Oba, Nigeria

Oba (correctly Ọ̀bà, but also written as Òbà), is an ancient Igbomina town in northeastern Yorubaland of Nigeria in Isin Local Government Area. It is also known as Oba-Igbomina, and is one of the five related Yoruba towns named "Oba" -

*A. Oba-Ile [Olorunda LGA, Osun State] , located about 15 km northwest of Osogbo] ,
*B. Oba-Oke [Olorunda LGA, Osun State] , located north-northwest of Osogbo,
*C. Oba-Ile [Akure Central LGA, Ondo State] , located just east of Akure, on Akure-Owo Road,
*D. Oba-Akoko [Akoko SW LGS, Ondo State] , located northeast of Owo,
*E. Oba-Igbomina [Isin LGA, Kwara State] , located north-northwest of Omu-Aran and north-northeast of Oke-Onigbin.

The original Ọ̀bà was capital of an ancient Ọ̀bà kingdom, reputed in oral history of the region as a center of great wealth and enterprise. Most of the extant Oba towns claim to be the original Oba.

History

Recent archeological research results (and published works of oral history experts, anthropologists and archeologists of the Arizona State University, USA and the University of Ibadan, Nigeria); of the region's contemporary and later settlements suggest that Ọ̀bà was founded between the 9th and 10th centuries. The cyclic conflicts with the neighbouring Nupe resulted in cycles of abandonment and reoccupation of the Òbà mother city.

British colonial records of Oba-Igbomina, indicate that the ancient Ọ̀bà kingdom uses the "iron crown and rod" as the insignia of the king, perhaps as a result of their early involvement with iron-smelting and iron-working technology. Oratures makes references to "idẹ" which is brass not "irin", which is iron. Therefore, the "iron" crown and rod are more likely to be made from some alloy such as brass or bronze. Subsequent Yoruba kingdoms (perhaps including Oba), used beaded "crown and rod" insignia, (possibly because precious stones and glassware replaced metalware as the symbol of high rank and wealth).

The ancient Ọ̀bà kingdom produced a series of diasporas which influenced several other Igbomina and non-Igbomina Yoruba kingdoms and towns. There are five towns with the name "Oba" in Yorubaland: Oba-Ile near Osogbo, Oba-Oke near Ikirun, Oba-Igbomina - generally called Oba without the Igbomina or the historically recent Isin tag, Oba-Ile near Akure, and Oba-Akoko. It seems that none of these themselves is the original Oba, but that they are diapora settlements of Oba people.

Several of the clans that migrated away from the ancient Òbà kingdom retained oratures which refer to their ancestry from the ancient Ọ̀bà. One of such Ọ̀bà-diaspora clans is that of the royal Oba'lumo lineage whose ancestor Oba'lumo founded a new city-state called Isedo.

Examples of Igbomina and non-Igbomina towns (in Kwara and Osun states of Nigeria) with large concentrations of people from Ọ̀bà diasporas include the following: Oke-Ila Orangun (Isedo-Oke), Ila Orangun (Isedo), Ora-Igbomina, Ipoti-Ekiti, Isanlu-Isin, Oke-Onigbin, Omu-Aran, Rore, Oyan, Inisha, Ipee, Oke-Ode, Babanla, Ajase-Ipo, Omupo, Esie, Oro, Ijomu-Oro, Iddo-Oro, Idofin, Ado-Eku, Oreke, Sanmora, and Pamo.