By Wale Olaleye
The origin of the Awori people could be traced to Ile-Ife. According to oral tradition, Olofin Ogunfunminire, a son of Oduduwa had some family problems which made him to consult Ifa oracle, who advised him to vacate Ile-Ife and settle in a distant land. The oracle said before Olofin left Ife, he was to dig a portion in his father’s house where he would find a sacred mud plate with a royal beaded crown and other paraphernalia of the Oba’s office. As instructed by the oracle, Ogunfunminire dug and found the items as predicted by Ifa.
Ifa told him that he should place the plate on the river and sail after it, wherever the plate sank finally, that’s where Olofin and his followers should settle. But, the oracle warned that before that was done, he should sacrifice a white ram to the river so as to overcome problems that may arise during the voyage.
Olofin Ogunfunminire searched in vain for a white ram but could not find any; so, it was a black one, which was available to him, that he chose. When he was ready to sacrifice the ram to the river, he rubbed the black ram with his left hand and it became white; he then used it for the sacrifice before placing the sacred plate on the river, which he sailed after. Olofin had 32 children, 16 went on the voyage with him. This part of the story has been proven in modern times as all Ekiti Obas except the Oore (The Benefactor) of Otun claimed to be descendants of Oduduwa Olofin, the Oore traced his descent to the sea goddess “Olokun”.
Before Olofin and his followers reached their destination, many joined him on the voyage and they stopped in so many places while sailing after the floating plate. While on the voyage, there was a fierce storm between Iganhu and Iro (both in present day Ogun State), which took away their paddles; hence, they resorted to paddling the canoes with their bare hands until they arrived at Isheri, where the plate temporarily sank. They thought they had reached their destination; So, they settled there only for a while as the plate floated again after some time, Olofin and his crew started following it as Ifa had earlier directed that they should settle where the plate would finally sink. Though, some of his followers stayed back at the present day Isheri, but Olofin and majority of his followers, including his children, followed the plate to Ido, where the plate finally sank. Hence the name Awori “The plate sank”
Some of Olofin’s children, the Idejos, later settled at different places around the Lagos Island and some others dispersed through the lagoon to “Eyin Omi”, places populated by Aworis in the Badagry areas of Lagos state and parts of Ogun state.
Olofin, being an excellent hunter and warrior in his time, was always on hunting expeditions from Ido to a place where he later settled and named “Isheri Olofin”. He was joined by other people and the kingdom prospered. According, Aworis are known hunters and fishermen!
THE AWORIS TODAY
Aworis resident in Lagos state have been advised to join any political party of their choice and take active part in the politicking of whichever area they reside, preparatory to the forth coming elections. Coming on the heels of the cry of marginalisation by the ethnic sub-group, President of Awori Resource group, Chief Michael Olawale-Cole said in a release that though the resource group was non-political, it was necessary to make the Aworis understand how the game of politics is played in the state.
As a former commissioner for Finance, Works and Transport in the state, Olawale-Cole said it was,” particularly a matter of urgency now as the race for elections into various positions for the next Republic is now heating up”, although the objective of the group is non-political he continued, adding that, “the group is a think-thank for Aworis in Lagos and therefore has the duty to educate them on things that will be for the upliftment of the ethnic sub-group in the state”.
Olawale-Cole lamented,”despite the large population of Aworis in Lagos state, they are massively marginalised in appointments of Lagos state government and the Aworis have never had it so bad”. He espoused that the authorities in history have written that they (Aworis) constitute the largest of all ethnic groupings in the state.
“Aworis can be found in all local government areas of the state and they constitute the majority indigenous population of all the twenty local government areas of Lagos state except for Epe, Ikorodu and to some extent, Ibeju-Lekki local government areas”, said Olawale-Cole.
He however reminded the Aworis that their ancestor had migrated to the plains of Isheri that formed the settlement where Aworis dispersed to found other settlements including Lagos and that they have a major and indelible stake in the governance of Lagos state they found.
