Oduduwa is the eponymous founder and ancestor of the Yoruba race. Both titles attributed to him, however, appear not to be literal. The most plausible representation of him is of a Prince installed by, or aligned with the Byzantine imperial powers, who fled to West Africa due to a major religious strife between Chalcedonian Catholics and the anti-Chalcedonian Catholics, which snowballed, into a Civil War. The more idealized version must have developed much later, owing to the need to develop a more idyllic view of this respected King of Ife, probably the first. That Oduduwa came from heaven is apparently the imagination of subsequent Yoruba kings who desire, like their counterparts in Medieval Europe, to be seen as having derived their authority from God.
It is not surprising that all Yoruba kings trace their genealogy to Oduduwa some way. The name Oduduwa probably means Odu, the container, and Iwa, behaviour; hence, Oduduwa must have been seen as gentleman personified, or the essence of culture. This etymology again, appears to be older than the other version, which explains the name simply as Odu, a container, hence, accepting it as meaning ‘container of existence.’ Oduduwa died in Ile Ife, loved and cherished by the people. He must have reigned as Ife king in old age, or at least in his middle age, hence, his highly cultured, fatherly disposition. The people of Ile Ife, from which the entire Yoruba nation arose, did not only see him just as a king or father but as the first most important figure in their long oblique history. It may thus be accepted that he was the founder of the Yoruba nation.
That Oduduwa was a Mecca prince has been contested by one of the earliest modern day Yoruba historians, Samuel Johnson, his reasons been that there is no parallel record in the annals of Mecca princes, of a riot of such magnificence. Oduduwa may have been a black occupier of some Arabian territory, backed by foreign powers, possibly Byzantine imperial authorities. If this line of thought is true, then nothing can be more probable than the supposition that this prince was either Egyptian himself or backed by the Egyptians who were at that time practicing mainstream Catholicism. This theory, brought forward by Samuel Johnson himself, together with insight given on the person of Oduduwa also sheds a light on the dating of this event.
Johnson’s Oduduwa
One thing that is apparent from stories that were told of Oduduwa is that he was chased to Ile Ife not by Moslem enemies but by fellow Christian adversaries who opposed the Chalcedonian orthodoxy. The Idi, traditionally known as the Koran that was recovered from these enemies were said to have been kept by the Oduduwa warriors and venerated as a spiritual object. Common logic proves this inaccurate. One is more likely to burn an enemy’s artefact than venerate it. Idi, as Samuel Johnson also conjectured, could have been a copy of the Bible, a precious substance to the two opposing camps, the Bible at that time, been a very scarce item.
What seem more probable about Oduduwa is same historian’s hypothesis that Oduduwa was a Christian conqueror of minor Eastern territory, whose sale of idols has been misconceived by early Oyo oral historians as polytheism. The idols could have been images of Virgin Mary, and of the saints. Gods, after all, are supposed to be objects of veneration, not to be sold. It is unthinkable that a Middle Age priest would sell the images of the gods to people and engender personal relationship of the people with the gods, thereby compromising their own relevance. One is bound to wonder if Asara, who was Oduduwa’s priest, would rather not have people come to his shrine to grovel at the image of his gods. The sound of Oduduwa’s priest name, Asara, lend further credence to this supposition, Asara, being a corrupted pronunciation of Ansara, the name by which followers of ‘Christ the Nazarene’ are frequently called.
Now, if Oduduwa was a Christian, a full traditional one who remained aligned to the church in Rome after the great controversy that torn the church in Egypt apart, what kind of Christian was he? Definitely not more than a ceremonial one. He must have seen religion as a tool of power and as a powerful minority leader, has subdued the Coptic Christians in his minor province with the help of the Byzantine authorities, the empire that survived the fall of Rome. On his expedition across the Sahara, he had met Agbonniregun, who introduced Ifa divination to him. He had also subsumed his own ways under those of the aborigines, political influence, been the goal of his policies. However, there are indications that he must have made efforts at evangelizing, because the earliest of Yoruba histories showed perverted understanding of the scripture. The story of Moremi and her son, Ela, is much like that of the Virgin Mary and Christ, especially because Ela, or Olurogbo was supposed to come back to the earth to reign probably same way he ascended into heaven. Also, Oranyan, who was Oduduwa’s last son, as king, had left a stern injunction to his beloved servant Adimu at Ile Ife to keep the Idi (most likely a Bible) together with Orisa Osi as the national objects of worship [i].
Benin’s Oduduwa
Omo N’Oba N’Edo Uku Akpolokpolo Erediauwa, Oba of Benin in his 2004 autobiography, I Remain Sir, Your Obedient Servant, countered the popular belief that Oduduwa is the progenitor of the Yoruba race. The Oba also queried the long-held belief of his origin. His version states that Oduduwa was a Benin fugitive prince named Ekaladerhan, who was banished to be executed, but spared by the executioner. He later found himself in Uhe (Ife) where fate got him to the throne. Ekaladerhan changed his name to Imado d’uwa (I have not missed my way to good fortunes), which was over time, corrupted to Oduduwa.
Seventy years after the death of his father, Ogiso Owodo, the people of Benin, went in search of him to succeed his father, after they learnt that he was alive. When they eventually found him in Ife, they persuaded him to return and ascend the throne but he declined and sent his last son, Oranmiyan instead. But Oranmiyan abandoned the throne after, in anger, when he could not assert his royal authority. Before then, however, he had sired a son called Eweka, who later became the first ruler to assume the title of Oba in Benin[ii].
Argument about Oduduwa
No Yoruba historian has been able to prove yet, Odududwa’s Arab names. As an illustrious Arabian prince, Oduduwa must have been a staunch Moslem but Yoruba historians have failed to enlighten anyone so far about how he adjusted so easily to the Ifa mysteries. Oduduwa did not invent Ifa but appears to have been a strong adherent and custodian of it so effortlessly. For a Moslem with possible jihadist credentials, Oduduwa’s easy conversion to Ifa must have been a great feat considering Mohammed’s open rage against what he called serving more than one God. To try to overcome this observation, some Yoruba historians claim that Oduduwa was an idol worshipper who escaped from persecution during Arabian antiquity. Weil, Mohammed’s era does not equate with the beginning of time. It was only 1500 years ago, 300 years before the birth of Oduduwa and encompassing a period of rather modern documentation of history. There is no record so far from outside the Yoruba tribe, at least, about an illustrious Arabian prince who escaped persecution at home to surface in Yoruba West Africa in the last 800 years because he was an idol worshipper [iii].
[i] History of the Yoruba, Samuel Johnson, 1920
[ii] TELL August 16, 2004
[iii] The News July 26, 2004