ONIPOKIA RENEWS BID FOR PARAMOUNT STATUS IN YEWA TRADITIONAL COUNCIL VIS A VIS THE OLOFIN OF ADO AND ERIKITI KINGDOMS NEXUS

 ONIPOKIA RENEWS BID FOR   PARAMOUNT STATUS IN YEWA TRADITIONAL COUNCIL VIS A VIS  THE OLOFIN OF ADO AND ERIKITI  KINGDOMS NEXUS.

This write up is a multi disciplinary perspective using history, social sciences and law to cross cultural studies on  Awori-Anago Kingdoms of Ado and Ipokia in Ogun State. The take off point is fall out from  the business mogul recently installed as the Onipokia of Ipokia Kingdom, HRM Oba Isa Olaniyan .And his kinsmen in the nerve centre of Anagos settlement in the Yewa-Awori flank of  Ogun West area of Ogun State renewing  the old agitation  to be recognised by the Ogun State Government as a Paramount Ruler in the State.

It would be recalled that the immediate past Onipokia of blessed memory, HRM Oba Raufu  Adeole, fiercely contested to be the paramount ruler of Yewaland wjhich he lost. But was persuaded by leading politicians and retired military cum bureaucrats  to support the  Yewa Agenda that thrusted up the late Olu of Ilaro, HRM Oba Adekanmbi Tella, as the Paramount Ruler of  Yewaland reluctantly then.

A rider to this was the Covenant entered into by Yewas Obas as well the *'dos'* and *'donts'* for the Olu of llaro and/or the occupant of Paramount Ruler's seat in Yewaland to secure the office. To the extent that the  Paramount Ruler may be removed as an impeachable conduct  grounded on the two thirds vote of no confidence  removal clause vested in Obas in Yewa Traditional Council is enshrined in the enabling document.The arrangement was construed as an antidote to autocratic tendencies of infamous era of SerikI Abass,as a Warrant Paramount Chief of Ilaro Division .Coupled with  the  need to preserve internal  autonomy of Kingdoms and Chiefdoms constituting Yewa Traditional Council .Pacta Sunt Servanda ,parties are bound by their Agreement.

It is also on record that the Oba of Ado seat, being a former Vice President of Western House of Chiefs and Permanent Chairman  Egbado Traditional Council since 1976 until the demise of the revered Majesty, Oba J. O. Akapo, MBE, MON in 1989 was vacant when all these negotiations were going on.

The body language in Anagos circle and series of lawful meetings is predicated on traditional evidence that Onipokia is unrivalled as the first Paramount Ruler, who attended the first ever meeting of Yoruba Obas held in 1937 with other  frontline Obas: the Ooni of Ife, Alafin of Oyo, Awujale, Alake and of course the Oba of Benin (not Oba of Ado, Benin averred in a Gazette to spite Ado Kingdom - Ado-Odo), all in attendance.
Keen observers of events are saying that Ipokia is riding the horse to  Paramountcy bid again on the assertion that apart from the  Alake, no Oba aside  the  Onipokia, who stood in for Egbado (Yewa) axis among the juggernauts like the Awujale and  Akarigbo, trio of Paramount Rulers in Ogun State  and later joined by the compromise slot for Ilaro have its unrivalled record as the first highest paid traditional ruler in what is called Yewa Traditional Council today .This presumption is  based on the  statistical details anchored in the September ,2020, Coronation Pamphlet  of HRM Oba Isa Olaniyan.The Olofin of Ado,according to the Ipokia source  came next and followed by the Olu of Ilaro in terms of remunerations to Obas.

The Onipokia coalition  led no one in doubt that he had the joker premised on the payment saga and the 1937 meeting in the bid to assert authority for Paramountcy freshly .

  With utmost humility records don't lie but may be twisted by man. I sincerely congratulate the Anagos, notwithstanding, the fierce legal brawl from a section of Iwaye Dodo  Royal elements in an Ogun State High Court.

The enthronement of HRM Oba Isa Olaniyan, as a new monarch following the demise of Oba Raufu Adeole provides Ipokia the opportunity to defend her interest or challenge the status quo again.

The Coronation Pamphlet as lawyers would say speaks for itself on the Anago/Ipokia "cold war" strategy  which is legal and constitutional ,once, it is devoid of criminal intents .

For instance ,the Coronation Pamphlet fired a missile to test water. The ANAGOS
  subtly  launched attack in the said Pamphlet again  on the  book "The Birth of  Yewaland (1995)
by the revered eminent Distinguished  Emeritus historian, prolific writer, Prof. A. I. Asiwaju (MFR), the first  Asiwaju of Yewaland for not capturing the Onipokia of Ipokia representation in 1937 or space in his array of  book(s) on historic achievements thrusted on ONIPOKIA for ages This was further confided in me by friends from Ipokia claiming no special attention was given  whatsoever to ONIPOKIA throne angers the community .

For them, Ilaro didn't have historical back up of being in attendance as representative of  Egbado /Yewa axis  for once, if their body language is properly inferred, the ONIPOKIA Ruling Dynasties cum  community felt and grudgingly feels shortchanged. Except the Pamphlet contradicts  their thoughts.

History is like a glass house and throwing missiles at times could be perilous. Ipokia has opened vista to dilate on historical facts, where necessary, Ado Kingdom, I'd equally restless and not  afraid at all to restate her historical pre eminence peacefully, devoid of pulling down our Royal institutions.

The Oba of Ado called "Olovee" of Ado (error of the colonialists in writing 'Olofin') vied the June 27, 1863 was also ahead of several Kingdoms and flowing from this  recognised in the first ever pre Nigeria  statutory instrument of "who was who" in the traditional circle vied the Colony of Lagos Gazette No.9 1903, as a foremost No.4 Oba along with  the Alake of Abeokuta,Awujale ,Akarigbo  and the three other Egba monarchs, of Agura, Olowu and Oloko.

HRM Oba Adeteru Iso the Oba of Ado indeed  represented Egbado Division in a similar capacity like the Onipokia did in 1937 at Ijebu Ode in 1941.
 
In 1891 the British had unjustly persecuted a great monarch in Ado history. This view was reinforced by another  foremost historian, Prof. Ayandele (1970) in his extensive scholarly publication  of 417 pages dedicated to  HOLY JOHNSON, titled "PIONEER OF African NATIONALISM 1836-1917", wherein, he described him as a  frontliner in the vanguard of African Nationalism, evangelization of Christianity faith and as a  rallying  point against impunity directed  against  traditional rulers by rapacious imperial British authorities which provoked the King of Ado, Oba Asade Awope, to have closed the trade route between ADO and BADAGRY, to the chagrin of British exploiters

Oba Asade in his anti British stance had decried involvements  of Oyinbo men in the internal affairs of Ado Kingdom. The book gave clues on  Holy Johnson's zero tolerance for injustice and  parental background . For he  parents  luckily escaped the dragnet of slave trade. He  grew up in the West (Europe).

Johnson  mother was an  Ijebu Princess while his father hailed from Ijesa/Akure royal pedigree/background.

As a human right activist  Holy Johnson saw the persecution of Olofin Asade of Ado Kingdom as a pure bare faced robbery and unprovoked intervention in the internal affairs of an "independent African state." by the British .

Prof E. A. Ayandele earlier  in his PH.D thesis(1970)posited that James (Holy) Johnson as a legislator in the British constituted council championed the sanctity of dignity of blacks and  the traditional rulers in his capacity  as the defender of the territorial integrity of the African "independent kingdoms in the interior,"  that the " island of Lagos"depended upon then .With Ado Kingdom as one of the  adjoining 'interior suppliers' and a  "key player." in the trade routes with the British .

The British expropriating these interior communities surplus values and deeply shocked by confrontation of Oba Asade Awope decided to deal with the uncompromising monarch .Hence ,the British  alleged that Oba Asade Awope committed series of  crimes ranging from the murder of one "Falubi",a "British subject resident in Badagry," to  "seizure of three  relatives of another British subject" apart from  "seizure of a canoe from _some_ traders of Agiliti, another Ado village, on its way to Badagry market".All these allegations were  construed  as an affront to the British authority known for draconian  Laws .

The wide ranging  allegations further includes seizure of "British subject at Ibikun" and "blockade of trade route".The British  authority reacted using a sledge hammer against Ado  Kingdom .James Johnson radically queried the British authority for  brutality meted to His Royal Majesty, Oba Ashade Awope, aka Otenibotemole, who  offered no  resistance, (so as to save his Kingdoms  from the planned destruction by the British, whose premonitions he had had via 'Ifa' consult), had his house surrounded by Hausa troops on British order while" his "money and valuable cloths were taken away"..

Once again, James Johnson took up the challenge at the Legislative Council in Lagos  on  propriety of the British ravaging and sacking the "Paramount Ruler" of a "small independent Kingdom situated North West of Lagos" on 11 March 1891.

On the  heroic and laudable roles of Oba Asade the King of Ado as an independent African traditional ruler received support of James Johnson for daring the white men .  

According to Prof. E. A. Ayandele, Johnson was reported to have said that  King Asade  was  "perfectly right" under the traditional law on "seizures  of persons, who owed him debts",  as  a "Yoruba man and not an English man".

In what look like challenge to the British hegemony haunted by  legitimacy crisis was levelled with counter allegation of witch  hunting of Oba Asade Awope in the  Legislative Council .His pro- Oba Asade prompted these  questions by Johnson as espoused by Ayandele. "That what right had the British had to enter Ado territory and as well over Ibikun ,a part of Ado state?"

Another poser is, "when the British made Ibikun a part of the Lagos Protectorate", was the King of Ado informed?

The last but not lleast raised by Johnson was  the evidential burden to discharge burden of proof in criminal matters  that Oba Asade was culpable and guilty of charges preferred against him including spurious claim of "illicit slave trade" were all highlighted in Ayandele's thesis .  Both  Johnson and Ayandele concurred that the deportation of Oba Asade in a cruel form was morally and legally despicable in law.
 The nagging questions raised repeatedly by Johnson centred on "what evidence" to corroborate  the allegations that the  King of Ado "committed the murder he was being charged with"?

The fire spitting efforts of Johnson received a boost from  Royal establishments and Chieftaincy Families in Eko called  Lagos under Oba Oyekan 1  led by the Eletu Odibo, Olumegbon, Onimole, Ashogbon, Ashesi, Saaba, Suenu, Princes Tadeyo, Ogunbanti, and Eletu Edibo that collectively entered into the Treaty of 27th May,1891 with Sir George C Denton, the Acting Governor of Lagos Colony having paid 500 pounds as surety for the monarch.

(See also the 8th day of August, 1891 Treaty with the Queen of Britain,wherein , Oba Asade Awope wrongly spelt as Asada Awopa with  Chiefs and Elders  of Addo called Ado and/or Ado Odo which finally  formalised British consolidation unlike that of June 17 1863.
THE ONIPOKIA MIGRATION  FROM IJARUN EREKITI ADO TO ANAGO ENCLAVE   
Ipokia is a great  Kingdom and culturally a variant of Awori dialect called Anago is the language aside Eyo and Egun speaking communities.

The low pitch Awori dialect spoken in Ado is closely related to Anago dialect. The Awori generally use the word "iwo laa"for its English equivalent "you"; the Aworis in Ado use "iwe laa" for you like the Anagos. There are other several words that hardly distinguish Anago and Awori dialects and quite replete with the Ilaro "Omu Oluwewun" with "eru" for mouth compared to "enu", commonly use by other Yorubas for mouth.

Social sciences combines science and humanities or Arts courses as behavioural science, that is, empirical findings as opposed to pure history as a discipline.

In this write up, the issue of positive and negative  correlational issues are adopted as analytical tool to the study of Ado Kingdom as an ancient Awori enclave and her  cultural related neighbours in the Ipokia Anagos frontiers of Yoruba nationality .

The relevant and foremost exposition in this regard as binding Anagos and Aworis stated  by the Emeritus Professor of History, Prof. A. I. Asiwaju (1976 see pages 19 - 20),on common allegiance to Oduduwa worship at Ilaje  Temple in Ado Odo by Aworis and Anagos for centuries and same fact was  confirmed by Bishop Ajayi Crowther in 1845  .It is an empirical fact to consolidate on Awori Anago studies for peace  and integration in the Yewa-Awori flank aimed at  wielding disparate entities together for nation building. (See the CMS Missionary Papers of Ajayi Crowther in the 1840s ).

It is interesting to note that "The Egbados Opt for Lagos State", published at the instance of Egbado Leaders  including the late  Chief Abioro, Professor A. I. Asiwaju and others in The Daily Times (date not supplied)during agitations to merge with Lagos State placed  premium on the Oduduwa allegiance  built on metropolitan Oduduwa House, Ado-Odo as a rallying point even  beyond Nigeria frontiers. (See also the revered Emeritus of History  Prof. Akinjogbin titled "The One Thousand Years of Ile Ife History," which further elucidated on how the Aworis of Ado pedigree left Ife with  Oduduwa shrine several centuries ago).

On Ado Ipokia traditional histories, the oral  tradition and written records in Ado claims that the forebears of Ipokia Kingdom left Ado through rivers to   found Ipokia on the order of Olofin Adimula of Ado.If this position is presumed to be a farce .Who owns and/or founded Ijarun EREKITI between Olofin and ONIPOKIA ?

I won't go into some other details for now. However, the nitty gritty of this write up is to consolidate unity and peace process in littoral Kingdoms with common underdevelopment narratives as borderline towns/Kingdoms.

The common thought in Ado traditional parlance  situate Ota (pronounced like Yoruba word for bullet, and not Otta, another Awori town in Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area of Ogun State of Nigeria), the founder of Itire Lagos Royalty is from Itire Ado, Alagbara of Agbara cum  Olute ties with Agbara compound, Ado-Odo till date, Petu Ado known as Petu Isiwo in Ijebu and Nopa of Odo Nopa in Ijebu Mushin and Idelero with link to Elero in Igbesa, Iko Alaje entourage of Oduduwa worshippers in Ado partly settled in Iko Laje ,Idiroko and several others have ancestral links with Oduduwa Temple ,Ilaje Ado .I commend researchers to disproof me where necessary.No hegemonic claim but purely knowledge based .

The combine effect of Ifa and Oduduwa worship would help us understand  Ado Anago ties up to Sabe in the Republic of Benin and Lagos .For Ifa has also been described .
as an accomplishment of the Oba of Ado in Intelligence Report on Badagry,
Ipokia seems to have presented a closely knitted community with Ado ..For a school of  thought in Ado further validates the claim that the Olofin of Ado directed them to relocate elsewhere for prosperity of their peoples  led by Akelepe and Ikoiko across Ado Rivers called Yewa  through the precincts of present day  Owo said to have been  founded by Olofin of Ado. The  links is with Igboro Ruling House in Ado-Odo.

If the Ikoiko and Akelepe thesis is construe as spurious, we may further explore the history of Ipokia which claim  boundary with  Ipinle around   Ere- Ado and of course  Owo Ipokia axis .  There is an  incontrovertible evidence that Irunji, Ishagbo Oke and Ishagbo Ere, Ijako and Ajise are traditionally under the prescribed authority of the Olofin of Ado.

The Owo,Ijako ,Ishagbos  were all under Ado-Odo ward 111 as recent as the Local Government elections held with the Dasuki Reforms on Local Governments in 1976 as guide.

In fact, Owo and its adjoining villages were excised in 1982 by the late Chief Olabisi Onabanjo, the former Governor of Ogun State to form Ifekowajo Local Government with seat in Oke Odan, a post 1780 creation traceable to Dahomean-Egba expansionist warfare.

Without any irredentist snag, Ado and Ipokia share boundaries in several fronts with many Anago Kingdoms that later sprang up afterwards.

The assertion here is that Ado and Ipokia Kingdoms existed as borderline communities after they parted centuries ago

.It is very germaine and  instructive taking an inference  on the latest installation of HRM Oba Isa Olaniyan and its calibrated history on  Ipokia  (2020) has raised curiosity on stakes between Awori and Anago people for our common good  .
 Did Ipokia people and their  monarchs ever lived and/or occupied parts of territories of Ado Kingdom founded by Onitako and others in 1050AD?

One hasten  Ado to deepen knowledge with the  Coronation Pamphlet on Oba Isa  Olaniyan in September 2020 as analytical tool and facts finding on historical synopsis of Ado and Ipokia Kingdoms.

Here is the crux  of linkage theory and meaningful studies by  imparting  knowledge and cross cultural studies. This is further supported with the fact that Ijarun Erekiti, where some Kings of Ipokia reigned belongs to the Olofin of Ado since inception without iota of contradictions.

Ipokia was founded around 16 century with the current monarch as the 46th Onipokia. Oba Oduila Liwaye, a female Olofin and the second female after Olofin Adegba Esibi, progenitress of Ado Royalty from Olofin Oduduwa to his son Olofin Olu Idada (Olu Ile Idada) has a surviving and incontrovertible evidence of Ado Kingship in Ijarun-Erekiti, Iragon, Ibikun now called Ibiye just to mention a few  are parts of Ado Kingdom now in  Badagry Local Government area of Lagos State following her excision from the  defunct Western Region  in 1967.

The British who illegally deported Oba Asade Awope to Lagos in 1891, confirmed him in plethora of Treaties and certified the Olofin of Addo and Erekiti Kingdoms in archival reports.

Olofin Asade Awope is the last Oba from Okewaye Ruling House, Ado-Odo who further  gained prominence at the instance of Olubuse 1 as a Paramount Oba. I crave the indulgence of analysts to read this write up relating Obaship ties of revered monarchs of Ipokia who briefly reigned at Ijarun Erekiti Ado from the second Onipokia, HRM Oba  Adeoye Onipokia, (Otiti fori tosa1) to the third  Onipokia, Oba Adegbola (Otiti fori tosa 11).

Aside two other Majesties of Ipokia, who reigned as Onipokia with appellations of  Onitukuru 1 and 11, who reigned  at Tukuru particularly at, Ijarun Erekiti, Ado Kingdom.

I have notorious facts for inferences by analysts or researchers on this. One may be tempted to say that Olofin and Onipokia have ties that can't be falsified connecting the Ipokia Anagos with their forebears, who  left Ajase Ipo or Opo, in present day Kwara State for Ado Kingdom en route their final journey to "Opo Ko Ora," corrupted as Ipokira or Ipokia in the past.

It is like the Igala and the Yoruba nationalities being related and indeed  parted ways thousands of years ago. (see Prof. Ibi Ade Ajayi).

One may be tempted to ask whether it was and still a sheer coincidence or God ordained that the 18th female Onipokia of Ipokia, Oba Orojobalorin hailed from Iwaye Ododo,  while Oba Oduila Liwaye (female), a scion of Oba Adegba Esibi cum  Igboro, as the 8th Olofin of Ado, established Okewaye dynasty in Ado.

The latter is a derivative from Oduila Liwaye now one  of four  Ruling Houses that supply the OBA or OLOFIN of Ado Kingdom. The others are Igboro, Idobarun and Idose, while Osolo, Bajomu, Aro, Ira and the four Quarters of Odojana, Okejana, Oke Osi and Odo Osi each produces an Oga Ilu.

There were at least two  other Obas that reigned in Ado Kingdom prior  to Olofin Asade Awope era, who the colonial authorities Gazetted his dual status as Olofin of Ado and Erekiti Kingdoms from the Okewaye lineage of Ado Royal Heritage. Suffice to say, that Justice SONAIKE of the Badagry High Court in his recent judgment in the case between MRS  FELICIA JOHN (NEE OTENI), MR YUSUF BANKOLE as Claimants sue for and on behalf of OTENI Family  and  5 ors V BADAGRY LOCAL GOVERNMENT & Ors  vied Suit No. BD/3155GCMW/2016 at pages 24 - 26 upheld the claim of Claimants that Olofin OTENI (Asada  Awope as the King of Ado and Erikiti Kingdoms) as far  back as 1892" The erudite Judge further appraised the Peace Treaty he signed with the British and that "the Claimants have been able to establish that the Olofin of Ado reigned as Olofin Erekiti in the nineteenth century.


By Kabir Olawale Alagbe ,
a Political Scientist, Lawyer and scion of Olofin Adimula Odua and BAJOMU (OJOMU) Ruling Dynasties of Ado Kingdom, Aworiland, Ogun State, Nigeria.

Dated 27th September,2020   

May the Almighty God continue to bless Olofin Adimula Odua and Onipokia Kingdoms .