Category: History – General
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Apati was the 19th Century Egba chief, one of the warlords who dominated the political life of the tribe from the time when the people newly settled at Abeokuta to the time when the first principal King of the town was chosen. Apati became a powerful figure in succession to the statesmanlike Sodeke but he…
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Ijebu History, like those of many other preliterate Yoruba people, was not well documented, and different oral versions arose due to what one historian listed as political exigencies, conspiracy and the fear of domination. Of these versions, three are preponderant. A good number of Ijebu historical figures ascribe the origin of their kingdom to Ile-Ife, just…
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Wall of Ijebu Ode is an enormous eighty-mile earthwork built around Ijebu Ode in ancient times with remains still surrounding the town. The construction of the Great Wall of Ijebu Ode is said to have been commissioned by Sungbo, a woman, who being rich and childless, decided to make for herself a monument. The wall…
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Adesanya Otubusin was born in 1888 and ascended the throne of Ijebu in September 1933. Before his coronation, he was a respected member of the St. Saviour’s Anglican Church. Daniel Adesanya was a difficult man to appraise, given his sometimes progressive tendencies but he was believed by his antagonists, a group constituting a great majority…
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Somoye, the Egba leader was appointed Bashorun or head war chief of Abeokuta in 1851. Somoye was a relative and follower of Sodeke, the man who led the exile to the town from their original homestead. He was the de facto Alake till his death, wielding more influence than the Okukenu who was then the…
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Sodeke was the founder of Abeokuta; the third Seriki of the Egba people who led them away from their several villages to the new place of relative safety. Sodeke was a king in every respect but in name. His happy reception of the British missionary, Henry Townsend, in 1843, is considered to be foresighted. He…
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Adeniji Adele became Oba of Lagos in 1949 but was not ceremonially installed till another three years. Musendiku Adeniji Adele was a well-travelled monarch. Before he ascended the throne, he was a surveyor and he worked for the Royal Engineers Service at Cameroon in 1915. Adeniji served at the treasury department and the National secretariat.…
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Vlekete market, named after a local deity, is located in the heart of Badagry town at the western coast of Nigeria. Vlekete is the major and the most popular slave market in the region. The trade in humans was held in Vlekete every five days, with slaves been brought mostly from Oyo, Egba land, Egbado,…
