YORUBA OR ODUDUWA?

YORUBA OR ODUDUWA?

ByMoyo Okediji

I prefer the name Yoruba Republic.

Oduduwa Republic would be a second choice.

I prefer Yoruba Republic because the word “Yoruba” already has a global circulation and reception.

Yoruba language is taught in many universities in the world, including the University of Texas, Austin, with two full-time professors giving lectures to undergraduate and graduate students.

In addition to the professors teaching Yoruba language, I teach Yoruba art, and there are distinguished professors teaching Yoruba history.

A HISTORY OF THE YORUBA NATION

A HISTORY OF THE YORUBA NATION

ByMoyo Okediji

Who are the Yoruba people?

A mayor of the British army, Alfred Burdon Ellis, who served in West Africa for about two decades, published a book about the Yoruba people in 1894, the same year that he perished of malaria fever.

He wrote the following in the book:

“The territory now inhabited by the Yoruba tribes is bounded on the west by Dahomi, on the south-west by Porto Novo and Appa, on the south by the sea, on the east by Benin, and on the north by the Mohammedan tribes from the interior, who have within recent times conquered and

We are all mere dust and equally so.

We are all mere dust and equally so.

ByMoyo Okediji

One day, I was having a discussion with a friend at the University of Ife in the early seventies.

I was seventeen years old.

Somehow the conversation drifted to “superiors.” I think he said something about “your superiors.”

I told him quite candidly that “I don’t have any superior.”

He was angry with me. Seriously, I don’t think he had heard that sort of response before.

But I was shocked that he was furious.

ENGLISHMAN IN BENIN CITY, 1981 (Part Thirty-One)

ENGLISHMAN IN BENIN CITY, 1981 (Part Thirty-One)

ByMoyo Okediji

Gina sat on the floor by the doorstep waiting for us when we returned late to Benin City from Iludun. I didn’t she was sitting there until the headlamps lit up the spot where she was and Felicia said, “Hey, is that not Gina?”

It had been a long day spent mostly on the road and it took me a minute to adjust my mind to what was happening. I was exhausted from hours of driving on rough roads to and fro Iludun, Mama Rufus’s place.

ENGLISHMAN IN BENIN CITY 1981 (Part Thirty)

ENGLISHMAN IN BENIN CITY 1981 (Part Thirty)

ByMoyo Okediji

“My he—he—he=aler at the psychi-psychi-atric hos—hos—hos–pital made me sw-sw-sw-ear never to have a con—con—con—con—con-fron-front-tation again with Miiiiiiiiisster Ru—ru-rufus,” Obaseki was whispering to me, from under the table. “Says he-he-he will bring me back back in.”

“It’s okay, Obaseki,” I said. “You come out and sit here at the table. I will go and see what’s happening.”

“Don’t, don’t, don’t leave me, Mo-Mo-Moyo,” Obaseki pleaded. “Please- plea-se-stay-stay-stay-don’t—don’t go….”

“It’s alright, Obaseki,” I assured him. “Whatever the matter is, we will get to the very bottom of it today. This is really ridiculous!”

ReDoMi

ReDoMi

ByMoyo Okediji

Life is simple yet complicated in the ReDoMi civilization.

How do you say ReDoMi?

The vowels and consonants of the RedoMi people are so simple that all you have to do is open or close your lips to pronounce their words.

The consonants are especially straightforward. They contain no strong or forces sounds, not even a threatening hiss of the ZZZZ is allowed. That is too much of a snake strike for a people of the infinite dimension. Only the gentle “s” and “sh” are allowed into this linguistic tone.

ENGLISHMAN IN BENIN CITY, 1981 (Part Twenty-Nine)

ENGLISHMAN IN BENIN CITY, 1981 (Part Twenty-Nine)

ByMoyo Okediji

Some fire seemed out of Papa Ru as he sat, something which would be clear to someone who knew him well, and might not be noticed by others.

I saw the difference in the grey dim to his eyes. It was less in the bow that formed around his shoulders as he leaned forward on the table, under which Obaseki was hiding. But Rufus was hardly aware of his own body yet. It was the first time he left his room since we carried him there the moment we arrived from burial. He seemed to have a hard time just keeping his face from falling off his head. As if to ensure that did not happen, he pressed his chin into his palm, his elbow resting firmly on the table for support, seemingly carrying the entire weight of his torso.