𝐀 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐌𝐲 𝐁𝐢𝐧𝐢 𝐅𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝, 𝐋𝐚𝐠𝐨𝐬 𝐑𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐘𝐨𝐫𝐮𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝

1. A good Bini friend of mine was agitate about my post I made about the nonexistence of the character “Pa Idu” and the non-usage of the terms Idu or Idumu in most Edo LGAs.

2. He then asked the question “Is Idumuota in Lagos Igbo?” and then went on to of course spit ethnic diatribe. I of course did not respond in kind, as usual, because I am above that.

3. The question was to (1) Claim Bini ownership of Lagos, Yorubaland and (2) Use the name Idumuota as evidence of an alleged Bini conquest of Lagos.

4. Let me state this to begin, whether the state of the island, is, was, and will remain Yorubaland.

5. As proven through first-hand accounts and oral traditions, the historic Great Benin Kingdom (Udo) was an Olukumi-Yoruba kingdom, both in kingship and citizen-wise. It is not the Ubini kingdom, which today claims its glory, neither is Ubini in the same location as the historical Great Benin.

6. It is also on record and oral traditions that the Olukumi kingdom of Great Benin was an allied kingdom with of the Igbo territory called Idu, or Obodo Idu; hence the term “Ado na Idu (Udo and Idu).

7. The accord that Udo had with Idu is akin to the relationship Arochukwu had with the dreaded Abam warriors. Udo and Idu fought wars side by side and together provided security for one another.

8. In fact, in the traditions of the Ika-Igbo towns of Agbor and Owa there stories of their warriors departing to Yorubaland to go help fight wars.

9. This brings me back to the question “Is Idumuota in Lagos Igbo?”. The answer is no and it is not Bini territory either. It remains Yorubaland.

10. Now is the name Idumuota Igbo and the other Idumu names in Lagos Island? Yes. Those were encampment areas that the Igbo warriors of Idu that came with the Yoruba warriors of Udo stationed when they arrived the island. This is an example of the Ado na Idu accord.

11. In 2013, Lagos senator, Adeseye Ogunlewe, mentioned that the Igbo had been in Lagos Island since the 1400s during the trade between the Portuguese and the Benin regional area. Ado na Idu accord.

12. It is old news that “Idumu” is an Igbo nomenclature not Bini and that the name is also etymologically Igbo. In fact, we have a village named Idumuota and town called Ota (Ottah) in the Igbanke area of Igboland. Igbanke are some of the aboriginal Igbos of Obodo Idu who protected the Bini refugees when they fled from a crisis.

13. Of course we have other Otas across Igboland and the Idu warriors hired by the Olukumi-Yoruba Oba of Udo were probably from the Igbanke-Igbo town of Ota (Ottah).

14. Eko is a Yoruba word and is a term found across Yorubaland and the term does not exist in Bini diction. Idumu is an Igbo term, which the Bini who use the term call “Idunmwu”. Eko is Ado (Yoruba) and Idumu is Idu (Igbo).

15. Lagos remains Yorubaland and there was never Bini presence in Lagos. Do not mistake the term Bini (the name of an ethnic group which was coined by the British) for Benin (the name Portuguese explorers gave to a region and a city called Udo). 

16. The people today known as “Bini” were refugees from the Middle Belt who fled invasion and slave raids and sought protection from the Yoruba of Udo (Great Benin) and the Igbo of Idu (Obodo Idu).

Source: Igbo History