WHAT IS THE TRUE STORY OF THE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE OF IJEBU? CAN YOU TELL YOUR OWN VERSION

The Ijebu People inhabit the South-Central part of Yoruba land – a territory that is bounded in the North by Ibadan, in the East by Ondo, Okitipupa and the West by Egbaland. The Southern fringe is open to the sea with the coastlines of Epe, Ejinrin, and Ikorodu. Despite the political division which has these three towns in Lagos while the main part of Ijebuland is Ogun State, the people have always regarded themselves as one entity even when the immigration ­legends which have often been cited point in dif­ferent directions

There are many sides to the story of the origin of Ijebu People. Some say the origin is biblical Jebusite, some say Mecca, others Ethiopia, and Southern Sudan among others.

One of the migration legends that Ijebu traditional historians tend to stick to is that the people migrated to their present territory from a region of Sudan called Waddai which means that the Ijebu had a parallel migration wave just like other Yoruba who believe they came to their present abode via Oduduwa.

That claim seems to be corroborated by a publication by one Hailemariam which states that “the most powerful people that the Negede Orit (ancient Ethiopian immigrant into Africa) met in East Africa were the Jebus.” Their King was claimed to be so influential that he appointed the gover­nors of Yemen. If that king was the same Olu-Iwa, the legendary first Ruler of Ijebuland, we do not know.

There is a lot of evidence in support of the fact that the Ijebus migrated into Nigeria from Sudan. The most ob­vious is the Sudanese tribal mark which, though varied, is duplicated all over Yoruba land. In particular, the three ver­tical marks on both cheeks are the national marks in Ijebu. Moreover, in the border between South Sudan and Ethiopia, the original language which the Arabic language has super­seded is very similar to Ijebu dialect.

Names of people such as Saba, Esiwu, Meleki (a corruption of Menelik) and many others are still common in Ijebu and the South of Sudan. A kind of flute which was formerly used during the coronation ceremony of the Awujale is still used in Ethio­pia and South of Sudan. In the second place, the passage quoted from ‘Ethiopian History’ by Hailemariam at the beginning of this essay shows that Negede Orit which entered Ethiopia several cen­turies before King Solomon and the famous Makida, Queen of Sheba (about 900 B.C.) met the Ijebus on the East Coast of Southern Sudan.