By Jibola Olatoye

The Ugbo people of Ilaje LGA of Ondo State have a festival they celebrate every year. Important personalities take turns to whip a statue. The statue is believed to be that of Queen Moremi Ajasooro who is deified in Ile Ife and some other Yoruba towns. In actual fact, there is hardly no federal university in Nigeria without Moremi Hall. She takes eminence position in the history of Yoruba people who are one of the major ethnic groups in Nigeria. Yet, the Ugbo people who are a subgroup of the larger Yoruba people ‘whip her’ every year! What could have happened? You would have asked. Well, let us dig deeper into history.

History has it that Ife passed through 3 stages in her development- Ife Oodaye was the first stage when it existed as a cluster of villages and small towns, they cooperated on number of things; the second was Ife Ooyelagbo when Oduduwa subjugated all these clusters of settlement and established monastic ruling; the last is Ile Ife which was several centuries after Oduduwa. His descendants filed out of Ife to establish monastic rulings in many directions but they were always willing to return ‘home’, thus adding ‘Ile’ to Ife to arrive at Ile Ife.

Moremi was a queen during Ife Ooyelagbo. The major challenge Ife experienced during that time was the incessant attacks and raids by Ife neighbours who were the Ugbo or Igbo people (the western part of Yorubaland call it ‘Igbo’ while those in the Eastern part call it Ugbo).

The Igbo or Ugbo people had a certain war tactic that drove fear in Ife people, this made them to live in perpetual dread of their tormentors.
Moremi who was a wife of the ruler of Ife at that time was desirous of liberating her people from their enemies. She had a plan which worked. She did away with her paraphernalia of office, mixed with the common people and positioned herself strategically to be noticed when the Ugbo army struck. She was ‘caught’ and taken away. It was not long before her radiating beauty caught the eyes of the ruler of Ugboland and she became a queen once again, albeit a junior one.

Her presence in the midst of Ugbo people, especially in the Palace gave her ample opportunities, their military strategies include. She saw their secrets and surreptitiously passed the information home.

By the time the Ugbo people went back to raid Ife, the Ife that never waited to confront them due to fear now faced them and completely routed them by setting fire on the raffia wears they put on to appear like iwin (forest being).

When the news of their defeat filtered into Ugboland, an internal audit was carried out to detect who leaked their secret, Moremi was discovered, brought to the market square and assaulted with cane till she passed away. Ife then went on the offensive to drive Ugbo people away from the area. They are now found in Ilaje LGA of Ondo State. Thenceforth, Moremi became an orisa (a pantheon) to be deified as an appreciation of her sacrifice to liberate Ife. She’s still being worshipped till date in Ife.

Then moremi became an Orisa in Ife but became labeled as a traitor in Ugbo land.

What does this story tell you? Ifa Èjìogbè says that this world was created with a balance of Negative and positive. From this story it is clear that what is negative to someone might have a positive outcome for another.

To the people of Ife, Moremi was a heroine and savior but to the people of Ugbo ,Moremi destroyed their source or power and was a traitor.”

Jibola Olatoye
History Teacher,
Command Day Secondary School,
Abeokuta.
0705 404 3435