KWARA STATE OR ỌYA STATE?
KWARA STATE OR ỌYA STATE? Historically, the territory we now call Kwara State was originally proposed to bear the name "Ọya State," in honour of Odò Ọya, the great river whose identity and cultural significance are deeply rooted in Yorùbá tradition and in flow with other Yorùbá state like Ọ̀yọ́, Ògùn, Ọ̀ṣun and Òǹdó states. However, pressures from the Ilọrin emirate and some Yorùbá Muslims, working in concert with other non-Yorùbá groups within the region, led to the rejection of the name Ọya. Their objective was straightforward: to forge a distinct identity for Kwara that would set it apart from the other clearly Yorùbá states. What is particularly ironic is that the chosen name, Kwara, is itself a Nupe word for the same River Niger that the Yorùbá call Odò Ọya. In other words, the name was not changed because the proposed name was inaccurate; both words reference the exact same river, but purely because the name Ọya carries spiritual and cultural associations linked to t...