04/07/2026
PROVEN HISTORY OF IFE, UGBOLAND AND IGODOMIGODO.
By Dr. Paul Osa Igbineweka
Discussing history with some unbiased persons or neighbour of Igodomigodo /Benin you can always expect an unbiased position. That is why narrative history can flow in discussion.
The truth about traditional history is to present what happened in the past. Olugbo was originally the Kabiyesi of Ife, as one of the sixteen communities of Ugboland.
They were the Ilaje, but when Oduduwa came with his medicinal prowess and gallantry posture, he was received by an Ifa priest who was of the Idu lineage by name Agbọnnirẹgun who became his consultant (see Ola Abiola, p.34, 1976).
Oduduwa then displaced Olugbo from Ife to Ugbo, Meanwhile their other kits and kins still live in Ife, including the Olukumi. That time Ugboland and Igodomigodo had established relationships even before Oduduwa arrived.
Hence, the mixed language of Ilaje, Olukumi and Idu languages were prevalent in Ife. The Ikedu Orisa was mixed worship of all, the incantations there has some Idu dialects of Igodomigodo.
Since Oduduwa displaced Olugbo from the seat of power in Ife, it has not been resolved. Olugbo still claiming the Kabiyesi of Ife, and the most elderly of them in Ife was made the head of the family (Oranfe). These people never submitted to Oduduwa. Hence, Oduduwa was referred to as a non-native, a stranger and migrant.
These Ugbo relatives in Ife never claimed Oduduwa as their progenitor. Until Ife used Moremi - sic (Queen Lady) to betray Olugbo in the battle between Ife and Ugbo.
The fact remains that inspite of Oranmiyan not being a direct Son, but grandson, born to the late son of Oduduwa, which Oduduwa granted to follow the Elders of Igodomigodo on their request, due to the fact that he was already recognised as their Prince in Ife, but at old age would not be able to return to Igodomigodo.
The law of historical evidence was that Oduduwa is claimed to have come from east of Ife as the location of Igodomigodo. He never denied being a scion of kings of the sky or sky kings (Ogiso), which was deliberately misconstrued as having descended from heaven in 1100AD, which was inconceivable in that era.
Yet he was a migrant, and can hardly be the progenitor of the people he met at Ife /Ufe/Uhẹ (Olukumi /Ilaje/Idu) respectively.
Oduduwa, as stranger can only be traced to the environs of Ife in Africa or West Africa, and not to the theories of migration from Egypt, Sudan, Saudi Arabia or son of Lamurudu.
The chronological order of his reign as at 1100AD coincided with the exiled Prince of Igodomigodo found in Ife. While in Igodomigodo a place-holder of republican administrator of Evian was ruling during the same period of interregnum in Igodomigodo.
This makes the Benin version more robust in line with the Igala version and the Oba of Lagos. But Benin never denied that Ife had their Prince. It was from the Benin traditional history of Egharevba that the Yoruba historians got the firsthand knowledge of Elders of Igodomigodo requesting from Oduduwa for a king.
Benin always relay history as it is. Not by postulating four or five theories of Oduduwa's origin. Amongst all the theories, only that he descended from the heaven was as close to sky kings which they were reluctant to accept, and their version was an ancient folklore of Ugboland that was replicated to alter the Ekaladerhan as Ododuwa /Oduduwa of Uhẹ /Ife.
Later they forged the issue of Orun-Oba where they alleged that Obas heads of Benin were buried there, but findings of excavations carried out there proved the narrative of Orun-Oba to be false.
Having known that, and their chronological order were not in order, they resorted to revisionists groups to turn night into day. Which is impossible for a son or stranger to be a progenitor of the people he met in life.
