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ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF UGBE AKOKO, ONDO STATE

Ugbe Akoko is a town located in South-Western part of Nigeria precisely in the . It is located at about 105km to Akure the capital city of Ondo State. Latitude 7° 29’ 18” N Longitude 5° 49’ 23” E Lat/Long (dec): 7.4885, 5.8231 In the pre-colonial period, the area that is now Ijesa, Ekiti, Igbomina and Akoko kingdoms were split up between various Western Yoruba states with some states being town-based as others were part of larger empires like the Oyo Empire. From 1877 to 1893, Western Yoruba states fought the Kiriji War alongside other Eastern Yoruba groups against Eastern Yoruba groups; , also known as the Ekiti–Parapo War, was a 16-year-long civil war between the subethnic kingdoms of the Yoruba people, specifically divided between the Western Yoruba, which was mainly the Ibadan and Oyo-speaking Yorubas, and the Eastern Yoruba, who were the Ekiti people, Ijesha, Ijebu people, and others. The war ended in a British-brokered stalemate before the area was colonized and incorporated into the British Southern Nigeria Protectorate which later merged into British Nigeria in 1914. Prior to the “Mother of all wars” of 1877-1893 (The Kiriji War )that ravaged the entire Yoruba nation, Ugbe Kingdom was a strong and thriving entity. However, the war dealt a devastating blow on the once peaceful settlement and disintegrated it into fragments that scattered to find safe haven in other communities. The People of Ugbe-Akoko belong to the Yoruba ethnic group of South-Western Nigeria.

They migrated from Ile-Ife, the cradle of the Yoruba race, to their present location around the mid18th century.

INTER-ETHNIC RELATIONSHIPS:

Ugbe though basically of Yoruba ethnic town is also a place of convergence in Ondo State for any ethnic groups in Nigeria, including Hausa, Igbo, Ijaw, and Fulani. The friendly disposition of its natives to visitors and holiday makers from time immemorial is perhaps responsible for the growing of settlers in the town. Ugbe is a hometown to several educational institutions which includes Ugbe Community High School, St. James Primary School, Community Grammar School, Aunty Bisi Nursery and Primary School, Oxford Primary and Secondary School.

CULTURE, TRADITION, RELIGION, BELIEFS AND OCCUPATIONS Ugbe people are Yoruba and so speak Yoruba language, this is in addition to aversion of Yoruba dialect which was picked through acculturation during their migration from Ile-Ife. Ugbe’s culture in terms of dresses, marriage, beliefs, traditional religion, and values (greetings, respect for elders) is similar to the core Yoruba culture, only with slight modifications. Ugbe people for example, do not have any peculiar traditional face marks. Besides the belief in one supreme God (Olodumare) and deities of Yoruba land, civilization has entrenched other modern religions including Christianity and Islam. The major occupation of the people is peasant farming - cultivation of arable and tree crops, rearing domestic animals and keeping poultry on a small scale. In the past we had the artisans and those engaged in cloth weaving, dyeing and blacksmithing. Road and building construction have shrunk the available land and farming activities have thus greatly reduced.

KING THAT RULED THE KINGDOM Intelligent report shows that the following Obas has ruled Ugbe Akoko. The kings are referred to as The OLU UGBE OF UGBE AKOKO. '1 Amuse 2 Osagun 3 Agoro. 4 Daniyan 5 Olafenwa 6 Ajiboye 7 Babarinde Sarumo

Oba elect is Prince Adefemi Ajiboye'

VEGETATION: The Ugbe Akoko people enjoys generally, luxuriant vegetation. mostly sub- savannah forest. CLIMATIC CONDICTION: The climate is tropical with two distinct seasons namely, the rainy season (April-October) and the Dry season (November-March). The temperature throughout the year ranges from 21C-29C, while humidity is relatively high. The annual rain fall is 1150mm in the Ugbe Akoko and axis. NATURAL RESOURCES: Ugbe Akoko has extensive fertile soil suitable for agriculture and cattle grazing. It also has vast forest resources, variety of timber species e.g. Teak, Gmelina, Masionia etc. The cash crops available in Ugbe Akoko are cocoa, cashew, kolanut, palm oil etc.