Tehila's Dexterity

09/12/2023

Hmm…WON NI, RIKISHI AKAN..OMI’GBONA A’TU…ABOSI AKAN OMI’GBONA A’TU…KA SHA MA SE DAADA..

13/04/2023

IN IBADAN, Did/Do you know that:

*Ibadan is the third Largest city in Africa after Cairo
and Johannesburg (Wikipedia)

*Ibadan is the third most Populous city in Nigeria
after Kano and Lagos

*Ibadan is the Home of Nigeria Army 2nd Division

*Ibadan City alone has a population of 3,720,643
people (2006 census), with this more populous than
States like, Enugu, Gombe, Osun, Cross-River, Sokoto, Ondo, Kebbi, Edo, Benue, Bayelsa, Abia,
Kwara, Adamawa, Ebonyi, Kogi, Nasarawa, Taraba,
Pleatue, Ekiti, Yobe and Zamfara (2006 census)

*Ibadan has 11 recognised Local Government Area
with an Average of 338,462 people per L.G.A as against 150,000 people per L.G.A of Fed constitution recommendation, the Nigerian Constitution stipulate 14 L.G.A for provision to create a state

* "Ibadan North" L. G. A. is one of the first four most populated L.G.A in Nigeria with 856,988 people and
Oluyole 734,377 people (2006 census)

*Ibadan has 5 metropolitan L.G.A namely Ibadan
North, Ibadan North-West, Ibadan North-East, Ibadan
South-West and Ibadan South-East

*Ibadan has 6 Urban L.G.A namely Egbeda, Oluyole, Ona-Ara, Lagelu,Akinyele and Iddo

*Ibadan has its oldest L.G.A as Oluyole L.G.A and Lagelu L.G.A

*Ibadan is the Capital of Western Colonial
Administration 1893 and also Western Region since
1939 *Ibadan operates the most orderly and peaceful
monarchy system anywhere in the whole universe

*Ibadan hosts the very first University in Nigeria and
the first and the best Zoological Garden nationwide (in the University of Ibadan campus)

*Ibadan cover a total Area of 3,186 sq. km (1,195sq miles) close to the whole of Lagos State 3,348 sq.
km

*Ibadan has 7 Federal Constituencies as against
constitution stipulation of 6 to create a state

*Ibadan puts Oyo State as the 4th largest economy in
Nigeria *Ibadan is Nigeria’s 3rd cheapest city to live.

*Ibadan has a Federal Airport (Alakia), boarding
passengers to cities like Kano, Lagos, Abuja, Benin,Port Harcourt etc.

*Ibadan has 4 Government Reservation Areas (GRA,
as we call them) – Iyaganku, Jericho, Onireke, and Agodi.

*Ibadan hosted the first Housing Corporation in
Nigeria that built the first housing estate in Nigeria,
Bodija Housing Estate.

* Ibadan has the oldest Surviving Newspaper in
Nigeria (Tribune Newspaper) * Ibadan hosts the first TV station in the whole of Africa 1959 as WRBC, later WNTV/WNBS and now NTA Ibadan

* Ibadan has 7 Television stations (Galaxy as the first
private station in Nigeria 1996, NTA, AIT, MiTV,
BCOS, Channels Ibadan and Silverbird Ibadan)

* Ibadan has a whopping 14 Radio stations operating in the same city; namely Fresh FM, Splash FM, Inspiration, Premier FM, Oluyole FM, Lagelu FM, Star FM, Space FM, Diamond/UI FM, Naija FM, Radio Nigeria, Amuludun FM etc.

*Ibadan hosts Mapo Hall, one of only 2 Town Halls in Africa of Greco-Roman architectural style.
*Ibadan’s house-numbering, system for postal delivery using the cardinal points, N, S, E, W, SW,SE, NW, and NE is the only one of such postal codes in Africa, designed by the British.

*Ibadan has the Bower Tower, designed by British Colonial Officer Taffy (also designed the Mapo Hall)
is the only structure of its kind in Nigeria and West
Africa, located on top of the city in the Agala Forest.

*Ibadan hosted the first fruit canning factory in
Nigeria, Lafia Canning Company, established and
owned by the Western Nigeria Development Corporation, and supplied by the citrus and pineapple farm of Apoje, near Ijebu Igbo (in present day Ogun State)

*Ibadan consists of several almost-independent, self-
sustaining big communities:
• The City itself • University of Ibadan campus
• The Ibadan Polytechnic campus
• The University College Hospital (UCN) community
• The Moor Plantation Community, including the
IAR&T campus
• The IITA community • CRIN community
• The Nigerian Railway compound and living quarters
• The Odogbo Barracks community of the Nigerian
Army
• The Lead City University campus
• The religious communities of Immanuel College and the Dominican Community.

*Ibadan is the only city in Nigeria that has over 15
Federal Tertiary Institutions/Research Institutes,
namely:
1. University of Ibadan, formerly University College,
Ibadan,1948 (Nigeria’s Premier University).
2. Nigeria Institute for Social and Economic
Research, (NISER)
3. Institute for Agricultural Research and Training
(I.A.R &T) Moor Plantation
4. National Institute of Horticulture Research and
Training (NIHORT)
5. National Cereal Research Institute (NCRI) 1978
6. National Root Crop Research Institute (NRCRI)
7. Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria (FRIN)
8. University College Hospital (UCH) 1948, including School of Nursing.
9. Federal School of Statistics 10. Federal School of Hygiene
11. Federal Co-operative College
12. Federal College of Agriculture,1921
13. Federal College of Animal Health and Production Technology
14. Federal College of Forestry .
15. International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, IITA (an international/global Institute)
16. Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria (CRIN)1976
17. National Institute of Science Laboratory
Technology (NISCLT)
18. Ibadan Polytechnic (owned by Oyo State) but started as the National College of Science and
Technology

* Ibadan has several private higher institutions of learning such as:
• Immanuel College of Theology
• Lead City University • Ibadan City Polytechnic
• BOLMOL Polytechnic
• Dominican University
• Tower Polytechnic
• All-Ibadan College of Education
• Mufu Lanihun College of Education *Ibadan has the Largest Supermarket in Africa (Shoprite Ibadan Ring-Road branch).

*Ibadan has the first stadium and International
Stadium in Nigeria (1945) the Liberty Stadium (now
Obafemi Awolowo Stadium) with 35,846 capacity

*Ibadan is the home of Book Publishers, having over major 20 printing companies i.e. Oxford University Press, Ibadan University Press, Heinemann, Evans,
Spectrum, Bounty, Odua Press, Macmillan etc.

*Ibadan hosts the Regional Headquarter of Central
Bank Of Nigeria, Dugbe, under which states like
Ondo,Delta, Ogun, Kogi,Edo Ekiti, Ilorin, and Oyo operate.

*Ibadan to Oyo is the first motorable road in Nigeria
1905 built by Sir Percy Girouard
*The busiest road in Nigeria after Lagos-Abeokuta
expressway is Lagos-Ibadan followed by Abuja-
Kaduna express road *An Ibadan man, Mr Taiwo Akinkumi designed Nigeria
Nation Flag (1959)

*Ibadan has the first tallest building in Africa, "Cocoa
House" 1952.

*Ibadan hosts the first set of Secondary schools in
Nigeria.
• St. Anne's School, Molete 1868,
• Ibadan Grammar School, Molete, 1913,
• Ibadan Boys High School, 1938,
• Government College, Apata, Ibadan 1927,
• Queen School, Apata, Ibadan 1956,
• St Patrick Grammar School 1962, • Ibadan City Academy, Eleta, 1946,
• Wesley College, Elekuro, (a teacher training college)
1905,
• St. Theresa’s Girl School, Oke-Ado, 1932,
• Yejide Girls Grammar School, Kudeti, 1956,
• Loyola College, Agodi,1954, • Lagelu Grammar School, Agugu,1958
• Igbo Elerin Grammar School, via Ibadan, 1957.

*Ibadan is the city with the highest number of
Professors in the whole of Africa

*Ibadan is the fastest growing city in Nigeria (NBS).

Compiled by Gaphar Ojetola .

14/01/2023

25/12/2022

THE BIOGRAPHY OF FELA – KUTI

Fela was born Olufela Oludotun Ransome Kuti in Abeokuta, Ogun state on 15 October 1938, to a middle class family. His mother, Funmilayo Ransome Kuti was a famous front line activist in the anti- colonial movement and his father, reverend Israel Oludotun Ransome- Kuti, a protestant minister and a school principal, was the first president of the Nigerian union of teachers.
His musical talents and radical nature manifested early, so it was no surprise that he went to London in 1958 to study music at the trinity college of music. While there he formed the band Koola Lobito’s, playing a style of music that was a fusion of Jazz with West African highlife. In 1963, Fela moved back to Nigeria, reformed Koola Lobito’s and trained as a radio producer for the Nigerian broadcasting corporation.
In 1969, Fela took the band to the united states, while there Fela discovered the black power movement through Sandra smith (now isodore) a partisan of the black panther party which would heavily influence his music and political views, indeed Fela experience a political awakening that later reflected in a total transformation of his world view his music and the place of Africa and the black man in history.
His early years and his mother political activism had exposed him to some degree to the fight for political independence from colonialism, and especially memorable for the young Fela was being introduced by his mother to the late Kwame Nkrumah.
Nkrumah was the guiding light of Ghana’s independence and the leading advocate for pan- Africanism and the Organization of African Unity (O.A.U).
If this early exposure could be said to introduce Fela to the politics, his nine (9) month sojourn in Los Angeles completed his political education and gave birth to the musical phenomenon and political maverick of African music forever. In his own words “for the first time I heard things I had never heard before about Africa”. Fela told friends he learnt more about African in Los Angeles than he had learnt in Lagos and insisted that the whole atmosphere of black revolution changed me, my consciousness, my thinking, and my perception of things).
I was educated”

The first acclaimed on afro-beat song “which gave birth to the genre was my lady frustration part of a recording available today on the compilation named “the 69 los angeles sessions.
Fela and his band renamed Nigeria 70, returned to Nigeria. He the armed the Kalakuta republic a commune , a recording studio, and home for many connected to the band that he later declared independent from the Nigerian state.
Fela music became very popular among the Nigerian public and Africans general. Infact, he made the decision to sing in pidgin English so that his music could be enjoyed by individuals all over African where local languages spoken are very diverse and numerous. As popular as fela’s music had become in Nigeria and elsewhere. It was very unpopular with the ruling government and raids on Kalakuta Republic where frequent.
In 1977, Fela and the Africa ‘70’ released the hit album zombie, scathing attack on Nigerian soldiers using the zombie metaphor describe the method of the Nigerian military. The album was a smash with the people and infuriated the government, setting off a vicious attack against the Kalakuta republic, during which one thousand soldiers attacked the commune. Fela was severely beaten, and his elderly mother was thrown from a window, casting fatal injuries. The Kalakuta republic was burned, and Fela’s studio, instruments and master tapes were destroyed, he claimed that he would have been killed if it were not for the intervention of a commanding officer as he was being beaten. Fela’s response to the attack was to deliver his mother’s coffin to the main army barrack in Lagos and write two songs, “coffin for head of state” and “unknown soldier” referencing official injury that claimed the commune had been destroyed by Unknown Soldier. Fela and his band then took residence in crossroads hotel as the shrine had been destroyed along with his commune. In 1978, Fela married 27 women, many of whom were his dancers, composers and singers to mark the anniversary of the attack on the Kalakuta republic. The year also marked by two notorious concerts, the first in Accra in which riot broke out during the song “zombie” which led to Fela being banned from entering Ghana. The second was at Berlin Jazz festival, after which he had a lot of his band members desert him due to various issues.
Despite the massive setbacks, Fela was determined to come back. He formed his own political party, which he called movement of the people. In 1979, he put himself forward for president in Nigeria’s first elections for more than a decade but his candidature was refused. At this time, Fela created a new band called Egypt ‘80’ and continued to record albums and tour the country. He further infuriated the political establishment by dropping the names of ITT Vice president Moshood Abiola and then general Olusegun Obasanjo at the end of a hot selling 25 minute political polemic titled I.T.T (international thief-thief) in 1984, he was again attacked by the military government, who jailed him on a dubious charge of currency smuggling. His case was taken up by several human right group and after 20 months, he was released from prison. He continued to release albums with Egypt “80” made a number of successful tour of United State of America and Europe and his album output slowed down in the 1990’s.
He died on 2nd August 1997, more than a million people ironically including from the armed forces and police attended his funeral in Lagos. His musical career was matchless and prolific with over 70 albums and over 200 songs.

07/10/2022

This photo was taken in Damascus in 1899. The dwarf is Samir. He is a Christian and cannot walk. The one who carries him on his back is Muhammad. He is a Muslim and he is blind.

Mohamed relies on Samir to tell him where to go, and Samir uses his friend's back to navigate the city streets. They were both orphans and lived in the same room.

Samir was a hakawati, he had the gift of narration and told stories of a thousand and one nights to the customers of a cafe in Damascus, Mohamed sold bolbolas in front of the same cafe and liked to listen to his friend's stories.

One day, when he retired to his room, Muhammad found his companion dead. He wept and mourned his friend for seven days straight. When asked how they got along so well, being of different religions, he said only this:

"Here we were the same", pointing with his hand to his heart.
Cc: United african

07/10/2022

07/10/2022

BRIEF HISTORY OF IRAGBIJI TOWN IN OSUN STATE

For those steep in the tradition and history of Yorubaland, the mention of Iragbiji always evokes the people’s traditional praise them: “Iragbiji oloke meji tako tabo lori agba”. It means Iragbiji made up of two rocks male upon the female. The modest town with a rather slow laid back mien common to most small towns in the semi rural areas, is scenic. It has one major road from Ikirun meandering through the town heading to Igbajo, Ada and other towns. There are other small roads.

The towns visage is greatly influence by the rocky hills that form a kind of arc round it. But the hills are not austere. Trees, shrubs and other economic plants fight with the igneous rocks fro space. It is as if they have reach a kind of mutual agreement that but the trees and the rock should co-exist side-by-side for the sustenance of the community.

Here man and nature, most especially the hills, have come to co-exist that one can hardly be mentioned without the other. Although hills are the basis for the aesthetic beauty of this town, but it actually one of the hills, Okanyilule that has become the symbol of the town.

Okanyilule spectacular hill is at the back of the town towards the boundary between the Iragbiji people and Obaagun town. The rocky hill juts out high into the sky. Right on top of the rock another one is delicately place as if a superhuman giant had picked the rock and balance rock on top. It is a spectacle and marvel for many. It is from this rock that Iragbiji people got cognomen. Moving inside hill area is difficult with rocks and shrubs blocking the way. But finally one managed to make the it to the hill of course with scratches from plants. The site was worth the trouble. But according to the naitves, there was more to the hills than the aesthetics.

Oba Abdul-Rasheed Olabomi is the traditional ruler of the town. Cultured and well educated, talking about the tourist endowments of Iragbiji, most especially the famous Okanyilule hill seems to bring the out him. He has deep knowledge about his town’s history and talks about it like a history professor lecturing university students. He occasionally laced his speech with Yoruba songs in praise of his town. He talks about the Okanyilule hills: “The Okanyilule Hill is historical to Iragbiji. It is a monument that really depicts and connotes what Iragbiji is. Part of our cognomen says ‘Iragbiji owners of double hills, one fell down, while the other is still standing.’ Okunyilule has a history dating back to about 200 years ago.

There was a dispute over the ownership of the hills area and the land around it. It involved the then monarch of Obaagun, a neigbouring town to Iragbiji. The monarch of Iragbiji then was Oba Oloyede Dada. Then there were no policemen, there were no soldiers and there were no courts; but traditionally, when issues like that arose, our people in the past had their own method of settling such dispute. What was then was to invite all the Obas around Iragbiji area. It involved the then Timi of Ede, the then Ataoja of Osogbo, Oragun of Illa. All of them went to the foot of the hills and asked each of the monarch to prove that their ownership. Eventually the Aragbiji said, to prove that he was the owner of the land and the hills, that within seven days, the two hills, Tako-Tabo, one male and one female standing on each other, one will roll down within seven days. The then Oloba Agun said nothing of such would happen. To the glory of Almighty God, on the third day, the small hill sitting on the other one, one of them rolled and fell down.

Since then, Iragbiji has considered the Okunyilule hill a monument. In fact every year, people go there salute the courage of our forebears who were able to stand by the truth, uphold and also say the truth. We also commend the gods who allowed the truth to manifest in the rolling down of one of the hills. Today, it is the symbol of Iragbiji on our letter head. Anything we do, we would always allude to the Okanyilule hill. It is one of our prime monuments. We are proud of it.”

So, what are some of the things to attract a tourist to Iragbiji. The Oba has an answer: “Around the Okanyilule Hils, we have about four sites. There is a source of water at the Okayilule Hills. There is the site where the earliest migrants to iragbiji, called Iledesi,. That was where they settled. There is also a source of water we call Oloti. It was not Oloti from source, it became Oloti down the stream. If you get in there, you will see the marvels of the work of Almighty God, how water is gushing out from the base of the rock. It is as site to behold.
“When you leave there, you want to visit Oke Iragbiji itself, which has its own historical connotation. It started with the establishment of Iragbiji, about 600 years ago.

“History has it that our great grandfather, Sokungbade, was a great man, a hunter . when he arrived here, he went on hunting expedition to the pick of the hill, Oke Iragbiji. He was chasing an antelope and the antelope entered a hole on top of the hill. History has it that he entered and and the antelope and the hunter came out in front of what we now have as the palace. We cannot prove the veracity of that claim, but that is in our oral history. In those days, so many things did happen that we will see now and feel they are unbelievable. Since that time, our people have been celebrating the hill annually in what we call, Oke Iragbiji Odun rioke. We normally celebrate it last week of July every year. On top of that hill too, we have the Ayeye stream.

The stream has its source, on top of the hill. The water is always very clean and chilled. Then it was forbidden for anybody who was not a prince to go there draw water or have anything to do with it because it was sacriligoues. The water, before now, was said to be highly medicinal for barren women. The beleive3 was very strong that taking a cup full of that water, a barren woman would conceive. During annual festivals, people go to the stream to make a lot of pledges, the barren, sick and so on. history has it that about 100 years a go, there was an outbreak of small pox all around the then Yoruba land, if not Nigeria. That it was the water from Ayeye stream that was taken to heal the ailment. So, the water is regarded as highly medicinal and spiritual.

“We leave that place, we have the traditional wall fence, Odi. We have tow types: the earth wall fence and the rocky wall fence. According to our history, the two types were put up by extra-terrestrial beings. That our fathers in those days were so powerful that they invoked the spirit to help them construct the two traditional wall fences. Today, we still have relics of the fences. The earth fence has collapse, but we still preserve some of them. Leaving Iragbiji, one is left with the feeling of having been to a town where the people and nature are at peace.

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07/10/2022