Ethnic Pluralism in Ilorin by LAK Jimoh

Date: 2017-08-05

An important area of interest is the composition and evolution of Ilorin as an ethno-cultural melting point.

That Ilorin, at a point in time, was peopled almost exclusively by Yorubas, is not in dispute. However, with the passage of time, the community became culturally multifarious following the influx of a multiplicity of other cultural and sub-cultural groups so much that by the time civil strife occurred between Afonja and Shehu Alimi`s Jama`a about 1807, the combined population of the Jama`a in Gambari, Fulani and Okesuna areas who were mainly non-Yorubas had greatly exceeded that of the Kakanfo`s compatriots who were confined to Idi-ape and its environs, including Dada.

It is incontrovertible, for instance, that at the time of Shehu alimi`s arrival in Ilorin, the area now called Alanamu and Ajikobi wards were sparsely inhabited. The areas were opened up later for settlement by some Yoruba members of the retinue which accompanied Shehu Alimi to Ilorin under the leadership of Usman and Se`eni who afterwards became Balogun Ajikobi and Balogun Alanamu respectively.

It was a massive influx of people of assorted cultural background, after Islamic governance had been firmly established, that conditioned the demographic size, composition and texture of Ilorin. With the resultant ethnic and cultural heterogeneity, Islam became the common denominator and the only unifying factor. It facilitated inter-mingling, socialization and integration among the various peoples.

Consequently, a unique Islamic culture, into which the diverse cultures melted, emerged. However, the infectious Yoruba language became the lingua franca.

The consequent submergence of all other languages into Yoruba gives an illusory impression of monolithic culture by obscuring the cultural pluralism inherent in the Emirate, particularly in Ilorin, where a substantial proportion of the indigenous population is anthropologically non-Yoruba.

For example, the following non-Yoruba families randomly sampled in the seemingly Yoruba-dominated “Oke Imole” no longer bear their original non-Yoruba identities. This illustrates the depth of cultural assimilation that has occurred and gives a deceptive impression of the ethno-cultural complexity of Ilorin.

The core families in Agbaji namely; Ile Saura, Ile Aburo, Ile Baba Sa`are, Ile Agoro and Ile Imam Agbaji were originally Sudanese Arabs from a town called Ar-Baji on the Blue Nile. So also were the ancestral parents of the people of Ile Ara-Agbaji at Masingba, Oke Imole. Ile Hejebu, Ile Singini, Ile Oloko, Ile Oniko, Ile Ada-Ara and Ile Majo are extensions of the core families in Agbaji. 

Members of Ile Ibrahim Bature at Oke-Apomu are Arabs by origin. They migrated to Ilorin from Agades from Niger Republic. The Ojibara family in the same area is of Fulani descent. They initially sojourned in Borno before they migrated to Ilorin finally.

The people of Ile Ture of Ode Alausa, like members of the core families at Agbaji are Sudanese migrants in Ilorin.

The Solagberu family at Agbaji, the Onagun family of Ita-Egba, the members of Ile Oloyin (formerly called Ile Igbon) at Ita Elepa, the Giwa family of Popo Giwa and the Mekabara family of Ita Ogunbo are Kanuri migrants. Solagberu migrated from Bama in Bornu and was founder of ancient Okesuna. The Oninahu family at Kuntu and Muqaddam Adangba`s progenitors were Kanuri kins of the Giwa family at Popo.

The family of Magaji Kuntu are Boko-Barubas paternally and Fulani maternally while members of Ile Eleran in Adangba are Barubas. Both of them migrated to Ilorin via Kobayi. 

Some of the other families which migrated from Kobayi to Ilorin are Magaji Oku-Ajanaku of Oke-Kura who are Fulani, Baba Kinni (that is Shaikh Saliman Ake`s family) of Omoda and the Imam Imole family (at both Oke Imole and Fa`agba), who are Malians.

The Ala`aya family of Pakata/Ubandawaki, the Elewu Sanyan family and the Ile Ele`eru of Popo Giwa /Okeleru area are Malian Fulani by origin. The renowned Alfa Nda-Salati was, of course, Nupe.

Members of the following families are Hausa by ancestry: Ile Alalikinla (that is, late S.K. Dan Alhaji`s family) at Ita Ogunbo, Ile Shiru at Ode Alfa Nda, Ile Saba`ani (that is, Ile Imam Kadara) at Ode Alausa and Ile Saba`ani at Idi-Orombo, Ile Jawando at Ita Ogunbo and Ile Alfa Ajongolo, which was formerly called Ile Alapata.

Ile Kakandiyan now called Ile okudile on Popo Giwa is Nupe while Ile Tejidini at Idi Igba is Fulani. Members of Ile Alaro of Popo Giwa are Gwari.

Magaji Ojuekun family is paternally Kanuri but maternally related to the Alaafin of Oyo while the Afunku family of Alanamu has Baruba ancestory.

A similar random sampling of families in Balogun Fulani ward indicates that the ward, contrary to popular assumption, is ethno-culturally more Yoruba than Fulani even though it is called and regarded as Fulani ward. The following examples illustrate the point: 

The famous Alfa Tukur Asunnara and Alfa Erubu were Yoruba.

The Alaya-bi-agba family is Igbomina from Omu-Aran as are Oniyangis who came from Ada-nla near Igbaja; the Edun family, which is Igbomina, too, came from Ila Orangun although Alhaji Buhari Edun had a Nupe mother.

Babatunde Gada, the first secretary of IEDPU, who resided in the Fulani ward, came from Laduba. Members of the other notable families of Fulani ward, like the Audu Gada family, with whom the name “Gada” is associated came from Igbomina land. The family of late honourable Ibrahim La`aro, too, came from Igbaja.

In the case of Balogun Gambari ward, although the word is preponderantly a mix grill of Hausa, Kanuri, Nupe, Gwari, Baruba and Kemberi. There are Yorubas even among the key chieftancy families in the ward. The Ajia Opele of Ita-Ajia is one of such families. Members of Abubakr Lah`s family in Ile Alaro of Baruba area are Yoruba from Oyo-Ile and came to Ilorin via Ogundele.

Because of the adoption of Yoruba as lingua franca, names, especially cognomen, are deceptive, regarding their ethnic origin of their bearers. For example, the Ilorin man with Yoruba cognomen: Alabi Opo may, infact, be a Torokawa Fulani by ancestry. This phenomenon ventilates the magnitude of acculturation in Ilorin.

Culled from:

*“ILORIN –THE JOURNEY SO FAR”* BY L.A.K. JIMOH

 


Cloud Tag: What's trending

Click on a word/phrase to read more about it.

Elekoyangan     Afolabi-Oshatimehin     Olokoba Sulyman     Isiaka Abdulrazak     Noah Yusuf     Babatunde Ajeigbe     Muhammed Akanbi     Emir Of Shonga     ER-KANG Mining Nigeria Company Limited     IESA     Rice Farmers Association Of Nigeria     Wahab Femi Agbaje     John Obuh     Ishaq Salman     Shonga Farm Project     Olaosebikan     11th Galadima     Kudirat Arinola Lawal     Ella Supreme Tissue Paper     Saidu Kawu     Risikat Lawal     Balogun-Ojomu     Igbaja     Halidu Danbaba     SSUCOEN     Esuwoye     All Confederation Of Principals Of Secondary Schools     Ilorin East/South Federal Constituency     Ilorin Emirate     Muhammad-Mustapha Suleiman     Olofa Of Offa     Amosa     Bature Bello     Ahmed Mohammed Rifun     Garba Ayodele Wahab     CACOVID Palliatives     Abdulkadri Ahmad Alaiye     Ilorin Innovation Hub     Fatimoh Lawal     Olaoye B. Felix     Abdulmumini Jawondo     Saheed Popoola     Sarkin Malamai     Moshood Mustapha     Najim Yaasin     Amada Jidda     Sadiq Buhari     Pilgrims Board     Mahe Abdulkadir     Kazeem Oladepo     Federal Polytechnic Offa     EFCC     Ibraheem Abdullateef     Adeleke Ogungbe     Gbenga Olawepo     Tunde Mukaila Mustapha     Abdulmalik Bashir Mopelola Risikatullahi     Freshvine Nigeria Limited     State Bureau Of Internal Revenue     Adewuyi Funmilayo     AbdulQowiy Olododo     Mumini Ishola Hanafi     Hassan Abdulazeez Elewu     Ubandawaki     Owo Arugbo     Abiodun Musa Aibinu     NNPP     Moses Rahman Popoola     Shuaib Jawondo     Abdulfatah Ahmed     Saudat Abdulbaqi     Oko Erin     Abiodun Oyedepo     Gbemi Saraki     Oja-Oba     Ayegbeni     Micheal Imodu-Ganmo Road    

Cloud Tag: What's trending

Click on a word/phrase to read more about it.

Yusuf Lawal     Raliat AbdulRazaq     Oloyede     Amina Susa\'a De Ahmed     Isiaka Yusuf     Hauwa Nuru     Moronfoye     Garba Ayodele Wahab     Gbemisola Saraki     Bashir Adigun     Split Diamond Interchange     AbdulHamid Adi     Yahaya Jibril Usman     Kamoru Kadiri     Mopelola Abdulmaliq-Bashir     Adewuyi Funmilayo     Bashir Badawi     General Tunde Idiagbon International Airport Ilorin     Lateef Alagbonsi     Fatai Garuba Labaka     Olabode George Towoju     Wahab Egbewole     Sarakite     Ibrahim Abdulkadir Abikan     Abdulwaheed Musa     Apata Ajele Secondary School     Isiaka Abdulrazak     Vasolar Consultoria     Ajayi Okasanmi     Ashiru     Shettima Of Ilorin     Victor Gbenga Yusuf     Abdullahi Saadudeen Alikinla     Idris Garuba     Sabi     Shehu Alimi Foundation     Kwara State Fire Service     Samuel Olusegun Adedayo     Danladi     Taofeek Sanusi     Ahmed Mohammed Rifun     CELF     Ganiyu Taofiq     Prince Bola Ajibola     Senate President     Third Estate     Balogin Alanamu     Babatunde Ajeigbe     Mubarak Oladosu     Lawal Olohungbebe     Alfa Yahaya Road     Ahmed     Lithium     Kwara State Branch Of The National Library     Basic Education Certificate Examination     Florence Saraki     Kupchi Hosea Maxwell     Amuda Musbau     Tunde Akanbi     Saka Balikis Kehinde     Eleja     Kunle Suleiman     Mumeen Lah     Ministry Of Women Affairs And Social Development     Halidu Danbaba     New Model Police Station     Abdulkadir Bolakale Sakariyah     Mary Arinde     Funmilayo Zubair     Share/Tsaragi     Issa Oloruntogun     Elerin Of Adanla Irese     Wahab Abayawo     Towoju     Olaoye B. Felix     Sheikh Ridhwanullah     Onilupeju Of Ilupeju