A Professor of Communication Studies, Taofiq Adesina Azeez has told those calling for Oduduwa or Yoruba Republic to have a rethink on their agitation as history did not support their claims.
In a statement entitled:”ARE YOU A YORUBA OR OMO ODUDUWA”, he posited that some great Yoruba towns and cities have been in existence before the advent of Oduduwa.
According to him, there is a narrative that established the presence of most of the Oke-Ogun towns before the arrival of Oduduwa.
” It was also contended that his Oke-Ogun elder brothers advised him to go to Ife and found his own Kingdom and that he had ONLY ONE SON, Okanbi who gave birth to the seven children that founded some of the kingdoms listed.
“You may wish to find out the nature and language of the people he met in Ife and his own language too.
You may also wish to defend Ife as a conquered territory rather than a founded Kingdom.”
“You may need to explain how we (Oke-Ogun people) became children of our younger brother if politics of peace and slave mentality that make all of us answer to foreign nomenclatures (Yoruba, Ibo, Hausa, Nigerians etc) are not being forcefully endorsed and maintained through intellectual abracadabra.
I didn’t mean to shake any table. I just want to know why we should accept the narratives of foreigners about ourselves.
” Niger (slave) area became Niger (River) area and became Nigeria? It is a shame if it is true.
I’m not into history but I, also, have parents and friends among the traditional rulers who must not talk.
“Another question Nigerian historians must find answer to is ‘ who signed the almagamation considering the relatively young age of Ahmadu Bello, Zik and Awolowo at that time?, he asked.
Azeez averred that some people like Agbonniregun and others preceded Oduduwa to reach ile-ife and such Oduduwa couldn’t be progenitor of Yorubaland.
Oke Ogun, no doubt played significant role in the establishment and development of Ife even before Oduduwa/Oranmiyan dynasty and such cannot be from Ile Ife or Oduduwa himself.
“This exercise is not meant to waste your time. It is, rather, purposed to ginger something in you as a so-called Yoruba or Omo Oduduwa.
“Who named you Yoruba other than the colonialists who packed different people together and imposed a tribal name on them despite variation in their languages ( now known as dialects of the strange language of the strange people (Yoruba)”, he said.
He submitted that “our ancestors were Oke-Ogun, Oyo, Egba, Ijebu, Ekiti, Ijesa etc and that was the basis of the so called internecine war. We couldn’t have fought one another if we were the same people. We were different peoples haulaged into the Niger Company.
“My interest is particularly my Oke-Ogun people who are neither Omo-Oduduwa because they lived before Agboniregun and along with Agboniregun and long before Oduduwa nor Yoruba. A father CANNOT possibly be a child to his own child. We are also not Yoruba except for the sake of the peace which makes us also answer Nigerians.
” It is, therefore, logical that a people (Oke-Ogun people) who played SIGNIFICANT ROLES in the establishment and development of Ife CANNOT POSSIBLY ORIGINATE FROM IFE. We are therefore not Omo Oduduwa.”, he added.
He alluded to the seccesionists’ agitation: “That reminds me of the political jingoism of Oduduwa Republic and the big fraudulent joke about seccesion from Nigeria. How can fake get away from fake? It is no longer RESTRUCTURING, but seccesion and the comedian-in-chief is a Professor”, he lamented.
According to him: “My own contention is that Oke-Ogun people have never been and will never be Omo Oduduwa”, he stressed,.
