Moremi Ajasoro

Moremi Ajasoro, Princess of the Yoruba, was a figure of high significance in the history of the Yoruba peoples of West Africa. She was a member-by-marriage of the royal family of Emperor Oduduwa, the tribe's fabled founding father.[1][2][3]

Biography

The Oloori Moremi lived in the 12th century,[4][2] hailed from Offa,[5] and was married to the then king of Ile Ife, a kingdom that is said to have been at war with an adjoining tribe who were known to them as the Forest people (Ìgbò in the Yoruba language, though the said tribe is believed by scholars to have had no relation to the contemporary Ìgbòs of modern Nigeria). Scores of Ife citizens were being enslaved by these people, and because of this they were generally regarded with disdain by the Yoruba city-states.

Moremi was a very brave and beautiful woman who, in order to deal with the problem facing her people, offered anything she had to give in sacrifice to the Spirit of the river Esimirin so that she could discover the strength of her nation's enemies.

She is said to have been taken as a slave by the Igbo and, due to her beauty, married their ruler as his anointed queen. After familiarizing herself with the secrets of her new husband's army, she escaped to Ile-Ife and revealed this to the Yorubas who were able to subsequently defeat them in battle.[6]

Following the war she returned to her first husband, King Oramiyan of Ife (and later Oyo), who immediately had her re-instated as his Princess Consort. In order to fulfil the pledge she made to Esimirin before embarking on her mission, her son Olurogbo was given in sacrifice to the Spirit because this is what it asked her for when she returned to its shrine.

The Edi Festival is said to have then been started as a means of celebrating the sacrifice the princess made for the people of Yorubaland. Furthermore, a number of public places are named after her in contemporary Nigeria, such as the female residence halls at the University of Lagos and Obafemi Awolowo University.

In 2017, Oba Ogunwusi, the Ooni of Ile Ife, Osun State, erected a statue of Moremi in his palace. The statue is the tallest in Nigeria, displacing the previous holder of that record (a statue in Owerri, the Imo State capital). It is also the fourth tallest in Africa.

References

  1. ↑ Suzanne Preston Blier. "Art in Ancient Ife, Birthplace of the Yoruba" (PDF). Harvard University. p. 83. Retrieved December 22, 2016.
  2. 1 2 Dele Layiwola (1991). "The Radical Alternative and the Dilemma of the Intellectual Dramatist in Nigeria" (pdf). Ufahamu: A Journal of African Studies: 67–68. Retrieved December 22, 2016.
  3. ↑ Segun Thomas Ajayi (2007). Moremi, the Courageous Queen. Indiana University (Publications Limited). ISBN 978-9-788-1250-75.
  4. ↑ "Queen Moremi Folk Opera". Mount Holyoke College. Retrieved December 22, 2016.
  5. ↑ Oliver Alozie Onwubiko (1988). Wisdom Lectures on African Thought and Culture. Totan Publishers Limited (University of California). p. 64. ISBN 978-9-782-4495-35.
  6. ↑ Oyeronke Olajubu (2003). Women in the Yoruba Religious Sphere (McGill Studies in the History of Religions). SUNY Press. p. 29. ISBN 978-0-791-4588-53.
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