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Prince Oronmiyan
(Around 1170 CE)
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Oronmiyan´s intervention in Igodomigodo was around 1170 CE. Ogieamie Irebor prevented Prince Oronmiyan from entering the heart of Igodomigodo kingdom. The Edion´isen built a palace for Prince Oronmiyan at Usama. The Yoruba prince refused to fight Ogieamie. Unable to bear the animosity for too long, Oronmiyan renounced his office and called Igodomigodo, Ile Ibinu, (meaning a land of annoyance and vexation). He declared that only a child of the soil, educated in the culture and traditions of Igodomigodo could rule the kingdom.

Prince Oronmiyan, on his way home to Ife, stopped briefly at Egor, where he pregnated Princess Erimwinde, the daughter of the Enogie of Egor. Enogieship was created by the Ogiso dynasty. Egor was a dukedom and the Enogies of dukedoms were usually relatives and siblings of Igodomigodo monarchs. Many members of the guild of royal drummers whose

ancestral home was at Ikpema quarters in Benin City, where allowed to settle in Ovia territory of Egor by the Enogie on the instructions of the Igodomigodo monarch at the time. Therefore, Oronmiyan´s choice of the Enogie of Egor´s daughter, on his way out of Igodomigodo, could not have been a casual decision and may have been arrived at through divination, and with the connivance of the Edion´isen. There was a strong link with the Igodomigodo royal family.

Oronmiyan left three of his chiefs behind to take care of the pregnant princess. The three chiefs were Ihama, Letema and Legema. Judging by Oronmiyan´s understanding of the intricacies of Igodomigodo traditions and culture, it is very likely that the ancestors of the three chiefs, like his own, were soaked in Igodomigodo mores. Ihama, the leader of the chiefs was definitely an Edo chieftaincy title. Oronmiyan, after his Igodomigodo experience, went on to establish the first Alaafin dynasty in Oyo. Apart from the seed he sowed in Benin, he eventually fathered two younger sons, Ajaka and Sango, who succeeded him in turn as the Alaafins of Oyo. Ihama and the two other Oronmiyan chiefs in Ile-Ibinu, successfully supervised Princess Erimwinde´s pregnancy and her eventual delivery of a baby boy who was speechless at birth, but who from early years loved playing the game of marble. When the Alaafin was informed by his chiefs in Ile-Ibinu about his son´s predicament, he sent seven ´akhue´ seeds to the boy through Chief Ehendiwo. Children throw the seeds against targets on the ground in the marble game. While playing the marble game with other children, one of Oronmiyan son´s throws hit the target and in the excitement he screamed: ´Owomika,´ (meaning I have hit the target). This is how his title of Oba Eweka was derived.

 

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