Odundun I

Odundun I, otherwise known as Ọ̀dúndún asòdedẹ̀rọ̀ (Yoruba: Adégbọrọ̀ Adéagbo Oṣùpá Aṣọdẹ́bóyèdé; c. 1835 - 1890) was a Yoruba monarch. He ruled the Akure Kingdom from 1882 until 1890.

His lineal descendants are today known as the House of Osupa/Odundun. They serve as one of Akure's two legally recognized royal families.^[1]

Early life[]

Oba Odundun I was born as Prince Adegboro Adeagbo in Akure around the year 1835, as a member of the Asodeboyede Dynasty. He was the son of Oba Osupa I, who ruled Akure from 1834 until 1846, and through him claimed hereditary kinship with all of the preceding rulers of both Akure and the neighbouring kingdoms of Ijeshaland and Ikereland. Because Oba Odundun I was later able to become king, under the omo-ori-ite rule in place (before it was repealed in 1991), a prince can only become king if they were born during the reign of their father.^[2] Because Odundun's father began his reign in 1834, he would have had to have been born after that. About 3 decades before his birth, in 1818, the Kingdom of Benin had invaded his father's homeland and executed Oba Arakale, his paternal grandfather. The invaders spared his father however, who lived in Benin City for a long period of time before returning to Akure after becoming king.

Through his paternal grandmother, who was a daughter of Oba Akengbuda of Benin, he also claimed direct descent from the imperial dynasty that had provided the Oba of Benin since the medieval period, and through it could therefore trace his lineage all the way back to antiquity.^[3] It was due to the fact that his grandmother was a Bini princess that his father Osupa – Akengbuda's grandson through her – had been spared during the invasion.

Reign[]

His father became king in 1834. His father died in 1846, and at some point, Odundun married and had several children, including Prince Adegbite,^[4] Prince Aladelusi Aladetoyinbo (grandfather of the current Deji, Odundun II), and a daughter, who was later expelled from the kingdom in the early 1890s.

In 1882, the Deji of Akure, Oba Ojijigogun – who was his great uncle (as the younger brother of his father) – died. This created a vacancy in the office, and several eligible princes sought the throne, including Odundun and his cousins, the three sons of the deceased king: Arosoye, Ifaturoti, and Olofinlade.^[5] Oba Odundun was selected and crowned shortly afterwards.

One of the main things Oba Odundun I did was to sever the ties between Akure and Benin. When his father had become king in 1834, Akure began to pay a yearly tribute to the Benin Kingdom, and had continued doing so until Oba Odundun refused to pay it any longer. It is said that the officers that were sent to enforce control of Akure were oppressive and often raped and killed the people that they met there, so when Oba Odundun heard of this, he refused to pay the tribute anymore.^[6][7] Benin was unable to react at the time, as they were fighting against the British occupation that would eventually culminate in the Benin Expedition of 1897.^[8] This act gave the Oba his oriki "Asodedero," which means One who makes the town peaceful.

Oba Odundun was known to be a brutal and ruthless tyrant, and is often compared to King Henry VIII of England, in that he swiftly executed one of his wives for sharing a joke with him in the bathroom.^[9] Another one of his wives, Olori Ifámùgbàẹ from the nearby village of Ikota whom he married at the beginning of his reign, fled the palace in 1887 to the town of Ilara-Mokin because of his cruelty due to her childlessness. After visiting a babalawo in the town, she returned to the palace where she had a child the next year, Ajari.

Death and legacy[]

Oba Odundun I died in 1889 or 1890 at around the age of 55. After this, his father's direct lineage wouldn't produce another monarch for the duration of the succeeding century. His cousin Oba Arosoye became king, and when he died Prince Olofinlade, who had competed for the throne with him in 1882, succeeded. He ruled for the following 60 years as Oba Adesida I, thus establishing the Adesida dynasty that ruled Akure for 100 consecutive years. In the early 1990s, the Osupa family was recognized as one of the official ruling houses of the Akure Kingdom by the military administration of Ondo State. It has since provided two further monarchs, including current incumbent Oba Odundun II.

A prominent member of the Osupa/Odundun royal family is Oloye Olu Falae, a descendant of Oba Odundun I's father Oba Osupa through Odundun I's half-sister, Oba Odundun's great-great nephew. Falae was a civil servant and politician who served as secretary to the Government of the Federation during the administration of Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida. He also ran for the office of the president of Nigeria following the resumption of democracy in 1999.^[10]

Another one of his descendants include his great-grandson Ogunlade Aladetoyinbo Aladelusi, who later became the Deji of Akure, Oba Odundun II, the current king.^[11]

See also[]

• Oba of Benin
• Ogiso
• Akure Kingdom

References[]