Abeokuta
Abeokuta is the capital city of Ogun State in southwest Nigeria. It is situated on the east bank of the Ogun River, near a group of rocky outcrops in a wooded savanna;[2][3] 77 kilometres (48 mi) north of Lagos by railway, or 130 kilometres (81 mi) by water. As of 2006[update], Abeokuta and the surrounding area had a population of 449,088.[citation needed]
Abeokuta | |
|---|---|
Abeokuta from Olumo Rock | |
Abeokuta Location in Nigeria | |
| Coordinates: 7°9′39″N 3°20′54″E / 7.16083°N 3.34833°ECoordinates: 7°9′39″N 3°20′54″E / 7.16083°N 3.34833°E | |
| Country | Nigeria |
| State | Ogun State |
| Founded | 1830 |
| Area | |
| • City | 879 km2 (339 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 66 m (217 ft) |
| Population (2006[1]) | |
| • City | 451,607 |
| • Density | 510/km2 (1,300/sq mi) |
| • Metro | 1,117,000 |
| Climate | Aw |
Geography and economy
Abẹokuta lies in fertile country of wooded savanna, the surface of which is broken by masses of grey granite. It spreads over an extensive area, being surrounded by mud walls 18 miles in extent.[4] Palm oil, lumber, natural rubber, yams, rice, cassava, maize, cotton, other fruits, and shea butter are the chief articles of trade. It is a key export location for cocoa, palm products, fruit, and kola nuts.[2] Both rice and cotton were introduced by the missionaries in the 1850s and have become integral parts of the economy, along with the dye indigo.[citation needed]
Abeokuta lies below the Olumo Rock, home to several caves and shrines.[5] The town depends on the Oyan River Dam for its water supply, which is not always dependable.[6] The dam is situated in the Abeokuta North local government area of Ogun State in the West of Nigeria, about 20 km northwest of the state capital Abeokuta. The dam crosses the Oyan River, a tributary of the Ogun River.[citation needed]
Abeokuta is the headquarters of the federal Ogun-Oshun River Basin Authority, which is responsible for development of land and water resources for Lagos, Ogun, and Oyo states. Included in this are irrigation, food-processing, and electrification.[2]
Local industries include but not limited to fruit canning plants, plastics, breweries, sawmills, and an aluminum products factory. South of town are the Aro granite quarries.[2]
Transportation
Abeokuta is connected to nearby Lagos by a railway that was completed in 1899, with a length of 77 kilometres (48 mi). Since 2021 there is a standard gauge railway line Lagos-Ibadan, which stops at Abeokuta.[7] For this a new railway building has been built in Abeokuta. Trains to Ibadan leave around 8:30 and 16:30 daily, trains to Lagos around 10:00 and 18:00. Tickets can be bought at the counter and with cash only.[8]
Roads connect it to Lagos as well as Ibadan, Ilaro, Shagamu, Iseyin, Sango Ota, and Ketou.[2]
History
In 1817, the Oyo Empire dissolved into civil war. Refugees displaced by the collapse of Oyo joined with the Ijebu in their war against the Owu in southern Yorubaland, which had broken out around the same time. Following the fall of Owu in around 1822, the leading Ife and Ijebu generals returned to their respective homes, but the rest of the armies that had allied with the Oyo refugees were invited by the Ijebus to Ipara, which they made their headquarters for further attacks against several towns in the region. This group then turned their attention to waging war with the Egba, a loose confederacy of towns that had been established by Yoruba migrants in the 13th century and were spread throughout the forested land between Ipara and Ibadan. The group conquered and destroyed many of these towns, eventually settling in one of the villages that had not been completely destroyed, Ibadan, which they used as their headquarters for additional conquests.[9][10][11]
At least a handful of Egba groups had by this point joined the group of marauders, and they too were living at Ibadan. Conflict between the various groups arose, and in one incident, an Egba chief named Lamodi shot an Ife chief named Ege to death with a pistol at a public meeting before himself being killed in the ensuing commotion. Fearing Ife reprisal, most of the Egba population withdrew as a group to an encampment about 3 or 4 miles distant on the other side of the Ona River. Here they enlisted Sodeke to be their leader and migrated to a hilly area known as Olumo Rock, where they established the town of Abeokuta around 1830 at what was then a small farming village.[10][12][13]
By 1825, Olumo Rock was already a place of refuge from Ibadan and Dahomey slave hunters; people were scattered throughout the landscape, taking shelter among the rocks surrounding the settlement. The Egba who established Abeokuta were soon joined by other Egba refugees and a substantial number of Owu who had escaped their captors. It became a busy metropolis and home to the majority of the Egba. However, the various groups of Egba did not fuse into a single community; rather, Abeokuta functioned more as a "federation of communities within a town wall than a community in its own right".[14]
Because Abeokuta was in a key location for the palm oil trade and because it was the so-called capital of the Egbas, Dahomey soon became hostile. In the 1851 Battle of Abeokuta, the Egba defeated King Gezo and the Dahomey incursion. They again beat back the Dahomey military in 1864.[2][15]
The 1860s also saw problems arise with the Europeans, namely the British in Lagos, which led to the Egba first closing trade routes, followed by the expulsion of missionaries and traders in 1867.[2] Between 1877 and 1893 the Yoruba Civil Wars occurred, and Abeokuta opposed Ibadan, which led the king or alake of the Egba to sign an alliance with the British governor, Sir Gilbert Carter. This occurred in 1893, which formalized the Egba United Government based in Abẹokuta which became recognized by the United Kingdom.[2] In 1914, the Egba lands were incorporated into the colony of Nigeria by the British, with Abeokuta as the provincial capital.[2][15]
In 1918, an uprising took place, the Adubi War, which was related to the levying of taxes and the policy of indirect rule by Sir Frederick Lugard, the British Governor-General.[2] This was the only internal threat to British control of Nigeria during the course of the First World War.[16]
The Abeokuta Women's Revolt, led by the Abeokuta Women's Union (AWU), took place in the 1940s. It was a resistance movement against the imposition of unfair taxation by the Nigerian colonial government.[17]
In 1976, Abeokuta became the capital of the newly created Ogun State.[citation needed]
Notable buildings
Abeokuta was once surrounded by 18 miles of wall,[16] and remnants of the historic wall still exist today. Ake, the traditional residence of the Alake, along with Centenary Hall (1930), are both in the Egba Alake's territory. There are secondary and primary schools and the University of Lagos Abeokuta Campus opened in 1984.[2] This campus specializes in science, agriculture, and technology. This has since been changed to an independent full-fledged tertiary institution, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB) in 1988.[citation needed]
The Green Legacy Resort is a large resort/hotel[18] built by former president Olusegun Obasanjo and investors. The Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL) is also located within the grounds of the resort.[citation needed]
The Governor's office located at Oke-Mosan is also a notable building. The Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB) located at Alabata road in Abeokuta is also one of the notable buildings in Abeokuta and one of the most beautiful public University campus in Nigeria.[19][20]
Notable people
- Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola, businessman, politician and presidential candidate.[21][22]
- Chief Simeon Adebo, a Nigerian administrator, lawyer and diplomat.[23]
- Odunlade Adekola: Nollywood Actor[24][25]
- Prince Bola Ajibola, former World Court judge.[26]
- Dr. Tunde Bakare, pastor.[27][28]
- Oladimeji Bankole, politician and businessman.[29][30]
- Princess Sara Forbes Bonetta, Egbado princess of the Yoruba people, goddaughter of Queen Victoria.
- Jean-Marie Coquard, French Christian medical missionary
- Oba Adedotun Aremu Gbadebo III, monarch and businessman.
- Abimbola Jayeola, Nigeria first female helicopter pilot
- Fela Kuti, musician and political activist.[31]
- Mudashiru Lawal, footballer and sports analyst.[32]
- Shane Lawal, basketball player.[33]
- Lijadu Sisters, identical twin sisters that were an iconic music pair in Africa between the 1960s and 1980s.
- Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, President of Nigeria from 1999 to 2007.
- Ebenezer Obey, juju musician and evangelist.
- Segun Odegbami, footballer and sports analyst.[34]
- Akin Ogungbe, film actor, film maker, producer and director.[35]
- Princess Kuforiji Olubi, former federal minister.
- Chief Olusegun Osoba, politician and businessman.
- Tunji Oyelana, musician, actor, folk singer and composer.
- Sir Shina Peters, musician and businessman.
- Chief Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, women's rights activist.[31][36][37]
- Professor Olikoye Ransome-Kuti, professor of pediatrics, former Minister of Health.[31]
- Chief Ernest Shonekan, businessman and former head of the defunct interim government of Nigeria.
- Ike Shorunmu, footballer and coach.
- Jimi Solanke, actor, musician, storyteller and playwright.
- Professor Wole Soyinka, Nobel Prize-winning author.[31][38]
- Oba Adedapo Tejuoso, monarch and businessman.[39][40]
- Chief Bisoye Tejuoso, businesswoman and titled aristocrat.[39]
- Madam Tinubu,[41][42] titled aristocrat.
- Chief Akintola Williams, accountant, founder of ICAN.[43] Oba Oyebade Lipede. Professor Jide Dasaolu
- Chief Frederick Rotimi Williams, legal scholar.
Photo gallery
- Some important places in Abeokuta
Akin Olugbade Social Centre, Owu, Abeokuta, Ogun state
Abeokuta Girls Grammar School, Onikolobo, Abeokuta, Ogun state
Entrance of Olumo Rock
Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Main Entrance
Owu entrance to Chief Olusegun Obasanjo family house
Ministry of works vehicle inspection station sign-post, Abeokuta, Ogun state
Kuto Road in Abeokuta.
The "Rock of Abeokuta", as drawn c.1892
Aerial view of Abeokuta, 1929
Diocese of Egba (Anglican Communion)
Alaba Lawson School, Abeokuta
Anglican church, Abeokuta
Alhaji M.A. Tijanni (Baba MAT), Asero, Abeokuta
Cathedral of St. Peter Anglican church, Abeokuta
Cathedral of St. Peter Anglican church, Abeokuta
Church Cathedral, Ibara, Abeokuta
Cinema at Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, Abeokuta.jpg
Central Bank of Nigeria, Abeokuta
Conference Hotel, Abeokuta
Egba High School, ABeokuta
General Post Office, Sapon, Abeokuta.jpg
Green Legacy Resort, Abeokuta
High Court building, Abeokuta.jpg
Ibara Market mall, Abeokuta.jpg
Ibara Market mall, Abeokuta.jpg
Ogun Government House, Abeokuta
Ogun Tech-Hub building, Abeokuta
Olubara of Ibara palace, Abeokuta
Olusegun Obasanjo hilltop G.R.A, Abeokuta
OPIC building, Abeokuta.jpg
Osile of Egba land palace, Abeokuta2.jpg
Salawu Abiola Comprehensive School, Abeokuta2.jpg
St. Centenary hall, Abeokuta
St. John church, Sagamu
Abeokuta Central Mosque
References
- ^ (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 March 2012. Retrieved 25 July 2016.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Hoiberg, Dale H., ed. (2010). "Abeokuta". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. I: A-ak Bayes (15th ed.). Chicago, IL: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc. pp. 27. ISBN 978-1-59339-837-8.
- ^ "Abeokuta | Global Future Cities Programme". www.globalfuturecities.org. Retrieved 25 September 2022.
- ^ One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Abeokuta". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 1 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 42.
- ^ Kola Tubosun (16 April 2014). "Abeokuta's Living History". KTravula.com.
- ^ Dimeji Kayode-Adedeji (23 February 2010). . Next. Archived from the original on 10 June 2015. Retrieved 22 May 2010.
- ^ Segun Adewole (10 June 2021). The Punch Newspaper (ed.). "Buhari inaugurates Lagos-Ibadan Railway project" – via 2021-12-04.
- ^ Gbenga Akinfenwa (31 October 2021). "Unpleasant tales from Lagos-Ibadan train service". The Guardian – via 2021-12-01.
- ^ Law, Robin (1997). Middleton, John (ed.). Encyclopedia of Africa south of the Sahara (4th ed.). New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. OL 684550M.
- ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1921). The History of the Yorubas: From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the British Protectorate. Lagos: C.M.S. (Nigeria) Bookshops. pp. 223–226.
- ^ Usman, Aribidesi; Toyin Falola (2019). The Yoruba from Prehistory to the Present. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 168–170.
- ^ Usman; Falola (2019). The Yoruba from Prehistory to the Present. p. 170.
- ^ Davies, Lanre (2016). Jimoh, Mufutau Oluwasegun; Oloruntola, Philip (eds.). The Balogun in Yoruba land: The Changing Fortunes of a Military Institution. Ibadan: Bookbuilders. pp. 153–154.
- ^ Usman; Falola, Toyin (2019). The Yoruba from Prehistory to the Present. p. 171.
- ^ a b Canby, Courtlandt. The Encyclopedia of Historic Places. (New York: Facts on File Publications, 1984), p. 2.
- ^ a b "Abeokuta". Encyclopaedia Britannica. Vol. 1 (14 ed.). 1930. p. 34.
- ^ Byfield, Judith A. (2003). "Taxation, Women, and the Colonial State: Egba Women's Revolt". Meridians: Feminism, Race, Transnationalism. 3 (2): 250–77. JSTOR 40338582.
- ^ Olokesusi, Femi (1 January 1990). "An assessment of hotels in Abeokuta, Nigeria and its implications for tourists". International Journal of Hospitality Management. 9 (2): 125–134. doi:10.1016/0278-4319(90)90007-K. ISSN 0278-4319.
- ^ "Is This The Most Beautiful University Campus in Nigeria? [See Pics]". 21 December 2016.
- ^ "is this the most beautiful university campus in Nigeria?". NigerianFacts.com. Retrieved 12 February 2019.
- ^ editing (12 June 2021). "JUNE 12 SPECIAL: Short Profile of Late Chief MKO Abiola". Sahara Reporters. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
- ^ Mohammed, Yakubu (12 June 2019). "The legend called M.K.O". The Guardian Nigeria News - Nigeria and World News. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
- ^ "Simeon Adebo: The Unforgettable Civil Servant -". The NEWS. 20 May 2017. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
- ^ "Inside Odunlade Adekola's Family Life With Wife Ruth and The Children They Share". BuzzNigeria - Famous People, Celebrity Bios, Updates and Trendy News. 9 April 2021. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
- ^ "Six Nollywood actors turned meme kings". Punch Newspapers. 1 June 2021. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
- ^ "Bola Ajibola at 85: A judge must be free of iniquity..." Vanguard News. 28 April 2019. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
- ^ "PASTOR BAKARE AT 66: Youths aren't Nigeria's problem, I once apologised that we failed them". Vanguard News. 15 November 2020. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
- ^ TODAY (30 June 2018). "In Pictures: VP Osinbajo attends funeral service of Pastor Bakare's mum". TODAY. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
- ^ "Dimeji Bankole to remarry, weds Kebbi governor's daughter". The Guardian Nigeria News - Nigeria and World News. 13 January 2021. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
- ^ "Dimeji Bankole weds Kebbi governor's stepdaughter in low-key ceremony | The Nation". Latest Nigeria News, Nigerian Newspapers, Politics. 17 January 2021. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
- ^ a b c d Mayowa, Adebayo Ebenezer (25 April 2021). "An Unforgettable Train Trip To Abeokuta". The Guardian Nigeria. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
- ^ Shittu, Ibitoye (26 April 2019). "Mudashiru Lawal is first African to appear in 5 consecutive Nations Cup". Legit.ng - Nigeria news. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
- ^ "Shane Lawal, atleticità senza fine". Metropolitan Magazine (in Italian). 9 October 2020. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
- ^ Odegbami, Segun (17 March 2018). "Tribute to our mother". The Guardian Nigeria. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
- ^ "We were shooting a movie, then they came with guns and robbed us of everything we had —Segun Ogungbe". Tribune Online. 14 December 2019. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
- ^ "Google pays tribute to the late Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti — here is what you need to know about this fearless Nigerian icon". Pulse Nigeria. 25 October 2019. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
- ^ "Heroes of the struggle for Nigeria's independence/pioneer political". The Guardian Nigeria. 1 October 2020. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
- ^ Nwannekanma, Bertram; Gbenga Akinfenwa, Kehinde Olatunji (Lagos) and Daka Terhemba (Abuja) (12 February 2021). "Wole Soyinka decries 'cattle imperialism,' confirms attack". The Guardian Nigeria. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
- ^ a b Amadi, Osa; Chukwuma Ajakah (13 September 2020). "Oba Adedapo Tejuoso: It never occured [sic] to me I could become king". Vanguard News. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
- ^ Utebor, Simon (23 November 2019). "I wish to die in Christ – Oba Tejuoso". Punch Newspapers. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
- ^ Thomas, Ranti (10 January 2021). "133 Years After, Family, Well Wishers Celebrate Madam Efunroye Tinubu, the Yoruba Unsung Heroine". THISDAYLIVE. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
- ^ Awa, Omiko (26 January 2020). "Madam Efunroye Tinubu: The Indomitable Iyalode". The Guardian Nigeria. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
- ^ Nwanne, Chuks (9 August 2019). "Akintola Williams hits 100, soldiers on". The Guardian Nigeria. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
External links
Media related to Abeokuta at Wikimedia Commons
- "Abẹ́òkuta's Living History"