Okun people

The Okun people are a Yoruba speaking people found majorly in Kogi, but with settlements in Kwara, Ekiti, and Ondo states of Nigeria.^[1] Their dialects are generally classified in the Northeast Yoruba language (NEY) grouping.^[2] They are collectively called "Okun", which in Okun dialects could mean "Sorry", "Well-done", or as an all-encompassing greeting. Similarly, this form of greeting is also found among the Ekiti and Igbomina groups of Yoruba people. It is also a mode of greeting among the Ijesa people of southwestern Nigeria.

This identity, which was probably first suggested by Eva Kraft-Askari during a 1965 field expedition, has gained wide acceptance among the indigenous Yoruba people and scholars. The individual Okun subgroups share some historical and linguistic affinity but still maintain individual peculiarities.^[3] "Okun" therefore refers to the distinct, but culturally related Owé, Ìyàgbà, Addé, Gbẹdẹ, Bùnú or Abunu, Ikiri, and Òwòrò peoples, who together are said to make up 20% of the Kogi State population, according to the highly controversial 2006 National population census. It is also said that their indigenous food is Pounded yam, of which they share with the Ekiti people.