The spokesperson to Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke, Mallam Olawale Rasheed, has defended the governor stance on the source of adire, stressing that historical facts and tradition clearly support the claim by the governor that Osun State is the birth place of adire.
  
In a statement on Friday, Rasheed traced the origin of adire to the spiritual deity called Osun goddess, noting that Ile Aka in Osogbo and Ile Akoda in Ede has been in the business of producing adire long before the 13th century.
 
Rasheed pointed out that the Igi Elu, which is the major traditional ingredient used for the production of Aro before the advent of imported Chinese dyes, is situated in Osun, saying that Adeleke’s position is rooted in historical facts and not just mere opinion.
 
“The origin of adire is from the spiritual deity called the Osun goddess, and it has been in existence long before the 13th century in Ile Aka in Osogbo and Ile Akoda in Ede. They inherited the indigenous Adire Eleko from their forefathers that had an encounter with the goddess during their search for water for their domestic use and water vegetables in their migration journey. Hence, the existence of adire in Osun predates the 13th century,” Rasheed explained.

Providing further historical facts, Rasheed noted: “King Lamoye Olutimehin, the great hunter and others migrated from Ipole Omu in search of a riverine area to settle down and in their journey, they found a flowing river and decided to settle down there. While clearing bushes and cutting down trees to construct their huts, one of the trees they were cutting fell over the river and broke the goddess’ dye pot, prompting the Osun goddess to complain to them that they have broken all her tye and dye pots (Lamoye Timehin, gbogbo ikoko aro mi leti fo tan).
 
“The above historical narration established that Osun goddess has been processing adire before the arrival of Lamoye and his people in the 13th century. It is worthy to note that the majority of the adire merchants today across the Southwest were historically trained by adire producers from Osogbo who migrated to settle in those regions.”