Obaba Museum

Few days ago, I met a lady who seemed friendly and smiley. I asked for her name which sold her out as Yoruba. However, her specific city of origin was somewhat unique. It was something I had never heard before. She said she was from Okuku in present day Osun, Nigeria. I told her I would definitely do a little finding on this settlement as there was really not much she knew about it. Perhaps we could both travel down there for a field research.

Immediately I got home, I searched the term ‘Okuku’ online and found a lot of other meanings, one of which was the Edo bridal hairstyle. Fortunately I finally found an article on a brief history of the settlement and how the name came about. Grab a seat and enjoy the gist.

Like most Yoruba settlement, Okuku town traces descent from Ile-ife, Oladile, the founder of Okuku was said to be a descendant of Oduduwa. It is said that he left Ile-Ife at the same time with Alara, Ajero and Orangun to settle and take possession of virgin lands.
After series of conquests, they all settled leaving Oladile who remained a ‘lone wolf’.

Alara settled in Aromoko-Ekiti, Ajero settled in Ijero-Ekiti, and Orangun settled in Ila. Oladile was instructed by the Ifa oracle not to settle until he came across an exceptionally thick clump of palm trees. Eventually he found a completely uninhabited spot in a thick palm forest, near River Otin. He named the place “Iko-Ikin (Iko – a thick clump, Ikin – palm nuts), over time the word eventually metamorphosed to” Kookin”.
In no time, Kookin grew to be a large and prosperous town because of new immigrants who trooped in from Further North. Legend has its that it grew to be an Iron Works Centre courtesy of its access to iron from the mines at Isundunrin near Ejigbo (in current day Osun, Nigeria).

Two tragedies informed the name Okuku as it became known as today: around 1790, Kookin fought and lost a battle called ‘Ijesha-Arara’ (Dwarfs Ijesha) with the warriors of Ijesha. There were few people who survived the war. As if that wasn’t enough, their disaster was compounded by water poisoning consequently upon drinking from Omi Amuku (Amuku River).

Oba Jala Okin led the survivors to a few kilometres towards Northern side of the ruins of Kookin to found another settlement which came to be called ‘Okuku’, derived from Oku to ku ku (Transliterated to mean remains of the dead).
The peace of the new-found Okuku was disturbed once again by the Ilorin-Ibadan wars. It was not until after the war that Okuku once more enjoyed peace following Captain Bower’s Imposition of Peace in 1893.
The Olokuku of Okuku Chieftaincy Declaration October, 1956, gave recognition to four ruling houses:
1 – Edun
2 – Oyewusi
3 – Oyeleke
4 – Oyekanbi
Now, Okuku is the headquarters of Odo-Otin local government in Osun State, Nigeria. It is the nearest major town on the boundary between Osun and Kwara states. Among its immediate neighbours are Ikirun, Inisa, Ila-Odo (nearest to Kwara state) , Iba, Ijabe, Igbaye, Ekusa, Oyan and Erin-Ile (Kwara state)

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