THE BIRTH OF NEW ODIGBO AND ITS KINGDOM
This concise review of the book, "History of Odigbo" by High Chief Ezekiel Ibitayo Akinfolarin, (FCIS) came in very useful mainly to mark the 33rd Anniversary of "Isero Day" now tagged "Odigbo Day". The review will serve so many purposes. It will remind us about how Odigbo came into existence and the several hurdles she had crossed in her chequered history.
The origin of Odigbo is Ile-Ife, the cradle of the Yoruba Race. Uja has, from time immemorial, been the PROGENITOR of Odigbo people. Uja was the only son of his parents. His father was Akintirin while his mother was Usero the eldest daughter of Oranmiyan who was then the Ooni of Ile-Ife. Her only son was Uja Akintirin.
Usero had a uterine sister whose names were Atiba and Olu. Atiba got married to a Benin indigene. She conceived and gave birth to twins. At that time, giving birth to twins was regarded as transgression that carried a death penalty for the mother and her twins.
If the above event had not happened, it is very possible the wide expanse of land occupied by Ondo, Odigbo and Ile-Oluji might have been occupied by different ethnic communities.
Oranmiyan did not want his beautiful daughter and her children to suffer through cruel death. Oranmiyan's solution to this dreadful problem was to arrange how to sneak Atiba and her twins out of Ile-Ife.
Oranmiyan had to consult Ifa Oracle to decide who qualifies to lead the flight of Atiba and her twin children (Orere, male) and Pupupu (female) out of Ile-Ife. Ifa oracle predicted, among other things, that Uja was the hunter divinely appointed to lead the lives-saving-fight out of Ile-Ife. The oracle had predicted that Uja would kill an elephant in whose belly he would find treasures of tremendous value.
Oranmiyan settled all domestic issues with all involved. He pleaded with Usero to patiently tolerate the departure of Uja, his son and Atiba, her sister.
Uja cut some palm fronds and hewn them together into a hamper big enough to contain the twins: Orere the male and first child and Pupupu the female and junior child.
Uja's mission was successful. All those who took part in the voyage also survived. However, before they set out on their journey, Oranmiyan handed over to Uja a beaded Crown to be held in trust for the twins.
The Yoruba adage which says that "twenty children cannot play together for twenty years" became manifest in the relationship among Uja, Atiba and her twins. Orere disclosed to Uja his plan to seek for greener pastures elsewhere. Uja advised him to take Atiba, his mother along with him wherever he went. He also gave Orere the beaded crown which Oranmiyan gave Uja to hold in trust for the twins.
Orere departed for the unknown. His mother, Atiba then more popularly known as Olu, accompanied Orere. She slept and never woe up and up till this day, is the place where Olu slept and died in her sleep known as ILE-OLUJI.
It was not long after Orere's departure that Pupupu got married to a man of Benin origin. She accompanied her husband to Benin. Thereafter she gave birth to her first male child named Aigho. Before long, Pupupu's marriage hit a rock when the relatives of her husband accused her of some wrong doings. The allegations were neither investigated nor proved. Pupupu could not put up with what she called false accusation. She therefore packed her bags and baggage, Aigho her only son and she headed for Ondo. In her luggage was the beaded crown she cunningly got from Orere. She had promised Orere she would return the crown as soon as she was done using it but she never did!
Pupupu's departure from Benin coincided with the desperate search in Ondo for someone who had a beaded crown in his or her possession. When Pupupu arrived at the searching point in Ondo, her luggage was scrupulously searched and a beaded crown was found therein. Pupupu was made a "king" but her administrative style was ineffective. Within a very short time, Pupupu was dethroned. The Ondo Community thus made a declaration that no woman in Ondo would ever be enthroned to reign as a King.
Uja found his way to Odigbo with his team. They got to "Igi-Meta" and found Aija stream. Events helped a great deal in the designation of places. For example, Ile-Oluji was a confirmation of the fact that Olu died in her sleep at Ile-Oluji. Ile-Oluji Grammar School was erected in memory of the Matriarch. Orere Grammar School was also erected to remember their Progenitor at Ile-Oluji.
Uja got to Odigbo and in the course of his hunting for games, he came face to face with an elephant and succeeded in killing the animal and found two beaded crowns in its belly. The occurrence prompted Uja to desire to go back to Ife to show the then Ooni his "mementos" that earned him the privilege of being ordained as a Prince in Ile-Ife. After the honour bestowed on him, he was told that age-old Ile-Ife tradition forbids him to stay in Ile-Ife. At a little beyond middle age, Uja and Usero his mother left Ile-Ife for Odigbo.
Uja and his co-founders of Odigbo agreed on the rotation of the Ruling Houses among five families at Odigbo. The pact remained unchanged up till today. Uja regarded himself as a King. The Oranmiyan himself ordained him at Ile-Ife. As time went on, the menace of the British Imperialism truncated all traditional arrangements, pacts and ordinance. Ondo was made the District Headquarters for villages in her environs. The arrangement put both Odigbo and Ile-Oluji under Ondo jurisdiction. Two other factors greatly helped Ondo to develop faster than Odigbo and Ile-Oluji. The first factor was early access to Western education. At the time Ondo had her first secondary school, the Ondo Boys High School, Odigbo was struggling to estabish a Primary School. The second factor was the introduction of Cocoa seedlings to the local farmers. The foreigners who brought this commercial product got to Odigbo many years after it had been thriving in Ondo Communities.
Let us ex-ray the progress made by Uja and his colleagues at Odigbo: Uja took a long time to settle down. He got married to a lady. The lady begat a male child who was named, first by Uja, as Orunja. That means the heir of Uja. Usero, the mother of Uja, named her Orunsero, meaning Usero's heir. The two names: Orunja and Orunsero belong to one and the same child. Uja, the father of Orunja laid solid foundation for his only son, Orunja or Orunsero. All the territories founded by Uja were firmly ruled by Orunja, the son.
Many of the territories founded by Uja and controlled later by his son were given names that narrated the story. Let us begin with the name Odigbo. In those days, enemies plundered communities to take away resources and sometimes women and children. The plunderers' attempts were always restricted or thwarted. They would kidnap women and children and in their attempt to run away, they would encounter some stone walls. They would suddenly experience eclipse of the sun in broad day light. When they were caught they always narrated their stories of woe. This earned the town, the name Odi-Igbo meaning an impregnable forest in the wilderness.
Let us give few more examples: Somewhere in Ore, our fore-fathers quarantined some refugees from Ipetu-Modu. They got to Odigbo with a serious attack of a strange epidemic. The place where they were settled is known up till today as "Adoye". This means where we were quarantined to survive the plaque.
Uja and Orunsero founded some other territories. At a time when Western medical heath services were scarce, native herbalists from Odigbo would leave their homes and trek to neighbouring hamlets and villages to provide ante natal services to women during labour and post natal services in the management of both mother and her children. They invoke incantations in the treatment of patients that had mental derangements.
Some traditional herbalists of those days included: Aguda, Debo, Fasheyenu, and Omoshenayen. The residents of the communities soon named them, ONISERE - meaning good health workers.
Agbabu remains the only River Port in Odigbo Local Government. Uja, in his exploits, got to the river bank one day and saw what appeared to him as a moving house on the river. Many hours of waiting brought the "moving house" to the shore. After exchanging compliments with one another, the captain of the ship fired three gun shots into the air. Uja shouted, Agbabu! Literally interpreted, it means the blast of a gun. That name subsists till today.
Uja and his co-hunters provided an everlasting link among Odigbo, Ondo and Ile-Oluji. There is no reason under the sun why the three Communities could not regard themselves as brothers and sisters.
Unfortunately we show love and kindness to our neighbours but those who want to rob us of Ore because of its Commercial importance and rob us of Agbabu because of its large deposit of bitumen, reject our friendly offers.
Saturday, 12th November, 2022 will witness the birth of the 33rd Edition of Odigbo Day. It is the birth of a new era. The old order had changed. There is a new Odigbo that replaced the old one because the ways we conduct, comport, communicate and relate with each other have all changed for the better. We are all aiming at the day when Odigbo will be counted among the comity of most developing and peaceful communities in Nigeria and indeed, the world at large.
We congratulate our Kabiyesi, the Orunja, on his elevation to the position of a FIRST CLASS OBA. Long may you reign! Long live Ondo State and long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria!!! Isero a gbe wa o.

Endnote - Facts are culled from the book:
"History of Odigbo by High Chief EZEKIEL IBITAYO AKINFOLARIN, (FCIS, MNIM), The Odunwo of Odigbo Kingdom.