Haven lost my father at a tender age of about two years old, i was brought to Lagos, Educated, Married, and lived all my life in Lagos State. Consequently, as an Owu Princess, I did not really know much about Owu dynasty in Abeokuta not to talk of other Owu settlements except some historical events my mother used to narrate to me as a child.
Until the year 2000, when i was invited to the 'Owu National Convention' that took place at Owu Abeokuta. There I met many Owu Obas and Baales from different settlements in Yorubaland. I was greatly amazed. It never occurred to me that the Owus were that extensive in the diaspora, like the Jews, infact, they are the Jews of Nigeria.
The Owus are really great. There and then, something spurred me on to research into this legendary race, and find out the causes of their dispersion to different parts of Yoruba-land and even beyond. For at my age and with all my modest achievements in life, if I did not have the full knowledge of my dynastic root and race, it is certain that there would still be thousands of people like me, old and young scattered all over Nigeria and in the world whose knowledge would be restricted to their individual Owu settlement alone.
So my objectives in writing the book are:
1) To trace the dynasty of Owu from the homestead to other settlements across the length and breadth of Nigeria.
2) To systemically study the Chieftaincy arrangements, Cults, and Festivals in all Owu communities and settlements in the diaspora
3) To systemically collect and collate various Oriki (eulogy) from randomly selected leading Owu families in the diaspora.
4) To appraise the contribution of Owu war and allied factors to the migration of the Owu people to other lands.
5) To form an information data bank that will help to preserve the historical, religious, cultural, social and dynastic essence of the Owu both at the homestead and in the diaspora.
