THE PEOPLE OF ONDO KINGDOM AND THEIR CULTURE: A HISTORICAL SURVEY AND POLITICAL UNDERPINNING

 

Oyejide Felix Omotosho1*, Derin K. Ologbenlaand Oluwatobiloba-Oyejide Alex Omotosho3

1Dr., The University of the Gambia, Brikama, THE GAMBIA, ofomotosho@utg.edu.gm, omotoshofelix@yahoo.com

2Assoc. Prof. Dr, University of Lagos, Akoka, Yaba, NIGERIA, dologbenla@unilag.edu.ng, derin_ologbenla@yahoo.com

3University of the Gambia, omotoshoalex@yahoo.com

*Corresponding author

Abstract

In every given nation, particularly in Africa, where tribal affiliations are strong, different groupings as tribes exist with their peculiar languages and dialects, and also the totality of the culture that singularly unifies and identifies them as a people. However, with the advent of colonialism, some of these tribes were scattered about and could not be found together on one location again but now mixed up there and then with different dialects and histories. The Yoruba tribe of the Western part of Nigeria is no exemption to this experience and historical distortions. The tribe comprises of different sub-groups that make it up as a people which are again strategically positioned in their respective locations in the region, up to the Republic of Benin, Togo and Ghana as history had it. Among these sub-groups are the Ondo indigenes in Ondo kingdom and the people of Ile-Oluji town-ship, who were believed to have been born by their parents as twins but were escaped out of their abode in Ile-Ife or Oyo, where twins were believed to be forbidden to be borne, by then, and if born, shouldn’t be spared but slaughtered unto the gods, lest they caused misfortune to the community. They journeyed far through the forests and settled in their present locations in Ondo State – South-West Nigeria, though, not without some nasty experiences and horror. As agriculturalist Ondo indigenes are, so, they are very creative, industrious, hardworking, highly educated and highly influential in the public – sector. They have a rich history and culture that stands amongst the best in Yoruba land as they are believed to be the direct descendants of Oduduwa (the Yoruba Progenitor), whose own father was said to have migrated from Mecca to the present day Ile- Ife in Osun state of western Nigeria. The significance of this research is to examine the origin and etymological root of the people of Ondo Kingdom in Ondo State with a view to knowing more about them and their culture, most especially, how they came to be influential on the political landscape of their state and Nigeria as a nation. The paper employs the descriptive and analytical- methodological approach in surveying this historical past, with a focus on circumstances surrounding how they came to be established as a kingdom in their present abode and how they formed a political organization akin to modern governmental practice under the paramount ruler ship of the ‘Osemawe’. The paper re-appraises the distortions of facts about the people’s history and descent by trying to seek the consensus reached on these, centuries ago and how scholars too attempted to juxtapose on this very argument. The paper argues that the Ondo people of Ondo-dialect speaking sub-group are genuinely aboriginal descendants of Lamurudu, the father of Oduduwa, whose settlement history and culture are empirically verifiable and not strictly mere folklores or legend, except for non-availability of proper records as at 1510, some six centuries ago.

Keywords: Ondo People, Yoruba Tribe, Dialect, Culture.


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CITATION: Abstracts & Proceedings of SOCIOINT 2016- 3rd International Conference on Education, Social Sciences and Humanities, 23-25 May 2016- Istanbul, Turkey

ISBN: 978-605-64453-7-8