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Beyond all of sight
I am the earth I am, I am all things in me. I am the sky and the smile from the new dawn's sun. I be with all and all is me as far as the eyes can see. Even beyond for with existence I share a bond...
The ideal state
- Edo N'imose
- Benin City, Edo, Nigeria
- As the horizons open up and the heavens become a spectacle that we can see, a truth must be told for the generations yet to be. Even as a people need the direction of a leader, even as the land must be brought to order...
Even from the depths
2 comments:
The first Oba of Benin was a Yoruba prince, that is a fact of history that will come to be accepted in due time, but there is no dispute as to the first Ooni of Ife (and the founder of the Yorubas as they are known today in historical analysis and study) who was a Bini prince. The history of these two nations located in the western coast of Africa are as related as siblings from the same womb.
Selfishly, claimants of ethno/tribal nationalities propose sentimentalities as to the origins of these two nations who asserted themselves creditably at a time where contact with the west was nonexistent or at most minimal. The Binis and Yorubas were companions in the same migratory journey from the north of the continent and as some scholars of history would conclude settled in the region they now find themselves at almost the same time in history.
It is significant to point out here the similarities that they share in their mythology and legends, moreso as they believe in similar spiritual beliefs of a coterie of deities with one supreme being at the head.
However, there is a salient point to be made in the sense that there were in existence already indigenous peoples in this region although these were few and scatterd with no form of a hierarchy of leadership or political/cultural organisation, but the superiority of the people from the north who most believed are a direct descendant from Noah (Shem, who had a dark skin like Seth the son of Adam) contributed in no small way to the sophistication of the political and social organisation of these peoples.
The story of a flooded, virgin infant world bear witness to this and according to the Bini account, the three sons of Noah are the forces of good, evil and earths inhabitants.
Prior to the advent of the Obaship, the Ogisos were saddled with the responsibility of overseeing the governance of the peoples and like all civilisations would evolve to a system of unitary leadership. This was to occur soon after the yearning of the people saw to the ascendency of the primogeniture system of monarchy with the Oba at the head. However, while the Ogisos were thriving, the people further west were at a stage where political organisation was at it's infancy which led to the need for a central authority that conveniently provided itself with the coming of the hitherto Bini prince condemned to die but divinely let free by his executors to fulfill a long expected prophecy of the Yorubas.
It is this first Ooni of Ife that sent his son from a Yoruba woman to commence the monarchy in Benin, and this monarchy has lasted till the present day.
There is an ethno/tribal struggle for supremacy amongst contemporary scholars of these two nations albeit misdirected, up to the point that the Yorubas claim ancestry with the Itsekiris of the delta denying the bond that ties them with Benin. It is worthy of note however that rational thinking contemporary scholars with no room for bias have begun a process for the study of what binds these two peoples together and not the divisive elements which tend to create bad blood. This is a study that should throw more light on the origins of these two peoples.
It is this hope that should see the strenghtening of ties between these two great African civilisations instead of the constant bickerings that have been fuelled by historical accounts originating from European historians, thus unduly influencing the approach to the study of these peoples by generations of indigenous history and anthropology scholars.
Our mumu don do
The first Oba of Benin was a Yoruba prince, that is a fact of history that will come to be accepted in due time, but there is no dispute as to the first Ooni of Ife (and the founder of the Yorubas as they are known today in historical analysis and study) who was a Bini prince. The history of these two nations located in the western coast of Africa are as related as siblings from the same womb.
Selfishly, claimants of ethno/tribal nationalities propose sentimentalities as to the origins of these two nations who asserted themselves creditably at a time where contact with the west was nonexistent or at most minimal. The Binis and Yorubas were companions in the same migratory journey from the north of the continent and as some scholars of history would conclude settled in the region they now find themselves at almost the same time in history.
It is significant to point out here the similarities that they share in their mythology and legends, moreso as they believe in similar spiritual beliefs of a coterie of deities with one supreme being at the head.
However, there is a salient point to be made in the sense that there were in existence already indigenous peoples in this region although these were few and scatterd with no form of a hierarchy of leadership or political/cultural organisation, but the superiority of the people from the north who most believed are a direct descendant from Noah (Shem, who had a dark skin like Seth the son of Adam) contributed in no small way to the sophistication of the political and social organisation of these peoples.
The story of a flooded, virgin infant world bear witness to this and according to the Bini account, the three sons of Noah are the forces of good, evil and earths inhabitants.
Prior to the advent of the Obaship, the Ogisos were saddled with the responsibility of overseeing the governance of the peoples and like all civilisations would evolve to a system of unitary leadership. This was to occur soon after the yearning of the people saw to the ascendency of the primogeniture system of monarchy with the Oba at the head. However, while the Ogisos were thriving, the people further west were at a stage where political organisation was at it's infancy which led to the need for a central authority that conveniently provided itself with the coming of the hitherto Bini prince condemned to die but divinely let free by his executors to fulfill a long expected prophecy of the Yorubas.
It is this first Ooni of Ife that sent his son from a Yoruba woman to commence the monarchy in Benin, and this monarchy has lasted till the present day.
There is an ethno/tribal struggle for supremacy amongst contemporary scholars of these two nations albeit misdirected, up to the point that the Yorubas claim ancestry with the Itsekiris of the delta denying the bond that ties them with Benin. It is worthy of note however that rational thinking contemporary scholars with no room for bias have begun a process for the study of what binds these two peoples together and not the divisive elements which tend to create bad blood. This is a study that should throw more light on the origins of these two peoples.
It is this hope that should see the strenghtening of ties between these two great African civilisations instead of the constant bickerings that have been fuelled by historical accounts originating from European historians, thus unduly influencing the approach to the study of these peoples by generations of indigenous history and anthropology scholars.
Our mumu don do
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