Our attention has been drawn to one news published by one Oladele Isreal referring to Ekinrin as a clan and Olu Adde as the paramount ruler of Ekinrin Adde.
To put the record straight, Ekinrin Community which was founded by our progenitor and a warrior king Akinrin has never been at any point in time or history under the rulership of Olu Adde. For any student of history, the Ekinrins have a long and rich history of over 700 years which is older than the entire Adde traditional stool history.
As concerned citizens and direct descendant of Akinrin, we maintain that the Akinrin of Ekinrin is the paramount ruler of the current day Ekinrin-Adde.
The movement of the Addes to present day Ekinrin-Adde only started in 1865 during the reign of Onare Atidimogun who was the ruler of the Ekinrins at that time. He accepted the entrity of his friend, Olu Odundun who was the ruler of the Addes that started the migration. This took about 100 years to complete in 1965 and subsequently a joint decision was taken to add Adde to our name and the name Ekinrin-Adde was birthed through a mutual agreement to give a sense of belonging and identity to the Addes.
The Ekinrins have maintained their traditional and chieftancy structure totally different from that of the Addes and have never at any time be a subject of the Olu Adde. So how can anyone assume or even imagine that Olu Adde is paramount over Akinrin of Ekinrinland? How can Olu Adde be a paramount ruler over Ekinrins and Addes when no Ekinrins can ascend the throne of Olu Adde?
The Ekinrins own the land in the present day Ekinrinland and allocate same to anyone who desires it including the Olu Adde.
Therefore, setting the records straight, the Olu Adde is the paramount ruler in Addeland over His Subjects while The Akinrin of Ekinrin is the paramount ruler of his kingdom of Ekinrinland which by extension should include the Addes that Onare Atidimogun admitted into his kingdom, a move that was completed under Onare Balogun Aribido and Olu Aiyeniko around 1965.
Worthy of note also, is that, the reason why there is a hyphen between the 2 communities names when written, (Ekinrin-Adde) with Ekinrin afront and the later that left his ancestral land to join us on ours at the rear is to give credence to the owner of the current location called by the collective name as at the time the union took place and to also indicate that the town is 2 communities. The magnamity of our forefathers for unity in purpose and growth , should and must not be taken for granted, this will be if the people met on the land are seen as a second fiddle by use of title and names that doesn’t cover their interest.
Of interest is that, the 2 communities Ekinrin and Adde have parallel Chieftaincy structure which means as many Chieftaincy title found in Ekinrin is also found in Adde. This is a clear indication that the traditional stools and councils has never been joint. We as Ekinrin people feel matters should be presented as it is, not distorting facts. There has never been any document that shows Ekinrin has or is collapsing its traditional council structure into that of Adde, hence Ekinrin and its traditional council remains autonomous
Any attempt to malign and denigrate the historic and exalted stool of the Akinrin of Ekinrin-Adde and his people will be met with stiff resistance.
Signed
Aribido David Jayeoba
For: Ekinrin Community Youth Movement.
