View source for Egba Ake

{{For|the title|Alake of Egba (title)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}}
{{Infobox settlement
<!---See [[Template:Infobox Settlement]] for all fields available--->
|official_name          = Egba Ake
|other_name             = Egba Alake
|image_skyline          =
|imagesize              =
|settlement_type        = [[List of Nigerian traditional states|Traditional state]]
|image_caption          =
|pushpin_map            = Nigeria
|pushpin_label_position = bottom
|pushpin_map_caption    = Location in Nigeria
|subdivision_type       = Country
|subdivision_name       = {{flag|Nigeria}}
|subdivision_type1      = [[States of Nigeria|State]]
|subdivision_name1      = [[Ogun State]]
|unit_pref              =
|population_as_of       =
|population_total       =
|coordinates            = {{coord|7|9|39|N|3|20|54|E|region:NG|display=inline}}
}}
'''Egba Ake''', otherwise known as '''Egba Alake''', is one of the four sections of [[Egbaland]], the others being Oke-Ona, [[Egba Gbagura|Gbagura]], and the [[Owu kingdom|Owu]] (Ibara is often mentioned as another section; this is part of Yewa historically, not Egba, though it is also located in the present-day Abeokuta geographically).<ref>Blair, J.H. (1937), Intelligence Report on Abeokuta.</ref>
It is a [[Nigerian traditional states|traditional state]] which joins with its bordering sections to form something of a [[high king]]ship.
The Alake of Abeokuta, or [[Alake of Egba]]land, is the traditional ruler of the Egba clan of [[Yoruba people|Yoruba]] in the city of [[Abeokuta]] in southwestern [[Nigeria]].<ref>{{cite web
|url         = http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art20071105133893
|title       = Alake, others fault Owu’s claim on Abeokuta
|author      = Niyi Odebode
|date        = 5 November 2007
|work        = The Punch
|access-date  = 2010-09-07
|url-status=dead
|archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20071105150807/http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art20071105133893
|archive-date = 5 November 2007}}</ref>
The Egba Ake section is seen by traditionalists as Abeokuta's [[aristocracy (class)|aristocracy]] because its principal [[noblemen]], the Omo-Iya-Marun, serve as the [[kingmaker]]s of the Alake, who must himself also come from this section.<ref>Blair, J.H. (1937), Intelligence Report on Abeokuta.</ref>
==History==
{{royal house|
|surname = House of Egba Alake
|type = [[Nigerian]] [[royal dynasty]]
[[File:African Bush Elephant.jpg|thumb|The [[Elephant]], [[totem]] of the ancestral line of [[Alaafin|emperors]] of [[Oyo empire|Oyo]] and symbol of Egba Ake royalty]]
|parent house = [[Oduduwa|Oodua]]
|founded = c.1300 (Orile Egba) <br> 1830 (Abeokuta)
|founder = Ajalake (Orile Egba) <br> [[Okukenu|Sagbua Okukenun]] (Abeokuta)
|region = [[Yorubaland]]
|current head = [[Adedotun Aremu Gbadebo III]]
|titles = * [[Oba (ruler)|Oba]] [[Alake of Egbaland|Alake]], Prince of Oyo <br>
* Oba Alake of Orile Egba
* Oba Alake of Abeokuta
* Oba Alake of Egbaland
* [[Oloye]] of Egbaland
* [[Omoba]] of Egbaland
* [[Oloori]] of Egbaland
|members = * [[Ladapo Ademola]] <br>
* [[Adetokunbo Ademola]]
*[[Yemisi Adedoyin Shyllon]]
|styles =  ''Kabiyesi'' <br>[[Majesty]] <br> [[Royal Highness]]
|traditions= [[Ifá]] <br> [[Christianity]] <br> [[Islam]]
|other_families = [[J.F. Odunjo|Odunjo family]] <br> [[Vaughan family]]
|cadet branches = * Jibodu <br>
* Laarun
|motto = ''Awon Egba, Omo Lisabi'' ([[Yoruba language|Yoruba]] for "The Egbas, children of Lisabi")
}}
The Egba people's original homeland in the Egba forest was established by Yoruba migrants from elsewhere. According to ''The History of the Yorubas'' by [[Samuel Johnson (Nigerian historian)|Samuel Johnson]], [[Eso Ikoyi]] chiefs in the retinue of the first [[Alake of Egba (title)|Alake of the Egba]] joined him in founding a new community - the confederacy of towns that became known as Orile Egba - in the forest after they left the nascent [[Oyo empire]] in around the 13th century AD.{{sfn|Johnson|1921}} Orile Egba continued to exist until its destruction during the [[Yoruba Revolutionary Wars|Yoruba civil war]] of the 19th century. As a result, many of the leading families of the Egba Ake claim descent from the Eso Ikoyis today.
Abeokuta was founded as a replacement for Orile Egba in around 1830 by the Egbas after the collapse of the Oyo empire during the civil war. The city was founded because of its strong defensive physical position by refugees trying to protect themselves against slave raiders from [[Dahomey]], who were trying to benefit from the war.<ref>Blair, J.H. (1937), Intelligence Report on Abeokuta.</ref>
Chief Shodeke, the first paramount chief of Abeokuta and the rest of Egbaland, was a member of the Egba Ake section. Using [[oral tradition]]s of the Alake's claim to membership of [[Oduduwa]]'s family being superior to that of any of the other Egba kings to cement the section's position, he is said to have allocated the tracts of land that each of the junior sections settled upon following their arrival in the city. The Egba Ake have been the traditional landowners of Egbaland ever since this event.<ref>Blair, J.H. (1937), Intelligence Report on Abeokuta.</ref>
In 1832, [[Abeokuta]] was involved in war with the people of Ijebu Remo, and in 1834 with the [[Ibadan]] people. Sporadic fighting continued with the people of Ota (1842), Ado (1844), [[Ibarapa people|Ibarapa]] (1849), Dahomey (1851), Ijebu-Ere (1851), Ijaye (1860–1862) and the Makun War of 1862–1864.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.egbaunitedsociety.com/history-of-Abeokut2.doc
|title=History of Abeokuta
|work=Egba United Society
|access-date=2010-09-07
}}{{dead link|date=December 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
On 18 January 1893, a treaty was signed with the governor and commander-in-chief of the British [[Lagos Colony]] for the purpose of trade; the British recognized [[Egba people|Egbaland]] as an independent state. In 1898, the [[Egba United Government]] was formed.
In 1904, an agreement was made where the British assumed jurisdiction in certain legal cases, and in the same year, the Alake Gbadebo paid a state visit to England. Over the following years, the British steadily assumed more responsibility for administration while continuing to formally recognize the Egba state.<ref>
{{cite web
|url=http://www.egbayewa.org/Egba%20Historical%20Facts.pdf
|title=Egba: Some Historical Facts
|work=Egba-Yewa Descendants Association Washington, DC.
|access-date=2010-09-07
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100203014543/http://www.egbayewa.org/Egba%20Historical%20Facts.pdf
|archive-date=3 February 2010
|url-status=dead }}
</ref>
In 1914, the kingdom was incorporated into the newly amalgamated British Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria.<ref>{{cite web
|url         = http://www.egbayewa.org/kingdoms.htm
|title       = Egba Historical Facts
|work        = Egba-Yewa Descendants Association Washington, DC.
|access-date  = 2010-09-07
|url-status=dead
|archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20101128115354/http://www.egbayewa.org/kingdoms.htm
|archive-date = 28 November 2010}}</ref>
In 1949, as a result of agitation by the women's rights leader Chief [[Funmilayo Ransome Kuti]], the Alake [[Ladapo Ademola]] was forced to abdicate. He later returned to the throne.<ref name=monuments>{{cite web
|url=http://digital.lib.msu.edu/projects/africanjournals/pdfs/glendora%20review/vol2no2/graa002002007.pdf
|title=Monuments and metamorphosis
|access-date=2010-09-07
|last=Adeniyi |first=Dapo
|work=African Quarterly on the Arts Vol.2 No.2}}</ref>
==Rulers==
[[File:Araldiz Manno 259.svg|thumb|[[Solomon's knot]], a quasi-[[heraldic]] symbol of Yoruba royalty]]
Rulers of the Egba in Abeokuta, who took the title "Alake" in 1854, were:<ref name=wstates>{{cite web
|url=http://www.worldstatesmen.org/Nigeria_native.html
|title=Traditional States of Nigeria
|work=WorldStatesmen.org
|access-date=2010-09-07}}</ref>
{|class=wikitable style="text-align:right;"
|-
!style="width:8em;"|Start !!style="width:8em;"| End !! Ruler
|-
|1829 || 1845 ||style="text-align:left;padding-left:1em;"| Shodeke
|-
|1845 || 1846 ||style="text-align:left;padding-left:1em;"| Shomoye -Regent (1st time)
|-
|1846 || 1854 ||style="text-align:left;padding-left:1em;"| [[Okukenu|Sagbua Okukenun]] -Regent
|-
|8 Aug 1854 || 1862 ||style="text-align:left;padding-left:1em;"| Okukenun (Sagbua Okukenun) First Alake
|-
|1862 || 1868 ||style="text-align:left;padding-left:1em;"| Shomoye -Regent (2nd time)
|-
|28 Nov 1869 ||20 Dec 1877 ||style="text-align:left;padding-left:1em;"| Ademola I
|-
|Jan 1879 || 15 Sep 1881   ||style="text-align:left;padding-left:1em;"| Oyekan (d. 1881)
|-
|9 Feb 1885 || 27 Jan 1889 ||style="text-align:left;padding-left:1em;"|  Oluwajin
|-
|18 Sep 1891 || 11 Jun 1898 ||style="text-align:left;padding-left:1em;"|  Oshokalu
|-
| 8 Aug 1898 || 28 May 1920 ||style="text-align:left;padding-left:1em;"|  Gbadebo I (1854–1920)
|-
|27 Sep 1920 || 27 Dec 1962 ||style="text-align:left;padding-left:1em;"|  [[Ladapo Ademola|Ladapo Samuel Ademola II]] (1872–1962) (in exile 1948 – 3 Dec 1950)
|-
|29 Sep 1963 || 26 Oct 1971 ||style="text-align:left;padding-left:1em;"|  [[Samuel Adesina Gbadebo|Adeshina Samuel Gbadebo II]] (1908–1971)
|-
|5 Aug 1972 || 3 Feb 2005||style="text-align:left;padding-left:1em;"|  Samuel Oyebade Mofolorunsho Lipede (1915–2005)
|-
|24 Aug 2005 || ||style="text-align:left;padding-left:1em;"| [[Adedotun Aremu Gbadebo III]] (b. 1943)<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://nm.onlinenigeria.com/templates/?a=4288&z=12
|title=Gbadebo emerges new Alake – • We’re yet to confirm any candidate – Ogun govt
|date=4 August 2005
|work=Online Nigeria Daily News
|author=Niyi Odebode and Olaolu Oladipo
|access-date=7 September 2010
|archive-date=12 March 2012
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120312072658/http://nm.onlinenigeria.com/templates/?a=4288&z=12
|url-status=dead
}}</ref>
|}
==References==
{{reflist}}
===Works cited===
* {{cite book |last=Johnson |first=Samuel |title=The History of the Yorubas: from the earliest times to the beginning of the British Protectorate |location=Lagos |publisher=CMS Bookshops |date=1921 |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofyorubas00john}}
{{Nigerian traditional states}}
[[Category:Nigerian traditional states]]
[[Category:Abeokuta]]
[[Category:History of Abeokuta]]