Quite a busy week it has been for me, despite that I ought to have a week-long break to observe the mid-term in the school session, I joined the learners of the school for an excursion to a tourist site. The famous Abeokuta Rock.
Abeokuta is a new town in Ogun state, Nigeria. The town came to stay immediately after the Yoruba civil wars that plagued the whole of the Yorubaland in the late nineteenth century. There had been a power tussle between the elites in the Old Oyo Empire, the strongest Yoruba kingdom during the time. The power tussle degenerated into a war that dispersed a lot of people. The resultant effect of the war was that people ran for safety, the expected thing for a normal human to do.
Abeokuta is a Yoruba word which when translated means, under the rock. This place is significant because, during the war, the people across the Old Oyo Empire ran under the rocks for safety. People from the vassal states under the sovereignty of Oyo also sought refuge under the rock.
Hence, after the war, the people named the town ABEOKUTA because that was where they got refuge from the bloodthirsty Jihadists who were mercenaries working for one of the kingmakers, Bashorun Ga, who had an interest in becoming the Alafin (the paramount ruler) of the Oyo Empire.
The people of the Old Oyo Empire which spanned to places like Ekiti, Ijebu, and down to Dahomey (Benin Republic) were predominantly farmers. On the other hand, their traditional occupation was defined by their location. People who dwelled in the coastal areas were fishermen and women and some others in the area were salt makers while those who lived in the forest region took on the jobs of farming or hunting. There were wood carvers among the people too.
Today, there are local wood carvers who indulge in wood carving for commercial purposes. Other wood carvers are employed in the services of the king of the town. The King is under the payroll of the state government.
The above immediate image is one of the currently carved images of a former queen of the Old Oyo Empire. The carved wood is going for $5,000.
Around the premises of the tourist site where the rock is located, there are other designs made to attract visitors. This waterfall is not natural, it's adds to the beauty of the place.
Generally, the rock is in the center of the town. To show the relevance of the town in modern times, it as named the capital of the state. Ogun state itself is one of the biggest state in Nigeria. It has a large expanse of free land for farming and in recent times, it has attracted many industries. This has been for the fact that raw materials like rubber, timber, sorghum, vegetables, nuts and many other farm produce can easily be gotten here.
Climbing up to the entry point into the rock takes about thirty minutes. One would have to walk about 369 steps. Inside the rock is very hard. The first dwellers who sought refuge in the rock created different chambers where they lived for days as families, building new ties.
This accounted for the new culture of dance for the Abeokuta people. Traditionally, the people are referred to as EGBA. They now specialize in making the adire or tye and dye clothing system for which they are known today.
Just to add, the peopling of the Nigerian community come with a lot of interesting historical purviews. Some writers have seen Nigeria as a heterogenous community but over the years, we have thrived to live as one. It has been a tug of war but it surely hasn't been worse. We are building a nation from our diversity.
•All pictures are mine.