Yewa
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| ~ 907,370 (2011) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Ogun State - 907,370 · Imeko Afon: 97,830 · Yewa North: 216,820 · Yewa South: 198,530 · Yewa North: 216,820 · Ipokia: 177,370 | |
| Religion | |
| Christianity · Yoruba religion · Islam |
| Part of a series on |
| Yorùbá people |
|---|
 |
Yewa, are a subgroup of the Yoruba people and mostly inhabit the eastern area of Ogun West Senatorial District, Ogun State, in south-west Nigeria, Africa. In 1995, the group's name was changed to Yewa after the Yewa River, the river (odo) they foraged towards. The name of this river is derived from the Yoruba goddess Yewa. Yewa mainly occupy four Local Government Areas in Ogun State, Yewa South, Yewa North, Imeko-Afon, and Ipokia, while the Ado-Odo/Ota LGA forms the fifth Awori part of the senatorial district. Other Yewa are located in Lagos West, Lagos East, Oyo North, and Oyo South senatorial zones.
Before the creation of the Southern Nigeria Protectorate, Yewa territory and people is bordered by the Ketu (Benin) in the West, the Lagos Colony in south, Ijebu in the east, and Oyo, Ibadan and Isoya near Ile Ife in the north. The people are directly connected to the Ogun River, but detached from the swampy coast of Lagos. Through the Yewaland there are direct routes to other Yoruba towns, including Lagos, Ibadan, Ijebu-Ode, Ketu (Benin), and Porto Novo (Àjàṣẹ́) in the Benin Republic.[1] [2]
History
The Yewa appear to have migrated - possibly from the Ketu, Ile-Ife, or Oyo - to their current area early in the 14th to 18th century. Ẹgbado towns, most importantly Ipokia, Ado Odo, Ayetoro, Imeko Afon, Ilaro, and Igbogila, were established in the 11th to 18th century to take advantage of the slave trade routes from the inland Oyo empire to the coast at Porto-Novo. Other towns were Ilobi and Ijanna, which were strategic in protecting the flanks of the slaving routes. The Yewa' were subject to the rule of the Oyo kingdom, which managed them via governor Olu of Ilaro
Reference : 1890 Treaty between Her Majesty Government and the Olu of Ilaro.
The British Museum, London, England.
The Oyo were unable to deploy their cavalry force to protect the routes, due to tsetse fly and lack of horse fodder and thus had to rely on the Yewa people to manage the routes. The historians Akinjogbin, Morton-Williams, and Smith all agree that by the early 18th century this route to the coast was heavily engaged in slave trading and that slaves were the mainstay of the Oyo economy.
The Yewa later achieved a fragile independence after the fall of the Oyo kingdom, but were subject to frequent attacks from other groups such as the slave-raiding Dahomey (who seized, among others, Princess Sara Forbes Bonetta), and various tribes who wished to force open their own slave-trading routes to the sea. Ilaro and Ijanna towns had been destroyed in the 1830s. By the 1840s the Yewa had come under the control of the adjacent Egba group, who used the Yewa territory to forge routes to Badagry and the ports of Lagos. By the 1860s the Egba abandoned the route because the British were actively using their formidable navy to try to abolish the slave trade.
After 1890 the Yewa asked for a British protectorate and got a small armed garrison, thus becoming independent of the Egba.
Reference: The 1890 Treaty between Her Majesty Government and the Olu of Ilaro.
The British Museum, London, England.
This area became part of the British Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria in 1914, as Ẹgbado Division in Abeokuta Province. The administrative headquarters were later transferred away, after the creation of the new Ogun State, which subsumed the old Abeokuta Province.
The Modern Yewa
In 1995 the Yewa chose to rename themselves the "Yewa", after the name of the Yewa River that passes through the area they inhabit.
The Word Egbado is a Misnomer.
Reference : 5th Alterations of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
They are primarily agriculturalists, but there is some artisan and textile processings. They are located mainly in the areas of: Ado-Odo/Ota, Ipokia, Yewa South, Yewa North, Imeko Afon, and part of Abeokuta North. There were complaints that the system of patronage and nepotism in Nigerian politics has caused the area to be neglected in terms of investment.[3]
The area developed a popular style of music, called Bolojo, in the 1970s.
The Yewa Villages and Towns are also in Lagos State. The Olu of Ipaja, Lagos State is Yewa's.
The Population of people living in Yewa South, Yewa North, Ipokia, Imeko Afon, Ado Oddo /Otta Local Government Areas are above Three Millions people.
Ado-Odo / Otta Local Government Area is the most populated Local Government Area of Ogun State.
Source : Nigerian Census Population Commission.[citation needed].
Source of Reference : 5th Alterations to the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria
Source of Reference: Yewa People Development Council.
Notable Yewa Individuals.
1. Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola FCA, CON. Senator, Ogun West Senatorial District.
2. Honourable Olambitan. Honourable Commissioner For Budget and Economic Planning, Ogun State.
3. Honourable Jagunmola Akande Omoniyi FCA. Honourable Commissioner For Housing, Ogun State.
4. Oba Dr Kehinde Gbadewole Olugbenle MFR, Asade Agunloye IV. The Olu Ilaro, Olu Yewa, Paramount Ruler of Yewaland, Ogun State.
5. Inspector General Kayode Egbetokun. Inspector General of Police, Nigeria.
6. Honourable Isiaq Salako. Honourable Minister for State Environment. Nigeria.
7. Senator Kola Bajomo. Former Senator, Ogun West Senatorial District.
8. Senator Iyabo Anisulowo. Former Senator, Ogun West Senatorial District.
9. Late Brigadier General Tunji Olurin. Former Military Administrator of Oyo State and Former Civilian Administrator of Ekiti State.
10. Professor Rahman Bello. Former Vice Chancellor, University of Lagos.
References
- ^ Fenske, James (1830). Land abundance and economic institutions: Egba land and slavery. The Economic History Review. p. 65. Retrieved July 31, 2024.
- ^ Ogunhemi, Gabriel Ogundeji (1982). Counting the Camels: The Economics of Transportation in PreIndustrial Nigeria. Nok Publishers. p. 64. Retrieved July 31, 2024.
- ^ Olatunji, Olusegun (2016-05-10). The History of Yewa in Ogun State in the 20th Century. LAP LAMBERT Academic Publishing. ISBN 978-3-659-88437-5.
Yewa People Development Council.
Further reading
- Ogunsiji, O. (1988). Pastoralism in Ẹgbado division of Ogun State. Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.
- Kola Folayan. (1967). "Ẹgbado to 1832: the birth of a dilemma", Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria, 4, pp. 15–34.
- Anthony I. A. and Niran O.(2015). "Yewaland: One Hundred Years Before and After 2014" Yewa Descendants Union, Abuja