Obalumo

Ọbalúmọ̀ (or Ọba'lúmọ̀ , a contraction of Ọba Olúmọ̀), is the titular name of the founder-king of the ancient Ìsèdó-Olúmọ̀ city-state of the Igbomina-Yoruba. A classical translation of the title Ọba’lúmọ̀ is “The King, the Lord of Knowledge” or “King of the Lords of Knowledge” meaning “ Knowledgeable King,” a description which suggests that this founder-king of the Ìsèdó city-state, who is reputed in oral history to be a veteran hunter and warrior, was also a highly skilled Herbal doctor/pharmacognosist and Babalawo (a diviner priest of the Ifa oracle).

Some oral history ascribe a personal name of Tìímọ̀ (pronounced Tì-í-mọ̀) to the first King Ọba'lúmọ̀. Tìímọ̀ led one of the migrations from the Ọ̀bà kingdom perhaps as a result of the cyclic conflict with their Nupe neighbours to the north. The orature of the Ìsèdó people refer to their recent ancestry from King Ọba'lúmọ̀ (Ọmọ Ọba’lúmọ̀ n’Ìsẹ̀dó), as well as to a more ancient lineage of King Olúnlákin of Ọ̀bà (Ọm’Ọba Olúnlákin).

Results of recent archeological research of the region's contemporary and later settlements suggest that the Ìsèdó City-State commonly known as Ìsèdó-Olúmò (i.e. the Olúmò’s Ìsèdó), was established between the 10th and the 12th centuries by Òbà refugees displaced from the cyclic conflicts of their former kingdom with the neighbouring Nupe to the north.

Oratures of ancient origin and oral-historians ascribe the role of land-grant authority to the Oba'lúmò of Ìsèdó. These sources report that at the request of Oduduwa’s fourth son Òràngún, the region’s king Oba'lúmò gave land-grants to the later arriving Òràngún immigrants at a location sufficiently distant from Ìsèdó’s location.

An annual celebration called "Ìmárúgbó" (or "Òkùnrìn") festival was instituted between the two city-states during which the King Òràngún leaves his palace with his chiefs to pay a day-long homage to the King Oba'lúmò in his (Oba'lúmò's) palace. This is in symbolic tribute to Oba'lúmò's land grant and precedence of him in the region, in appreciation of Oba'lúmò's hosting of the Òràngún's elderly mother who could not continue with the immigrant party to their allocated land. The Òràngún's mother died in the palace of the Oba'lúmò and was buried at Ìsèdó, so the Òràngún also visits her grave.