₦airaland Forum

[quote author=arcis]The year 2013 is gone. It was an eventful year

Bride price is not just the money but all those things demanded by the bride's parents such as yam, palm oil etc. Actually, money paid as price is such a very small thing among the Yoruba and its a recent culture to return it while the bride's parent will say to the groom's ,parent that ' we are giving out our daughter to you in marriage, we believe you are one and both of you are our son and daughter and so we can't be giving out your sister and friend to you and collecting money'

Bidam: Funny i did not read any contemporary commentaries before arriving at this. I just followed the leading of the Holy Spirit to arrive at this. And i did reply you based on the context.

For you to say Job's account was because it was OT so sons of God was refering to fallen angels,( though i agree the sons of God here are angels but not satan who was an arch angel) then you also have to prove to us from scripture that children do not have angels, peter doesn't have an angel,Paul doesn't have an angel.These guys are sosn of God in their own right and they do have angels who behold the face of God daily.

Jesus made a profound statement to the pharisee before He went to the cross..He called the pharisee children of the devil, stating that the devil was a murderer from the beginning.So who did the devil murder from the beginning?

Ofcos genesis was the book of the beginning and the only first murder recorded was when Cain murdered Righteous Abel.

Look at what God told him. Sin is crouching at your door.it desire is to have you but you must master it.sin here refers to satan who was invisible speaking vile thoughts to Cain.Cain was tempted and he fell big time.God also spoke to cain in his thoughts but Cain never yielded To God's voice.

No man(including adam) has seen God except Jesus.God doesn't speak in a loud audible voice but through our thoughts.The only time God spake audibly was during the ministry of Jesus. The OT is coded in the sense that it was when Jesus came that he revealed the activity of satan and how he operates.Apart from the genesis,Isaiah and Job account that mentioned satan.No where does OT scripture mentioned satan's activities and this is where athiest arguments thrives on.

Take for instance scriptures like and an evil spirit from the Lord tormented Saul. How can an evil spirit comes from God? It was Jesus that brought light in the NT concerning how evil spirit possess vessels.So to say an evil spirit possess Cain to murder his brother is in order.

In OT the Holy Spirit does not possess vessels.He rather comes on them to do specific tasks.But in the NT Jesus said He will send the comforter in the Person of the Holy Spirit, who will be in us till His second coming.

As far as i am concerned anyone who yields to the influence of satan like the pharisees Jesus was accusing, are sons of the devil in OT and anyone who yield to God's Spirit are sons of God.

God told Adam that the day you eat of the fruit of the tree you shall die. Did Adam actually die physically after eating the fruit? Did that make God a liar? The death was a spiritual separation from God and lost of the original purpose of GOD for man. So the devil causing Adam and Eve to ,eat of the forbidden fruit was as the same thing killing them which made Jesus statement true that Satan was a murderer since the beginning.

Nowenuse: When u say core-edo, what do u actually mean? Bini? I dnt think som edo ppl can b more edo dan d oda. Akoko-edo ppl r as much as edo as bini or ishan ppl. Most of dem claim a comon n same bini kingdom ancestry. It's jst dat as d ppl move further, dialects r bound 2differ nd cultures get more diluted by contact with other tribes. Edo north ppl r somehow more closer to Kogi ppl which they share clear boundary with, linguistically nd culturally than Edo south (bini ppl). And Edo south (bini ppl) r closer to Urhobo ppl (delta state) which they share boundary with than Edo north (Etsakor, owan and akoko-edo ppl). It's just like that. So there is no homogenous edo culture at all at all. A common ancestry is jst what unites dem nd notin more.

Pls read Macof's coment well I admonish u, nobody eva said dat edos are yorubas or a sub-group of yorubas. No! Bt what we r sayin is dat som groups like Ekiti, Owo e.t.c who r bein classified as yoruba r more edo (closer to som edo groups) linguistically and in oda aspects than they are to Oyo (yoruba). Get dat pls!

Do u know abt the Ilaje ppl of Ondo state? These ppl r also grouped unda d larger yoruba body, but linguistically nd culturally they are far closer to Ijaws than they are to Oyo (yoruba) ppl. The only thing that kind of makes dem acceptable under yoruba body is dat they speak Oyo dialect as a second language like d ijebu, Okun, Owo e.t.c do. Infact majority ilajes r ancestrally ijaw nd they know it, jst dat they somehow feel more protected with d larger yoruba body and hv since claimed yoruba, unlike their itsekiri counterparts who hav profesed a distinct identity, mostly I think because they found themselvs in delta state (southsouth) nd they do not speak the oyo dialect well. So pls try nd get d points.

Your assertions are wrong sir. Please read and read more and ask questions. I think Macof meant Edo and Yoruba are the same people under a now known Yoruba larger umbrella. He said if you classify Bini, etsako etc as dialects , they are close to eastern Yoruba tongues but farther to Oyo Yoruba and that is true but it does not take the whole groups from being Yoruba if only you can see the word differently away from today's politicking.
Ilaje are different from Ijaw a whole lots, their dialects are closer to Itsekiri,Ijebu and Ikale. I have said people you observe the wave of word or linguist as you move up from Itsekiri to Ilaje, Ijebu up to Ekiti through Ondo and Owo upt to Yagba, Ijesa and Ife while variants of Oyo will become prominent as you move futher west. The eastern Yoruba country is more influenced by waves of kingdoms that were ancient than the western part.
Also remeber the word Yoruba was used to refer to the Oyo Yoruba initially but was adopted to refer to people with linked ancestral history, that is the link. I have a strong believe that the word OMO ODUDUWA refers to a people of the fused culture arrived at between the migrants and the indigenous people and did not refer to an individual person. It was a concept of fusion for good and to claim to belong to that is to show you allegiance to the success of cultural, religious and philosophical fusion of creation of the Ife.
So the link of Bini, Etsako etc to Ife makes them the same with the Yoruba though keeping their dialects and also being Kingdom builders

macof: No one ever said. Edo is a Yoruba dialect.

My point is, Even about the people in general not language.
So many people called Yoruba today have nothing to do with Yoruba other than they speak Yoruba as a second or third language in their town

I gave examples- Owo and Ekiti are not Yoruba at all, they only speak Yoruba as a second language.

I used the logic that if edo is not in the same ethnic group as Owo, Ondo, Akure, Ilaje, Ekiti etc. then all of them can claim to be ethnic groups of their own especially the large ones like Ekiti, Ijesha, Ijebu

You have mixed things up here. I think you are trying to refer to OYO and not Yoruba. Yoruba is a general reference while Oyo from which the spoken central Yoruba originated from was the dialect of the Oyo speakers.
That Ekiti, Owo etc are different from Oyo does not deny the ancestry of the people to Ife(not Oyo) There is a great possibility of several old kingdoms in the eastern parts of Yoruba land as it is today constitute the oldest language/linguist of the Yoruba. Starting from the Itsekiri up to Bini, Ishan, Etsako, Owan to Ekiti, Owo, Ikale,Ilaje, Ijebu to Ife,Ijesa,Akoko,Yagba, before the much recent western Yoruba.

I just wondered for many younger historians here that have separated the people because of delineations in names of states and local governments today. Just commune with Akoko people and see the difficulty of comprehension to the central Yoruba.
The reason for these variations can be assumed based on these:
1. There were various ancient kingdoms who were distinct but share some similarities within their own boundaries e.g. Oba(You can chose to belive this but I believe the stock of Orunmila, Obatala etc are from the Kingdom) which comprises of present Ekiti/Akure/Ijesa areas. The Ijebu too and the Ugbo comprising a bunch of Ikale,Ilaje,Itsekiri and surrounding areas of maybe Ife today. There were also the Ijebu clans. Now picture it not as it is today as of the ancient times because various groups came from different parts to join these more ancient settlements so that Ekiti have old indigents and ife settlers among others.
2. The Igala settlements also could be taken as parts of the Old Ekiti-Yagba-Igala settlements but which may have been broken into different kingdoms and later into much smaller groups. Have you heard of Idoko before? that was an old name for parts of the settlement around Ondo town and may have something to do with Owo and parts of Edo of today. Now am talking of periods before Ife became prominent.
3.The Ife which was a confederacy of old, already existing nations(the word Oba has been in use before the concept of Oduduwa came e.g. Obatala,Obalufon etc) by the Oba people later adopted into the Oduduwa confederacy. I believe Oduduwa is a spiritual term and not the name of any person but an embodiment and merger of old and new to for a perfect essence of already Oba groups, the Ugbo groups and the new groups of migrants from far lands who could have also had their roots in the area, I mean it could have been a reverse migration e.g. the Oranmiyan story.
4.The Oyo which came after the Oranmiyan group founded his kingdom when there was no place for him(it must be researched well what that meant)and all his brothers have taken all the land meaning he lost control? Now the era of Oranmiyan was a long time after Oduduwa concept of unity in creation essence was birthed. He started his own occupation and settlements named the Oyo and at the time many ancient settlements did exist. It was himthat brought most of all these places I have mentioned together but believe me even during his time, some people still migrated to joing the groups. Take for instance, the Oyo also include a lot of Tapa(some ,Oyo Yoruba were conquered under Tsoede and naturalized to become Tapas), it would also include some Bariba(Borgu etc)Let me stop here.
5.Bini : If the ancient Ife history is well researched, I mean Ife and not Oyo empire some names of Ife rulers could be similar to Ilaje,Ikale, Bini,Itsekiri,Ekiti ,Owo names.Take for instance the name ORONMAKEN would sound from which of these groups?
Also know that Benin empire later include some parts of Eastern Yoruba and being in the same Kingdom would have impact culturally on both sides. In fact,the Ekiti/Akure groups formed the largest population in the latter Bini empire.

FACTS
At various times, various groups have ruled the eastern Yoruba areas, the Oba, Idoko(may be the same as Igala today), Owo, Ugbo Bini and these have all integrated into variant but socially integrated people.The truth is these people are historically together and have evolved into a group of same people. I think to say Edo is a subset of YORUBA MAY BE WRONG BUT IT COULD ALSO BE RIGHT DEPENDING ON YOUR PERSPECTIVE.Why I think the Bini are claiming what they are today is because they also built their own empire as a sister state to the Oba/Ugbo/ife and later Oyo empire. The historical reference of these people can not be divorced

India renamed Bombay as Mumbai, nothing is wrong in renaming anything on Africa in local names of which any part of Africa can be affected. Take for instance Victoria Island can be Oniru Island or even Iwalewa,Oduduwa etc
How can you say a while man discovered something in ,Africa, its simply saying all those living around there were not humans.

Bishop Magic: On a serious note, this is utterly a waste of time.

OPC spreading into adjourning states with no direct majority yoruba population and given the current tensive nature of our country and the antecedence of this barbaric group I am really appalled that some of you will see this as a welcome development.

Why is OPC not spreading into Benin or Togo?

Lets be objective and see this within it's borders that is within Delta state alone without joining issues with Ndigbo.

For me, this is disaster in the making not for Deltans but for those that think Delta is a walk over in their Machiavellian scheming.

There is no Urhobo or Isoko Family that does not have an Itsekiri as an in-law and vice-versa. As I said in my earlier post the real reason for the 90's problem was ethno related but was purely based on which Tribal stool will be taken as paramount head of Warri . For your info the constitution dictates that LG should pay 5% of their allocations to the Traditional Ruler. Warri as a whole will have more than 3 LGAs so in a nut shell there was money to be made for whoever was made paramount Chief of Warri.

Today in Warri, as it has always been, there is the Ovie of Warri (Urhobo tittle) and Olu of Warri (Itsekiri) I believe a sharing formulae has been implemented to suit all aggrieved parties.

So for you e-warriors who at the comfort of your homes are promoting senseless violence based on some whimsical Tribal connection to warri via the Itsekiris please try and visit warri and have a feel and understanding of that city.

In warri and Delta as a whole the official lingua-franca is pidgin English. which is constantly evolving and unique to warri and neihbouring Benin and parts of Bayelsa. Why? Because your native language is meant only when you are speaking to really old people or when spanking your erring kids.

Like I wrote about emerging Nigeria countries somewhere yesterday, I do not share the expectation of a disintegrated Nigeria but the Nigeria in which all groups can achieve their aims and succeed in a restructured Nigeria.
I however concured that the Igbo would scheme their way to get the Ikwere and most of western Igbo(if not all) while the Yoruba will align in a mutually beneficial union with the Itsekiri(en route the Urhobo etc),Edo Igala and other areas west of the Niger River including the Bariba and Tapa(Nupe) and also the Ebira. I look at the Yoruba as very astute and can do negotiations of convenience and looking at the mutual benefits for both parties it will be acceptable to all. That will for instance put a Yoruba country on top of Anambra area of Igbo land and share boundary with Enugu and open oil dispute with Anambra. This will cause Igbo to flex muscle and find a diplomatic approach to deal with the Yoruba cause it places their military very close to the centre of Igboland within very few hours and kilometres.The Warri ports can serve the Igbo ,country if Yoruba gets the place and the are working on it without shooting a bullet which will make the Urhobo and other Delta groups see a negotiated position with the Yoruba as their best possibilities.
By being part of a larger Yoruba country or region, the Itsekiri put themselves under a fortified power bloc and big influence that will make their neighbours think twice on any issue, it will give the Yoruba the control of the coast thereby making it the best possibility of bringing the old Bendel into the fold. I think am making sense do you?

MajeMedia: Another myth i would like to debunk.

Igbos do "low skill work" or don't value education. This is the funniest lie in stereotyping in Nigeria.


The Igbos that leave igbo land are frontiers men. They're not going to leave Abia to work in the civil service of Lagos. At the same time Yorubas that are in igbo land aren't working in the state civil service. Now, name one company or industry in Nigeria that doesn't have an over-representation of igbos.

Again, Imo, Delta, Anambra, and Abia EVER year trade places for #1 in Jamb scores, and WAEC. These are facts. Literacy in all igbo states, except Ebonyi, is 94%+. You have never met an Igbo man or woman that doesn't speak english, every well, and english is taught in schools. I met Yorubas Edos and Hausas that don't speak english, the language of education in Nigeria. You will never meet a homeless igbo man or one that isn't feeding his or her family.

It's not fair that we'll resort to lies to insulting igbos. You can say that we're into international crime, and we'll agree. You can see we're over zealous about other people's lands and we'll agree. But to say that we're not educated, or that we're poor...there's no reason to lie about reality. The same way I'm not going to say Yorubas aren't open minded and accommodating, they are very open minded and accomodating. I'm not going to say that Yorubas don't value education and their culture because this isn't reality.



To come in and say the igbos work 'low skill work' because the igbos that go to your state are frontiersmen is foolish because the head of the IMF is Igbo, there's an Igbo in the UK and Polish parliment, an Igbo heads the NY stock exchange, and in Lagos it's self every bank and firm of science is flooded with Igbos. Igbos are building computers, cars, TV, radios etc, what exactly is low skill about this?

Alaba market and places like that are for young men that feel their personal business skill will help them raise faster than civil service. Many of the men there are college educated and also work as pharmacists and other skilled trades.

Good talk. I think the Igbo and Yoruba folks represents the best in Nigeria's sphere. The two groups are living in contest of their lives? Igbos are individualistic while Yoruba are communal and metropolitan. This does not take anything away from the Igbo folks, they are astute educationally and economically. I do not take anything from them.We can sit down and list all their ill contributions to Nigeria but they have contributed positively as well.
I think the culture of individualism is robbing the region of monumental developments , it makes them the highest beneficiary of Nigeria's unity and the worst loser in it.

ladionline: Alright, Obatala is the same as Orisala. This mean the white (apparel) deity. He was a contemporary of Olokun. These were Yoruba 'whitie' ancestors so to say. They were OFUN, meaning 'whitie'. In light of this, the Yoruba often say 'Orunmila to to fun~un'. That is, "Orunmila (mo) to-to, o funfun" in our own Yoruba. I quite believe this will help. Thanks. Hope to hear from you. (Ladi Akinleye, aka Prexios)

oh my! i wrote a long reply before but i can't find it ooo sob.
If Obatala was a contemporary of olokun and he was orisala may be he was Aaron.But wait it was about white cloth not skin abi?I believe all the oral history plus all I have learnt is pointing at some sequences at various times in history of the Yoruba
1. The was a time we can not trace happenings I mean like 10,000BC excavations of Iwo Eleru near Akure
2. Some aborigines lived on this land before any sort of migration may be it was first emigartion to form part of the old Kemet Kingdom or the Kingdom stretched from west to north Africa through the sahara. Because clearly, Yoruba and kemet have had a sort of relationships
3.Adimu or Oduduwa group or Orisha came migrating alongside his contemporaries form 'Orun' or 'Horun'(Horus?)and descended from a ship via a chain or could Oduduwa case be the story of Noah descending from the ark in the Bible? Omoluabi concept may have come from here.
4.Obatala was reputed to be a ruler at Ife when Oduduwa came and Ifa was already in place. It was said that Oduduwa or group merged with the aborigines or may be it was a reverse migration back home and at a certain time there was a fight and the Adimula(Adam?)oduduwa group won and later Obatala(title) that has been the ruling house forged a common ground with the new group and the concept of Oduduwa emerged.....please the concept 'du' or du...du ' in Yoruba.
5. Centuries later came another group which may include the Ijebu in another wave of return while the ORANMIYAN GROUP MAY HAVE COME AGAIN in later centuries.

The whole mystery of Yoruba lies in the Orunmila and Orisha(migrants) or please I just want to be in the know
Thanks

Good to see some roads being fixed in Lagos. I want to suggest that Gov. Fashola should intensify all efforts at fixing more of such roads while any incoming government should make fixing feeder and street roads with drainages and street light a high priority while not leaving places like Ikorodu, Ketu etc out.kudos to his excellency.
However it will be well if the revenue system can be made tighter because I believe a huge percentage of IGR are not been remitted or reported and corruption must be watched seriously because Lagos should be doing much better and should be the first city in Africa.Taken that federal govt. laid a huge weight of getting all the non-oil incomes from the state there are ways the state can get more revenues:
1. Introduce compulsory tax identification for all traders including owners of street side shops and kiosks and give them tax electronic cards with which they pay,this will include all market stalls and street stalls.The burden of tax is just on those in the formal sector and its too much.This will include Danfo drivers as well and all of spared parts, foot-wears markets.Markets should be categorized so that undue burden is not laid on people which means that a spare parts seller will pay more than a chin-chin seller.Also,20% of revenues from such tax generated should be returned to local government for fixing of certain classified projects like street roads,street lights etc.
2.Government should work speedily on transforming the market system into a more organized sector by building well controlled malls,and encourage chain sales units in form of wall marts by residents where the state can get more VAT.
3. The state should look into gaining more from the seaports services, that is up for consultancy
4. There is a drastic need to invest massively in transports infrastructure especially railways, fast train services, it will be the bomb! This should be agreed with Ogun State government to link all the metropolitan areas of the two states.

More power plants in forms of recently commissioned should be built to cater for street lights and security apparatus, schools and markets. I will advise that street drainages be done while schools should be invested in while more lawns and parks be introduced say a target of 300 parks be set while trees in hundred of thousands be provided.
A law should be enacted to compel property owners renovate their structures or be fined.

Lagos state should look into the Lekki corridor and build an entertainment city there, put fast train and pursue the Lekki ports with aggression especially airports. I think Gov. Fashola has set a standard and coming administration can give a better hope but am not impressed at all about Lagos state University, the governor should kindly invest heavily into its University to make it worth being a Lagos varsity, it should be the best state university in Nigeria. Mr. Gov. has succeeded in changing a whole lots about Lagos and he will be remembered for good many years to come.

lafex: VERY SOON MY NAME WILL BE ON THE LIST, IN SHA ALLAH
Ahmadu Bello University is notable for producing numerous Nigerian leaders including many state governors and Ministers. Amongst the alumni are: Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, GCFR, former President, Federal Republic of Nigeria
Namadi Sambo, current Vice President, Federal Republic of Nigeria
Dahiru Musdapher, current Chief Justice of Nigeria
Atiku Abubakar GCON, former Vice President, Federal Republic of Nigeria
Oladipo Diya, GCON, former Vice President/CGS, Federal Republic of Nigeria
Ghali Umar Na'Abba, former Speaker, House of Representatives
Sunday Awoniyi, Northern Yoruba Leader, Former Chairman ACF
Usman Bayero Nafada, former Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives
Ayodele Awojobi, Scientist and Professor at University of Lagos
Attahiru Jega, Professor, Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)
Mansur Muhtar, Executive Director of the World Bank
Mohammed Bello Adoke, Minister of Justice & Attorney General of the Federation
Nnenadi Usman, former Finance Minister
Turai Yar'Adua, former First Lady
Shehu Ladan, former GMD, NNPC
Jerry Gana, former Information Minister
Idris Legbo Kutigi, former Chief Justice of Nigeria
Rilwanu Lukman, former Secretary General OPEC & Petroleum Minister
Nuhu Ribadu, former Chairman, EFCC
Ibrahim Lamorde, current Chairman, EFCC
Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, former FCT Minister
Donald Duke, former Cross River state governor
Isa Yuguda, Governor, Bauchi State
Umaru Tanko Al-Makura, Governor, Nasarawa State
Shamsudeen Usman, Minister of National Planning
Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo, Governor, Gombe State
Usman Saidu Nasamu Dakingari, Governor, Kebbi State
Ibrahim Geidam, Governor, Yobe State
Danbaba Danfulani Suntai, Governor, Taraba State
Bukar Abba Ibrahim, former Governor, Yobe State
Mohammed Bawa, former Ekiti State governor
Abubakar Ibn Umar Garbai El-Kanemi, Shehu of Borno Kabiru
Ibrahim Gaya, former Kano state governor
Zainab Abdulkadir Kure, politician
Sanusi Lamido, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)
Ahmed Makarfi, former Kaduna state governo
r Adamu Mu'azu, former Bauchi State governor
Samuel Oboh, architect
Rebecca Ndjoze-Ojo, politician
Aminu Safana, doctor/politician
Ibrahim Shekarau, former Kano state governor
Ibrahim Shema, Katsina State governor
Ussif Rashid Sumaila, economist
Ibrahim H. Umar, former Vice Chancellor and scientist
Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa, Kaduna state governor
Adekunle S. Lawal, Former governor of Lagos and Imo states

I need Universities that will produce egg heads that spur innovations and drive the economy not a long list of political appointee and military personels that never fought any war in climbing the table of greatness. I do not disdain them for they are achievers in their own rights more so for Yarardua and Sambo and few democratically elected persons there. Please provide a list of good academics, researchers, captain of indstries and economic movers in Nigeria from there. Mansur, Ribadu ,Lamido,are what I see apart from the long list of northern political class bearing in mind ABU is the northern star in the north its a huge factor.
ITS A GREAT SCHOOL I LOVE PERSONALLY but to come with this is not so impressive, good though

[quote author=Okija_juju]But Obafemi looks finer than this na!!! [/quote]I know you've been to OAU before and can tell.Kindly educate them. OAU is a premier University in all facets within the Nigerian standard, well cnceived and well executed.
Also, ABU being the premier university in the north where all the money are sunk over the years but with Ibadan and Unilag still competing down south. I do not join forces in arguments, I think its childish!

[quote author=WIMUNR?]Lols!!! I just decided to put in some exaggeration. But we've not seen all the universities in Nigeria. I'm sure we will find one which Kongo is bigger than.

I intentionally left Shika out of the picture, else this thread would have been closed by now.[/quote]I know ABUTH Shika and ABU having been in the North before. I think its a great place but OAU seemed better, well conceived and well structured.

rusher14: Point of correction. the Ijaws are found in 6 states namely: Bayelsa. Rivers, Delta, Edo (Gele-Gele area), Ondo (Apoi west and Arogbo) close to the Ilajes as well as Akwa-Ibom where you find the Andonis.

Population of the Izon people of Nigeria? 15 million. Not so minor in the grand scheme of things.

I don't like to quote wikipedia. however, that's the best i can muster for now.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ijaw_people

You seemed too emotional. I do not believe in the conjured population data fr Nigeria which has been exaggerated to favour those pursuing the call on population strenght to negotiate their status in the republic. Now you came up with your own unrealistic and untrue number.
Just a common reasoning: Bayelsa is exclusive to the Ijaw isn't it? what is the bloated population of Bayelsa? I challenge you to give us the LGA's and rough estimates of their population across these states you mentioned and please also state locations that Ijaw actually the owners of the land because their profession makes them migrants like the Fulani and they can't simply claim every fishing settlements. Thank you and let's always be factual, Ijaws I guess cannot be more than 10 million if they can be up to that except you are referring to the entire Niger Deltan people

ladionline: Deep down I wish to do this, but I think and halt. Just have a peace of mind that answers exist to your questions, I will correspond these in time. I almost upload what I promised, but the Yoruba bashing on Hoodlum beat Oba in Ogun thread made me suspend that for now. kindly expect my book.

Give a paraphrase at least to get me informed. Thanks in advance.

Based on Human Evolution, human beings are growing bigger stronger faster, taller and more athletic then we were hundreds, and thousands of years ago...

You take a look at the Average Heights of Humans. from lets say...even 80 years ago...you will see progression.

So based on this ^...it would seem backwards to assume East Asians some how came from Black Africans...

Why would we evolve and become smaller....If history and science shows us..man is continuing to grow bigger

There are many holes in the "Everyone is from Africa" Theory.....

Be careful when you are told you are "the original"...the "first man"....the "first human"...

It's a BackHanded Compliment...that supports Racial Superiority by "Lack of Evolution".

Be careful when you preach what you believe is black pride...when in truth it is scientific fallacy.

Evolution Goes Fowards Not Backwards....

Once again though, nobody knows for certain..this is all theory.

Adam was a federal head of the human race. May be God actually made people from different clay at the beginning you never can tell.

ladionline: The mouthpiece of the search party in Yoruba is 'enu-owa', which is synonymous with eru-owa (Ijesha). Remember, Yoruba history is adapted to 'JOURNEY SYSTEM' The movements, i.e. 'irinkerindo' or igboke-gbodo. Ifa present this as 'owoh' (rovers) or 'owon-rin' (awon orin: meaning the emigrants). Ultimately, the precept of creation of 'Yoruba world' is recorded under the heading, 'IWORI-MEJI'. The main actors were OLODUMARE, (the Creator) ORUNMILA and, OKOKO-NIYELE.

Kings in Ekiti are called Owa, i mean titles. Now this Orunmila, what can you say about him?
what are the differences between Olokun, Yemoja, Oluweri and what about Obatala and who was Adimula of ancient Ife?
From your story its looking like the story of Moses for Olokun who witnessed ina to n jo ti ko jerun! was he called olokun because he was found on the sea and he parted the sea?
Please also expatiate on these three forces you mentioned

kettykin: The reason for success of Onitsha, Ibaka, delta and Onne are as follows
The lagos ports are the only deep sea port in Nigeria now and are presently inefficient leading to port congestion rise in number of days required to clear a cargo and delay in project time lines and increase on overall project cost.
Onitsha port as a new port would be easy to clear cargoes since it will be less busy at initial stage anddthere is more than enough space for future expansion of infrastructure when congestion comes.
Secondly the costs of warehousing in onitsha will not be up to 1/3 that of lagos which will in no small measure make goods imported through onitsha by far cheaper than goods imported through lagos. The landing costs of good to lagos is also made worse by tradition of lagos government to impose arbitrary taxes, indiscriminate closure of market and business premises on flimsy excuses of conferment of traditional titles, congestion and lack of space, citizenship abuse by law enforcement agents and area boys
Third point is the cost of transportation from lagos to nearby states in the north central, core north and south south from onitsha to Asaba is less than 5km while to Benin warri , is less than 2 hours , goods cleared in onitsha can be shipped to abuja via lokoja at a considerably cheaper cost and less than half the cost of transporting same from lagos to abuja by road and faster than transporting same from lagos to abuja through rail.
The key nigerian market for comsumerable are in Abuja , port Harcourt, and these 2 key cities are closer to onitsha than lagos
Fourthly the very cheap cost of accommodation and office space would make importation via onitsha a very viable option for busineses an accommodation in apapa is presently aboveN2m per annum while in Onitsha at N250, 000 a very good office accommodation can be secured.

The fifth point is really no point but it is still valid and it is the igbo gold rush syndrome, the rush for onitsha port would be triggered by the success of the pioneer importers whose record sales and profit would trigger a massive rush by other igbo businesses to onitsha port with some businesses maintaining lagos and onitsha operation until the increase in returns as a result of lower over heads will force them to permanently switch to onitsha port

Consumers of imported goods determine where importers will chose to ply his trade and Lagos account for the bulk of middle class consumers in Nigeria. I believe a delibrate government policy can change some things but I look down south at Ibaka if its real ) as the alternative but with Lekki in the offing, Lagos may keep being the real deal for some decades. Onitsha is a seaport and thee is limit to what it can accommodate, economy doesn't work that way, demands determine a whole lots.

chino11: The importers want to receive their foreign goods direct in Onitsha.

The Anambra Shippers Association has called on the Federal Government to officially gazette the Onitsha River Port as an international cargo destination.

Emmanuel Akpaka, president of the association, told the News Agency of Nigeria in Onitsha, that this would make the port viable.

Mr. Akpaka noted that the initiative would also expand the frontiers of Onitsha that was located on the River Niger basin, as an international business hub.

“We want the port to be gazetted, in order for it to become a destination for cargo from anywhere in the world, whether China, Japan, Malaysia, America, or Britain.”

“So that our business brothers and sisters could ship their cargoes and goods direct from the foreign ports into Onitsha port.”

“And this can be done through a system of trans-loading tens of containers or some thousands of volumes of goods into badges to Onitsha direct and the importer receives his or her consignments in Onitsha.”

Akpaka commended the federal government for completing the port in time, as well as installing state-of-the-art facilities in it.

“We believe that all international businessmen and women have a stake in the positive wellbeing of the Onitsha port and we would also take it as our own,’’ he added.

http://premiumtimesng.com/regional/150794-importers-urge-fg-make-onitsha-port-cargo-destination.html

I support this effort if the port can be made to work and not just this onealone but also Ibaka I have heard so muh about but seen nothing happen and also Warri port, and ports at Igbokoda and Epe as well as Ogun waterside.
Lagos will continue to grow irrespective of what happens because factors that determine economic performance favors the city but Nigeria needs a second economic city quick while intra city train should quickly be put in place in LAGOS TO MAKE LIFE BETTER. I think a city like Warri should be worked on to perform. Naija, haa, it is well.

Sincere 9gerian: The same elements who try to discountenance the influence of tribe in politics in Nigeria are themselves the biggest and most dangerous tribalists.
Didn't southwest politicians (who were in AD then) team up with OBJ (who was in PDP) to win the presidential election in 2003? What was the reason for that?
What lead to the formation of northern consensus candidate in 2011 elections? Was it tribal or national interest? Why did the north vote against Ekwueme in the PDP primary of 1998/99? Was it tribalism or a case of OBJ being better than Ekwueme?

What lead to all the conflicts, crisis and counter-crisis of 1960's? Was it GEJ or tribalism?

The a southwest based party (ACN) had teamed up with the SOME northern politicians to oust an incumbent president but what if that president is from the southwest? Would the merger between ACN and some northern politicians have happened if GEJ was from the southwest?

These are questions to ponder.

Granted some leaders have also emerged from minority tribes in the north but besides Balewa who ruled in an era when the north regarded itself as one constituency, the rest were military rulers. There is no basis for comparison of a military dictator and civillian president. If GEJ was a military president today, he wouldn't have to grapple with PDP wahala or fight with state govt or legislators. Even in terms of Boko Haram, he can decide to divert resources meant for the states to fight Boko Haram. But as it is today, all the other states, including the Boko Haram infested states, are receiving their allocations as prescribed by the constitution. It is solely the headache of the president where he gets the funds to prosecute the war on Boko Haram.

Building consensus is the strength of political bigwigs. That is one area the President has weakness and he allowed his adversaries a huge time in building theirs thereby reducing his own influence. As the President of a country you have access to all human resources available in your country and globally, the President would have access that, I think he should learn from his mistakes and move on.
What he need to do is to reach out to all groups, may be its a little bit too late but something can still be done. So all his guys that bark at opposing views may have to be changed for more calm and matured ones and if the President want to really do something unusual, he can begin to work on a successor that will wrestle power for any political bloc he favours maybe from the middle belt or even south-west to damn his adversary and rub salt on their eyes, now that's a very tough decision but it will write his name in gold and make him a power broker.He will have battles at home though against his own kinsmen.
I think the imaginary problems seen by the president's advisers is an off shoot of reacting to everything the media say, it shouldn't be so, what if GEJ is the President of USA where there are thousands of media houses and millions of powerful critics? I think he President should try his best best to see and take his chances in 2015 but he can drop his personal ambition and become a statesman by doing the following which I will suggest:
1. Reach out to the Akande-Tinubu camp secretly(like Israel-Palestine) and come up with a constitutional conference that will change the current political structure which will revert revenue formula to 50-50 for states and federal as being done during regional governments.
2. Align major ethnic groups to form states and minorities to come together as states with their own internal autonomous governing and resource control system. This will seriously limit the power of ethnicity and dominance and it will breed competitions and economic developments. so we can have for example, all Yoruba in South-west,middle Belt, South -south into one Oduduwa state with their Premier, the Igbo in South-east and south-south into an Ndigbo state, the Efik,Ibiobio and kinsmen into a state of their own, the Ijaw into a state,remaining people of Edo and Delta can form their Bendel state or Edowa while other minorities down south can form a state. The work of the president is to ensure these new states evolve internal structures that recognized minorities when they have their own districts/principalities etc. This can be replicated in the north as the Hausa/Fulani will form one large state of Arewa, the Kanuri and kinsmen will form their Borno while minorities across the large expanse of middle belt will evolve their own states through alignments and co-operations may be five or up t 10 states.
3.By this education, transportations, security, local government administration and resource control can be ceded to states while an arrangement of joint board management for the oil and gas can be established for the first ten years to ensure current investors do not lose their place until next bidding round and to assuage fears from the power brokers.
4. Allowing the new states level and retain their VAT and control transports facilities ports, sports facilities and come etc
5. At the expiration of the ten years of joint control of oil and gas, the federal tax of 30% should take effect on all oil and gas explored within Nigeria and states will control what happens about them while non oil minerals should attract say 5% and so on
6.Nigeria should revert to a parliamentary system in which all states are equally represented.
My word and take: The root cause of corruption in Nigeria is the unitary system of sharing revenue , shatter the table and allow everyone fend for themselves. The President should come up with smart plan for change that will benefit the Niger Delta and ensure equity but he will need to sacrifice his personal ambition and his selfish goons, he may yet become the Mandela of Nigeria!

ladionline: Well this exactly how fatomilola put it: ifa olokun asorodayo, eleri-ipin,... omo inajoko majerun. The witness of that event is Olokun, hence the name Olokungbajo, meaning "Olokun saved his contemporary" Now the people of ipetu-ijesha would say: awa la njudi nigba Olokun, awa lonje abori jagajigi. Awa londani ti ale eni nkoni, elegbe wa maitu o, aya gbogbo nso kule-kule.

You are so deep but translation will help me. Ifa olokun - corpus of the ocean diver or farer the witness of fate i guess!
warrior eulogy of the Ipetu Ijesa love that!
So what about Agboniregun and could Agboniregun be the aborigine of the Yoruba country who was the originator of Ifa while from your assertion, olokun could be Moses because he was carried from the sea!
Am kind of confused, more info pls

ladionline: As for Orunmila, this is what I have learn from Peter Fatomilola: "Orunmilala baba agbonmiregun, omo inajoko majerun" This simply means orunmila ... son of the fire that burn bush without consumation" Does that sound familiar?

This is about Moses in the Bible. could he be the son of God who was in the fire or Moses who saw the incidence? I think Yoruba have a way of ascribing powerful energy comparison to their leaders e.g. omo ekun did not mean the person was a child of tiger but in comparison to the force of tiger. What's your take?

ladionline: As for Orunmila, this is what I have learn from Peter Fatomilola: "Orunmilala baba agbonmiregun, omo inajoko majerun" This simply means orunmila ... son of the fire that burn bush without consumation" Does that sound familiar?

If you can supply the info now it will be to my pleasures.
Orunmila- what is the meaning?
He is the father or founder of Agbonmiregun, now what is Agbonmiregun? I know 'Ogbon' could means district or section in some dialects?
Could Orunmila also be the Ela?
I need more info please

'Nobody' I've been trying to connect you but seems to be a problem here. I found something on "Arts in Ancient Ife, Birthplace of the Yoruba" (Suzanne Preston Blier)and found a whole lot as interesting.
My interests are:
1. The pre- Oduduwa times of Obatala(possibly the title of the Kingship thrones of the time)
2.Agboniregun - May be the name of the progenitor of the ancient land owners of which Obatala was the King or the royal house.
3. Obatala & oduduwa story like Esau and Jacob also looked like the taking over of headship position in forming a kingdom which may be after the reign and passage of Oduduwa passed again to Obatala lineage may be through civil strife and later the coming of Oranmiyan and was may be faced stiffed opposition after he was returning from may be battle of throne in Bini and founded the Oyo dynasty(just trying to link all these fragments)
I think the Ife Kingdom has to do with the Eastern half of Yoruba land of present northern fring of Ogun east ,Osun, Ekiti, Ondo and parts of Edo Delta and Kogi going by names mentioned which include the Igala areas. In Yoruba mythologies, places located within these axis were mentioned including migration patterns and orders of the Irunmoles
Places west of Yoruba land which formed the larger parts of the Oyo empire were in the latter parts of the Yoruba history while i think the eastern parts were more ancient.
I also think the Orisa and Oduduwa story may have to do with how Oduduwa overtook the era of the Orisha people or the Irunmole's through the palm wine drunken tales?
Now here is the weird thought :
I think Oduduwa was a concept of an era of merger of ideas, religion and groups and Oduduwa personae must have been the leader of the era just like the Obatala must have been the pre Oduduwa leader or ruler. Going by these names of Yemoja, Oluweri(seafearer?),Olokun showed that Yoruba may have had some sea fearing groups.
The final thought is, have we ever sat down to think about an ancient empire extending through the Sahara to Egypt as part of the old Kemet empire?
Please enlighten me

I THINK THIS MAN IS NOW SETTLING DOWN TO LIFE. Money is a good thing. I like his reaching out to other parts of Nigeria if all he said are true.However, fighting for Niger Delta and not confident enough to put his investments there raises suspicion of either not having the confidence in the place or keeping his money from unfavourable eventualities. I think all militants are reeling in money now and may be too weak to bear arms, peace is good.
IF ASARI DECIDES TO LIVE A RESPONSIBLE LIFESTYLE then he should be left to do so ,even though his personality will always raise suspicion on the ground of his antecedents. I do not have faith in the reason for not establishing that school in Ijawland, but its his choice anyway.

gbigbega: This morning, I reminisce over how I had faith in God and yet did not receive what I wanted.

My Story

I was to do an exam for promotion in my place of work. I was told that it was impossible to get this promotion except you know somebody's high up who can help you. I was told that my result will not count. I trusted God for it, read very well, made the first papers, made the second and was told by the executives that I outshined every other in the last examination. I was confident I will make it. Somebody told me he could help me get the job through a senator, irrespective of my mark and I refused the offer. I trusted God to help me through it. I told myself "if faith I want to see it happen in my life" I wanted to practice what I preach. Days before the last result came out, I had two dreams. In the first, I saw a man who told me they are trying to change my result and give my place to another. I prayed but did not go to any person for help. In the second dream, I saw I had 96% and it was changed to 56% which was below the cut off point. I did a lot of praying and held on to God, refusing to take the easy way. To tell you the truth, getting the job for me was like life and death, yet i layed it up to God to decide. The result came out and I didn't make it. I was devastated. I threw it all on trusting God and it did not work. I lost so much loosing that opportunity and all my colleague though I was very stupid because they were all aware of all the connections in my arsenal.

Looking back now, I see it has all been for good. I never lost faith in God despite the fact that I didn't get what I wanted then. Now I am better for it, running my own company.

God takes us through some circumstances just to give us better testimony in time to come. Like The story of Lazarus in the bible in John 11. Jesus sent message to Lazarus that he will not die, yet Lazarus died. You sometimes may hear God speak to you about something and yet it did not manifest. This is usually because He wants to use you to manifest His Glory. In the later verse of that bible passage, Jesus rose Lazarus again from the dead. That changed a lot of people's mind about Jesus and power of God.

Seun, if faith has failed you, it was because God had something greater for you and you didn't know it. After praying, if somebody you love die, if maybe because God knew what evil the existence of such person will cause. If you understand how God works, you will know that all things that happen to us are always for our Good.

In Luke 22:32, Jesus told peter he prayed for him so that his faith will not fail. This mean faith can fail but what will not fail is God and his word.

God bless you

I think there is a general awareness about just everything among the new generation of Nigerians and this is a welcomed development. I read the how 'Nobody' and co dissected the Yoruba history and I learnt a lot from that post.Am still waiting to ,learn on some other Nigerian histories, thanks nairaland for this huge huge contribution, am almost becoming an addict.

On which is the largest ethnic group in Nigeria, I think its a sort of sensitive issue in Nigeria politics because the Northern states have always claimed to have larger populations than Southern states, a situation almost exclusively applicable to Nigeria in the whole world where more people reside in areas with lower economic activities, I think its being unrighteous.
Having been privileged to live in the north for a while and travelled across Nigeria, I should be able to draw some facts as good as possible.
We must accept that the core northern states are largely Muslims and practise polygamy but even in the south there are lots of polygamous families too especially in the West among the Yoruba ethnic group.Also, due to intermarriages the Hausa and Fulani have mixed a whole lots but there are other sub-groups of the Fulani that are still distinct and can obviously be distinguished from the Hausa. If the Hausa group is to be made separate from the Fulani group, then the Yoruba ethnic group will probably be the largest group before the Igbo or Hausa even going by the faulty official figures of 160 million( i don't believe Nigeria is up to that may be we are 130 million or so) the Fulani will be 2/5 of the Hausa-Fulani population going by the contested pre-independent census(skewed to give the north a majority...I WAS NOT THERE THOUGH) that will make the Fulani about 18,560,000(18.5m) today and the mainly Hausa group between 27,840,000(27.84m) and 30 million today while the Igbo group who lost a huge population during the war would be from 28.8 million today or roughly the same population with the Hausa ethnic group while the Yoruba will be something like 33.6 m to 42 million to probably be the largest single groups and that will include their ethnic groups in Kwara , Edo not Edo groups) and Kogi.
I think the Efik-Ibiobio -Anang group follows as the next largest group may be by up to 16 million people.
Ethnicity will continue to play a huge part in Nigeria politics until political restructuring that will give priority to ethnic identity is constructed and after a long while people will see more need in the outside groups and ethnicity will take a plunge! One f the reasons is the African identity system as at late as 19th century and the structure still on ground, democracy and federal structures as it is was an importation not well adapted to suit different parties.
I believe what Nigeria needs is not ethnicity but sound economic opportunities for its teeming citizens which is one of the ways to play down ethnic importance and achieve a well organized society.