According to oral Yoruba traditions and the history of Opa Oranmiyan, the family of Oranmiyan Omoluabi Odede, the Great Prince of Ife and King of the Yorubas, built the Oranmiyan Staff as a memorial monument at his death site. This was expected to occur around 1300.
The Opa Oranmiyan, or “Staff of Oranmiyan,” is a short, carved granite column that stands almost six meters (5.5 meters, more precisely). Consequently, it is quite tall in comparison to the average person.
This standing stone work is shaped like an elephant’s tusk and has 123 nails (iron pegs) arranged in the shape of an elongated trident. This makes it hard to believe that Neptune, the god of the seas, would use a trident as a symbol. Nobody truly knows how the nails were crashed into it and on similar side with the nails are a few blurred carvings and engravings. The meanings of these inscriptions are currently unknown, but they are said to be comparable to Egyptian hieroglyphics.
Even though the Opa Oranmiyan is well-known all over the world, Ile Ife has more than one Opa, also known as a standing stone work. In the main market, there is also the Opa Ogun (Staff of Ogun, the Yoruba god of war and iron). However, at 1.8 meters, it is not as tall or impressive as the Opa Oranmiyan. Opa Ogun has the appearance of a cylinder bulb. Numerous stone works (constructed from local granite or gneiss) can be found all over Ile Ife.
As per oral practices, the engraved stone monument was utilized as a mobile stick or staff (and that signifies ‘opa’ in Yoruba language) by the goliath Oranmiyan. Oranmiyan was the first powerful King (Alaafin) of Oyo. He was the giant warrior son of Oduduwa (some say Ogun).
Although the warrior Oranmiyan had promised the people of Ile Ife that he would return from his march of conquests if they ever required him, he had left Ile Ife and moved south, conquering everything in his path. He stated that all that was required of the crowd to do in order to threaten Ife was to scream his name.
Therefore, when the time of need came, the people of Ife followed his instructions, and Oranmiyan stormed toward Ife, destroying everything in his path. He unleashed so much power when he reached Ife to save his people that one of the warriors he killed was his friend. Because he had killed one of his own from Ife, Oranmiyan was so depressed that he threw his staff—another fable says it was his sword—into the ground and it turned into a monolith right away. After that, Oranmiyan left the area on horseback and disappeared into the forest. That’s yet another take on the fable.
In Moopa, at the Aribidi end of the city of Ile Ife, the Opa Oranmiyan can be found inside the Oranmiyan Shrine. It ranks alongside the Lafogido Grove, Olokun Grove, Olu Orogbo, Ooni Ilare, Saint David Potsherd (SDP) Pavement, and Yemoo Grove as one of Ile Ife’s most popular tourist attractions. The families of the Eredumi and Akogun are among the staff’s most ardent adherents, and it is still worshipped today.
The Israeli architects Arieh and Eldar Sharon contributed significantly to the construction of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU, formerly the University of Ife). In October 1962, they presented their arrangements for the structure of the new grounds celebrated by a lot of people as the ‘biggest grounds in Africa and the most lovely grounds South of the Sahara and north of the Stream Limpopo’. Work did not begin until the beginning of 1965. The first university in Nigeria to be established on the basis of the recommendations of a committee comprised entirely of Nigerians was the Ife campus.
When the architects jumped into action, trouble started. A concrete replica of the renowned Opa Oranmiyan was one of the features they wanted to incorporate to reflect the local culture and tradition. The idea was derided by some as nothing more than a means to smuggle a phallic representation of the decadent “West,” and the shocked Israeli architects were blasted.
Oranmiyan, a sociopolitical organization founded in 2005, was to serve as the platform for the Osun State governorship campaign of Rauf Aregbesola. This is an illustration of politicians using the obelisk’s legendary status in Yoruba history to advance their own agendas.
The individual accountable for the landmark in Ile Ife today is known as the Akogun of Ife, Akogun meaning the ‘Bold Champion’.
The Opa Oranmiyan is thought to be the tallest obelisk of its kind in all of sub-Saharan Africa at 18 feet.
Back in time…
IFE Hymn: The Opa Oranmiyan, which is located in Ile Ife, holds a very significant position in anything that is related to the Yorubas because the Yorubas consider Ile Ife to be the cradle of all civilizations and humanity. As a result, the Ife anthem, also known as “Ife Ooye” or “The Voice of Ife,” praises the Opa Oranmiyan:
Ilé-ifè ni orí’run ayé
Ìlú Oòduà baba Yorùbá
Èdùmàrè tó dá wa sí’fè
Kó máse ba ’fe jé mó wa l’órí
K’Olúwa kó maa ràn wá se.
Refrain
Ifè Oòyè, E jí gìrì
E jí gìrì, k’e gbé Ifè ga
Olórí aye ni’fè Oòyè
K’á múra láti tè s’íwájú
Òràmfè On’ílé iná
Oòduà a wèriri jagun
Òkànlén’írún irúnmolè
E gbé ’fè lé’kĕ ’sòro gbogbo
2. Ilé-ifè b’ojúmó ti mó wá
Ìlú àsà on ìlú èsìn
Gbogbo Yorùbá e káre ’fè
Ká lo w’ohun àdáyébá t’ó jo’jú
Ilé Oòduà Ifè l’ó wà
Opá Òràn’yàn; Ilé-Ifè ni.
’ Boji Morèmi Ilé-Ifè ni
Ará, e káre ’fè Oòdáyé.
Refrain
Ifè Oòyè, E jí gìrì
E jí gìrì, k’e gbé Ifè ga
Olórí aye ni’fè Oòyè
K’á múra láti tè s’íwájú
Òràmfè On’ílé iná
Oòduà a wèriri jagun
Òkànlén’írún irúnmolè
E gbé ’fè lé’kĕ ’sòro gbogbo
The warriors of Yorubaland had a custom after Oranmiyan’s death of going to the Oranmiyan Staff before going to battle to make sacrifices in order to win wars and their numerous conflicts with neighboring kingdoms.
Stone containers with lids were once set at the Opa Oranmiyan’s base. Kolanuts and other traditional offerings were placed inside of these stone boxes.
There is still a lot that is unknown about the Opa Oranmiyan, even though it could have been there for thousands of years. Some archaeologists think that the Opa Oranmiyan and other granite monoliths must have been built in a quarry using iron tools for percussion and pecking (iron is also thought to have been used to drill holes for the iron nails to be inserted), but no one really knows for sure. Only time will tell when the Opa Oranmiyan will reveal all of its secrets to a curious world, erect and confidently pointing to the stars.
