Why was SAO people lineage are being eulogised as, “OMO OLOKU AYANGBE”
– in oriki Iro is “omo agb’okondo l’ori ya s’ina obitun – one who carries okondo to inlaw’s house for engagement. Why?
It happened in 1874 during the reign of Oba Agbejiga Ojijigogun (1852 – 1882)
The war was between Akure and the Ise people. It was caused by two people, namely; Omodudu, a native of Ise and Aseuke. Aseuke was an Olori in the palace of Ojijigogun. Omodudu eloped with Aseuke to Ise. Message was sent to Arinjale, the then King of Ise to send them back to Akure to face the consequence of their deed but he refused. The message reads, ..
Omodudu ja esisin Oba je ati pe o gun odi Oba – meaning he dates the king’s wife. The response from Ise was that there’s enough esisin and odi in Ise that Akure people can also eat from and climb. This response infuriated Akure and they decided to wage war against Ise for this effrontery and lack of respect to Deji stool
Omodudu actually ran away with this Olori during the war between Akure and Ibadan people at a place called Akunrin. It was a village after Igbara Odo
The Akunrin war then made it a simultaneous war fought by Akure
Akure gathered its remaining warriors from Ita Ogbolu, Oba Ile and other areas. SAO Agbangbalogun the Warlord of Akure forces was recalled from the warfront in Akunrin, where he left the Troop in the hands of Odoo, to join the forces going to Ise and Ogedengbe who was in Akure as at that time joined to help Akure in the war. The war was fought and won
At the tail end of this war Sao died and in an attempt to preserve his corpse from decaying, the warriors made fire and dried the body while the war lasted. They brought him home after the war. This was where the “oku ayangbe” came from. The oriki is peculiar to Sao people before it became the usual way of greetings by commiserators in Akure whenever one lost beloved ones, especially olds. You will hear people saying ‘omo’loku ayangbe ‘
When the troop arrived in Akure, Ogedengbe recommended a warrior to Kabiesi Ojijigogun and who was he?
During the war there was a particular warrior, though not high ranked but for his show of prowess at the warfront, Ogedengbe decided to recommend this young warrior to Deji
There’s a gun called “okondo” very big in size. Other warriors were surprised to see this young man using only one hand to carry and operate it while reloading it with the other hand. He was able to carry sixteen of these guns on his shoulder and conveniently run with them
Deji accepted Ogedengbe recommendation and he made this warrior the new SAO after Agbangbalogun. He was the one known as SAO Ofobutu
He was the one refers to as “omo agb’okondo l’ori ya s’ina obitun”
The Ise war started from November and ended on the 7th December, 1874
Some of the returning warriors including Ogedengbe went to Akunrin to join the forces Sao Agbangbalogun left there and won the battle
SOMI AJAYI
Some facts from Iwe Itan Akure ati Agbegbe re
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