaller, i see the edo identity being associated with the binis alone in the future, even though it hasnt always been so.

lol, that na exam question o, and i cant go googling at all, haha but we all come under - edo. that is the name all the "edo" speaking groups identify with/or should identify with.

but some people have their own political agenda and may choose to identify with another group. its all politics anyway.

and chyz, from my observation, the "binis" of today are already too mixed to be pure "binis". me myself and i, i am usen on my fathers side, and idah/oredo on my mothers side.  so im actually usen and usen people cannot be really called binis coz they are mixed with is considered "yoruba", and have their distinct dialect also, which i cannot even speak or understand since i grew up in benin city and around delta-igbos. and altho i have a bini name and surname, i have cousins who have "yoruba" first names but we all consider ourselves evie-edo kpatakis. i think "bini" is now more or less of an identity u choose to identify with especially when u are from edo state, cos most binis are already to mixed to be pure "bini" but we are all edos, no doubt.

Chyz*:
whateva niggi,lol,  Quick question though, is Urhobo a dialect/language understood by Bini and Esan?

i dunno if esan can. but for bini, not really. i can only pick some words and names. and i can understand bini properly, just cannot read and write it properly.

Chyz*:
No wahala, the "if anything" holds a lot of weight though.

lol, for ur mind.

@ chyz*, ok.

but this was what you said: "Igbos coming from Bini? Haha, more like the other way around, if anything"

and that was why i responded like that.