isale_gan2:

I just read the thread and learned from it as well.  I think, since Yorubas value discretion, Ifa practitioners may be adverse to codifying Ifa Divination in one "holy" book where it could be misinterpreted and easily accessible to the wrong people.  Just one reason that comes to mind.

I recently read several chapters of a history book written by a European in 1899 or thereabouts where he discusses Oduduwa at length, and lo and behold, the whole chapter he is referring to Oduduwa as a "she."  I did not get a chance to finish the book, so I cannot vouch for the entire thing. There may be more errors, but I learned some things and it appears to be well researched. Regarding the Oduduwa part, I couldn't figure out if the author was deliberately mislead because his interviewees resented his amebo-ness or something was lost in the translation.

I didn't get a chance to finish the book yet.  Here's a link if anyone is interested:
http://www.sacred-texts.com/afr/yor/yor03.htm

annyplenty:

It seems you like making references to some elders as the basis of your posts. who are the elders you always refer us to ask? can you please mention some names. besides that some people you refer us to are elders doesnt not mean they will be an authority on the topic of IFA that we are discussing. the age of methuselah might not have something to do with the wisdom of solomon. I will suggest that if you might want us to take your references so serious, decline from referring us to elders. instead make reference from the words of IFA directly or you quote an history of the religion you might know.

I have answers to all your questions and even some more you have not asked but will like to know the motive behind yor inquisitions before taking you up.

Yoruba history is very complicated and is made even more so by the fact that it has been tampered with for political purposes.  (accusing fingers point at the likes of Awolowo although I don't know enough of his shenanigans to join in the accusations) .  There is no such thing as a single Yoruba people or a yoruba nation.  Apparently the word yoruba is itself a fulani term used to refer to Oyo people.  The original name for the language was Anago. 
In the 20th century much effort was made to forge a single yoruba identity.  Actually many eastern parts of what is today called yoruba fell under the Benin empire including lagos and all the way up to Benin republic and even togo, all the way up to Ghana.   Oyo Empire too was widespread and also included peoples that today are not considered yoruba.   
So there has been a considerable amount of engineering gone into creating the present yoruba identity.  I find the same thing is happening, even today amongst the Igbo people who seem to have found a new militant nationalism.  Again, I see strings being pulled here. 

There is no faculty of History in any decent university in the world that will accept folktales told by elders as historical proof of anything, especially as the elders often contradict themselves.  Such tales would need to be backed up by documents, archaeology, cross references etc.  Especially when it comes to the Orisha many things said of them belong to the sphere of myth and not of history. 
The claim that Oduduwa and lamurudu came from Mecca for instance, this is obviously a conceit born from the psychological complex towards Islamic religion.  Similar to Ijebu people claiming that they were the Jebusites in the bible.  Our history is obviously constantly being tampered with.  Have you heard that Oduduwa was in actual fact a woman.  I find that very credible.  There are many references to women ruling yoruba land very early in it's history.  There are many societies in which royal succession was matrilinear and Yoruba show many signs of having that in it's history.  Patriarchy seems very new to the land.  Especially when we consider the kind of power that was wielded by the Iyalodes traditionally. 

I think that Mowire's mention of a commission to find out the connection between Ela and Jesus could be yet another manifestation of that complex that led people to state that Oduduwa came from Mecca.  Obviously there is a complex towards christianity now and so some people are trying to contrive a connection with christianity.  I have no doubt that the research they will do will be extremely dubious to say the least, yet if they get the pr right their conclusion might eventually become an accepted fact.

Odu: Odu has many different meanings in different contexts. First they are what we call the 16 basic signatures of Ifa. Each signature is a different configurations of energies and has it's own distinct nature. For example Ogbe which is mentioned above is very vibrant and full of life and inspiration. This is in contrast to Oyeku which is associated with death and water/rain. They are contrasted like fire and water are contrasted.
Another meaning for Odu lies within the feminine. Odu is the Queen of all female energy. She is the wife of Orunmila, a most powerful witch.
Another meaning is tied to it's feminine nature. Odu is a womb, or a container like a calabash. So all the potentialities in the world, every possibility, is contained in Odu and Odu through a process of birthing brings possibilities into actuality.
Odu is sometimes considered an orisha too. Sometimes she is connected to Odudua. Odu ti o da iwa: Odu that created Being.