Elemi, Igede-Ekiti

In virtually every Yoruba town, like many other places in Nigeria, there are different taboos which no one is allowed to violate freely. And anyone who violates such taboos does not go unpunished.

Igede-Ekiti, headquarters of Irepodun/Ifelodun Local Government Area of Ekiti State, is no exception to this rule, said its traditional ruler, Onigede of Igede- Ekiti, Oba James Aladelusi. Speaking with Daily Sun recently, the monarch listed the taboos of the town.
Igede is one of the first towns founded in Ekiti land.

The ancestor of the town, Ake and his wife, Erindo, migrated from Ile-Ife. The patriarch, according to Oba Aladelusi, had 16 children who grew up to become very powerful. After his death, the power struggle over who would ascend the throne led to a serious crisis, to the extent that they resorted to using diabolical means to fight one another.

Legend has it that four of the children transformed into rivers, while some of the rest disappeared into the ground alive! Among those who reportedly turned into rivers were Osun, Elemi, Ogbese and Orunro.

According to Igede mythology, the Elemi River in Igede- Ekiti till today was the Elemi, son of Igede the founder, while the River Osun which flows to Osogbo, in Osun State, is believed to be the Osun, another son of the founder of Igede-Ekiti. Likewise, Ogbese and Orunro rivers are also in Igede. But while Ogbese is like a brook in Igede, Orunro is at the boundary of Igede and Awo-Ekiti.

The monarch added that River Osun which has its source from a spot in Igede where it is worshipped annually, is well celebrated annually in Osogbo, where the river is very wide and flows heavily.

The Elemi River has been helpful. Oba Aladelusi said:  “If someone is sick or childless and visits the river, the river has therapeutic power of healing the sick and providing child for someone who is childless and in need of one. Consequently, the river is worshipped annually in the month of May. But with the advent of Christianity, such belief and worship have suffered a great decline.”

Speaking on the relationship between River Elemi and the people of Osun or River Osun, the Onigede said: “Elemi is different from River Osun. And Elemi is the one we have here and that River Osun flows through the two bridges in Ara and also before you get to Ijero in Ekiti State. River Osun also flows through that area, down to Imesi-Ile area in Osun State, to many different areas.

“This explanation became necessary because of series of misconceptions by people who say that it is River Elemi that flows into Osun State. River Elemi on its own flows down to Ado-Ekiti and the people of Odori Street in Igede do worship it. Elemi didn’t flow down to Osun. But, both Osun and Elemi are from the same father before they turned to rivers.”

Igede means incantation. It was gathered that the last born of the founder of Igede named Okunsosi, was a hunter who did not have much power as his other siblings. So, he did not turn into anything. After the whole crisis had ended, he was chosen by the people around then to be the king over the land.

Going by the myth, the land was neither referred to as Igede nor the monarch named Onigede. The name Igede came to being after Okunsosi became the king, when people started referring to the settlement as the place where people chanted a lot of incantation. Since then, the town has been referred to as Igede.

Oba Aladelusi: “But we never knew what the town was being called before then. The only thing we knew was that it was located on a hill called ‘Ori Oke Su’. There was one notable idol at the Oke Su where the Post and Telecommunications erected its mast.
“The Oke Su was the first settlement of the early settlers. But as they increased in number, they moved away from the hill to settle at the present site of Ekiti Baptist High School.

“Both the Onigede and Aworo Oloro used to meet for a particular sacrifice in those days of my forefathers, because that place was their home. Later they left there and my forefathers built their palace here. However, it was not the only one they had then because there was another palace at Odugede.”

The monarch noted that there were a lot of festivals in the town since the time of their forefathers which are not much celebrated again due to advent of Christianity: “Because Igede happens to be one of the towns that embraced Christianity so early. But in the olden days, the people did worship and celebrate Osun, Ogbese, Elemi and Ogun.”
Notable idols worshipped by the Igede people included Oromo. The Oromo is one of the sons of the ancestor of Igede who disappeared into the ground and promised the people of the town to always call on him whenever the people of Igede were faced with any difficulties, especially war. He was reported to have won a battle for them since which the people of Igede have continued to worship him

The monarch said that it is a taboo to shout aloud unnecessarily around the Elemi River. He added that in the olden days the river did give out chickens (both male and female) as gifts to people. He said there are places in the Onigede’s palace where no one is allowed to shout aloud.

He said anyone who violated such taboos were forced to pay for it by buying a he-goat which he or she would bring for sacrifice. Nowadays, such taboos are seen as superstitions and not hearkened. The cause of this, according to Oba Aladelusi, is the belief of people in Christianity and rejection of tradition.

(THE SUN)