Pictorial Post: The Genesis Of Iwo Land And The Great Oluwo Palace

The Oluwo Of Iwo Land, Oba AbdulRasheed Adewale Akanbi

Iwo, Osun state is a city in western part of  Nigeria, a traditional and historical settlement with many traceable records in yoruba land, Like other cities in yoruba race, Iwo  also belong to Ile-Ife where they migrated from in the 14th century.

During the course of moving Iwo land progressive and maintain her high status amongst the towns and cities in yoruba land, The Iwocitygist team deemed it fit to go through the best route in giving the citizens and fans of Iwo land the best of the historical news about there home with authorized pictorial explanations.

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Like we said earlier, Iwo ancient forefathers are descendants of the great Ile-Ife kingdom, in a household known as "OBALORAN".  The then Oluwo, Adekola Telu left Ile-Ife to settle down initially in a place called 'OGUNDIGBARO' near Oke-Osun. 

But according to history the Ogundigbaro settlement was very swampy that hindered successful farming of  Adekola Telu, as we know the only occupation then was pure farming. The unfavorable land condition forced Telu to leave Ogundigbaro and relocated to another settlement called 'Igbo-Orita' which was then a very favorable place for farming unlike the previous settlement.

The end time of Adekola Telu met him in Igbo-Orita, even the second and the third king after him also died there as well, But during the reign of the fourth king, Oba Ogunlaoye aka JIKANMU in  Igbo-orita, he grew old there, but before he died, there was inter-tribal war started by the Fulanis that led them to consult Ifa about the solution about how they would not be conquered by the Fulanis.

 The Ifa priest actually ordered them to leave Igbo-Orita with immediate alacrity as that is the only solution to the incoming wars of the Hausa tribe. But they were faced with the problem of where to migrate to that they needed to consult the oracle yet again.

Thanks to the Oracle as they were able to receive the direction, the Ifa ordered them to face the Eastern side and keep going till they meet some rivers along the way, then places where big and mighty trees are sighted, this place will also be the abode of a particular bird called Parrot (Odidere) also known as Ayekooto. 

The kingdom of these birds is going to be their next settlement and that is where they must stop. They were told no war would ever overcome them again if they did not do against the will of Ifa. and they agreed to start their journey. 

The aged king was so weak, not having enough strength for that kind of long journey they were about to embark on, he could suspect and foresee his death, but agreed with his people if he had died before they reached the place of description by the ifa oracle, they shouldn't drop his body, the body must also follow them to the place of reference.

Perfectly as Jikanmu had foreseen, they could not hear his voice anymore, they examined his  body and discovered he had already died, The place where he died is known as OBADAKE ' which is today referred to as ADEEKE' in Iwo, but with the agreement they had before he gave up the ghost, they carried the dead body until they reached the place where they met the birds as predicted earlier before they left Igbo-Orita. Alas, the new Iwo was founded amidst many stress and tribulations. They buried the dead king at the point where they met the big trees with the Odidere birds. The then habitat of the birds is the present seat of the Oluwo palace.

Main entrance of Oluwo palace

It is safe to say this: Oba Jikanmu was not the first to use the current Iwo palace, even though he was buried there, he didn't get there alive. The first Oluwo to use the palace was Oba Parin, although, he built the palace with the likes of palm fonds and history has it that after the regime of Parin, the palace still maintain it's palm fond structure through the regime of many kings till the regime of Oba Kosiru Ande that transformed the palace from Palm Fond into bricks. 

So Kosiru is the founder of Oluwo's modern palace in 1948. They maintained the building till today, but during the regime of the immediate past Oba Asiru Olatunbosun Tadese, he successfully erected another new palace just beside the old palace, but after he died in 2013, A new king mounted and was installed as the king on the 9th day of November 2015 in person of Oba Adewale Akanbi. from Molaasan Royal family a sub-section of Gbaase ruling house.

Exterior view of the new palace built by the former Oba being renovated by the present Oba

Molaasan Royal Compound

The new era king is no doubt a king of action as he took the step in re-branding the new palace and turned it to ultra-modern day palace.

The new palace built by Tadese being renovated by Oba Adewale Akanbi

It is worthy of notice that all the past kings of Iwo land right from Jikanmu to Oba Asiru Tadese are been buried inside the palace.

The burial spot for the immediate past Oluwos excluding the immediate past 4 kings

The burial spot for the immediate past 4 Kings

As discussed earlier, after the new king emerged, the whole city has been experiencing different forms of transformation and the palace not left out. Below is a very short clip of the interior of the palace currently undergoing re-branding from the present King.

The palace is being touched professionally, and can compete with any palace in terms of beauty and modernization. All thanks to the exposure and literacy of the new Oluwo, Below is more of the pictures of the new oluwo palace.

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