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| Sir Adeyemo Alakija |
The Egbe Omo Oduduwa [The Society of the Descendants of Oduduwa] was Yoruba premier cultural organisation founded by Chief Obafemi Awolowo and a group of Yoruba students in London in 1945. It was rejuvenated in Lagos in December 1947 and was formally inaugurated in Ile-Ife in June 1948.
Its first president was the late Adeyemo Alakija while Obafemi Awolowo was elected as the first General Secretary.
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| Chief Obafemi Awolowo |
The main objectives of the Egbe were the organisation of a virile, efficient and modernized Yoruba state within a Federal state of Nigeria, the protection and development of Yoruba culture and traditional institutions, and the protection of the interest of the Yoruba so that future generations of the Yoruba would have a secured place in Nigeria.
Between 1948 and 1951, the Egbe awarded scholarship to 21 students from various Yoruba towns. The Egbe was banned by the Federal Military Government in 1966, along with similar ethnic group associations.
Please find below the Oath an applicant was required to take upon admission as a member of the Egbe:
Èké pa obì o di
Òdàlè pa tire má yàn
Oniwa rere nikan soso lo pa tire to yan gedegbe
Emi, …………………………………………………………………………………..se ileri tokantokan niwaju Olorun ati eniyan, lati duro dede ninu Egbe Omo Oduduwa ati lati faramo gbogbo ofin ati eto Egbe yi.
Bi mo dale Egbe yi ni onakona ni gbangba tabi ni ikoko, nigbangba ni mo fi ara mi bu fun ijiya ti Olorun pa lase fun Oduduwa pe: “Eke a pa eleke, Ilè a pa odale.”
Ki Olorun ki o ran mi lowo ninu ileri yi ati ninu ise rere mi gbogbo si Egbe Omo Oduduwa. Ase!!!
[English Translation]
The efforts of a dishonest person are abortive
Those of disloyal citizens are futile
Only the upright shall be successful in their endeavours
I,………………………………………………………………………….faithfully promise before the Almighty God and in the presence of my fellow compatriots, that I shall ever remain loyal and firm in the Egbe Omo Oduduwa and I shall ever obey and support the constitution of the organisation.
If I betray the Egbe either publicly or privately, I make myself liable, in public, to the penalty which the Almighty God prescribed for Oduduwa, to wit: “Evil shall haunt the evil doer, and betrayers shall be destroyed by the mother earth.”
So help me, Oh God, in this my oath and in my obligations to this Egbe Omo Oduduwa. Amen!!!
Source: S. O. Arifalo, The Egbe Omo Oduduwa: A Study in Ethnic and Cultural Nationalism
Credit: Onigegewura