Okitipupa: History
In about 1502, there was a development in Benin Kingdom, Oba Esigie was on the throne and since succession to the throne was from father to son, he was worried that he had no male child to ascend the throne after his death. He married many wives so as to produce a male child. The premonition was that some forces were behind his not having male children. One of his wives conceived and went into hiding. He gave birth to a male child in the morning but at that time, many people had gone to their places of work. Automatically, the male child should reign after him. Before he could make an Oba, certain rites were to be performed. They put all the things: crown, sekere, horsetail, beads as a mark of an Oba before the child.
Towards evening, when people were returning from their various places of work, another wife of the Oba gave birth to a male child and people were happy, and started jubilating to herald in the new Oba. News now came that a male child had been given birth to the Oba in the morning but kept in secrecy Abodi.
The two male children grew up in the palace. The Oba foresaw problems as to who was to ascend to the throne after him. He advised the elder male child to go across Owena River to establish his own kingdom. Abodi left with some chiefs in Benin and came to the western side of the Owena. He first settled at Arogbo–Ile. While leaving the place, he asked Larogbo to take charge of Arogbo–Ile. He proceeded to Irele and settled there for a while. This first Abodi is called Abodi Jabado. He reigned for a long period before joining his ancestors. His son, called Tufewa, reigned after him. People that were with the Abodi were called Abodi people. The settlement of Abodi in each of the places he settled was called Ikoya. Tufewa went to Ile–Ife to learn the art of governance because he had not learnt the intricacies of palace administration in Benin.
It was also recorded that Esigie sent him to Ooni in Ile–Ife. He was there for three years. At the end of his third year, the Ooni gave Abodi benedictions. He made him to kneel down in a circle marked with white chalk and asked him to carry out these rites in his kingdom/Domain. Abodi came home with this chalk. This led to the use of white chalk (Efun) which is used to make inscriptions or marks on the ground (meaning) Ikale. That is what we bear today. Without prejudice to anybody, some people say we covered the land “a ka ile yi”. While some people claimed that a man was living beside the Owena River named Aale, and so his village was called Aale. From the three schools of thought, we presume that the act of using a white chalk to make an inscription on the ground to mean Ikale is the most acceptable.
The Chiefs that accompanied him from Benin and those that joined him later were given districts to administer. These chiefs were called Olojas. They were given recognitions as Obas in 1979. meanwhile, Abodi gave them titles and they were responsible to him. Today, to a large extent they are autonomous in the administration of their areas. There is no time that the Ikales are nine or their rulers were nine. But the idea of Ikale mehan came during the colonial era. The reasons were best known to the colonial masters. Ajagba, Ujosun and Akotogbo were administered by Benin confederation. Two reasons were advanced for carving out the three: (i) They spoke Benin language (ii) They were too distant from Ikoya administration. …