A STUDY ON THE PATTERNS OF INTERGROUP RELATIONS IN OGUN STATE: A STUDY OF EGBA, IJEBU AND REMO UP TO 2012
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
By the first decade of the 20th century Yoruba land had been stable. Towns such as Ibadan, Osogbo, Ogbomoso, Iwo, Saki, Okeho, Iganna, IleHeand Ikere-Ekiti which in one way or the other satisfied the requirements of the refuges such as, safe geographical location, kingship ties, and capability of the hosts to guarantee protection had been inundated with refugees. For instance, so great was the influx of Oyo refuges to Osogbo that they outstripped the indigenous population. In fact by 1840,Osogbo that was originally an Ijesha town had been taken over by the Oyos”. There were three categories of refugees they comprised those who fled as individuals or groups of families. They often put themselves under the protection of powerful quarter or war chiefs in the host community.
For example, the Offa refugees in Iwo put themselves under Jagun, a chief of Offa who had earlier migrated to Iwo. In Ile-Ife the refugees freely put themselves under the protection of quarter chiefs. The second groups were those who fled as royal families, towns or sections of towns. They often settle in different parts of the host towns. With each groups naming its settlement after its original homestead. After a long time of integration, these settlements became quarters of the host towns. For example, Pamo quarter in Okeho was founded by refugees who fled from Pamo after the battles of 1830. 38 Ende in Osogbo, Illua in Saki, Igbon in Ogbomos and Agbado in Ikere Ekiti were all founded by refugees from Eko, Ende, Illua, Igbon and Agbado Ekiti respectively. The resettlements of people in Northeastern Yoruba land atthe foot or close to hills are a direct consequence of the 19th century debacle. Examples are towns such as Iffe, Isanlu, Mopa, Egbe, Ogidi, Ikoyi, Osokosoko all in Yagba land and Akoko town of Oka, Isua, Ikare, Oke
Agbe, Ifira, Ipesi and Idoani. Substantial number of people from okun
and Akoko are known to be residing in Bida, Ilorin, Ado-Ekiti, Aiyede
and Omllo. In fact there are evidence of some lineages in Aginmi, Ohi-
.Iffe and Ohun who are now extinct. It is claimed that they constitute a
district in the present day Bassa-Nge”. Also Ita Tapa, a quarter in ArigidiAkoko was said to be peopled by remnants of Nupe/Fulani warriors.
Another source claims that they were descendants of slaves captured
during the Nupe wars. In fact the mother of the present traditional ruler
of Arigidi Akoko was a Nupe woman and the title of the traditional ruler
Zaki, is Hausa word for Lion.” Also to be found in some towns uptil
present day is a substantial population ofOyo settlers. They live in quarters
known as Ogbon-Oyo. Even though they have become mixed with their
NSUKKA JOURNAL OF THE HUMANITIES, NO. 14,2004
Foladade 0. Ifamose 103
hosts, some conservatives among them still make traditional Oyo facial
marks on their children towards the end of the 20th century.
The last category consisted of a group whose towns had been
devastated and rather than move into host towns, they established entirely
new towns. Examplesin this category include Abeokuta which was created
by refuges from about 154Egba villages destroyed during the Owu war”
and Ibadan 42. The refuges settled separately according to their townships,
each naming its new settlement after its original home stead.
The major problem faced by these refugees/settlers in their various
settlements was political integration. The need for security more than
any other factor has forced the various Egba villages that formed Abeokuta
to integrate. Using the old Egba political system as a base, they evolved a
confederal state system with the Alake of Egbaland, the civil rural of Ake
as the most senior recognized by all. The first Alake was appointed in
1854. The refugees in Ibadan evolved a republican system of government
and societal norm which made it possible for any hardworking man
especially warriors to rise from the lowest ebb of the society to the highest
pinnacle not minding his place of circumstance of birth. The Ibadan sociopolitical system was so accommodating that, there is a Yoruba saying
describing the Ibadan society as; Ibadan gba ole 0 gba ole (Ibadan will
accommodate thieves and the indolent). It could be described as a land of
great opportunity; a melting point of some sort and that perhaps explains
the huge population of Ibadan till date.
The first category of refugees i.e. those whose fled as individuals or
groups of families were easily integrated into the host community. Their
leaders were in some cases given chieftaincy titles to afford them
opportunity for political articulation. For instance, the ruler of Iwo gave
junior royal chieftaincy titles to such families” Those in the second category
were also properly integrated. Each refugee town became a quarter or.
ward of the host town. The most senior of the chiefs of the refugee towns
was made quarter chiefs in the host town. In order to absorb them into
the mainstream government of the host town, the administration of such
host towns was restructured to make the refugees relevant” .. It was a
situation like that that made the refugees of Okeho, Iganna, Saki,
Ogbomoso and Ikere-Eki to be thoroughly integrated.
Okeagbe Akoko in the northeastern part of Yoruba land is a town of
four quarters, each quarter was migrant towns who took refuge at Okeagbe .
because of the topography. Each quarter has its own crowned Oba and
they operate a republican system”: Ajowa is also an example of towns
NSUKKA JOURNAL OF THE HUMANITIES, NO. 14,2004
104 Twentieth Century Inter-Group Relations in Yorubaland
that had moved together and integrated for common purpose. It is
important to note that Ajowa town was created in 1957. Towns that had
ran into hill tops during the Nupe/Fulani raids of the 19
th century under
the leadership of some educated elites of the towns moved together to
form Ajowa. The name literally means, “We came together”. The towns
are, Akunu, Daja, Ojo, Gedegede, Ora and Uro. Each of these towns are
quarters of Ajowa with crowned Obas except Akunu whose Oba remained
at the original location of the town with some people:” They also operate
a republican system of some sort.
However, it was notas if the process ofintegration was very smooth.
In some places, it was with serious strains. For instance, it took the
introduction of Ogboni cult an arm of government that was peculiar with
the Egbas by the Soun of Ogbomoso for him to have his authority
strengthened and accepted by his guests. Some of these strains survived
into the 20
th century in some other towns and it became complicated by
the complexities of modern day social-political situation in Nigeria.
A ready example is the Ife/Modakeke situation. Of all the towns
that hosted refugees, Ile-Ife experienced and perhaps still experiencing
very serious problem of integration. Before the Gbanamu war, relations
between the refugees and their host were cordial. The Gbanamu war and
the defeat suffered by Ife was considered political humiliation and because
the Modakeke people were Oyo refugees who were considered kith and
kin of the Ibadan Oyo refugees, the Ifes did not hesitate to transfer and
meet their frustration on the Modakekes.”
Ever since, the Ife/Modakeke problem had gone through various
phases. Various styles of conflictresolution management had been applied
to no avail.” It is not within the jurisdiction of this article to go into the
details of the Ife/Modakeke problem but it is important to mention that
the Modakeke people initially were demanding recognition as a town,
later they demanded economic independence as represented by their
struggle against the payment of land rent known as Ishakole to their Ife
landlords this was resolved by the Land Use Decree of 1978. This was
.followed by a demand for separate local government council since the
First Republic. In the April 17th 1958edition of Daily Times,Chief Obafemi
Awolowo, the Premier of West.ernRegion responded to the demand for a
local government council by the Modakekes thus:
“Ife town was one town. and the request for a separate local
government council for Madakeke amounted to an attempt to divide
a single tewn”.”
The Ife/Modakeke conflict came in very handy for politicians during
the second republic to such an extent that it takes a careful insight into the
issues at stake for a scholar to actually remember the fundamental issues.
Ile-Ife was turned to battleground by the UPN and the NPN who were
working on the emotions of the Modakeke people to gain foothold in the
southwest. The political history of Nigeria since 1983is such that issues
as Ife/Madakeke crisis provided necessary ground for the breeding of
ethnic militia. However, itisimportant to note that the last in the series of
the crisis in the 20th century had another dimension. The youths, who
have constituted themselves into ethnic militia during the 1997 crisis
claimed to be fighting for creation of Modakeke local government so that
more jobs would be available in their community and they would have
their own share of the national cake. They also argued that a separate
local government would earn them representation at the federal level and
prevent a further marginalization of their people. Marginalization is a
“new” diction in the Nigerian context.
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