Ise-Ekiti

THE PRISTINE KINGDOM AND RICH HERITAGE OF ISE-EKITI

By 

Seye Adetunmbi, first written in 2013

Every community has its unique identity and characteristics from historical perspective. More often, it is predominantly as a result of the actions or inaction of the indigenes. However, some are fundamentally favored by history, by virtue of the pedigree of the early natural rulers among other kings or the status of the Oba among monarchs. There is something that politics of manipulation or any shade of intrigues cannot take away from communities; it is the preserved ancient edifices and history peculiar to every town and village. For instance, the pelupelu of old, likened to the Supreme Council, were the rated 16 Ekiti crowned kings (Alademerindinlogun) that met regularly to deliberate on matters of communal interest. They were well classified and know themselves, the Arinjale of Ise-Ekiti was among those rated obas. As a matter of fact, His Royal Majesty, Oba David Ope Adeyeye, Agunsoye II was the chairman of the pelupelu when the 16 obas met in Ise-Ekiti on November 9, 1940. To the glory of God, the incumbent, His Royal Majesty, Oba David Ayodele Adetunji Ajayi, Aweloye II has also served as the Chairman of Ekiti State Council of Obas.

   Not until the weekend I spent in the historical town in the second week of January 2010, writing about Ise didn't occur to me. Three memorable encounters inspired me to put this piece together for posterity. Before going to the events, let me state here that Ise-Ekiti to me is not just any Ekiti town because of the lingering memory of few childhood experiences and knowledge of the town of Famewos, Obilanas, Agbebis, Olokesusis, Ogunrosoyes, Adeyeyes, Agunbiades, Ogunleyes, Babalolas, Fakiles, Falades etc.

L-R: Dr Remi Oni, Banjo Ogunrosoye, Oba Adetunji, Mrs Bola Oni, Mrs Dele Ogunrosoye & Okan Seye Adetunmbi during tour of the palace

Recalling traveling with my venerable father as a little boy in the late 1960s and early 1970s; I often looked out for landmarks through out such journeys. The few trips with him in his Peugeot 403 to Owo and its environs in those days from Ekiti, he often passed through Ise and Emure, perhaps due to his knack for the best route in the midst of challenging road networks in the old western region which is still prevalent nationally till date. Of course, we stopped-over at Ise/Emure Grammar School, to pay courtesy call on Baba Senator P. A. Ogundipe, the first principal of the school and my aunt his wife, Mrs Bamitale Ogundipe (nee Adelusi). Visits to Ise/Emure became periodic when my eldest sister, Yetunde attended the Higher School Certificate programme briefly. Naturally, I took notice of Ogbese river and the long narrow bridge on our way and the unique Oremeji house of the famous Oremeji in Ibadan. Until it was explained to me, I thought Ise-Emure was one town with another small town, Orun-Ekiti all linked together. My later day visits were when I drove my father to the synod held in the town and Ekiti Anglican Diocesan meeting(s) held in Ise-Emure Grammar School premises in the early 1980s. In fact the two major towns were under the defunct Isokan Local Government Area, created to whittle down the rivalry between the two communities, but when center could not hold government eventually created two different local governments for the two sophisticated communities.

   Coming to my recent encounters, I was touched when a young man from Ise-Ekiti, Bayo Ojo a.k.a. Terror, of Oraye Quarter, Ise-Ekiti told his story of his sojourn to Libya in his quest for greener pasture. He was a molue driver in Agege area of Lagos. In hot sun while on the job, he removed his shirt, sweating day-in, day-out to generate the "delivery money". Then he met one Dada an Iragbiji man who offered to facilitate his trip to ulu-oyinbo (white man’s country). He sold his belongings to raise capital for the trip. Along with three other "victims" they set out from Lagos to Igolo beside Cotonu, through Chad to Libya and walked with touch light overnight at some point of the enslaving journey.

Bayo Ojo alias Terror Gadafi (2^nd left) flanked by Okan, Banjo Ogunrosoye & Prince Dr. Dapo Falade

He first sensed that he must have got himself in a pickle situation, when they had to ride on a Vesper motor-bike. He had to ask their "captor" and I quote: "but you said we were going to ulu oyinbo how does one ride bike to overseas"? Poor Terror, he ended up at a coconut plantation in Libya! By the time he changed all the bagful of Libyan currency notes for the three years in captive, it came to N16,000! He cursed himself in Ekiti dialect "uya jeun, un-pofo" (suffered, loser). Meanwhile, he had bought back-pack with Terror Gadafi written on it; from which he earned his nick-name till date. He also got a pair of canvass and took photographs with white men to pose for his Ise-Ekiti kinsmen on arrival in Nigeria. That was the predicament of my new younger friend, Terror Gadafi and I promised him to write about his trip so that others may learn from his quandary. Today, Bayo back home in Ise-Ekiti is doing fine where he makes a living.

   Pa Elijah Folorunso Akinleye was the second person I met who knew and worked closely with the revered man of God, Pastor Moses Babalola of the C.A.C. fame who passed-on in 1959. The first person was the father of a former boss, Pa Ibitoye of Sosan-Akoko. It was then I heard of an extraordinary incident involving the spiritually endowed man from Efon-Alaye. Pastor Babalola was engaged in one of his serial long fasting and prayer sessions in the forest, one day a snake crawled towards him, a drop from his sweat fell on the poisonous reptile and the creature dried off! It can then be imagined why I couldn't hide my curiosity when Papa Akinleye, retired C.A.C. superintendent and General Evangelist talked about his mentor and relationship with the legend I long to know more about. Baba is the father-in-law of my host and friend, Banjo Ogunrosoye. Baba did not have record of his exact date of birth, but discussions with him gave a clue to someone in his 90s. He worked in Akoko Division and retired at Babalola center at Ikeji, Arakeji; now a pensioner resident in Ise-Ekiti.

   The climax of the historical visit to Ise-Ekiti was the tour of the ancient palace of Arinjale, courtesy of my host. His Royal Majesty Oba Adetunji Ayodele Ajayi was pleased to take us through the memorable excursion. The highly educated and well exposed monarch had built the fourth modern palace close to the first palace which was built during the reign of his great-grandfather in 1860s. The oldest palace has a quadrangle and some sections that we could not enter but could be seen from the entrance. They are meant for different traditional occasions. One of them is where Arinjale at the apportioned time stays in seclusion and incommunicado for days. Next to the oldest palace is the story building built by Oba Adeyeye who reigned for 44 years. With little repairs, the edifice with wooden staircase can be preserved. I could not resist the urge to take photograph with the Vauxhall car of Oba Adeyeye, its state notwithstanding; the car should be preserved. It reminds me of the relic of the car of Oore Oyinloye that I saw in Otun-Ekiti. The 3rd palace was built by Oba Adebomi close to the popular igi osan' (orange tree). The osan is probably as old as the palace itself because everybody grew-up to find it there. 

   Ise-Ekiti like most Yoruba towns have many ruling houses. Ancient war in the days of Ogedengbe was attributed to depleting the ranks of some primordial princes drawn to some of the olden fatal wars. However, those ruling houses left have been compressed to just two by the Morgan Commission of Inquiry on chieftaincy affairs (1976-1979). The ruling house of Agomugo Aran is said to have produced Oladimeji ruling house; while Okitiko/Atokesa lawa ruling house had produced the Aweloye ruling house. Thus, current ruling houses are: Aweloye ruling house and Oladimeji ruling house. History has it that three past obas used the title of “Oluse of Ise” while the rest had the title of Arinjale. The first Oba with the title of Arinjale was Kabiyesi Oba Akinlaoro.

  

Storey Building is the 2^nd Place, Roof of a section of the sprawling 1^st Palace  and  igi ssan standing close to the 3^rd Palace

Digging deep also revealed that the first Oba Arinjale with a known ruling date was actually Oba Olofinla Nla reputed to be popular and powerful, he reigned 1630-1679. The six succeeding Obas after him, dates of their tenures were not available for this write-up. Other Obas who reigned till date are: Oba Olomoisola Aganmugan Aran, Arinjale of Ise 1871-1877; Oba Aweloye (Great grand-father of the current Oba) 1887-1919; Oba Oladimeji Arinjale 1920-1931; Oba David Ope Adeyeye Arinjale Agunsoye II (grand Uncle to the current Oba) 1932-1976; Oba Samuel Adegbite Adebomi (Oladimeji lineage) Arinjale from 1983 - 1998 and the incumbent, Oba Adetunji Ayodele Ajayi (Aweloye II) who ascended the throne in 2001. Igba odun, odun kan (long live the king)

   Perhaps the story of the palace of Arinjale of Ise-Ekiti is not complete without the mention of the great and numerous sculptures carved by the genius sculptor, Olowe. Most people who collect arts have some of his works in Nigeria and abroad. Pa Olowe is better described as an alujonu (a rare weird talent with too much skill). He was noted to be doing sculpturing under agbada and the product would look exactly like the sculptured object. He carved from the inside (inu li mu i gbe ere). The sculpture of Oba Adeyeye is a timeless master piece sitting in an American museum till date with the signature of Olowe on it. Kabiyesi said he saw Olowe’s works at the museum.

   This leads to the recurring case of the missing artifacts from the palace. All the pillars holding the protruding roofs of the biggest quadrangle in the palace where the community held ceremonies were uniquely sculptured by the legendary Olowe. Regrettably, they were stolen and scattered all over the world. Few of them moved from France to America. Kabiyesi talked about efforts they made with some of the elites of the community to retrieve them to no avail. One of the options given to them is to repurchase. What an irony. Albeit, I still feel that through strategic and persistent diplomatic means at federal government level, every identified stolen sculpture from the palace can be restored. All the same, it will take a serious nation with purposeful government in place to do it. My charge to Ise-Ekiti elites is to constitute a formidable team that will work with Kabiyesi and do everything possible to preserve the edifices left in the palace. People spend a lot of money to see antique cars and ancient things in the Western World. The prevailing self-serving politicking by people in government will not endure, a time will come that normalcy will prevail for tourism to thrive in our land.

   To those communities that may not have a unique cultural history like Ise-Ekiti, they can still create a niche for their towns provided they manage their affairs in a manner that will bring the indigenes to work together for common good in harmony. By way of general charge to contemporary communities; traditional leadership must not allow treacherous elements hijack communal responsibility. Very smart community leaders don't take side openly in partisan politics when it can be avoided. Where there are two or more indigenes jostling for political offices, ensure a level playing field. Make it a communal creed, that on no account must any ward be sacrificed for the other through unhealthy political intrigue. Elites should work together to facilitate due process in communal political scheming. The scallywags of low progeny who misrepresent larger communal interest are not the culprits, but the conventional community leaders that stand aloof without condemning dastardly acts. Any community destined for socio-economic greatness will dissuade self serving politicians from breaking their ranks and avoid actions tantamount to paying back good deeds of indigenes with bad or evil machinations. Ability to balance multi-faceted communal interests and harness legitimate political gains from all quarters, void of avoidable conflicts is the key to unprecedented progress that will endure.

Arinjale Ise with Seye Adetunmbi, Orangun Oke-Ila & Banjo Ogunrosoye in 2013

The brief time spent with the Arinjale of Ise-Ekiti was an outstanding lesson in history. The aroso or ajaib'ale’ (highest grade) fresh palm wine which kabiyesi gave us that we brought to Lagos was the best I've had in the recent past. It is one of the things that endear my Ekiti root to me. I also thank the Alayelua for the etu kan ti yan (smoked bush meat). Kabiyesi Arinjale, ofurufu o se gba mu. E e je ju ti ara osaju lo, ade a pe l'ori, bata a pelese, ase a pe l’enu, urukere a d'okinni. Amin ase.