Ijoko
Ijoko is a town in Sango /Ijoko Local Council Development Area of Ogun State, Western Nigeria, located north of Lagos and south of Abeokuta.
Geography
It is an Ogun State border town with Lagos with large scale businesses and thriving retail businesses, a spill over from the congested mega city of Lagos. Ijoko is originally an Owu-Egba settlement but also accommodating other diverse people.History
The history of Ijoko otherwise known as Igbo Olowu is linked with that of Sango as they were both the war captives of the allied forces of Owu and Egba on behalf of Abeokuta that conquered Dahomey, Ado-Odo, Atan, Ilobi, Itori, Ota, Ifo, between 1836 and 1853. The territory is customarily administered to date by the Egbas through officials or coronets of either the Alake or the Olowu. The Olota who himself is a coronet of Alake of Abeokuta together with his Chiefs vehemently condemned in 1935 the agitation of the Awori youths on the ownership of Ota District and declared that the Owu – Egbas under the leadership of Alake on behalf of Abeokuta are the owners of Ota by conquest with the Colonial District Officer directed by his boss the Resident Officer for Abeokuta as British Crown Witness. Between 1853 and 1900, Ota was ruled by Egbas through their resident representatives. 1900ff Ota was ruled directly by Alake through his Local Council. The Egba and Owu warriors installed the first Olota – Oyede 1. The Egba resident representatives installed Olota – Isiyemi in 1882. Alake installed Olota – Aina Ako in 1902. Alake installed Olota – Oyede 2nd in 1927 etc. They all paid conditional and compulsory tributes and allegiance to the Alake as his subjects by virtue of Abeokuta’s conquest over Ota opt cite. They were allowed to farm for livelihoods as his subjects and as his tenants under Abeokuta’s Lordship and conquest over the entire Ota District Land. It is therefore an aberration for any family in Ota or Ijoko to be describing themselves as the owner or an Ajagungbale trying to reclaim a land that have been lost by their progenitors in battle and ruled by the Alake through his officials and coronets up to date.The claim of founding a land that belongs to the Egbas jointly with the Owus since the conquest of the whole of Ota Land in 1839 to 1842 is an affront to the Egbas and an insult to the Alake and the Olowu of Abeokuta. Nobody can lay claim to the ownership of Ota District Land and Chieftaincy titles particularly as an Oba without the consent of the whole of Abeokuta through the Alake after consultations with the other Abeokuta Obas. It is on this note that Ijoko and environ is an Abeokuta Land. No individual family owns Ijoko. A family can only lay claim to a few acres assigned to it for peasant farming in the virgin land, nothing more. It is an Egba Land by conquest under Alake’s trust for Abeokuta. Ajagungbale is a precolonial foreclosure in favour of Abeokuta on the entire Ota District Land which include Ijoko and environ.
Past litigations on the ownership of Ijoko Egbaland have misled the courts and the State Land Office without the input of the Egba-Owu Traditional Councils on behalf of all Owu and Egba nation. These were simply cases between two Ota families that were completely silent or wilfully ignored the above cited facts of history of Abeokuta’s ownership of the Ota District Land. Neither the Alake nor the Olowu were joined in such suits. Whoever sold and is still selling Ijoko Egbaland without the consent of Alake or the Olowu based on Ijoko ownership is making and profiting from acts of illegality. Hence, the genesis of the terrible land and chieftaincy title conflicts going on between a single family versus many Egba and Owu families most of whom are the descendants of the Great Egba and Owu Warriors that conquered the entire Ota District of Abeokuta.
That one of the settlers was made the hamlet leader or imposed himself as one does not make him the founder and owner of Ijoko. In fact, nobody regarded himself as such as the Lordship of the Alake and ownership of the virgin forest was never in contention. It is the modern covetiousness for money and power that made some greedy youths to falsify history. Judicial pronouncements that do not recognise the authentic record of history cannot bring peace in the land. It will only be a theoretical legal academic exercise.
The Alake and the Olowu must unite because it was unity that gave Abeokuta the victory, the conquest and the ownership of Ota District. They must consult with their kiths and kins who have been on the ground for centuries.
Ijoko's proximity with Lagos have always made it prosperous and civilised.
The Origin of Modern Land Speculation in Ijoko
Not many people still remember in Ijoko that the present site of Dangote Salt was long discovered as rich in limestone by the federal government and earmarked for exploration and production. Logistics made for its suspension. The environmental degradation of Ewekoro also made the indigenes to be apprehensive of it. Many years later in 1973, the federal government took possession of the pilot site to establish National Salt Company. The Ogunṣina family of Ọta which was the then land speculator in Ijoko collected the token compensation from the government. The indigenous landlords for the farmlands were deprived of their valuable agricultural land.The Matanmi youths took a clue from their kith and kin, the Ogunṣinas and in family rivalry with them sold my grandfather's farmlands along Sango - Ijoko Road. The first one was sold to the then KAARA farm who was trying to mimic Ọbasanjọ project in Ọta. Two of my grandfather's other farmlands within the same vicinity were to experience in quick succession the same fate. Hooligans and Thugs were unleashed on the peaceful town of Ijoko in the self proclaimed battle tagged Ajagungbalẹ in this modern civilised, legal, era. An act that have been abolished by the colonial government. The Ẹgba - Owu in Alake's Native Authority in Trust were recognised as the Landlord for the whole of Ọta District by the British Colonial Government. The virgin land was assigned to different families for farming and residential development by the Residents of Aláké during the Ẹgba Sovereign Nation before the British took over. Ọta then became one of the recognised administrative districts of the Ẹgbas.
The Ogunṣina family were the first that started land speculation in Ijoko illegally at the turn of the 20th century with the migration of more people due to the railway line development in 1912.
This historical record and facts were completely silenced upon in the Matanmi VS Ogunṣina case and Matanmi VS Dada case land speculators false record of ownership. The court limited their decisions to only the litigants presentations before them oblivious of the fact that the litigants intentionally hided the record of land ownership changes to the Abeokuta Native Authority Government as a result of the Egba - Owu conquest over Ota which include the virgin forest of Ijoko and Sango. The Alake and the Olowu in councils were not joined as defendants by the Plaintiffs. Both the plaintiff and the defendants did not mention the Abẹ́òkúta lordship and interest over Ọta land of which Ijoko and Sango was a part, up to Dahomey border. The additional facts relevant to these cases are now apparent and incontrovertible colonial records of Ẹgba land. What the Supreme Court decided in the two cases was who seem to them to have a better case of oral history of their initial settlement in Ijoko area and not who actually own the land as at the time the British signed colonial annexation of Ẹgba land. Was Ijoko land part of the Ota and Ifọ land that was captured and administered by the Ẹgbas? YES! By the British land policy and ordinance, the native authority administering any land area as at the time of colonisation own it and ownership closure placed on it. Inter-ethnic war was illegalised.
The first Ọlọta was installed by the Ẹgba Warriors before the Alake formerly crowned his successors in office. This was a strong prove of Abeokuta lordship over Ota land. A coronet is just a native head appointed by a superior Ọba to represent him with firm conditions of loyalty to him. The whole of Ọta had no original beaded crown King and therefore no ruling family. The indigenes of any Ẹgba Native Colony must recommend by nominations to the Alake or the Olowu a deserving candidate who can best protect the land and the people, a person of integrity who will not be merchandising the land for self profit as we have in Ijoko and environ.
The Ẹgba Native Authority was succeeded by the British Colonial Native Authority along the line of the former, which was in turn succeeded by the Abeokuta Province. Ọta and Ẹgbado districts became provincial districts. They later changed their administrative status many times. Now Ijoko and its brotherly/border town of Sango is a Local Council Development Area carved out of Ota/Ado Odo Local Government Area of Ogun State.
To represent the traditional institution of the Ẹgba-Owu interest in Ijoko land, it became imperative that the Aláké as an institution had to appoint a separate coronet Ọba for Ijoko in recent years. The Aláké was misled by the then government of Ogun under Gbenga Daniel whose relative Ladipọ Daniel bought Ibaragun Road extensive land from the Matanmis, depriving Ijoko people of the ancient Agbó river they rely upon for portable water. To coronet the enemy of the Ẹgba-Owu people that sold their land, the self acclaimed Ajagungbalẹ as an Ọba to represent the Aláké institution to protect the Ẹgba-Owu people and the land was a fatal error over Ijoko land. Of course, the desperate beneficiary took it as a rubber stamp of his plunder of Ijoko land and victory over the Aláké and the Abẹ́òkúta people. An enmity revenge for the Ẹgba-Owu capture of the land in the 19th century became a triumph over Abeokuta. The Owus were very uncomfortable in this arrangement as their progenitors played the decisive leadership role in the war they won with other Ẹgba warriors in unity. It was not a surprise at all that the Olowu appointed his own coronet Ọbas for Ijoko and Sango etc. All the Ẹgba-Owu indigenes and other post war settlers were very happy and consoled by this development. However, expectedly, this brought a new form of chaos in the land, resulting in bitter war of rivalry between the two coronet Ọbas. The Aláké, the Olowu and the entire indigenes of Ijoko still have to resolve this problem for peace to reign in the land of Ijoko Railway Station. A new Ọba has to be reinstituted and reappointed jointly by the Aláké and the Olowu. Such a person must be democratically nominated by all the indigenes. Not an over ambitious desperado. The democratic modalities for this can be worked out. There is no permanent ancient ancestral kingship family in Ijoko. This must remain so for peace to reign in the land. The position of Ọba in Ijoko must be open to all deserving indigenes whenever vacancy arises. In other words, I postulate and suggest that the position must not be a family inheritance but a democratic traditional institution by virtue of the founding of the land in an organised Ẹgba Native Administration.
It is time for the development of both Ijoko and Sango and bye bye to land merchandising, ọbaship tussle and acrimony. It is time for anybody who is who to come together as one to take part in development. This can never be possible without the rule of law in the land. It is time to do away with the rule of the jungle. There must be equal rights of all citizens. It is a basic principle of the rule of law. Citizens must never again be deprived of their legitimate rights by anybody, no matter his position in the society. This is the foundation for law and order in the society. Without law and order, a society cannot develop. This is the case for our father, mother land Ijoko. We both own the land, let's maintain the peace for love and development. We have to be together, without exception, committed to projects development in the land. We have to transform our city into an advanced developed society. We can do it. Nothing is impossible with our cooperation, commitment and integrity. No intellectual will want to waste his time in a chaotic environment as it presently stands in Ijoko. We need the right environment to operate. Intellectuals who are indigenes of Ijoko are many but acts of hooliganism and barbaric behaviours must first be eliminated from the land. Let all actors be peace loving and unselfish, not trying to monopolise the benefit and the good of the land that belongs to all of us.
DR KEHINDE OGUNDIPE