Obamakin Osangangan, son of Oraife, who founded Ile Ife. Ifa divinity says, ‘Kutukutu Oraife.
When Oduduwa arrived, he came to Ile Ero (Palace) at Iremo quarters in Ile Ife and he was accepted because of our hospitality. Being a non-native and coming from a background where might was right, he engaged in struggles. Oduduwa defeated OBATALA and others, and bring new civilization as we know it in today’s history.
The History of Ile-Ife, is mythical. No one can say about the origin and the year it was created. It is the home of antiquities and ancient works of Arts in terracota, Ivory, Bronze and woodcarvings. The age and the origin of the city is shrouded in mystery that has not been solved.
Even the legend Oduduwa, the father of Yoruba Nation met Ife Aborigines when he arrived at the ancient city. The ife people had their government and administration in place, at the center of the city was the Aafin or ile ero (Palace) of the Ooni, who was the traditional head of the Ife Kingdom. Surrounding the palace were city sections grouped into areas in the traditional patter.
Each section of the city has a traditional chief who was in charge of the affairs of the area for better administration. Obalufe of Iremo (ORUNTO-IREMO) was next in Rank to Ooni. The towns administration is carried out by the Ooni through OBALUFE of Iremo, he also controls Iremo, Obajio controls Moore; Obaloran controls Ilode; Wasin controls Ilare; Obalaaye controls Iraye the original name for Modakeke.
(IFE PsychologIA Volume 9 no 3, 2001, pp. 14-20)
As I first wrote, Obalufe was like the prime minister. Obalufe was the head of Iremo Quarters, Obajio was the head of Moore Axis, Obaloran was of Ilode, Obalaaye was Iraye, Owaasin of Ilare.
These were part of the political heads of Ife at the time of Oduduwa, Olugbo of ugbo magerated out of Ife when Oduduwa defited the rulling class of Ile Ife.
They’d say Ife me’fa, Elu ni ikeje (there are 6 Ifes, Elu makes the 7th). Those chiefs were ‘probably’ the 6 Ifes.
Keep in mind Ife was divided into about 13 hamlets each operating independently. There were other rulers who were god-kings chiefs of Ife: the Oloja Iranje, the Araba, the Oramfe etc.
Each of the political heads were originally charged with receiving the duty of receiving guests from specific Yoruba towns as Ooni was invisible.
Obalufe duty was to receive all guests within Ife and prevent anyone from seeing the Ooni. He was what you would call the ‘first shipmate’ to the Ooni ‘captain’ of the Ife ship.
Overtime, this role morphed into him becoming the second in hierarchical chain with others taking position but not really above each other but playing their roles.
He was just the eyes, mouth and hands of the veiled Ooni who was not to be seen or spoken to by anyone outside the palace circle. Inclusive of the other chiefs, sometimes his wives/kids and even Emese except the Sarun.
In history of Yoruba Land, Akarigbo of Remo or Ewusi of Makun or any Remo Kings were not refared to as decentant of Oduduwa, becomes they are not, they were descendants of Obalufe of Iremo and Obalaaye of Iraye, one of the reason’s why Remo Princes left Ife to found the new towns just as Oduduwa Desenscendants did.
Let us have a look at how ODUDUWA And His decendants formed and ruled YORUBA Land.
Oduduwa had only one Son, his name was ‘OKANBI’ alias ‘Idekoserake’. Okanbi in turn gave birth to seven children: the first of them being two princesses after which came five princes.
1) The first princess was married to an Ifa priest and was the mother of the ‘OLOWU’ of ‘OWU’.
2) The second princess became the mother of the “ALAKETU” of ketu.
3) The Third Child and first prince became the King of the Benin Kingdom.
4) The second prince and forth child, the ORANGUN became king ILA. I.e. Orangun of ‘ILE-ILA.
5) The fifth child, also a prince became ONISABE’ of Sabe or the king of the Sabes which was in Benin republic.
6) The sixth child, and forth princes became the ‘OLUPOPO’, the king of the Popos also in the republic of Benin.
7) The seventh child of which is the propagator of the Yoruba race proper, was called ‘ORANMIYAN’, Alafin Ajaka and Alafin Sango where the direct descendants of Oranmiyan.
And this is how Obalufe of Iremo and Obalaaye of Iraye descendants migrated to the current Remoland from Iremo Ile Ife.
And those that did not take off directly from Ile Ife still had their source from those who came out of Ile Ife. It is very necessary to let us know that Iremo quarter of Ile Ife is very important in the early Ife history.
It is noteworthy that Iremo is of such significance in Ifa divination days that it was next to Oja Ife among the four Ifa divination days. The four Ifa divination days as per four week Ifa tradition are as follows:
Day I – Oja Ife
Day II – Iremo
Day III – Ayegbeju
Day IV – Itakogun
The cognomen of the Iremo people is very distinct and the Remo People are not out of the distinction. It goes thus-
Omo Imole
Omo gbogbo ebora
Omo Imole ti i j’ ogede agbagba
Omo eluku ara iraye
Omo Akenigbo, keruu Oba Ara ona.
Omo egungun, Omo agemo
Omo egbaagbeje orisa
Omo obalufon
Omo imole to k’ ori omo e s’ odo
Bo pon re, akun eje
Ai pon re, akun efa
Egungun a ri ‘mo yo
Ebire lo ni Ile Iremo
Ibi o ba da ebo nu si
Aguntan lo o gba
B oo r’ aguntan
B oo r’ eyele nje a ma a lo
A ns’oro, a nsesa
A ngbe ‘gba aje re Iremo – Omo Yeloja
Oloja nta abari, oja nta ekuru
Omo imole ti i j’ ogede agbagba.
When you go through the family lineage praise (the oriki) of the Remo people, there is no doubt that it goes along the Iremo cognomen. Despite the socialization and development in this division today, the family praise is not left behind. The Iremo lineage praise is in use in all the Remo traditional towns today with little moderation.
The Iremo cognomen and the Remo family lineage praise confirm that the Remo people are truly from Iremo quarter of Ile Ife.
The descendants of Obalufe of Iremo.
The founding of the individual towns are hereby condensed here one by one.
1. Ipara: Ipara is one of the earliest Remo towns by settlement. It is older than many Remo towns. The founder was Oguola. Migration was from Ile Ife.
3. Isara: Isara was founded by Adeyemo Odeomo. Isara is senior to some Remo towns by settlement. The founder migrated from Ile Ife.
5. Ake: Ake and Owowu settled together. The federated town is called Akaka. The founder of Ake township was Ake. Ake was a man of valour. He was an adept hunter. He founded a settlement and this settlement was named after him. The settlement is AKE. The migration took-off from Ile Ife.
7. Akaka: The founder of Akaka was Owowu. He migrated from Ile Ife and he was the founder of Akaka Remo.
9. Egudu: This is one of the thirty three traditional towns. The founder’s name could not be remembered by those met on the history of the town-let. Sources said the founder migrated out of Ile Ife. The community members are scattered in other Remo towns such as Ilara, Irolu and Ilisan. Their popular seat is Ilara.
10. Ilara: The founder’s name could not be remembered. He was only addressed as Alara. He migrated from Ile Ife. Alara was one of the latter settlers in Remo, so many Remo towns had settled before the arrival of Alara.
11. Ogunmogbo: The Ogunmogbo community are settlers in Ode Remo. There was no cooperation from the members of the community about their history. They kept sealed lips.
13. Eposo: The founder of Eposo was called Baage. He migrated out of Ile Ife and later settled with Ode Remo.
14. Are: Siloku founded this community. Siloku migrated out of Ile Ife to found Are community of Remo. Are federated with Ode Remo.
15. Iraye: The founder of Iraye community could not be remembered by those interviewed during the research period. The founder migrated out of Ile Ife. Iraye is an early settler in Remo.
16. Ode Remo: With all the reference to the founding of Ode Remo, the founder of Ode Remo was Obaloran. Obaloran was the son of Ewusi. His two brothers founded Makun community of Sagamu. It is part of history that Ode Remo and Makun community of Sagamu were founded the same day. He migrated from Ile Ife.
17. Ogere: The founder of Ogere was Lowa. Lowa migrated from Ile Ife. Many other people joined him in the Ogere settlement.
18. Idena: All attempts to collect the history of the Idena community failed. Those contacted refused to be interviewed.
19. Idarika: The founder of Idarika could not be remembered by those interviewed. Idarika migrated from Ile Ife.
20. Iperu: The founder of Iperu was Akesan. Akesan was a woman. Her husband was Ajagbe. Both the founder and her husband migrated out of Oyo Alafin to found Iperu.
21. Ilisan: Ilisan was founded by Isanbi. Isanbi migrated from Ile Ife to found Ilisan.
22. Irolu: Irolu was founded by Aganun. Irolu history indicated
that Aganun migrated from Ile Ife and founded Irolu. Another historical information was that Aganun was the son of Odumade, the Alado. Odumade settled at the present site of Irolu and here Aganun was born. Irolu had not yet got a name then. After many years, Odumade left for another place and left Aganun who was now a full grown to manage the settlement. Aganun became the ruler of the place. The migration of the founder was from Ile Ife via Benin. Both information about Irolu pointed to Aganun as the first leader in Irolu either by migration or by birth. Other people met him there and settled with him to found Irolu.
23. Idotun: The founder of Idotun was Abe. He migrated out of Ile Ife. Idotun only federated with Ikenne.
24. Ikenne: Research did not reveal the names of the leaders or the founder of Ikenne. The founder and his people came from Ile Ife.
25. Oko: Oko migrated out of Ile Ife.
26. Ado: Ado migrated out of Ile Ife. The founder of Ado was Adelalu, a son of Oranmiyan of Ife.
27. Ipoji: The founder of Ipoji was Aikemoku. He was the son of Oba Akenzua of Benin. He was the first Odogu.
28. Batoro: The founder of Batoro was Lowa. The founder of Ogere was Lowa. They were not the same person. Lowa who founded Batoro migrated out of Ile Ife.
29. Ijoku: The founder of Ijoku migrated out of Ile Ife. His name could not be remembered by those interviewed.
30. Latawa: Latawa migrated out of Ile Ife. The founder of the community was Aminisan, not the Aminisan of Oko.
31. Ijagba: The founder of Ijagba could not be remembered by name. The Ijagba community migrated out of Ile Ife.
32. Igbepa: Igbepa was founded by Opa – Oye. Opa Oye was the son of Elepe. (The Elepe of Epe), Opa Oye left Epe community at their present homestead in Remo to found Igbepa township of today.
33. Makun: Makun was founded by two brothers, Arapetu and Liworu. They were the sons of Ewusi. They migrated out of Ile Ife.
34. Ibido: Oshirinkoye was the founder of Ibido. He migrated out of Benin and founded the Ibido community of Sagamu.
35. Sonyindo: The Sonyindo community migrated out of Ile Ife. The founder of Sonyindo was Odofin.
36. Epe: Those approached about Epe history kept sealed lips about the history of the Epe community. Epe migrated from Ile Ife.
37. Ofin: The founder of Ofin was Liyangu. He migrated out of Ile Ife.
38. Emuren: The founders of Emuren were the sons of Ajalorun of Ife Ijebu under the leadership of Owuyo. Owuyo was the first Elemuren of Emuren. They migrated out of Ijebu Ife.
39. Ode Lemo. etc.
There are annual festivals throughout Remoland. These festivals are almost the same in each of the Remo Traditional towns. The festivals are traditional festivals, hence, they are age long activities throughout the length and breadth of Remoland. These annual festivals are:
1. The Balufon festival
2. The Oro
3. The Eluku
4. The Agemo
5. The goddess of the River
6. The Masquerade
7. The Stilt, etc.
Some of these festivals are peculiar to an area whilst some are strange or alien to some areas. The first four festivals above are celebrated throughout Remoland. Makun and Batoro do not participate in the Masquerade festival as it is a taboo in the communities. No other Remo Community practise the stilt except Makun.
There are some other festivals that are not fully celebrated now unlike the olden days. The Jabajaba was well in practice in Ofin in the forties and fifties but not so now. The Eyo was well celebrated in Iperu years back, but the system has changed a little.
The Remo festivals are not for fun, they attached much importance to the celebrations. The Oro, and the Eluku are to ward off evil spirits within the communities. They are also used to punish evildoers in the community. The Balufon is for child bearing. Women sought for the blessing of the goddess to have the blessing of children.
A host of revelations are within reach that very many of such women received the fruits of the wombs and by the following festival bring their children with offerings to the goddess. The masquerade and the stilt are for amusement and recreation; hence, the period of celebrity and re-union of families and friends. It is a period of recess in the community.
Customs and traditions of the Remo people are not at variance with those of the other Yoruba race, though there are little differences according to environment. The immediate environment tells much about the customs and traditions of the people. The whole towns in Remo perform the annual Egungun Festival except Makun and Batoro Communities of Sagamu.
Masquerade performance is a taboo in Makun and Batoro yet they are members of the thirty-three traditional towns. Iperu is recognized with Eyo celebration, no other Remo town is involved in the Eyo celebration. The immediate environment dictates some of our customs and traditions in Remo but a host of them are the same.
NOTE:
This research is open to all for contributions.