Prince Oshimore and his wife Adorake are said to have migrated from Ife Island to Ijebu Ode in the 15th century, where he became king and ruled over Ijebu Oda. From time to time, envoys were sent from Ile Ife to inquire about the welfare of King Oshimore. This is because there was chaos and war during their reign and since he (Oshimore) was descended from the ruling king of Ife, he may have needed warriors to help him in his empire by incorporating the people into his empire (Ijebu Oda). But King Oshimore will always send an emissary with a message in Yoruba: “Ija osi elelemele,” meaning…THERE IS NO FIGHT AND EVERYONE IS OBLIGATED TO USE HIS CUTLASS TO FARM, NOT TO FIGHT. For this reason, he was referred to as OSHIMORE ONIJA OSIELELEMELE. Ijebu Oda had a very peaceful reign and King Oshimore gave birth to many children including two princes and a princess. Onayelu is the name of the first son of King Osimore and Osimade (Ofinranoye), the second son. The most famous girl among King Osimora’s princesses was “Beje”.The first son (Onayelu) was a great hunter and warrior while the second son, Oshimade, was a successful trader.
According to law and tradition, Onayelu was the first heir to the throne and crown prince (Olijasi of Ijebu lgbo), but he also became the king’s favorite son for the role he always played as a warrior in defense of his father’s dynasty. Secondly, as a hunter, he always went hunting with his lieutenants and colleagues to bring back meat and agricultural products to his father to support the family. A man named Ogunelegi was a great hunter from Ile Ife who came to Ijasi to hunt where he met the crown prince of Olijasi, Prince Onayelu and they became best friends. Prince Onayelu took with him Ogunelegi, his friend and a number of other supporters including Abijaparako, Tanrin Larinkoye, Laporu, Liyan the blacksmith, and Adeferingana on a routine hunting trip in the Ijasi forest called Ijebu Igbo.
During these hunting adventures, he and his friends killed an elephant on the way to Ijebu Igbo and after killing the animal, they came across strange pearls inside the elephant. The place where the strange elephant was killed was later named “HYPERIN” and is located between Ijebu Ode and Oru Ijebu. He brought the beads to his father Oshimore and they were used to make his father’s first traditional crown. This made his father love him so much and he blessed him to take the throne after his death.
The great hunter prince Onayelu always came to Ijebu Igbo to hunt, accompanied by his friends and his lieutenant. It was later said that his best friend named Ogunelegi decided to stay and settle in Ijebu Igbo because the prince always wanted to return to his father’s house in Ijebu Ode after hunting. The place where he settled is called Ibido Ode, now IDODE in Ijebu Igbo. Laporu then decided to set up his own camp in Ilaporu, just a few kilometers from Ogunelegi camp.This place is still called ILAPORU. King Oshimore grew old and weak due to frequent illnesses, so he gave the royal crown to his first son after blessing him and anointing him as heir to the throne. When Prince Onayelu recovered and retained the crown, he set out on his usual hunting trip to Ijebu Igbo. This hunt lasted much longer than before, so the king (Oshimore) died, and his successor (Prince Onayelu) was nowhere to be found. The people and the leaders had been waiting for the return of Prince Onayelu for a long time, but after waiting for so long, the leaders began to doubt whether Prince Onayelu was still alive. His brother, Prince Osimades, then pressured and bribed him to succeed their leader, before the return of Prince Onayelu, his brother, Prince Oshimade, was crowned the new king. Prince Onayelu’s favorite hunting ground is where many otako trees grow, because this is where he usually sees and kills large and valuable animals.That’s why the place is now called OKE OTAKO, currently OKETAKO. One day he shot an elephant in Oketako, but the elephant wandered away from the area and later died in a place where many melons (Atowo melon) grew naturally. This is the place now called ITOWO. They killed an elephant and found a melon seed inside. They were surprised and decided to cook the seeds for their taste as well, as they were palatable to animals, so humans might also find them tasty. Yes, it was so delicious after being cooked with elephant meat.
So, King Onayelu took a lot of Atov melon and elephant meat and sent them home for his father to taste. When those he had sent returned home, they learned that their father was dead and returned to the Hunting Forest to tell Prince Onayelu the bad news. He had to prepare a proper burial for his late father and immediately ascend the throne when the new Olijasi, Prince Onayelu and his friends returned home but met his brother; Prince Oshima ascended the throne. He got angry and asked the kingmaker why they crowned the king without seeing the royal crown? King Oshimade (Ofinranoye) was completely subject to his brother’s curse as he had no male heirs.
Despite several rituals and vows to lift her brother’s curse, she gave birth to daughters instead. His first daughter was named Dorioye… “I ascend the royal throne”, “Moshibi” means “bad birth”. She also had “Omosha” meaning “just a little girl”, Shenlu, and each of her children married outside Ijebu Ode and eventually named their settlement after them, e.g. B. Ododoroye, Odoshenlu, Odomoshibi, Okemosha. Prince Onayelu traveled to Ijebu Igbo but his sister Beje, dissatisfied with what was happening in the palace in Prince Onayelu’s absence, decided to go with him and also brought some powerful deities for the king to use in rituals and decorations.One of the deities who accompanied Prince Onayelu to Ijebu Igbo was the Chief Priest Agemo MAKI AGEMO LADUBBO. The prince arrived at Idode Ijebu Igbo and met OGUNELEGI, his friend who was leading the preparations for the prince’s coronation as the first OLOJA IGBO of Ijebu Igbo. The king had three sons, namely:USEN, IKUPAKUDE and the third OJUROMI.
Queen Sister Beje married Gbayin, an Igbo-Oye man near Egba land. They then settled in OKE AGBIGBO (now Oke Agbo). Oke Agbigbo is the place where the king usually goes to hunt a huge bird called a hornbill.
At this time there is a businesswoman named SOPEN. He usually bought game meat from the hunter and sold clothes called UKALE.The clothing trade was not a small business at that time, so the king urged them to settle permanently in Ijebu Igbo. She settled down and later married Adeferingano’s son, omo olowu; one of Ogunelega’s lieutenants. The king named the place where they settled OKE SOPEN. Where a house was built it was called AGBOLE OLOWU.
HOW THE REAL NAME OF OLOJA IGBO BECAME ORIMOLUSI. Before Onayelu was crowned king, he lived in IDODE with his friend Ogunelegi and they used to go hunting with their slaves and return to display their market (OUA) at different stalls. In Idode, there is a small market where various people gather to display and sell their various products (Oja). One day while they were hunting, they both shot an elephant at the same time and started arguing about who should get the most expensive and valuable parts of the elephant. This caused a major split and Prince Onayelu decided to move his headquarters to IGBO AIRE (now known as Igbaire). But he still had his stall under the name Idode and when people wanted to buy from his market, they asked for Ogun Elegi… OLOJA YI DA” (meaning where is the owner of this commodity), Ogunelegi replied to them: “OLOJA WA NINU IGBO” meaning the owner of the market is in the dense forest.
So people started calling Onayelu “OLOJA INU IGBO”. Therefore, his first royal name after coronation was OLOJA IGBO DI IJEBU IGBO. After the coronation of Onayelu as Oloja Igbo, King Ogunlegi became deputy and was also in charge of land affairs. Sopen Olukale is enjoying growing success in his clothing business. But people should go to Ijebu Ode and look for someone who has the ability to make their clothes. As time passed, the situation became problematic, so Onayelu ordered the Needleman to settle in Ijebu Igbo. So, the OLOKINE man settled where the sun usually sets. “Ibi ti Ojo ti nwo” now OJOWO Ijebu igbo.So now people have the opportunity to sew their own clothes at OJOWO and that is why the classification of the line is OJOWO OMO OLOKINI.
TANRIN LARINKOYE, also a great warrior and hunter, married Moju. They settled in ATIKORI Keegbo of Atikori The story of its establishment in Atikori will be published later. ABIJAPARAKO also settled in Japara Ijebu Igbo (his founding story will also be published later). These are the five Igbo (most popular communities) that make up Ijebu Igbo town.
OKE SOPEN ti SOPEN LUKALE
BEJE ti OKE AGBO
OJOWO ti OLOKINE
JAPARA ti ABIJAPARAKO
ATIKORI ti KEEGBO
These are the five communities and their domains under King Oloji Igbo as their supreme ruler. Ijebu Igbo is a fast-growing market as people come from Oyo to Akanran via Atikori and from ODOMOLU, AGUNBOYE, ASIGIDI to OKE AGBO. The reign of King Onayelu, the Oloja Igbo of Ijebu igbo, was very peaceful until a plague epidemic began killing people and severely damaging agricultural products. Chiefs and herbalists did their utmost to ensure that the diseases spread quickly. Therefore, people started leaving Ijebu Igbo and moving to other places to escape the wrath of this strange scourge. The king was so worried that he went to the island of Ife to consult the oracle. The Oracle said that the only solution to their problem was that they must bring a live elephant into the city before the plague could be eradicated. The king returned to Ijebu Igbo and gathered all the enthusiastic hunters and powerful warriors to consider how it was possible to bring a live elephant into the city.
There seemed to be no solution until the great hunter Ogunelegi volunteered to enter the dense forest and promised to bring back a live elephant to Ijebu Igbo. OGUN ELEGI and his son OLUSI go on a trip. They prepare many spells to strengthen themselves and go into the dense forest in search of the elephant. Ogunelegi returned to the city with an elephant, but his son OLUSI did not return with him. When asked where OLUSI was, he replied. “ERIN MU OLUSI LO” means that the elephant killed Olusi, his son. Olusi’s death pained the king so much that he decided to immortalize his son’s name with his royal name. Therefore, he decided to change his real name from OLOJA IGBO to ERINMOLUSI (now ORIMOLUSI DI).
IJÉBU).
