₦airaland Forum

E ku is the expression for salutation, it is why the Yoruba are called Aku. E ku ile means I salute you for holding forth in the house. E ku ise is I salute you for working. An European who got fascinated by the system took it farther by saluting a young girl carrying her little brother on the back 'E ku eru' he was surprised by the girl's response Eru ko aburo mi ni. He is not a load he is my brother. The European was a missionary in Ilesa, he said the girl's response formed the topic of many sermons he preached across the world. The man was Rev Ludlow. The ku does not imply die, the Tapa use the expression too and I don't think their word for die is ku. The word ku meaning die is a prominent feature of Bantu languages, though Yoruba is not a Bantu language, some classify it as semi Bantu.

The idea is that the whole world was 100 percent under water instead of around 70 percent today. The first point where land rose above the waters to start expanding is called Ife from fe which means expand. There has always been an Ife so designated by all human beings from the beginning as representative of that first land where civilization berthed. An Ife Chosen to carry on the tradition, with some stories, celebrations and traditions for the remembrance of the founder of that Ife, someone named Obatala mostly depicted as a man but also depicted as a woman sometimes, mother to some prominent orisa. How long ago this original Ife was, no one knows. The tradition states that it blossomed as an advanced civilization and collapsed, possibly after hundreds of incarnations at different sites. The last is referred to as Ot u Ife meaning the dispersed or destroyed Ife. After the catastrophe, subsequent ones were Ife Ooye meaning Ife of the survivors established by remnants of a crashed civilization. There have been several Ife Ooyes. I believe there would have been many named Arigidi Ife, Ode Ife. The present one named Ile Ife is obviously a contemporary of other towns that use thesame prefix like Ilesa, Ile Ogbo and etc. The word Ile is acknowledged by an Awo I listened to on radio to be a new entrant to our vocabulary. The old word is Arigidi while Ode was also the word used by all Yoruba to refer to a city the way burg, ville and etc are used in Europe. Ode Ijesa, Ode Ifa, Ode Ibadan, Ode Itsekiri and etc were how cities were referred to in the past.

The Yoruba view is that there has always been an Ife chosen by the rest of the world as a sacred city not in the mould of Jerusalem or Mecca but to ritually carry on the tradition of being the source. The oriki of Ife is 'Ibi ti ojumo ti mo wa' which may be translated to mean Ife the initiator of human civilization. The Ife is not for the purpose of pilgrimage, it is just to keep on a tradition. Infact people were not free to approach the place unless summoned. Narrow paths and not broad roads led to the place in the past. The Oba was obliged to never leave Ife once crowned. Another oriki Ife goes thus 'Ebo ojoojumo lo mule baba won su mi lo' meaning 'The practice of daily sacrifice (human?) Is why I am never enthusiastic about going to Ife'. So the Ife tradition though believed by the Yoruba to have been established by all humans in the beginning of time is not in the mould of the holy cities of Christianity and Islam. No one may approach the place unless summoned and no human civilization must attack the place. The punishment for this was destruction of the erring civilization. This played out in Owu, a Northern Yoruba civilization that was once powerful enough to arrest an Alaafin of Oyo and lock him up in Owu until ransom was paid. Owu was also powerful enough not to totally abdicate to the newly arrived Oduduwa in Ife, they instead married a princess as did the Ijebu.

In the Apomu market, hostilities broke out between Ife and Owu traders, Ife attacked Owu and Owu responded by levelling Ife. This forced the other Yoruba to ally themselves and besiege Owu according to tradition. It resulted in the destruction and dispersal of Owu, the Olowu chose a weak point in the siege and bursted the siege to escape. Owu was destroyed and the people scattered. The allies entered the city and invoked curses on anyone that ever attempts to rebuild the city.

Owu used to be very prominent and was at a point greater than the Oyo. The national anthem of the Owu is a lamentation 'Owu la koko da, Owu la koko da bi e de Owu e bere wo!' Meaning Owu was the first to be established, Owu was the established, if you ever visit Owu, do ask them if this story is true or not' The Owu are now scattered all over.

Scientists say by their analysis of Y chromosomes, the Y chromosomal Adam lived in East Africa but there are evidences of human cities that predates this Y chromosomal Adam. There is also a mitochondrial Eve who never met the Adam in question. So the question of where the first Ife lied or where the first Ife Ooye lied is something that may never be answered.

I am very conversant with other accounts of the origin of human civilization and existence but I am somehow more comfortable with this one passed down by word of mouth. The current calendar of Ife Ooye is 10059 this year.

Thanks for your time.

macof:
So all I posted there fell on deaf ears or is it blind eyes yes?
At least you should have tried to counter my efforts with something I can hold on to. .


Are there any records of an Arabian king claiming ancestry to Nimrod?
Also I think I've made it clear that no single man named "Nimrod" is proved to have ever existed.


Awujale and Oduduwa couldn't have been around when islam was established by Mohammed around the 7th century
No Awo will ever say Lamurudu is the father of Oduduwa.

Please read the post again. The story of Lamurudu as father of Oduduwa is taught in schools and was passed down with the Mecca story. I am not an Awo but I know the Awo are custodians of Ifa and hence history. Each lineage also are custodians of their own history. It was Oduduwa himself that dropped the name Nimrod and it is for the benefit of arrogant folks who may believe their forebears were fools. I said I believe Oduduwa was expelled by and would have known Mohammed himself. His arrival is 51 Kings ago in Ife and at an average of around 30 years per King, a 7th century arrival date fits. The 5th Awujale was reigning when Oduduwa arrived, so the Awujale obviously arrived before Islam if my assumption that Mohammedans drove out Oduduwa is right. Mohammedans wiped out the old Arab dynasties that would have been descended from Nimrod with the excuse that they were polytheists that will be why there are no Arab monarchs claiming descent from Nimrod. I believe I have fully addressed your points.

It must also be noted that these constructions were for defensive purposes complete with garrison barracks and etc meaning the Eredo people were afraid of some people enough to spend such money on defense. The fact is that there are many such cities that are now buried under forests not only in Nigeria but all over the world.

macof:
Ire of Ogun appears to remain today's Ire. the sword Ogun used is still at the spot he kept it

I'm not saying "Lamurudu" isn't the yoruba rendition of Nimrod, due to the accent. Arabs say "Namrud" and it's evident "Namrud" was turned into "Lamurudu" by Yoruba tongue. ..those yorubas who had been influenced by islam
There's more than enough reason to call that mecca hypothesis a nonsense.
1. The legend of Nimrod is from Mesopotamia, Nimrod had no business with Mecca. It would have held more credence if they claim Lamurudu was from Mesopotamia not the Arabian peninsula
2. The Bible and Quran are where they picked up the idea of Lamurudu. .its not native to yorubas
3. According to Genesis 10:10; Nimrod founded Babel, Erech, Akkad and Calneh in the land of Shinar. Shinar is what the hebrews called Sumer(alternatively Mesopotamia), Babel is Babylon, Erech is Uruk, but Calneh is unidentified although scholars believe the word "Calneh" simply means "all of them" as in "all of them in the land of Shinar", Hence, Nimrod founded all the cities under Sumerian Influence.
4. The City of Sumer was the first in the middle-east, going back 6000BC. Oduduwa was a 12th/13th century personality. If Nimrod founded Sumer and all its surrounding cities around 6000BC, how can this same Nimrod be the father of Oduduwa who lived in the 12th/13th century
5. Some scholars believe that the name "Nimrod" was originally a cult name for a group of hunter gatherers who decided to settle in Mesopotamia..even Genesis 11:2 isn't far from this. If afterall Nimrod was not one man but a group of hunters, it makes the Lamurudu story into a joke
6. In Sumer, Ninurta was worshiped as the God of War and Hunting, Most Scholars have concluded that the name "Namrud/Nimrod" was the corruption of "Ninurta". Infact the arabs call the city of Calah by the name "Nimrud" . Calah happened to be the center of Ninurta worship.

No, waddai was a real kingdom, Oba Adetona didn't invent it. . I'm saying he like others who claim waddai origin for the Ijebus are ignorant of Waddai kingdom itself. . Many don't even know where waddai was located.
Let's see, Waddai boarded the Kanem-Borno empire, it should be in modern day Chad. many in their urge to cling to Ancient Egypt try to connect it to Egyptian civilization.
The Waddai people spoke a Nilo-Saharan language, how does Ijebu dialect correlate with Maban language of Waddai? . . We all know that Yoruba is the language of the Ijebus, and the surrounding dialects are similar to Ijebu
Ijebuland is much older than Waddai. . The Awujale dynasty alone began in the late 13th century, waddai was founded in 1603 . Pls how can the Awujale say ijebus are from this young state?
Not to forget, waddai was a Caliphate, full of muslims.. Ijebus had no muslims at this time

What you are saying is a sacriledge. You can't dismiss your own ancestors as fools or as crooks. Nimrod was well known as far as Europe. Please read up about him. In the middle East, he was the most iconic character, the old Abraham. Surely a pre Islamic Meccan Monarch may refer to him as an ancestor. The Oduduwa dropped the name as a signature. The way you yourself might say you are a son of Oduduwa to some Europeans. Not a direct father but an ancestor. He obviously mentioned the name because he foresaw that there will be an identity crisis in the future just as we have today. You see, I believe the first Alaafin to be a practising Muslim is the present one. No self respecting people adopts a foreign religion. Doing so is a sign of defeat on all fronts. Islam was known to the Yoruba as far back as the 9th century but it was held at arms length as a matter of national pride. There were always Muslims but a tiny minority and anyone looking to rise in the society would have had to drop the tag as did Alaafin Sango in the 15th century. Islam was never that important to influence narratives. The Yoruba were mainly Yoruba in everything up until the 20th century. Who were the people being influenced by Muslims? Afonja? Aole? Oyabi? Gaha? Ogunmola? All those people lived recently and the idea that they were compromised by Islam can not fly. Do you know that the Ogun character was the one that introduced circumcision that was common in Kemitic Egypt and popularised by the Jews? Ogun Onire was the one that started it. It is only here that you have an account of the origin of circumcision. The Egyptians built the pyramids and we do not know how. The ancestors of the Yoruba were living in cities and under complex organisation before Kemitic Egypt and it appears they spoke thesame language. So what those ancient empires were or what they achieved is something we may never know but to evaluate them according to what now represents them will be inadequate. For example in ten thousand years, the site of today's Lagos may feature a tiny fishing village carrying on some Lagos tradition. It will be wrong to think that village represents what Lagos was in the past. Epidemics can wipe off a civilization to remain a remnant of it and etc. Things are not always the way they appear. I believe Oduduwa was displaced from Mecca by Mohammed himself and that the Awujale arrived before Islam ie before Wadai became a caliphate. The idea that the Awo, a highly conservative institution relied on the Bible and the Quran to formulate stories is highly untenable. If you have any more positions please add them.

macof:
I see, when you said ancient empires my mind went far from this. You are right some kingdoms established during Oduduwa's time(and later) were named after old settlements (I wouldn't call them empires) ie. Owo, Oye, Ejigbo, Iwo, Ara (Aramoko is named after it)
I wouldn't say They retreated from Oduduwa, most of them were Princes( so is claimed)

Again with this mecca hypothesis? Have you ever wondered why certain people from Oyo with Islamic influence were the ones that propagated this? Why don't Ife folks speak of this?

No, According to all available reads Awujale - that is Obanta is a direct son of Oduduwa. . His Ijebu links comes from his mother Gborowo. Olowu is the only grandson from a daughter(Oduduwa's first child)... I know there are many books copying from Samuel Johnson claiming Alaketu, and some others as sons of daughters but those are wrong

How many Typical ijebu folks know what Waddai is? not to mention where in the world it is. If not for the exposure of Oba Adetona

You understate what those empires are. Ogun discovered iron and established a world power in reality. An iron super power. Ire was nothing less than that. Ogun was the first Onire. Where that ancient Ire was located, no one knows. Where Iranje where Obatala ruled was located, no one knows. Those were advanced civilizations that may have covered the whole globe when they prospered. Don't think because they are now represented by tiny villages, it means that is what they have always been.

On your idea about the origin of the Mecca story, what is your opinion about the Lamurudu story and how did it surface among the Yoruba. Lamurudu is a Yoruba rendition of Nimrod as an uneducated Yoruba can only pronounce Nimrod as Lamurudu. The newly arrived Oduduwa obviously introduced himself to people in Ife as a descendant of Nimrod. Nimrod was the most important man in pre Mohammedan middle east history and would have been the ancestor of a pre Mohammedan Meccan royalty. So I believe the story is true.

You should not think that the Awujale manufactured the name Wadai all by himself. Why would you do that?

macof:
How exactly does sudan fit into all this? make me understand that


btw Nobody retreated from Oduduwa except the Ilaje(this is even disputed as some consider the event to have begun much after Oduduwa's reign), and no yoruba settlement is known to be named after any Empire

also the Awujale is known all over Yorubaland to be a son of Oduduwa

Our own family retreated into the Ekiti hills, then came back to nationalise as Ijeshas under the Owa Obokun. I am descended from the ancient Ajeros and one of my ancestors was an Ogun incarnate. Many people retreated and held on to ancient identities like Ara, Ijero, Ire, Ogotun and etc. Those are names of very ancient empires. There was an ancient Oduduwa who was a woman, the orisa of love, in the custody of the Awori. She was wife to Obatala, though Obatala has also been portrayed as a woman in Ifa verses. The second Oduduwa is the Meccan who is the progenitor of majority of the most prominent Obas. Awujale is a son of Oduduwa through a woman but has his own distinct lineage which predates the Meccan Oduduwa by I think 5 monarchs. The people from Ijebu are descended from Ife but not an Ile Ife but an Ode Ife. Their Oba is patrilineally descended from Wadai while also descended from Oduduwa the Meccan through a woman who was Oduduwa's daughter. Ditto for the Olowu. Wadai is important because that was what was passed on. Too late to change the history.

NNPCFACTS:
Most stools in Lagos never existed until 1960 same with the concept of olu of Warri. All of which was the brain child of Awolowo to institutionalise the Yoruba way of life in Nigeria. Pretty much, beyond the alien concept of oduduwa dropping off the sky, there is little or no connections to the many stools in Yoruba land.

One thing we all as Nigerians must know is that our history or the history of any group of people in the world always says that we came from somewhere. Non of us germinated from our current place of settlement.
The argument about who owns Lagos etc is belabored ... We all need to enthrone the spirit of cohabitation.

Reasons being that, if rain falls in Lagos, it does not fall only on one ethnic group. If armed robbers are attacking, they don't care where you came from, if shambode decides to settle down and work, it will be for the benefit of all Lagosians.

Thus, Lagos or anywhere else in Nigeria, is a no man's land. We are all migrants.

You are wrong that Awolowo created the Eleko of Eko or Oba of Lagos. All Yoruba groups have always had the traditional monarchy. Infact, the British occupying Lagos did not happen easily, it was achieved by military bombardment and it only achieved the supplanting of a hostile Oba with a friendly one, not the abolition of the monarchy. Have you read Lagos history? It was the Awori that established Lagos, that is the point. If not for Nigeria, Lagos would have been a laid back Awori village like other coastal villages along the West African coast. Over 80 percent of Lagos land is still nominally held by indigenes and there is actually no place in the world that fit the description of a no man's land. If you go to the sahara desert, you will need to defer to some people or institutions in some way.

Then Oduduwa is believed to have landed on Earth from space, obviously from an alien human civilization but that is the ancient Oduduwa, not the one that came from Mecca. The belief is that our earliest ancestors landed on Earth from space. An oriki of the Ugbo in Ondo state is Ugbo Atorunwo which means Ugbo, he who descended from the sky. The Ugbos are a neighbouring to Ife who raided them in the past leading to the Moremi story.

macof:
"That Ife could be anywhere in the world". .. Interesting

Awujale really missed a big point. .He must have mistaken the "Owodaiye" in Ife Owodaiye for Waddai. But "Ife Owodaiye" isn't peculiar to the Ijebu. All yoruba relate with that

He did not mistake anything in my opinion. There were several states when Oduduwa arrived. Some were so established that they did not take a new prince from the new dynasty in Ife, some retreated into the hills and established new identities named after ancient empires. This is more common in Ondo and Ekiti. Ijebu and Owu married princesses from Ife. Patrilineally, the Awujale should be taken as descended from an ancient Sudanese royal family in Wadai just as the story is passed down.

According to Yoruba account, all human beings emanated from the first spot on Earth where land rose above the waters and started to expand. That spot is called Ife or Ufe meaning expansion. That spot might be anywhere in the world for all we know. There probably have been very many Ifes. What the Awujale meant is that his dynasty did not emanate from the present Ife in Osun state established by the Meccan, Oduduwa and this is right. Ijebu Eredo was a contemporary if not greater than the Ife in Osun state. Owu is another dynasty that did not emanate from the new Ife but they both formed alliance. The long and short of it is that Ijebu which is a center for Ifa studies can not claim to not be from Ife but they can claim to have an identity that predates Oduduwa who arrived recently. The Oyo, Benin, Ijesha and etc can not make any such claim. However all human beings according to Yoruba thought are descended from the series of ancient Ifes that declined.

Alausa does not mean someone selling Hausa slaves the tonation is not re mi mi mi but re mi do mi. It means the stand of those selling awusa Alawusa. Awusa is walnut also called Asala. It has nothing to do with Hausa people.

Religion is regimental and fascist like do this do that and if you don't you will go to hell. The better word is spirituality which is like art and has no rules. I agree with your position.

It is what is called spooky action. It can not be explained yet but no matter what it is, it is still to do with normal matter not the undecipherable dark matter which means we must have unseen intelligent beings many times our population here on Earth.

They say most Ifa texts were gotten in dreams, maybe that Jewesun story was gotten through telepathy or something. That is one way to end the confusion. Another thing is that the old world interracted more than we think they did. Our ancestors knew Egypt as Ejigbo and I believe Jesus was initiated into an Orunmila kind of fraternity or cult back in Egypt. He saw himself as a kind of reincarnation of a kind of Orunmila, hence the reference to him as 'the word' which was also used for Orunmila as Ela in the saying Ela loro. Infact Awo initiates are waiting for Ela to appear in the sky as Christians are waiting for Jesus hence the saying Ela ro wa. This is why Jesus is a type of Ela incarnate. The connection is too obvious. It must be noted that Kemitic Egypt spoke an ancient form of Ife language.

Benin itself means Ubinu which is vexation in Yoruba, the title, Oba is Yoruba, I wonder what Benin's old name was before people from Ife changed the name to Ife Ubinu. Does anyone know? The Ifes agree that Oduduwa was not an Ife man but was adopted, I wonder why Benin people are intent on denying the fact that they were under Ife despite all the evidence. Without a doubt, the early Kings of both Oyo and Benin were buried in Ife which they saw as home. Both dynasties were founded by Oranmiyan from Ife. Benin and Oyo were the most successful successor states of Ife. Ijebu appear to be a contemporary or rival of Ife that was at its peak when Benin and Oyo were just tiny villages.

Benin didnt found Ife and such a claim is blasphemous to the Ifa scriptures which I think the Benin also study. Oranmiyan mobilized forces to invade Mecca where Oduduwa was driven out, he faced North and settled in Oyo on his way back, he didnt face the direction of Benin city. Also, Oduduwa categorically mentioned the name of Nimrod to Ife people as his ancestor. I wonder if that name is also Edoid. Oduduwa, the original one, landed from space with Obatala and co. The one that came from Mecca is a reincarnation. The name features in Ifa verses and is ancient Yoruba like the name of other orisas.

How can anyone say a place name like Eti osa is Edoid? What about Eti oni then? Osa means lagoon in Yoruba and Etiosa is just the name you will expect in that place. Any descendant of the Oba of Benin that came to Lagos was Yoruba like his forebears, the indigenes of Lagos island are Yoruba, the Benin army mobilised to Lagos spoke Yoruba. To manufacture an Edo identity for the Benin empire is actually an uphill task. The Obas were Yoruba until recently. Communication to them by European nations were communicated in Yoruba. To now come in the 21st century to rewrite history may be said to be mischievous.

Benin royalty were Yoruba and they spoke only Yoruba in the palaces. Portuguese records show Yoruba being spoken, the people in Benin spoke Edo as mother tongue but their rulers who also presided over the empire used Yoruba and were addressed only in Yoruba. The present Oba is now Edo though. This is why the Olu of Warri is a better representation of what the Oba of Benin was in the past. The Benin empire was far from being an Edo empire. It was thoroughly a Yoruba one.

I suspect that the ancent Ogisos saw Ife as home too. There are other non Yoruboid speaking groups too who see Ife as home. The language spoken in the most ancient Ifes will be much removed from any language spoken today,

tonychristopher:
Bros which ife are we talking here is it the one I passed from ibadan or its there another one

That is the site of Ife as of today. However, many other Ifes have risen and declined.

bigfrancis21:
When one basks in a particular theory for too long, he begins to believe it is the all and all truth. Have you ever bothered to ask yourself when the Ife civilization even began to exist and equally relate it to the beginning of man? Have you ever thought to deal with numbers?

It takes half-truth to be passed around and around until it begins to sound like the truth to everyone. The Ife folklore is one that leaves so much to be desired. Over the years, it has been packaged and passed down from generation to generation that it has begun to sound as truth to the gullible. Did you even know that Ife came into existence during the 12th (1101 to 1200) century? Did you know that the world had long existed before then? Did you know that the earth was way populated and that millions of human beings were already existing in Europe, Africa, Asia etc.? Did you know that other civilizations had long existed before Ife even did? Did you know that the black moors of North Africa crossed into Europe in the 6th century (year 711) during which civilization was taken to Europe? Did you know that the Egyptian civilization existed in Egypt way back to as early as 3000BC, that is 4200 years before Ife came into existence? Did you know that the Nri civilization is older than Ife and came into existence at about the 9th century, or 300 years before Ife did?

Ife folklore would want to have you believe that they are the cradle of civilization and how humanity started when some man fell from the sky, yet the world has been long in existence before they came into existence. Furthermore, science has proven that no man is able to fall from the sky, thus punching the Ife folklore to an extent. How can a full-grown man supposedly fall from the sky? Where is he falling from? Who pushed him down? Why wasn't the Ife folklore able to give answers to these questions the same time the man falling from the sky folklore was formulated? We have come to the age of reasoning whereby certain questions need to be asked. You don't just swallow certain things hook line and sinker just because you were told.

I have no problem believing the stories while explaining it with modern science. I believe we are not alone in the universe, so people can land from space. There may be more advanced people out there as well as primitive people. Other old texts like the Bible also talk about people landing from space.

By June 3 this year, the 10058th year of the present Yoruba era will start. It is the oldest calendar in the world. This present Ife has had a total of 140 kings, so the 12th century date falls far short in my opinion. We might be looking at at least 2500 BC. There were various earlier Ifes. The original Ife called Ife Otu might be millions of years ago for all we know, so it may account for men roaming the Earth millions of years ago. Something have to account for it. This present Ife is just a reresentation or successor, not the real thing or the original.

tonychristopher:
How can you say ife is the first spot on earth and cradle of civilization. Is it what they told u

At one point Earth became habitable and humans appeared. Why not Ife? The tradition of the Yoruba gave the name of the place as Ife. Though that Ife is no more and the present one is just a successor. How far back the tradition goes, no one knows.

tonychristopher:
Oduduwa was a Benin wandered man and never can fell from sky ....do u know I believe Benin account not yoloba account

The original Ife people were aliens who landed from space. The second Oduduwa was a reincarnation of the first, the second came from Mecca while the first landed from space.

Ife people agree the second Oduduwa was not an Ife man and Benin say he was an Edo man. Two things flout the Benin claim. One, Oranmiyan founded Oyo Ile when he was returning from a failed revenge expedition to Mecca. Two, the second Oduduwa mentioned to Ife people that he was a descendant of Lamurudu who can only be Nimrod. Please research Nimrod online. Those are why Oduduwa can not be a Benin man. The Benin empire was a Yoruba empire and they carried the Yoruba language to the limits of the empire. They used it as lingua franca, worshipped the deities and gave their cities Yoruba names. The Edo are not Yoruba but the Benin empire was a Yoruba empire in everything. The Igbo and Yoruba have thesame ancestors.

I have considered the two claims and arrived at the conclusion that the Benin claim is just an attempt to institutionalise the Edo origin of Oduduwa, they say Benin founded Ife but there were 90 kings in Ife before Oduduwa and 50 in Benin. It is obvious that both Benin, Oyo, Ijebu and etc were lesser than Ife originally. They were all prospective ife successors. Oyo and Ijebu were bigger than Benin. Ijebu was much bigger in the South while Oyo was in the Savanna. The site Eredo where the Awujale ruled like 1000 AD is evidence but at some point Benin became more prominent and wanted to abandon the Ife heritage.

To say Benin founded Ife is nothing short of blasphemy because nothing preceded ancient Ife. It was the first spot on Earth. What could have happened is that Benin could have become a successor Ife. There were other Ifes before the current one.

africanboy:
there is a folktale behind the word IYAWO. let me try to remember,

A man travelled to a town "IWO" and spent some years there. He found a beautiful lady and came back with her to his town. People asked him who she was and he replid "Ere iya ti mo lo je ni Iwo" (meaning: the {gift} of the suffering i had in Iwo".

She was promptly named - Iya Iwo (meaning: the suffering of Iwo)

shortened, it became, Iyawo.

Hope I helped!

The name of the man is Orunmila and the story is in Ifa verses, before the event wife meant aya.

Give them more time and Olukunmi will become entirely Igbo. This is the story of the whole of Anioma, Onitsha and even Ogbaland in Rivers state. Formerly non Igbos who became Igbos. This sort of thing happens all over the world. The people of France may have been speaking a Germanic language in the past for instance but are now speakers of a Romance language. That is how it goes.

OrlandoOwoh:
This arguement could be put to an end if the Oba of Benin and the Ooni of Ife could permit independent scientists to carry out DNA on the remains of their past monarchs.

That is not fool proof because of the not unllikely incidence of biological bastards ascending the thrones.

Keep it simple and assume people who started oral traditions had a grip on themselves and are not fools or idiots.

A group of extra terrestrials landed on the very first patch of land above the oceans immediately or soon after the Earth became habitable. They named this place Ile Ife meaning where land started to expand. They were led by Obatala the most senior orisa. From here, humans spread across the Earth. Where that Ife known as Otu Ife was located is unknown. It was destroyed and the civilization lost, hence the name Ife Otu. The people of this Ife were humans but far more developed than us and could do things we may only imagine. Since the loss of that Ife, there have been many Ifes probably hundreds that have been established across the world. These are known as Ife Ooye. The Ife of the survivors. The present one is the one in Osun state Nigeria. The obvious rule in determining Ife is by chosing the one most prosperous of the cities of the people maintaining the tradition, then others would defer to her. This present Ife was originally known as Igbomokun before it became prominent as Ife. I think it rose to prominence as a result of production of Segi beads which made her prosperous. 140 kings have ruled since inception. 90 before Oduduwa and 50 since Oduduwa. That might stretch back to at least 4600 years back if they averaged 40 years on the throne. We however can not rule out earlier Obas ruling for centuries. This present Yoruba era is however 10057 years this year. The first leader is Obatala while the first crowned King was Orunmila who also landed from space from an extra terrestrial civilization. Orunmila was also seen as an incarnation of Obatala. Landing from space by aliens was fairly common back then.

Now to Oduduwa, keeping it simple again. One man arrived from Mecca, note Mecca and not Egypt or Ethiopia. Our ancestors knew Geography, the burial site of a monarch was discovered in Anambra dating to over 1000 years ago and evidence of trade with Egypt was found there. Many believe our ancestors referred to Egypt as Ejigbo. So Mecca is Mecca. The man who came from Mecca described himself to Ife people as a descendant of Nimrod, thesame way a Yoruba man will describe himself as a son of Oduduwa. This is because Nimrod could not have been his direct father. Nimrod was the most prominent man in the ancient middle East and they say of him that he ruled over all the Earth. He was credited with killing Huwawa the God who flooded the Earth by Sumerian legends. It is this man's name that Oduduwa used as a signature. Ife people christened him Oduduwa after recognising him as an incarnation of the deity Oduduwa. Incarnation is routine among the Yoruba. Also, the man might have been able to communicate with Ife people as Kemitic Egyptian was a form of Ife language by vocabulary and this man might have had a knowledge of the language.

To piece everything together we have to summon up the will to accept that people passing down oral traditions are not fools and they mean well. The Yoruba could accept a stranger as King because they see all humans as Ife diasporeans. The answer to all these questions lie in Ifa verses, if we search deep enough even if veiled. That is the purpose for which the body of knowledge has been passed down from generation to generation. People are often confused by seeming contradictions in Ifa. Portraying people as male, then later as female and etc but the reason is the occurrence of these people in more than one incarnations. Ogun is not less than seven for instance and that is not even mentioning Ewuare, the Oba of Benin. Obatala and Oduduwa also featured as both male and female. The notion that the bulk of the Yoruba migrated from somewhere else have no basis and there is no need to labour ourselves trying to find a basis for it.

There are claims of migration from other places but the Yoruba have been sedentary for at least 10057 years, predating all other calendars on Earth. Take it or leave it that the Oduduwa came from Mecca and was crowned King at Ife a little over one thousand years ago. Oduduwa was not his real name but he was recognised as a reincarnation of an ancient female deity, a wife of Obatala named Oduduwa. The Yoruba could accept a total stranger as King because they saw all humans as from Ife and any new arrival was a homecoming. The man who arrived from Mecca introduced himself as a descendant of Nimrod or Lamurudu. That man was King of Babylon. He was Abraham's King and was reported to have once cast Abraham into the fire. He was the most illustrious man from the ancient middle East. No wonder the Meccan Oduduwa described himself as his descendant. To further puncture the Benin claim of the origin of Oduduwa, Oranmiyan founded Oyo Alaafin after a failed expedition from Ife to sack Mecca in revenge of Oduduwa's expulsion. He headed North, not South. The Benin claim of Oduduwa being Edo thus is deflated. Oduduwa was not Yoruba but he may have been able to communicate with Ife people. Even Ancient Egyptians spoke a form of Ife language. Even today Ifa initiates use Orofe, a dead language spoken in ancient Ife. Such a language might have been known by the newly arrived Oduduwa. Apparently thousands of bronze works remain to be unearthed and the Nok people were obviously ancient Ife people. Ife seemed to have moved around Nigeria and probably outside before settling at the present location. We must always remember that 10057 years of sedentary history predates all present cultures on Earth.

Also, aliens landing from space is a reality and not a fantasy. The first ife people landed from space. They were not indigenous to Earth. They founded Ife Otu which was a prosperous civilization before it collapsed. People landing from space was also recorded in the Bible. So Ogisos, Obatala, Orunmila landing from space are not fantastic stories as some may think.

Let's say the first Jew was Moses though that is debateable. Abraham and co were Babylonians. Jews emerged less than four thousand years ago. So will we say there were no Igbos four thousand years ago? Some ship wrecked people of Jewish origin might have been absorbed into Southern Nigeria but so would have been other people of other origins. The only place Igbos can trace their roots to is ancient Ife whose history can be traced to at least 10057 years ago June 3. Linguists agree that Igbo and Yoruba were thesame language only five thousand years ago. Ekwensu the Igbo deity is one and thesame as Esu the Yoruba deity, both portrayed as Satan by Christians and Muslims. Esu was from Ilare quarters of ancient Ife. If anyone is descended from the other, it should be Jews from Igbos and not the other way round. Ibo is not a corruption of Hebrew, it is just an English pronounciation of Igbo since English can not say gb. If Igbos are looking for their roots, they should look more at ancient Ife established by Obatala.

The Osun government has no money but no state in Nigeria is without a sizeable GDP. No state is doing IGR co measurate with its GDP. Not even Lagos. If there is taxation like during the colonial era, the Lagos IGR alone will likely be close to the revenue of the FG even at current Lagos GDP level which should be over 60 billion dollars. Osun is indebted but if you consider the GDP, the debt is negligible. Even as no one is doing IGR, the little IGR being done is an indication of the GDP except if a state is going the extra mile like Lagos with their land use charges. Osun has no land use charges. IGR efforts in Osun and Anambra are similar. So if Osun surpasses Anambra, it is an indication of relative GDP size.

All this controversy will end once Nigeria starts fiscal federalism. For now, there are false assumptions and untruths being circulated. True fiscal federalism will end all that and we will see ourselves in reality. There will of course be surprises.

patmaine:
forget bragging right. me and you kno anambra is more developed. ba

If your GDP has many sectors and varied economic activities are taking place with no overbearance of any sector, then that's development. It does not always translate to larger GDP. For example South Africa is more developed and industrialized than Nigeria with even a higher per capita income but Nigeria's GDP is bigger. However, someone mentioned here that trading alone covers 40 percent of GDP in Anambra while manufacturing is 20 percent. I don't know the sector breakdown for Osun but reports say Osun is ahead of Anambra by both GDP size and per capita income. I don't know about development.

I didn't say Onitsha is a cluster of villages. I said Onitsha was a cluster of villages when Ilesa was a well planned urban center centuries ago. Same for Ibadan and Lagos. They were also villages when Ilesa was a well planned urban center centuries ago. I am not saying the oil belongs to Kogi I am just stating the report I heard.
http://leadership.ng/news/410665/anambrakogi-oil-dispute-exploration-advanced-stage-kogi-sambo

I don't care about oil money. I see it as an impediment to development and growth. Though if well managed, it shouldn't have turned out like that. Ijesha land was reknown for intricately woven mats and kolanuts. Those were our traditional exports. Later cocoa, coffee and etc entered into the fray. We don't need the oil money to get ahead. No one really does. Industry is enough. Congrats to those who have the oil. Thanks for your offer to visit Anambra but no time for now. The Brewery at Onitsha and the coming Neimeth factory amongst others are patronage by multinationals. Aren't they? That's what I mean.