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.[4]
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.[5]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.[6]
Abeokuta lies below the
Olumo Rock, home to several caves and shrines.[7]
The town depends on the
Oyan River Dam for its water supply, which is not always dependable.[8]
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.[9]
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.[10] For this a new railway building has been built in Abeokuta. Tickets are bought by online booking only.[11]
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.[12][13][14]
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.[13][15][16]
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".[17]
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][18]
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][18]
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.[19]
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.[20]
Abeokuta's name already refers to several rock formations in the neighbourhood, especially
Olumo Rock. Visitors should be aware that the rock has a spiritual significance and respectful behaviour is therefore strongly recommended.
The Presidential Library of
Olusegun Obasanjo is another tourist destination in Abeokuta. As a colonel in the
Biafra War, Obasanjo carried out the decisive operation to defeat the secessionist region of Biafra, was later Chief of Staff under dictator Murtalla Mohammed, escaped assassination by mistaken identity during a coup, became dictator himself and led his country into democracy, was on death row under
Sani Abacha and then democratically elected twice as the first president of the Fourth Republic (which still exists today). The library is less a library than a museum about the eventful life of the general and politician.[22]
Abeokuta was once surrounded by 18 miles of wall,[19] 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.[24]
The Green Legacy Resort is a large resort/hotel[25] built by former president
Olusegun Obasanjo and investors. The
Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL) is also located within the grounds of the resort.[26]
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.[27][28]
^
abJohnson, 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.
^
abCanby, Courtlandt. The Encyclopedia of Historic Places. (New York: Facts on File Publications, 1984), p. 2.
^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.
ISSN0278-4319.