(Ede's Eulogy)

Ede is an ancient town

We heard from our King that Ede has been existing for over 300years

...the time is around 1760s

Here is our new settlement, our initial settlement was Ede Ile

The communities at the northern part of Oyo are Awo, Ara, Ojo and Ikotun

Awo, Iwo and Agberi were within the same vicinity

There were commercial activities in these areas

It got to a particular time that they were being disturbed by thieves

The business communities were attacked by Pigmies from Ijesha

They attacked and stole food stuffs from the people

These pigmies always disguised themselves to scare the people away

The people of these communities reported the menace

to the then Alaafin of Oyo; Shango

The king called on his chiefs for counsel on what to do

In the olden days, war is very rampant among the Yoruba settlements

But war had ceased at this particular time and the warlords were idle

The warlords became ruthless due to this warless season

These warlords behaved irrational and the king was not happy with it

Then the Chiefs suggested to the King that these warlords

should be sent to confront the robbery in these communities

The King sent Agbale Olofa Ina to confront the thieves distubing
the peace of these communities

He came with his warriors and settled in Awo

He settled under a big tree

The tree is called Ede and that was how we got the name EDE

The warriors fought the thieves

They conquered the thieves and collected all the stolen goods from them

They collected all the stolen items from the thieves

and sent part of it to Alaafin in Oyo

The king left the communities in the care of the warriors

The chiefs in Oyo started visiting Awo

These chiefs were not satisfied with what was given to them by the warriors in Awo

They went back to Oyo and gave Alaafin of Oyo bad report the warriors in Awo

That they have made themselve king and collected stuffs meant for the king

That they have only been reporting little of those things collected

The king sent for Agbale Olofa-Ina to come back home

When they did not see him as expected, the chiefs advised the king on what to do

(Yoruba Adage)

The chiefs asked the king to send another warlord

called Gbonka to go and bring him

Gbonka eventually went to Ede to deliver the King's message to Agbale Olofa Ina

They had misunderstanding

Having had that his friend has made himself king

cuased controversy between both them

And as you know the position of a king is powerful

and highly reverenced

And that is why kingship tussle becomes rivalry

due to its honor and reverence

A king is reverenced with the accolade "Kabiyesi"

meaning unquestionable

A king is reverenced with the accolade "Kabiyesi"

meaning unquestionable

Gbonka took Agbale Olofa-Ina back to Oyo

where he spent the rest of his life

When the pigmies heard that the warrior had left the place

They came back to resume their robbery activities

The people of this communites went to the king

Alaafin Shango in Oyo for his help

And the king converge his chiefs again to decide what to do

One of the chiefs recommeded that the second-in-command

to Agbale Olofa-Ina who happened to be Alapo Tiemi-tiemi should be sent

Alaafin Shango sent Alapo Tiemi-tiemi

We took the name Timi from Tiemi-tiemi

Timi came and conquered

The people thought they lost their first warrior Agbale Olofa-Ina
because they did not do the needful

They went back to Oyo to ask the king Alaafin Shango

to make Timi head over them

Alaafin agreed and used tiger's skin to build a crown called Akoro

This crown called Akoro was what our king used in the old days
and it was recently the king started using Beaded-Crown

This tiger's skin crown is highly respected in Yoruba land

and it is not common

My king has it and is there in his palace

Though I don't have access to the crown but had one when I was
fully and very much active in the film industry

It was made with animal skin and I could not preserve it for a long period of time

Alaafin used this crown Akoro to make Timi king in Ede

There were 13 crowned kings in Ede Ile (the old Ede)

There was rancor in the ruling families during the reign of the 13th king
in Ede Ile and they relocated to the new Ede

The 13th king was Ikubolaje Agboran who was the head of the
ruling families came to the new Ede with four other members of the family

The 13th king named Agbonro went to war

Before his return from war, his brothers quenched the war-fire
which signified that he died in the warfront

As often watched in films, most of what we projected in films

are products of research and they are real

The enemy had quenched the war-fire and when that happens
it means the warlord is dead but he did not die

A new king was crowned before the return of king Agboran

On his return to Ede Ile, he called his kinsmen and they left the place
for the wicked ones as sang by Tijani Ayanlola. I have the record

The 13th king was Ikubolaje Agbonro who was the head of the
ruling families came to the new Ede with four other members of the family

They consulted the oracle to know their next settlement

and the oracle said they will cross a river

That was osun river but how will they cross to the other side
they made some sacrifices and the river pathed way for them to pass

The name of the king that brought us to the new Ede

is Ikubolaje Agboran

We are in the new Ede, we had 12 kings and

HRH Oba Munirudeen Adesola Lawal is the 12th king

Shango festival is a week long celebration

On the first day, a local barrel is immersed into the river

as tradition demands

Shango Timi festival is always observed in October

White ram is an object of sacrifice to Shango and it will be provided

by one of the chiefs, the king maker named Babasanya

During this festival, there will variety of activities like magic display
by some of our children costumed in red cloth and cowries

We have other festivals such as eegun and ogun festival

About Ede culture and tradition, drumming is one

Though the king has wife but we believe that the drummers are king's wives
They king's informant

The king understands every bit of the rhythm of the drum

and what it means

The king discern from the rythm of the drumming the kind of visitor
coming and that is why we made them the king's wives

This practice is very significant acrooss yoruba communities

It is one of the Yoruba culture that we value so much in Ede

The king had prepared a place where drums and their materials will be kept
We have some of them in the museum

We usually give the skin of any animal killed

to the drummers to prepare them for drums

These materials almost gone out of existence like Aro

but the king strived to bring them back

Aro is a musical instrument made with iron and

it makes more rythm than talking drum

Prince Olaoye have all the musical intsruments

and their materials in his art gallery

Ede is very rich in culture and tradition

We don't have religious crisis here in Ede

The king responds to every religion accordingly

The king belongs to all religions and attend

to their needs irrespective of religion

And we have been experiencing peace and tranquility

Here is Shango shrine and as you can see

these are his entourage as inscribed on the walls
During Shango Timi festival, the masqurades pay obeisance
to Shango as a sign of his supremacy

We appeal to the Government to support and project the festival

Our choice of food is not different from other communities

Fermented corn starch (Eko) is a common food in Ede

and is very good for body nourishment

Okro (Ila)

Jute (Ewedu)

Vegetables (Efo-tete and shoko)

We plant them here in Ede

We eat pounded yam and banana flour

Initially, before we are now used to plantain chips

We do slide the plantains and grind them into flour

There is a particular yam that is very common here

the yam is very big and take longer time to harvest

Eba is not very common in our place due to its starch and
it has bad effect in the body especially the elders

There is cassava flour but yam flour is more popular in Ede

Ede is a good place and I am proud to be a native of Ede

(Ede's Praise Poetry)