A few weeks ago I felt like visiting Owo in Ondo State, and so I travelled there, getting a room at one of the towns 25 hotels. This well lit hotel has nice rooms, friendly staff, good glowing wood as well as good hot food which arrives your room in exactly 15 minutes, save for one occasion when I needed tea. It is a hotel with a very British name too. How did a hotel with this Anglo Saxon name come to be set up in a quiet part of Owo, a town which also has wide tarred roads which convey you in a straight line from one end to the next? This told me a lot about the people’s love for travel, their inner refinement and thirst for adventure.
While still a child, I had heard of Sir Olateru- Olagbegi II, one of the most famous and accomplished Olowos of the town, and so I decided to explore his reign during this recent visit, photocopying some literature near the palace as part of this ambition and slowly recalling childhood while doing so. Owo itself emerged in the 10th century as soon as the original sons and descendants of Oduduwa began to disperse from Ile Ife to other parts of Yorubaland. It was Olowo Ojugbelu who established Owo in 1019 AD.Today, Owo has a population of 300, 000, but this is a conservative estimate. Oba David Olateru- Olagbegi III, the current Olowo, in his 2013 work titled In the Wilderness of life writes ‘Olowo Ojugbelu’s son, Imade’ named the town ‘Owo’ (respect), apparently to c elebrate the victory of his father over the aborigines… He was the person who established the title ‘Olowo,’ meaning “He who deserves respect. Today, the Olowo is the paramount ruler of Owo land.”
One Olowo is said to have introduced electricity to the town. The incumbent Olowo writes in the same work “Olowo Kudo introduced local electricity to Owo to curb the menace of night marauders. Known as Agundugbe or Agusin, about five hundred lamps were placed in strategic areas of the ancient town.”
Olowo Renrengenjen is credited with building the Olowo’s palace, and he “began the annual Igogo festival, which has become an enduring and important cultural landmark of Owo,which is still celebrated today.” Then there is Olowo Aghwobojoro who was 7 feet tall, was an accomplished hunter and ruled for over 50 years. In contrast to Olowo Aghwobojoro, Olowo Dondon who succeeded him, was a weak ruler. He fell sick and became crippled as soon as he ascended the throne. One must mention Olowo Ajaka Ajagbusi-Ekun, who was a very charismatic king, but also “blood thirsty and ruthless.”
Olowo David Olateru-Olagbegi writes of his reign “Throughout his twenty-one year reign,he undertook over four hundred military engagements but lost only one…Ajaka was so power-drunk that he commenced systematic elimination of his brothers and other perceived claimants to the throne.”
My search for information on the town and its Kings led me to the extensive palace which has an impressive gate, where under the guidance of Chief Tunde Olugbade, I learnt much about the late Olowo, and some of the traditions of the people of the historical town. Chief Olugbade drew my attention to Government School Owo, which is a part of the palace, saying that late Tony Enahoro’s father was Headmaster at the school at a time,and that the young Tony himself did study there. Then there is the Oba’s market within the palace, and this is a large bustling place which even at 10:00 am has come to life, and has already drawn large numbers of traders and customers. Just by the museum is a building where the Action Group was launched in the 50s, Chief Olugbade says. From some literature I saw that Owo was “the political Mecca of Yorubaland in the 1940s, 1950s and up to the early 60s…The political gladiators of the Western region in those days would readily admit that, at one time, all political roads led to Owo.”
The same source adds that “when Egbe Omo Oduduwa, the first socio cultural organisation of the Yoruba peoples was about to metamorphose into a political party in 1950, it was in Owo that the party was launched.” Next, Chief Olugbade shows me the place known as Ode, which is the great building where all Olowos are buried.
But who are the Olowos? The work authored by the reigning Olowo states “In days gone by, the Olowo was next to God. What he said was absolute law…Indeed the position is so powerful that if the Olowo has not eaten yam during harvest, no subject would dare eat it… The Olowo of Owo as the title suggests, is someone who owns Owo land; thus he is not just a monarch, he is the embodiment of the totality of what the people have, know and believe-their culture, customs, spiritual persuasion … all woven into one.” In the Wilderness of life also adds “The Olowo of Owo is unique in Yorubaland because of his distinctive conical bead crown, his beaded slippers ,and a beaded fly whisk, his traditional symbol of power and authority.”
Now, the guide points to the imposing administrative building of the palace which sits at its very front. He says it was built by Olagbegi I and is said to be one of the oldest buildings in the palace. There are many halls within the palace which are used for the many ceremonies which often hold there. These may be ceremonies where the Olowo is present,or it may be a gathering of the Oloris, or some of the other chiefs and personalities of the court. For instance, there is the Ehinode, an assembly hall used when the Olowo wants to meet the people of Owo. Announcements which have to do with the town are also made in this hall when the townspeople are gathered. Then there is a huge section of the palace grounds which were given out by Olagbegi I and II to the inhabitants of the town,and these areas have been built up considerably today. New houses in a fresh coat of paint can be seen in this section of the palace grounds. Also, there is a huge forested part which also explains the massive size of the palace said by many to be the largest in Africa. I was also shown another hall where preparations for part of the Igogo festival take place. There are countless halls within, all of which have one cultural or ritual significance or the other. I was shown an old Rolls Royce and another posh car owned by Sir Olateru Olagbegi II which were burnt during some disturbances. It is said that the late monarch was the first person to own a Rolls Royce in the old Ondo State. There are 500 persons who live within the palace itself, but the population of which resides in other parts of the extensive palace is quite considerable.
But what were some of the achievements of the famous Olateru Olagbegi II whom I referred to earlier? Olowo David Olateru-Olagbegi III writes on his father’s reign “Electricity, a modern telephone system, a town hall, motorized road networks,and a local hospital were some of the his achievements. Foreign conglomerates like John Holt, GB Ollivant,a division of United African Company (UAC) began operations in Owo.”
In 1968 Sir Olateru-Olagbegi II was dethroned .Again the incumbent writes “Sir Olateru-Olagbegi II recorded an unprecedented historical landmark when he regained the throne as the Olowo of Owo again in 1993. It was the first time in the history of the ancient town that a dethroned king would rule after his deposition. Of the twenty seven kings who had reigned before him, none had been dethroned, much less come back to the throne after a quarter-century hiatus.” The Royal Gazette indicates that the late Olowo “was an entrepreneur and a businessman, and he developed hundreds of acres of Coffee, Cocoa, Rubber, Palm kernel and citrus plantations.He was also a great sportsman, a great wrestler, tennis enthusiast and champion.”
I will return to Owo later this year to reconnect with the friendly hotel, and cover the Igogo festival which is in honour of Oronsen, the wife of Olowo Renrengenjen, who fled the palace in the 14th century. Olowo Renrengenjen began the festival to show his love for his wife which makes the festival a Black Taj Mahal of sorts, occuring not in stone, but in the living medium of dance, song and costume. During the festival the Olowo in rich robes and plaited hair, accompanied by a happy festive crowd, will dance round the town to the rhythms of rich music which speak of a woman’s flight and a king’s undying love for her.
