DDON

All the Igbo grandmothers I have been seeing online since, I never see light skin ooo

The “Chiffon” lie ends today. Yoruba Gele etymology is literally pocket handkerchief. (Frame 1 & 5) Gele is aso inuju(face wiping cloth). My Igbo Ichafu etymology is high-fashion Kerchief / Head-dress / Coiffure.(frame 2&3) From the 1900 European archives: Içafo (Ichafu) comes from the native compound Içi-ọfọ (Gathered-Wrap).(frame 2&3) The French translation in the records is Couvre-chef (Head-cover) and Coiffure (Elaborate Hairstyle). It even lists the synonym Akwaisi, which literally translates to ‘Head-dress’(frame 2&3) Meanwhile, that same record (1900)translates Chiffon as Nkilika-akwa (RAGS) in Igbo. No connection to Ichafo at all. Igbos didn't name our crowns after French rags or piece of light cotton(pocket handkerchief), we named them after the art of the wrap. 💯 indigenous. My etymology is a Coiffure, yours is a pocket handkerchief.

The First Oba of Benin and the Origin of the Benin Monarchy Let’s discuss the first Oba of Benin. Oranmiyan was the first Oba of Benin. The land he conquered was called Igodomigodo, sometimes referred to as Idu. He took control of it at the request of Ife/Esan mixed immigrants, known today as the Bini people, who had complained to Ife about being treated as third class in Igodomigodo. After the conquest, the Bini became powerful and were in charge, but Oranmiyan faced strong rejection from the ordinary citizens of Idu (not from the Bini). Oranmiyan eventually left and named the land Ile-ibinu. The Ife/Esan mixed immigrants adopted this name as their identity; to others, they became known as Ibinu/Ibini, while the Itsekiri referred to them as Ubini. Oranmiyan left his son, who lived with his mother, to rule. This son, known as Owomika (Eweka), became their Oba after they formally sought him. Every appellation (Akpuja/Oriki) used thereafter meant “son of this” or “child of this,” because he was the son of Oranmiyan, whom the Bini still recognized as their Oba. From Owomika, he became known as Omo N’Oba (child of the Oba—Oranmiyan being that Oba). This is the first clear proof that the Oba of Benin was and still is ethnically from Ife and a Yoruba man—but that is not all. Here are some of the appellation and praises used for the Oba of Benin to prove his origin: EDO – ENGLISH 1.Ovbi’ Umogun Oza – The child of the Oba whose mother hailed from Oza. (Omo Ogun is the title of Oranmiyan, so this literally means the child of Oranmiyan, the Oba.) 2.Ovbi’ Ekpen N’Owa – The son of the home leopard. (The Ooni is known as the Ekun, “leopard.” It is also one of the symbols used by the ooni of ife) 3.Ovbi’ Adimila – The son of Adimila, who is next to God. (The Ooni of Ife is known as Adimula; here the Oba is described as the son of the Ooni of Ife.) 4.Ikeja Orisa – Second in command to the gods. (Ikeji Orisa is a title used throughout Yoruba land; the Ooni is known as Ooni Orisha.) 5.Abieyuwa N’Ovbi Odua N’uhe – The son of the wealthy Odua of Uhe. (Uhe is Ile-Ife, a town in Yoruba land; and that is where Oranmiyan was from. the Oba is recognized throughout as the son of the Ooni of Ife.) 6.Ovbi’ Ada, Ovbi’ Eben — the child of the owner of the Ada (scimitar) and Eben (royal sword), Edo symbols of sovereignty. (This clearly proves that the Oba of Benin is not the owner of the royal state swords, and neither are the Bini the original owners. The title itself describes the Oba as the child of the owner of the Ada and Eben, that owner being Oranmiyan, who brought them from Ile-Ife.) These praise names, preserved in Edo court traditions, consistently frame the Oba as the descendant (son) of Oranmiyan, tied to Ife/Yoruba royal symbols and figures like Oduduwa/Adimula. No traditional Edo appellations reference Ekaladerhan as the father or progenitor of the Oba line in this foundational sense. There are no praise names asserting the Oba as "father of his own father" or deriving directly from Ekaladerhan in the dynastic chain post-Ogiso. The absence of such references aligns with the tradition that the Oba dynasty begins with Oranmiyan's conquest and Eweka's installation. Early written accounts, including Portuguese records from the 15th–16th centuries, Egharevba's compilations (drawing on Edo oral sources up to the mid-20th century), and scholarly analyses of oral traditions, contain no pre-1950s documentation contradicting the Ife-Oranmiyan origin for the Oba title and dynasty. Claims of an alternative autochthonous or reversed migration (Ekaladerhan as Oduduwa) appear more prominently in later 20th-century bini revisionist reinterpretations amid Nigerian ethnic politics, but they do not displace the older, consistent emphasis on Oranmiyan as the bridge to Oba rule. So to claim otherwise from these facts should be considered a mental disorder. By Lord_of_Warri on 𝕏. Itsekiri Activist and Historian.

Udara most especially. I’m always disgusted when I hear Igbo people call it “Agbalumo”

I have never heard ichafu before, what in the name of funny is that?

This Ichafu vs Gele argument is so unnecessary.