The consequential pacesetters of Ile-Ife

(A review of Great Ifes in History: A Roll Call of Ile-Ife Icons and Legends, Volumes I & II, by Hon. Ahmed Ipoola Omisore)

By Gbenga Adefaye

EVERY great civilisation has its throne, but none is sustained by its throne alone. Behind every enduring throne stand men and women whose courage, wisdom, wealth, enterprise, sacrifice and vision have shaped the destiny of their people. Some ruled. Some served. Some challenged authority. Some built institutions. Others transformed commerce, education, religion, politics, culture and community life. Their names may not all have been written in gold, but their footprints are indelibly etched in the history of their people.

This is the story of Ile-Ife.

For generations, a curious expression has trailed the majesty of this ancient city: “Ife l’Oba, kò lẹ́yàn.” Ife has a king, but no men of substance. It sounds like a proverb but lands like a reproach, a derisive dart aimed at the pride of a people whose city occupies an extraordinary place in the historical consciousness of the Yoruba. It poses an uncomfortable question: beyond the Imperial Majesty of the Ooni, where are the consequential men and women of Ife? Where are the builders, the benefactors, the intellectuals, the entrepreneurs, the political titans, the cultural custodians and the pathfinders whose accomplishments should match the greatness of their ancestral home?

But what if the reproach is not a verdict on the people of Ife, but a failure to tell their story adequately? What if the problem is not the absence of great men and women, but the absence of a sufficiently comprehensive roll call of their greatness? And what if the answer to a taunt that has endured for generations lies not in argument, anger or empty declarations of ancestral pride, but in the compelling evidence of history?

Ladies and gentlemen, the two volumes before us, Great Ifes in History: A Roll Call of Ile-Ife Icons and Legends, by Hon. Ahmed Ipoola Omisore, are a bold and welcome response to that challenge. Through the lives and legacies of one hundred personalities, fifty in each volume, the author invites us to reconsider what we know, or think we know, about the people who made Ile-Ife.

More than biography

These are not merely biographies assembled to celebrate distinguished individuals. Taken together, they offer a portrait of a city through the lives of the people who made its history. They take us from the ancient foundations of Yoruba civilisation to the unfolding realities of contemporary Ife; from the palace to the public square; from royal lineages to political contests; from religious pioneers to educational trailblazers; from men and women of wealth to community builders whose service may have been less celebrated but was no less significant. Here, history steps away from the throne without diminishing its majesty. It enters the homes, institutions, farms, schools, places of worship, political arenas and marketplaces in which the character of a people is formed and the destiny of a city negotiated.

We meet rulers and kingmakers, patriarchs and matriarchs, princes and princesses, politicians and professionals, entrepreneurs and philanthropists, educators and cultural ambassadors. We meet lives defined by loyalty and service but also by rivalry, resistance, controversy and the struggle for influence. A city is not made by unbroken harmony alone; its history is also shaped by competing ambitions, difficult choices, moments of courage and the consequences of human frailty. Greatness does not always wear a crown. Sometimes it builds a road; sometimes it establishes a school. Sometimes it champions a faith, transforms a business, defends a community or challenges an established order. Sometimes it is inherited; often it must be earned.

Ipoola Omisore devoted five years to assembling accounts, conducting interviews, examining genealogies and validating claims. That effort matters, because a people’s history is not simply a record of what happened; it is also a record of who mattered and what succeeding generations must not be permitted to forget. The author may not be a professionally trained historian, but he brings the instincts of a storyteller, the eye of an advertising practitioner and the sensibility of a son determined that the achievements of his people be neither overlooked nor casually dismissed. His enterprise is an act of cultural recovery: an attempt to restore names, personalities and accomplishments to their proper place in the collective memory of Ile-Ife.

My interest in reviewing these volumes goes beyond counting the great names, though they are worth counting. I am concerned with what these lives reveal about the evolution of the city. What do they tell us about the relationship between the throne and the people? How have political power, commerce, education, religion and cultural enterprise shaped Ife across generations? What can today’s leaders learn from yesterday’s pathfinders? And how can a people convert the memory of past greatness into a practical agenda for present development and future prosperity? These are the larger questions that give the work its significance. Ile-Ife is more than an ancient city; it is a repository of civilisation and a living theatre of history, and its greatness must be understood not only through the antiquity of its origins or the sanctity of its throne, but through the generations who have sustained, challenged, enriched and reimagined it.

The Books

Volume I (2025) runs to 431 pages in a terracotta cover bearing the Oranmiyan staff, the obelisk standing ramrod straight, with the rising sun signifying Ile-Ife as the city of the first dawn, which is the Yoruba belief when they discuss ancestry. It has fifty chapters, one for each eminent person, and points to history, struggles and triumphs. Volume II (2026), in sky blue, runs to 370 pages and fifty chapters and is likewise adorned with the Oranmiyan staff and the rising sun. It is beautiful to hold. The publisher is Edistyle Company, Onipanu, Lagos.

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The Roll of Oonis

Volume I is prefaced with a list of fifty-one Oonis from Oduduwa to date. Here is the roll: Olofin Oduduwa, Obalufon Ogbogbodirin, Obalufon Alayemore, Oranmiyan, Aworokolokin, Efon Ayioye, Ajumuda Ekun, Laamoro Ogijan, Oseganderuku, Oye, Lajamisan, Larooka, Owodo, Arirere Okinwe, Otaata, Lapeleke, Otujabiojo, Luwo Gbagida, Lajodoogun, Lafogun, Lafogido, Osinkola, Ogbooru, Giesi, Adejinle, Arogangan Lagbo, Aribiwoso, Sojuolu Ogbonsegbonde, Agbedegbede, Olojo, Osinilade, Ajifadesere, Otuko, Odidimode Rogbesin, Ajila Oorun, Arigbola, Ojigidiri, Akinmoyero, Gbanlare, Gbegbaje, Wunmonije, Adegunle Abewela, Degbin Kumbusu, Orayigba Ojaja I, Derin Ologbenla, Adelekan Olubuse I, Kola, Ademiluyi Ajagun, Adesoji Aderemi, Okunade Sijuwade Olubuse II and Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi.

These are kings of different eras who left different but distinct footprints. They were men, perhaps ordinary citizens before they became kings. Some built the city. Others reconfigured the story of Ife by their political sagacity. Some were deified; some went on to found other settlements. Many were great indeed; some were extinguished through Osiri, the conspiracy of kingmakers; and some live in memory, with compounds in Ile-Ife named after them. This introductory part makes an interesting read and may leave you nostalgic and inquisitive about the throne of Ife.

Volume I: Kings, Kingmakers and Pathfinders

The proper storytelling begins with Oranmiyan, the legendary Yoruba warrior king and explorer who established the ruling dynasties of Benin and Oyo before recovering the throne of Ooni for the Oduduwa bloodline. The personalities that follow are arranged as the author fancied, not in any distinguishing order; the old sit beside the new. After Oranmiyan comes Queen Moremi Ajasoro, heroine of Ife, who offered her son to save her race and offered herself as ransom to the enemy Ugbo to extract the war intelligence that liberated her people. Ooni Adeyeye Ogunwusi, Ojaja II, celebrated her with a 38-foot statue at Okerewe, the tallest among the deities in the city.

Then comes Obalufon Ogbogbodirin who, according to Omisore, filled the void at Oduduwa’s demise but reigned too long for comfort. His descendants founded thirty Yoruba towns across Ekiti, Igbomina, Okunland, Ijebu, Oyo, Ibadan and even Lagos, and he is credited with the edun ide glass beads projects. There is Ooni Ajagun Ademiluyi, the very tough monarch and architect of Ife’s urbanisation, a traditionalist to the core who nonetheless welcomed Christianity to Ile-Ife. There is Sir Adesoji Aderemi, the first educated Ooni, political yet influential, Governor of the Western Region, who modernised Ile-Ife and got the four ruling houses gazetted. Ooni Okunade Sijuwade, Olubuse II, caps the celebration of Oonis in Volume I. Like Aderemi before him, he was wealthy, urbane and suave, and gave true meaning to the phrase Imperial Majesty, with a reign anchored on the tripod of unity, peace and concord.

The rest of the first fifty include Lowa’ku Ajani Anibijuwon Omisore, kingmaker and father of kings, progenitor of one of the largest Ife families; Baba Oba Oluropo Ogunwusi, a man of history who lived to see his son reign; Chiefs Alex Duduyemi, business mogul and philanthropist, and Ajayi Fabunmi, authority on Ife and Yoruba tradition; Remilekun Adetokunbo Fani-Kayode (Fani Power), first-class brain, brilliant lawyer and a rebel of sorts; Orayemi Orafidiya, regal Chief Magistrate; Joshua Olareni Omitowoju; Olasoji Shittu Omisore; and Alli Balogun Awoyera. There are Princes Yera Adeyemo, champion of development, and Adebisi Adeyombo, forensic town planner; Oba Solomon Folorunsho Omisakin, the first traditional Prime Minister to wear a crown; Princess Tejumade Alakija, first female Head of Service in Nigeria; Chiefs Moses Ayanromade Ayanbeku, community physician, and Adesiyan Eyenla, guardian of the realm; and Senators Christopher Iyiola Omisore and Babajide Omoworare, who must be the youngest profiled.

Also featured are Pa Samuel Orajinmi Odunlade Akobi; Sooko Adeleke Adewoyin; Princess Adetomi Olagbaju; Chief Johnson Aworeni; James Adeyera Oladinni; David Oladotun Awoyemi; Dr Omotosho Eluyemi; Bishop Nathaniel Oladejo Ogundipe; Oba Adedokun Adeyemo; Chief (Mrs) Foyeke Popoola; Mrs Olufunke Awope; Prof Muibi Omolayo Opeloye; Engineer Mosadoluwa Iyiola Omisore; Chief Olabisi Omidiora; Senator Gunju Adesakin; Prince Adewale Layade; Chief Magistrate Daniel Rufus Olatunde (DRO) Omisore; and Architect Amoo Dupe Omisore. To complete the cast are Chief Ayodele Afolabi, Prof John Omoniyi Abiri, Chief Durojaiye Aremu, Prince Pade Alausa Adewuyi, Chief Michael Alade Adeyefa, Air Commodore Kolawole Falope, Princess Ladun Ojutalayo-Lawal, Chief Obafemi Elutokunbo Fagbola (Obaf), Chief Samuel Olagunju Aworinde and Chief Julius Oladapo Ogundele. These were mostly men and women of influence who shaped their eras through educational development, commerce and industry, cultural emancipation, infrastructure and economic wellbeing.

Volume II: Three Oonis and a Wider Cast

Volume II is no less significant. It opens with the roll of Oonis from Oduduwa to Ogunwusi, as in Volume I, and celebrates three Oonis. Ooni Luwo Gbagida, the first and only female Ooni, whose son founded Iwo town, among others. Ooni Adegunle Abewela smashed the Osiri group that had terminated the reigns of his four predecessors, and stopped human sacrifice. Ooni Aderinsokun Ologbenla was a warrior-king extraordinaire who reigned from Oke-Igbo while ruling Ile-Ife simultaneously.

Celebrated alongside them are Chiefs Josiah Adeeso Ogunfidodo, Richard Oyebanji Ifagbule Omisore, Pastor Osuolale Obayomi, Prince Samuel Adetunji Adewuyi, Chiefs Michael Adedapo Akanbi Omisade, Samuel Ojo Oladoyin Fagbewesa and Johnson Adegabaju Omisakin Omisore; Chief Imams Kasumu Adeosun (Olowo Sokedile) and Raji Ayinde; Chiefs Rafiu Bakare Adeyefa Jafojo and Samson Ajani Oyebade Arawole; Mr Awosola Awotinde; Pa Lasisi Samuyide Awoyode Awosiyan; Prince Mathew Adeboye Adefarakan; Alhaji Yusuf Alarape Lawal (Ike Owo); Prince Adedapo Moronfolu Aderemi; Venerable David Oladiji Olayinka; Chief Omorogba Pedro; Prof Gabriel Adesiyan Olawoyin; Alhaji Abdul-Kareem Elusanmi Ajayi; Alhaji Muhibullah Ibikunle Lawal; Justice Titus Adewuyi Oyeyemi; Prince Peter Adetola Ogunleye; Prince Adegboyega Adeniji; Oba Adebolu Fatumise, the first Adagba of Iyanfoworogi; Chief Oluropo Olajide Olagbaju; Pastor Elijah Titus Latunde; Chief Johnson Akinyemi Atetedaiye; Chief Abiola Ijiwoye Adeyemo; Bishop Samuel Olufunmilade Aderin; Chief Lasisi Johnson Adebola Omisore; Reverend Samuel Adedoja Adeyefa; Chief Martins Oladini Fasogbon; Barrister Amodu Oyeleye Olasoji Omisore; Chief Imam Hassan Bello; Bashorun Jonathan Oladele Awofisayo; and Pa Gabriel Elusoji Ojutalayo.

To complete the cast are Chiefs Stephen Adediwura Ojutalayo and Emmanuel Titus Oladipo; Prince Adewoyin Okero Ademiluyi; Chiefs Disu Akintilo (Ire Akari) and Joseph Olawunni Owojori (Soso-Ilode); Pa Olasoji Sunmola Osunmukomi (Soji Opa); Chief Imam Idris Gbadebo Opeloyeru; Chief Samuel Johnson Awoyera Awoyemi; Prof (Senator) Christopher Oladosu Ilori; and, to end the series, Alhaji (Baale) Saliu Arayemi Omisore, the author’s father. Read their stories to know what made them tick, and what made them legendary or iconic, depending on the established references. Read their stories and leave the author to justify what was iconic and legendary about not a few of those celebrated.

Power, Faith and Contemporary Ife

The stories of the Oonis are riveting. Many were ordinary persons before they mounted the throne: farmers, hunters, traders, men of high society and connection. Some were thereafter deified as gods, like Oduduwa himself and Oranmiyan, even Obalufon. Some complement the Oonis of their time, to built the city with networks of roads, built schools and gave scholarships to build the future. Some provided unbeatable community healthcare; several others deployed raw influence to bring people jobs, fame and prosperity.

Some were political, and some were rebellious. Chief Adetokunbo Remilekun Fani-Kayode, the first-class lawyer and son of a priest, began as a friend of the crown but led the youth in a major political shift that polarised Ife’s political alliances to this day. Omorogba Pedro’s name still rings with fear and terror. Were he alive, you might label him a progressive: he was a loyal supporter of the crown, an Awoist enforcer, the nemesis of Fani Power politics, and a liberator to those who opposed the NNDP politics of the First Republic through the violence of Operation Wetie.

What of the harbingers of faith who made Ile-Ife a model of the multi-religious society for which Yorubaland is famous? Chief Imams Kasumu Adeosun, Raji Ayinde, Hassan Bello and Idris Gbadebo Opeloyeru, among others, who built mosques and Quranic schools and propagated their faith. Pastor Elijah Titus Latunde, third President of the Christ Apostolic Church (CAC Worldwide), was a cooperative wizard who transformed the sacred Igbo Olose grove into an imposing centre of Christian faith. And it is not all about historical or esoteric figures. Contemporary stalwarts are equally featured: those who rose to the peak of their careers as first in line, and active political players still making their marks. Their footprints of today speak to the future, uncharted.

Conclusion

These are very interesting reads, as history and as a study of greatness. Set against time and space, the lives reflect the trajectory of Ile-Ife in politics, education, economy, infrastructure, health, art, culture, business, agriculture and commerce. Turn the pages and you see the story of the city: its ups and downs, and the lessons for designing a future for a place of history and tradition through the pacesetters.

There are two shortcomings though. First, a work of this significance needs an index, and its absence is a major miss. Second, the author should reconcile his list of Oonis with the portraits on the walls of the Ooni’s Palace, arguably the most authentic, if not official, list. The book names Osinilade (Otutu-bi-Osun) as the thirty-first Ooni, but the Palace walls, and the late archaeologist, historian and Apena Dr Tosho Eluyemi, say Okiti.

Otherwise, this is a commendable and rewarding effort. Every Ife person, indeed every Yoruba, should own these volumes to learn about who made the past that made the present possible and prepares us for the future. I recommend them to scholars needing resource materials on Ife, the Source, Ife, the Cradle.