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According to transcribed Oral tradition, Queen Luwoo was the 21st ruler of Ife — a pioneer way ahead of her time.

Though she was once the most paramount sovereign of Yoruba land, history has not been kind to her legacy.

Ilè-Ifẹ̀ is a town in Osun state seen as the cradle and ancestral home of the Yoruba people, making any presiding ruler, the Ọọ̀ni, is reverred as a very powerful leader.

The Ooni is recognised by his subjects as their spiritual leader and Chief Custodian of traditions. The Ooni dynasties go back hundreds of years and it was perceived that men have always occupied the revered stool.

Because Nigerian ancient history was mostly passed down through oral tradition, transcribed lists of the previous Oonis differ and sometimes, contradict each other.

However, most accounts have stated that a female, Ooni Luwoo, was the 21st Ooni of Ife, the supreme traditional ruler of Ile Ife. She succeeded Ooni Giesi and was succeeded by Ooni Lumobi.

The legacy of Ooni Luwoo

In some accounts, she is referred to as Lúwo Gbàgìdá, a descendant of Otaataa from Owode compound, Okerewe. She was said to have been married to Chief Ọbalọran of Ilode and became the mother of Adekola Telu, the founder of Iwo town.

Ooni of Ife [Imgrum]

Ooni of Ife [Imgrum]

She was the first and only female to take the crown as Ooni after the demise of Ooni Giesi.

Ooni Luwoo was a beautiful woman who took great pride in her physical appearance and that of her surroundings. For this reason, she put the whole town of Ife hard at work at keeping the whole town clean and beautiful — both men and women.

She was also known to commission the unique Yoruba custom of construction of decorative pavements and open-air courtyards paved with pottery shreds. The streets of Ile-Ife were paved with quartz pebbles and broken pottery as punishment for anyone who committed an offence. The offenders were ordered to bake the clay, and afterwards use their bare hands to break it into pieces and then lay it on the floor for the queen to walk on.

Handmade clay tiles in Ife commissioned by Ooni Luwoo [Legit.ng]

Handmade clay tiles in Ife commissioned by Ooni Luwoo [Legit.ng]

She was so sophisticated and finicky that she refused to walk on the bare floor, and some of the hand-made clay tiles she walked on while she reigned are still available in parts of Ife and other parts of Yoruba land she visited while on the throne.

However, she was perceived as wicked and a terror to the Yoruba people and deemed “uncontrollable” and “high-handed” by the elders of the land.

After her reign ended, the council of Obas came together and vowed to never make a woman the Ooni of Ife again.

The current Ooni is Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi Ojaja II, the 51st Ooni of Ife.

 

Credit: Pulse

Ilhan Omar — one of two first  Muslim women to be elected to the US Congress, made history on Thursday, January 3rd 2019, when she wore her Hijab on the House floor.

The request of one of the first female Muslim members of the United States Congress, Ilhan Omar, to be allowed to wear hijab when she is on the floor of the House to vote and give speeches, has been granted.

Daily Mail UK reports that the incoming speaker, Nancy Pelosi, and incoming House rules committee chairman, Jim McGovern, backed Omar in her request and included it in the rules package they released on Tuesday, January 1.

Omar, who is a Democrat, tweeted in November after she was elected: “No one puts a scarf on my head but me. It’s my choice—one protected by the first amendment. And this is not the last ban I’m going to work to lift.”

Republicans will be handing over control of Congress to Democrats after eight years in power.

Omar, will become the first federal legislator to wear a religious headscarf when she’s sworn in on Thursday, January 3.

Omar is joined by Rep-elect Rashida Tlaib of Michigan as the first two Muslim women in Congress.

The Congresswoman from Minnesota was all smiles as she was sworn in on Capitol Hill … where she was surrounded by a throng of supporters, many of whom were also wearing hijabs. Omar’s no stranger to politics — she served in the state legislature before making her historic run for Congress.

0103-iihan-omar-shutterstock-premier-02

Omar — the first Somali-American in Congress — has also never shied away from her religion in public. In fact, during her victory speech on Election night, she dropped the Arabic phrase, “alhamdulillah” … which means “all praise to God.”

The 37-year-old — who came from a refugee camp in Kenya some 23 years ago — ran on very progressive platforms … such as hiking the minimum wage, universal healthcare and free college tuition.

United States Congress will now allow Muslim women to wear hijab on the floor of the House to vote and give speeches.

 

Credit: TMZ, UK Daily Mail

Power in Igboland had very large disparity between ruling in other parts of Nigeria. Igbos did not have a unified political institution as in the North and South hence it was harder to enforce the indirect system of ruling, instituted by Lord Lugard in 1914, in Igboland.

The Aba Women’s Riot featured women rebelling against economic and socio-political oppressions in Bende, Umuahia, and other regions of Igboland. Over 10,000 women came out to protest from majorly six ethnic groups: Ibibio, Andoni, Orgoni, Bonny, Opobo, and Igbo.

Brief history

The indirect rule system in Igboland involved the appointment of ‘warrant chiefs.’ These warrant chiefs, who weren’t necessarily people that were respected by the communities, became the enforced symbol of power. And as result of the vested power, the warrant chiefs became increasingly oppressive within few years.

Direct taxation on men was introduced in 1928 without major incidents, thanks to the careful propaganda during the preceding twelve months. In September 1929, Captain J. Cook, an assistant District Officer, was sent to take over the Bende division temporarily from the serving district officer. Upon taking over, Cook found the slated nominal rolls for tax inadequate because they did not include details of the number of wives, children, and livestock in each household. He decided to revise the nominal roll to include these.

The war and its implications

The riot bubbled from a town called Oloko, where the warrant chief, Okugo, sent his representative Mark Emereuwaon the morning of 18 November 1929, to conduct the census for the tax. Emereuwa entered the compound of a widow named Nwanyereuwa, while she was processing palm fruit, and instructed her to “count her lives stocks and people living with her.”

Knowing fully well that this means you will be taxed based on the number of the outcome, Nwanyereuwa became embittered; and in replying, she said, “was your widowed mother counted?”

This simply means that women were not supposed to pay tax in Igbo society. Anger was however expressed with exchange of words and ended with Nwanyereuwa pouring her palm oil on Emereuwa. Threats were also exchanged.

The widow proceeded to the town square to find other women who were already deliberating on the tax issue and explained to them her sad experience. Nwanyeruwa’s account prompted the women to invite other women with the aid of palm leaves from other areas of the Bende district.

Approximately ten thousand women were gathered, and a protest insisting on the removal and trial of the warrant chief was staged. It would go down in history that the effect of the Aba women’s riot prompted the British administration to drop their plans to impose a tax on the market women and to curb the power of the warrant chiefs.

In addition, the positions of women in society were greatly improved as women were appointed to serve as chief warrant in some areas.

The fallen revolutionists

The Aba Women’s Riot resulted in the death of 51 women and 1 man. These are their names:

Reference: Susan Geiger; Women in African colonial histories | Greg Nwoko

Source: pulse.ng

Google Doodle is celebrating Late Dr. Ameyo Stella Adadevoh’s 62nd posthumous birthday today, October 27, 2018.

Late Dr Adadevoh was a Nigerian Medical Doctor. She bravely curbed a wider spread of the Ebola Virus in Nigeria by placing the Ebola patient, Patrick Sawyer, in quarantine despite pressures from the Liberian Government. She is known for preventing the Nigerian index case from leaving the hospital at the time of diagnosis, thereby playing a key role in curbing the spread of the virus in Nigeria.

On 4 August 2014, it was confirmed that she had tested positive for Ebola virus disease and was being treated. Adadevoh died in the afternoon of 19 August 2014. She was survived by her husband Afolabi, and son Bankole, among other relatives.

Google wrote:

Stella Adadevoh’s 62nd Birthday

October 27, 2018

Today’s Doodle celebrates Dr. Ameyo Stella Adadevoh, the physician whose expertise and heroic efforts curbed the spread of Ebola in Nigeria in 2014.

Born in Lagos, Nigeria on this day in 1956, Dr. Adadevoh descended from a long line of respected scientists and statesmen. Dr. Adadevoh completed her residency at Lagos University Teaching Hospital West African College of Physicians and Surgeons credential before doing a fellowship in London. Following her fellowship in endocrinology at Hammersmith Hospital, she returned to Lagos, Nigeria where she spent 21 years at the First Consultants Medical Center and served as the Lead Consultant Physician and Endocrinologist.

In July 2014 a Liberian-American attorney arrived in Lagos on a flight from Monrovia heading to a conference on economic development and collapsed in the airport. The patient was taken to First Consultant Medical Center, where one of Dr. Adadevoh’s colleagues first diagnosed him as suffering from malaria. Although no Nigerian doctor had seen a case of Ebola before, Dr. Adadevoh suspected the patient might have been exposed to the highly contagious virus and subsequently ordered blood tests to confirm while also alerting Nigerian health officials.

While awaiting test results, Dr. Adadevoh was pressured by Liberian government officials to let the patient go so he could attend the conference as planned. Despite threats of lawsuits, Dr. Adadevoh stood firm, stating that she would not release the patient “for the greater public good.”

The test results came back positive for the Ebola virus and while the patient could not be treated in time, Dr. Adadevoh’s medical insight and the courage of her convictions ensured that other exposed patients could be treated rapidly and that the outbreak was contained. Unfortunately, in treating the initial patients, Dr. Adedevoh contracted the virus and passed away, along with three of her colleagues at the medical center.

Her legacy lives on through DRASA (Dr. Ameyo Stella Adadevoh) Health Trust, a nonprofit organization devoted to public health that works with communities and health workers to reduce the spread of infectious diseases and ensure that Nigeria is well prepared for future outbreaks.

Happy Birthday Dr. Adadevoh!