When Ògbómọ̀ṣọ́ people arrived in Jos as early as the 1880s, they lived together as one family under one roof. The houses were named after people or events, and each house, most times, consisted of people from ancient family compounds in specific areas of Ògbómọ̀ṣọ́.
There were Ilé Ọdẹ́fárá, Ilé Ayétòrò, Ilé Mágàjíyá, Ilé Ìdòwú, and so on. Living was communal and close-knit, an extension of the same Compound (Ilé) system back home (explained in my last post). It was practically a taboo for anyone to move out of this community to live alone, whether as a tenant or as a landowner.
This was a reality Late Oba (Dr.) Jimoh Oladunni Oyewumi (Ajagungbade III) lived through firsthand. Born in 1926 into the royal Oluwusi house of Ògbómọ̀ṣọ́, he arrived in the tin city of Jos on May 17, 1944, to join relatives already established there.
He believed Ògbómọ̀ṣọ́ people were, in a way, constrained by this closely knit family living. While recording our documentary “A Road From Ògbómọ̀ṣọ́ to Jos,” we interviewed Timothy Oyegbile Esq., who shared the same sentiment as the late monarch.
Late Oba (Dr.) Jimoh Oladunni Oyewumi (Ajagungbade III) said:
“Ògbómọ̀ṣọ́ people did not quickly move out of family houses, that was a constraint. For people like me, though I didn’t get much of western education, I moved out of the family house.
“When I wanted to further my education… at the time we lived at Ilé Ọdẹ́fárá, and I used to attend evening school, and before I returned, they would have locked the door.
“I was typified as a bad boy, and I always come home late. I was annoyed, and I moved out to go and rent a thatched house. I lived there and attended St. Paul’s School.”
That act of independence turned out to be pivotal. While attending St. Paul’s School and living on his own terms, the young Prince Oyewumi also began working, and one day walked into the GB Olivant trading company to look over a shop. There, he met a Scottish manager named Mr. Smith, who would go on to extend him goods on credit, a rare opportunity at the time.
That relationship helped sharpen his business instincts, and he went on to trade with other major firms of the era, including PZ, SCOA, and CFAO. The same young man who had once been locked out of Ilé Ọdẹ́fárá for coming home late from evening classes would later become one of Jos’ most prominent Ògbómọ̀ṣọ́ trade moguls, and eventually, in 1973, the Soun of Ogbomoso himself, a throne he held for 48 years until his death in 2021.
Most of those communal houses no longer exist. Development and commerce in the Terminus area of Jos, itself named after the hospitality business the young Prince Oyewumi would later help establish there in 1958, now sits in the area where those old houses used to be.
Two years ago, my good friend Àyánkọ́lá Àyánwuyì and I began working on a documentary titled “A Road From Ògbómọ̀ṣọ́ to Jos.” It tells the beautiful story of how Ògbómọ̀ṣọ́ people found a second home in Jos. We will hold private screenings of the documentary in Ògbómọ̀ṣọ́ and Jos in the first week of September.
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