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 Daily
Independent Online.
* Tuesday, June 22, 2004.
The bone of contention between Omonoba and Ooni
By S.E. Orbih
The simmering feud between
the two royal fathers of Benin and Ife over their descendancy could
degenerate into a full-blown war of words. If not checked promptly it
could breed bad blood not only between the two Royal Fathers but also
could extend to their respective subjects who had enjoyed a cordial
relationship over the years. The Ooni of Ife; Oba Okunade Sijuade,
may have spilled the first blood when he stated that the Oba of Benin, Omonoba
Eredauwa "goofed" in his own Biography.
The Omonoba had on the 29th of
April 2004 launched his autobiography titled I remain, Sir, your
obedient servant, in which he gave an account of the origin of the
Bini dynasty from the first King; Ogiso to the present Omonoba. He
also explained how the Bini dynasty became related to the Ooni of
Ife and to other Yoruba kings who were the Princes of Oduduwa. Oduduwa
was stated to have sent his son 'Oranyan or Oranmiyan on request to rule
over Bini Kingdom. This fact both the Ooni and the Omonoba
agreed on, but sing discordant tunes on the origin of Oranmiyan's father,
Oduduwa.
The Bini History
The Bini history dates back thousands of
years before the advent of Oranmiyan and perhaps his father Oduduwa. The
people traced their origin to the beginning of creation when human beings
were first made and placed on the surface of the earth by
"Osalobua" the almighty God. The ruling dynasty started from
the first Ogiso "the Prince from heaven", who became the first
king of Bini. The Ogiso dynasty was said to have lasted for thousands of
years from the first "Ogiso Igodo" to the thirty-first
"Ogiso Owodo" before it came to an abrupt end. According to the Bini history,
the last of the Ogiso; "Owodo", had an only child Ekalederhan.
A cruel and false oracle prophecy was said to have requested that
Ekalederhan be sacrificed to the gods. He was taken away to be killed,
but while in the bush, the Executioner had pity on the young man and
allowed him to escape into exile.
The same Ekalederhan was said to have wondered about from town to
town for many years until he settled in a place that was later known as
lle-lfe with all his Royalties and princely paraphernalia. The natives
welcomed Ekalederhan as a God-sent ruler and he became their king.
Ogiso Owodo; believing that his only child
had been killed, died after many years of his reign without an heir to
succeed him. The Ogiso
dynasty therefore came to an end. Thereafter began leadership tussle in the
kingdom, which led to war for many years. Then rumours filtered into the
kingdom that Ekalederhan, the son of Ogiso Owodo, thought to have been
dead, was spotted in one nearby city. A search party was sent by the
Chiefs to look for the Prince. They traveled from village to village
until they found him in a town that was later known as lle-lfe where he
was already made a king; married with children. Hence when the emissaries
from Bini requested that he came to ascend his father’s throne, he
declined and also accepted by sending his youngest son Oranmiyan who
would be subject and obedient to him.
The Yoruba History
The Yoruba version of their history states
that the entire Yoruba race are descendants of Odudowa whom they believe
descended from heaven with four hundred deities. Another school of thought
says he came from the Middle East. He was said to have appeared in Ife
where he founded and ruled over the entire Yoruba race. While Oduduwa
oversaw the entire empire from Ife, his sons were deployed to head the
constituent states of the Yoruba race.
Oduduwa was also stated, according to the
Yoruba history, to have sent his son Oranmiyan to establish the present
dynasty of the Oba of Benin in 1191 AD when the Bini people requested a
ruler from Oduduwa. Oranmiyan then established the present dynasty in 1191
AD after the end of the Ogiso dynasty. Oranmiyan got married to a Bini
woman and begot a son named Owomika "Eweka" who was the
progenitor of all the Obas of Benin, including the present Omonoba. From the foregoing, two vital
points are obviously clear i.e. (i) One dynasty is an upshoot of the
other (ii) One of the stories is not accurate.
My analysis
In my own analysis, the Binis have not
debunked the Yorubas' averment that the present Bini dynasty was
established by Oranmiyan or Oranyan, the son of Oduduwa and father of
Owomika or Ewska, but they aver that Oranmiyan's father Oduduwa was their
own Prince Ekalederhan, son of Ogiso Owodo who had escaped into exile and
settled in Ife.
The Binis have also agreed that they
requested a king from Oduduwa; Oduduwa sent his youngest son. This; the
Yorubas also agreed with. It was never stated in any of the history books
that the Bini kingdom was conquered by Oduduwa in a battle, and from
history, it is unheard-of that a group of people except in conquest, allowed
or requested a total stranger or foreigner to rule over them. My
submission is that for a great kingdom like that of the Binis to have
requested a ruler from Ife means that there were some established ties or
relationship in their rulerships.
In the Yoruba history, it is revealed that
the people now known and called Yorubas were existing but in scattered
settlements before Oduduwa emerged or as it is put "descended from
heaven" or "from the Arab world" and ruled over them.
Though it is not very clear how he became the father of the Yoruba race,
but it is obvious that he transformed the people from their primitive
settlements to organized society for easy governance.
The question any right thinking person
would readily ask here is not whether Oduduwa was a god to have come from
heaven, a wiseman from the east or the exiled Prince from the Ogiso
dynasty. The first question should be: where did the original settlers in
Yoruba land originate from before the coming of Oduduwa. Every human
community always has a story of the first man and woman or group that
first settled on their land. A lot of myth often surrounds the stories of
such men, and anyone may believe or disbelieve what the natives say about
such mythical beings.
I hereby call on all historians, Archeologists and Scientist to
dig as far as they could possibly go into the archives of history to find
which of the two stories is more tentative and could stand the test of
time. The research should not be with the intent to prove that one race
is superior to the other or that one is the "subject" of the
other but to put the records are
straight, so that the people may know their true history.
• Orbih wrote in from Lagos
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