Oba (ruler)

Oba means "ruler" in the Yoruba[1][2] language. Kings in Yorubaland, a region which is in the modern republics of Benin, Nigeria and Togo, make use of it as a pre-nominal honorific. Examples of Yoruba bearers include Oba Ogunwusi of Ile-Ife, Oba Aladelusi of Akure, and Oba Akiolu of Lagos. An example of a Bini bearer is Oba Ewuare II of Benin.

The title is distinct from that of Oloye in Yorubaland, which is itself used in like fashion by subordinate titleholders in the contemporary Yoruba chieftaincy system.[3]

  1. ^ Samuel Crowther (1843). Vocabulary of the Yoruba Language: Part I. English and Yoruba. p. 206.

    ỌBA, s. king, monarch, lord, prince, liege, master.
  2. ^ Society, Church Missionary; Staff, Church Missionary Society (March 2009). Dictionary Of The Yoruba Language: English-Yoruba, Yoruba-English (1913). Kessinger Publishing. p. 202. ISBN 978-1-104-17000-4.

    Ọba, n. king; monarch; lord; prince; liege; master; sovereign.

  3. ^ Blair, Major J.H., Intelligence Report on Abeokuta: 65 year anniversary reprint edition (2002), p. 3.