Abeokuta
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| Abeokuta | |
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  Abeokuta
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| Coordinates: | |
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| Country |  Nigeria |
| State | Ogun State |
| Population (2005) | |
| - Total | 593,140 |
Abeokuta is a city in Ogun State in southwest Nigeria and is situated at , on the Ogun River; 64 miles north of Lagos by railway, or 81 miles by water. As of 2005, Abeokuta and the surrounding area had a population of 593,140.
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[edit] Geography and agriculture
Abẹokuta lies in fertile country, the surface of which is broken by masses of grey granite. It is spread over an extensive area, being surrounded by mud walls 18 miles in extent. Palm-oil, timber, rubber, yams and shea-butter are the chief articles of trade. It lies below the Olumo Rock, home to several caves and shrines.
[edit] History
Abeokuta (a word meaning under the rocks), dating from 1825, owes its origin to the inroads of the slavehunters from Dahomey and Ibadan, which compelled the village populations scattered over the open country to take refuge in among the rocks surrounding the city. Here they constituted themselves a free confederacy of many distinct groups, each preserving the traditional customs, religious rites and even the very names of their original villages.
The original settlers of Abeokuta were of the Egba ethnicity.[1] Later, some Yoruba came to the city. Baptist and Anglican missionaries operated in the area in the 19th century.[1]
In 1851 and 1864 the forces of Abẹokuta defeated Dahomean slave raiders.[1]
In 1893 the Egba United Government based in Abẹokuta was recognized by the United Kingdom. In 1914, the city was made part of the colony of Nigeria by the British.[1]
Abeokuta was rule by Ladapo Samuel Ademola. Born in Abeokuta on September 20, 1872, Ladapo Samuel Ademola was the first Yoruba Oba to receive any sort of lengthy political apprenticeship prior to succession to the throne. [2] On the death of his father, Alake Ademola 1, in 1877, [3] Prince Ladapo was raised in Lagos by his aunt, Mrs. Oladunjaye Adefolu [4]. His Lagos connections, particularly Balogun (formerly, an Ogboni title for an army general) Majekodunmi, a friend of his guardian; and Balogun Sogeinbo, an uncle; were to serve him in good stead, and provide insight into Egba politics. The Ogbonis are a secret society among the Yoruba. After leaving school at the age of sixteen, Ladapo served for two years as an apprentice printer. He then started the Lagos Weekly Record in 1890, as an assistant to John Payne Jackson, a prominent Lagos politician. While on the staff of the Lagos Weekly Record, Ladapo met such colorful personalities as G. W. Johnson, the leading light of the Egba United Board of Management, (1865-1874, an erstwhile local government organization in Abeokuta), and R. B. Blaize, the famed 'wealthiest man in Lagos. 'Ladapo's gregarious nature, and boundless energy, enabled him to be successful in business. During this period, he watched the interests of Abeokuta from afar, and acquired the political and diplomatic experience and savvy that he would later demonstrate.
In 1897, Ladapo made his first attempt at political involvement in Abeokuta affairs. In that year he organized a meeting of Egba chiefs to receive Governor Henry McCallum. [5] This event led to better understanding and more cordial relations between the Egba government and the British colonial authorities. By the early years of the twentieth century, Prince Ladapo had emerged as an unofficial Ambassador of the Egba, and aide to Alake Gbadebo I.
Ladapo's first real in-road into Egba politics was his work during 1898 in persuading Governor McCallum in Lagos to revive the title of Oshile of Oke-Ona, so that that section of Abeokuta would once again have its own Oba, then uniting the four sections to make them the basis of a united government, the Egba United Government (1898-1914). [6] In this way, at an early stage in his political career, Ladapo demonstrated an ability to work with the educated elite. Ladapo very capably straddled the two elites in Abeokuta, in that he was a literate member of the royal family. Hence, his sympathies could go either way. In 1899, the prince was again instrumental in the negotiations between Egba chiefs and the Lagos Government, for the construction of a railway pass into Yorubaland through Egba territory. [7] By elucidating the virtues of such a move to the Egba chiefs, the threatened use of force by the Lagos Government on this issue became unnecessary. The chiefs were afraid that the railway would facilitate the emigration of Abeokuta's youth.[8] With the railway, however, came further progress and development.
Prince Ladapo's dexterity in handling difficult situations showed itself once more in the aftermath of the Adubi Riots incident of 1918. This incident was the culmination of the abrogation of Abeokuta's independence in 1918, and the introduction of direct taxation and forced unpaid labor in Abeokuta. Imperial troops were brought in and were still there when Prince Ladapo became Alake Ademola II in 1920, upon elevation to the Obaship of Egbaland. He immediately pressed for the removal of the troops, sufficient in the belief that they would never again be needed in Abeokuta as long as he was Oba. [9] They were not. The new Alake did not want the intervention of troops between himself and his people. His word that there would be no more riots, and his prior good relations with the British administration, were sufficient to secure the removal of the troops. [10]
At the age of forty-eight, Ademola II was initiated into office by Governor Hugh Clifford, amidst scenes of enthusiasm and splendor unprecedented in Egbaland. [11] He was the first of the truly powerful Alakes of the modern era. Ademola II lived a spartan, frugal existence. He abstained from ingesting both cigarettes and alcohol. He was also a tireless worker. A typical day for him started at five in the morning, and ended at night, with short breaks in the morning for devotional exercises in his private chapel. As a Christian, he was in good standing with the new western-educated elite, while his relationship with members of the traditional elite was not adversely affected. Respite took the form of evening relaxation for perhaps an hour in the summer garden, spent in either peaceful meditation or easy study of his gold fish. He possessed a tireless and active mind, exhibited boundless energy, and was an impartial arbiter. [12] On the negative side, he was accused of being unable to make friends easily. This accusation rested on the colorable fact that many of his political supporters and king-makers later became openly hostile to him. The Alake's response to this charge was that while he did not intend to make enemies, he resented sycophantic friends who attempted to unduly dominate his policies. [13] This was a bold stance. He was also accused of being domineering, relentless, and ruthless. Such is the high profile liability of assuming the appurtenances of responsibility!
Ademola II was a well-traveled man. Always an admirer of Great Britain, he visited England in 1904 as a member of the suite of Alake Gbadebo I, his predecessor. [14] He visited England again in 1936 on the occasion of the coronation of King George VI. He maintained correspondence with his English friends the Duke of Windsor and the Duke of Kent. Perhaps because of experiences garnered in his travels abroad, as well as his early preparation for office, he was described in 1939 as being 'without doubt the ablest of the Yoruba rulers.'[15]
Upon confirmation as the Alake, the British made Ademola II the Sole Native Authority for Abeokuta. This was in keeping with their indirect rule notion of identifying a prominent local chief and ruling through him.[16] The Alake, however, chose to rule with a council made up of sectional Obas and general chiefs. It was to be known as the Egba National Council (1926-1939). The Egba National Council was the first attempt of Ademola II, as the Alake, to reorganize Abeokuta's political structure.
The Abeokuta war effort during the Second World War owed a great deal to the encouragement and good work in government performed by the Alake. Perhaps in recognition of the War effort of the Egba, the Alake (already a CBE) was made a Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George (CMG) by King George VI of England.[17]
The interaction between the Alake and the new educated elite created the dynamic of political action in Abeokuta from 1939 to 1952. On 29 July 1948, however, Ademola II decided to go on voluntary exile so as to avoid bloodshed which those in opposition to him threatened.[18] In a message to the Resident, the Alake bemoaned his fate. Conditions had arisen which obliterated from his people's memory his previous selfless services for and on their behalf. After fifty years of service to the city-state, twenty-eight of which were in the capacity of the Sole Native Authority for Egbaland, he could not understand why so fierce an opposition should arise so late in his reign.
Thus in the 119th year of its existence as a town, Abeokuta lay a precedent for itself. For the first time in their history the Egba were faced with a case of abdication. In July 1950 the question of the ex-Alake's return to Abeokuta was introduced in the Egba Central Council (1939-1952). [19] A final and decisive resolution allowing the Alake to return was passed on November 30, 1950, by a vote of twenty-nine to nineteen with some abstentions.[20] So, after twenty-nine months in exile and twenty-four months as a private citizen, the ex-Alake once more became Oba Alaiyeluwa Ademola II, CMG. He returned to Abeokuta on December 3, 1950.
In conclusion, we must note that Alake Ademola's political skills were amply demonstrated by his prominent role during the Conferences of the Chiefs of the Western Provinces; by his handling of the chieftaincy disputes of the early 1940s; and by his guidance of the Abeokuta war effort during the Second World War. The Local Government Law of 1952 ushered in the Nationalist period in Nigerian history. It signaled the gradual shift in emphasis of some of the new educated elite from parochial to national politics. Ladapo Samuel Ademola reigned as Alake of Abeokuta throughout this period, however, until his death on December 27, 1962
[edit] Notable natives
The city is the birthplace of several famous Nigerians, including:
- Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola, politician
- Peter Akinola, Anglican archbishop
- Dotun Ransome Kuti, teacher and clergyman
- Fela Kuti, musician and singer
- Olusegun Obasanjo, President of Nigeria from 1999 to 2007
- Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, women's rights activist
- Peter Olakeinde Sogbesan, civil servant
- Tai Solarin, educator and author
- Wole Soyinka, Nobel Prize-winning author
- Sunday Sodeinde, security men's rights activist
- Ladapo Samuel Ademola, Alake of Abeokuta
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d Canby, Courtlandt. The Encyclopedia of Historic Places. (New York: Facts of File Publications, 1984) p. 2
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
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