Unknown facts about Oranmiyan, the Ife prince who ruled as Oba of Benin,Alaafin of Oyo & Ooni of Ife….
Oranmiyan Omoluabi Odede was a great Prince of Ile-Ife and a direct descendant of Oduduwa (the founder of Yoruba race). Oranmiyan became the first Oba of Benin kingdom after he led an expedition to Benin kingdom.
It is a well established fact that Oranmiyan was a great hunter, a man of great physical power and prowess, a courageous and mighty conqueror in Yoruba land and far beyond.
Oranmiyan, or Oromiyan as pronounced by the Edo people, is known as the first Oba of Benin, a direct linage of the last Ogiso Owodo. Although he met people who opposed his reign and was initially refused his entrance into the city upon his arrival. Oranmiyan however, camped at a place called Uselu (meaning “making of a city”) and he reigned there as the oba of Benin for 13 years.
His foreign style of ruling didn’t go down well with the chiefs, and they sent agents to keep an eye on him. All this made Oranmiyan declare that only a son of the soil can cope with the attitude of the Igodomigodo people and call the land, “Ile — Ibinu (Land of Vexation).” On leaving Ile-Ibinu (later Ibini, and before the Portuguese changed it to “Benin”), he stopped briefly at Ego where he married Erinwide, the daughter of the Enogie (or duke) of Ego and succeeded in installing his son, Eweka (owo mi ka) on the throne before going to Oyo-Ile. Thus giving the Benis the long line of kings from the Oranmiyan lineage.
After leaving Benin kingdom at about 1190, Oranmiyan moved north with his entourage and settled near the river Moshi (a tributary to the Niger River) where he founded a city known as Oyo-Ile and installed himself as the first Alaafin of Oyo around the year 1300, which his descendants later expanded into the Oyo Empire. Subsequently, he married Torosi, a Tapa princess, who became the mother of Sango Olukoso, the brother of Alaafin Ajaka who became the next Alaafin after Oranmiyan returned to Ile-Ife to claim his grandfather’s throne in Ile-Ife as the 6th Ooni of Ife.
According to tale, Oranmiyan Empire was a vast expanse of land, covering Ilorin in the north, the Ogun River in the south and east of Osun and Dahomey in the west. His empire was divided into kingdoms all of which they pay homage to him.
In the end, he returned to Ile-Ife and was crowned the sixth Ooni of Ile-Ife, where he eventually lived, died and was buried.
There are two accounts of Oranmiyan’s death. Some say he went further East, leaving his son, Ajaka in charge of Oyo-Ile, and stopped at a town called Oko, from where he could not proceed and so, he died and was buried there. The second account says that Oranmiyan left for Ile-Ife, the land of his father Oduduwa, leaving Ajaka his son to rule as regent in Oyo. Having stayed in Ile-Ife longer than expected, the king makers made Ajaka Alaafin of Oyo. However l, on his way back to Oyo, Oramiyan heard the kakaaki at the border (The kakaaki is only played for the king) and he immediately returned to Ile-Ife as Ooni of Ife, where he eventually died and was buried. The Oranmiyan obelisk ‘Opa Oranmiyan’ was erected at the place where he was buried and is still there till this present moment in Ile-Ife.
There is nobody in Ife today who knew how the Opa Oranmiyan was created as Ile-Ife remains a city of ancient knowledge and mysteries.
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