Rescuing Real History of Yagba: A Final Departure from ‘Iya Agba Loje’mi’ Theory (1)

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It is a patriotic duty of citizens to inquire about their origin and write their history and how they came into being. Hence, our history will not end up being written by an outsider with inadequate knowledge of who we are and our heroic deeds. This way, with the passage of time we will be in a state of total oblivion with no mark on the sand of time. We will be like the proverbial snake that journeyed through the rock without leaving a footpath.

It is pertinent to bring to the fore that the history of the Yagba people has been a subject of misconception between the proponents of two theories of their origin such as Iya Agba Theory and Iya Agba LoJe Mi Theory. It is crucial to discuss these theories and offer useful analysis on the actual identity of Iya Agba for the benefit of the readers.

Iya Agba (Old Woman) Theory

The lya Agba theory is the oldest, most popular theory of the origin of the Yagba people in Kogi state who formed a substantial part of the Okun Yoruba people.

This theory has been conceptualized through oral history of the Yagba people and documented by some notable scholars. His Royal Highness, late Chief Joshua Babalola Denki, the Elegbe of Egbe in an article titled “The Origin of Egbe” published in the Nigerian Heralds of Saturday June 7, 1975 stated that the first settler in the whole Yagba land was an old woman who had came from Old Oyo.

Late Chief (Dr) Seth Oshatoba in a publication titled “Ere At A Glance” on 22 December 1979 declared that the founder of Ere was an old woman, a renowned princess of Oyo origin.

Late Rev (Dr.) D.S Moody stated while delivering a sermon at the foundation laying ceremony of the new ECWA Church on 27th March, 1997 that Akata is home, the fountain head of Yagba people.

According to Kenyo, E. A. in a book titled Founder of the Yoruba Nation published in 1959, some of the men who followed the Iya Agba from Oyo later became the ancestors of the Elere of Ere, of the Oba of Egbe, and the Eleri of Eri (Oke Eri inclusive).

According to an oral history passed down from the late high Chief Omotayo Cornelius Asehinde, a direct descendant of Iya Agba who happens to be my maternal grandfather, said “we are a member of the Oyo empire royal house. We (the Yagba people) are royals from Oyo and also, our mother was the first settler and founder of Yagbaland and as such, we deserve respect. Akata-Ere is the cradle of Yagbaland, while the Yagba people have our ancestral origin from Oyo.”

Based on this information, the proponents of the lya Agba Theory assert that the progenitor of the Yagba people was a Princess from Oyo who migrated from Oyo to Akata Ere with a handful of migrants. Her three male children and the migrants called the woman Iya Agba, meaning an old woman.

Iya Agba is a title bestowed by the younger people on an old woman, sometimes the oldest woman in a family or lineage, in Yoruba culture as a mark of respect and adoration.

Iya Agba Lo’jemi (Lack of Elders) Theory.

Iya Agba Lo’jemi theory of the origin of the Yagba people is the new theory that tries to explain the origin of the Yagba people which was published on Wikipedia and The Policy and Lawmakers Magazine a month ago.

It attributed the coming into being of the  Yagba people to a mere word of mouth by a man who led a group of people to the present location of Yagba land from Ile-Ife in order to establish a settlement but did not return back to Ile-Ife over a long period of time to give an account of his expenditure.

When he eventually returned and he was rebuked for losing a larger part of his acquired land to some other migrants. He responded thus in Yoruba, Ìyà Àgbà Ló Jemí (meaning literally I suffer the lack of an elder), the statement from which the proponents of this theory coined the concept.

– Adeyemi Babarinde Sunday writes from Odo-Ere, Kogi State.


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