Iwo Town in Kwara State. LOCATION OF IWO Iwo is a community in Isin Local government Area of Kwara State, Nigeria. It is about 80 kilometers east of Ilorin, the capital of Kwara State. HISTORY OF IWO The founder of Iwo, Ogbaigbai, was a renowned Prince of the Ajiboro family of the Alafin of Oyo Empire. Ogbaigbai migrated from old Oyo in company of his three other blood brother princes at the close of the Seventeenth Century. Each established his own town, namely Igbaja, Ora, Ikosin and Iwo, acquired a wide area of arable land divided between themselves and had boundaries with one another. The blood affinity and brotherly connections still stands till today. With love towards all, each land later developed into the following kingdoms: Kingdoms of Iwo, Ora, Ikosin with Iwo, and Oniwo of Iwo, Olora of Ora, Onikosin of Ikosin, and Elese of Igbaja, as the Kingdom headquarters and kingship titles respectively – of all the towns and villages that settled on their respective lands. The following towns and villages are settlers on Iwo land: Alaro, Bolorunduro, Odo Eku, Gbagba, Elesuo, Budo Ajia, Sabaja, Obate (now called Oke Aba), Odo Ore (now called Iwo Odu Ore), Wale, Budo Owode, Budo Ajegunle, and Olokin. Iwo also shares boundaries with other towns, for example, Alla, Oba, Owu, Pamo. The name Iwo was derived from “Idi igi Oganwo” under which the founder, Ogbaigbai, settled and was alter buried. A memorial building called Iboji was built on his grave, whose location is now the town center. The title “Oniwo” derived from “Oni-Iwo”, the name Ogbaigbai was popularly called, meaning the owner of Iwo. The title Oniwo is therefore special and peculiar to the head of Iwo. Indeed, until the close of the 20th Century, no Oba either in the vicinity or in Nigeria bore the title except Oniwo of Iwo. The governance of the town is led by the Oniwo, then the Ihare (the High Chiefs), the Ologun (Defence Chiefs) and the Eso (the able-bodied and youthful Chiefs). The Ewe (the youth) form the bottom of the line of the town’s administration while the womenfolk also have their leadership structure. There are nine Compounds in Iwo as follows: Ile oye, Odo ora, Ile Elemure, Ilenla, Oke Irese, Oke Ore, Oke Ope Alagbede, Ile Olu-Ode, Ile Elesie. The kingship is rotated among the first four compounds called Oke oniwo. These are Ile Oye, Ile Elemure, Ilenle and Odo Ora. During the migration, Ogbaigbai brought along the Awoji deity, Chieftaincy crown and other insignia of Obaship as a prince from Oyo. The Awoji deity, with the Aworo priest from Iwo became the religious and spiritual soul of all the towns in Iwo kingdo0m. The Alawoji festival was always celebrated at the height of the dry season, during which time miracle rain must fall to drench the priest and the people descending from the mountain shrine to Iwo town. As a taboo or mutual respect or both, the Awoji and the Agba Isin priests never crossed into each other’s land. Ogbaigbai later joined hands with an Irese hunter who had settled in a nearby forest vicinity. The relationship between Iwo and Oke Aba started around 1787, when the two towns jointly warded off the Nupe slave raiders on Iwo land at Akitimo, a place where the thick forest and a strange palm tree with two trunks acted as defense against the fastness of Nupe horsemen. Decades after, deaths from fire outbreak and severe epidemics forced Oke Aba to listen to the voice of the oracle to desert her land on the Aba tree- dominated hill, from where Oke Aba got her name, to seek a new settlement on Iwo land. With deep sympathy, the then Oniwo of Iwo, Oba Ranniawo Olodoko Ayiku in council, gave consent to Oke Aba’s plea, after striking the following agreements: *That as names are historical and significant in Yoruba land, the name Oke Aba would change to Obate, to reflect the repositioning of Oniwo of Iwo land, and that it was the Oniwo of Iwo that settled her. * That the land and all the fruit-bearing trees still belonged to Iwo owners of the land upon which Obate settled, as Iwo still owned the land. *That considering the role Oke Aba played in joining Iwo to ward off the Nupe invasion, and since two Obas could not be on the same land at the same time, Obate (not Oke Aba) would be permitted to rule in rotation after the demise of the Oniwo of iwo. This started the rotational leadership which Oba Alade Okandunmoye (1902-1940) from Obate twisted and distorted, during his reign, at the advent of colonial rule. Serious upheaval came when Obate changed the treaty- name, Obate, to Oke Aba as advertised on page 13 of the Daily Times of 4/3/1961, during the reign of Oba Titiloye Ilufemiloye (1940-1966), even though Obate did not move back to her own land. For peace to reign, the Isin Obas wrote a letter in 1968 to the Emir of Ilorin praying him to grant autonomy of the Iwo towns, and dissolve the joint Obaship. This Emir did and from 1968, each town once again started having her own separate heads, with Oba Aminu Ibidoja becoming the Oniwo of Iwo on 24th June, 1968. The town, Odo Ore (now Iwo Odu Ore), started in the 19th Century when Obate exiled a joint king who was rehabilitated in Iwo and later settled in “Idi Igi Agbon”, at Odo Ore, thus the name “Iwo Alagbon”. The list of Oniwo of Iwo land from 1940 is as follows: *Oba Titiloye Ilufemiloye from Ile Oye (1940-1966) *Oba Aminu Ibidoja from Odo Ora (1968-1986) *Oba Elijah Adunbarin from Ile Elemure (1987-1999) *Oba Arch. Joshua Olutade from Ilenla (2000-date)
Posted on: Wed, 15 Oct 2014 02:28:29 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015