Egba Kingdom
Historically, the Egba people were agriculturists and traders under a federation of three groups-Ake, Okeona and Gbagura scattered over 150 towns and including the modern city of Ibadan, Oyo and Ijaye. Perhaps for the divisions, they were susceptible to attacks, thus for some time they were province of old Oyo empire.
However, in their quest for freedom and democracy, the three sections, working together under Lisabi, got rid of Oyo imperialism in the late eighteenth century and became self-governing federation. Egba’s independence did not last for long as they were in the 1820’s overran by a joint Oyo, Ife and Ijebu armies.
The attack forced the Egba out of their homes and under Sodeke, migrated to a hilly area marked by huge rock presently known as Olumu Rock that used to be a camp for some Egba hunters and farmers. It was because of this the town Abeokuta ‘refuge among rock’ or ‘under the shadow of the rock’ was founded in 1830.
It must be noted that the Owus were not a foundation member of Abeokuta. One can therefore, rightly say that the emergence of Egba kingdom came about during the fratricidal war of the Nineteenth century in Yoruba land.
Owu:
Owu came to lime light around 1821 and 1828 in what has been known in Yoruba history as Owu war.
The war started partly as a result of the struggle between various Yoruba districts as well as the attack on Ife towns by Olowu Amororo, an action considered as sacrilegious because of the sacredness of Ile -Ife in Yoruba land the supposed spiritual birthplace of the Yorubas.
The result of his action became a disaster for the Owu people in their origina abode and threw the whole of Yoruba land into civil war.
The Owu were thoroughly defeated by the combined forces of Ibadan and Ijebu, and the Oni of Ife, the spiritual head of the Yorubas, ordered with his constitutional authority, that the Owu capital, Orile-Owu must be destroyed with no human existence.
where is Owu today? They became a scattered people and Sodeke invited some remnants Owu to settle with the original Egbas in 1834 at Abeokuta.
What befell Owu was the same thing that happened to Ijaye under Kurunmi who was the Aare Ona Kakanfo (ARMY CHIEF) of Oyo. He tried to undermine the power of the Alafin, but met his waterloo in the hands of Ibadan warriors led by Bashorun Ogunmola. Ijaye was destroyed and many of them found their way to Abeokuta like the Owus. The Owus are scattered people trying to lay claim to homeland through settlement.
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Egba/Dahomey wars
The Egba and Dahomey war is also interrelated with this because the two (Obansanjo and Ajibola) of them said that the Owu saved the Egba from the Dahomiens. I think this is an attempt to degrade other Egba people who are known as great warriors from the outset.
There were two major attacks on Abeokuta by the Dahomiens. The first in 1851, under king Gezo, who used female warriors, the ‘AMAZONS’ during which Dahomey was not only defeated by the great Egba, but it lost more than three thousands soldiers.
Gezo’s son and successor, Gelele, swore to avenge his father’s humiliation and defeat, made the second attempt with more soldiers in 1863, but lost about five thousand soldiers. It was a big lesson for them in their attempt to get hold of the rich areas of Yoruba hinterland. These victories were due to the collective efforts of Egba, including Owu.
A bi e’gbo pe won ji olumo Egba ri ni- ewo orisa- Literally meaning that the rock that binds the Egbas can never be stolen due to its natural nature which is an abomination to the gods.
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From an Egba man living in the Oke Ona section of Egbaland in Abeokuta:
http://nigeriaworld.com/articles/2007/dec/191.html
WHEN WE DON’T KNOW SOMETHING WE SHOULD ALWAYS TRY KNOW & FIND OUT. TRY TO READ BOOK WRITTEN BY REV. JOHNSON : THE HISTORY OF YORUBA… 1ST OF ITS KIND . WE ARE MADE 2 KNOW DT EGBAS WERE ASO(SOLDIERS), THAT MAKE IT EASY 4 DEM TO DISGRACE & DESTROY OYO EMPIRE ARMY(COMPRISES WARIORS 4M ALL YORUBALAND EXCEPT EGBALAND ) 3 TIMES IN 1775-1777 ad. Oyo empire decline in glory & power after d Egba independence. Immediately after d Egba indepedence, Dahomy claimed their indepedence, Ilorin follows b4 d final destrution by d Fulani jihadists. Egbas are warlike but peace loving people. Their victories over Oyo, Dahomy, Ibadan, Ijebu, Remo, Awori, Yewa etc. has proven them to be d geatest Yoruba clan. They are d only clan that was not colonise by british government in nigeria as a whole & even when lord lugard tried 2 cajore them in 1914 they regain their independence back in 1946. TELL ME, ARE THEY NOT D GREATEST YORUBA CLAN?
Na wah o, everybody just dey formulate history to himself.
Owu people fought Dahomey over Ado-Odo, The first time and was unable to capture the small town because the Gezo of Dahomey whose under domain was Ado-odo fought the Owus who were not prepare for such big war (because Ado-Odo was small place that requires no too many soldiers to over run) and they (Owus) retreated. Gbalefa who felt insulted by that development led the Owus the second time against Dahomey over Ado-Odo in a more aggressive manner and would have won the war, but the missionaries interveined and stopped the Owus at a place now known as Gbalefa Penisula. Ado-Odo reamined under Gezo of Dahomey’s protection until the time of partitioning of Africa. Ado-Odo never fought any war themselves, (Egun people call Ado-Odo GEZE till date, – meaning Gezo’s domain), the wars were between the Dahomeans and the Egbas. Ado-Odo was too small a place to face the Egbas on their own. There is no need for falsification of histories. There were many other wars between the Egba and Dahomey such as the one over Ota and some other places within the Yewas and were won by the Egbas.
Please can anyone tell me the types of dance in egba land??
The historian haven rock is not “OLUMU” but OLUMO ROCK as contained in your presentation, please correct the typographical error. The great warrior is my Father2s mother. I am delighted to see the legacy of the great man Balogun Sodeke as history. Nigeran history will not be accurate and complete without mentioning his name as an ambassador of peace.Thanks
G O Ajayi
As far as i am concern the owu are rude and arogant,as long as they have admited that they were stranger in egba and this people accommodate you,winning a war a on their behave doesn’t make you the owner of the land,let make peace among ourselves we’re one yoruba let come together as Oneh,we shouldn’t allow issue of about 3 century to start generating controversies among ourselves that can lead to what we won’t be able to handle, if that is the case all owu go back to your original settlement let make peace.
Let me remind you that Abeokuta is nobody original settlement.
The egbas and Owus came to Abeokuta as refugees
“Egba’s independence did not last for long as they were in the 1820’s overran by a joint Oyo, Ife and Ijebu armies.”
I will have to strongly correct the above statement that Ijebu army was not involved in the war against Egba, Ijebu had never been under Oyo, Ijebu eventually accommodate the Egbas after the Oke Ibadan army who were servants of the Alafin Oyo continuously raid Egba settlements as refuges to stay and eventually settled down in their present settlement in Abeokuta which is a farm settlement of the Ijebus. The fact to this is not heard to prove:
There has been lot of Ijebu people that live in Abeokuta prior to there arrival.
The Oriki of the Alake of Egbaland says it all:
“Asa ara!”
“Igbore Omo Awujale!”
” Oba Ganju!”
“Jadiara,!”
“Afota Modi.”
Asa was a Princess, daughter of the Awujale Oba Ganju Jadiara, the 26th Awujale (1660-1675), who brought an Ijebu warrior named Afota Modi with her to present Abeokuta and founded Ake, Igbore and the other settlement.
The notion that Abeokuta was safe for the Egbas and other war refuges such as the Owus, because of the Olomo rock is a pure lie and does not make sense because after the Owu war of which the Olowu was arrogant to the Awujale. The Ijebus ensured that the Ori-Ile Owu was completely destroyed and used hunger to get them out of their hiding places and eventually burnt the place down. We should observed that the Oke Ibadan warriors subsequently used this tactics in their raids for slaves too, so apparently the obvious weapon for the Oke Ibadan would had been to use the hunger tactics on the Egbas and the Owus refuges whenever they hid behind the Olumo rock when they raid Abeokuta. The true history was that since Abeokuta that is Ake, Igbore and other places closeby is the settlement of the Ijebus, the Ijebu army protect the land against the Oke Ibadan and the Dahormeans armies. That was the reason Chief Sodeke was advised to bring his Egba followers to Abeokuta as refuges and join the Ijebus living there already. Eventually, when the white people initiate the crown of the Abeokuta in on August 8, 1854, the obvious rightful owner was the Olu by right a great grandchild of an Oba (original meaning of Oba is Emperor) of an Awujale, the rest settlers do not qualify to be crown as king, they do not have royalty in their bloods they were not of the lineage of any Oba. The people in Ake, Igbore know their origin through the above oriki, so the present Alake Oba Adedokun Aremu Gbadebo should remember this statement below credited to a Facebook posting of Proudly Yoruba@the YorubaPeople with a reference web page of “http://www.oluitori.com/history.html”
“The thought of having an Oba came to them and the lot fell on Okukene, the Sabua of Ake and head of Egba Ogboni – an industrious woodcarver. He installed the Alake of Abeokuta on August 8, 1854”
I hope this facts and more should be enough to show that the Alafin Oyo prior to this time statement that “Egba o loba gbogbo won lo sebi Oloba.”
Should be enough for the new Alake to put himself into his place in history and know that the crown of the “Alake of Abeokuta” is because he is representing or he assumed the right of a great grandchild of the Awujale Oba Ganju Jadiara, the 26th Awujale (1660-1675). More so, as a great grandchild of the Awujale, you can not promote yourself above your parent, and I am sure he is Christian so he use the wisdom of the word of our Lord Jesus Christ that “Honor your father and mother, but not only those that gave birth to you alone.”
The fact to this tradition gives you the right to be a king not because of your personal age, or wealth, but because of your linage right as a descendant of a Princess of the Awujale Oba Ganju Jadiara, the 26th Awujale (1660-1675).
“A word is good enough for the wise.”
You are such a liar and have history all wrong! All wrong!!!
Are you mad? How is any of this your business? Is the history concerning Igbos? Worry about your cannibalistic tribe