TRADITION ORIGIN AYEDE TOWN EKITI STATE
The tradition of origin of Ayede
distinguished itself in that itself it base upon Esubiyi who is unanimously
agreed upon to be the founder of the town.
According to information, Esubiyi was
a strong warrior. He and the others who came along with him to establish Ayede
came from Ile-Iye,Esubiyi was the head whose title was Olu. He was very
powerful and he was able to subdue all the enemies of the town. Some people
under him then began to exercise the fear that if left alone, Esubiyi could
grow too powerful and become a threat to their existence. Subsequently, some
groups of people planned against Esubiyi the Olu.
Esubiyi was unprepared from the
provoked attack, so he fought his way and eventually found his way out of the
Ile-Iye with his loyalist guards.
The choice of Ayede as a place of
settlement of the militant escapes was made in compliance with the divination
of Ifa Oracle. The town Ayede was third and final settlement of these people.
It was the only one agreed to by Ifa divination.
At Ayede, Esubiyi, settled at a place
called Idi-Iyaa where we now have the town’s central market. However, motion
also has to be made of Esubiyi curse on the people of Ile-Iye who conspired
against him who had been helping them. He cursed them that they would not have
a king again, from then on and this has been so ever since.
On getting to Ayede, Esubiyi said
‘Aye-de’which means, he has not got a place of enjoyment and settlement.
Incidentally too it was claimed by
some people that, when the unexpected attack on him took place at Ile-Iye, this
same word were uttered by Esubiyi which were then supposed to mean ‘aye-dee’
that is the people of this world have come and turned against him, Esubiyi. The
town named Ayede was thus coined from these words ‘aye-de’.
While at Ayede, Esubiyi and his
militant loyalist followers from Ile-Iye after consolidating themselves,
engaged in various military escape and with that they extended their political
influence to place around them during which established their superiority over
such neighbours by conquering them and bringing back spoils and slaves to
Ayede, such slaves today settles at AkodiAtah area of the town which is
strangers quarter.
One of the places subdued by Esubiyi
was having the title of its rulers as “Atagara”, incidentally, Esubiyi admired
that title and assumed the title of Atah from Atagara in replace of the title
of Olu that he beared while at Ile-Iye
EARLIER SETTLEMENT AND LATER IMMIGRANTS
When
Esubiyi and his men got to Ayede they did not meet any set of people, so they
were the original inhabitants. However, after their settlement the town has
been well consolidated as a town with social political stability some group of
people come to join them, some settle for trade purpose, some because of
political stability, and the other groups of later immigrants when the slaves
captures during the various military conquest of Esubiyi, and his men.
So, like all other towns, Esubiyi and
some others established Ayede, other later joined them and the slaves captured
during their military adventures.
But nowadays, it is interesting to
note that both the original settlers and the members of the slave community
have started to inter-marry although this was not so originally.