Wednesday, 22 June 2022

Largest GDP In Africa, 2022🌍📈

01 Nigeria🇳🇬 $555.346 billion (27th Globally)

02 Egypt🇪🇬 $438.348 billion (33rd Globally)

03 South Africa🇿🇦 $435.212 billion (34th Globally)

04 Algeria🇩🇿 $168.195 billion (58th Globally)

05 Morocco🇲🇦 $132.645 billion (60th Globally)

06 Kenya🇰🇪 $116.641 billion (62nd Globally)

07 Ethiopia🇪🇹 $93.970 billion (66th Globally)

08 Ghana🇬🇭 $82.018 billion (71st Globally)

09 Ivory Coast🇨🇮 $75.075 billion (72nd Globally)

10 Angola🇦🇴 $74.953 billion (73rd Globally)

11 Tanzania🇹🇿 $74.536 billion (74th Globally)

12 D.R. Congo🇨🇩 $59.246 billion  (86th Globally)

13 Cameroon🇨🇲 $48.29 billion (88th Globally)

14 Uganda🇺🇬 $47.000 billion (90th Globally)

15 Tunisia🇹🇳 $45.454 billion (91st Globally)

16 Sudan🇸🇩 $37.769 billion (99th Globally)

17 Senegal🇸🇳 $30.039 billion (101st Globally)

18 Libya🇱🇾 $29.202 billion (103rd Globally)

19 Zimbabwe🇿🇼 $27.806 billion (108th Globally)

20 Zambia🇿🇲 $23.967 billion (110th Globally)

21 Burkina Faso🇧🇫 $21.887 billion (113th Globally)

22 Mali🇲🇱 $21.261 billion (114th Globally)

23 Benin  $19.917 billion (117th Globally)

24 Gabon🇬🇦 $19.632 billion (119th Globally)

25 Botswana🇧🇼 $19.002 billion (120th Globally)

🌐Source: Geoworld Magazine

THE DEATH OF SUNNI ALI

Emperor of medieval Songhai empire

Sunni Ali became emperor of the Songhai empire in 1464 CE... and as soon as he occupied the throne he went to war, conquering the surrounding national groups around the former Mali empire. National groups like the Mossi and the Fulbe and wolof who had been the first to rebel against the Mali empire during its era of internal turmoil, a situation that had eventually collapsed the empire after series of wars and political upheavals of the Mali royal Princes.

Sunni Ali enhanced the efficiency of the Songhai calvary. It was recorded in the TARIKH Al FATASH, the chronicles of the seeker, written down in Timbuktu in medieval times that, the Songhai soldier often carried a spear with a gold tip that gleamed in the sun.

It was often contended that Sunni Ali was reputed to often order someone's execution and then change his mind at the very last moment. From historical records, there was a contention over opinions from historians on whether Sunni Ali was suffering from a disorder. He had several times ordered the execution of Askia Mohammed, one of his commanders in his army who was the 'Lord of the mountains' and had repeatedly changed his mind at the last minute. Sunni Ali died in the mountains on the border with the Mossi people in what is today the border between Mali and Burkina Faso. He was buried before any in his royal court knew of his death. The story of his death was recorded that he was 'swept away by a current that caused a landslide' in the Niger River. This landslide was common along the Niger river. Askia Mohammed was the Lord of the Mountains at this time and he became the second emperor of the Songhai empire after Sunni Ali's death.

Source: The history of Africa magazine

Today in Hampton History

1861 - U.S. and Confederate forces fight the Battle of Big Bethel. U.S. troops, whose surprise attack was blown by a friendly fire incident in the night and a warning from a Confederate sympathizer, were defeated and returned to Fort Monroe that evening. The engagement, the first planned land battle of the Civil War, also included the war’s first known Black man fighting in combat.

George Scott had escaped from slavery in 1859 and boldy evaded capture for two years, in one encounter snatching a loaded pistol and bowie knife from an enslaver’s hand before vanishing again.

Scott was one of the first “Contrabands” who arrived at Fort Monroe, and he immediately began working for the U.S. Army as a scout and was “supplied at his request with a [gun] and ammunition.” His information about Confederate fortifications at Big Bethel proved vital for Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler’s plan to attack. He was with the 5th New York Zouaves when they arrived at Big Bethel, and the New York Times reported he  “was in the thick of the battle.”

In July, Scott and eight other Contrabands transferred to Baltimore with the 5th New York Zouaves and moved on to freedom in the North.

“Contrabands” were Freedom Seekers escaping slavery during the Civil War. In May 1861, U.S. Maj. Gen. Benjamin F. Butler devised the “Contraband” doctrine, a legal loophole allowing Freedom Seekers to remain with the U.S. Military rather than being returned to slavery under the Fugitive Slave Act. The “Contraband” doctrine weaponized enslaved people’s status as property against enslavers by declaring them “contraband of war.” Many thousands of people escaped slavery as “Contrabands,” and the policy formed the basis for a series of Confiscation Acts passed by Congress and Pres. Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. During the course of the Civil War, almost 200,000 Black men served in the U.S. Army and Navy, helping the United States win the war.

Image: William Headley, a “Contraband” man with the U.S. Army during the Civil War. Library of Congress https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2010647919/

https://contrabandhistoricalsociety.com/

https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/fort-monroe-during-the-civil-war/

https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/united-states-colored-troops-the/ 

https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/the-abolition-of-slavery-in-virginia/

https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/slavery-during-the-civil-war/

https://www.alexandriava.gov/historic/fortward/default.aspx?id=40018

https://www.nationalparks.org/explore-parks/african-american-civil-war-memorial

https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/blacks-civil-war/article.html

Visit Hampton, Virginia! Hampton, VA - Gov Civil War Trails, Inc. #todayinhistory #onthisday #OnThisDate #civilwar

Older than Egypt is Ethiopia

Ethiopia is old, even older than Egypt, but its antiquity is somewhat different. While Egypt was the world's first indisputable nation-state, unique in its complex politico-religious system augmented by magnificent material remains and a corpus of epic literature, in Ethiopia, the very cradle of mankind, the material evidence of its ancient civilisation alone attests to its former glory.

The Ancient Egyptians, from the earliest times, kept records of their kings and this chronology is central to the chronological structure of the early Aegean, Levantine and Mesopotamian civilisations. It is, however, of no import to Ancient Ethiopia. If the Ethiopians did keep records, these have either been lost for ever or not yet discovered. The attempts by unnamed writers to compile an Ethiopian king-list -- the Kebra Negast or Book of the Glory of Kings -- from the Queen of Sheba to the rise of the Zagwe dynasty, is believed to be a 13th-century creation; its aim seems to have been to establish the political credentials of the so-called Solomonic dynasty, an Ethiopian king-list that traces the rulers of Ancient Axum to Menelik I (originally Bin Ha Malik, The King's Son), the son of the "Israelite" King Solomon and the "Ethiopian" Queen Makeda, the Queen of Sheba.

Confusingly, the Queen of Sheba features prominently in the oral and written traditions of Ethiopia, Yemen and ancient Israel. The Yemenis saw her as a South Arabian queen, the Ethiopians as Axumite. In Arabic her name is Bilquis, in Ethiopia Makeda and in the biblical language of the Israelites she is known as the Queen of Sheba. To add to the confusion, historians suggest that King Solomon must have reigned around the 10th century BC. It is difficult to decipher fact from fiction, but archaeological evidence is indisputable and it reveals that Axum was founded a millennium later.

LUCY-DINKENESH: Ethiopia easily claims the longest archaeological record of any country in the world. It is in Ethiopia that the story of the evolution of mankind began. The remains of the earliest ancestral humans or hominids have been found there. Butwhile sophisticated civilisations historically developed on the Ethiopian highlands, in many parts of the mountains and rugged country, many of its peoples retained a material existence not much different from the hunter-gathering lifestyles of our ancestral hominids.

Two Ethiopian regions stand out as preeminent sites favoured for habitation by the early hominids -- the Omo Valley in thesouthwestern part of the country, and the Afar or Danakil Depression. To this day, these remote and inhospitable regions remain largely cut off from the outside world. They form different parts of Africa's Great Rift Valley, which runs from central Africa, through the eastern part of the continent, dissecting the Horn of Africa, dividing Arabia from Africa, marking out the outlines of the Sinai Peninsula, and ending somewhat unobtrusively with the Gulf of Aqaba and the River Jordan Valley.

The Omo Valley and the Danakil Depression are markedly different in landscape and terrain. The latter is a desolate and dreary desert, 100 metres below sea leveland one of the hottest places on earth, while the Omo Valley is a veritable Garden of Eden with a rich and luxuriant tropical flora and teaming with exotic fauna.

Remains of Australopithecus Afarensis, an early hominid dating as far back as four million years, have been found in an almost complete state in the Danakil Depression, which was not always the arid desert it is today. When the early hominids roamed the Afar region, it was a well-watered and wooded savanna country. In 1974 archaeologists excavating sites in the Awash River Valley discovered the skeletal remains of a female hominid whom they promptly named "Lucy" (apparently because they were listening to the song Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds by the Beetles). The diminutive three-and-half-feet tall Lucy -- known as Dinkenesh or "Thou art beautiful" inAmharic, Ethiopia's official language -- lived some 3.5 million years ago. Her skeletal remains are now deposited at the National Museum of Addis Ababa, which is also home to a host of other prehistoric remains.

THE ANTECEDENTS OF AXUM: The history of Ethiopia goes back a long way. The profusion of Stone Age tools and cave paintings hint at the industriousness and vibrancy of the lifestyles of the earliest Ethiopians and attests to the country's antiquity. During the Chalcolithic Age (6200-3000 BC) the inhabitants began cultivating grains and crops that are still much in use in Ethiopia today. Indigenous grasses and grains, such as teff, from which the national Ethiopian sour pancake-like moist bread is made, began to be extensively cultivated as a staple food. The ensete, a root crop known as the false banana because the plantresembles the banana tree but bears no edible fruit, was also grown in the southern and central parts of the Ethiopian Highlands. Sorghum, barley and buckwheat were also cultivated.

From late prehistoric times patterns of livelihood were established that were to become characteristic of Ethiopia down through the ages and right up to contemporary times. The Early Bronze Age (3000 BC) witnessed the domestication of cattle, a process which had started much earlier in neighbouring Sudan. At this stage of development, regular interaction between the indigenous peoples of Ethiopia and their neighbours first began.

The close proximity of the Ethiopian highlands to the Red Sea has always provided the main line of external communication. This stretch of water has, since time immemorial, provided a means of transport and the Ancient Egyptians recorded voyages to the Land of Punt -- God's Land. To them, Punt was the most ancient country, a sacred territory.

Queen Hatshepsut in the 18th dynasty (1540-1304 BC) dispatched a diplomatic and trading mission to Punt, beautifully depicted on her funerary temple at Deir Al-Bahri. Punt was also the source of a host of exotic goods such as gold, ivory, ostrich feathers, animal skins and hides.

Egyptian legends sometimes referred to Punt as a land ruled by serpent-kings. Interestingly enough, material and literary evidence suggest some form of serpent-worship before the advent of Christianity in Ethiopia. Could then, Ethiopia be the Punt of the Egyptians? To carry the argument further, the sturdy tankwas, or papyrus canoes, that ply Lake Tana -- the source of the Blue Nile -- are curiously reminiscent of the Ancient Egyptian reed boats.

The Hebrews, too, seem to have maintained links with Ancient Ethiopia. The marital union of the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon was not the first biblical reference to a Hebrew-Ethiopian marriage. According to the Bible Moses had an Ethiopian wife. "And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had married an Ethiopian woman," we read in the Book of Numbers.

Ethiopia appears in the King James Version 45 times. Most references to Ethiopia are cited in the Old Testament, not always in the most favourable light. Still, there appears to have been some familiarity with Ethiopian geography in the Levant with frequent biblical references to the rivers of Ethiopia, such as Gihon.

The centrality of the Solomonic link to the Ethiopian heritage is challenged by concrete archaeological evidence. "The Queen of Sheba is clearly recalled as a contemporary of King Solomon, whose reign must be placed around the 10th century BC. There is no archaeological evidence that the site of Axum was settled until one thousand years after this date," argues David W Phillipson in Ancient Ethiopia, published by British Museum Press, 1998.

AXUM: This most celebrated state of Ancient Ethiopia could, in its heyday, be compared in grandeur with the empires of Rome, Persia and Ancient China. Among the most imposing features of its material culture are monumental stelae that mark the burial catacombs of Axumite kings. Some 120 survive today -- many in a dilapidated state of disrepair. The largest is over 30 metres long, albeit no longer standing upright. It was the largest single stone ever quarried in the ancient world. The stelae of Axum are grave markers with which catacombs are invariably associated. Shafts, underground passages and chambers are always found nearby. Alas, most of the burial chambers were looted in antiquity, and only a few broken grave-goods were left by robbers.

Byzantine Greek and Roman references to Axum -- a prosperous state which at its zenith stretched from Nubia to Yemen and Hejaz, and encompassed much of the Horn of Africa -- abound. The kingdom, in conjunction with the Nabateans and southern Arabians, apparently held a monopoly over the spice and incense trade.

Relations between Axum and some of its other neighbours remain unclear. We know that Axum's fabled King Ezana (who reigned from 325 to 360 AD) controlled Mero� (the once thriving Nubian kingdom) and Yemen as well as the Red Sea coast up to Suakin in Sudan. We know also that Ezana's armies overran Mero � when it was in its last throes. A trilingual inscription, vaguely reminiscent of the Rosetta Stone, was erected by Ezana recording his victories over the Nubians in three languages -- Sabaean, Ge'ez and Greek.

The Axumite empire's heartland was the highlands of northern Ethiopia and southern Eritrea. The most impressive ruins are to be found in the northern Ethiopian region of Tigray, and to a lesser extent in Eritrea. The capital, Axum, in northern Tigray still stands today -- a mere shadow of its former glory.

Axum's rulers assumed the title of Negust Nagast, King of Kings, and started minting coins that provide an interesting chronology of the rulers of Axum. No other kingdom in Africa south of the Sahara did this, and the study of the Axumite coinage system reveals muchabout the development of the political structure, religion and culture of the ancient empire. For example, the earliest Axumite coins bore the crescent and sun-disc, or crescent and star -- designs characteristic of the pagan religion where moon and sun worship was prevalent. Later, when Christianity was officially adopted as a state religion, the cross replaced the crescent and sun-disc as state emblems engraved on official Axumite coins. Many of the earliest coins also had Greek inscriptions but, as Axum grew in importance, the Greek inscriptions were replaced by Ge'ez inscriptions (see box).

Christianity was adopted as a state religion in Ethiopia in the fourth century AD. According to tradition, two Christian youths from Tyre, Aedesius and Frumentius, were shipwrecked on the Red Sea coast of what is today Eritrea. They were taken to Axum, became tutors of the future king, and later Frumentius left Ethiopia for Alexandria and asked the Coptic Patriarch of Egypt to send a bishop to head the nascent Ethiopian Church. Frumentius was consecrated. He assumed the name Abuna Salama, initiating a tradition, whereby the Archbishops of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church were consecrated by the Coptic Pope, which lasted until the early 1970s.

ETHIOPIA AND YEMEN: The history of Ancient Ethiopia cannot be separated from that of Ancient Yemen, whose recorded history stretches back over 3,000 years. Archaeological evidence shows that settled agricultural communities were established in the Yemeni highlands by the third millennium BC. Urban centres soon developed supported by the surrounding farming countryside. Masonry flourished and monumental sculptures and massive stone architecture were erected. Sophisticated irrigation works were also constructed which attest to a high degree of material sophistication. States like Hadhramaut, Saba, with it capital Ma'rib, and later Himyar thrived as industrious mercantile nations that monopolised the spice and incense trade of the ancient world.

Successive civilisations of Mineans, Sabaeans and Himyarites interacted closely with their counterparts in Ethiopia. The precise nature of the relationship between the people who inhabited Ancient Yemen and their contemporaries across the Red Sea in Ethiopia is unknown. What is clear, however, is that due to geographical proximity, strong cultural and trading links developed between the most celebrated of Ancient Yemeni civilisations, Saba, and the peoples of Ethiopia. Archaeological research based on the results of excavations and the study of extant monuments and artefacts by Western and Ethiopian scholars reveal growing cultural and trade contacts between them.

It is difficult to acertain how far Axum, the most glorious of Ethiopia's earliest civilisations, can be viewed as a direct heir to Saba. The mystification is deepened by the confusion between Sheba, a variation of Saba, and Ethiopia in the Bible and other mediaeval documents. Sheba, or the Kingdom of the South, could equally refer to either Yemen or Axum.

That controversy apart, there is no doubt that the cultures and histories of Saba and Ethiopia were inextricably intertwined. The Sabaeans were highly skilled masons and water engineers and, not many centuries after they constructed the Ma'rib Dam, walled cities and other architectural wonders, similar structures began to be erected in Ethiopia.

Scholars claim that some 2,500 years ago, successive waves of Semitic people from southern Arabia crossed the Red Sea into what is now Ethiopia, they brought with them their Semitic language and script. Around the fifth century BC, there is archaeological evidence to show that the Semitic influences intensified. Sabaean merchants and perhaps armies moved across the Red Sea into Ethiopia, as attested by the many Sabean inscriptions dating to that period. In time they produced a pre-Axumite culture which ripened into a proto-Axumite culture.

We know next to nothing of the pagan religion of the Axumites. In sharp contrast, much is known today about the Ancient Egyptian religious beliefs and practices. We know the names and attributes of Ancient Egyptian gods and goddesses, but little is known about the nature of worship in Ancient Ethiopia -- save perhaps that serpents were sacred creatures and maybe the sun, moon and stars were worshipped, as in Ancient Arabia.

Archaeological evidence suggests that South Arabian gods and goddesses were worshipped in Ethiopia before the advent of Christianity. Nothing, though, is conclusive. Archaeological evidence points to the influx of settlers and cultural influences from Yemen, across the Red Sea, into Ethiopia at least about 800 BC, in all probability much earlier. The Red Sea proved no impediment to trade and cultural exchange. Yemen at the time was at the centre of a trading network that linked Egypt and the eastern Mediterranean world -- what is today Greece, Turkey and the Levant -- with Yemen and onwards to Oman, the Arabian Gulf, present day Iraq, Iran and India, perhaps even beyond. In Yemen, the Minaean Civilisation was absorbed or superseded by the celebrated Sabaean Civilisation about 1000 BC. Trade relations were revolutionised when the inhabitants of Arabia domesticated the dromedary, or one- humped camel, in the 11th century BC.

The domestication of the dromedary made it easier to transport goods over more desolate regions. The spice trade was the mainstay of the economy. The Sabaeans were great builders and the imposing dam they constructed near Ma'rib, their capital, stands testimony to their accomplished architectural skills. They lived in multistoried apartment blocks in walled cities with monumental gates. From the windows and door designs on the Axumite stelae, it appears that these particular Sabaean colonists probably settled in Ethiopia in much the same way as Europeans settled in America. Indeed, interaction between Yemen and Ethiopia in ancient times is sometimes compared with the historical relationship between Europe and America, with the Red Sea as substitute for the Atlantic Ocean.

The Sabaeans united southern Arabia into a single political entity by the third century BC. By the time of the birth of Jesus Christ, they had expanded their empire to include Ethiopian lands across the Red Sea. 

With Sabaean power waning in the fifth and sixth centuries AD, their empire was conquered by the Ethiopians in 525. The Sabaean civilisation endured for 14 centuries lasting from around 800 BC to 600 AD. And as Saba declined, Axum arose. The tables were soon turned and Ethiopia had the upper hand. For many centuries afterwards, Yemen remained under Axumite suzerainty.

Trade and cultural exchanges between Sabaean Yemen and Ancient pre-Axumite Ethiopia were strengthened. Artefacts and stone slabs bearing the Sabaean script of southern Arabia became more common in Ethiopia. Soon the monumental stone structures similar to those in Ancient Yemen began to appear in Eritrea and northern Ethiopia. The Temple of the Moon in Yeha is the largest surviving structure in East Africa.

With the rise of Islam in the seventh century AD, Axum lost Yemen and Hejaz, and the once flourishing empire shrunk back to its original core region of the northern Ethiopian highlands.

Ge'ez the sacred tongue > LINGUISTIC affinities between Ethiopia and the Arab world are as strong today as they were in bygone days. Ge'ez, Amharic and Tigrinya are related to Arabic. There are some 80 different languages spoken in Ethiopia, but the country's official language is Amharinya, better known outside Ethiopia as Amharic. It is the language of higher education, most modern literature and government. 

Historical linguists generally hold that the languages spoken by a majority of the inhabitants of Ethiopia today, namely the Afro-Asian languages, have their roots in northeastern Africa. The area covered by speakers of the Afro- Asian linguistic group spans a huge swathe of territory from northwestern Africa, the Sahara, eastern and northeastern Africa, Arabia and southwestern Asia. The Afro-Asian group of languages is divided into Semitic, Cushitic and Omotic -- and speakers of all three groups are found in Ethiopia. Indeed, Ethiopia is the only country where all the three linguistic groups are currently in use.

Scholars also suggest that first Omotic and then Cushitic speaking peoples moved into the Ethiopian highlands about 7,000 BC. The Semitic-speaking peoples entered Ethiopia at a later date. Speakers of the Nilotic languages spanning a vast territory in Sudan and other East African countries such as Kenya and Tanzania inhabit in the southwestern extremities of Ethiopia, and it is not known if they previously inhabited other areas of the country. Of the Cushitic languages spoken in Ethiopia, the most widespread is Oromo followed by Somali and Sidamo. But the recorded history of Ethiopia has traditionally been the domain of the country's Semitic speakers.

The foremost of the Semitic languages of Ethiopia is Ge'ez, widely regarded as an offshoot of Sabaean, held in special esteem.

Ethiopia has one of the longest continuous literate traditions in Africa. It is a literary tradition where Ge'ez plays a central, all-important role. Ge'ez is to Ethiopia what Latin is to Europe. Ge'ez, the liturgical language of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and the official court language of the Axumites, borrowed 24 symbols from the Sabaean writing system.

Amharic, the official language of contemporary Ethiopia, is derived from Ge'ez. Two other languages are closely related to it -- Tigre, spoken in Eritrea; and Tigrinya spoken in Tigray, northern Ethiopia, as 

well as in Eritrea. Both Amharic and Tigrinya use a modified version of the Ge'ez script.

The Axumites left behind a body of written records in Greek and Ge'ez. The Bible was translated into Ge'ez from Greek, and the Ge'ez alphabet bears an uncanny resemblance to both the Coptic and Greek scripts. 

Ge'ez, which ceased to be a spoken language in the 10th century, is still widely studied by academic scholars who specialise in Ancient Ethiopia.

Credit; Ras Tyehimba

Tuesday, 21 June 2022

Archaeology of the Oyo Empire’s Sixth Field Season: A Summary

The Oyo Empire Archaeology and Heritage Project recently completed its sixth field season. This year’s fieldwork has revealed more stunning finds. Our research was in two parts. The first focused on the state-controlled Old Bara town (near Oyo-Ile), ca. 1600-1836, where we conducted excavations in three residential areas to understand political economy, class, social dependency, and gender relations in the empire through the lens of household organization. We also continued our survey of the ancient town’s monumental and “public” structures to study approaches to urban planning in the metropolitan area of the empire. The discovery of more massive stone walls yielded new information on the strategies of place-making, territoriality, defense, labor mobilization, and power spectacles. We also collected more data on land-use practices, terracing, and water harvesting and transportation engineering.

The second part of our research was the continuation of excavations at BSM6. After six years of work here, I’ve seen what I’ve never been told, and I know I’ve not seen it all. This site has produced the longest continuous human occupation sequence in southwest Nigeria. It was not a surprise that we have a Later Stone Age (LSA) artifacts, in the form of microliths, in this area. These materials may go as far back as 3000 BC. It was our joy to discover an Early Iron Age (EIA) residential complex on top of the LSA occupation. This EIA community occupied the site by 400 BC (if not earlier) and lived there continuously for at least 400 years. This residential focus included several but poorly preserved burials under the house floors. There is evidence of crafting, elaborate food service, and home-making throughout the deposits. They also engaged in long-distance trade with the Upper Niger area. A terracotta figurine gives us a glimpse of their feminine-centered spiritual life. There are other occupation phases stacked on top of the EIA. After 1000 AD, the site was used for various activities, including ceremonial and residential. The peculiar stone arrangements that initially made BSM6 noticeable to us are likely related to astronomical observations, but we need more work on this subject. Another find was the extensive flatly-laid potsherd pavements dating to the thirteenth through fifteenth centuries. 

This year’s extensive excavation units, some as large as 5x4 m, and others as deep as 3.6 m, present compelling evidence that we are dealing with at least four cultural horizons in Old Bara and its environs. These are tentatively labeled: Ako-Òkúta (LSA), Yangí (EIA), Atòkúta (LIA), and Ọ̀yọ́ cultural horizons. In the coming years, we hope to understand the relationships between these horizons. At Old Bara, we finally found what has eluded us for a long time in the archaeology of southwest Nigeria: long-term well-stratified archaeological deposits. Thanks to the ancestors and the Òrìṣà for guiding us. 

Our 2022 team was the largest since we began this project in 2017. Thirty-one personnel, including lecturers, students, NCMM staff, and National Park Service staff, participated in the project. Our academic participants came from the University of Ibadan (Ibadan), Obafemi Awolowo University (Ife), University of Jos (Jos), Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Kwara State University (KWASU), University of Abuja (Abuja), and the Institute of Archaeology, Jos (National Commission for Museums and Monuments). Student volunteers came from different academic backgrounds, including archaeology, cultural anthropology, heritage studies, political science, education, and languages. They also included graduates, postgraduates, and undergraduates. This diversity of backgrounds and interests was a huge asset to the project.

The 2022 Team:

Abulmalik Abdulmalik, ABU

Emmanuel Adeara, Ibadan

Segun Ajayi, Abuja

David Ajibade, National Park Service

Farouk Ajibade, Ibadan

Moses Akogun, Ibadan

Prof. Jonathan Aleru, Ibadan

Daniel Amusa, Ibadan

Tìmílẹ́hìn Ayelagbe, Ibadan

Abdul Badamasi, Jos 

Ayobami Diya, Ibadan 

Olugbenga Ezekiel, Ibadan

Olamide Falaye, Abuja

Temitope Funmilayo, Ibadan

Emmanuel Idowu, Ibadan

Great Iwudu, Jos

James Jacobs, Ibadan

Funom Kas, Institute of Archaeology, Jos

Abdulrazak Laaro, KWASU

Azeez Lawal, Ibadan

Nalong Manguna, Jos

Dr. Macham Mangut, Jos

Stanley Nwosu, Ibadan

Prof. Akin Ogundiran, Ibadan/Charlotte

Prof. Adisa Ogunfọlakan, Ife

Oluwatimilẹhin Ojo, Ibadan

Dr. Oluṣẹgun Ọpadeji, Ibadan

Dr. Emuobosa Orijemie, Ibadan

Ọrẹoluwa Ṣodẹkẹ, Ibadan

Isah Tamu, National Park Service

Dr. Bọlanle Tubọsun, Ibadan

Okhai Ubuike, Ibadan

The entire team must be commended for their hard work, professionalism, and great spirit, even in challenging situations. The terrain of Old Oyo and Old Bara is not for the faint-hearted. We had a rugged but lively team. There was no boring moment. The theme songs for the 2022 field season are Kizz Daniel’s Olololo and Fireboy DML’s Won Ni Won N Wa Mi, two recent hits in the Nigerian music scene. The young archaeologists played these songs so much that I began to hum them, even in my sleep. They also taught me the Buga move. And, we had DJ Hottie Hottie spicing things up with his assortment of hits. Many more to say, but too many words cannot fill the basket. Till another time…

Acknowledgment

I am grateful to AIA-NEH and UNC Charlotte for funding this year’s project. The Nigerian National Park Service generously supported our research with a four-wheel vehicle, personnel, and valuable logistics. I also thank an anonymous contributor for the sponsorship of the project. The National Commission for Museums and Monuments granted the permit to conduct the research. The Emir and people of Bani and other communities, from Igbeti to Old Koso, warmly received us. Babangida, our chief host in Old Bara, gave us generous hospitality. Unlike in some parts of Nigeria, people of different ethnicities--Yoruba, Fulani, and Baatonu, among others--live together amicably in this area. There are occasional challenges but they seem to be sorting things out among themselves in order to live together in peace and harmony. 

Community Needs and Plea

The government presence in the Old Bara area is almost zero. The elders of this community have sent their plea through me for government and humanitarian assistance for two water boreholes and a motorable road from Igbeti to Old Koso. 

Access to drinking water will improve the living conditions in this area. Women bear the brunt of spending half of their time sourcing any water they could find. Their economic productivity will increase with access to a water borehole even if it’s within a mile distance. The hygiene and overall health will also improve. Any philanthropic interest to assist with digging two boreholes in this area should please contact me privately at ogundiran@uncc.edu. Thank you.

Without a good road, the potential of the heritage resources of this area (Oyo-Ile, Old Koso, and Old Bara) for human development cannot be realized. A good road is also needed to transport farm produce to the market, and sick people to clinics. We urge the Federal Government, Oyo State Government, and Kwara State Government to collaborate on fixing the 80-km Igbeti-Bani-Old Koso Road. The archaeological heritage sites in this area are not accessible without a good road network.

Dedication

This year’s fieldwork is dedicated to Olusegun Moyib. We missed his physical presence and contributions but his spirit was with us throughout. Sleep well, my friend.

By Akin Ogundiran

Top 10 Yoruba Names You Never Guessed Were Arabic Names

I have always been fascinated by Yoruba people’s creative morphological domestication of Arabic names. There are scores of Yoruba names that are derived from Arabic but which are barely recognizable to Arabs or other African Muslims because they have taken on the structural features of the Yoruba language.

This is not unique to Yoruba, of course. As scholars of onomastics or onomatology know only too well, when proper names leave their primordial shores to other climes they, in time, are often liable to local adaptation. (Onomastics or onomatology is the scientific study of the origins, forms, conventions, history and uses of proper names. Anthroponomastics specifically studies personal names, so this article is an anthroponamastic analysis of Yoruba Muslim names). That’s why, for instance, there are many Arabic-derived personal names in Hausa, the most Arabized ethnic group in Nigeria, that would be unrecognizable to Arabs. Names like Mamman (Muhammad), Lawan (Auwal), Shehu (Sheikh), etc. would hardly make much sense to an Arab.

I am drawn to the onomatology of Arabic-derived Yoruba names because their morphological adaptation to Yoruba’s structural attributes seems to follow an admirably predictable, rule-governed pattern. I have four preliminary observations on this pattern.

One, because most Niger- Congo languages (of which Yoruba is a prominent member) end almost every word with a terminal vowel, every Arabic name borrowed into Yoruba is fitted with one. This is important because the majority of Arabic names don’t end with a vowel. To give just a few examples, Arabic names like Muhammad, Saeed, Umar, Abdulmumin, etc. (with no vowel endings) are almost always rendered as Muhammadu, Saeedu, Umaru, Abdulmumini, etc. (with vowel endings) by speakers of Niger Congo and other African languages. I have tried several times to think of any word in Yoruba and in my native Baatonu that does not end with a vowel (that is, a, e, i, o, and u) and have not had any success. So the first thing Niger Congo languages do when they borrow a foreign word is to add a terminal vowel to the word if it doesn’t have one.

Two, in most cases, when Arabic names start with a vowel, the Yoruba morphological domestication process dispenses with the initial vowels and starts pronouncing the word from the next consonant after the vowel. So, for example, Imran is often rendered as Muroino in Yoruba. I can’t explain the linguistic logic behind this since several Yoruba names begin with vowels (e.g. Adewale, Iyabo, Olusegun, Ekundayo, etc.), but Yoruba is pretty consistent in doing away with initial vowels when it borrows names from Arabic.

Three, it also seems to be the case that whenever Yoruba borrows names from Arabic and, in fact, from all other languages, it usually replaces the “a” sound in the names with an “o” sound, especially if the “a” sound is intermediate or terminal. That’s why Rahman becomes Romonu and Imran becomes Muroino. There are exceptions, though.

Four, Yoruba Muslims tend to be way fonder of names that are derived from the 99 names of Allah than northern Nigerian Muslims. A prominent morphological feature of such names is that they are always prefixed with “Abdul,” which is Arabic for “servant.” So AbdulRaheem means “servant of the merciful.” Yoruba naming conventions tend to eliminate the “Abdul” part of the names of Allah, which northern Muslims consider borderline blasphemous because they say by dispensing with “Abdul,” bearers of such names are claiming Allah’s qualities. (My immediate younger brother is called Abdulmumin, and my dad, who is an Arabist, fought anybody, including my mother, who eliminated the “Abdul” from his name. To this day, I can’t bring myself to call my brother Mumini). This arises from the Yoruba fondness for the short forms of names. Even Yoruba names that start with “Oluwa” (God), “Ade” (royalty), “Ola” (wealth), etc. are often shortened. That’s why Oluwaseun is often rendered as Seun, Adewale as Wale, and Olanrewaju as Lanre, etc.

The following 10 Yorubaized Arabic names appear to be guided by the morphological rules I identified above.

1. Bakare. This is the Yoruba rendition of Abubakar (or Abu Bakr), the nickname of the first Caliph of Islam. As you can see, the “Abu” in the name is dispensed with, and the “Bakar” part of it is fitted with a terminal vowel. Refer to rules one and two above. Perhaps the most prominent bearer of this name in contemporary Nigeria is Pastor Tunde Bakare, former vice presidential candidate to General Muhammadu Buhari. Pastor Bakare was born a Muslim but converted to Christianity in his teens.

2. Buraimo. I doubt that many non-Yoruba Muslims will recognize this name as Ibrahim, but it is. It follows the second morphological principle I identified in my introductory remarks. The “I” in Ibrahim is dispensed with, and intermediate and terminal vowels are added to produce Buraimo, which is sometimes spelled as Buraimoh. People who follow Lagos politics are probably familiar with the “Baale Buraimo Edu of Epe.”

3. Disu. This is the Yoruba rendition of the Arabic name Idris. The initial vowel in Idris (that is “I”) is eliminated and a terminal vowel (that is, “u”) is added to it. Abdul Karim Disu, the first Nigerian to earn a graduate degree in journalism from Columbia University in 1944, is perhaps the first known Disu in Yorubaland.

4. Lamidi. I once had a conversation with a friend from Kastina about prominent Yoruba Muslims who bear no Muslim names. I mentioned former Minister of Justice Prince Bola Ajibola, First Republic politician Alhaji Adegoke “Penkelemesi” Adelabu (who is late). My friend interrupted me and mentioned “Alhaji Lamidi Adedibu.” He was shocked when I told him Lamidi was a Muslim name.

“Which Muslim name is Lamidi?” he asked.

“Abdulhamid,” I said.

He was unconvinced. I told him because of Yoruba people’s fondness for the short forms of names, they often dispense with “Abdul” in Muslim names that begin with that prefix. So that leaves us with Hamid. Now, there is something some people call the “h-factor” in Yoruba, which is the tendency for Yoruba speakers to unconsciously eliminate the “h” sound in words in which it is normally pronounced and to add it to words that don’t have it. So “eat” is often pronounced as “heat” and “heat” is pronounced as “it.” Given this phonological characteristic, “Hamid” becomes “Amid,” but the interference of the “l” sound in “Abdul” can also cause it to be rendered as “Lamid.” Now, like all Niger Congo languages, it’s unnatural for words to not have a terminal vowel, so a terminal vowel is added to Lamid to produce Lamidi. My friend was persuaded.

5. Muroino or Muraino. As I explained in my introductory remarks, this is the Yoruba domestication of Imran, the father of Maryam (Mary) in the Qur’an. The initial vowel is eliminated and intermediate and terminal vowels are added.

6. Lasisi. This is Abdulaziz. The “Abdul” in the original name is dispensed with, the “z” sound in the other half of the name is replaced with an “s” sound since there is no “z” in Yoruba phonology and orthography, and a terminal vowel (“i”) is added.

7. Romonu (Raymond). This is the shortened form of Abdulrahman. Its domestication follows the same morphological principle as the preceding name. The only thing to add is that in contemporary times many people who bear Romonu (or Ramonu) tend to Anglicize it to Raymond.

8. Sulu (and Sulufilu). Most Nigerians are familiar with the name Sulu-Gambari courtesy of the traditional ruling family in Ilorin. Well, the “Sulu” in the name is the Yorubaization of Zulkarnain (which is more correctly transliterated as Dhul-Qarnayn). Since Yoruba has no “z” sound, the “z” in Zulkarnain is replaced with an “s,” and the rest of the name is lopped off. Sulufilu, another Arabic name that is popular with Yoruba Muslims, is the domestication of Zulkifil.

9. Sumonu. That is Usman. Its formation follows the same morphological process that gave birth to names like Bakare, Buraimo, Disu, and Muraino. I used to have a classmate in primary school whose name was Sumonu Lamidi Lasisi.

10. Sunmola. That is Ismaeel. Like Bakare, Buraimo, Disu, Muraino, Sumonu, the first vowel in Ismaeel is chopped off and intermediate and terminal vowels are added to it.

Concluding Thoughts

Several other names came to mind when I thought of this article—names like Waidi (Abdulwahid), Mukoila (Mikail), Muda, (Mudassar), etc. There are also other names that I simply couldn’t trace to any existing Arabic name I know of, but which Yoruba Muslims bear nonetheless. This includes names like Shittu, Gbadamosi (now rendered as Bhadmus, which Hausa people bear as Badamasi), Raji (which many Fulani from northeastern Nigeria also bear), etc. I hope someone reading this can educate me on the origins of these names.

Whatever it is, it is remarkable that Yoruba Muslims have successfully domesticated Arabic names to the point of making them sound like native Yoruba names.

By Farooq A. Kperogi, Ph.D.

African cities with the highest population growth 📊 rate

1. Lagos Nigeria 🇳🇬 

2. Kinshasa, DRC 🇨🇩 

3. Cairo, Egypt 🇪🇬 

4. Luanda, Angola 🇦🇴 

5. Dar es Salaam, Tanzania 🇹🇿 

6. Nairobi, Kenya 🇰🇪 

7. Johannesburg, South Africa 🇿🇦 

8. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 🇪🇹 

9. Dakar, Senegal 🇸🇳 

10. Accra, Ghana 🇬🇭 

Source; Business insider

Lt. Colonel Chris Ugokwe (left) and Brigadier Muhammadu Buhari captured together in an undated photograph (Likely circa early 1980s)

Both men joined the Nigerian Army in the early 1960s (Ugokwe claimed that he enrolled on the same day as both Buhari and Shehu Musa Yar'Adua).

Ugokwe was officially put on army leave after the "reprisal coup" of July 1966. His escape from the North which had become unsafe for officers and people of Eastern Region origin was facilitated by Lt. Colonel Hassan Usman Katsina, the governor of the Northern province to whom he was serving as aide-de-camp. In September 1966, Ugokwe was escorted to Kaduna Railway station by Ibrahim Babangida and Garba Duba before embarking on his journey to the Eastern Region.

Ugokwe fought on the side of the secessionist state of Biafra between 1967 and 1970 as a brigade commander. He was reabsorbed into the Nigerian Army after the civil war with a loss of seniority.

He was significantly involved in two prominent military operations after his reabsorption into the Nigerian military.

As a Major, he was instrumental in flushing out  dissident soldiers led by Lt. Colonel Buka Suwa Dimka from Broadcasting House during the abortive coup of February 13th 1976. The mission was organised by the "Core Commander" of the Armoured Corps, Lt. Colonel Babangida (in relation to whom Ugokwe had had 6 months seniority when both were members of the Armoured Recce Squadron prior to the civil war) and carried out on the ground by Ugokwe, the Regimental Commander, and Lt. Colonel M.B. Mayaki; Ugokwe leading the armoured offensive and Mayaki (himself an armoured corps officer) the infantry assault. Captain Jimmy Okojoko was also an influential fighter on the ground.

As a member of the General Staff in April 1983, Lt. Colonel Ugokwe was assigned by Major General Buhari, the General Officer Commanding (GOC) the Third Armoured Division in Jos, to recapture 21 islands located on Lake Chad from Chadian forces led by Idriss Deby, the Chief of Army Staff. Ugokwe arranged for the relocation of the headquarters of the Third Armoured Division to Maiduguri and in combination with 21 Armoured Brigade succeeded in recapturing all 21 islands along with an extra two islands that were seized.

He retired in 1985 as a Lieutenant Colonel.

Lt. Colonel Ugokwe died on December 30th 2016.

Muhammadu Buhari was involved in the coup which overthrew Major General J.T.U. Aguiyi-Ironsi in July 1966 and fought for the Federal side in the Nigerian Civil War. He was also involved in the coup of July 1975 which removed General Yakubu Gowon and brought to power Brigadier Murtala Muhammed.

During the 1970s, Buhari served as a military administrator of Bornu State, the Federal Commissioner for Petroleum and Natural Resources and as Military Secretary.

Buhari graduated from the US Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, as a Master in Strategic Studies. During the early 1980s, first as a Brigadier and then as a Major General, he went on to perform General Officer Commanding roles for army divisions; two infantry and the other armoured, before he emerged as the Head of State following the coup which overthrew the civilian administration of President Shehu Shagari on New Years Eve in 1983.

Buhari was himself overthrown by a coup led by Major General Ibrahim Babangida in August 1985. He was placed in detention for a period of time.

Buhari made a number of failed attempts at becoming a civilian president during the 2000s, but is presently serving his second term as a civilian president of the Fourth Republic.

NIGERIA’S 1ST FEMALE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY MEMBER

Chief Wuraola Adepeju Esan (1909–1985) was a Nigerian politician, feminist, and teacher. By serving as the 10th Iyalode of Ibadan, she combined her political ambitions with those of a traditional noblewoman.

Wuraola Adepeju Esan was born in Calabar in 1909 and attended Baptist Girls College in Idi Aba, Abeokuta, before transferring to United Missionary College to pursue a diploma in teacher training.

In 1934, she married Victor Esan and they lived in Lagos for a short time. She returned to her hometown of Ibadan a few years later.

Although educational opportunities for women were limited during the colonial era, Esan founded the Ibadan People's Girls Grammar School in Molete in 1944 to educate women in a variety of subjects, including domestic science.

In the 1950s, she became involved in partisan politics as a member of the Action Group's women's wing. Despite the fact that women were important tools for gaining votes, few were given official power and party-wide responsibility.

Esan, on the other hand, rose through the ranks to become the first female member of the Nigerian National Assembly in 1960, as a senator from Ibadan West. She was a founding member of the National Council of Women Societies as well.

In 1975, she became the 10th Iyalode of Ibadan – a high-rank traditional office that was first occupied by Iyalode Subuola around the year 1850.

RASHIDI YEKINI

ALL TIME TOP GOALSCORER FOR NIGERIA 

Rashidi Yekini was born in Kaduna on 23rd October 1963.

After starting his professional career in the Nigerian league, he moved to Ivory Coast to play for Africa Sports National, and from there he went to Portugal and played for Vitória de Setúbal where he experienced his most memorable years, eventually becoming the Primeira Liga's top scorer in the 1993–94 season after scoring 21 goals; the previous campaign he had netted a career-best 34 in 32 games to help the Sadinos promote from the second division, and those performances earned him the title of African Footballer of the Year once, the first ever for the nation. In the summer of 1994, Yekini signed for Greek club Olympiacos, but did not get along with teammates and left soon after. His career never really got back on track, not even upon a return to Setúbal which happened after another unassuming spell, in La Liga with Sporting de Gijón; he successively played with FC Zürich, Club Athlétique Bizertin and Al-Shabab Riyadh, before rejoining Africa Sports. In 2003, aged 39, he returned to the Nigerian championship with Julius Berger FC.

In April 2005, 41-year-old Yekini made a short comeback, moving alongside former national teammate Mobi Oparaku to Gateway United FC.

Scoring 37 goals for Nigeria in 62 appearances, Yekini is the national record goalscorer. He was part of the team that participated in the 1994 (where he netted Nigeria's first-ever goal in a World Cup, in a 3–0 win against Bulgaria, his celebration after scoring, crying while holding the goal's net, became one of the iconic images of the tournament and the 1998 FIFA World Cups.

Additionally, Yekini helped the Super Eagles win the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations in Tunisia where he also topped the goal charts and was named best player of the competition. He also participated at Olympic level in Seoul 1988.

His professional career, which spanned more than two decades,was mainly associated with Vitória de Setúbal in Portugal, but he also played in six other countries besides his own. Yekini scored 37 goals as a Nigerian international footballer, and represented the nation in seven major tournaments, including two World Cups where he scored the country's first-ever goal in the competition. He was also named the African Footballer of the Year in 1993.

Yekini was reported to be ill for an extended period of time. In 2011, news media in Nigeria begun issuing reports of his failing health, and he was said to suffer from bipolar disorder, depression and some other undisclosed psychiatric condition. He died in Ibadan on 4 May 2012 at the young age of 48, the news being confirmed by former national teammates Mutiu Adepoju and Ike Shorunmu; he was buried at his residence in Ira, Kwara State. He was survived by his aged mother, brother, wives and children, among others.

May his soul continue to rest in peace.Amen

By Oluwafemi Omodara

THE IMPORTANCE OF DRUMS IN AFRICAN TRADITION

Drums are a very essential member of the percussion group of musical instruments. They are normally played by beating with the hand, or with one or two sticks with or without padding. Depending on the class of drum and the type of sound expected, various sticks can be used. They could be wooden sticks, brushes or even sticks with a soft beater of felt on the end. On the surface, they appear like instruments that are solely used for music and eventually, entertainment and for evoking happiness.

However, there’s more to drums, especially within African culture and tradition. African drums have a unique and more profound symbolic meaning when compared with western music. Traditionally, these drums represent the soul of the community they’re found in. They are used for celebrating ceremonial events and rituals within the community. They are also employed as tourist attractions in various African countries, promoting and exhibiting African heritage and culture.

Depending on the place, the importance of these drums changes. Here are some popular African drums and how they’re regarded in their various communities:

Karyenda

The Karyenda comes from Burundi and used to be the main symbol of the country. It also represented the Mwami (King of Burundi) and had semi-divine status. It is believed that the Mwami could interpret the beatings of the karyenda into rules for the kingdom. As expected, these drums were sacred and were mostly used in rituals, major events for the king, such as royal coronations. They were also used at funerals, and weddings were announced through the drums. The beating of the drums also signalled certain rites, such as when the mwami rose in the morning or retired in the evening.

These drums were normally kept in drum sanctuaries, guarded by the Hutu families, who were the only ones the king allowed to manufacture, play, and keep the drums or bring them to court for an occasion.

Djembe or Talking Drum

The talking drum dates as far back as 500 A.D where it served as the secret drums in major societies for the rite of passages, ancestral worship, rituals and social dances. According to the Bambara people in Mali, the name of the djembe comes from the saying “Anke djé, anke bé” which translates to “everyone gathers together in peace” and this name defines the drum’s purpose. In the Bambara language, “djé” is the verb for “gather” and “bé” translates as “peace.

It is believed that this drum contains three spirits. First, the spirit of the tree from which it was made. Then, the spirit of the animal whose skin is played, and the spirit of the carver or the one who cut the tree and the people who assemble the drum. Traditionally, only those born into the djembe family would be allowed (or interested) to play the djembe. This caste sings and perform during rituals, baptisms, weddings and sometimes funerals, and are trusted with the music of their ancestors.

Entenga

The Entenga drums were part of a set of royal instruments of the Buganda Kingdom in Uganda. According to Musisi, the last surviving drummer who played in the palace, the King loved the drums so much that he asked the drummers to play every morning at 3 am. He felt that the drums were so perfect, that this was the only time of the day when it was quiet enough to appreciate them fully. These drums have also been used to accompany traditional African religious activities like prayers, droughts, and removing evil spirits in the communities.

Ngoma

Ngoma (also called engoma or ng’oma or ingoma) are instruments used by certain Bantu populations of Africa. Ngoma gets its name from the Kongoword for “drum”. These drums are used in ceremonies in Central and South Africa, where the primary aim is to assist in healing during ceremonies. The rituals involve regular music and dance and can result in stress reduction, social support and support of pro-social behaviours. Ngoma usually serves as a means to unite the tribe and help in health or life transitions. The ngoma drum is also used in Zimbabwe, mainly for traditional dances and celebrations.

Gbedu

Gbedu means “big drum” and is an instrument traditionally used in ceremonial Yoruba music in Nigeria and Benin. The Gbedu drum is traditionally used on state occasions or during ceremonies of Ogboni, the ancient Yoruba secret society. The Gbedu, otherwise known as Ogido, is one of the four major families of Yoruba drums; the other families are the Dundun/Gangan or talking drum, the Batá drum and the Sakara drum. Each family includes drums of different sizes, with the mother drum (iya ilu) playing the lead role and other drums playing in support. Among the Yoruba, the Gbedu drum signifies royalty. In ceremonies such as the rite of Isagun, the Oba might dance to the music of the drum. If anyone else used the drum, they were arrested for sedition.

By FRANKLIN UGOBUDE

Source: GUARDIAN Newspapers

HISTORY OF POPULATION CENSUS IN NIGERIA

Nigeria has a long history of census takings spanning over a century. The first census was conducted in 1866 and this was followed by Censuses of 1871, 1881, 1891 and 1901. However, all these earlier censuses were restricted to Lagos Colony and its environs. The 1871 census marked the beginning of decennial census taking in Nigeria in line with the British decennial tradition.

Following the amalgamation of the Lagos Colony and the Southern Protectorate in 1906, the 1911 census extended to some parts of the Southern Protectorate. It was marred by incomplete enumeration because some parts of the South had not recognized the legitimacy of the Colonial Government.

The amalgamation of the Southern and Northern protectorates in 1914 by Lord Lugard provided the impetus for population census that had wider coverage. Like in other censuses, the results of 1921 census were population estimates based on tax records as the aged, infants and tax evaders were excluded. Similarly, in the then Northern region, during the period mentioned above, the census result was based on population estimates from existing records or vital statistics.

The tax riots in Calabar and Owerri provinces in the then Eastern region prevented enumeration in the major towns of these areas in 1931 while the locust invasion resulted in the diversion of some census staff to anti – locust duties in some parts of the Northern provinces.

The outbreak of the Second World War disrupted the conduct of decennial censuses and as such no population census was conducted in 1941.

The 1952/1953 Population Census was regarded as the first modern, national and carefully planned census in Nigeria. The principle of simultaneity was not complied with as the census enumeration was staggered. The census of Northern Nigeria was conducted between May and July, 1952 while that of West and Mid-West were conducted in December 1952 and January 1953 respectively. Census in the East was conducted from May to August, 1953. This enumeration strategy made the comparability of data between one region and another difficult. Furthermore, the disruption of the Second World War made people suspicious of the intention of the exercise and therefore many people did not submit themselves for enumeration. This meant that the exercise was characterized by gross under enumeration.

The 1962 population census covered the whole country and was undertaken simultaneously during the month of May. Although the census was given adequate publicity, the results were not acceptable to the regions on grounds of high politicization.

The refusal of the government to accept population census of 1962 prompted the 1963 population census which critics claimed were arrived at by negotiation rather than enumeration. The result was contested at the Supreme Court which ruled that it lacked jurisdiction over the administrative functions of the Federal Government.

The 1973 Census conducted between November 25 and December 2 was not published on the ground of deliberate falsification of the census figures for political and /or ethnic advantages.

The 1991 Census was conducted under Decree 23 of 1989 which set up the National Population Commission. It was conducted all over the country from November 27 to December 2, 1991.This was the most scientific and most acceptable until the 2006 Population and Housing Census. In March 2006, Nigeria, for the first time, conducted a Population and Housing Census.  Several stages were involved in the project. For the first time, the use of GPS and Satellite Imagery to carve out Geo-referenced EAs was adopted. Also Machine readable forms (OMR/OCR/ICR) were used to record information from respondents. 

Source: Gossip House

A LIST OF OBAS (KINGS) TRADITIONAL TITLES IN YORUBALAND

Ooni of Ile-Ife

Alaafin of Oyo

Awujale of Ijebuland

Alake of Egbaland

Olowu of Owu

Olubadan of Ibadan

Soun of Ogbomoso

Oba of Benin

Owa Obokun of Ijesha

Osemawe of Ondo

Ebumawe of Ago Iwoye

Ataoja of Osogbo

Deji of Akure

Timi of Ede

Orangun of Ila

Alapa of Okin-Apa

Eleko of Eko

Aresa of Iresa (Aresapa of Iresa apa, Aresadu of Iresa Adu)

Olugbon of Orile Igbon

Onikoyi of Ikoyi

Alaje of Ilu-Aje

Okere of Saki

Aseyin of Iseyin

Onilala of Lanlate

Eleruwa of Eruwa

Alaketu of Ketu

Alepata of Igboho

Oluwo of Iwo

•••

Olugbo of Ugbo

Olowo of Owo

Ajero of Ijero-Ekiti

Alara of Aramoko-Ekiti

Alawe of Ilawe-Ekiti

Ewi of Ado-Ekiti

Ologotun of Ogotun-Ekiti

Oloye of Oye-Ekiti

Owa Ooye of Okemesi-Ekiti

Olu of Itori

Alaga of Aga-Olowo

Olusi of Usi

Olofa of Ofa

ọwá of idanre

•••

Akarigbo of Remo

Olu of Mushin

Alaperu of Iperu

Onisaga of Isaga

Olubara of Ibara

Ogiyan of Ejigbo

Lalupo of Gbagura

Alaye of Aiyetoro

Olota of Ota

Olu of Ilaro

Olufi of Gbongan

Attah of Ayiede Ekiti

Ebumawe of Ago-Iwoye

Onjo of Okeho

Ayangburen of Ikorodu

Ogoga of Ikere

Orimolusi of Ijebu-Igbo

Akaran of Badagry

Akire of Ikire

Osolo of Isolo

•••

Oniwere of Iwere-Ile

Apetu of Ipetumodu

Olu of Mushin

Alaye of Efon-Alaye

Onisanbo of Ogboro

Aare of Ago-Are

Olojee of Oje-Owode

Asawo of Ayete

Onigbeti of Igbeti

Olokaka of Okaka

Onipopo of Popo

Onitede of Tede

Onisemi of Isemi

Onipapo of Ipapo

Alageere of Ofiki

Ajoriwin of Irawo

Onimia of Imia

Onidere of Idere

Obaro of Kabba

Olore of Ore

Onpetu of Ijeruland

Osile of Oke-Ona egba

Orimolusi of Ijebugbo

Onido of Iddo

Onigbaja of Igbaja

Onibeju of Ibeju-Lekki

•••

Oloja of Epe

Alaawe of Awe

Oba of Agboyi land

Olugijo of Ogijoland

Alabere of Abere Ede

Ologobi of Ogobi Ede

Olu of Sekona Ede

Olu of Owode Ede

Owa Ale of Ikare

Omola of Imala

Alara of Ilara-Mokin

Akibio of Ilora

Olofun of irele

Jegun of Idepe

Jegun of ile-Oluji

Orungberuwa of Ode-Erinje

Halu of Ode Aye

Laragunsin of Iyasan

Lapoki of Igbolako

•••

Alara of Igbokoda

Lumure of Ayeka

Sabiganna of Igana

Afonja of Ilorin

Owa of igbajo

Onijaye of Ijaye

Oloro Of Oro

elesa Of Oke Ode

Ogunsua of Modakeke

Oluressi of lressi

Olojudo of Ido-Ekiti

Owa-Oye of Oke-Imesi

Olokuku of Okuku

Olunisa of Inisa

Oloyan of Oyan

Onijabe of Ijabe

Onigbaye of Igbaye

Afaji of Faji

Akosin of Ekosi

Alaje of Ilu Aje

Olokua of Oku

Alagbeye of Agbeye

Onila-odo of Ila-odo

Atapara of Iyeku

Elekusa of Ekusa

Olojudo of Ido Faboro Ekiti

Alase of Ilasa Ekiti

Sano of kogga

Alasaba of Asaba

Alasi of Asi

Olopete of Opete

Olopanda of Oponda

Aromolaran of ijesaland

Olu ifon of ifon

Odemo of Isara

Aringbajo of Igbajo Ijesa

•••

Alamodu of Ago-Amodu

Onigbope of Igbope

Obalufon of Sepeteri

Alagbole of Agbonle

Olowu of Telemu

Odemo of Ishara remo

Olaogboru Adimula of Ifeodan

Aragbiji of Iragbiji

Olororuwo of Ororuwo

Olona of Ada

Alaagba of Aagba

Are of Ire

•••

Alageere of Ago Are,

Oloto of Are

Oloba of Oba Osin

Oloru of Oru Ijebu

Olu of Ile-Ogbo

Olokuku of Okuku

Oluressi of lressi

Ajalorun of ijebu ife

Oloko of ijebu imushin

Elese of ilese ijebu

Moyegeso of ijebu itele

Owa-akinfin of ikinfin

Oloko of oko

Oloba of oba-oke

Oniluju of Iluju

Onifaji Of faji

akosin Of ekosin

•••

onigbaye Of igbaye

olokuku Of okuku

olunisa Of inisa

Owa Oroo of Agbado Ekiti

Aree of ireeland

Owa of Otan Ayegbaju

Aragberi of Iragberi

Alayegun of Ode-Omu

Owatapa of Itapa Ekiti

Oloro of Oro

Eleju of Sanmora

Onikoko of Koko

Oniganmo of Ganmo

Olupo of Ajassepo

Elesie of Esie

Elese of Igbaja

Aala of Ilala

Oloyopo of Eggi-Oyoipo

Oludopo of Okeyapo

Aboro of ibese land

•••

Olu of sawonjo

Eleyinpo of Ipapo

Onisemi of Isemi-Ile

Oluigbo of Igbojaye

Awaraja of Iwaraja

Alana of Oke-ana

Alatori of Atorin Ilesha

Alada of Ada

alaigbajo of arigbajo

onifo of ifo

Olorile of orile Ifoland

Oni ilepa of ilepa ilepa

Edemorun of kajola

•••

Olomu of omu aran

Aloffa of ilofa

Olosi of Osi

Elepe of epe

Ekesin of ora igbomina

Olobaagun of Obaagun

Olugunwa of Oke Amu

Ololo of Oolo

Onimaya of maya

Onidada of dada

onidiemin of idi-emin

Onipara of Ipara

Olokua of Okua

Alaaye of Oke-Ayedun

Oniroko of Iroko land

Owatapa of Itapa Kingdom

•••

Olowu of Owu-Kuta

Elese of Igbaja

Oree of moba land

Oree of otun

Ẹbùrù of ibà.

Agbolu of Agbaje

Olu of Afowowa Sogaade

Oloto of Ofiki

Aare of Sando Ofiki

Oloba of oba

Alakola of Akola

Olora of Ora-Ekiti

Olopete of Opete

Alakanran of Araromi

Alararomi of Araromi Aperin

Oniye of Iye-Ekiti

Olowu of owu-isin

olusin of isanlu-isin

olusin of ijara-isin

olusin of iji-irin

oniwo of oke-aba

oniwo of odu-ore

oloba of oba-isin

elekuu of odo eku-isin

•••

alala of ala-isin

eledidi of edidi

onigbin of oke-onigbin

onigbesi of igbesi

Onikole of ikole kingdom

Elegboro of Ijebu-Ijesha

Abodi of ikale land

Olokaka of okaka

Akinyinwa of ikinyinwa

Oluaso of iberekodo land

Oniwere of iwere ile

Salu of Edunabon

Olubaka of Oka land

•••

Onikereku of ikereku

Olukoro of Ikoro Ekiti

Onidofin of idofin

Obawara of iwara-ife

Awara of iwara-ijesa

awara of iwara- Iwo

ogogo of ifewara

Olu of Okeamu

Onigbope of Igbope

Asigangan of Igangan

Olusin of Isanlu Isin

Alaremo of Aremo

Olubosin of ifetedo

Asaooni of Ora Igbomina

•••

Olosan of Osan Ekiti

Elerin of Erinmope

Ajalorun of ife ijebu

Aale of Okelerin

Alabudo of abudo

Onigbamila of gbamila

Alaaye of aye

Olokusa of okusa

Onilai of ilai

Gbelepa of gbelepa

Alaboto of aboto

Onidigba of idigba

Agura of gbagura

Oshinle of okeona

Oloyan of Oyan

Olubaka of Oka land

Aboro of Ibooro land

Olojoku of Ojoku

Onika of Ika

Olomun of omuaran

Onilogbo of Ilogbo

Olumoro of Moro land

Onimeko of Imeko land

•••

Oloola of Ilara

Onidofa of Idofa

Ooye of Iwoye

Obaladi of Afon

Olu of Imasayi

Oluresi of lresi

Obaro of Kabba

alado of ado awaye

alawaye of awaye

Onisan of isan Ekiti

Elero of ilero

Olomu of omupo

Alaran of aran orin

Oluware of iware land

Aganmo of ganmo

Oloola of Ilara-Yewa

Onidofa of Idofa

Ooye of Iwoye

Onipara of Ipara - Remo

Odemo of Isara - Remo

Alakaka of Akaka - Remo

Alara of Ilara - Remo

•••

Agbowu of Ogbaagbaa

Owa of Igbajo

Elerin of Erin Ile

Onibereko of Ibereko

Oore of moba land

Oloba of obaile

Onirun of irun Akoko

Ologbagi of Ogbagi Akoko

Oni lrun of lrun Akoko

Elese of Ese Akoko

Deji of Arigidi Akoko

Ologbagi of Ogbagi Akoko

Oni Irun of Irun Akoko

Elese of Ese Akoko

Eleyinpo of Ipapo

Onidofian of idofian

Alamonyo of amonyo

Onijoun of ijoun

Alagutan of Abegunrin land

Onífẹ̀dẹ̀gbó of Fẹ̀dẹ̀gbóland

Aláyégún of Ayégún

Alie of Ilie

Onitabo of Itabo

Alado of Ado-Awaye

Asu of Fiditi

Olupako of Shaare

Alapomu of Apomu

Alakire of Ikire

Oliyere of Iyere

Oniro of Komu

Akirun of Ikirun

Onidere of Idere

Alajinapa of Ajinapa

Onitewure of Tewure

Arinjale of Ise Ekiti

Olute of Ute

Olopete Of Opete

Elerin of Erin-ile

Alara of ilara Remo

Elese of Ilese

•••••••

Let’s continue learning. Please drop the traditional title of a Yoruba king in the comment box below

Let’s continue learning. Please drop the traditional title of a Yoruba king in the comment box below, we’ll keep updating till we have a concise compilation of Traditional titles.

Don’t forget to share too!

In Yoruba, The seven days are

Ọjọ́-Àìkú (Sunday), Ọjọ́-Ajé (Monday), O̩jọ́-Ìṣẹ́gun (Tuesday), Ọjọ́rú (Wednesday), Ọjọ́bo̩ (Thursday), Ọjọ́-E̩tì (Friday) and O̩jọ́-Àbamé̩ta (Saturday).

Time (Ìgbà, àsìkò, àkókò) is measured in ìṣẹ́jú-àáyá (seconds), ìṣẹ́jú (minutes), wákàtì (hours), ọjọ́ (days), o̩sẹ̀ (weeks), oṣù (months) and ọdún (years).

There are 60 seconds (ìṣẹ́jú-àáyá ọgọ́ta) in 1 minute (ìṣẹ́jú kan); 60 minutes (ìṣẹ́jú ọgọ́ta) in 1 hour (wákàtì kan); 24 hours (wákàtì mẹ́rinlélógún) in 1 day (ọjọ́ kan); 7 days (ọjọ́ méje) in 1 week (ọsẹ̀ kan); 4 or 5 weeks (ọsẹ̀ mẹ́rin tàbí máàrùn-ún) in one month (oṣù kan); 52 weeks (ọsẹ̀ méjìléláàádọ́ta), 12 months (oṣù méjìlá), and 365 days (ọjọ́ mẹ́rindínláàádọ́rinlélọ́ọ̀ọ́dúnrún) in 1 year (ọdún kan).

ỌSẸ̀ in Yoruba calendar Day 

Ọjọ́-Àìkú (Day of Immortality) Sunday

Ọjọ́-Ajé (Day of Economic Enterprise) Monday

Ọjọ́-Ìṣégun (Day of Victory) Tuesday

Ọjọ́rú (Day of Confusion & Disruption) Wednesday

Ọjọ́bọ̀ (Day of Arrival) Thursday

O̩jó̩-Ẹtì (Day of Postponement & Delay) Friday

Ọjọ́-Àbámẹ́ta (Day of the Three Suggestions) Saturday

Oṣù in Yoruba calendar Months

Òkúdù - June

Agẹmọ (Month of the Chameleon)- July

Ògún (Month of the òrìṣà Ògún) - August

Ọwẹ́wẹ̀ September

Ọ̀wàrà or Ọ̀wàwà (Month of the Cheetah)- October

Belu November

Ọ̀pẹ (Month of the Palm Tree) - December

Ṣẹrẹ January

Èrèlé (Month of Blessings of the Home) - February

Ẹrẹ́nà March

Igbe (Month of Proclamation) -April

Èbìbí (Month of Request & Petition) -May

Monday, 20 June 2022

Yoruba leaders disagree over origin, meaning of their name

…’Yoruba’ is derived from derogatory word, ‘Yariba’—Fani-Kayode

…Why earliest Hausa/Fulani called our forefathers ‘Yariba’— Prof Ajala

…It was accepted, adopted out of ignorance —Rt Hon Jumoke Akindele

…It’s an untrue, unreliable history—Chief Erubami

…O’dua citizens must rise up now —Yoruba Council of Elders

…Yoruba doesn’t exist in Ifa — Elebuibon

By Dayo Johnson, Ola Ajayi, Rotimi Ojomoyela, Shina Abubakar

Yoruba is one of the three largest ethnic groups in Nigeria.They are concentrated in the Southwestern part of Nigeria.

The people constitute about 40 million in the West African region and 35 per cent of Nigeria’s population making them one of the largest ethnic groups in Africa according to CIA World Factbook.

The people of this ethnic group were regarded as descendants of a hero called Odua or Oduduwa and they are generally called Yoruba and have Yoruba as their common language though they have several dialects. But do the people who are called by that name really know the origin and the meaning of the word ‘Yoruba’? How did the word ‘Yoruba’ come about?

A member of the race and former Aviation Minister, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode has traced the history behind the name. His discovery stung him. He has therefore rejected to be called ‘Yoruba’, which he discovered to be insulting and derogatory and called on all the descendants of Oduduwa to renounce the name given to them by their historical adversaries.

According to Chief Fani-Kayode in his official Tweeter handle, the Hausa/Fulani gave the people of the South West region the name ‘Yariba’, from which Yoruba was derived, which means “shady and unreliable”.

He said “I reject that strange name and label. I am not a ‘Yariba’ or ‘Yoruba’ but an ‘Omo karo jire or an ‘Oduduwan’ and my language is not ‘Yoruba’ but ‘Anago’. We are what we call ourselves. We are not “shady and unreliable”(Yariba) and we must not accept names given to us by our historical adversaries.

“Any Omo Karo jire or Oduduwan that continues to call himself a ‘Yoruba’ is lost and does not know the implications of what he is doing to his own people. He is simply affirming and confirming an insulting label which has deep sinister, mystical and spiritual connotations.

“The word ‘Yoruba’ did not even exist until the 18th century and even then, most of the tribes of the South West, including the Oyo people rejected it due to its origin and meaning. The word ‘Yoruba’ is alien to our culture and not known in the Anago language. Oduduwans please take note”, he said.

Many leaders in the South West region agreed with his submissions but argued that the name has become entrenched and it would be a mere academic exercise to try to change it. Some questioned the source and veracity of his claim and rejected it outright, wondering why he just woke up at this time in our political era to say something like this. To them, his claims cannot be divorced from his political sentiments. To some, however, it is time Yoruba paid attention to it and did the needful.

The claim is mere academic exercise—Chief Sola Ebiseni

In his reaction, a prominent member of the Pan Yoruba Socio- political group, Afenifere and former commissioner in Ondo state, Chief Sola Ebiseni said “it is an interesting statement which is certainly not unlike the former Minister as an undoubtedly Yoruba compatriot.

While some of his assertions have historical veracity, they have really become a mere academic exercise because Yoruba has become so entrenched worldwide as both a national and linguistic identity, especially that the name does no harm to the race with which it is identified. It is true that Yoruba may be relatively new since it is indecipherable from Odu ifa.

Even in many parts of Ondo State today, people still refer to themselves as Ondo, Idanre, Ilaje or Ikale but refer to their brethren from Oyo, Osun and Kwara as Yoruba while Lagos and the riverine Yoruba refer to other Yoruba people as Ara-Oke, that is, people of the upland.

To the best of my knowledge, the Anago tribe and dialect which he recommended is not of general application. In fact, Anago is a tribe territorially stretching from the Yewa area of Ogun state to the Ketu Yoruba of the Republic of Benin. As widely accepted as the father-figure status of Oduduwa is, you still find a good number of Yoruba groups who claim different origins from the Oduduwa narratives. As for the claim that the name had its origin from Hausa traders, we are not hearing that for the first time and not new in historical relationships.

You never can tell how the word Hausa emerged. The same Hausa themselves became a Fulani colony which is in an unprecedented assimilation process which has become part of their existence. Bini is said to be a name given by Oranmiyan which is said, literally, to mean anger. Yet Benin waxed stronger as a dominant sovereign.

Whatever meaning is said to be associated with Yoruba in Hausa language, I am enamored with the beautiful meanings ascribed to it by the Yoruba themselves. I prefer the meaning given Yoruba by Hubert Ogunde in one of his powerful songs: Yoruba yoyo, (shining like light in the night); Yoruba rururu ( roaring like sea waves); Yoruba, baba ni baba nse (Yoruba, leader without blemish).

The earliest people accepted it out of ignorance ——Rt Hon Jumoke Akindele

The first Female Speaker in the Ondo State House of Assembly, Rt Hon Jumoke Akindele said, “the origin of the Yoruba word is too recent to be lost. It is unfortunate that our children have not been given the benefit of history as a compulsory course in our schools. As recently as the 18th Century, there was no word called “Yoruba”. We, as a people were loosely held together by our common source. We identified with each other as brothers and cousins, as children of the same progenitor. We did not have a common name.

It came to be for the first time in a treaty signed by the then Oyo Kingdom and the Songhai ruling dynasty when they met a brick wall in their conquest campaigns towards the Atlantic. They found us to be smart which they considered as being devious and they also knew that we essentially shared the same source with them, though to them we were no longer of pure blood, hence had become bastards. This wrong perception bred the word “Yariba” (from which the word Yoruba was coined) which of course was largely derogatory.

The earliest people with whom they met might have accepted this because they had not mastered the language of the foreigners at the time. But those who were further south rejected the appellation for a long time and it is on records that the Egbas, Egbados, Ekitis and Ijeshas rejected the appellation vehemently up until as recently as the second half of the 19th Century apparently because the meaning of the word was understood by then. The word Yariba actually meant “shady and unreliable bastards” and to that extent, I wish to align myself with the position of Femi Fani-Kayode to the extent that we must sit down as a people to review what we are called.

It’s high time we rediscovered ourselves——Dr Olajide, Scribe, Yoruba Council of Elders

The Secretary-General of Yoruba Council of Elders, Dr Kunle Olajide said, he has also been feeling uncomfortable about the coinage of the word, Yoruba. According to him, “for a long time I have not been comfortable with the word “Yoruba” because the nomenclature is not self explanatory. Nobody has been able to tell me the meaning of Yoruba. I may not be able to confirm Femi Fani-Kayode’s theory about those who coined the word to describe us but our linguists in the South West must immediately set about finding a new self explanatory word in Omoluabi style to call the descendants of Oduduwa. It is high time we rediscovered ourselves.

For too long, we have continued to live under the shadow of the colonialists. We ought to have in fact changed the name Nigeria, an entirely foreign name which was the creation of Flora Shaw (Lord Lugard’s girlfriend). Until we have the required courage to shed this foreign toga, it is then we can make progress. Unfortunately the Military Constitution with the dysfunctional system of Government we are operating keeps producing mediocre, incompetent leadership class in Nigeria having wrong people in right places.

Fani-Kayode should be commended for waking us up from our deep slumber. Nigeria remains in the doldrums because we have lacked the courage to get out of the web of conspiracy by the colonialists and their collaborators. Odua citizens must rise up and commence actions to lead Nigeria out of this unfortunate quagmire. Time is running out”, he said.

Why the earliest Hausa/Fulani coined the name ——Aderemi Ajala, Professor of Anthropology

Professor Aderemi Ajala, in his own contribution disclosed that as odd as Fani-Kayode’s position is, it is a fact. He said the term Yoruba has no place in the race lexicon, adding that even Ifa does not make any reference to the race as Yoruba. Ajala added that none of the 256 ifa odus ever mentioned the word yoruba. He however agreed that the term was derived from the word Yariba, which the early Hausa/Fulani that had contact with the people used to describe the race.

He said, “Femi is correct. Up till now, the term Yoruba is not found in Yoruba lexicon. It has no meaning and Ifa does not make reference to it at all in all its odus. Ifa refers to people in a particular geographical area as Eniyan Oyo, (people of Oyo); Eniyan Ife,(People of Ife); Eniyan Egba, (People of Egba); etc. Yoruba came from the term Yariba which the earliest Hausa/Fulani that had contact with Oyo people called the Oyos. Then, they saw Oyo people as very cunning and not straightforward. In Awde’s dictionary of Hausa, Yariba means cunning and deceitful. I stated this clearly in my book published in 2013 titled: “Yoruba Nationalism: Culture, politics and violence in southwestern Nigeria”, 1900- 2013. It was published by Rudigger Koepel, Cologne (Germany)”.

Having been adopted, the name remains—— Chief Akin Fasae

The Chairman Afenifere Ekiti state Chapter, Chief Akin Fasae however said the name has been adopted long ago and will remain so. According to Fasae, “Yoruba is a name that has been adopted long ago by the Yoruba’. That is how we met it and we adopted it as the name of our tribe. Fani-Kayode can pick any name if he wants something contrary. He can go and research and come out with his own name”. Chief Fasae said that the Yoruba’ have other important issues begging for attention rather than dwelling on trivial issue. “The Yoruba people have more important national issues to discuss as a people. That is not our problem”, he said.

Fani-Kayode’s assertion is political, unacceptable——Col Dansaaki

Also reacting, a former President of the Yoruba Council of Elders, Col S.A Dansaaki Agbede(retd), faulted Chief Fani-Kayode in his assertion which he described as political and therefore unacceptable. He said, “I don’t know where he got this from. But, I know that Yoruba had been existing before the coming of Usman Dan Fodiyo. May be he doesn’t know the word Yoruba is in the Bible. I will send the portion of the Bible where you can find this later. To be using political connotation in an issue like this is wrong and unacceptable. I admire him for being exuberant on issues, but as for this subject matter, no.”

This is an unnecessary diversion—Yemi Farombi

Also speaking, Chief Yemi Farounbi, a prominent Yoruba leader, expressed skepticism about the genuineness of the claims saying he felt rather uncomfortable with the claims of Femi Fani-Kayode.

He said, “what I gathered from a write-up by Professor Adebanji Akintoye implied that the claims that it was the Fulani that coined “Yoruba” might not be correct and we will be building on a very faulty foundation”. According to Chief Farounbi “It is an unnecessary argument. What we should be trying to achieve is good governance, jobs for our unemployed youths, good education and development. I see it as an unnecessary diversion which we don’t need at this time”.

It is untrue, unreliable history—Chief Mashood Erubami

In his own comments, Comrade Mashood Erubami, the Convener of Voters Assembly and a human right activist, said with the narrative, we are “bringing him to limelight again. He is somebody who should be on sabbatical. He is just being given undue recognition. He is just bringing it up as part of his agenda. He is bringing back untrue and unreliable history. This is not the kind of people that Yoruba want now. We want people who will bring meaningful progress to Yoruba land”.

Yoruba doesn’t exist in Ifa – Elebuibon

A renown traditionalist and the Araba of Osogbo, Chief Ifayemi Elebuibon said prior to contact with the Hausa/Fulani, the race was known as the people of Ife, saying it was unfortunate that the people failed to coin a word to call the race before coming into contact with the Hausas.

According to him, the race was usually referred to as ‘aku’ in the very early stage because of the way the people greeted each other. He agreed that the race was given the name Yariba from which it became Yoruba, saying the earliest leaders of the race failed to have a collective name.

Elebuibon added that the race ought to be called the people of Ife, as that was how Ifa referred to the race.

He said, “we are people of Ife, it is rather unfortunate that we didn’t have one word to call all Yoruba before Fulani or Hausa gave us Yariba to become Yoruba. ‘Aku’ is the word they used for us in the beginning because we used to greet each other by saying ‘aku owuro’ (good morning), ‘Aku asaale’ (Good evening), it is ‘aku’ people or ‘anago’ that other Africans referred to us”. He argued that since the people originated from Ile-Ife, the race ought to be known as the people of Ife . “Actually, since the origin of Yoruba was Ile Ife, ‘Eni ‘fe, abi ara Ile Ife loye k’a ma je’, (we ought to be called the people of Ile Ife”), he added.

Source: Vanguard Media Limited, Nigeria.

NIGERIA – British Incorporated (3)

When I stated last week that H.E. Tinubu’s visit to PMB was to assure the UK government of his unalloyed loyalty. UK government wanted an assent attestation from PMB of his support for Tinubu’s ambition to be Nigeria president come 2023. Such assurance attestation will be tabled before Her Majesty and British government officials for further scrutiny. We are all aware that Tinubu started his electoral campaign from the UK, but he was asked to go home and obtain a concrete evidence of his loyalty to Britain as PMB did. In that closed-door meeting between PMB and Tinubu, there was a written document in a questionnaire format. Tinubu must answer those questions and signed the letter attached therein. He did and hence he boasted of being the next president of Nigeria. He wanted Britain to understand his loyalty attestation when he said that he will continue from where PMB stopped. A mere mortal won’t understand the true meaning of that simple phrase of continuity. It’s not about PMB policies directions continuity, but a pre-planned British Incorporated company objective continuity.

As I was still musing about Tinubu’s body language on his convinced mien about being our next president, he jetted out of the country to UK last weekend, and according to his aide, his principal (Tinubu) travelled to UK to rest before the electoral campaigns kickstart. And many of us believed without asking questions about how there’s no other place in Nigeria where Tinubu could rest.

Are we having a Nigerian president or a UK envoy?

The truth is that Tinubu has gone to the UK to submit his answer sheet to the questionnaire format to the Her Majesty and Boris Johnson government officials to verify if PMB’s signature specimen was properly assented. He will then have a one-on-one interview by the Nigeria Board of Directors composed of all British Oil companies Management officials. Once his candidacy has been approved by UK government, we should forget about our voting rights and privileges.

Lensen Ibekwe’s comment to my earlier series to this article was a vindication of the present pathetic state of Nigeria leadership enthronement. Hear him: “Dear DSM, this article scored the bull’s eyes. Like every lamentation, Nigeria’s seemingly irredeemable woes are transparent but everyone who have crookedly ascended leadership positions have viewed them with opaque eyes…..As for the contraption called Nigeria, everything possible must be done by the Engineer (Britain) to keep massaging the lie. Our today’s so-called leaders are mere District Heads as applied during the indirect rule of our Colonial Masters. And whose loyalty are secured through coercion and blackmail”.

As I am writing this piece, there are many Nigeria top government officials who are in UK, and their main objective is to be part of the emissaries that will lead Tinubu in defense of his manifesto in UK. Tinubu didn’t go to UK to rest, but to get approval for his presidential ambition. Yes, he may be resting as per his unstable medical health conditions, but I’m assuring all Nigerians that even if Tinubu is on a wheelchair, he will be the president of Nigeria in 2023 if UK approves.

Have we forgotten the late President Yar’Adua’s case? He was in a German hospital while OBJ was making a phone call on his sickbed.

Who’s not aware of the health conditions of President Yar’Adua when UK, in collaboration with OBJ hoisted a sick president on Nigerians?

“Nigeria is a country where abnormalities reign with impunity and the people rave about their hardships as zombies that are senseless”. DSM.

Atiku should not make the mistake of 2019 by going to USA, but should equally queue in, and do everything possible to ensure that he has the backing of UK government. He must try to give UK government his loyalty and put to table, what Britain stands to gain if he becomes the president. Let there be comparisons between Tinubu and Atiku, otherwise, Tinubu will be hoisted on us by fire by force, and by UK government, Nigeria crook billionaires and PMB’s signature attestation.

This week, we saw many Northern APC Governors, Senators and leaders paying a courtesy visit to Atiku, an ambitious PDP presidential aspirant, in his home. These are the same shameless leaders that were hailing Tinubu as their incoming president in UK a few months ago.

The outcome of such a meeting should be a clear indication of the North still reneging on the unsigned mutual agreement of zoning the presidential candidate based on the North and South formula.

*Where’s The Igbos?*

The sad truth is that the Igbos have become a beggar zone that has forgotten the power of her economic buoyancy and scattered population coverage. In a decent society, Igbos should be lured to lead this country, and the reason being that the country needs the economic ingenuity of the Igbos.

In 2021, Igbos in diaspora remittance was in the neighbourhood of $5billion. Traders and manufacturers in Alaba, Nnewi, Onitsha, Abuja, Aba, Kano, Ladipo, Trade fair, and Diobu generated another estimated revenue of about $5billion. This is estimated at about N6 trillion. The entire Nigeria budget provisions: Estimated Revenue N7.99 trillion, Actual Revenue N8.13 trillion and we ended up with a budget deficit of N6.45 trillion as against the approved N5.6 trillion.

From the above, Igbos generated more than 75% of the entire country’s revenue.

The only remaining enemies to the Igbos becoming the president of Nigeria is not necessarily the population vaunting of the North, or the trickery of the West and South, but their coming together as one entity. Igbos have all it takes to be the president of Nigeria even if UK becomes the permanent abode of the would-be contestant. Enough of playing second fiddle, and drumming a myopic idea of marginalisation. London is where Nigeria president is being decided on and not running around like chickens looking for the devouring hawks within the vicinity of Nigeria soil.

This is my free feasibility study for anyone who is interested to becoming Nigeria president. Don’t waste your time and money to campaign if you’ve not been given a provisional approval rating by UK government. All that you need to do is to go to London with your crooked documents on what UK government stands to gain if you are a president. It’s all about whose beneficial document benefits UK government and oil companies that will be considered.

Nigeria is a corporate entity of UK, and only the person whose interests are going to benefit the Chief Executive gets the promotion of becoming a president.

The sad truth about Igbos ascension to the Nigeria presidency is that Igbos are not trusted especially with the new wave of agitations for independence. UK government will never allow any person with any inclination to restructure the pathetic arrangements of Nigeria. That’s the biggest problem that the Igbos must fight against. 

If you can read the first part of this article, you’ll understand why it’s going to be very difficult for an Igbo president to emerge in Nigeria. 

As at now, most notable UK, European and American universities are studying the traits of an average Igbo person. Igbos are special species because they are not only intelligent, but they are rare breeds in terms of migration resilience and insightful economic pace setters. They’re never afraid of situational changes because they are born strategists. UK government doesn’t want such genetic inference as a leader in Nigeria.

Back To the Basics:

Who would have ever believed that PMB will be voted for the second term in office after all known dismissal stewardship in his first term?

I won’t even delve into his WASC attestation ‘wahala.’ It’s in the public domains, but who dares challenge the top management (Britain) decisions on who manages a branch of their estate or company (Nigeria)?

It’s ALL ABOUT who gets the approval from the Chief Executive Officer of Nigeria and Nigerians British incorporated venture.

Stop being ignorant of why Nigeria has remained unprecedented a miserable state right from the past, today and probably, in the future.

Nigeria to foreigners does not exist, because we have not found out why and how Nigeria was incorporated by Britain. Until we delve deeper into the motives of why British government has remained dumbfounded to the freedom agitations in Nigeria while she’s enjoying such from European Union freedom PHILOSOPHY, we will keep feeding the Nigeria incorporation headquarters that’s based in London.

Let’s wake up from our mental enslavement and get it deep into our skulls that Nigeria is the most viable British government’s business venture and not an equal partner in the committee of nations.

Did you think that GEJ just handed power to PMB on a platter?

Wake up. He didn’t. Forget his most quoted phrase of, ‘My ambition is not worth spilling the blood of any Nigerian’. The intrigue was that there were secret phone calls from different dimensions and countries. It was when the British government aligned with PMB, and which was communicated to GEJ that he knew that the game was up. In order to give him a soft landing, certain promises were made to GEJ. Such promises include: 1. He will not be probed despite all the reckless approvals that depleted our foreign account reserve. 2. He will be made a statesman in terms of leading certain government envoys presentations as a way to launder his image and the corruption escalation mess in his regime. 3. He may be reconsidered to contest in 2023. 4. None of his assets will be touched or be investigated.

While we’re sleeping, dreaming of an ideal country, some foreign countries together with our saboteurs in leadership are planning on how to use our lives as cheese games.

If we miss it in 2023, we will live to regret our actions even in the graves.

(Stay tuned till next week for continuation)

By Dr. Sunny Oby Maduka.

Independent Newspaper.

Saturday February 05, 2022.

"Dr. Sunny Oby Maduka (DSM)", is an Author, Resource Personality, Management Consultant/ Trainer, Chartered/Certified – Au d i t o r / A c c o u n t a n t , Financial Compliance Expert, Economic/Political Analyst Strategist, Marine Expert and Motivationist).

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