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.
adex3g
