Igbomina

The Ìgbómìnà (also colloquially Igbonna or Ogbonna) are a sub-ethnic people of the Yoruba occupying the north-central portion of the Yoruba region of southwestern Nigeria. They speak a dialect also called Ìgbómìnà or Igbonna, classified among the Central Yoruba of the three major Yoruba dialectical areas. The Ìgbómìnà spread across what is now northern Osun State and eastern Kwara State. Peripheral areas of the dialectical region have some similarities to the adjoining Ekiti, Ijesha and Oyo dialects.

Culture

The name "Igbomina" is attributed as "Ogbo mi mo'na" or "Ogbo mo'na", the contractions of "Ogbo mi mo ona" or "Ogbo mo ona" (meaning "My Ogbo knows the way", or "The Ogbo knows the way") [ Babalola, Olufemi Oladapo. “The Obaala Babalola Adekeye's History of Oke-Ila Orangun - Historical and Constitutional Development of The Ìgbómìnà-Yorùbá Kingdom of Oke-Ila Orangun from its Foundation to British Imperio-Colonialism”. Butubutu Publishers. Austin, Texas. August 1984. ] , which is a reference to the massive "Ogbo" cutlass which was given (according to mythology/oral history) by the ancient Yoruba ancestor-king Oduduwa to his fourth son Orangun, whom he was sending out of Ile-Ife with a crown (as were his six other brothers) to found his own kingdom. Oduduwa told his son, named Fagbamila and nicknamed Òràngún, that the "Ogbo" would lead the young prince to a suitable place to settle down but he should also use it to clear his way as he proceeds in the forest.

The Ìgbómìnà are renowned for their agricultural and hunting prowess as well as their woodcarving, leather art, and the famous Elewe masquerade, an Egungun representing the ancestors during special festivals.

Government

Ìgbómìnàland consist of three local government areas (LGAs) of Kwara State: Irepodun, Ifelodun, and Isin LGAs, as well as two local government areas of Osun State: Ifedayo and Ila LGAs. The major Ìgbómìnà cities in Osun State are Oke-Ila Orangun, Ora, and Ila Orangun, while the major Ìgbómìnà cities in Kwara State (which has most of the Ìgbómìnà land and population) include Òbà, Ajase-Ipo, Oke ola Oro, Oke-Onigbin, Isanlu-Isin, Omu-Aran, Esie, Igbaja, Oro-Ago, Aran-Orin, Arandun.

Neighbors

Ìgbómìnàland is adjoined on the west and northwest by major neighbours such as the Oyo-Yoruba region, on the south and southwest by the Ijesha-Yoruba region, on the south and southeast by the Ekiti-Yoruba region, on the east by the Yagba-Yoruba region, and on the north by the non-Yoruba Nupe region south of the Niger River. Other minor neighbours of the Ìgbómìnà are the Ibolo sub-group of the cities of Ofa, Oyan and Okuku in the west.

Archaeological and linguistic evidence suggest that the Ìgbómìnà people probably predated the surrounding peoples except perhaps the Nupe and the Yagba. Ìgbómìnàland definitely predated the Oduduwa era as evidenced by oral traditions of royal and non-royal migrations from Oduduwa’s Ile-Ife which met existing dynasties in place but displaced, subsumed or subjugated them. It appears that aside from more recent conflicts in the last two centuries, the Oyo, Ijesha, and the Ekiti may have in more ancient times, pressured the Ìgbómìnà, captured territory in the plains and restricted them into the more rugged and lower-quality land of the Yoruba hills. The Ìgbómìnà, on the other hand, appear to have pressured the Nupe and the Yagba and taken territory away from them in places, but also losing territory to them in other places. Major upheavals, conflicts and wars as well as epidemics have resulted in major ancient dispersals and migrations such as the Òbà diasporas documented in the oral history, oral poetry and lineage praise songs of several Ìgbómìnà clans.

The Ìgbómìnà (like the Ijesha), may have lost some territory to their Ekiti neighbours during various conflicts and wars of the nineteenth and preceding centuries. Evidence of such lost territory is in the strong Igbomina content in the dialect of the Otun kingdom, which was actually claimed during the British colonial era as part of Igbominaland by the Orangun of Ila.

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