Anango! Life and Culture of the Yoruba in Diaspora
Afolabi Ogunleye
Africa:Nigeria
Anango! Life and Culture of the Yoruba in Diaspora
Africa News Service
03-MAR-99
Lagos (Tempo, March 3, 1999) - They are separated by a political
boundary. The Yorubas of Benin Republic insist that they share more than
historical antecedents with their cousins in Nigeria. SEIDI MULERO who
was recently in Porto Novo and Cotonou discovered a people in cultural
longing for their roots.
Haaa. . . o fe mo iye omo ti oba bi? Haaa ! (Ha!. . . you want to know
how many children the King has! Don't you know it is a taboo to want to
know it!) said the traditional ruler in Anango, a variance of the Yoruba
language.
The ruler is the Alaketu of Ketou in Benin Republic. He was responding
to TEMPOLife's question on 20 February 1999.
The reporter had wanted to know how many children the traditional ruler
had. His response, of course, reflected the belief in Yorubaland of
Nigeria that Won kii ka omo f'olomo (it is a taboo to count how many
children a person has).
In other words, the children are supposed to be uncountable. In fact,
all the subjects in the Kingdom are supposed to be the King's children.
It was the same response from the Onidigny of Idigny, another Yoruba
settlement in Benin as well as from the Onisakete of Sakete. With each
Yorubaman expected to have an unlimited number of children, no wonder
Yorubaland had, over the centuries, been able to extend to a vast area
of West Africa, holding tenaciously to the inherited culture.
And when the European powers met in Berlin from 1884 to 1885 to
partition Africa, Yorubaland was partitioned into three. One in Nigeria,
the second in Benin and the third in Togo.
Although the Yoruba, today, are estimated at about 30 million in
Nigeria, they are, according to the last population census, just about
one million (15 per cent of the population) in Benin. The French
encyclopaedic Dictionary Larousse (1988), put the figure for Togo also
at one million, a figure which people say, is rather exaggerated.
Benin Republic is now made up of 12 provinces. Porto-Novo is the
political capital of the country and it is there you have the
parliament, even though, for reason of convenience and political
calculations, the various heads of state have, since independence,
preferred to stay in Cotonou.
Porto-Novo is called "Ajase" (or Ajache) by the Yoruba. The Gouns call
it Hogbonu (or Hogbonou).
The town, right from inception, has two tribes. The Goun and the Yoruba.
In Benin, only the descendants of Oduduwa of Porto-Novo and of Ajara (a
small settlement north of Port-Novo) call themselves "Yoruba." The other
descendants of Oduduwa call themselves either Ohori or Anango. The
Anango are found in two provinces, those of the newly-created Plateau
and "Collines" (i.e. Hills). The Plateau province is antiguous with the
Yewa local government areas of Ogun State where the Anago are found.
That of the 'Collins' shares bordes with Oyo State of Nigeria In the
Plateau province, the Anangos are to be found in such districts as
Adja-were, Ifonyin, Ipobe, Sakete etc. Those of the "Collines" province
live in the districts of Dassa and Save.
Alaketu of Ketou who is considered the highest traditional authority for
the Oduduwa descent in Benin, said all the Yoruba of Benin came from Ife
but at different periods in history. For instance, he said, it was a
grandson of Oduduwa who founded the town Ketou many centuries ago.
The "Oba" who is now the 49th ruler said a son of Oduduwa called
"Sopasan" (pronounced as Shopashan) left Ife in search of a promised
land. He settled in six different places but each time he consulted the
oracle, he was told he had not got to his destination.
He eventually died before reaching the promised land which is now Ketou.
It was a son of Sopasan called Ede who finally got to Ketou and founded
it.
Another son of Oduduwa settled in Save in the Collines province while a
third one went to Popo, a coastal settlement now inhabited by Gouns. The
Alaketu, Oba Pascal Adeoti Adetutu said there is absolutely no
difference between the culture of the Yoruba of Benin and that of their
counterparts living in Nigeria.
The festivals, the religion, the rulership are the same. The Onisakete
of Sakete, Oba Raufu Agbenu-Eje-Joye (Adebotemole) explained that such
practices as worshiping idols like Ogun, Oro, Obatala, Sango etc are
present in the cultures of Sakete and other Yoruba/Anango places in
Benin.
In fact, the interview with TEMPOLife was interrupted several times as
people came in to say "Kabiyesi ooo" to the king. And the king himself
had to rise from time to time to greet the female dancing groups which
came in one after the other to pay homage to the ruler.
When each group end its session of singing, dancing and praises to the
ruler, its member would go on their knees, shouting E-e-e-eru Alaafin
ooo! (We pledge loyalty to the king, in the Anango dialect). Same was
the case at Idigny (pronounced Onidiyin), another Yoruba settlement near
the Nigerian border.
There, the traditional ruler, known as Onidigny said not only the
cultures are the same, the people also are the same. His own mother, he
said, was a Nigerian from Ilara, a border village between Benin and
Nigeria.
So, the Onidigny had more reason to say that the border between Nigeria
and Benin was a figment of the imagination of the colonialists of the
past and of those in administrative positions in Nigeria and Benin
today. The Onidigny is perhaps, the symbol of unity among the Yoruba of
Benin and Nigeria.
And no Beninois Yoruba, it seems, has reached the peak of educational
aspirations without sojourning to Nigeria. The Onidigny said he had his
tertiary education in Lagos where he worked from 1975 to 1983 and to
Ilara (his mother's village) where he settled before the Ifa oracle sent
people after him to make him Oba in Idigny in 1994.
The traditional ruler says he is just trying to learn the ways of life
in Benin, because he spent most of his life in Nigeria. Oba Raufu
Agbenu-Eje-Joye too spent his childhood in Nigeria before going to learn
a trade in Togo.
He too is more at home mixing Yoruba with English (as done in Lagos)
than speaking French. The Alaketu did not live in Nigeria.
But almost on a daily basis, when he woke up in Porto-Novo where he was
staying before being made Oba in 1963/64, he would travel to Lagos to
trade, and go back home in the evening. Like the young Alaketu, people
living in Porto-Novo, especially the Yoruba are traders.
They carry their products from Togo to Benin and Nigeria and vice-
versa. In the country's ethnocentric division of labour, the Yoruba
trade, the Anangos farm, the Baribas, Sombas and Dendis of northern
Benin protect the nation by enlisting in the armed forces while the
Adjatados (i.e. the Gouns and the Fons) work in the administration. The
result of that division of labour has not been very favourable for the
Oduduwa people.
Their land remains a land of poverty. For instance, in the course of
these interviews with the Yoruba Obas of Benin, an Anango lady rendered
a free service to this reporter and the latter gave her N40.
On seeing the money, a son of the lady uncontrollably shouted: Eniyan lo
nnanwo bi omi bayi! (How can a human being be spending money like sea
water this way!) The Anango land radiates poverty. The only industrial
unit there is the Onigbolo Cement Factory which, incidentally, is
jointly-owned by Benin and Nigeria.
But it had been so mismanaged in the past that it has closed down for
about a year now. It was recently privatised and the new managers were
expected to take it over by February ending.
According to the Alaketu, the apparent backwardness of the sons and
daughters of Oduduwa in Benin is due to low level of education. He
attributed the advance of the Gouns/Fons to the fact that when the
European colonizers first came, the only kingdom which really opposed
them was the Dahomey Kingdom of Abomey.
After the defeat of the Abomey army, many of the Fons/Gouns were made
slaves and taken away by the Europeans. Eventually, those war prisoners
became literate and became the pioneers of the colonial administration.
And while the Yoruba, Anango and Ohori were still feared the whiteman
and all that he stood for, the other people were already far gone ahead.
The Onidigny revealed that there are no Anango senior army officers in
the Beninois Armed Forces today, because the Yoruba, traditionally,
don't like the army.
"In a country which the military ruled for up to two decades, how can
one progress when you don't have anybody among the rulers?" he wondered.
Since Benin became independent as Dahomey on 1 August 1960, no
descendants of Oduduwa has near the presidency.
Only in 1968, there was a Yoruba presidential candidate in the person of
Alhaji Karim Da Silva, a Porto-Novien. That election was not conclusive
as trouble erupted and the whole exercise was annulled under threats of
war.
Another Porto-Novien Yoruba vied in 1991; for a longtime he was
celebrating the fact that he got five per cent of total votes cast.
Nevertheless, there are currently three prominent Yoruba ministers:
Pierre Osho is in the ministry of defence.
He has been a trusted political associate of President Matthieu Kerekou
since the military era. John Ige, is minister of the industries and
Antoine Kolawole Idji is in the external affairs department.
In 1997, a prominent Anango businessman, Sefou Fagbohun (or Fagbohoun)
set up his own party called "MADEP" (an acronym for African Movement For
Democracy and Progress). According to him, the party is meant to defend
the interests of the Anangos.
Though the party has been able to draw a large followership among the
Anangos, many still refuse to join, claiming the man is only using the
party for commercial purposes. In other words, they say, Mr. Fagbohun
only wants to weaken Adrien Houngbedji to benefit Kerekou who is his
business friend.
Among Fagbohun's critics is Prince Abeo Desodji, another Yoruba who now
says he is poised to form his own party. Observers, however, say neither
Fagbohoun nor Abeo Desodji can make any impact at the national level.
This position is apparently informed by the impression that the
political terrain in Benin is too fragmented, with at least 111
political parties. Honourable Rigobert Oladiran Ladipo is a member of
the outgoing National Assembly in Port-Novo.
In an interview with TEMPOLife, he says an Oduduwa son or daughter can
win the presidency only under exceptional circumstances which currently
appear not feasible. Among the obstacles he enumerated were the
numerical strength of the Yoruba.
They constitute the second ethnic group in the South with 30 per cent of
the population of the South and 15 per cent of the population of the
whole country. "In a country where you have votes along ethnic lines,
you can win only if your people form the majority," he said.
The second obstacle, he mentioned, was the observed trend in which the
Yoruba do not vote en bloc. The parliamentarian, who read Sociology,
explained this on the low level of political awareness.
Compounding this is an unusual physical barrier. The Okpara river, he
explained, divides the Yorubaland into two and there is no bridge on the
big river.
The result is that the Anango of the Collines province-Save and
Dassa-cannot communicate with their brothers of the Olateju Plateau. And
life does not allow for a vacuum: if you cannot communicate with your
brother, you live with whoever is your next-door neighbour.
So, he said, that is why the Anangos of Save and Dassa vote along same
line with the Fons of Abomey with whom they communicate easily. Also,
the Anangos of the Olateju Plateau vote the same way as their Goun
neighbours of Porto-Novo and environs.
So, while Soglo's RB gets the votes of the Yoruba of the Middle Belt of
Benin, Houngbedji's PRD gets those of the Plateau. If the physical
barrier is not broken through a bridge over the Okpara, there will never
be a Yoruba vote, he posited.
Although Oduduwa descendants of Benin are away from the power house,
they remain perpetual kingmakers. In other words, after the northern
electorate has voted for the northern candidate and the Gouns and Fons
have joined hands to vote for a son of theirs, the Yoruba votes become
the ultimate decider.
Soglo won in 1991 because he was able to sway the Yoruba to his side. He
lost in 1996 because he failed to.
Even, the Anango of the plateau find it easier interacting with their
Yoruba brothers and sisters of Nigeria than with those of Save and
Dassa. For instance, the Onidigny, like most of his subjects, has his
friends in Nigeria.
Nothing happens in his domain which he does not tell the Obas of Iyewa
in Ogun State (of Nigeria). The Onisakete and the Alaketu similarly
relate with their cousins in Nigeria.
When the Alaketu celebrated the 35th anniversary of his coronation on 23
January, he invited all the Yoruba Obas of Benin and Nigeria. The Ooni
of Ile-Ife could not attend.
According to the Alaketu, the Ooni, two weeks ago, sent him an apology.
Fifteen years earlier, when the Alaketu celebrated the 20th anniversary
of his coronation, the Ooni spent four days in Ketou.
Events in Nigeria, both at the social and political levels, affect the
Beninois. The Onidigny says that when there is trouble in Nigeria,
Nigerians cross the border and rush into his domain. That is why he
currently enjoins those calling for an Oduduwa Republic to exercise
patience.
Publication Date: March 11, 1999
Copyright 1999 Tempo. Distributed via Africa News Online.
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Dr. James A. Fabunmi
I got this information from an Ashanti (Asante) here in Washington DC. I was at
the Akosombo restaurant (owned and operated by Ghanaians) in DC one afternoon.
The chef looked at me and asked if I was an Ashanti (Asante). I said no, I am
from Ile-Ife. Then she remarked that the Ashantis are also from Ife too. That
was good enough for me. As you can tell, I am very well disposed to the fact
that everyone originated from Ile Ife :-) Do you think she was coming on to me?
James.
martin duodu wrote:
> James,
>
> This is the first time I am hearing this. Could you very kindly provide more
> details and authorities? The Asante are generally thought to be
> authoctonous: if you ask them where they came from, they give the
> answer that anthropologists associate with authoctonous populations: "We
> came frroim a hole in the ground", or "we descnded from the sky". But new
> evidence on their origins would be most welcome.
>
> Martin
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Dr. James A. Fabunmi <jfab...@erols.com>
> To: Afolabi Ogunleye <aku...@hotmail.com>
> Cc: naij...@esosoft.com <naij...@esosoft.com>
> Date: 04 March 1999 12:50
> Subject: Re: Anango! Life and Culture of the Yoruba in Diaspora
>
> >The Ashantis of Ghana also trace their ancestry to Ile-Ife, ancestral home
> >of the Yorubas.
martin duodu
Dr. James A. Fabunmi
of the Yorubas.
Dr. James A. Fabunmi
looking I am :-)
martin duodu wrote:
> How much did you spend in the restaurant after this greeting? Was it your
> original intention to spend so much? My Broda, not only Yorubas sabe how to
> make money oh!
>
> Martin
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Dr. James A. Fabunmi <jfab...@erols.com>
> To: martin duodu <xg...@dial.pipex.com>
> Cc: Afolabi Ogunleye <aku...@hotmail.com>; naij...@esosoft.com
> <naij...@esosoft.com>
> Date: 04 March 1999 13:40
> Subject: Re: Anango! Life and Culture of the Yoruba in Diaspora
>
> >Martin:
> >
> >I got this information from an Ashanti (Asante) here in Washington DC. I
> was at
> >the Akosombo restaurant (owned and operated by Ghanaians) in DC one
> afternoon.
> >The chef looked at me and asked if I was an Ashanti (Asante). I said no, I
> am
> >from Ile-Ife. Then she remarked that the Ashantis are also from Ife too.
> That
> >was good enough for me. As you can tell, I am very well disposed to the
> fact
> >that everyone originated from Ile Ife :-) Do you think she was coming on to
> me?
> >
> >James.
> >
> >martin duodu wrote:
> >
> >> James,
> >>
> >> This is the first time I am hearing this. Could you very kindly provide
> more
> >> details and authorities? The Asante are generally thought to be
> >> authoctonous: if you ask them where they came from, they give the
> >> answer that anthropologists associate with authoctonous populations: "We
> >> came frroim a hole in the ground", or "we descnded from the sky". But new
> >> evidence on their origins would be most welcome.
> >>
> >> Martin
> >>
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: Dr. James A. Fabunmi <jfab...@erols.com>
> >> To: Afolabi Ogunleye <aku...@hotmail.com>
> >> Cc: naij...@esosoft.com <naij...@esosoft.com>
> >> Date: 04 March 1999 12:50
martin duodu
Hakeem K. Johnson
This is also the first time I am hearing about the Asantes and
Ile-Ife. However, I have heard/read that there are other ethnic
groups in Ghana that trace their ancestry to Ile-Ife. I am not quite
sure now, but I think it is the Ga ethnic group.
In addition, the people called Akus in Gambia, Liberia etc. are also
ethnic Yorubas. The group name Akus was derived from the Yoruba
greeting: "E ku ....." . If my recollection is right, I think one of
the earliest African writers Olaudah Equanoh (?) wrote a book about
the
Akus of West Africa, by which he meant the Yorubas of West Africa.
Peace,
Hakeem K. Johnson
-----Original Message-----
From: martin duodu <xg...@dial.pipex.com>
To: Dr. James A. Fabunmi <jfab...@erols.com>; Afolabi Ogunleye
<aku...@hotmail.com>
Cc: naij...@esosoft.com <naij...@esosoft.com>
Date: Thursday, March 04, 1999 9:09 PM
Subject: Re: Anango! Life and Culture of the Yoruba in Diaspora
>>> Benin Republic is now made up of 12 provinces.. Porto-Novo is the