Ibadan In Brief IBADAN: THE LAND OF THE WARRIORS...messiah of all Yoruba nations Ibadan! Ibadan! Ibadan, the home of the Braves, a haven for the oppressed and the messiah of all Yoruba nations. Ibadanland, the ancient military base, a viable commercial centre and unparallel melting pot of the Yoruba towns is no doubt the largest city in West Africa and the capital city of Oyo State. History has it that the Ibadan story started with the migration of Lagelu, the Jagun (commander-in- chief) “Oro Apata Maja” of Ife and Yorubas generalissimo, left Ile Ife with a handful of people from Ife, Oyo and Ijebu to found a new city, Eba-Odan, which literally means between the forest and plains. But don’t let us forget that this location was formerly known as “Igbo-Ipara”, no villagers was there then, it was between Ilu-Igbo and Ilu-Odan, whereby Ijebus and Egbas were in Igbo and Oyos are in Odan, but the land does not belong to any of them before Lagelu discovered the place. Before Lagelu came, the first people that settled in Igbo-Ipara are the Isansas (lazy and notorious people), that are deported from the neighboring towns. Then they will say ‘asiwere ti wo Igbo-Ipara lo’. The name Eba-Odan, was given to the settlement by the passers –by because of the settlement location which was between the savannah and the forest belt. Time later reduced the two words of Eba- Odan to Ebadan and finally it became Ibadan. The first Ibadan-city was destroyed due to an incident at an Egungun (masquerade) festival when an Egungun was accidentally disrobed and derisively mocked by women and children in an open marketplace full of people. When the news reached Sango, the then Alaafin of Oyo, he commanded that Eba Odan be destroyed for committing such abominable act. Lagelu was by now an old, frail man; he could not stop the destruction of his city, but he and some of his people survived the attack and fled to a nearby hill for sanctuary (now; Oke-Badan Hill). On the hill they survived by eating oro fruit and snails; later, they cultivated the land and made corn and millets into pap meals known as oori or eko (pap), which they ate with roasted snails, later they improvised a bit by using the snail shells (ikaraun) to drink the liquefied eko (pap). Ultimately, Lagelu and his people came down from the hill and founded another city called Ebadan. This is where we generated the Ibadan eulogy: Ibadan Omo Ajorosun (fruit) Omo Ajegbin (snail) yo Omo Afi Ikaraun (smail shell) fo Ori (pap) mu Ibadan Maja Maja, bi Ojo kini Note: Before the death of Lagelu, he and his children left ‘Oke-badan hill’ near Awotan market around the present Eleyele water works and migrated to ‘Ori-iyangi’ now referred to as Oja-Iba named after Basorun Oluyole. The second Ibadan settlements were divided into six neighborhoods namely: (1) Itun Elemo- Aboke’s compound (2) Oke Igbede- Olubadan compound (3) Itun-Lisa- Compounds for Olowu’s first son, (Aremo) (4) Itun Ikasi- Compound for the children of Ikasi, (Lagelu’s nephew fro Ejigbo) (5) Ilaro- Compound for the Prince of Iseri. (6) Oke ati Isale Atan- Communal land. The second Ibadan was surrounded by the following settlements namely: Owu, Ojo, Ika, Ijaiye, Erunmu, Ikija, Ido, Ikogun and many Egba settlements. But soon after, about 1806, another breakup of Ibadan occurred. It was caused by Olowu Akinjobi, who after migrating from devastated Owu kingdom to ruling Ibadan had married the only daughter of the Olubadan. According to the legend, on one of his raids, the Olowu’s warriors were unable to cross the Oba-river until he was persuaded to sacrifice his wife named ‘Nkan Omo Olubadan’. When the Olubadan heard about this, he did not have the courage to fight Olowu alone, so he requested for assistance from the Alake of Abeokuta, the Ooni of Ife, the Awujale of Ijebu-ode and allied Army were also invited. Maye Okunade and Lakanle, an Oyo leader were also part of the team that drove away the Owus from Ibadan. Again, in 1820 Ibadan came alive but that time, it was not by the original founders but by the Allied Army consisting of the Egbas, Ijebus, Ifes and the Oyo warriors. The initial congregation at Ibadan this time around, was along ethnic lines; the numerically superior Ife soldiers and Oyo Yoruba refugees choose Oja- Iba, the Ijebus lived in the South at Isale-Ijebu; the Egbas moved far away from their conquerors and settled at Yeosa. The pattern of these settlements was a clear indication of the existing political cleavages in this war camps. Each group had its own leaders who people looked upon them for authority. As a result of interclass struggle among the settlers, the Egba under the leadership of Sodeke, the Seriki of Egba withdrew in a body from Ibadan to settle in Abeokuta in 1830 followed by the Owus in 1834 after the Gbanamu war. As excuse was found later for an intra-class struggle in 1833 between the Ifes and the Oyo settlers, during the ruling term of Maye (Ife great warrior). This later escalated to a full scale war which the Oyo-yoruba won and Ibadan became one since then till today as an Oyo- Yoruba town. It should be noted that a strong government emerged in Ibadan because it continued to engage in warfare and the people who migrated into the city completely identified themselves with the new town. IBADAN LATER EMERGED AS YORUBA EMPIRE: The resentment which the Ifes showed towards their Oyo refugees living in Modakeke as a result of the defeat of Ife and the killing of Maye by the Oyos in Ibadan during the ‘Gbanamu war’ prompted the combined Armies of Ibadan and Modakeke to sack Ife town in 1849 and drove the inhabitants into exile until 1851 when Ogunmola later sent messengers from his camp to negotiate peace and bring back the Ifes as he considered it undesirable to let the cradle of the Yoruba race to remain perpetually in desolation and the ancestral gods un- worshipped. That was the first fall of Ife town in1849. In recognition of Ibadan as an emergency powerful Yoruba nation, Alaafin Oluewu, the last ruler at old Oyo in the month of June, 1835, sent around to the whole of the Yoruba chief s to join him in the last efforts to throw the Fulani yoke. Among those that responded to his invitation were: Oluyole of Ibadan, Egba chiefs, Kurunmi Ijaye, Ayo Abemo, Timi of Ede, Oba Bamigbadiye and others. Ibadan became so powerful that it assisted other Yoruba towns to protect its inhabitants. Ibadan Army under the command of Balogun Oderinlo was sent to Oshogbo to drive away the Fulanis who were then terrorizing the inhabitants. The Army of Ibadan equally attacked Ilesa to rescue Oshogbo. From that war, the Ibadan Army ventured into Ekiti for the relief of Otun, which was attacked by Ilorin Army. They also fought in Ara to reinstate the Alara who was then having problem with his people. In view of the numerous contribution of Ibadan Army towards liberating other Yoruba towns; the composition of Ibadan now comprises of all inhabitants of other Yoruba towns and villages. Ibadan has had quite a number of traditional rulers and they are as follows: (1)Baale Oyesile Olugbode-1851 (2) Baale Basorun Ogunmola-1865 (3) Baale Akere 1 -1869 (4) Baale Orowusi- 1871 (5) Baale Ajayi Ogungbekun-1885 (6) Baale Fijabi 1 -1895 (7) Baale Oshuntoki -1896 (8) Baale Fajinmi -1897 (9) Baale Mosaderin -1902 (10) Baale Dada Opadere -1904 (11) Baale Sunmonu Apampa -1907 (12)Baale Irefin -1910 (13) Baale Irefin II -1912 (14) Baale Shittu Are Latosa II – 1914 (15)Baale Oyewole Ayenjeku -1925 (16) Baale Okunola Abasi -1930 (17) Late Olubadan Fijabi II-1948 (18)Oba Akinyele Babalola -1955 (19) Oba Yesufu Kobiowu -1964 (20) Oba Salawu Akanni Aminu – 1965 (21) Oba Shittu Akintola Oyetunde II –1971 (22) Oba Gbadamosi Akanbi Adebimpe I - 1976 (23) Oba Daniel Tayo Akinbiyi -1977 (24) Oba Yesufu Oloyede Asanike -1983 (25) Oba Adegboyega Adeyemo Operinde I –1994 (26) Oba Yinusa Ogundipe Arapasowu I - 1999 (27)Oba Samuel Odulana Odugade I - 2007 (Till-Date)
Posted on: Sun, 26 Oct 2014 07:14:03 +0000