The Atypical Aledimoponyin – Where is Odi Isinkan?

By AKIN ADEKANBI

On the second day of the new year, a friend sent a line from one of Isinkan epithets to me. It reads ‘Ope Aledimoponyin, enu odi li’gbe l’Isinkan’. He wanted to know what it meant and where the ‘odi’ was located. Specifically, he wanted to know whether the odi represented the boundary of Isinkan town or entirely something else.

Some verses or stanzas of the panegyrical epithets of the people of Isinkan revolve around key past events, special accoutrements of royalty and religious rituals, primordial deities, past traditional rulers, animals such as the leopard, lion, mandrills, egrets, vulture among others as well as plants such as the sacred palm trees known as Ope Aledimoponyin (atypical palm trees with aberrant bunches). In Isinkan’s oral tradition, primordial Ifa took its final abode in the earth directly beneath one of these atypical palm trees that harbored the aberrant bunches at the crossroad. Of course, the last major incidence in the history of Isinkan that further accentuated the fame of Aledimoponyin was its role as the site of the final decisive victory of the Isinkans when they vanquished Okpele Erabor, the Ezomo (Commander), of the Bini campaign in 1818 after his capture at Ulafon by the Eshos. At Udiroko (Elegboroko), upon sighting his guards who had come to rescue him, the Ezomo shot wide into the midst of his captors with a short gun and killed a teenage boy, the armor bearer for Ogundana. Ezomo immediately attempted an escape and ran towards Aledimoponyin into the waiting arms of his guards who fired at the Eshos. Ogundana and his men however encircled them with the left flank taking cover from fire behind a bulwark (ogulutu) remnant of an old perimeter fence while pinning Ezomo and his men against the abberant palm tree. The Esho Isinkan dispatched his guards in no time and had him recaptured before his execution at Udiroko.
Over two hundred years after that event, for many people of Isinkan ancestry, Aledimoponyin as a praise word is just one of many adulatory epithets crafted in the distant past and hold no sterling significance in the world of 2025.

Recent events have however confirmed that such a view could be in error. It was on the basis of such events that my friend sought his answers. Ope Aledimoponyin therefore remains a significant issue hence the need for the documentation of the oral account of the history of the people of Isinkan as it relates to the ‘odi’ cited within the epithet that invoked their sacred palm trees.

The word ‘odi’ in primitive Isinkan dialect could mean a wall or a fence (a perimeter fence), especially the type bounding a city, town, village, community, estate, set of similar houses, or some kind of exclusive area that included sacred groves and shrines. For example, in ancient times, it would be said of a Babalawo “o p’esi si’be, o mo odi yi’ka” which meant he established an altar at the point and built a fence around the altar. If the ‘odi’ bounded a town (odi ulu) or a village, it would only be built around the populated area. It would usually exclude their farm or forests. This type of ‘odi’ was however rare in the ancient Ekiti country or anywhere in Yoruba land. Towns and villages typically demarcated their lands with natural landmarks such as rivers, streams, hills, and peculiar trees or plantations.Boundaries of towns and villages were never delineated with fences.

What and where was (is) ‘odi’ in Isinkan?

The first son of Oba Ajimokunola of Isinkan was Oligbogi who was known as Elesobaye. At a tender age, he exhibited tendencies he might become indolent from being waited uponin the palace. Fearing that he might therefore turn bad and go wayward, Prince Elesobaye was said to have been forcefully apprenticed by his father to a notable farmer for seven years, a notable hunter for seven years, and a notable trader from the West for seven years making a total of 21 years of apprenticeship. To compel him to stay on track, his father was said to have tricked him with the gift of a bracelet or wristband that only he the Oba could unlock. Some accounts claimed the bracelet was magical and would tighten or strain his wrist whenever he slacked, but relaxed as long as he cooperated and eventually unlocked itself upon the successful completion of the apprenticeship. Elesobaye protested all through the experience but had no choice but to cooperate.

What Prince Elesobaye considered a debasing ordeal later transformed him as he came to possess different skills and capabilities, and a network of friends beyond Isinkan and the nearby towns. The experience had succeeded in molding him into a wise prince even though it was difficult to completely expunge his ostentatious lifestyle as a prince and heir apparent. Upon his return to Isinkan, he had acquired so much fortune that the epithet of Olupona (Oluponalila) of his ancestors was regularly used to describe him even when he was yet to become the Iralepo. He and his friends became local oppressors sort of. They owned the largest farms at Iyange and Eyingbe. They built the biggest and most regal houses as per the standard of wealth of that era. They were considered the first to own composite raffia brick houses in the whole of ancient Ekiti country. Prince Elesobaye and his friends established an exclusive area close to the king’s palace at
Ita-Owa and erected a perimeter fence around the area with unfired mud bricks. The people of Isinkan who were not used to such an ostentatious display, dubbed it Odi Eleho, i.e., the wall or fence around the abode of the rich. Only wealthy persons lived within their fenced
quarter. Odi Eleho is now pronounced as Odi Olowo with the advent of modern Yoruba. It was then a relatively extensive perimeter fence (odi) starting at a distance from but near opposite the shrine of Oroko (Oluroko) in Isinkan which is also called Udiroko. The odi or odi olowo (a fenced quarter of the rich) was not far from Ita-Owa and stretched to the current site of the NICON Insurance House in Isinkan partially in front or encircling ancient land where the likes of present-day Ifelodun Street and houses in the western flank such as the house of Amukobodahunse and Ajebamidele C road are now located in Isinkan.

It was from this ‘odi’ that one of the four sacred palm trees of Isinkan got the concluding part of its descriptive locale. Indeed, several hundreds of years afterward, it was behind its ogulutu, the remnant of this wall or perimeter fence, that Isinkan forces under the command of Ogundana took cover from Ezomo guards’ fire in 1818!

In essence, except for another sixteen-eyed palm tree which was then located at Imogun, the odi in the phrase enu odi liigbe l’Isikan primarily referenced the historical odi olowo at the crossroad where the aberrant palm tree was located. The distance was less than 8 meters from the walls of the exclusive (fenced) quarter or estate, Odi Olowo. Up till this very day, even though the wall or odi is long gone, the entire area or quarter bears this very name,Odi Olowo. Prince Elesobaye who created the spectacle later became Oba Iralepo after the demise of his father and assumed the regnal name of Oligbogi. One of his daughters married a Deji of Akure and gave birth to a future Deji of Akure known as Adetimehin. Some of his sons were Fisawoye and Aseso. He had other sons. Elesobaye’s first son, Fisawoye or Fisa, was reputed to have his exact temperament and attitude. After Elesobaye joined his ancestors, the Uharefa, against the tradition of that era, claimed that the oracle did not pick Fisa as his successor. He was said to have become angry and left Isinkan with his supporters insisting the oracle always picked the first child before his time. Prince Fisa first settled near Epe where he assumed the title of Oloja Fisa. His father’s wealthy friends gave him support and he was said to have relocated further towards the sea to found a new kingdom and Isinkan people never heard of him ever again.

Thus, the ‘odi’ in reference within that adulatory Isinkan epithet of ‘Ope Aledimoponyin, enu odi li’gbe l’Isinkan’ was created by Oba Elesobaye Oligbogi and his wealthy companions when he was still a prince. The odi had absolutely nothing to do with the boundary of Isinkan as a community or town, not in langsyne and neither in the modern period. The original Odi Olowo was the equivalent of what we now call residential estates today. Several centuries after, the odi continued to host solely the rich in the society. It maintained this reputation in Isinkan up to the last quarter of the twentieth century even after its walls had long fell.

In retrospect, it can be said that Odi Olowo in Isinkan is a testimony to the glory and economic prosperity of ancient Isinkan. Perhaps, it is not debatable to assert that Odi Olowo quarter in Isinkan could be the first residential estate in the entire old Ekiti country. It would be a ruthless injustice to history and a silly mischief to misrepresent what it was and what it still is today. There is no longer any odi, fence, or wall at Odi Olowo, but the people of Isinkan still call the entire quarter Odi Olowo up till this very time. Even now that the wall no longer exists, strangers visiting Isinkan can still observe that the distance between the junction of Odi Olowo quarters in Isinkan and the crossroads where one of the ancient aberrant palms was located is less than 50 meters. Had the wall been in place, the distance between the wall and the centre of the crossroads where the palm putatively existed would be less than 8 meters.

Having provided a basic reference education in the history of Isinkan on the ‘odi’ in order to correct such an epic absurdity regarding the claim that the boundary of Isinkan is at the Udiroko crossroads, it is strikingly significant to now point to clear and indisputable explanations that put the irrationality of such a suggestion in context as nothing but wilful mischief of infantile proportion.

The deities of Isinkan

Isinkan as an ancient settlement is the home of highly significant historical, cultural, and spiritual sites. Apart from Ua Ela (which must reside under the same roof as Oba Iralepo by tradition), Oriaye, Amojuo, Oju Ota, Oju Uba (Iba), Omolore, etc which are located within the precinct of the Oba’s palace at Ita-Owa in Isinkan, most of the deities worshipped in Isinkan are located in Iyange, Eyingbe (which used to cover the location now known as the customs office and the army barracks up to the prison on the way to Ondo), Oke Isinkan where the Nigeria Television Authority is located along Ondo road, Ugbo Ujaro where Isinkan deity Oluroko oko is located, Ugbo Yeye where the Yeye Goddess is worshipped, Igboye (where a new Iralepo performs the first selection rituals), Eselu, Omi Oshodi, and Elegbudu agba near Owena among several others.

There are sacred propitiations that the priests of Isinkan as well as the traditional ruler carry out in those places from time immemorial till today. In fact, of the twenty-one principal points where Oba Iralepo leads ‘ipẹ’ during Obarisha, only two are located at Ita Owa! Similarly, of the sixteen Ifa heads (ori Ifa) of the Omoran, only one is at Ita-Owa. The rest are in diverse places spanning several kilometers from Ita-Owa, where the palace of the Iralepo is located. It is therefore disingenuous, and the height of ridiculous buffoonery for anyone to suggest that Isinkan land is limited to only the Iralepo palace or its immediate environs. The Isinkan’s epithet being latched unto is self-explanatory and without any ambiguity – odi orodi olowo is just a quarter within Isinkan! It is not the town’s boundary.

Evidence from the Oldest Book on Akure History

Remarkably, what some are trying to deny today or rewrite, their forefathers graciously proclaimed and even documented eons ago. On page 137 of ‘Iwe Itan Akure ati Agbegbe Re’ (paragraph 2) written in the 20th century by Chief J. O. Atandare which Isinkan people vehemently refused to endorse or support because of the bias of Atandare in favour of Akure, the writer though a fierce Akure patriot and the son of Senior High Chief Odopetu of Akure (the 3rd most significant traditional leadership figure in Akure) nonetheless had enough decency to at least acknowledge that Isinkan territory included Ilaro (and old and new Oke Aro and their adjoining territories) that extended to Iwoye and Ipelu (Ipelu River near Idanre) where the King of Isinkan, the Iralepo, appointed now Senior High Chief Aro of Akure as a Baale and a viceroy under himself, the Oba of Isinkan. Despite the writer using expletives to describe Isinkan (and Isolo) people and calling them uninformed boorish ignorant persons, his demeaning account nevertheless confirmed on that page that Isinkan kingdom’s land or territory covered large areas where Isinkan kingdom maintained sub-towns and villages with Baales and Olojas under the authority and control of the Iralepo of Isinkan. It is noteworthy to observe that by his reference to Ipelu (Ipelu River), Atandare was relying on a major river in defining the boundary of Isinkan. Is Iwoye or Ipelu River located at Ita-Owa or near enu odi olowo (by the walls of Odi Olowo quarter) beside the site of one of Isinkan sacred palm trees (Aledimoponyin) in the heart of Isinkan?

So despite the insults heaped upon Isinkan, Chief Atandare significantly attested to the expansive nature of Isinkan land, that Isinkan had Baales from time immemorial who were subjects of “Oba Iralepo who was the Lord over the entire land”. In the 4th paragraph on page 137, the writer asserted that “Oba Iralepo of Isinkan Kingdom who was lord of the now Aro of Akure, who was the former’s Baale, ruled very close to Akure town” clearly clarifying and confirming the proximate geographical fact that the two communities had always existed side by side and independent of each other with their distinct cultural and traditional phenomenon that those conversant with history have variously attested to.

Of course, it is important to note in this seminal work that the author of that first book on Akure also validated the assertion that many of the important chieftaincies in Akure were replicated from Isinkan Kingdom. Akure for instance never had an Olisa until Ogelemodu as only Isinkan had an Olisa as the first of the Uharefa from time immemorial. Indeed, apart from the first Aro of Akure being from Isinkan land as earlier mentioned by the author on page 137, Chief Atandare on page 184 of the same book confirmed that the first Oshodi of Akure, Asiriogidi, was the son of the Oshodi of Isinkan and was poached directly by the then Deji of Akure after he lost the Oshodi chieftaincy in Isinkan. Before him, there was no Oshodi chieftaincy in Akure. The Deji of Akure begged Asiriogidi to “transfer to him all responsibilities and duties rendered by Oshodi in the service of Oba Iralepo of Isinkan”.

These past experiences of Isinkan and its traditional and historical independence are the reasons she shares no cultural or traditional relationship whatsoever with Akure, its immediate neighbor, till today.

Evidence from Oba Ademuwagun Adesida II of Akure

Despite the recent rigorous campaigns and attempts to deny these verifiable facts of history, as recent as 1969, following the customary law challenge mounted by the people of Eruoba and Osabi against the Iralepo of Isinkan over the land from Elegbin stream northwards, they dragged Isinkan to the customary court administered by the Deji of Akure, Oba Ademuwagun Adesida II. The reader will recall that Britain had established a native court with the Deji as President and both the Iralepo and Osolo as members as far back as 1915. In 1969, Ademuwagun was the Deji. Oba Ademuagun was a legal practitioner and perhaps remains the most educated Deji in the history of Akure. Even though he started the plot to turn the Iralepo into a chief and Isinkan into a street, his customary court admitted and affirmed Isinkan people as owners of all their lands. Oba Ademuwagun and his Council of Chiefs in their final ruling on the 13th of August 1971 effectively declared on pages 2 and 3 of the judgment, that the lralepo of lsinkan is the customary authority (by native law and custom) and owner of the entire land on the North of the Elegbin stream Northwards and Westwards and the said land extends from its Eastern boundary with Akure town at lmogun (beside St. Thomas Anglican Church lsinkan) and downward to Elegbin stream on its South East boundary with Akure town at Oke-Aro and further downwards covering Aponmu River on the way to Ondo town. In effect, even while shortchanging Isinkan and attempting to downgrade its ruler, this educated Deji of Akure and his ruling council acknowledged the expansive nature of Isinkan land and used a stream and a river to define the boundary of Isinkan land.

Is Elegbin stream or Aponmu River located at Ita-Owa or near enu odi olowo (by the walls of Odi Olowo quarter) beside the site of one of Isinkan sacred palm trees (Aledimoponyin) in the heart of Isinkan?

Remarkably, on page 2 of the judgment, Oba Ademuwagun’s customary court agreed and proclaimed that “the Iralepo of Isinkan had been ruling these lands for the past ages even before the arrival of Asodeboyede”. Which land? Is it the small area around the Oba’s palace at Ita-Owa? Who is Asodeboyede? Asodeboyede is the preeminent ancestor of the people of Akure credited with founding Akure town by its people. A comprehensive analysis of that judgment simply shows that Oba Ademuwagun, a Master’s degree holder in Law, and his Akure Council of Chiefs, firmly certified that Isinkan’s existence predated Akure and that the Iralepo of Isinkan’s Chieftaincy as a traditional ruler with authority over his land is older than that of the Deji of Akure. Their judgment furthermore certified that the land in question included areas such as the Elegbin stream, Aponmu, the land along Ondo road, etc, and that the Iralepo’s rulership and authority over this land was established before Akure was founded by Asodeboyede. This of course puts paid to the patently contradictory modern-era fabrication that Isinkan left someplace to take refuge under Akure.

Additionally, Oba Ademuwagun’s customary court further certified that “Iralepo has the full right and authority over the land”. Lastly, in that judgment, Oba Ademuwagun and his customary court rubbished all the childish historical distortions that the people of Osabi and Eruoba deployed against Isinkan in their plot to grab those lands as “figments of the imagination”.

Evidence from Neighboring Traditional Rulers

Similarly, notable traditional rulers of adjoining towns such as the great Oba Solomon Adubi Ojopagogo, Afunbiokin Adeyeye II, Alara of Ilaramokin (1958 – 1994), in his deposition at the Morgan Chieftaincy Review Commission of 1977 strongly corroborated the extent of Isinkan land. On more than six occasions when questioned about his boundaries, Ojopagogo consistently listed Isinkan land under the Iralepo as his neighbor.
Those who know the distance between the two communities will easily appreciate the extent of the land of Isinkan.

Inherently, the Alara asserted that Isinkan owned the entire land stretching Westward up to its boundary with Ilaramokin from time immemorial which included such expanse of land further Westwards from Aponmu River which extends downwards to the South-West boundary with Ifedore LGA at Owena River (on its Western flank where Owa of Idanre, Alara, and Iralepo formed a sort of a triumvrate) and upward to the North West boundary in the adjoining forests to ancient Ilara and its contiguous communities among others. Essentially, this notable Oba used a river and peculiar forest plantations to define the boundary of Isinkan. Is Owena River located at Ita-Owa or near enu odi olowo (by the walls of Odi Olowo quarter) beside the site of one of Isinkan sacred palm trees (Aledimoponyin) in the heart of Isinkan?

Oba Ojopagogo when asked if he ever had any direct boundary with Akure responded in the negative. He acknowledged having a boundary exclusively with Isinkan Eastwards among other communities. This is contained on Pages 54 – 57 of the Daily Record of Proceedings of the Ondo State Chieftaincy Review Commission (1977).
Overall, without prejudice to the fact that the bonafide account of Isinkan history from Isinkans themselves is profoundly at variance with all the demeaning claims of Atandare and the convenient disguises he employed in favour of Akure, and despite Atandare and the then Deji’s shared determination to degrade Isinkan, downgrade its status into a street, and relegate its king to a chief, the admission of Atandare and the judgment of the customary court of the Deji of Akure when juxtaposed with the deposition of the Alara of Ilara-Mokin, present and establish clearer pictures of the geographical boundaries of Isinkan. Also established is a clearer idea of the age of the Isinkan throne as being indisputably older than its neighbors like Akure. Equally established is that the Iralepo of Isinkan predated the Deji of Akure as a traditional ruler on their current separate lands as well as the fact that the Iralepo has been ruling over his land beside the land now occupied by the Akures under the Deji before the Deji’s chieftaincy even came into existence thereby establishing the preeminence of Isinkan as a distinct town with its autonomous chieftaincy and territories covering Aponmu River, up to the Owena River, the Elegbin River, the Ipelu River, and Awoye among others.

The sacred palm trees

For the sake of adequate documentation, it is important to provide crucial information on the sacred palm trees of Isinkan. The sacred palm trees in Isinkan predated another sacred plant, the Ose or baobab tree. The surviving igi ose is estimated at circa 600 years and credited as part of a quartet of Baobab seeds planted by Oba Iralepo Olusi, known by his regnal name, Akologbon. Olusi Akologbon was the first son of Iralepo Owa Obamure who was himself the first son of Iralepo Owena. It was from the latter’s name that the Iralepo obtained his sobriquet of Owenasoro for that was his known regnal name in that era. To put this in proper context, it is important to list some of the panegyrical epithets of Isinkan that refer to these palm trees. The following are some verses from the Oriki of Isinkan people relating to the palm tree or ope.

Eso ule Isinkan
Omo Olope Akanda
Onigun m’erin ona anoye
Olifa akoko
Aledimoponyin
Ope merin iwase
Okan duro l’ule Owa okan sogege’wena
Okan d’ole ni’mogun okan s’oke Agbodu
Ope ol’oju merindilogun
Ona Isinkan liia
Omo olifa ule Owa agbesungangan
Omo ad’ade ule Ora ko’gbegbe ude rin
Omo akile ki monamona kon’ke
Ora l’opo l’usi t’ugbo t’uju gbaruuruu loo akunOrukukuku oooo
Omo jiwonjiwon oriade,
Ope Aledimoponyin
Enu odi li’gbe l’Isinkan
Omo Osugbo ki, o ki k’Oba
Owa ule Unamu (Inamu)
Ora Ode Isinkan.

Famed scions of Isinkan

Custodian of the atypical palm tree
With the four cardinal entrances to life
Earliest abode of Ifa
Aledimoponyin of the aberrant bunches
There are four such recherché palm trees from the outset of time
One stationed at the king’s palace and one at the river Owena
One planted at Imogun and one on a hill called Agbodu
The palm trees endowed with the sixteen all-seeing eyes
Are found on the paths to Isinkan
The owner of the royal Ifa locked in earnest consultation till daybreak
The scion of the sovereign whose crown is adorned in sparkling elements
The scion of he whose march causes lightening to knock on the heavens
The king’s child who owns both royalty and priesthood with a presence adorning the forest with beads
The melodious coo of the dove
Scion of he with the heavily adorned crown
Aledimoponyin of the aberrant bunches
Quartered at the foot of the walls in Isinkan
Scions of the sacred cult hail you oh king
The eminent monarch at Inamu
The unequal king at Ode Isinkan.

From the panegyrics, certain facts emerge regarding the sacred palm trees. First, there were originally four of them (ope merin iwase). Apart from the palm tree at this Odi Olowo crossroad near the king’s palace at Ita-Owa, there was another at the boundary between Akure and Isinkan in Imogun. The palm trees were aberrant bunches that fruited but the fruits never ripen. The palm trees were organically associated with Ifa (Olifa akoko … Omo olifa ule Owa agbesungangan). The fruits were employed exclusively as Ifa divination ensembles (Ope Olojumerindilogun – the palm with all-seeing eyes). The palm trees were also organically associated with both the Oba (king) and the people of Isinkan (Omo Osugbo ki, o ki k’Oba the Osugbo was a coming-of-age mandatory group or classification of all male children of Isinkan). More significantly, the palm trees were planted or existed in diverse locations that included around the king’s palace (Okan duro l’ule Owa), one at the Owena River (okan sogege’wena), one at Imogun (Okan d’ole li’mogun) and another at a hill called Agbodu (okan s’oke Agbodu).

Regardless of their esoteric nuances, the epithets simply represent Isinkan traditional state’s nobility, chivalry, prosperity, and shared purpose and act as a measure through which generations of Isinkans found a common kinship and rallying identity. This is basically the object of the epithets. It does not seek to shrink the size of Isinkan land. Rather, a granular analysis of the words further corroborates the vast nature of Isinkan land mass as it relied on rivers, streams, hills, and special trees for the demarcation of its extensive boundaries.

This work represents my most extensive intervention so far in Isinkan’s historical geography. I write as someone with substantial knowledge of the subject matter. My great-grandfather, Oba Fajolagbe Atejioye Obe (Onaowuro I) was the direct son of Oba Ifagbade Ifatirinmole (Onaowuro I). My Grandmother, Eye Ojuya, as the youngest Olori of Iralepo gave Ita-oniyan its name up till this day because she was allowed by the Oba to take omodeowas with her to support the Oba’s son, Prince Abidakun Obe, with pounded yam while he supervised the Oba’s farm in that part of Isinkan back then. Later, passersby began to offer to buy the pounded yam. The Olori saw an opportunity for brisk business and took permission from the Oba who eventually concurred. The road intersection where she, with the assistance of her servants, sold pounded yam with obe ede (egusi soup) is known to today as Ita-Oniyan (literally meaning a junction where pounded yam was being sold). In 2025, some are trying hard to contest the traditional ownership of that district with the Iralepo!

In his work, Nineteen Eighty-Four, Eric Arthur Blair, an English novelist and critic who was more commonly known under the pen name of George Orwell wrote that “The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became the truth”. This underscores the strong need for documentation lest the lie becomes the truth. While our ancestors did not have the opportunity of a real-time recording of events as we now do, yet we are at the risk of losing the truth of our past if we fail to document the oral accounts now that we still have a sizable number of our elders in our midst. They are the links to the past whose wealth of knowledge can resolve what could otherwise become contentious issues in the future especially in the face of individuals without scruples who do not mind employing outright falsehood and jejune fabrications to belittle an entire heritage.

*Akinwumi Adekanbi is the Olu of Okeillero-Itaoniyan Isinkan in Akure West LCDA of Ondo State.