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Itsekiri Are  Yoruba-CAN Former President

May 23, 2020
in News
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Itsekiri Are  Yoruba-CAN Former President

 

Pastor Ayodele Joseph Oritsegbubemi Oritsejafor, fondly called

Papa Ayo Oritsejafor by many of his numerous admirers

is the founding and Senior Pastor of Word of Life Bible

Church, located in Warri, Nigeria. He became the

national president of the Pentecostal Fellowship of

Nigeria (PFN) on the 7 February 2005. He was elected

President of CAN, Christian Association of Nigeria.

In this interview, he speaks about the history of Itsekiri

people and other topics:

Q: What would you say is unique about the Itsekiri

people of Warri kingdom?

The first Christian missionary that came here was the

Roman Catholic. In fact, the first contact with a white

man was here. The Itsekiri people are the first contact

with the white man in Nigeria.

By the way, the second thing that many people in

Itsekiri may not elaborate on is that Itsekiri is Yoruba.

The Itsekiri language is a dialect of the Yoruba

language. Itsekiri people migrated from Yorubaland.

Some of them migrated directly from Ife.

Some migrated from the riverine areas of Ijebu, and

some migrated from Ondo. Some of them especially the

ones that migrated from Ife, they migrated with the

Ilaje. The Ilaje stopped at a point but the Itsekiri

continued and they ended up here in Warri.

Now, a few of them came from Benin Kingdom. The Benin

connection came from the palace. The palace

connection is still Yoruba at the end of the day

because the first Oba of Benin was a son of Oduduwa.

The first Olu of Warri was a first son of the Oba of

Benin. That’s the Benin connection. The Itsekiri, when

they moved here, they came with their Ife.

The upland Yoruba called it Ifa. We are the waterside

Yoruba. Our people will call the other Yoruba, Iroke.

They called the Oyo people Iroke and other Yoruba

Iroke but the Yoruba called them Ara Oke. This history

is very important because they are dying away. In

those days, the Ife which the mainstream Yoruba will

call Ifa was the god of divination.

The Ife had told the Itsekiri people that a prince would

come and become their king. Therefore, they stayed

without a king for a very long time, in fact for many

years.

They were waiting for that prince, eventually this

prince who was the first son of the Oba of Benin was a

grandson of Oduduwa. He was very proud so he had a

lot of problems with Benin chiefs.

They were going to kill him. His father who was the Oba

of Benin, you know he was supposed to be the Oba of

Benin after his father, but for his own protection, his

father had to get him out of Benin Kingdom. He gave

him about 70 chiefs.

They smuggled him out, put him in a boat and they

performed all kinds of rituals. They put him in a boat

then sailed to Warri. When he ended up here, remember

our own people were waiting for a prince, they have

been waiting for years.

When he arrived, they consulted their Ife again and the

Ife says, “This is the prince”. So, that was how he

became the first Olu of Warri. That was how the first

Olu of Warri came about.

In those days, in the palace, in Warri kingdom, they

used to speak Yoruba. The palace was 100% Yoruba.

Don’t forget the Itsekiri language is a dialect of

Yoruba land and therefore a Yoruba language as it is

to this day.

The Benin are not Yoruba; they are descendants of

Oduduwa but the palace is Yoruba

 

Source ; Thestreetjournal

 

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    About Irohin Odua

    Irohin O’odua is the prime Yoruba nationalist on line news. Conceived as the voice of the people of the South West, the medium will strive to echo the deep feelings, hope, aspirations and fears of our people in the context of the prevailing culture and political-economy of the Nigerian state.

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