Dayo Benson And Kingsley Anaroke
9 May 2004
interview
Dr. Siyan Oyeweso, the head of Department of History, Lagos State University, Ojo, spoke to Sunday Vanguard on the controversy over Yoruba ancestry. He submits that those who argue that Yoruba originated from Benin are revisionists. Excerpts:
Oba of Benin said that the Yoruba ancestry is from Benin but the Ooni of Ife has rebutted this claim. What exactly is the correct account of the Yoruba origin?
I don't want you to see the problem of the origin of Yoruba as a controversy between the Oba of Benin and Ooni of Ife at all. There may be a difference in interpretation. At any point in time, I don't believe anybody will claim that the origin of Yoruba people is from Benin. It is an attempt to rewrite entirely the Yoruba history which is a settled case. I am aware that the Oba of Benin is not a professional historian, he is a custodian of Benin history. But history is an albatross, it does not allow aberration of hold on.
The origin of Yoruba as far as traditional history of Yoruba people is concerned is a settled matter. When we take a look at the earlier traditional attempt in recording the Yoruba history as compiled by Samuel Johnson, even the history of Benin as complied by a Benin historian Jacob Egbarevba, it is settled that the origin of Yoruba people started in Ife, the cradle of Yoruba, the Orisu, the word that cannot be translated, which is believed to be their own Garden of Eden.
The identity of Oduduwa is not so much in doubt. It is agreed by historians of all persuasions that the ancestor of the Yoruba is Oduduwa. If you want to look at who was Oduduwa, where did he migrate from? According to the Yoruba belief system, Oduduwa was sent from heaven through a chain and landed at Ife. Any attempt by any authority to say that Oduduwa was from Benin is only one version of many versions of traditional authority, that is the migration accounts. No record so far has said that the Yoruba migrated from Benin. Ever before Ogiso dynasty established itself, Oduduwa dynasty had started at Ile Ife.
An attempt on the part of the Oba of Benin to demystify the person of Oduduwa is to re-write the entire belief system of the Yoruba people, because in the creation account Olodumare, God, the Yoruba believe, gave order for the creation of the world to Obatala, the god of creation. According to the Yoruba cosmology, Obatala at a stage started the work of creation up to a particular point in time that he got drunk on the way, then Oduduwa collected the mantle of authority from him and established what you now call the Yoruba race.
Again, what we know from the Portugese account from Benin account, and all writers of Yoruba - Benin history ever before the reversionist account on the part of the Oba of Benin was that the monarchical revolution or tradition started in Ile Ife and the institution of Oba Alade and Oba Adeleke were started by Oduduwa. The best of archeology, the best of oral tradition point to the autochthonous status of Oduduwa as a starting and a milestone in Yoruba history. And whatever the Oba of Benin will have to say today, he will have to go and consult the Portugese account on even the Benin.
With reference to Lagos, there is a direct lineage between Benin and Lagos, but it was due to an episode. It was only a 17 Century phenomenon. But even the founder of the dynasty in Lagos, Oba Ogunfunminire migrated all the way from Ife. It was at a point in time in the social development of Lagos that the Benin factor came in. But we should not see it as a wrangling between the Oba of Benin and Ooni of Ife.
I think there is some misinterpretation which will be resolved in the course of time. Even Oba Akenzua, that is, the ancestor of the present Oba of Benin, when he had to visit Ile-Ife in 1936, when the Pelu Pelu, that is Conference of Traditional rulers was taking place, he had to stay at Modakeke because it was forbidden for him to visit Ile-Ife. Until recently, when the Oba of Benin wakes up in the morning he turns his face in the direction of Ife and prays for the Ooni of Ife.
So, the identity of Oduduwa is a settled issue in Yoruba history. Maybe what the Oba of Benin was saying will have to do with the Oramiyan of the land.
A Ekaladerhan was never Oba in Benin and was never Oduduwa. it is true there are historical connections between Benin and Ife. And Oramiyan himself, one of the sons of Oduduwa is reputed to be the father of the Eweka dynasty, the dynasty throngs which the incumbent Oba of Benin descends from. Benin itself is a corruption of Ilebim, because Oramiyan left the place in anger and vocation after he had married an indigenous Benin woman who gave birth to Eweka. So, for the Benin monarch to claim that the Ogiso dynasty preceded Oduduwa revolution is an aberration. It has no backing of the best of Oral traditions. The Benin tradition as compiled by Jacob Egbarevba was published by Oxford University Press, in 1966 or 1967 or thereabout. All these are attempts to give autochthonous status to Benin culture and belief.
In fact, the dynasty in Benin today is offshoot of Ife dynasty. And when you take a look at the bronze casting at Ife and the bronze casting at Benin, they are derivatives from Ile-Ife because the whole act of governance, the whole idea of Oba itself was brought from Ile-Ife.
There shouldn't be a controversy at all. The Yoruba people know where they migrated from and the beginning of their history. What we know is that the significance of Oduduwa in Yoruba history, not only among traditional historian, but among professional historian is incontrovertible. Take a look at most early works written on Yoruba history, whether the one by Ojo, or Oladimoye Kayo or Fagbemi, or the one by Adesheye, there is a consensus of opinion on the person of Oduduwa.
If the Oba of Benin wants to write the history of Yoruba people, it should be a more serious academic exercise, not in the way which is an attempt to document his memoirs in public office. I know he is not a trained historian, but he is a royal father, and therefore a custodian of Benin history. It is not possible to sit in a place and write history, a lot has to be done. If he wants to write about the origin of Yoruba, he cannot go beyond Samuel Johnson, whose work was completed in 1897 and published in 1960's. So, whatever account the Oba of Benin wants to give us, let us know the sources.
That the Oba of Benin said it, does not make it right.
Th Ooni of Ife made reference to the Portuguese account of the relationship between Yoruba and Benin and he said that as at 1934, in the palace of Oba of Benin it was Yoruba that was spoken. Would you like to throw more light on this?
As far back as 1903, when colonial Governor Mac Gregor was trying to resolve the chieftaincy dispute between the Elepe of Epe and the Akarigbo of Remo, the move was referred to the Alaafin of Oyo, but he referred back to the colonial masters that the matter was beyond him. He said he had an elder brother, the Ooni, whom he said could say authoritatively what the situation was. Following this, the matter was referred to Ooni of Ife, that is Ooni Adelekan Olubusi II.
The said matter of the incumbent. It was in 1903, that for the first time in Yoruba history, the Ooni travelled out of the traditional territory to Ibadan. All the Yoruba obas, including the Oba of Benin stayed outside the palace, signifying that it was forbidden for them to stay in the palace.
They insisted that until he returned, they wouldn't go back to their palace. In 15, 16 Century, Benin was already an established monarchy when the Portuguese got into Benin. But the antiquity of Benin was never and can never be compared to that of Ife, because the best of archeological excavations carried out in Benin have not been able to give us date which were earlier than archeological excavations at Ife as at today. But in terms of Ogiso dynasty or Oduduwa dynasty, all the dynasties we are talking about, they do not mean strictly speaking, the beginning of the history of the Yoruba people. Ever before the Oduduwa revolution took place, there was great Oduduwa eminence in Yoruba land as we have in the Obatala myth of origin.
Ever before Oduduwa the Moremi myth, there were some autochthonous elements residing at Ile Ife, having an idea of government, agriculture, settled life, settled civilization, and Oduduwa era was a superior one which one way or the other had outlived the existing population of Ife, particularly the Ugbo, what you call Moremi tradition and all the rest of them. So, the institution of Oduduwa is not of Ogiso. May be professional historians will have to join the fray to give the chronology of what happened.
What about the position of the Oba of Lagos supporting Oba of Benin. What do you say to that?
The Oba of Lagos must have been quoted out of context, most sincerely. The origin of Lagos, the origin of Yoruba people, the origin of Benin, those are key elements. Olofin Ogunfunminire the ancestor of Lagos as compiled by Lucy, migrated from Ile Ife, and it is not in doubt.
The 1603 episode when Oba Orogbua invaded Lagos, particularly the link between Lagos and Benin was 1603 phenomenon. And Lagos had existed before this time. We cannot deny the impact of Benin on Lagos after the Eweka Revolution in Owo by Akoko Edo. If you take a look at Owo culture, even some of the Ikale areas, yo find Benin cultures. When you talk about influence, it is because of some Yoruba communities when you talk about Oduduwa, it is a monarchical revolution and it started earlier and not in Benin.
Does the Benin influence on Lagos account for the adulteration of some names like Odumola, Idungaran, Bajulaye, the corruption of Bajueye?
You don't corrupt history that way. There are certain institutions in Lagos today that are derivatives of Benin.
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