Awori people

This article is about the Nigerian ethnic group. For other uses, see Awori people (disambiguation).

For the Ugandan politician, see Aggrey Awori.

The Awori are a subset of the Yoruba people as well as a dialect of the Yoruba language.

Traditionally, Awori are found in Ogun State and Lagos State, Nigeria. After being pushed south to Ota, Nigeria in the face of the expanding Egba kingdom, Ota became the capital of the semi-independent Awori kingdom.

Mythic Origin of the Awori

In Yoruba tradition, all Yoruba people originate from Ile-Ife. When the leader of the Awori people, Olofin, and his followers left the palace of Oduduwa in Ile-Ife, they migrated southward along a river. Oduduwa had given Olofin a mud plate and told him to float it on the river they were following. They were to settle wherever the plate sank into the water.

Several days after leaving Ile-Ife, the plate suddenly stopped near Olokemeji near Abeokuta. After seventeen days, the plate began moving again, only to stop at Oke-Ata for another seventeen days. At the end of seventeen days, the plate began moving again, only to stop again on the southern outskirts of Abeokuta, where it stayed for another seventeen days. At this location, some of Olofin's followers decided to remain, led by a man named Osho Aro-bi-ologbo-egan. The plate continued downriver, stopping again at Isheri, where it remained for a much longer period of time. Olofin began instructing his followers to begin setting up a permanent settlement, but after 289 days (17 x 17) the plate begain moving again. Olofin and a few followers followed the plate, while the rest of the group stayed behind. After two days the plate stopped briefly at Iddo in Lagos. At Idumota in central Lagos, the plate whirled around in the water and sunk to the bottom. When Olofin returned to his group at Iddo, they asked him where the plate was. He answered "Awo Ti Ri" meaning "The plate had sunk". This is where the name Awori originates.