TheCable

A group known as the Igbimo Odo Yoruba has expressed dissatisfaction with the claim that the Igbo were the first set of people to settle in Ile Ife, Osun state.

Ile-Ife is regarded as the ancestral land of the Yoruba ethnic group.

Alfred Achebe, obi of Onitsha, made the claim while speaking at the first Chinua Achebe International Conference organised by the Institute of African Studies, University of Nigeria (UNN), Nsukka.

In a statement on Friday, Igbimo Yoruba described the monarch’s comment as “one joke taken too far”.

“We view this statement, credited to the respected royal father, as one joke taken too far,” Olufemi Lawson, convener of the group, said in a statement.

“We are amazed, that this is coming at a time when credible intelligence report has shown to us, the attempt, by some foreign forces, to infiltrate Yoruba land.

“It is a common knowledge that the south-east and its people, have over the years, largely depended on the good will of the Yoruba people, for their economic prosperity and exploits.

“It is therefore unimaginable, that the best, that these group of statesmen, could consider to repay the kindness of the Yoruba, is to distort our history as a people, and make such attempt which ultimately is aimed at also claiming our land.

“The words of the chemist turned monarch cannot be swept under the carpet. We urge all Yoruba institutions in Nigeria and in the diaspora to condemn this raging attempt to distort the history of our race, for the sake of our generation and generations to come.

“All Institutions in Yoruba land will resist the bid to disrupt the history of Yoruba.”