Igwe Achebe's apparent misreading of Reality, andattempt to distort Yoruba's History

The Igbimo Odo Yoruba, wishes to use this medium, to express our dissatisfaction, with the recent claim by the Obi of Onitsha, His Royal Majesty, Igwe Alfred Achebe, where He claimed, that the Igbos were the first tribe of people, to settle in Ile Ife, which is globally known as the source of the Yoruba race.

We view this statement, credited to the respected Royal father, as one joke taken too far. We are amazed, that this is coming at a time when credible intelligence report has shown to us, the attempt, by some foreign forces, to infiltrate Yoruba Land, starting with the use of false claims and propaganda, as a strong weapon in the bid to acquire the entire South West of Nigeria in a long term plan.

It is a common knowledge, that the South East and its people, have over the years, largely depended on the good will of the Yoruba people, for their economic prosperity and exploits.

It is therefore unimaginable, that the best, that these group of statesmen, could consider to repay the kindness of the Yoruba, is to distort our history as a people, and make such attempt which ultimately is aimed at also claiming our land. We strongly advise, that this is a futile mission, that will bring disgrace to the Igbo race.

Firstly, the position of Igwe Alfred Achebe can be set aside as a cultural and historical opportunism, as well as a distortion of history.

However, the words of the chemist turned monarch cannot be swept under the carpet, because it is devoid of logic and empirical evidences, and it is founded on a sinister plan to take advantage of the historical gap in Yorubaland which the Olugbo of Ugboland, Oba Frederick Obateru Akinruntan, CON has been striving to fill, regarding the original settlers of Ile Ife.

The claim of Igwe Achebe is baseless, laughable and it is high time we straightened all those who are bent in disrupting the authentic history of Yorubaland, including the horde from the South East of Nigeria.

Also, the academia, cultural groups, monarchies and all Yoruba institutions would have poured out a deluge of responses to Igwe Alfred Achebe if not because our people say, “ile la ti n ko esho rode” i.e “charity begins at home”.

It is also instructive, to admonish Nigerians, particularly the Yoruba people, to disregard claims, from some quarters, that the Igbos of the South East and not the Ugbos of the Ilaje Coastal areas of Ondo state, are the aborigines and the original settlers of Ile Ife.

It must be stated categorically that the term Igbo in relation to South East, Nigeria was not in existence until after the period of the Nigerian Civil war. Igwe Alfred Achebe must be aware that linking of the Igbos originating from Ile Ife fails all empirical tests.

The Igbos have no similarities in cultural dressing, linguistics, traditional corpus, ethnography, geography, prose, poetry and drama, songs and folklores, landmarks, deities, festivals as well native rites and initiations, naming and burial rites etc that link them to Ile Ife as against Ugbo Ilaje who have their kith and kin in present day Ile Ife, as well as an aboriginal palace and several quarters belonging to Ugbo people in present day Ile Ife.

At this juncture, we urge all Yoruba institutions in Nigeria and in the Diaspora, to condemn this raging attempt, to distort the history of our race, for the sake of our generation and generations to come.

We must not also forget the responses of two of our illustrious Sons and eminent Professors who faulted the claim of the Igwe Achebe and the Ooni of Ife, as an error of vast magnitude. In the words of Professor Isola Olomola, “there is no confusion anywhere because the history being discussed here were events of several centuries and the Ibos were never called Igbo until after the civil war. There is no authentic research work that traced the history of Ibos to Ile Ife. Some of their scholars claim they are part of Jews that did not follow Israelites to the Promised Land”

Also, Emeritus Professor of History, Anthony Asiwaju from the University of Lagos said “I think the claim of Ugbo being the indigenous inhabitants of Ile Ife in the Pre-Oduduwa narration is derived from the Moremi legend. The reference is to Ugbo but it does not mean the Igbo of Eastern Nigeria, and I am happy that some books have clarified that”

We also encourage, Igwe Alfred Achebe to lead his team of Eastern academics to study the works of Professor I. A. Akinjogbin, Professor J.A. Atanda, Professor J.A. Ademakinwa, and other Professors of History who unanimously assert that the Ugbo people of coastal Yorubaland are the original settlers of Ile Ife who Oduduwa met at his arrival in Ile Ife.

It must be stated here and now that all Institutions in Yorubaland will resist the clanger dropped by Igwe Alfred Achebe and others, who are in a bid to further disrupt the history of Yorubaland to their own advantage.

Signed
Olufemi Lawson,
Convener,
Igbimo Odo Yoruba