The story of Ilaro does not begin with a famous king, a colonial administrator or even the legendary warriors for which the town later became known.
It begins with a movement of people.
At a time when the old Oyo political world was still powerful, people were moving out of the kingdom and establishing settlements farther south and west. One of those remembered in Ilaro’s traditional history was Aro, a hunter and farmer from Oyo.
He eventually travelled into the territory that would become known as Egbadoland.
There, according to Ilaro tradition, he established a settlement around Igbo Aje, an elevated area that later became part of the town.
The settlement was called Ilu Aro, meaning Aro’s settlement. With time, Ilu Aro became Ilaro.
That simple change of name concealed a much bigger development.
Ilaro was not merely another village founded by a migrant.
It was positioned in a part of Yorubaland that would become extremely important because of its connection to Oyo, the Atlantic coast and the routes through which people and goods moved across the region.
And this is where the story of Ilaro becomes particularly interesting.
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Ilaro Was Part of Oyo’s Wider Strategy
One of the lesser known facts about Ilaro is that its early importance was connected to the wider political and commercial interests of Oyo.
Historical accounts describe Ilaro and neighbouring Ijanna as important settlements in the Egbado region and as part of Oyo’s network toward the coast.
Their location mattered.
The western route provided access toward the coast, and controlling settlements along that route gave Oyo an important advantage.
Ilaro was therefore not simply growing because people happened to settle there.
It occupied a strategic position.
The town became part of a wider network through which travellers moved between Oyo and the coastal areas. Markets benefited from the movement of people and goods, while tolls collected along the routes were connected to Oyo’s political authority.
This helps explain something that is often missing from simple accounts of Ilaro’s foundation.
Ilaro’s location was one of the reasons it mattered.
The Strange Way Ilaro’s Kings Once Ruled
Perhaps one of the most fascinating facts about the traditional history of Ilaro is the way its early kingship operated.
The Olu of Ilaro was not originally a completely independent king in the modern sense.
He was regarded as a crowned vassal of the Alaafin of Oyo.
And the most surprising part was the length of his reign.
The traditional arrangement was that an Olu ruled for only three years.
After those three years, he was expected to leave Ilaro and return to Oyo Ile, taking ten of his young wives with him. A special quarter in Oyo known as Oke Olu, meaning the quarter of the Olus, was associated with these retired rulers.
This means that the idea of a king remaining on the throne for decades was not the original arrangement in Ilaro.
The throne was tied directly to the political structure of Oyo.
The Olu was appointed and crowned within the Oyo system, ruled for a fixed period and then returned to the imperial capital.
It is one of the clearest signs of how closely Ilaro was once connected to Oyo.
Why Would a King Rule for Only Three Years?
The arrangement made sense within the political system of the Oyo Empire.
Ilaro was strategically important, but it was also a frontier settlement.
The Alaafin needed to maintain political control over communities that guarded routes toward the coast.
The short tenure of the Olu kept the office closely connected to Oyo.
Rather than allowing a local ruler to establish a completely independent dynasty over generations, the system continually renewed the ruler’s relationship with the imperial centre.
The Olu remained powerful within Ilaro, but his authority existed within a larger political order.
This was not unique to the modern concept of local government.
It was part of how the Oyo political system maintained influence over distant territories.
Ilaro Was Not Alone
Another detail that helps explain the early history of Ilaro is its relationship with Ijanna.
The two settlements were important enough to have their own political arrangements while remaining connected to the Oyo system.
Traditional accounts describe a remarkable annual ceremony involving the rulers of Ilaro and Ijanna.
The two rulers would meet at a hill marking the boundary between their territories and sit back to back.
They were not supposed to look directly at one another.
The strange ceremony reflected an old political belief concerning the status and relationship of kings.
It also reveals how carefully boundaries and royal authority were managed in the region.
For modern readers, it may sound unusual.
But it provides an extraordinary glimpse into the political culture surrounding early Ilaro.
Ilaro Was a Town of Farmers, Hunters and Traders
The history of Ilaro is sometimes dominated by stories of warriors and invasions.
But the town could not have survived on warfare.
Its people farmed.
They hunted.
They traded.
They built compounds.
They raised families.
They established markets and maintained relationships with surrounding settlements.
Agriculture provided the foundation of everyday life, while Ilaro’s location encouraged commercial activity.
The surrounding Egbado region was connected to routes leading toward the coast, making movement and trade important to the prosperity of the settlements along them.
The wealth generated by these routes helped the Egbado communities grow.
Ilaro became the principal town in the region.
The Town Became the Principal Centre of Egbadoland
This was one of the most important developments in Ilaro’s history.
Ilaro did not remain simply one of many Egbado settlements.
It became the principal town of Egbadoland.
That position gave the Olu of Ilaro unusual importance.
Historical accounts describe the Olu as the greatest king among the Egbado and state that he had hundreds of ruling chiefs under his authority.
The exact numbers in older accounts should be understood within the political language of the period, but the central point is clear: Ilaro had become the leading political centre of the Egbado communities.
This is the stage at which Ilaro truly came into its own.
The settlement founded by Aro had developed into a political centre whose influence reached far beyond its immediate neighbourhood.
Then Oyo Began to Lose Its Grip
For generations, Ilaro’s relationship with Oyo had provided political structure and protection.
Then the old order began to collapse.
The nineteenth century brought enormous changes across Yorubaland.
The political crisis that weakened Oyo affected the Egbado as well.
Once the old Oyo system weakened, Ilaro could no longer depend on the same imperial structure that had governed its relationship with the Alaafin.
And other powers were waiting.
The Egba were becoming increasingly powerful to the east.
Dahomey was pressing from the west.
The Egbado found themselves trapped between competing forces.
Ilaro was now facing a political reality very different from the one in which its early rulers had been crowned by Oyo.
Ilaro Between the Egba and Dahomey
The nineteenth century was one of the most turbulent periods in Ilaro’s history.
The Egba expanded their influence after the decline of Oyo.
At the same time, Dahomey conducted military campaigns into the region.
The Egbado were therefore exposed to pressure from both sides.
Samuel Johnson’s history describes the Egbado as being under successive Egba rulers and paying tribute, while also suffering repeated Dahomean raids. Ilaro, as the principal Egbado town, was under the authority of Chief Ogundeyi of Iporo, Abeokuta during part of this period.
This was not simply a dispute over who would be called king.
It affected the survival of entire communities.
People could lose homes.
Markets could be disrupted.
Farmers could be driven from their fields.
Routes could become unsafe.
And political authority could change hands.
Ilaro’s Old Kingship Was Already Changing
The nineteenth century also changed the traditional institution itself.
The old arrangement in which the Alaafin appointed an Olu for a three year term belonged to the Oyo imperial system.
As Oyo’s power declined, that system could no longer operate in the same way.
Ilaro increasingly developed its own enduring royal succession.
The names preserved in local accounts show the emergence of a line of rulers whose reigns lasted much longer than the old three year arrangement.
Among the historically recorded rulers were:
Oba Asade Agunloye I, 1812 to 1832
Oba Ojo Kosinwon, 1833 to 1856
Oba Tella Agbenuaran I, 1857 to 1879
Oba Olugbenle, 1882 to 1903
These reigns reveal the transformation taking place.
The old three year rotation was giving way to long term local kingship.
That was not a minor change.
It represented Ilaro’s gradual movement away from direct political dependence on the old Oyo system.
The Four Ruling Houses
The later traditional structure of Ilaro became organized around four ruling houses:
Tella Agbenuaran
Asade Agunloye
Olukogbon
Adeika
These ruling houses became central to the succession of the Olu of Ilaro.
Their importance can be understood against the town’s earlier history.
Ilaro had moved from a system in which the Alaafin of Oyo crowned a short term Olu to a system in which local ruling houses played a major role in determining succession.
The throne had become deeply rooted in the community.
The Crisis That Pushed Ilaro Toward the British
By the late nineteenth century, the Egbado had a serious problem.
The Egba exercised political authority over them.
Dahomey continued to raid the region.
And the traditional political protection once associated with Oyo was gone.
The Egbado began looking for another way out.
One of the most important figures in this effort was Chief Falola of Oke Odan, who travelled to Lagos and presented the case of the Egbado to the British authorities.
Prince Tella of Ilaro, described as Falola’s son in law, was then deputed by the combined Egbado chiefs to participate in the treaty process.
The decision would change Ilaro permanently.
1891: The British Flag Arrived in Ilaro
In 1891, British protection was extended to the Egbado.
The British flag was hoisted at Ilaro during the reign of Oba Olugbenle of the Asade Agunloye ruling house.
This moment marked the end of one political era and the beginning of another.
Ilaro had once looked toward Oyo.
It had later been caught between Egba authority and Dahomean attacks.
Now it was entering the British colonial system.
The decision was controversial.
Abeokuta objected to the British protection of the Egbado because the Egba regarded the territory as being within their political sphere.
The dispute showed just how valuable Ilaro and the surrounding Egbado territory had become.
Ilaro Became More Important Under Colonial Rule
British rule did something unexpected to Ilaro.
It changed the reason the town was important.
Under the Oyo system, Ilaro had been valuable because of its strategic position and connection to the route toward the coast.
Under colonial rule, that same geographical position made it useful for administration.
By 1914, Ilaro had become the headquarters of the administrative division covering the Egbado territory.
The town had therefore moved from being a strategic frontier settlement to becoming a regional administrative headquarters.
The transformation would have lasting consequences.
Government offices, roads and administrative institutions increasingly concentrated activity in the town.
People from surrounding communities came to Ilaro for official business.
The town’s influence expanded.
Why Ilaro Remained the Centre
The answer lies partly in geography.
Ilaro occupied a central position within the Egbado territory.
Its location made it accessible from different directions and connected it to routes leading toward other parts of western Nigeria.
That centrality helped the town retain its importance even as political boundaries changed.
The old Egbado Division eventually disappeared as an administrative structure.
Nigeria gained independence.
Regions became states.
Ogun State was created in 1976.
Local government boundaries changed.
But Ilaro remained an important centre.
Today it is the headquarters of Yewa South Local Government Area and remains the traditional headquarters of Yewaland.
How Egbado Became Yewa
Another major change in the identity of the region came with the growing use of the name Yewa.
The name Egbado had long been associated with the people and territory.
But during the twentieth century, Yewa increasingly became the preferred regional identity.
Ilaro’s historical position made it central to this transformation.
The town had already served as the headquarters of the old Egbado Division.
It now became one of the most important traditional centres of Yewaland.
The Olu of Ilaro eventually came to be recognized as the Paramount Ruler of Yewaland, giving the traditional institution a regional significance beyond the boundaries of the town itself.
Ilaro’s Four Ruling Houses Survived the Changes
The political systems around Ilaro changed dramatically, but the traditional institution survived.
The four ruling houses continued to form the basis of succession.
The recorded line of rulers demonstrates the transformation from the old Oyo arrangement to the modern traditional system.
Among the later rulers were:
Oba Adekunle Ojobo Olukogbon II, 1938 to 1966
Oba Oduntan Adeika II, 1967 to 1975
Oba Samuel Adeniran Adekanmbi, 1976 to 2008
The modern succession continued with the installation of Oba Kehinde Gbadewole Olugbenle, Asade Agunloye IV, in 2012.
The royal institution therefore survived the collapse of Oyo, the nineteenth century wars, British colonial rule and Nigerian independence.
That continuity is one of the most important facts about Ilaro.
The Hidden History in Ilaro’s Compounds
The town’s history is also preserved in its internal geography.
Ilaro has numerous traditional Iga, or compounds, and community names.
Among them are Iga Ekerin, Iga Badagunro, Iga Babaolu, Iga Saatun, Iga Papa Nla, Iga Modeolu, Iga Basasin, Iga Sawo, Ile Eeleri, Ile Olooja Meje, Ita Alaran, Ilu Ata, Oju Okeke, Oju Alumuwa, Oju Obe, Oke Ibese, Oju Omofe, Ona Otun, Ona Osi, Ona Ola, Isale Idomo, Ile Marun, Oju Yewa and Iga Elemo.
These names are important because they show that Ilaro’s history is not preserved only in royal genealogies.
It is built into the town itself.
A person’s family identity can be connected to a particular compound.
A neighbourhood can preserve an old community’s name.
A street can reveal something about the town’s past.
In Ilaro, geography became a form of historical memory.
Education Changed Ilaro Again
Colonialism and the twentieth century brought another transformation.
Education increasingly became a route into modern professions.
One of the most important institutions in this development was Egbado College, founded in 1951 as the first secondary grammar school in the former Egbado Division.
The school was the product of efforts by the Egbado Union, which had begun mobilizing contributions years earlier to establish a secondary school for the region. Its first students resumed in January 1951.
The significance went beyond education.
A community that had once depended primarily on farming, trade and traditional institutions was producing a generation that could enter government, teaching, law, academia, politics and other professions.
The school became part of the intellectual transformation of Ilaro and the wider Yewa region.
Ilaro and the Federal Polytechnic
The town’s educational importance expanded further with the establishment of the Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro.
The institution brought thousands of students and professionals into the town and strengthened its position as an educational and commercial centre.
Accommodation, transport, food businesses, shops and other services developed around the institution.
Ilaro’s economy therefore continued to evolve.
The town that had once benefited from old regional trade routes was now benefiting from modern education and the movement of students and professionals.
Ilaro and the Outside World
There are also lesser known traces of Ilaro’s encounter with the wider colonial world.
Accounts of the town note visits by Europeans including Lord Lugard and Mary Slessor.
The town’s Leslie Street is also traditionally associated with J. Leslie.
These details may seem small compared with wars and royal succession, but they reveal something important.
By the colonial period, Ilaro was no longer a remote settlement outside the attention of the wider political world.
Its position as an administrative centre was bringing it into contact with officials, travellers and institutions operating across the colony.
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Ilaro in Modern Nigeria
Independence did not end Ilaro’s importance.
The town remained a major centre within the former Western Region and later Western State.
The creation of Ogun State in 1976 placed Ilaro within the new state’s political structure.
Later local government reforms established Yewa South Local Government Area, with Ilaro as its headquarters.
But administrative importance is only one part of Ilaro’s modern identity.
The town remains a traditional centre.
It remains an educational centre.
It remains a commercial community.
And it remains deeply connected to the history of the Yewa people.
The Town That Outlived Its Political Masters
Perhaps the most remarkable thing about Ilaro is the number of political systems that have passed over it.
Ilaro once belonged to the wider political world of Oyo.
Its Olu was crowned by the Alaafin.
The Olu once ruled for only three years before returning to Oyo.
The old system collapsed.
The Egba became powerful.
Dahomey became a major threat.
The Egbado sought British protection.
The British flag was raised at Ilaro.
The town became a colonial administrative headquarters.
Nigeria became independent.
Western Nigeria was reorganized.
Ogun State was created.
The Egbado identity evolved into the modern Yewa identity.
Yet the town remained.
Its name remained.
Its traditional institution remained.
Its compounds remained.
Its memory remained.
That is the real story of Ilaro.
It is not simply the story of a town founded by a hunter.
It is the story of a community that repeatedly found itself at the centre of larger political changes and somehow emerged from each period with its identity intact.
Ilaro’s Place in Yewaland Today
Today, Ilaro stands at the intersection of history and modern life.
Its traditional ruler is the Olu of Ilaro and Paramount Ruler of Yewaland.
Its educational institutions draw people from outside the region.
Its markets and businesses serve surrounding communities.
Its traditional compounds preserve family histories.
Its royal institution connects the present to centuries of political tradition.
And its streets still occupy the same landscape in which generations of farmers, traders, hunters, rulers and migrants built the community.
The Ilaro of today may look very different from the settlement associated with Aro.
But beneath the modern town is an older story.
A story of Oyo migrants.
A story of Egbado political organization.
A story of an unusual three year kingship.
A story of trade routes and strategic geography.
A story of wars and political survival.
A story of colonial transformation.
And a story of a town that became the traditional heart of Yewaland.
Author’s Note
Ilaro’s traditional history is much more than the familiar story of a town founded by Aro. Its early connection with Oyo placed it inside a wider political and commercial system, while its position along important routes helped it grow into the principal town of the Egbado. One of the most remarkable parts of that early history was the three year tenure of the Olu, a system through which Ilaro’s rulers remained closely tied to the Alaafin of Oyo. When Oyo’s power declined, Ilaro entered a turbulent period involving Egba authority and Dahomean attacks before the Egbado sought British protection in 1891. Colonial rule then transformed Ilaro into an administrative headquarters, while education and modern institutions later turned it into an important centre of learning and commerce. Through all these changes, its ruling houses, compounds, traditions and regional importance survived. Ilaro’s story is therefore ultimately the story of a community that repeatedly changed with the times without losing the historical identity that made it one of the most important towns of Yewaland.
References
Samuel Johnson, The History of the Yorubas: From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the British Protectorate.
Kola Folayan, “Egbado to 1832: Birth of a Dilemma,” Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria, Vol. 4, No. 1, 1967.
Robin Law, The Oyo Empire, c.1600–c.1836: A West African Imperialism in the Era of the Atlantic Slave Trade.
Cambridge University Press, Samuel Johnson, The History of the Yorubas, Chapter XXXIII, “The Dark Before the Dawn.”
Ilaro traditional history, “Our History,” documenting the foundation of Ilaro, the 1891 British protection, ruling houses and succession of traditional rulers.
Yewa College Old Students Association, “Brief History of Egbado College Ilaro.”
Historical records on the administration of the Egbado Division and the development of Ilaro as an administrative headquarters.
