Category: Tradition – Customs
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LIPEDE Mofolorunsho Oyebade, ninth Alake of Egbaland who reigned from August 1972 till his demise in 2005, one week after his 90th birthday. As the Alake, Lipede was part of the lobbying for the creation of Ogun State, and the designation of Abeokuta as the state capital. He is remarked to have demystified the palace…
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ADETONA Sikiru Kayode, The Awujale Ogbagba II of Ijebuland. During the 1960s crisis in the Western region, Adetona expressed views which were adverse to the Obafemi Awolowo camp. A chief of his royal court, E.O. Okunnowo, had crossed path with former Premier and party leader Awolowo, and he, Adetona, had a personal relationship with Awolowo’s…
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Talking drum called Gangan was invented in Old Oyo Empire at an unknown date. It is mostly used in the Oba’s palace to praise-sing eminent chiefs who come visiting, primarily to extol the virtues of the Oba. When handled with dexterity the talking drum can mimic human voices. Gangan consists of a widely hollow and…
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Itsekiri are a small ethnic group in southern Nigeria, numbering just over 30,000 in 1952. Due to the position of their homeland- western area of the Niger Delta and the estuary of the Benin River, the people in in the 18th century became wealthy as middlemen between European traders whose ships lay off the habour…
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Eyo Honesty II was the king of Creek Town, one of the Southern Nigerian towns of the Efik people who presently constitute the chief population of Calabar. Eyo is remembered in history for his modernizing effort, and for being an instrument by which British rule became enacted in the Niger Delta. His name, Honesty had…
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Igbe is a monotheist religion existing among the Urhobo people of southern Nigeria. It was founded by Ubiesha Etarakpo, a mystic from Kokori in Delta State. Precepts of this movement, which has been argued by scholars to be non-syncretic, is claimed to be in the service of Owheya, called the supreme divine being. For lack…
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Nri Civilization occasioned a medieval Igbo institution, located in the colonial Awka division. The town of Nri was hypothesized by A.G. Leonard, British royal officer in 1902 as the fountainhead from which all the other clans of Igbo, eastern Nigeria’s tribe of the greatest number, sprung. The culture of Nri, as stated by Onwuejeogwu in…
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Idejo chiefs are according to Lagos tradition, the original land owners of the island of Lagos, being descendants of Olofin who first colonized Iddo Island of Lagos. Some members of the Idejo aristocracy, the Elegushi for example, have had their status elevated to that of an Oba. The thirty-two children of Olofin (some of who…
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Iledi osugbo Abalaiye is a pre-colonial period pagan ritual site along Ajina Square in Ikorodu. It was built in 1810 by joint community effort. It is a traditional Yoruba compound in Ikorodu. The building is used for the traditional rights and installation ceremony of the Obas and Chiefs; it is also used as the residence…
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Asara is traditionally known as Oduduwa’s appointed priest in Mecca who extended the worship of multiple gods to the disdain of Moslems, who were at the time, subdued. Asara’s son, Braima, who was opposed to this practise, had caused a riot that led to the great exodus of Oduduwa and his kindreds to Ile Ife.…